Alaska Sporting Journal - November 2022

A Unique Big Game Hunting Ranch Nestled

in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains in Missouri, High Adventure Ranch offers all of the excitement of western big game hunting without the costs and hassles.

Be prepared for a fair chase hunt! With over 3 square miles of prime natural habitat, our ranch provides challenges to even the most seasoned hunter, but our expe rienced guides and “No Game, No Pay” policy practically ensure that you won’t go home empty handed. In addi tion, High Adventure’s hunting season is year-round, allowing ample time to fit the most demanding schedule.

While our whitetail, elk, wild boar and red stag hunts top our hunter’s most popular lists, hunters from around the world have visited our ranch, hunting everything from American bison, black buck, fallow deer to Spanish goats and African game.

So, whether you desire a 10-point whitetail mount for your trophy room or simply the thrill and challenge of taking down one of our many elusive big game animals, High Adventure Ranch guarantees memories of an unparalleled hunting experience that will bring you back again and again.

Red Stag

Wild Boar

Whitetail

PUBLISHER

James R. Baker

GENERAL MANAGER

John Rusnak

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Andy Walgamott

EDITOR

Chris Cocoles

WRITERS

Bjorn Dihle, Scott Haugen, Tiffany Haugen, Mary Catharine Martin, Marty Raney, Brian Watkins SALES MANAGER

Paul Yarnold

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

Mamie Griffin, Riland Risden, Mike Smith

DESIGNER

Lesley-Anne Slisko-Cooper PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Kelly Baker WEB DEVELOPMENT/INBOUND MARKETING Jon Hines, Jon Eske ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Katie Aumann

INFORMATION SERVICES MANAGER Lois Sanborn ADVERTISING INQUIRIES media@media-inc.com MEDIA INDEX PUBLISHING GROUP 941 Powell Ave SW, Suite 120 Renton, WA 98057 (206) 382-9220 • Fax (206) 382-9437 media@media-inc.com • www.media-inc.com

CORRESPONDENCE Twitter @AKSportJourn Facebook.com/alaskasportingjournal Email ccocoles@media-inc.com

Remote, Comfortable & Affordable

Our remote Alaskan fishing lodge is situated on the upper stretches of the beautiful Egegik River. You’ll watch some of Alaska’s most stunning sunrises, complete with a distant, active volcano. We are a fishing camp specializing in coho fishing, brown bear viewing, and flyout fishing adventures to even more remote destinations in the Last Frontier.

Coho Fishing e Egegik River

The Egegik River is touted by many experienced anglers as the best silver salmon stream in all of Alaska. Becharof Lodge On The Egegik River was the first fishing lodge to become established on the breathtaking Egegik River, and is less than a 5 minute boat ride from some of the best fishing holes on the entire river.

Included in your fishing trip:

• 5 days fishing/5 nights stay in camp

• Experienced, fully guided fishing.

• Comfortable cabins furnished with beds, cozy comforters & bedding.

• Home cooked meals, snacks, and nonalcoholic beverages.

• Transportation from the lodge to prime fishing holes on the Egegik River.

• Freezing and vacuum sealing of your fish, up to 50 lbs., per angler.

FEATURES ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

21 HOMESTEAD, HOMESTEAD ON THE RANGE

We first got to know Marty Raney back in 2016 to profile his Discovery Channel series Homestead Rescue, in which he and his kids help struggling o -the-grid homeowners get organized in their dreams of living simply away from the big cities. Raney’s TV success prompted him to recently write a book about how to get it done on the home front. Check out an excerpt from the book and a Q&A with the author.

29 MAKE YOUR OWN BULL MARKET

13 The Editor’s Note: New Alaska-based series reinforces the importance of journalists

15 Alaska Beat: News and notes from around the Last Frontier

19 Outdoor calendar

52 Salmon State: Restoring fish habitat in Petersburg

Growing up around Philadelphia, Brian Watkins looked forward to his annual fall whitetail hunting trips in rural Pennsylvania. Now an experienced Alaska-based sportsman, he feels lucky that a short drive from his home in Anchorage can put him into some outstanding moose hunting opportunities in the Mat-Su Valley. No doubt it’s an intimidating amount of work, but Watkins serves up three tips every hunter should know before seeking out that massive bull to fill your freezer.

44 DRESSED FOR SUCCESS

Bagging that dream caribou, Dall sheep or mountain goat is but one part of the hunt, so don’t ruin the overall experience by not properly field dressing and storing the meat from your prize. In our From Field to Fire column, Scott Haugen shares some secrets for properly deboning big game, keeping it cool and packing it back to camp without spoiling those delicious back straps and other delicacies. And Ti any Haugen’s Korean spiced game bird dish will have you ready for a hearty dinner.

36 TIS THE (DEER) SEASON

“We find ourselves wanting to hold on to each season as long as we can, and trying our best to remember and be thankful for each passing one.” So writes Bjorn Dihle, who has found himself juggling family responsibilities with finding time to participate in one of his favorite activities, hunting Sitka blacktails in Southeast Alaska. He shares a particularly poignant memory from a recent deer season when his wife was very pregnant with their first child.

Alaska Sporting Journal is published monthly. Call Media Inc. Publishing Group for a current rate card. Discounts for frequency advertising. All submitted materials become the property of Media Inc. Publishing Group and will not be returned. Annual subscriptions are $29.95 (12 issues) or $49.95 (24 issues). Send check or money order to Media Inc. Publishing Group, 941 Powell Ave SW, Suite 120, Renton, WA 98057 or call (206) 382-9220 with VISA or M/C. Back issues may be ordered at Media Inc. Publishing Group, subject to availability, at the cost of $5 plus shipping. Copyright © 2022 Media Inc. Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be copied by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording by any information storage or retrieval system, without the express written permission of the publisher. Printed in U.S.A.

(BJORN DIHLE)

EDITOR’S NOTE

I’m admittedly a big TV series watcher, and when I saw that a new ABC drama would chronicle the life of an Alaskan newspaper – the aptly titled Daily Alaskan – it was a no-brainer for me to check it out.

Part of the appeal for me is the obvious Last Frontier angle and my job (I’m always looking for potential story ideas for the maga zine). But as a longtime newspaper reporter and editor, the show’s hook – a once respected and now disgraced New York journalist seeks a second chance at a downsized but defiant daily newspaper in the hinterlands of Anchorage – is an important story to tell re gardless of where it’s set.

Right from the beginning of the series, the main character, twotime Academy Award winner Hilary Swank’s Eileen Fitzgerald, gets hit with a dose of reality when she enters the Daily Alaskan’s strip mall space, a far cry from the large building that once housed a far bigger newsroom.

But Fitzgerald gets a crash course in the need for local news out lets and how they serve their subscribers. After my previous stops as a sports editor at a six-day-a-week community publication and sports reporter stints at larger metro/statewide papers, the newspaper indus try is a far cry from where it once was. Frustrating times for us all.

The primary storyline of the series’ first season focuses on the un solved death of a young Alaskan Native woman and the paper’s deep dive into what’s believed to be a murder lacking a proper investigation.

(At the end of each show, a statistic from 2022’s Violence Against Women Act appears:

“In some areas of the United States, Native American women are murdered at rates more than 10 times the national average.”

“The injustice of missing and murdered indigenous women must end.”)

But the subplots also feature everyday news stories that we all deserve to read with our morning co ee: A beloved local restaurant’s takeover by a national chain burger joint; an investment CEO’s come uppance for unsolicited spending; the connection to mining interests that brings down a political candidate.

