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FISHING • HUNTING • ADVENTURE

AKSPORTINGJOURNAL.COM

Country Singer & TV Host

CRAIG MORGAN Fishing, Hunting The Last Frontier ‘Dakota Boys’ Return With New Discovery Channel Spin-Off!

Terror In The Arctic!

An Outdoorsman’s Near-death Misses ALSO INSIDE

Tsiu River Silvers

Ice Fishing NWR Lakes

Hunters Deal With Online Blowback

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ALASKA

SPORTING JOURNAL Volume 9 • Issue 9 www.aksportingjournal.com PUBLISHER James R. Baker ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Dick Openshaw GENERAL MANAGER John Rusnak EXECUTIVE EDITOR Andy Walgamott EDITOR Chris Cocoles WRITERS Paul D. Atkins, Christopher Batin, Joe Hadfield, Scott Haugen, Tiffany Haugen, Katrina Liebich, Jeff Lund, Martha Nudel SALES MANAGER Katie Higgins ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Rick D’Alessandro, Nancy Ekse, Mamie Griffin, Mike Smith, Paul Yarnold PRODUCTION MANAGER Sonjia Kells DESIGNERS Kayla Mehring, Sam Rockwell, Jake Weipert WEB DEVELOPMENT/INBOUND MARKETING Jon Hines PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Kelly Baker OFFICE MANAGER/ACCOUNTS Audra Higgins ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Katie Sauro INFORMATION SERVICES MANAGER Lois Sanborn ADVERTISING INQUIRIES media@media-inc.com ON THE COVER Country music star Craig Morgan fell in love with the fishing and hunting opportunities in Alaska, so the Outdoors Channel host of Craig Morgan: All Access Outdoors bought a remote cabin far from the hustle and bustle of Nashville. He shares what he loves about the Last Frontier and more! (SUB7) MEDIA INDEX PUBLISHING GROUP WASHINGTON OFFICE 14240 Interurban Ave South • Suite 190 Tukwila, WA 98168 (206) 382-9220 • Fax (206) 382-9437 media@media-inc.com • www.media-inc.com OREGON OFFICE 8116 SW Durham Rd • Tigard, OR 97224 CORRESPONDENCE Twitter @AKSportJourn Facebook.com/alaskasportingjournal Email ccocoles@media-inc.com

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CONTENTS

VOLUME 9 • ISSUE 9

58 A SPECIAL

SALMON HOLE For Chris Batin, there’s something magical about the waters of Southeast Alaska’s Tsiu River and its coho. To the longtime Last Fronter anglerwriter, it’s almost as if a super race of salmon has evolved in this ever-changing watershed hard beside the giant Bering Glacier. Join Batin as he leads us on an unforgettable trip for Tsiu silvers!

(CHRIS BATIN)

FEATURES 21

FROM NASHVILLE TO THE GREAT NORTH Country music star Craig Morgan is also an Outdoor Channel TV host, and with more than a few Alaska trips to his name, the Tennessean longed for a home in the Last Frontier to call his own. So Morgan and family bought a remote “trapper’s cabin” that gives them a chance to return to Alaska a few times a year and embrace the solitude – not to mention the state’s fishing and hunting!

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WINTER REFUGE FUN Alaska’s vast array of U.S. Fish and Wildlife refuges offer fantastic family-friendly ice fishing opportunities. Whether it’s Kenai, Selawik or Togiak NWR, there are plenty of fish just waiting for a bait to be dangled below the ice. Grab some warm clothes, gas up the auger and bottle some hot chocolate as USFWS’s Martha Nudel spotlights top ops!

103 NOT SO SOCIAL MEDIA Jeff Lund is active on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, where he shares many of his adventures. But like all things social media, you’re just as likely to get blasted by a tweet or comment as you are praised and congratulated. Lund attempts to make some sense out of the online chaos.

110 THE TREACHEROUS ARCTIC Wilderness fishing and hunting trips in Alaska always carry an element of risk – even more so in the Arctic, in winter. Paul Atkins, based in the outpost town of Kotzebue, has had close calls over the years – broken snowmachines, aufeis, panicked partner. He shares stories of mishaps and what it took to survive.

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE 47 81

“Dakota” Fred Hurt’s back mining on Gold Rush spin-off King Salmondeaux Lodge, Kenai River Suites profiles

DEPARTMENTS 17 37

The Editor’s Note Protecting Wild Alaska: BYU research team learns data from rockfish bones 45 Outdoor Calendar 97 From Field to Fire: Research opportunities galore at winter sportsmen’s shows and seminars 125 Big game spotlight: Mountain goats

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 $39.95 (24 issues). Send check or money order to Media Inc. Publishing Group, 14240 Interurban Ave South, Suite 190, Tukwila, WA 98168 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 © 2017 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. 12

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EDITOR’S NOTE

T

he first time I experienced the now “phenomenon” that is Twitter I was convinced it was a fad. I was a sportswriter covering the University of Arkansas’s baseball team, which had advanced to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.

My paper sent two of us to write about the Razorbacks and both of us were – at least relative to our peers – old-school reporters who still bought into the print-only journalism model. At least a few of the other Arkansas writers Social media like Twitter is an sitting near us in the press effective communication tool, it also brings out the worst in box kept talking about but those who religiously rip hunters tweeting this or liking that. from the comforts of a smartAt one point I turned to my phone or laptop. (CHRIS COCOLES) colleague and good friend and complained how annoying they were for obsessing over this mumbo jumbo. Then I continued typing my deadline story on my Apple MacBook without a Twitter handle to my name.

Twitter in 2009 was just a trendy new toy that basketball star and funnyman Shaquille O’Neal played with regularly.

Twitter in 2018 is a powerful monster and in the Trump era, a ridiculously effective tool to enable supporters and detractors simultaneously.

As your fearless editor, I’ve since joined the Twittersphere (@AkSportJourn) and one of my followers is our correspondent Jeff Lund (@alaskalund), who penned a story (page 103) about how outdoorsmen and -women who use Twitter, Instagram and Facebook cope with backlash. This is nothing new to social media. You can be an athlete, actor, construction worker or plumber, and one misstep or perceived outrage in a post can turn a life upside down.

As a hunter, Lund regularly uploads photos of harvested game and fish on various social media platforms. He can relate to Kendall Jones, an accomplished hunter who also happened to be a Texas Tech cheerleader and who continues to be hammered with online insults, threats and other deplorable replies when sharing photos to her followers.

It’s a cold reality check that we anglers and especially hunters are met with plenty of venom and vitriol. Twitter provides a convenient opportunity for internet toughs to play cyberbully.

Hopefully, Lund’s piece will have a positive impact on those who can’t legally take to the outdoors without being beaned by 280-character fastballs. -Chris Cocoles aksportingjournal.com | FEBRUARY 2018

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A native Tennessean who grew up hunting – mostly for subsistence and not for sport – country music star Craig Morgan makes several annual trips to his remote Alaskan hunting cabin to experience the Last Frontier’s outdoor bounty. (SUB7)

A LITTLE BIT COUNTRY IN ALASKA NASHVILLE STAR CRAIG MORGAN’S SECOND HOME IS IN THE LAST FRONTIER

BY CHRIS COCOLES

H

e lives on a sprawling Tennessee farm, but Craig Morgan’s home is a quick drive from Nashville’s bright lights of the honkytonk joints of Broadway Street, the Times Square of the country music cosmos.

But when Morgan, who has 17 singles that have reached the Billboard country charts – including a No. 1 hit and six more in the top 10 – wants to literally get away from it all, he heads to Alaska.

And while he finds it funny that his cabin in the Interior gets better cellphone service than his Tennessee property in Dickson, 40 miles west of Nashville, it’s about as wild a setting as a diehard sportsman like Morgan could ask for when he wants to unplug from his hectic life of making music, hosting an outdoors television show and running a family business back in the Volunteer State.

“It’s one of those deals where if you’re there, you know that you truly are in the depths of Mother Nature,” the

53-year-old says.

He’s been hunting and fishing in Alaska for roughly two decades, though he’s owned his cabin for just about three years. The Last Frontier is one of Morgan’s first choices to satisfy his outdoor cravings.

“Oh, god. It was probably 20 years ago I guess for my first visit. And since then we’ve done everything from fishing to hunting to cruises,” he says. “And I’ve been from the lowest southeast point to all the way up to the Yukon. So I’m just absolutely fascinated with that part of

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Morgan’s musical resume includes 17 songs that hit the Billboard country charts, seven reaching the Top 10 and one, “That’s What I Love About Sunday,” hitting No. 1. (SUB7)

the world. It truly is the Last Frontier.”

GETTING TO MORGAN’S HIDEAWAY isn’t super easy for anyone who wants to tag along on one of his trips. Fly into Anchorage, then either board a floatplane for a 50-minute flight onto a lake adjacent to the cabin, or fly to Talkeetna and drive three hours on a gravel road to the end of the line for a 6-mile, 4½hour walk or – in winter – snowmachine journey to get there.

“It’s off the grid completely; there’s no electricity, no running water. The closest town is Talkeetna. Actually it’s Trapper Creek, but I don’t know if Trapper Creek is considered an actual town,” Morgan says.

So yeah, this getaway allows him to really get away. That’s what this intrepid hunter was looking for when he began getting serious about investing in an Alaskan home (“It’s more of a trapper’s cabin than a house,” Morgan says). It took him about year and a half of looking around to finally settle on what he owns now.

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He says it’s actually easier to get there in winter via snowmachines. But it’s exactly what he hoped for: a place in the wilderness in one of his favorite outdoor playgrounds.

“I just wanted a place to go that we could call ours. It’s quite an effort to get there, but when you get there it’s just an awesome thing. And I’ve always wanted to be a bigger part about what’s going on there,” Morgan says.

He identifies himself as far more of a hunter than an angler, but the nearby lake is teeming with trout, Arctic char and grayling, so he makes sure to have fishing gear close by. Yet it’s the big game and other wildlife as the main event that keeps him occupied when there is a season open during his visits.

Morgan’s native Tennessee is chockfull of sportsmen and -women who secure their tags and stalk everything from deer to turkeys to black bears. And his assignments as host of a TV hunting show have sent him all over the map.

But Alaska is Alaska and there’s no other place quite like it.

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“The thing that you really understand is the gravity and intensity of Mother Nature when you’re up there.

You don’t get that when you’re in the woods in Illinois or Iowa or Texas, or anywhere else because you know that you can generally walk in some direction and come across some form of civilization,” Morgan says. “In that part of the world, you can walk in some direction and may walk for a month and not come across civilization. If you go in the wrong direction, you might never find it. It’s just a super-intense outdoor experience.”

And what Morgan loves about the Last Frontier is it’s the last place you want to be if you run into trouble. Not that he’s eager to be in harm’s way, but it’s the thrill of the unknown you’re walking into that attracts the Lower 48 outdoors lover to these parts in the first place.

On one trip, one of Morgan’s buddies suffered a deep gash while they were cutting wood, which could have been a lot more serious if they

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weren’t prepared.

“We were 45 minutes from getting anybody to help us. So you have to be extra careful. An accident up there can turn from a simple one into a catastrophic event pretty quick if you’re not careful,” he says.

The cabin has only a generator for power, so satellite phones and emergency medical equipment come in handy in a beautiful but potentially hazardous front yard.

“You can have the most peaceful moments in your life sitting atop a mountain, and then in 15 minutes have the most horrific experience as you’re going down that mountain,” Morgan says. “And that terrain can absolutely beat you up. It will just take you before you know it. So many obstacles that just make you truly appreciate how that moment of beauty can turn to something ugly.”

“In everything else that we do, for the most part, you feel like you have a sense of control a little bit and a sense of security, I think, to some degree. In Alaska all that goes away. You know that you are not necessarily at the top of the food chain in where you’re at and what you’re doing.”

CRAIG MORGAN GREER’S FAMILY made do with what it had in their Tennessee home. Kingston Springs is a don’t-blinkor-you’ll-miss-it town of about 2,000 along Interstate 40 west of Nashville.

Craig’s family – like many in that part of the country – had a passion for hunting.

But it was far more than just the sport of it that got his parents outside.

“As much as they enjoyed it and that was it was local and on public land, it was really for the meat,” Craig says. “My family and parents weren’t trophy hunting; they were hunting for the meat.”

“We were eating organic before organic was a term. But it was out of necessity more than a choice. When you’re born into a lower-middle class income family, you have to do those kinds of things. So we grew up eating wild game or pork from pigs that we had raised ourselves. We had a better idea of what was going into our bodies than most.”

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A wine aficionado, Morgan contributed to the creation of his own signature cabernet sauvignon, Old Tattoo. (SEAN O’HALLORAN)

A DIFFERENT KIND OF HARVEST There’s something about a glass of wine after a long Alaskan hunt that makes Craig Morgan smile. It’s also a reason why this country music star and outdoors TV host is now a celebrity vintner.

“I just became a wine guy who loved wine about 20 years ago. And as my knowledge grew, so did my desire to be more involved,” he says of this grape-infused project. “Having said that, I never want to own a winery. I never want to be a winemaker or nothing like that.”

Still, it’s difficult to not consider Morgan a bit of a wine savant. So when he collaborated with a company called Lot 18 to create Old Tattoo (lot18.com/craigmorgan), which is being released this winter, it only strengthened a passion for good wine, particularly enjoying a glass or two with some of the wild game this outdoorsman has harvested for years.

Old Tattoo – its American Flag logo matches the ink that adorns Morgan’s left arm – is flavored by grapes from Paso Robles, California, along the central coast and one of the state’s hidden gems for wine lovers.

While Morgan helped in determining the cabernet’s flavors – “hints of coffee, cocoa, currant, dark cherry, graphite and plum,” the wine’s introductory press release explained – he was mostly in tasting mode as blends were tested. But the entire approach was based upon his name being attached to as close as you can come to producing an organic wine.

And for someone who prefers to eat his own harvested game and fish, Morgan’s fascination with wine was one that was a more natural blend.

“One in particular that kind of started it was a wine called PlumpJack, which is a partner of the Cade Winery in Napa (California). The one thing that I loved about the PlumpJack was that it was organic,” he says. “It’s very rare that you find an organic wine against one that isn’t. And I just fell in love with it – a fabulous wine.”

Morgan also took to heart the message of another of his favorite California winemakers, Sonoma County residents and avid sportsmen whose brand is known as Ammunition Wines. Their reds and whites are catered to fellow anglers and hunters and specifically blended to pair with not just traditional dishes but also wild game like venison, duck and upland birds.

While Morgan’s idea wasn’t to market his wine for a specific audience – “I just wanted to have a wine that at that price point ($22 a bottle) you would be super excited,” he says – it’s clear he wanted Old Tattoo to showcase who he is as a hunter and organic eater.

When Morgan returns to his Alaska trapper’s cabin and spends some time hunting, fishing or just enjoying the solitude of the surrounding quiet, he’s never without a bottle of Old Tattoo or another favorite wine.

“My kids and my friends make fun of me that even in Alaska I have a good cab glass or at least a glass of some kind (to drink the wine),” he says with a laugh. “It may be a tumbler, but how bad is that I don’t want to drink the wine out of a Solo cup or Styrofoam cup? It has to be a glass.” CC

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That lifestyle never left Morgan’s mind as he progressed on into his own path – first during 17 years in the Army and then his singing career that elevated him into a fixture on the Nashville music scene.

“Now I’m in a position in my life where I can afford to go buy what I want to eat, but I choose to hunt because I know the meat that I’m getting is going to be better for me,” he says.

“It’s going to be cleaner. We try to use that term a lot in our house: eating clean. But it was very much a part of my life and still is, probably more so today than it was then.”

As his career took off, Morgan’s outdoor roots scored him a gig as host of Craig Morgan: All Access Outdoors, which chronicles fishing and hunting adventures from around the globe.

Among his most memorable episodes was a Northern California turkey hunt with friend and former major-league baseball player Ryan Klesko.

“We donated a hunt with he and I to the (National Wild Turkey Federation), and I’ll never forget the lady who

Morgan bought his Alaska home about three years ago, but he refers to it as “more of a trapper’s cabin than a house.” (CHELSEA GREER)

bought the hunt; she was so excited to be out hunting with Ryan and I,” Morgan says. “We all killed turkeys and it was just a phenomenal hunt (near San Francisco). It was awesome because we hunted for a few days and then got to visit all the wineries.”

Indeed, those early days of subsistence hunting with his family in rural Tennessee spawned quite the dedicated sportsman.

And around the turn of the century, he cut his first album to kick off a successful career that’s included 17 singles that reached the Billboard country charts and a No. 1 hit, “That’s What I Love About Sunday,” that tops his discography.

Ironically, making records, touring, hunting in exotic locales around North America and abroad and all the other perks that go with celebrity status have complicated Morgan’s personal life.

“My family is always going to come first and a lot of people would question that, just because of the amount of time that I spend with them, which is so little,” he says.

“But I tell my kids all the time that 26

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I make a choice as a dad to make certain sacrifices in order that they and my wife and family are better off. And one of those choices was choosing this occupation, which requires me to be away from home a lot.”

The Morgans have also started a family business, the Gallery at Morgan Farms in their hometown of Dickson.