I don’t live in Alaska, so I can understand locals who might consid er the series to be a less than realistic look at the 49th state and the watchdogs who keep watch for its residents. But I find this series to be a critical reminder that what we do is important, whether it’s Alaska Sporting Journal’s vision to bring you stories covering the state’s fishing and hunting scene, or those small-town news outlets that share every thing from high school football game recaps to profiles of community members to investigative reports that readers need to know about.

I hope some of Alaska Daily’s future scripts focus on some of the state’s fishing and hunting culture, but it’s more of an inside look at how newspapers – gutted by layo s and making do with skeleton crews – are still working hard to produce quality content that matters.

Contrary to what you’ve heard since 2016, we journalists aren’t the “enemy of the people” but actually conduits for the people. -Chris Cocoles

Watching the new ABC series Alaska Daily has given the editor some perspective about the importance of journalists. (CHRIS COCOLES)

Rapid decline in red king and snow crab stocks have prompted closures of Bering Sea waters o western Alaska, creating panic and outrage among the commercial fishing industry. (DAVID CSEPP/NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE)

BERING SEA CRABBING CLOSURE A REALITY GUT PUNCH

Discovery Channel’s hit TV reality series Deadliest Catch – we’ve profiled many of the show’s eccentric and entertaining captains –  put the Bering Sea’s exhilarating and treacherous crabbing industry into the spotlight.

And as crab stocks have dropped dramatically in recent years – perhaps an e ect of climate change? – it has become apparent that the fishermen’s livelihood is facing danger of its own. Those concerns came to a boil in October, when both the Alaska red king and – for the first time – snow crab winter seasons were shelved.

“I am struggling for words. This is so unbelievable that this is happening,” Jamie Goen, executive director of the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers, told The Seattle Times “We have third-generation fishermen who are going to go out of business.”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration cited a 2019 “heat wave” in the North Pacific that stoked the rapid decline in snow crab stocks in the Bering Sea, along with climate change e ects.

“The Alaska Department of Fish and Game and NOAA Fisheries work together to produce the Bristol Bay red king crab stock assessment in accordance with the co-management agreement outlined in the North Pacific Fishery Management Council’s Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands Crab Fishery Management Plan,” NOAA stated in a press release.

“The red king crab closure in Bristol Bay was related to a continued decline in that stock for many years. The cause of that decline is likely due to a combination of factors and related to continued warming and variability in ocean conditions in Alaska.”

The shocking closures will surely make for a bleak winter for crews of the boats in the fleet that will remain in port.

“It’s going to be life-changing, if not career-ending, for people,” veteran crabbing skipper Dean Gribble Sr. told NBC News. “A lot of these guys with families and kids, there’s no option other than getting out. That’s where the hammer is going to fall – on the crew.”

That’s a reality show nobody wants to be a part of.

AL ASKA BEAT

TWEET OF THE MONTH

The Fat Bear Week voting machine was inundated with thousands of spam votes earlier in the bracket, but one of the, er, heavy favorites still prevailed.

NOTABLE NUMBER

Number of votes in the final round of Katmai National Park’s Fat Bear Week count for bear 747, which has now won the girthiest grizzly award for the second time in three years.

HIS REDEMPTIONRAM

The rain broke right as the sun began to lighten the field of view just enough for glassing. I decided to look over the rams one last time while having breakfast before moving on. I finished my meal, bid the rams farewell and strapped on my pack.

Finally, the sheep hunting gods smiled on me for making the right decision. I noticed a lone ram coming around the peak of a mountain some 2 miles o in my direction. I broke out the spotting scope and realized he was definitely worth a closer look.

I avoided the temptation to move in closer for an ambush, nervous that the other rams would almost certainly bust me and alert their incoming friend. I instead stayed in the cli s and watched for two hours as this ram fed his way up the drain and made a direct line for me.

As he got to 300 yards I had made up my mind: I was looking at my first ram. I traded the spotting scope for a riflescope and followed him along the shale path he took up towards the cli s I was hiding in.

He paused at 150 yards and a moment later he was mine. I dropped down to size him up, nervously covering the 150 yards as quickly as I could without losing footing. I’m fairly certain I went a solid two minutes without breathing until I could confirm what I already knew.

I had killed my first full-curl ram.

-Trevor Embry

“I will select the 3 million acres of federal land that is still owed to our state, and I will manage the fish stock scientifically. We need to see a new day in Alaska, and I encourage you to vote on Nov. 8.”

-Alaska gubernatorial candidate Les Gara (D) during a mid-October debate featuring incumbent Mike Dunleavy and three other candidates.

For Trevor Embry, the experience and all its highs and lows, made his first experience harvesting a Dall sheep worthwhile. (TREVOR EMBRY)

OUTDOOR CALENDAR

Nov. 1 Hunting draw application period for 2023 hunts begins

Nov. 1 Deer season opens in Game Management Unit 5 (Yakutat)

Nov. 1 Resident grizzly bear season opens in GMU 9E (all drainages into the Pacific Ocean between Cape Kumliun and border of Units 9E and 9D)

Nov. 1 Resident late caribou season opens in GMUs 9C and 9E (Alaska Peninsula)

Nov. 1 Resident antlerless moose season opens in GMU 14A (Mat-Su Valley)

Nov. 1 Resident antlerless moose season opens in GMU 14C (Anchorage Management Area)

Nov. 1-14 Late goat season dates in GMU 7 (Seward; may be announced)

Nov. 1-14 Deer season dates in GMU 8 (bow and arrow, crossbow or muzzleloader only; Kodiak Road System Management Area)

Nov. 1-14 Resident goat season dates in GMU 15 (Kenai; may be announced)

Nov. 15 Late elk hunting season opens in GMU 3 (Etolin Island)

Nov. 16 Youth deer hunt season opens in GMU 8 (bow and arrow, crossbow or muzzleloader only; Kodiak Road System Management Area)

Nov. 20 Resident caribou season opens in GMU 19A (Lime Village Management Area)

For more information and season dates for Alaska hunts, go to adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=hunting.main.

Resident hunters can target caribou in the Alaska Peninsula’s Game Management Units 9C and 9E starting on Nov. 1. (ZAK

RICHTER/NATIONAL PARK SERVICE)

THRIVE ON THE HOME FRONT

HOMESTEAD RESCUE’S MARTY RANEY TALKS LIVING OFF THE GRID IN NEW BOOK EXCERPT

BY MARTY RANEY

I’ve heard that “vegan” was actually an old Native American word that meant (when translated) “bad hunter.” But if you are not vegan (defined by its more common definition), you may find an or ganic, healthy, protein-rich food source is literally at your fingertips, or trigger fingertip, that is.

A subsistence lifestyle often includes harvesting your own wild game, from free-ranging turkeys to moose. And speak ing of moose, I had moose tacos last night at the cabin with freshly harvested home stead potatoes and veggies. Epic.

Moose, caribou, Dall sheep (and mountain goats), and lots of salmon have supplemented our garden and greenhouse table settings for nearly 50 years in Alaska. It doesn’t take much re search before you become wary of the meat sold at your local market.

Editor’s note: In his new book, Marty Raney says he leads two lives. “One is my Alaskan life, where I work as a contractor while striving to live simply and self-su ciently on a rugged, 40-acre homestead that has challenged me like no other,” Raney writes. “My second life finds me traversing North America, answering the calls of prospective homesteaders who have reached out to me for a helping hand with their own (seemingly insurmountable) challenges that they’ve encountered while pursuing a simpler life.”