They make various items out of recycled and reclaimed materials (the UP TV network is working on a series revolving around the family juggling an already hectic schedule to make the business work).

But having so much access to the beauty of the outdoors has also been a blessing in that Morgan’s family has joined him on so many of his outdoor adventures, both on camera and off (he and his wife Karen Greer had four children but lost their son Jerry to a tragic swimming accident in 2016).

When asked about his favorite episodes of Craig Morgan: All Access Outdoors, while he’s enjoyed the tributes to veterans – Morgan’s Army background made it only natural that’s been heavi-

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Morgan considers himself more of a hunter than fisherman, but when in Alaska, who wouldn’t want to bring home some seafood? He also fishes the nearby lake when at his cabin. (SUB7)

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ly involved in giving back to the troops through charitable causes – his mind came racing back to his family, where his own hunting passion’s roots grew.

“Probably my favorite hunts to do throughout the filming are the ones that I do with my family, in particular my kids. I’ve always loved spending time with them in the outdoors and trying to educate them on the process,” Morgan says. “And I have something that a lot of people that get to do that don’t, and that’s the footage of it. So I get to go back and re-experience that with my kids, which is a real blessing.”

IF THERE’S ONE ALASKA adventure Morgan is still hoping to cross off his bucket list, it’s to harvest a muskox (he also wants to hunt one of those near-mythical creatures in Europe someday if not in Alaska).

“A friend of mine just did it and the reason why they loved it was the weather. There’s nothing like hunting in the Arctic,” he says. “It’s a little more entertaining, weather-wise. But I would suffer the cold in the Arctic for a muskox.”

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Morgan’s TV hunting show, Craig Morgan: All Access Outdoors, which appears on the Outdoor Channel, takes him all over the place, including California, where he got this gobbler.

He says his favorite shows to shoot involve our military veterans and his family. (SUB7)

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When he does make his periodic pilgrimages from Tennessee to Alaska, Morgan appreciates the value in his purchase. Alaska, like his TV show and family time amid a busy schedule recording and performing music, is another facet in a life where few hours of the day aren’t taken advantage of.

It’s clear that heading north makes for a spiritual moment of clarity.

“I try to go at least two or three times a year, and I think in the last couple years I’ve been up four times a year. Every time I land in Anchorage I get this excited feeling – like a little kid at Christmas about to open up a present,” he says.

Early in 2018 Morgan is working on his 11th album and expects he’ll continue to make new music until his fans no longer want to listen. But while it’s his primary job, he really does enjoy it, likening the process to those backyard grillmasters who live for cooking that perfect steak on the barbie. Songwriting and performing feels like a hobby, and even if he’s not earning a paycheck Morgan will likely always channel his musical gifts.

Of all the songs he’s cut and hits that made the charts, the tune that makes him most nostalgic is 2008’s “Lookin’ Back With You,” in which he pays homage to growing old with wife Karen.

“When we’re sittin’ on our front porch,” “In our cracker barrel rockers.”

“And we don’t long to dye the grey out of our hair,” “We’ll sit and laugh and talk about all the things that we went through.”

“Yeah, I look forward to looking back with you.”

It could be sitting on a porch in a trapper’s cabin in the isolated but magnificent Alaskan Interior.

“It just talks about when we get older, and I look forward to looking back on my life – my wife and I in particular,” he says.

“I don’t know if we’re quite there yet, but it’s one of my favorite songs.” ASJ Editor’s note: For more on Craig Morgan, check out his website craigmorgan. com, follow on Twitter and Instagram (@ cmorganmusic) and like at facebook.com/ craigmorganmusic.

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FISH HARDER

PROTECTING

WILD ALASKA

BYU STUDY FINDS WATER TEMP CHANGES IN AK ROCKFISH BONES

Brigham Young University research on long-lived rockfish and a tiny bone called an otolith has helped them correlate fish growth and changes in water temperatures. (BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY)

Editor’s note: At a time when climate change is hotly debated, Brigham Young University biologist Mark Belk has for the last five years annually taken his students and colleagues to Southeast Alaska’s Admiralty Island to do research (through fishing for saltwater species). After the BYU team returned to the Last Frontier from its Provo, Utah, campus, something stuck with the lead biologist.

BY JOE HADFIELD

M

any people dream about getting paid to go fishing.

Brigham Young University biologist Mark Belk is living that dream.

He and his students come to Alaska each summer to reel in fish whose bones carry a story about the ocean climate. We caught up with Belk about what his team has discovered.

Joe Hadfield Where do you do this re-

“If you don’t believe the climate is changing, move to Alaska,” Belk says. “The evidence is right here.”

Research on rockfish by the students and biologists and a study on a dime-shaped bone called an otolith helped determine water temperature changes over time, its effect on the fishes’ growth and other factors that Belk and his crew discovered during their time in Alaska.

years. It’s south of Juneau about 50 miles.

This is the only private fishing lodge on the south side of the island, so it’s kind of like being in the middle of nowhere and the middle of everything at the same time. It’s a great outdoor classroom and laboratory.

JH What fish are you studying?

MB Rockfish is one of the main groups that we’re here to study. Rockfish are notorious for living a long time. I have opportunities here to explain to students, “That fish is twice as old as you are.”

search?

Mark Belk We’ve been coming to Pybus Point Lodge (800-947-9287; pybus.com) on Admiralty Island for five consecutive

JH How do you tell the age of these fish?

MB One of the things that we do is take bones in the heads of rockfish called

otoliths. We take those out and get a growth record by looking at the concentric rings on this bone under a microscope and counting how old the fish is.

JH What else do you learn from these fish bones?

MB Otoliths contain a lot of great information. It’s kind of like tree rings; it gives us a climate record and we can go back in time and see how that climate affected growth compared to how this climate affects growth.

In addition to that, we can take tissue and get stable isotope readings that tell us how the rockfish fit into the food web. This gives us an opportunity to

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Biologist Mark Belk (center) gives his students a research trip primer in Southeast Alaska. (BRIGHAM YOUNG

PROTECTING

WILD ALASKA

UNIVERSITY)

WILDLIFE FOREVER CEO RETIRES

One of the bigger lingcod the students caught during their fishing research.

(BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY)

figure out what those fish were feeding on 50 years ago and see if things have changed since that time.

JH What impact could this have on Alaskan fishing?

MB The fishing industry has a long history here and hopefully, if they do things sustainably, will have a long future here as well. But we have to be proactive and creative to study climate. We can’t wait around until every last person is convinced. It’s not just that climate is changing; it’s the rate at which it is 38

ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

After 25 years of service to fish and wildlife conservation, Wildlife Forever president and CEO Douglas Grann has announced his retirement and turned over the leadership reins to Pat Conzemius, executive vice president.

Grann joined the nonprofit organization in March 1992. Prior to Wildlife Forever, he was executive vice president for Voyageur Art, specializing in state duckstamp prints, and created the Australia First of Nation duck stamp program. He also served as director of operations for the National Wild Turkey Federation and started its popular Super Fund banquet program.

Grann’s responsibilities included the leadership of Wildlife Forever, management of staff and programs, plus the creation and development of national campaigns. Grann said that his greatest achievement was ensuring that no less than 80 percent of every dollar raised was spent on conservation. This goal was accomplished for 25 years; in recent years 94 percent of all revenue went directly to the organization’s mission statement, confirmed by independent audits.

“Wildlife Forever was built and supported by individuals who care deeply about the future of fish and wildlife,” Grann said. “I am most thankful for those dedicated members, directors, staff and sponsors who invested in conservation and believed in developing stewardship in America’s youth. Thank you all; it has been a privilege to guide Wildlife Forever.”

Wildlife Forever’s mission is to conserve America’s wildlife heritage through conservation education, preservation of habitat and management of fish and wildlife. For 30 years, its members have helped to conduct thousands of fish, game and habitat conservation projects across the country. To join and learn more about the award-winning programs, including work to engage America’s youth, visit wildlifeforever.org. ASJ

FEBRUARY 2018 | aksportingjournal.com

PROTECTING

WILD ALASKA

These BYU Cougars, guests of Admiralty Island’s Pybus Point Lodge, are studying Alaska fish species to see how climate change affects them. (BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY)

changing. Alaskans see the evidence of that right here. The average water temperature may raise only a few degrees, but that’s enough to wreak havoc.

JH You bring students along to do research.

What’s the experience like for them?

MB In education we talk about watching the lights go on in a student’s eyes. That happens multiple times a day around here because everything hits you right in the face. It inspires real learning that stays with them.

Everything has to start somewhere and one by one those students are educated in a very direct way and they understand the difference they make.

That’s what we need to solve global problems. We need students and people who are globally engaged, who are good international citizens. ASJ

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Editor’s note: Joe Hadfield is the director of online communications at Brigham Young University. Video from this research is available at youtube.com/watch?v=89BVXA2LCYY. For more on the BYU College of Life sciences, check out lifesciences.byu.edu.

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Spring resident bull caribou hunting season opens in Game Management Unit 23 (Kotzebue) Feb. 3 Yukon Quest sled dog race begins, Fairbanks; yukonquest.com Feb. 16 Results for draw, Tier I/II, and community subsistence harvest hunts are expected to be available online March 1 Spring bison hunting season opens in GMU 19 (McGrath) March 3 Expected start of Iditarod sled dog race; iditarod.com A full moon over part of Alaska’s Arctic March 15 Spring brown bear hunting season begins in GMU 1 makes for a striking image. (PAUL D. ATKINS) (Southeast Mainland) March 15 Resident spring brown bear hunting in GMU 3 (Petersburg-Wrangell) March 15 Spring brown bear hunting opens in GMU 4 (Admiralty-Baranof-Chichagof Islands) March 24 Homer Winter King Salmon Derby; homeralaska.org/2018-winter-king-salmon-tournament Editor’s note: For more specific information on hunting regulations, refer to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s handbook (adfg.alaska.gov).

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Fred Hurt (right) and son Dustin, known to Gold Rush fans as the Dakota Boys, are back mining in Alaska’s McKinley Creek in a new spin-off series, Gold Rush: White Water. (DISCOVERY CHANNEL)

DAKOTA BOYS’ NEW ALASKAN ADVENTURE FRED HURT SEEKS A MCKINLEY CREEK FORTUNE IN GOLD RUSH SPINOFF SERIES

BY CHRIS COCOLES

T

he Dakota Boys are back in Alaska.

Never mind that Fred Hurt and his son Dustin both have connections to the oilfields and offshore drilling waters of Texas and Louisiana, fans of the Discovery Channel series Gold Rush got to know Fred based on his time as a miner in Minot, North Dakota. But the Last Frontier has become a second home, and after an onscreen hiatus from Gold Rush the Hurts have staked a claim along the rushing waters of the Panhandle’s McKinley Creek as part of a spin-off series, Gold Rush: White Water.

“A lot of it, of course, involves the

scenery and the remoteness of where we were,” the 72-year-old Hurt says of the appeal of his return to mining and the new series that premiered last month. “That’s going to be a big part of this show. And it was quite the physical endurance for this old man. I’m working with a bunch of young bucks.”

This time it’s Dustin Hurt’s claim that papa Fred is helping to mine, which if the premiere episode from January suggests, should make for some entertaining back and forth between two stubborn miners.

“Fred likes to think he’s in charge,” Dustin says of his dad during the premiere episode. “He’s got his way of talking down to me and I don’t think he means it. But when he does it, it’s enough

to set you off. But he’s my dad. I love him.

And Fred can be convincing, as he helped negotiate an investment from his former boss, veteran Gold Rush poobah Todd Hoffman, who fronted the Dakota Boys $50,000 to get their operation off the ground (Hoffman negotiated for 15 percent off the gold profits, much to Dustin’s chagrin before accepting those terms).

“Todd and I have gotten along just fine. He is an excellent promoter,” Fred Hurt says of Hoffman. “Todd knows me as an older guy from the days when a handshake made your word as good as gold. ‘Nuf said.”

We spent some time chatting with the likeable Fred Hurt, who didn’t fail to disappoint.

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Chris Cocoles McKinley Creek looks like a pretty intense environment for gold mining. How was that for you and the crew in person?

Fred Hurt It is quite an adventure. You know that Alaska is on the bucket list for about 20 million people. And the reason is it’s not just because of the resources and everything, but it’s because of the scenery. And I’m going to tell you what? We are absolutely working right smack in the middle of some of the best scenery that you can ever imagine in Alaska. And it’s breathtaking.

CC That’s true. And your Facebook page (facebook.com/DakotaFred) has a lot of great photos of wildlife and others.

What’s the overall Alaska experience been like you and does anything stand out for you?

FH We’ve had some bear encounters, and we had one, a grizzly bear and a couple of cubs, that didn’t get recorded. I was sitting on the other side (of the creek), and some of the fellas on the other side were there with no armaments or nothing. And they startled a mama bear. It really scared them beyond belief. And it charged them twice – bluff-charged them twice. They were screaming and yelling, and from across the canyon – about 400 and something feet away, I could hear them just as plain as day, screaming their lungs out. And that mama bear had two small cubs that they didn’t even see.

But we had a lot of wildlife adventures.

Bears were our biggest thing.

CC What I do want to compliment you on is I hope I have your energy level when I’m your age.

FH Thank you. Hey, it’s not always there, but I’m trying to make an example for a bunch of the old guys. I’m not trying to discourage them from watching any of Gold Rush: White Water. But they need to get off the couch and go do something – when the show is not on, of course [laughs].

CC Is that drive to be active in your DNA? FH Yes. For me personally, when we first started, I’ve said on camera that I’m out of shape; I need to get back into shape. And let me tell you: It’s the 48

ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

No, not some new zipline ride – rather, this is how Fred Hurt, crewmember Paul Richardson and other gold miners access the steepwalled creek near Haines. (DISCOVERY CHANNEL)

most out of shape that I’ve ever been in my life. I’d always done construction work and I was a commercial diver in my younger days out in the Gulf of Mexico – oilfield diving and things of that nature. And I had my own construction business, and that kept me in very good shape for pile driving and dock building and all that type of stuff.

But when I retired out of that when I was 60 years old and went to Alaska, it was like stepping from one profession that prepared me for gold mining.

CC The people I’ve interviewed for

FEBRUARY 2018 | aksportingjournal.com

some of these (Alaska-based) shows like Bering Sea Gold and Gold Rush, they’ve talked about their obsession with gold. Is that how it has been for you and Dustin?

FH I guess if I had to rate it – you’d call it the gold fever or any kind of obsession with the gold – I’d rate it about a two. I’ve been going gold mining for now 15 years in Alaska. And I’ve never gotten rich at it, but I’ve always been fascinated by the scenery, the people who I’ve met – man, did I meet some characters. [Laughs.]

We always met characters in Alaska, and this is what keeps bringing me back.

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FH I did some of the nicest diving you could ever do but also a lot of the dirtiest diving you can ever do. I did it all: demolitions, salvaging, pipelines. Dig ’em up, locate them, bury them, blow them up – all that good stuff. [Laughs.]

When it came to doing this, it’s something like riding a bicycle; you don’t forget, no matter what kind of age you’ve got on you. You still remember all that. So it helped me prepare and set up the diving stations. A lot of it was Dustin and I didn’t agree on a lot of stuff. [Laughs.]

With the white water of McKinley Creek rushing past, Fred Hurt poses next to the treacherous stream he hopes holds riches.

(DISCOVERY CHANNEL)

But getting gold is fascinating. Every time you see that yellow stuff in the sluice box or in your pan, let me tell you, it’s a thrill. I think it’s the pioneer spirit. We’re reliving that stuff in 2017 or 2018!

CC What’s McKinley Creek like in terms of the terrain? There were miners 100 years ago who were mining in that same creek and it looks so treacherous.

FH Those old-time guys were tough.

I don’t care how tough anybody is this these days. Not a one of them is tougher than some of those old gold miners were. And you get a sense of that today when you go up there and see what they did. We saw relics of old (mining) stuff that they had built up at the McKinley Creek site. And these are canyon walls that are not sloping walls down 45 degrees. These are vertical walls that go 200 feet straight down. [Laughs.] They’re treacherous and narrow. The canyons that McKinley and Porcupine (Creeks) carve are very narrow, particularly in McKinley Creek, which is extremely narrow in some places. In fact, we were working in a very narrow area, which presented its own problems. And we had to do a lot of hiking just to get those points; blazing a trail onto the edge of the creek was quite a task.

FH Like I’ve said before, it’s so intense some people will just cringe about what we’ve been doing. Now, I know that sometimes the camera will make it a little more dangerous than it really is, but in this case, it pretty much is the real deal. And the film crew ate with us and slept with us, hiked the canyons with us. They did quite a job, and not just the camera guys but the support guys and the security guys too. I have high hopes that people will want to watch this.

CC Does your diving background help in terms of the underwater mining on the creek?

CC Has it been a good experience to

For Dustin (pictured) and Fred Hurt, their diving background comes in handy when going below the surface of the creek is required. (DISCOVERY CHANNEL)

pelling on ropes and ziplining between the canyon walls. That’s pretty intense.

ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

CC Are you and Dustin both kind of alpha personalities?