Raney, who wasn’t sure what he was getting into years ago when he left his suburban Seattle, Washington youth for the rugged hinterlands of the Last Frontier, has not only thrived living o the grid but he also assists others who long for that same experience. When we first introduced you to Raney (Alaska Sporting Journal, July 2016), he was embarking on a new Discovery Channel series, Homestead Rescue (we also profiled Raney’s daughter and series regular Misty in ASJ’s November 2017 issue). The show is now going strong in season nine.

But as the Raneys’ show illustrates, homesteading can be a tough life – Raney and his wife Mollee had to rebuild their Alaska cabin on their 40-acre property in Southcentral’s Hatcher Pass following a devastating fire that was chronicled on a 2021 episode – but it’s also a fulfilling one, including the benefits of harvesting wild game and fish.

The following is excerpted from Homestead Survival: An Insider’s Guide to Your Great Escape, by Marty Raney, with permission from publisher TarcherPerigee, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

Chicken, pork, and beef have “pro cessed” derivatives that have been prov en harmful to humans (for example,

Marty Raney (center, with daughter Misty and son Matt) have embraced the homesteading lifestyle in Alaska, leading to their popular Discovery Channel series and Marty Raney’s new book, Homestead Survival. (ALAN HANNA)

Q&A WITH A HOMESTEADING GURU

We caught up with Marty Raney, who talked home steading, the success of his Discovery Channel series and how his kids have embraced the o -the-grid lifestyle.

Chris Cocoles Congrats on a great book, Marty. Homesteading has been such a big part of your life, so was this a project that you’ve been wanting to write for a while now?

Marty Raney One episode of Homestead Rescue takes a little over a week to film, but there are only 52 weeks in one year. So, in my quest to help as many as I can to attain a simpler, less stressful and healthier life, the notion to write a book about homesteading began percolating.

CC In the book’s introduction you really captured the importance of being pre pared for emergencies such as the 7.2 Alaska earthquake in 2018. I live in an area at risk of a massive earthquake (Seattle) and I don’t feel like I’m prepared when the big one does hit. Are too many of us not ready to endure a disaster like that?

MR There are nearly nine million people living in New York, four million in LA, three million in Chicago. Add to that, 10 more cities with populations hovering around one million people (Seattle has 750,000). When I fly over these cities on my way to some rural homestead, I’m concerned how these sprawling, teeming masses will survive when faced with an unannounced catastrophe: i.e. floods, power outages, contaminated water supplies, hurricanes, earthquakes, ice storms, a terrorist attack or – God forbid – a new virus or strain that goes global. In 2018, a far less populated place, Alaska, experienced a 7.2 earth quake. I was there and realized that even hardy Alaskans were not prepared. In a matter of hours, gas stations had long lines of vehicles, all generators disappeared from the hardware stores, as did the bulk of the food from grocery store shelves. It’s been four years since that event.

The question remains: Are Alaskans any more prepared for the next quake, which could very likely be bigger? Now, imagine a 7.2 earthquake hitting any of the aforementioned cities. The point: Bad days are coming. The question is: Who is prepared?

Raney calls the benefits of homesteading a “less stressful, healthier life of independence.” While it’s not easy, he thinks you too can make it this way. “This lifestyle may not be for everyone, but I honestly believe that anyone can do it if they’re willing to work hard to make their dream come true,” he says. (SCOTT SANDMAN)

CC We talked a few years back for a story on Discovery’s Homestead Rescue and you told me how di cult your early days in Alaska were. How much did those strug gles mold you into what you are now?

MR I grew up remotely, outside of North Bend, Washington, quit school, left home at 16. In the (1970s) I worked as a logger in Southeast Alaska – Ketchikan, Prince of Wales and Sitka. It was tough, dangerous work. We went from those floating log ging camps to a homestead in Haines, Alaska. No power, no water, extremely remote, surrounded by a high population of brown bears. If you can homestead in Alaska, you can homestead anywhere.

CC Obviously you’ve helped a lot of in-overtheir-head homesteaders around the Low er 48 figure it out. But Alaska is something altogether di erent. Is homesteading in the Last Frontier not for everyone?

MR I would say the hardest homestead I’ve ever worked on is my own. O -grid,

no road access, dangerous rivers, land slides, flooding, heavy snow, 35-below temperatures, seven-month-long win ters, windstorms, formidable predators, and a house fire where we lost every single thing we own, and that rugged and challenging homestead is our home. However, most people are likely to choose an extreme environment and location to build their homestead. It re ally doesn’t matter where one chooses to live, as the fundamental reasons why we choose this life are what really mat ters. The dream of becoming self-reliant, self-su cient and independent is well within the reach of anyone who truly de sires those freedoms rural life o ers.

CC How much do you think your family’s work on Homestead Rescue opened up a lot of eyes about that lifestyle and made it more visible to those who want to do it?

MR I’ve long lost track of the number of people from all walks of life who have ap

Marty

proached me saying they’ve left the trou bled, concrete jungle behind and are now living a safer, simpler life in rural America inspired by Homestead Rescue’s mission. The book is selling well. A groundswell is sweeping across North America, as peo ple from all walks of life are honestly eval uating their quality of life in these troubled, crowded cities. Homestead Rescue inspires people to take those first few calculating steps to a simpler, less stressful, healthi er life of independence. True; this lifestyle may not be for everyone, but I honestly be lieve that anyone can do it if they’re willing to work hard to make their dream come true. Homestead Rescue helps those con templating homesteading avoid the costly and disheartening pitfalls that many on the show have unfortunately encountered.

CC The book excerpt we’re running talks about the benefits of eating wild game meat like moose. Do Alaskans just have it better than most of us in having access to those organic food sources?

MR Subsistence is a way of life for many Alaskan families, including my own. Each year, every member of my family catches their limit of fresh salmon. We also do an annual moose hunt. Access to these animals is tough. Packing out and processing these animals is even tough er. So, while Alaska has its share of wild game, as with all things homesteading, it’s hard work. We have a freezer full of organic, untainted meat and seafood –as well as wild Alaskan berries.

CC As a dad, how excited have you been

that kids Misty and Matt have been such a big part of Homestead Rescue and sell ing the idea of living this life that you’re so passionate about?

MR If I had to sum up Homestead Rescue with just one word, it would be “work.” If I had to sum up how hard Misty and Matt work on Homestead Rescue with just one word, I would say “proud.” They are both smart, creative and sensitive when it comes to the homesteading families we assist. In all the episodes of Homestead Rescue, I can’t recall there ever being a day where the weather was so bad that we shut down. But trust me, we’ve all worked in our fair share of bad weather while willingly helping others. Snowstorms, ice storms, below-zero tem peratures, lightning storms, floods, mud, muck, and mayhem! And not to mention something that’s 10 times worse than all this weather put together. And what would that be? Working side by side with me. Ev ery. Single. Day. Whew! Thank God they’re tough and they take after their mother [Marty’s wife Mollee].

CC It looks like another son, Miles, and his girlfriend live in a yurt on your home stead property. Do you think your home steading has really brought this family closer together?