FH We are both strong-headed people who have our own opinions.

Of course, mine are always better than his, as I’ve got the experience.

[Laughs.] Not always better, but more experienced in it.

CC In that first episode you had guys rap-

50

CC That conflict was pretty evident in the first episode.

FH He was kind of wanting to exert his authority. But we are working on his claims. And this is one of the big differences (from the Dakota Boys’ previous mining ventures). He wanted to show some leadership there, and of course he’s going to get some feedback from the old man. [Laughs.] Sometimes you don’t want to hear it.

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work with your son like you have?

FH Dustin had some rough teenage years; I won’t go into the details, but before he went to college he quit school and didn’t want to go. So I put him to work on my own crew and we worked for four years together doing some really hard construction waterfront work like pile driving and dock building. And he got a lot of experience. But after that, we didn’t work together for like 30 years. He was a forest firefighter in California and I convinced him to come work with me for the first summer that I was in Alaska. And we butted heads even then.

But we’d come to agreements, and this is something that fathers and sons and mothers and daughters and brothers and sisters, they will all understand these family dynamics.

Amid the rocky cliffs, Dustin Hurt carefully drills wall brackets into the steep wall of the streambank.

“These are vertical walls that go 200 feet straight down,” Fred Hurt says. (DISCOVERY CHANNEL)

CC You’re from Texas and Louisiana originally. Are you any kind of an outdoorsman and fisherman/hunter?

FH I was an avid fisherman from grade school on. I’m going to reveal something that only you know: I was No.

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1 or No. 2 in my class always … from the bottom! [Laughs]. And I’ll tell you why: because I loved to fish. I used to go fish and wouldn’t do my homework.

And finally something in high school got me clicked. But I still went fishing a tremendous amount. And then I got into sport diving, mostly off the coast of Corpus Christi, Texas, off Padre Island. But I also did a lot of spearfishing and was a spearfishing championship winner. Mostly I wanted to go into marine biology when I was younger.

But I found out later that they don’t get paid very much. [Laughs]. But I also had a great interest in geology, which I took a little bit of in college.

And I should have pursued geology.

But I also did a lot of quail and dove hunting down in south Texas. I wasn’t really a deer hunter; it just wasn’t my thing. But I was a big bird hunter.

CC At your age now, is retiring anytime soon on your calendar?

FH Retiring! Are you kidding? When I’m 6 feet under, I’m retiring. [Laughs]. Or if I can’t do it and sitting in a rocking chair

54

ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

“Retiring? Are you kidding?” 72-year-old Fred Hurt says. “When I’m 6 feet under, I’m retiring.”

(DISCOVERY CHANNEL)

or wheelchair, I’m still going to be doing something. I hope I’m an inspiration to some of these older guys. They might think, “Oh, hell; life’s over and I’m just meh.” But I’m still talking I want to inspire. That’s my attitude. ASJ

FEBRUARY 2018 | aksportingjournal.com

Editor’s note: New episodes of Gold Rush: White Water can be seen on Friday nights on the Discovery Channel (check your local listings). Check out discovery.com/tvshows/gold-rush-white-wate for more. Follow Fred Hurt on Twitter (@GoldrushFred).

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Flanked by the majestic Wrangell Mountains, the Tsiu River is quite a scenic locale to fish for the watershed’s famed salmon.

It’s one of the author’s favorite destinations. (CHRIS BATIN)

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WHERE SALMON

RULE THE WORLD A JOURNEY TO THE TSIU RIVER, WHERE THE WILDERNESS CAN BE AS EXCITING AS THE FISHING

BY CHRISTOPHER BATIN

N

o matter how much you’ve fished Alaska or the size of fish you’ve caught, there are a select few fishing locations that defy categorization.

They’re where the ambiance, the terrain, the geology, the hydrology, the fish and the river are blessed with an exponentially greater category than “fishing hole.” Fishing becomes a secondary, peripheral activity on a primary journey that titillates, discourages, entices, cajoles and inspires the angler into a new mindset and takes him to a place he’s never been before, both physically and spiritually.

This story describes one of these special places, for you to enjoy as soon as possible, before it disappears forever.

So for adventurers at heart, as well as anglers who complain that Alaska fishing is not what it used to be, this adventure is for you.

sets a standard by which to rate all future hunts.

The one fishing day-trip I did make to the Tsiu was unfortunately, superficial.

I fished its periphery, but didn’t experience its core. For over 20 years I lived in ignorance, until Katie Prijatel convinced me to give the river another shot.

Thankfully, Katie and Tom Prijatel know the secrets of the Tsiu wilderness. Its fishing and scenic beauty, location and ease of access make it one of the state’s top fishing destinations, although relatively few know of its existence. Through several decades of tent camp and building reincarnations, the Prijatels persevered through devastating floods and winter storms to build a five-star, full-service lodge. They offer anglers and wilderness adventurers perhaps the world’s best fishing for coho salmon and, well, something more. I was intrigued not so much with the claims of world-class fishing but, rather, with the “more.”

AS WITH MOST ANGLING expeditions, the Tsiu wilderness experience begins with a single step.

But proceed with this admonition.

Stepping into the Tsiu River is the red pill that leads into a rabbit hole: Once chosen, there is no going back to normal fishing. Your life will be changed forever.

But don’t take my word for it.

Log onto Google Earth and take a look at the Tsiu River and its surrounding geography. At first glance, the area resembles a drainage ditch for the 118-mile-long Bering Glacier.

But looks can be deceiving.

I’ve climbed and hunted the Bering’s flanks to the west, and each one was a hunting trip that has had no equal in my life. Absolute beauty and hunting adventure can do that to a man, and it

LAST AUGUST, I BOARDED a ferry from Whittier to Cordova and caught a hop on a Turbo Otter that was piloted by Tom Prijatel and Katie’s brother Pat Magie. I had a 36-hour window to check out the area, meet the guests, and see for myself why this portal on the edge of the Bering wilderness has such devoted followers. This time I was better prepared. My ample research and 43 years of Alaska fishing experience would help me understand why I should reconsider this area as a fishing hotspot. Little did I know my pilgrimage would not only change my views on coho fishing, but also lead me to re-examine the journey of fishing.

We landed on an airstrip near the beach, a neatly mowed swatch centered

in a mile of August fireweed in full bloom.

A gray sash of beach sand separated the fireweed meadows from the mysterious, azure depths of the Gulf of Alaska.

In the distance, the Wrangell-St. Elias Mountains posed as geologic bodybuilders, their granite triceps bulging from bench-pressing the Bering Glacier and Bagley Ice Field. Groundwater from these fields drain parts of a 50-square-mile segment of the Tsiu, Kaliakh and Tsivat watershed.

On the ground, it’s massive country, but from the air it’s but a gouge taken out of coastal bedrock, much as a hungry finger would snatch a taste of icy meringue from pumpkin pie. It’s my view that hidden in this geological gouge is a biological perfect storm where salmon evolution is on the fast track.

Studies show that supercharged evolutionary influences of constantly changing wind, sand, flooding, and tides positively affect and toughen coastal salmon like those found here. They evolve into stronger and intuitively wiser fish, especially when they are compared to the evolutionary growth of salmon in comparatively stable watersheds like the Kenai or Mulchatna Rivers.

The Tsiu is a remnant of the last great Ice Age, when salmon learned to quickly and successfully colonize the ice-free shores of North America. In a way, I was not only fishing, but also going back in time.

It’s also fascinating to consider that as offshoots of salmon strains from the Miocene and Pleistocene eras, coho have a distant link back to their southern cousin, the prehistoric saber-toothed salmon – a 6-foot-long specimen that eventually became extinct.

Nevertheless, whatever survival genes the saber-toothed salmon lacked,

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Tsiu River coho have in abundance as they have environmentally hardened into what may eventually become super salmon in the years to come.

Visiting the Tsiu to catch and hold one of these coho is reason enough for making the pilgrimage. I was intent, however, on experiencing first-hand the environment that would later make these salmon special in my eyes.

A guest scoops up a silver at the mouth of the Tsiu. (CHRIS BATIN)

EARLY THE NEXT MORNING, I left my cabin for a short hike before the other lodge guests awoke. The breakfast crew was scurrying about and I wanted to be alone in my observations. I was soon consumed in blankets of fireweed and buzzing bees. There were no car horns, no cellphones ringing, no lawn mower engines coughing or basketballs dribbling in driveways.

Perhaps it was the fresh ocean air, the coolness of the glacier ice rolling down off the Bering Glacier, or the sun peeking over the eastern Wrangells.

Eventually, it morphed into energy. I bounced off the balls of my feet, feeling bold and attentive, as if walking across

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the Earth as it was ďŹ rst new.