MR Our 40-acre homestead in Alas ka is as beautiful as it is rugged. Miles and his girlfriend Cara were actually the first ones to set up a yurt and live on the property. A few years later, after build ing the “Cli s of Insanity” road, which opened up 20 acres of previously inac cessible property, they moved the yurt

to a higher location. Misty and her hus band, Maciah, built a beautiful log cab in down by the river completely out of the dead and dying beetle-killed spruce trees. Matt and Katie have also picked out a stunning future building site in yet another secluded location. Nothing says homesteading more than family. And in this family, homesteading is a way of life.

CC Of all the tips and advice that this book o ers, can you share one piece of infor mation that anyone who wants to get involved in homesteading should know?

MR Water is life, and without it your plants, livestock, family and dream of homestead ing will struggle to survive. On more than one homestead, I’ve seen a coyote chasing a jack rabbit and they were both walkin’. From coyotes to cactus, everything needs water. “Dew” diligence can make or break a homesteader and a dream.

CC You’ve helped make a lot of people’s lives easier and more manageable through your TV show and now this book. Is there anything else you want to accomplish? Maybe expand your music career?

MR All of our instruments burned up in the house fire, but since the fire we built a log home out of the beetle-killed trees and helicoptered in a grand piano. I’ve replaced my classic Alaskan-shaped gui tar with a new one and have been writing songs for a new album. We are currently filming Season 10 of Homestead Rescue. Some people have an adventure of a life time, but in Alaska, I’ve had a lifetime of adventure. ASJ

lunch meats). Did you know moose have 1 percent (or less) fat? Compare that to 35 to 55 percent fat in store-bought poultry, pork and beef. Moose is high in potassium, low in sodium and has a list of vitamin and mineral benefits. And, at 100 calories per 100-gram serving, it is the original lean cuisine. Bear in mind that you will need some fat in your diet in order to digest protein.

A strange thought, I know: Most ongrid people have to worry about getting too much fat, but if you are truly o -grid, you may have the opposite problem and find yourself with too little fat. We need fat in order to fully digest protein, which is why extreme survivalists prize fatty beaver, bear, or porcupine meat (some

old-timers still refer to protein poisoning as rabbit starvation or caribou sickness). It’s a balance.

THERE ARE 200,000 MOOSE and 750,000 caribou in Alaska, with only 7,000 moose being harvested annually. These two species have allowed Native peo ple to survive for centuries in this harsh land known as Alaska. And today, we too choose to “live o the land,” as Alas ka still is quite bountiful in moose, car ibou, and salmon populations. I see it as a humbling privilege to live in a place where you can make your own choice as to what ends up on your dinner table. Again, where did this fast-food chicken sandwich come from? What’s the origin

of this (whopping…) drive-thru burger? Every moose, caribou, Dall sheep or mountain goat that we’ve ever taken was standing in a pristine wilderness setting, eating healthy, organic willows, lichen, or assorted wild grasses. They were not crowded en masse, stressed or treated inhumanely. Hunting is not for everyone, but it is a way of life for many Alaskans leading a subsistence lifestyle.

I am not a sport hunter, but in my quest to live an o -grid, self-su cient, subsistence lifestyle in Alaska, I’ve ac cepted the fact that hunting has been a long-time, inseparable part of living this lifestyle. As we go into winter, our freez er is full of moose and salmon. For that, and to them, I am truly thankful.

For the most part the hunting com munity understands that more people is a good thing (there are always exceptions to this rule, of course). The more people who adopt a subsistence-hunting lifestyle, the more likely it is that land will be preserved and left undeveloped, that animal herds will be managed and culled responsibly, and that hunting will continue to be viewed as a positive thing to be supported and promoted by the local community.

Whether you’re involved or not, someone is going to hunt those animals. Park service people will get those cull numbers, with or without you. So you can either take advantage of this fact or

relinquish your share of the best meat money can(’t) buy.

IF YOU ARE GOING to hunt, you have to hunt with respect for the animals, the natural world and the other humans you might see (or more problematically, not see) out there. Part of this respect is fully processing the kill, and butchering and packing out all the meat you can from the carcass. There are a lot of hunters who are far less interested in the hard, dirty work of butchering than they are in seeking trophies for stories to share in the coming days. Not cool, and frank ly you are missing the point if you leave

meat behind when you walk out of the wilderness. Look at the regulations. It’s illegal and called “wanton waste.”

My son Miles, the vegan, will skin and butcher a moose or caribou until the carcass is white. Every muscle or organ is gone, loaded up in our backpacks or however we are packing it out. So, be a serious hunter. Understand that harvest ing animals is a privilege, and treat those animals with respect and decency. ASJ

Editor’s note: To order the book, go to pen guinrandomhouse.com/books/689875/ homestead-survival-by-marty-raney. Follow Marty Raney on Instagram (@marty.raney).

Left to right: The Raneys get ready to work on their big red truck in Alaska. (ALAN HANNA); Crossing a rushing river is part of living in these rugged sections of Alaska and even parts of the Lower 48 where many Americans have chosen to set up shop o the grid. (SCOTT SANDMAN) ;  Marty and his wife Mollee live in this cabin on their Hatcher Pass property. Their kids have also embraced the o -the-grid homesteading existence. “If you can homestead in Alaska, you can homestead anywhere,” Raney says. (MARTY RANEY)

MAKE YOUR OWN BULL MARKET

CHANGING TACTICS, BEING FEARLESS CAN HELP YOU SCORE A BIG ALASKAN MOOSE

BY BRIAN WATKINS

Alaskans know that hunting in Alaska is more of an expedition than a hunt.

I grew up in eastern Pennsylvania, in a suburb of Philadelphia. Back then, our hunting trips were 10-day expeditions to western Pennsylvania for the short whitetail rifle season. We would drive to the farm or state lands we hunted at 4 a.m.

Author Brian Watkins grew up in Pennsylvania near Philadelphia, where he became interested in hunting whitetail deer. Now living in Alaska, hunting moose is an entirely new challenge that he’s successfully embraced. (BRIAN WATKINS)

and be sitting next to a tree for sunrise.

As I got older, we got into bowhunting to extend the season from two weeks to six months. We could leave work at 4 p.m. and be in a tree stand at 5 p.m. for the evening sit.

I’m often asked if I miss hunting in Pennsylvania. “You’ve done the most insane hunts in Alaska,” people say. “It must be boring to come home and hunt!”

The answer to that statement is that I do miss hunting down there. It’s less taxing in terms of planning and logistics. The hunting is easier in the sense of popping in a tree stand within an hour of work. I am aware of how spoiled I am living in Alaska. I am not trying to diminish what Alaska means to me; I am saying that I sure do miss the easy hunts.

With that said, there is hunting within Alaska’s populated metropolitan areas that people often overlook. I encourage people to read the regulations for areas that are a little closer to town. Just north of Anchorage you can be hunting moose in the Mat-Su valley – you guessed it,

after work! There is an opportunity to take a moose in Game Management Units 14A and 14B during a season that is open Aug. 10-19 for bow and arrow and Aug. 25-September 25 for a rifle. There is a ton of country there to hunt through.

DON’T BE AFRAID

A lot of people get intimidated about hunting moose because it is a lot of physical work. I agree with that sentiment, but picture the savings on your food bill. That’s a lot less work than the time you spend in the o ce.

I’ve been successful on both foot and six-wheelers hunting moose during the workweek. If you choose to bow hunt, you can hunt moose nearly seven weeks of the year. Yes, those weeks coincide with sheep, goat, caribou and deer seasons. However, if you’re hunting outside of weeklong trips, moose hunting should be your focus. I’ve also been on two successful hunts outside Fairbanks that were during the week. They weren’t

my tags, as I was accompanying friends on those trips, but I also missed a bull myself outside of Fairbanks.

I can’t divulge all my secrets for the spots or areas I hunt, but pick up a regulation book and figure it out!

SWITCH IT UP

What I can tell you is how my tactics change throughout such a long hunting season. I’ve been fortunate enough to kill bulls in late summer, early fall and winter, all while hunting close to major cities. In August, I focus on trying to get to a vantage point to glass for moose while they’re feeding.

The more country you can cover, the better. When there is a lot of foliage out still, I focus on areas that have open fields to glass. If the option isn’t there to get high and glass, then I will still hunt a lot. I focus on areas close to water with willow and other food sources. I slowhike through and look for fresh sign. If you have time in the summer to scout trails and areas, know that the moose won’t

Watkins has hunted moose both on foot and getting out to his hunting areas via six-wheeled vehicles. (BRIAN WATKINS)

move very far. They hang out in the same general area all summer.

As the weather starts to turn cooler, the big bulls move a lot more. Just being out in the woods can a ord you an opportunity at a giant bull. They are covering a lot of country trying to round up their harem of cows. The bulls this time of year will respond to scraping brush and bull grunts. I avoid long cow calls until later in September.

The goal for early September is to mimic a challenging bull. If you are bowhunting and a bull “hangs up” in thick brush or just out of shooting distance, you can use the palms of your hands to act like a small bull. I’ve used this successfully many times. I hide my body behind a bush or a tree and extend my arms. I cup my hands and slowly tip them back and forth. It will drive a bull insane, and he’ll come charging in. You can use this trick all September long. It's sure to get the blood boiling.

When it comes to glassing for moose, “The more country you can cover the better,” the author writes. “I focus on areas close to water with willow and other food sources.” (BRIAN WATKINS)

You never know what critter tracks you might come across in moose country. (BRIAN WATKINS)

CALLING CARD

In late September – starting around the first cold snap – I will start with the long cow calls. A lot of people use them throughout the year not realizing what the call is. The typical call you hear people make is a cow that’s bothered by a bull she has no interest in or is in heat and doesn’t want to be bred yet.

When the timing is right a bull will come sprinting to you. He’ll be thrashing brush and smashing trees along the way. What a time to be alive! It’s one of the reasons I love moose hunting – facing o against an 1,800-pound animal coming in to literally destroy whatever is in his path. Be warned that things can get intense –especially while bowhunting.

Whatever your fall plans are, you can fill the time around big trips with evening hunts for moose. Don’t get intimidated by the magnitude of work that comes along with moose hunting. One of my favorite sayings is shoot first, ask questions last!

If you start overthinking it, you’ll pass that bull in fear of the work that lies ahead. Get the bull on the ground and then endure the work. ASJ

“Whatever your fall plans are, you can fill the time around big trips with evening hunts for moose,” the author writes. “Don’t get intimidated by the magnitude of work that comes along with moose hunting.” (BRIAN WATKINS)

Traversing di cult terrain is part of the task moose hunters must not back down from to be success ful. (BRIAN WATKINS)

THE PASSING SEASONS

MEMORIES OF SOUTHEAST ALASKA SITKA BLACKTAIL HUNTS

BY BJORN DIHLE

At the end of December of 2018, I was on the mountain above my Douglas Island home when I cut across the fresh tracks of a buck.

We were between storms, with a big Taku wind event forecasted to hit soon. When that happens, gales o the 1,500-square-mile Juneau Icefield knock down trees and move dumpsters. At the winds’ strongest, our home would shudder and shake so much I couldn’t sleep. Taking my rifle for a walk was my way of taking advantage of the good weather while I could. A buck would be a welcomed bonus.

There was a 2-inch blanket of snow on the ground, so tracking was easy. Before long, I heard him snort in thick brush and then saw a brown blur as he ran away. You normally don’t get second chances with bucks, especially on Douglas Island, where they’re hunted hard, but I followed his tracks anyway.

A few fat August deer were already in our freezer, along with a quarter of a moose from a hunt I made with my brothers and dad. I’d also tagged along on a mountain goat hunt that had an epic stalk ending with my younger brother taking a nice billy.

On another hunt, I watched my buddy Mike shoot one of the biggest antlered Sitka blacktails I’d seen. It had been a banner season all the way around. My wife and I were about to have our first kid, so my brothers were ribbing me about how I was about to lose my freedom and how this hunting season would be my last good one.

An hour later, I came across the buck creeping in the dim light beneath giant tree trunks. He was thick and rutty from chasing the few remaining unbred does. I chambered a round and braced my rifle against a tree. When he o ered a good shot, I held my crosshairs behind his shoulder and pulled the trigger. His antlers fell o in the stress of the bullet’s impact. I found them lying atop a blood trail.

Author Bjorn Dihle scored this buck at the end of the 2018 season. There’s been something magical about his experiences in the field chasing Southeast Alaska Sitka blacktails.

(BJORN DIHLE)

He lay a few yards farther, heaped up at the base of a root wad. I field-dressed him in the fading light – avoiding touching or cutting his tarsal glands – and then began the three-hour trek home. The night was overcast, chilly and still, but the moon was bright enough that I didn’t need my headlamp. I found myself doing the math and realized I had spent around a year, 1/35th of my existence at the time, hunting Sitka blacktail deer.

ANCESTORS OF SITKA BLACKTAIL deer began to wander north to Southeast Alaska at the end of the Pleistocene Epoch, as glaciers receded to reveal the desolate landscape. Their journey was not a mass exodus but rather a slow and quiet entrance to a polar world slowly transitioning into a rainforest.

Instinctually intrepid, they made miles-wide ocean crossings and colonized every island of any size. Some years, when heavy snows fell, the majority slowly succumbed to starvation, but after a handful of mild winters their populations would

Deer hunting on the panhandle ranges from midsummer to early winter, the high country to the shores of the Inside Passage. (BJORN DIHLE)

Dihle spotted these two young bucks in the spring. “I found myself doing the math and realized I had spent around a year, 1/35 th of my existence at the time, hunting Sitka blacktail deer,” he writes of his passion for hunting these remarkable creatures. (BJORN DIHLE)

rebound. Gradually they became smaller and stockier; their senses grew accustomed to the rain and low light; they evolved until they became inseparable from Southeast Alaska’s rainforest.

Deer populations fluctuate greatly depending on the severity of the winter. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game estimates there are around

200,000 in Southeast, with hunters annually harvesting around 12,300.

Some hunters prefer to go after earlyseason bucks in the high country; others like to wait for the late season, when snows push them down. While I prefer deer harvested in August, they're great eating any time of the year, as long as you're careful with how you field dress and butcher them.

MY HEAVY PACK’S STRAPS cut into my shoulders and travel across a brushy flat made me put aside my reflections on deer and focus on things like not stumbling or twisting my leg in a hole. I pushed through the guard forest and heard the sound of the ocean gently lapping against the shore.

I went into auto pilot as I walked the beach. I had hiked it so many times that I knew each stretch of its topography. The night gave a sense of vast dormancy, but the rush of mallards’ wings would occasionally erupt the stillness or the dark form of a mink would soundlessly bound past, reminding me the world was very much alive.