There are no marinas, no roads or boats with trailers. No scales to weigh the catch, nor dumpsters ďŹ lled with the rotting carcasses of ďŹ lleted ďŹ sh. And thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just it. There was nothing here, other than a few cabins and a network of marshes and streams that fed the Tsiu and its nearby rivers and streams.

Only a handful of guides and few if any anglers have poked around the Tsiuâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s uppermost tributaries to its glacial-carved bedrock cliffs.

The reason is obvious.

There is little incentive for expedition ďŹ shing here, as the Tsiu offers a ďŹ sh or a strike just a cast from its mouth during the peak of the coho run in August.

Only a handful of anglers witness this ďŹ shery in late September and October.

Then, the tributaries are also stuffed with salmon. Although fewer in number at this time, these fresh in-migrants are larger-than-normal males full of salt and vinegar and possess a ďŹ&#x201A;y-hammering viciousness that knows no equal. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have small but steady repeat clientele who ďŹ sh the Tsiu in October,â&#x20AC;? says

A guide ties on a ďŹ&#x201A;y on the river.

(CHRIS BATIN)

Katie Prijatel. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the last month the lodge is open, and a spectacular time when an Indian summer makes it the most colorful time of the year. Anglers usually have the entire watershed to themselves, and frankly, most of them would rather keep this secret to themselves.â&#x20AC;?

The in-migration of Tsiu coho is a sight to see. Wave after wave of salmon stream up the ďŹ&#x201A;at ribbons of tidal river, their dorsal ďŹ ns sticking out of the mostly shallow riffles and runs. Except for the diehards, many guests quit ďŹ shing by the time guides serve shoreline

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When fishing the Tsiu, you’re not likely to be only one looking for salmon, as these bear tracks reflect. (CHRIS BATIN)

lunch, and opt for exploring the sand dunes, beachcombing or bear viewing.

In short, everyone catches lots of fish.

End of story for those hard-core anglers interested only in the fishing.

IF THE TSIU’S FISHERY is delightfully predictable, its weather is its alter ego, its unpredictable self. Sunny mornings with temperate breezes offer simple predictability, while high winds and low-hanging coastal scud and fog make fishing a lesson in futility, an eternal punishment reserved for anglers consigned to Dante’s Purgatorio. Even in blissful weather, accessing the Tsiu Paradisio requires a hard ride over a mile of rugged shoreline.

Matt Williams, Tsiu’s head guide and a veteran with over 28 years’ experience, is a Dantean Virgil who offered me a lift to the river mouth as the only passenger in a guest transport trailer he hauled behind his ATV. “Get in,” he motioned, moving his gear to the side. “I’ll give you the guided tour and point out a few sights.”

The guest trailer is large enough to 66

ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

sit six seated adults. I chose, however, to stand at the front of the trailer, facing forward so I could not only hear Matt but also watch for upcoming bumps and drops.

Easing through the fireweed meadows to the landing strip, I allowed myself a brief yet regal fantasy. Standing in back of the trailer, I envisioned myself as a fishing Caesar riding his chariot and inspecting endless battalions of stalwart fireweed, their blazing magenta cloaks fluttering in the wind. Matt kept the mechanical horse on a slow trot to the beach, and that is where my easy ride, and fantasy, ended.

The trailer lurched up as if it had eaten a bad lunch, and it doubled over sideways as we entered sand country.

One hand gripped the handrail as the trailer became airborne on a grassy hummock and my legs splayed out to anchor me upright.

We pushed on. Matt looked back occasionally, his face covered in sunglasses and scarf that protected his face from shoreline gusts picking up

FEBRUARY 2018 | aksportingjournal.com

payloads of biting debris. I had no scarf, so I gritted my teeth as blowing sand became like bee stings. I ate the pain as a starved bear would eat a porcupine.

Matt soon motored to a stop and we took a break. As he checked the trailer mounts, I watched ocean waves become hungry vultures, their whitewater beaks ripping out bites of sandy flesh from the shoreline. Yet as voracious as the bites became with larger waves, the shoreline continuously reshapes and reforms.

We later talked about the constant onslaught of wave and wind, of tide and flooding that alter the shoreline and the course of the Tsiu, which all forced the salmon to adapt. When spawning grounds get wiped out by floods, the salmon create new ones. The salmon detour up drainages to find the scent streams of their birth and, if necessary, they extend their range into new tributaries. This ongoing process of adapting to new runs and spawning areas help ensure salmon will be around 100 years from now.

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An experience with Alaskan Wilderness Outfitting Company includes riding to the river in “style” and first-class food and wine in the dining room. (CHRIS BATIN)

“It’ll get pretty bumpy from here on out,” Matt said while wrapping up our talk. “If you fall out, I may not see you for a while, so just stay on the trail, and I’ll swing back to get you.”

His admonitions were justified. The barely recognizable trail led through what I called Driftwood Purgatorio. It was a forest graveyard, a semi-final resting place for logs of all shapes and sizes that had drifted in from Pacific Rim countries and states. Matt had explained earlier that guests often find a variety of treasures while beachcombing, from glass Japanese fishing floats to beer bottles from the 1950s. But there are also quicksand pits, brown bears and tidal surges to avoid.

I paused and strained to hear a barely discernible sound in my mind’s ear, a whisper of sorts that became two and then three. Each came from various pieces of driftwood that at one time were stately cedar, hemlock and spruce trees. They had met their final fate by rolling off timber barges, collapsing with eroding riverbanks, rotting away from beetle blight, or being struck by lightning. As empty hulls without a soul, they had floated for weeks to years on 68

ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

the Alaska Gyre before tide or storms eventually buried them on this milelong stretch of sandy beach.

“I’ve seen driftwood the size of a ship’s sailing mast buried almost completely in the sand,” Matt shouted above the wind and ATV engine. “Later on, a storm surge rips them out and repositions them on end far down the beach, or often transports them to another beach to be buried again.”

As we weaved through and around the standing driftwood skeletons, they took on the haunted look of deforested zombies. Neither lodge crew nor guests

FEBRUARY 2018 | aksportingjournal.com

venture onto the shoreline in severe storms as wind gusts of up to 60 mph hurtle sand and debris. The tidal surges are also dangerous if not downright spooky, as driftwood logs float upended as ghostly apparitions across the flooded shoreline. It’s a sight that leaves the spine colder than a draft from an open freezer door.

THE TRAIL SOON EMERGED from Driftwood Purgatorio and onto a sand dune overlooking the Tsiu River mouth. Matt pointed out a brown bear track. It was easy to envision the bear standing

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stiff-legged and facing the wind while sniffing for a salmon dinner. The bear and I not only had fishing in common but also a connection to this wild place. The bear knew it instinctively, while I had to search my feelings to understand it. As Matt rode off to check on another angler, I walked down to the river mouth to take in a view that stuns me into silence.

I look down into the waves and see the bright green forms of salmon – lined up as mini torpedoes armed and waiting – riding the guts of a wave until it crashes onto the river sandbar. They immediately right themselves, send roostertails of spray into the wind and scurry upstream like ants running amok when their colony is exposed.

My arms became jittery with anticipatory excitement. I can’t deny wanting to touch a Tsiu salmon, a product of this ever-changing wilderness. For me, immersing myself into this wilderness created a metaphysical experience I hadn’t known to such depths.

Perhaps some eons-old molecules activated a primal self-awareness, call-

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John Cleveland searches for the perfect silver salmon spoon. (CHRIS BATIN)

FEBRUARY 2018 | aksportingjournal.com

LODGING

ing to nitrogen atoms that were once a part of the saber-toothed salmon; these atoms were now in me. Anything is possible, and it was fun to imagine. While our souls may not reincarnate, the elements that make us who we are do get reused. And I could feel the spirit of the saber-tooth within me!

Matt returned and we took the ATV farther upriver. The Tsiu meandered lazily between sand dunes. I was content to simply observe a few guests catch salmon.

Even those who have fished the best salmon fisheries in the world eventually end up here, because in life, whether one plans for it or not, the best things are often saved up for last. Matt told me stories of the elderly angler who couldn’t stand in the current, yet found a way to hook and release 30 fish from his easy chair.

Mother and daughter Donna and Karen Alger were fishing downstream from us. Their father had fished here all his life and they wanted to celebrate his passing by fishing the Tsiu together in his memory. Other guests love the area

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so much that they choose to have their ashes scattered here.

I EVENTUALLY FOUND A pool to my liking, and because my time was running out, I decided to finally wet a line. Guide Matt Sanders came in to replace head guide Matt Williams, who was needed elsewhere. I assembled my Crosscurrent rod, tied on a Batin Bunny Leech and eased into the shallows.