A few hours later I butchered the deer at home and fried heart and loins on the cast-iron skillet. When the meat was cooked, I brought a plate to my wife MC, who was nine months pregnant. We talked about the Taku winds, hoping the winter wouldn’t be too windy, before speculating if our kid would decide he was ready to come out into the world during the middle of a storm. We told each other that our lives wouldn’t change much, that we’d still have time to do a lot of things we loved doing – traveling, for her, and wandering the wilds and hunting for me.

I organized the meat into piles of roasts, steak and lesser-quality portions to be ground into burgers.

As I cut, I thought again about some conversations I’d had with older friends. One told me he had spent something like 50 days in the field deer hunting that season. He didn’t want the season to end so he didn’t pull the trigger on any animals, though he had ample opportunity, until late in November.

My other friend, whose health no longer really allowed him to get out, could remember all of the nearly 100 bucks he’d taken during his life. When he talked about deer hunting he would start to glow as he relived those experiences.

You also get an appreciation for the region’s wildlife on these hunts, such as foraging great blue herons. (BJORN DIHLE)

After I wrapped meat and put it in the freezer, I sat in bed reflecting on the season and feeling no shortage of gratitude. The northern wind began to whistle outside our window. I rested my hand on MC’s swollen belly and felt our baby, who stubbornly preferred to be sideways instead of head-down. I

The author with an August Sitka blacktail. “Like my old hunter friends, we find ourselves wanting to hold on to each season as long as we can,” he writes, “and trying our best to remember and be thankful for each passing one.” (BJORN DIHLE)

realized things were about to change big time for us. We were closing a chapter on our old lives and beginning something new. Spending two or three weeks hunting each season would have to be put on hold for a while.

What I didn’t know was how fast the hours, days, weeks and years would go once our son was born. How it would feel like we blinked and he was smiling, then crawling, then walking and, a moment later, pretending to hunt deer. Like my old hunter friends, we find ourselves wanting to hold on to each season as long as we can, and trying our best to remember and be thankful for each passing one. ASJ

Editor’s note: Bjorn Dihle is a Juneau writer. His most recent book is A Shape in the Dark: Living and Dying with Brown Bears. Buy it at mountaineers.org/books/ books/a-shape-in-the-dark-living-anddying-with-brown-bears.

Dihle found the antlers of one buck he took on the bloodtrail. (BJORN DIHLE)

Having a game plan for how to handle harvested big game prior to leaving on a hunt is important for e cient field care. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

HANDLE WITH CARE

BY SCOTT HAUGEN

Spend any time hunting big game in Alaska and meat recovery often becomes the most taxing part of the hunt.

I’ve experienced long nights with mountain goat, Dall sheep, moose, bear, deer, caribou, and more. Going into each hunt prepared is the key to alleviating stress, optimizing the workload and retaining the best quality meat possible.

When hunting rugged land, shot opportunities often come minutes before dark. If we can get to where animals are, we might get a morning or midday kill, but often we’re waiting for animals to emerge from cover late in the day. Knowing this, be prepared to spend much of the night breaking down an animal so the meat doesn’t spoil, especially this time of year when daylight hours are few. If you’re not willing to work in the dark, don’t shoot.

DON’T WAIT LONG

Despite what you may see on TV or hear from others, an animal should never be left to recover the following morning, especially in winter. Do this and the meat will spoil. Animal hides are insulators, and as hair thickens in winter it becomes even more important to get the animal

be found in the Asian section of many grocery stores and can be used in marinades, sauces, stews and stir-fries.

¾ to 1 pound boneless game bird meat (breasts, thighs, legs)

2 tablespoons gochujang

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons orange juice

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

1 tablespoon minced jalapeño pepper

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

½ inch grated fresh ginger

¼ cup chopped green onion or chives

1 tablespoon olive or coconut oil

Corn or flour tortillas

Lemon or lime wedge for garnish Top with desired salad greens or herbs

Clean game birds and remove meat from bones. Cut meat into small strips. In a small bowl mix gochujang, soy sauce, orange juice, sesame seeds, jalapeños, sesame oil, vinegar, ginger, and green onions or chives until thoroughly combined. Add meat to gochujang mixture and stir until meat is coated. Refrigerate and marinate two to eight hours. Let meat sit at room temperature 20 minutes before pan frying.

NEXT

STOP:

(KOREAN SPICE) FLAVOR TOWN

BY TIFFANY HAUGEN

Whether you’re out chasing ptarmigan this time of year, or looking to dig through the freezer for some forest grouse or sharptails to cook up, here’s a recipe you’ll love.

Most upland game birds have a mild flavor profile. Unlike waterfowl, their level of gaminess is not usually a ected by what they’re eating. Instead of worrying about neutralizing the wildness of upland game birds, many cooks look to amp up the flavor.

If you’re a flavor junkie, one ingredient that is a must-have pantry item is gochujang. This fermented Korean red chili paste isn’t overly spicy but it’s full of umami savoriness. Gochujang can

Heat olive or coconut oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add all meat and marinade to the pan. Pan fry eight to 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Serve on a tortilla with desired toppings.

UPLAND BIRD FIELD CARE TIP

Even though upland birds are flavored mildly compared to waterfowl, be sure to take proper care of them in the field, especially on warm days. Doing so will optimize their quality and overall flavor.

Be sure to draw the birds and get them cooling as quickly as possible. When butchering, make sure to remove all feathers and bloodshot and clean all wound channels.

Editor’s note: For signed copies of Ti any Haugen's best-selling book, Cooking Game Birds, visit scotthaugen.com for this and other titles.

Gochujang, a Korean spice, can add much-needed flavor to Alaskan game birds. (TIFFANY HAUGEN)

broken down and quickly cooling. Once the hide is removed, meat cools quicker in winter, obviously, but will rapidly spoil with the hide on.

Prior to a hunt, prepare to handle an animal accordingly. On moose hunts I like taking a tarp to lay meat on so it can stay clean while cooling. On deer and elk hunts I often strap a day pack to a pack frame so I can bring one load of meat out.

Game bags, rope, a knife and steel are all you need to break down game, as all bones can be disarticulated at the joints. A saw is only needed to cut the skull cap o antlered and horned game; know Alaska’s salvage laws. Remove all bloodshot prior to placing meat in game bags.

FIELD DRESS REHEARSAL

I use the gutless method of field dressing; it’s quick and clean. With big-boned game like moose, elk and bear, separate the large muscles on the hindquarters, leaving them attached by the tendons at the knee.

Prior to putting in game bags, hang the quarters by the exposed femur, in the shade, so the muscles fold over the lower leg. This will allow meat to cool from the inside and outside. Big bones retain heat and the quicker muscles can be separated from them, the faster they cool.

If there’s snow on the ground, lay meat and four quarters on it to keep cool. Leaving the muscles attached to the leg bones is OK in this situation, as it’s plenty cold.

And have a good headlamp, if not two. Remove the batteries before putting the light in your pack. It’s a helpless feeling seeing a dim glow in the pack with the light having been accidentally turned on hours prior. Pack extra batteries also.

FINDING SHADE

With the quarters and all body meat in game bags, hang them in the shade on sunny days so air can circulate around them. Never place meat in plastic bags and don’t pile game bags atop one another, as this traps heat.

In bear country, have enough rope to hoist game bags into trees. If hunting the tundra and you have to overnight near the kill, stash it a safe distance from your tent.

If you have to make multiple trips to recover game, marking the kill site on a GPS is a good idea, especially if fog, heavy rain or snow might impede visibility and navigation the following morning.

A MAN, A PLAN

Go into every hunt with a plan of how you’ll get meat from the field to the trailhead to the truck and into cold storage in the nearest town, then home. A solid plan is especially important in hot conditions that can occur in some of

If heading on a big game hunt where a rug, shoulder or life-size mount might come of it, knowing how to properly skin the animal is important. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

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Hide Tan Formula has been used successfully by thousands of hunters and trappers across the U.S. and Canada. No more waiting several months for tanning. Now, you can tan your own hides and furs at home in less than a week, at a fraction of the normal cost. Our Hide Formula tans deer hides either hair-on for a rug or mount, or hair-o for buckskin leather. Tans all fur skins – muskrat, mink, beaver, fox, coyote, raccoon, squirrel, rabbit, etc. It also applies to bear, elk, moose, cowhide, sheep and even snakeskin. Hide Tan Formula is premixed and ready to use and produces a soft, supple Indian-style tan in five to seven days.

One 8-ounce bottle will tan one deer hide in two medium-sized fur skins. Bear, elk, moose and caribou require three to six bottles. Complete instructions are included. You’ll be amazed how easy it is!

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Not all November days in Alaska are as nice as this one was, when the author packed out caribou meat on Adak Island. When it comes to big game field care, hope for the best but prepare for the worst. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

Alaska’s early-fall or late-spring hunts.

Before leaving home on a hunt, the more prepared you are to handle big game, the smoother the field care process will go and the cleaner the meat will be. And where it will really pay o is this winter, when you’re enjoying that lean, high-

protein and organic big game meat. ASJ

Editor’s note: Want to learn multiple ways to field dress and skin big game? Order Scott Haugen’s best-selling instructional DVD, Field Dressing, Skinning & Caping Big Game, at scotthaugen.com. Follow Scott on Instagram.

RESTORING A PETERSBURG STREAM SO IT GROWS ‘GIANT PUMPKINS,’ SALMON ANEW

BY MARY CATHARINE MARTIN

At East Ohmer Creek, 22 miles south of Petersburg, Alaska, stands a tree that’s believed to be the largest left on Mitkof Island. U.S. Forest Service fish biologist Eric Castro said foresters estimate the tree, which grew on a once-rich floodplain, is around 600 years old.

“Those giant pumpkins are what used to grow in this type of environment,” Castro said.

That tree stands in contrast to those that have grown around it over the last 60 years, which have reached 4 to 8 inches in diameter – about a tenth what would once have been expected.

THE UNEXPLAINED

Why does the floodplain that grew some of the largest trees left on Mitkof grow stunted trees now? It’s a mystery that, when he first came across it, U.S. Forest Service hydrologist Heath Whitacre was determined to get to the bottom of.

After talking to Petersburg old-tim ers, he learned the reason wasn’t just because the area was clearcut around 60 years ago. It’s because when workers extended Mitkof Highway in the 1950s, they took gravel from the rich soil of the area, depleting the nutrients. This also lowered the ground level to the point it was too close to the water table for trees

to grow well.

Logging and gravel mining also had negative implications for fish, straight ening streams and eliminating or lessen ing the fallen trees, deep pools and rich back-channel floodplain habitat that can be so productive for rearing salmon fry.

A few years ago, Whitacre, Castro and the Petersburg Ranger District be gan putting together a project not only to restore fish habitat in East Ohmer Creek, but to gradually replenish soils, restore floodplain flows and bring the area back to what it was prior to the gravel mining and logging of the 1950s.

“It kind of rights our wrong from the past,” Castro said.

It’s also a project that, while it was completed this summer, has a much lon ger-term vision.

“Soil formation is a centuries-long process,” Whitacre said.

BIG MACHINE, LITTLE FISH

While the timeline for bettering growing conditions for trees and restoring the area to its former “giant pumpkin” glory may be centuries, fish habitat in the area is already improving. Excavator operator

Tom Lutton of Rock-N-Road Construction in Petersburg was a skeptic when he first started working on East Ohmer Creek restoration. By day two, he was a convert.

Jode Coil  of Petersburg’s Rock-N-Road Construction works on the East Ohmer Creek restoration project that has helped restore valuable fish habitat. Prior to logging and gravel mining in the area, trees fell into the stream naturally, creating the kinds of structures and varied streams that are good for fish. (MARY CATHARINE MARTIN/SALMONSTATE)

U.S.

“This is the first time I’ve ever done one of these projects, and I didn’t really understand it beforehand. After being down in there and seeing exactly what they’re doing, I figured it all out,” he said.

The second day, after the heavy equip ment crew had placed some trees accord ing to Whitacre’s sketch, “I got down in there and I could see those certain pools. Even though we didn’t get any rain, they actually had deeper water in them than they did the day before,” Lutton said.

Lutton has lived in Petersburg for 54 years – since he was 6 years old – and said it feels good to be working to im prove the fish habitat in East Ohmer.

“I feel personally that the fish runs in this creek have slowed down since I was younger, and I think stu like this only improves it,” he said.

USFS hydrologist and project lead Heath Whitacre and VetsWork by Americorps’ Taran Snyder watch Coil at work. Shortly after Coil rolled out of the stream, the water had cleared and fish had returned. (MARY CATHARINE MARTIN/ SALMON STATE)

Forest Service fish biologist Eric Castro stands next to what is said to be the largest tree remaining on Mit kof Island, in the East Ohmer Creek watershed. It’s just downstream of the restoration project Castro took part in this summer.

(MARY CATHARINE MARTIN/SALMONSTATE)

While many small-creek restoration projects across Southeast Alaska utilize human muscle and hand tools, the scale of the East Ohmer Creek project meant larger tools were necessary. For the first few years at least, it will look messy.

“The footprint with heavy equipment tends to be shocking to some people,” Whitacre said. “And it basically looks like a construction site, and it will for four or five more years, until we start to get more vegetation. But the amount of work you can get done in a short period of time is astounding. And basically when you’re working in a stream this size, you need a larger framework in place, and it’s really the best way to do that.”

Some of what people see might not make sense until it starts making a dif ference.

Whitacre spent years planning the project. “It basically looks like a con struction site, and it will for four or five more years, until we start to get more vegetation,” he says of the project in its current state. “But the amount of work you can get done in a short period of time is astounding.” (MARY

Castro prepares to drop a minnow trap into East Ohmer Creek. The crew moved hundreds of young fish prior to doing work in back channels. (MARY CATHARINE MARTIN/SALMONSTATE)

CATHARINE MARTIN/SALMON STATE)

The trees in the floodplain, for exam ple, will serve as nurse trees for seeds and saplings, raising the ground level higher over the water table and nutri ent-poor soil. Those trees will also help capture soil washed down from up stream when the area floods. Over the long term, they’ll speed up the process of restoring the area to what it once was.

In addition to the deeper rearing pools in the main channel, some of the team’s other goals are already coming into play. O -channel rearing ponds, said Castro, are like beaver ponds in that

they are 10 times more productive for salmon fry than even high-quality main channel habitat.

SALMON IN THE WATER

In late July, as the project was near ing completion, Whitacre and Snyder walked up a channel that had been dry prior to them adding wood to the system to divert water into it during heavy rain. Now, it was filled with refuge-like pools – and those pools were filled with coho salmon fry.

“These little pools that they find are

where they’re going to hang out until the next bit of water comes in,” Whitacre said. “Even creating a little bit of habitat that establishes a few deep pools in an otherwise dry channel, those are basi cally refuge areas for these fry until they can get another flow through.”