Salmon were all around, from the cut bank across the river to the deep hole below me. The fish and I were both waiting; me for a hookup and the fish for the next rush of tidal water to flood the river and transport them upstream to their spawning grounds.

I got a soft tap and repositioned for a better presentation. “Five minutes left before we need to leave for your flight!”

Matt called out.

I waved to him in acknowledgement.

My hands were jittery with anticipation, so I took a few breaths and eased into the moment.

I focused on the fly and imagined the salmon below. Gradually, I became the

FEBRUARY 2018 | aksportingjournal.com

fly in the drift, and felt the current swirl that carried me to the fish. I was in sync and in perfect harmony with the Tsiu and fishing.

When the fly stopped, I was ready.

Conditioned reflexes kicked into gear, and I right-arm punched my 10-weight up and back, as my left hand simultaneously pulled back to set the hook. I held the rod against the heavy slag of a head-shaking, rebellious coho. I felt as if I had hooked the drain plug for the Tsiu – I watched wide-eyed as the entire school, 5 yards wide and 20 yards long, scattered at my hookset.

I gasped, just a tad, when the coho buck leaped from the water, no lesser in magnificence than a Poseidon missile clawing for sky. A perceptive angler doesn’t control such power. He lets it run its course.

Matt ran toward me, but kept to the shoreline’s edge. Again, the Tsiu talked to me and I forgot about the mechanics of fishing. Fish fighting went on autopilot; I became lost in a bizarre mental rant, shouting to the Wrangells like the mountain men of old at rendezvous.

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Author Chris Batin (left) had a plane to catch, but with the help of guide Matt Sanders landed a beautiful silver on his last cast on the Tsiu.

(CHRIS BATIN)

“I’m into nothing less than a stampedin’ salmon and I’m holding on to my hair,” I chortled. “These Tsiu coho are

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super salmon. Other cohos are akin to wimpy lampreys. Great Lakes coho are smolts, and Japanese salmon are for

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I continued to incoherently rant things I can’t now recall, intoxicated on

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The coho jumped another five times, its silvery flanks atomizing the river’s surface as if hit with mortar rounds. It jumped, bee-lined, leaped and dug into bottom. It bee-lined for snags and sulked before I strong-armed it loose. I soon eased the massive fish to shore, where Matt tailed it.

With one hand, he high-fived me; with the other, he reached for his scale.

“Wow, 16 pounds, the largest caught at the lodge so far this year,” he bellowed while slapping me on the back. “Congrats, and you were only fishing for a few minutes. Well, OK, we got a plane to catch.”

On the way back, dancing and bouncing full speed over the ol’ Purgatorio Trail, I had no pretense of being Caesar on his golden chariot. At the speed we were going, it was obvious I was the Greek god Helios on his chariot, streaking across the sky. My insides burned as bright as the sun – with not only satisfaction but also a metaphysical sense of fulfillment.

In a surreal moment, I craned my neck skyward and was startled to see a Turbo Otter a couple hundred feet above us.

Its weight and cargo of gear and passengers would easily tip the scales at 6,000-plus pounds, yet it floated as a feather on a breeze as it lined up for its final approach. It seemed so close that I could reach up and touch its underbelly.

Matt revved the ATV faster, causing me to grab the handrail tighter still. Now was not the time to fall off. I knew if Katie or Tom were looking on, they wouldn’t be too pleased with seeing one of their guests bouncing on a wildly bucking trailer

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while sporting a crazed smile on a wind-burned, sand-peppered face and a crop of blow-back hair.

At the plane, I boarded it quickly as the incoming guests were disembarking, so as not to justify my antics. If the guests flying in saw how much fun I was having on the back of that trailer, I’m sure they’d ask how they too could be Caesar for a day on a high-speed tour through Driftwood Purgatorio.

The trip, however, was not without its pain and discomfort. Back home, I incurred the sharp knees and elbows of my petite 103-pound chiropractor, Dr. Bev, to reset my skeleton.

But such discomforts are worth the opportunity to experience the Tsiu River wilderness and experience adventures in a land where fish rule the world. ASJ Editor’s note: For more information on fishing the Tsiu, contact Katie and Tom Prijatel at alaskawilderness.com. Chris Batin is editor of The Alaska Angler and author of numerous books and DVDs on Alaska, including the just-released Advanced Alaska Flyfishing Techniques. This book offers a wide selection of color underwater photos, illustrations and instructions on advanced tactics for fly and spin anglers. A personalized, autographed copy can be ordered directly from the author at AlaskaAngler.com or via email at batinchris@gmail.com

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BEST OF KENAI PENINSULA

COOPER LANDING • HOMER • HOPE • KASILOF • KENAI • SEWARD • SOLDOTNA

Youngsters wet a line through the ice at Selawik National Wildlife Refuge, one of a few Alaska refuges offering ice fishing opportunities to target species such as sheefish. (NICOLE HANSHAW/USFWS)

ICE FISHING ALASKA’S IN THE WINTER FREEZE, PLENTY OF PUBLIC LAND REFUGES OPTIONS FOR ANGLERS

BY MARTHA NUDEL

A

laska’s national wildlife refuges are open year-round to winter-based recreation, including fishing. Safely accessing and enjoying Alaska’s wildlife refuges in winter takes careful planning.

The National Wildlife Refuge System (fws.gov/refuges) is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and a host of other refuges offer ice fishing in the Lower 48, while year-round quality fishing opportunities are available on more than 270 national wildlife refuges.

In the Last Frontier, there are three such refuges that should be on any ice angler’s bucket list.

KENAI NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE Alaska residents know that fishing on Kenai National Wildlife Refuge changes with the seasons. Winter brings many anglers who pursue native trout through the ice.

The refuge’s Skilak Wildlife Recreation Area, featuring lakes like Hidden, Engineer and Kelly, can be reached by road and offers an easily accessible day of fishing.

More hardy souls willing to travel by foot, snowmachine or cross-country ski are rewarded with backcountry lakes that see little angler pressure but have high fish concentrations.

A few remote lakes that offer incredible winter fishing and have refuge cabins for rent include Trapper Joe, McClain and Snag. Each year, a few winter anglers will make the trek to one of these remote cabins and experience some truly amazing winter fishing in blissful solitude and surrounded by the beauty of the refuge.

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Kenai National Wildlife Refuge features several lakes right off the road system that make for easy opportunities for hardwater anglers of all ages. (USFWS)

THINK SAFETY FIRST WHEN ICE FISHING Follow these guidelines when ice fishing: Dress appropriately for the weather. Winter conditions can include extreme cold, high winds and precipitation (snow, sleet, rain). Getting/ staying wet in freezing temperatures can result in frostbite, hypothermia and death. Make sure you have enough spare dry clothes.

Bring extra food. Being in cold weather burns extra calories. Weather delays and emergencies can happen, so make sure you have enough food for several extra days.

Bring extra water. Keep extra hydrated in cold weather. Be sure your water is stored in a way so that it doesn’t freeze or that you have a way to heat it. Always make sure you have more than you think you might need.

Emergencies happen.

Travel with someone. Having someone with you is a bit of an insur88

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ance policy in case of an emergency or if you’re injured.

Communicate your plans. Leave a detailed plan with someone. Be sure to include where you’re going and when you plan to return. Your point of contact will need to know who to get ahold of in case of emergency. And on your trip, bring something to signal rescuers with.

Have a reliable way to communicate. Cellphone coverage can be poor or nonexistent, depending on where you travel in Alaska. Other options, like satellite phones, may require practice before you can use them.

Be knowledgeable in first aid. Bring a first aid kit.

Be familiar with your destination and weather conditions. Thoroughly research your destination and listen to weather advisories. Talk to local sources about terrain and conditions.

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Carry maps and other tools to help you find your bearings.

Be familiar with ice. Ice is strongest where it’s clear. Five to 6 inches of clear ice is recommended for foot traffic. Inflowing streams or creeks can cause layers of slush, water and ice.

Overflows are sometimes hidden under snow, and may suddenly give way. Underwater springs may also cause sections of ice to be thinner than surrounding areas. Because spring activity thins the ice from underneath, this type of thin ice is sometimes undetectable. Ice thickness can vary on flowing waters as well, such as on creeks and rivers.

Have a shelter. At a minimum, bring a space emergency blanket. A small portable bivvy or four-season tent also make for good options. Your shelter should be able to keep you dry and protect you from the wind. Katrina Liebich

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SELAWIK NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE Fishing opportunities are many and varied on Selawik National Wildlife Refuge.

The refuge’s rivers, streams, ponds and sloughs give visitors a chance to harvest fresh fish at almost any time of year.