Prior to work in any back channel rearing ponds, Castro, Whitacre and VetsWork intern Taran Snyder moved hundreds of fish fry using minnow traps. (In main channel areas, fish more easily relocate themselves.) They also did all the work in East Ohmer Creek in a rel atively small one-month window, so as to avoid overlapping with spawning sea sons — whether at the front end of the season, with steelhead, or the back end, with coho salmon.

A short while after finding coho in the newly watered back channel, Sny der, Whitacre and Castro were watching Rock-N-Road operator Jode Coil lower an enormous tree trunk, rootwad intact, into place precisely where Whitacre had drawn it should be. Just 20 minutes later, Coil moved his excavator 50 feet downstream. The water cleared, and a 6-inch cutthroat trout and coho fry held steady in the cur rent facing upstream. It wasn’t at all appar ent there had been a heavy machine in the area just a few minutes before.

“Habitat restoration is an essential element of being able to support sus tainable (fish) populations,” Castro said.

“In order for us to have the maximum amount of fish potential – be it for sport fishermen or commercial fishermen (or) subsistence – we need to be able to have healthy landscapes.”

LONG-TERM RESTORATION NEEDS

This project fits well with the U.S. Depart ment of Agriculture’s new Southeast Alas ka Sustainability Strategy, Whitacre said.

Ongoing restoration needs in the region also mean continued jobs – for fallers cutting trees that will be added to oversimplified streams; for heavy equip ment operators on larger-scale projects; for the crews that do the work.

“Now is kind of a special time with sort of a shift in priorities on the forest. And restoration and recreation have be come more important, and are receiv ing more funding. So it’s not as di cult as it used to be to fund these projects,”

Snyder was in Petersburg for almost a year with the VetsWork by AmeriCorps program, working as a natural resource specialist with the Petersburg Ranger District. By the end of July, he had already secured a job in his field.

“You don’t have

to be from just one straight walk of life to contribute to the restoration of an ecosystem,” Snyder said.

(MARY CATHARINE MARTIN/SALMON STATE)

Whitacre said. (See the end of the article for a list of this project’s funders.)

Lutton said he would love to do more of this work.

“I thoroughly enjoyed it,” he said. “In my own free time I love to be out in the woods, I love to be on the water. So getting out of town and not working in people’s yards, not working on streets, this was a real treat for me. To be out in the woods all day, it’s what I like to do. I’m also getting paid for it, so it’s a double bonus.”

Taran Snyder, an Army veteran liv ing in Petersburg and participating in the restoration as part of his time with VetsWork (mtadamsinstitute.org/vets work-environment/), which provides career development for veterans, said one of the things that stood out the most to him about this project was people

coming together from di erent back grounds to work on this common goal.

“You don’t just have to be from one straight walk of life to contribute to res toration of an ecosystem,” he said. “We are all doing the work, making sure that this place gets restored for the better ment of the next generation.”

“Bang for the buck, stream resto ration is where it’s at,” Castro said. “It utilizes local citizens in order to be able to do the work, it creates an environment that is conducive to happy fish, and it creates potential swimming holes for happy kids. So that’s something that we would like to see more of.” ASJ

Editor’s note: The U.S. Forest Service, South east Alaska Watershed Coalition (SAWC), Alaska Sustainable Salmon Fund (AKSSF),

and the Petersburg/Wrangell/Kake Re source Allocation Committee (RAC) all funded the East Ohmer Creek restoration project; the watershed coalition also pro vided on-the-ground people power. Sitka Conservation Society and SalmonState provided nonmonetary support.

VetsWork is a program of Mt. Adams Institute, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. It is funded by AmeriCorps and provides career devel opment internships for veterans through partnerships with natural resources/public lands management agencies and organiza tions in Alaska and across the country.

Mary Catharine Martin is the communi cations director of SalmonState, an organi zation that works to ensure Alaska remains a place wild salmon and the people who depend on them thrive. Go to salmonstate .org for more information.

Snyder, Whitacre and Castro strike a pose on a recently completed stream structure. The stream struc ture represented years of hard work and planning in the making, and shortly after installation it had al ready helped create deeper pools in a degraded stream. It will help provide better spawning and rearing habitat for salmon and other fish. (MARY CATHARINE MARTIN/SALMON STATE)

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BLACK HILLS AMMUNITION

black-hills.com

Black Hills Ammunition’s 10mm HoneyBad ger has deep flutes designed for optimum terminal performance without reliance on hollow points. The bullet penetrates deeply, cutting through bone and muscle to get to vitals. This is important when relying on your handgun for protection, including the possibility of bear attack. This is a solid choice for defense!

WESTERN RANGE CAMPS

wrcamps.com

At Western Range Camps, we specialize in the design, manufacture and sale of the highest quality rangecamps, sheep camps, sheep wagons, commissaries, toy haulers and teardrop trailers. Handcrafted and built to last!

EXQUISITEKNIVES.COM exquisiteknives.com

Random Knives of Argenti na made this kitchen knife for exquisiteknives.com. Random is two young bladesmiths with very creative minds. I have sold a number of their fine piec es. Priced right and very well thought-out designs and execu tion. Exquisiteknives has offered some of the world’s finest custom knives to both users and collectors for over 30 years.

WOODMAN'S PAL woodmanspal.com

Rooted in American history, the Woodman’s Pal has been a do-it-all survival and land-clearing companion to our outdoorsmen and military since 1941. Handcrafted in Pennsylvania, its superior design trims, prunes, chops, blazes trails, and much more. Rugged enough for the Pacific Theater and Vietnam, yet versatile enough for everyday jobs.

NORTH RIVER OUTFITTING

northriveroutfitting.com

We offer hunts of unmatched quality. Alberta whitetail, moose, caribou and goat. When you join us on a hunt in this spectacular and remote part of British Columbia, you will feel at home and welcomed into our hunting family. That same care, hard work and at tention to detail goes into everything we do.

LYMAN

lymanproducts.com

The Lyman Ultimate Reloading System is the only kit you’ll ever need! Outfit an entire reloading bench with premium products designed to accomplish all steps in the re loading process. No other kit from any competitor can match this untouchable value! The Ultimate Reloading System includes top-of-the-line tools and accessories like our All American 8 turret press, Gen 6 Digital Powder System, Universal Case Trimmer, Pro 1200 Turbo Tumbler, and everything else needed to turn out high-quality rounds fast! Take your passion to the next level with the Lyman Ultimate Reloading System!

THE BUFFALO WOOL CO.

thebuffalowoolco.com

This is the big boy – these are our heaviest, most insulating, most wicking socks, and most likely the warmest sock on the planet (excepting electric).

Ultrasoft bison fiber blended with fine merino wool means there is no prickly itch from these socks. Will keep your feet warm and dry all winter long.

DAVIS TENT

davistent.com/product/sleeping-bag-cover

Our sleeping bag cover is a great way to pro tect your sleeping bag and add a little warmth. You can even sleep under the stars on a starry night! Roll your sleeping bag, pillow and sleep ing pad up and it’s a perfect bedroll to keep all your sleeping gear organized.

HIGH ADVENTURE RANCH highadventureranch.com

High Adventure Ranch, the oldest big game hunting ranch in Missouri, was founded by Charles Puff in 1983. The ranch has over 30 big game species, with an estimated 2,000 an imals. Our guides have over 70 years of expe rience. The ranch offers lodging, home-cooked meals, and full-service meat processing.