Ice fishing is common, especially in March and April, when the days are longer and temperatures milder than in midwinter. Anglers most frequently target inconnu (sheefish) on Selawik Lake and Hotham Inlet. These areas are most easily reached by snowmachine from Kotzebue or nearby villages. On rivers, sloughs and smaller lakes, northern pike and burbot can also be caught through the ice.

The refuge has no developed tourist infrastructure. Most visitors access the refuge by commercial aircraft from Anchorage to Kotzebue. In Kotzebue, small scheduled commercial flights can be taken to nearby villages or chartered directly to the refuge.

These two were both happy to pose with a nice Kenai NWR rainbow.

(MATT CONNER/USFWS)

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USFWS-sponsored ice fishing events bring friends and families together on Alaska’s wildlife refuges. (USFWS)

offers visitors the challenges and rewards of remoteness. That’s why the staff urges visitors to be prepared to handle any situation on your own. Bring emergency survival supplies and carry and know how to use a map and compass or GPS. The refuge adjoins other public lands. To the east is the nation’s largest

state park, Wood-Tikchik . To the north lies the massive Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge. Together, these lands cover more than 24 million acres to form one of the largest protected areas in the world.

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Dolly Varden, Arctic grayling, northern pike and rainbow trout. Access to the refuge is by chartered airplane from Dillingham. ASJ Editor’s note: Martha Nudel is the chief of communications for the USFWS. For more, go to fws.gov/alaska.

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‘SHOW’ ME WHAT YOU GOT

WINTER’S FISHING AND HUNTING SHOWS OFFER A GREAT CHANCE TO PLAN AN ALASKAN ADVENTURE

BY SCOTT HAUGEN

Alaska’s fishing and hunting opportunities are as varied as its landscape, and sportsmen’s show “season” is a good chance to hear directly from lodge, charter and outfitter services on what they offer before you spend your hardearned money. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

I

’m fortunate to travel around the country not only to fish and hunt but deliver over 60 seminars a year at sportsmen’s shows and at Cabela’s.

One thing that always impresses me is the number of people I run into who want to fish in Alaska. No matter how many times you fish Alaska, whether you’re a resident or not, the key to getting the most of your trip comes in efficient planning.

I hear from so many people how disappointed they were because they didn’t catch many fish. Come to find out, this often results from poor planning, either not hitting the runs right or expecting species that weren’t actually in the waters being fished.

THE SHOW MUST GO ON Enter sport show season, one of the best times to learn about fishing in Alaska.

No matter where in the country you live, you’re likely not far from a sport show event (see our calendar on page 45 for dates around the West and Alaska). At these events are speakers and exhibitors. They feature people with information that can help you plan your Alaskan fishing adventure.

Of course, the bigger the event, the greater the likelihood of seeing more speakers and visiting with more guides, outfitters and lodges from Alaska. If you’re an Alaska resident, check out local shows and speaking events at sporting good stores.

To get the most out of these events, go online to see if the show promoter has a listing of speakers and what topics they’ll address. This is usually decided by the first of the year. Websites might

also list vendors and where they’re from.

You may need to get in touch with the promoter to find out who will be there.

YOUR TO-DO LIST Once you’ve decided on a sport show or speaking event to attend, go prepared.

Write out questions to ask the experts.

Ask about run timings for the species you’re after and what gear to use if going solo and what to expect from the weather.

If looking for a guided trip or wanting to stay at a lodge, check references before booking. Take pictures of rods, reels, terminal gear set-ups and any other items you might want to take on your Alaskan fishing trip, and then familiarize yourself with it.

If wanting to target multiple species of fish while on the same trip, be aware it will likely require more gear, so prepare accordingly. If wanting to experience a

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Substitute goose breast for veal, pound away, fry and top with gravy and you’ve got yourself a mouthwatering wild game schnitzel. (TIFFANY HAUGEN)

FIELD

large skillet, heat butter and olive oil on medium-high heat. Fry schnitzel, three to four minutes per side. Serve with caper gravy or mushroom gravy.

CAPER GRAVY 2 tablespoons butter ¼ cup onion, minced 2 tablespoons flour ¼ cup capers 1½ cups beef broth ¼ cup parsley ½ teaspoon white pepper Salt to taste In a medium skillet, sauté onions on medium-high until soft, four to five minutes. Add flour and sauté one minute.

Slowly whisk in broth and add remaining ingredients. Simmer on low till thickened.

This gravy is also excellent with big game.

MUSHROOM SAUCE 1 tablespoon olive oil 2 cups mushrooms, chopped 2 tablespoons onion, diced 1 tablespoon flour 1 teaspoon fresh thyme or ½ teaspoon, dried ½ cup dry sherry or red wine ½ cup turkey stock or chicken broth 3 tablespoons sour cream or whipped cream 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

SCHNITZEL WITH SIZZLE

BY TIFFANY HAUGEN

S

chnitzel with gravy is an all-time favorite in our house, especially with waterfowl. Many people like it for the cooking method (“tastes like chicken fried steak”). I like the variety of gravy options.

This particular recipe, based on the original from Austria, can be used with any game bird, and the technique can be used with big game as well. The key is pounding the cutlets thin so they cook quickly, keeping the meat moist.

The gravy in this dish offers a great, complimentary flavor and puts the perfect finishing touch on the crispy, crunchy steaks. Whether looking to clean out the freezer or do something with those fresh birds or cuts of big game, this is one everyone will enjoy.

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Two to three skinless goose breast halves (or equivalent big game cuts) Two eggs ½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped Meat tenderizer (optional) Salt and pepper to taste 1 cup plain breadcrumbs 2 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons olive oil Between two layers of waxed paper, pound breasts to one-quarter inch thick.

Sprinkle goose with salt, pepper and meat tenderizer if desired. In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, cheese and parsley.

Put breadcrumbs on a dinner-size plate.

One at a time, dredge breasts in egg mixture and coat with breadcrumbs. In a

FEBRUARY 2018 | aksportingjournal.com

In a medium skillet, heat olive oil on medium-high heat. Sauté mushroom and onion until tender. Sprinkle flour over mushrooms and sauté one to two minutes. Add thyme, sherry and broth and bring to a boil until slightly thickened. Turn heat to low, add cream and parsley. Simmer until warm throughout.

Editor’s note: For 150 more delicious bird recipes and a signed copy of Scott and Tiffany Haugen’s popular cookbook, Cooking Game Birds, send a check for $20 (free S&H) to Haugen Enterprises, P.O. Box 275, Walterville, OR 97489, or order online at scotthaugen.com. Follow Tiffany on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, and watch for her on the online series Cook With Cabela’s, The Sporting Chef TV show and The Hunt on Netflix.

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fly-out drop camp on your own – where you’d float down a river in a raft – there’s no such thing as too much research.

If desiring a family getaway at a nice lodge, determine what everyone in the party is looking for, then research to see if those needs can be met. The more you communicate on all levels and the more research and planning you do, the more likely your trip will be a big success.

GET THE DETAILS DOWN Be sure to ask about how to best get your fish home, from wherever you’ll be fishing. Fisheries on the road system are easy – simply put your fish in a cooler or in a cold-storage facility until you’re ready to go and check it on the plane as baggage. Just be sure to vacuum-seal them. If wanting your fish sent home by mail or cargo, check into the cost, as the further you get from city hubs, the more pricey it becomes.

There’s no such thing as a dumb question when it comes to learning all there is to know about fishing in Alaska. When attending seminars, go with a notepad filled with questions and be

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willing to ask them. This is your time to learn from the experts, and that’s what they are there for.

If you want to learn how to fish surface poppers for coho because you’re tired of catching them on eggs or spinners, then go with that specific goal in mind. Seek out people who have the information that can help you, and talk to them. From rods to lines, poppers to presentation styles, there’s a lot to learn.

Of course, this is just one example.

READ ALL ABOUT IT And keep an eye on newspapers and social media this time of year, as stores will soon be posting seminars and activities - from how-to seminars to cooking presentations and much more. Local retail stores are a great place to learn. From there, buy the gear you need to get the job done and start planning that trip.

The variety of fishing that exists in Alaska is like no other. This winter, visit a sport show or head to a sporting goods store event. Go prepared with questions and don’t be afraid to ask them.

After all, half the fun of fishing in Alas-

FEBRUARY 2018 | aksportingjournal.com

Sports shows and in-store seminars are great places to learn about the latest gear, and fish species and how to fish for them. The author’s wife Tiffany Haugen backtrolled her way into a king on the Nushagak River, one of Alaska’s great salmon fisheries. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

ka comes in the planning and dreaming, followed by living the dream. The more info you have, the greater the likelihood of that dream becoming reality. ASJ Editor’s note: Signed copies of Scott Haugen’s popular book, A Flyfisher’s Guide To Alaska, can be ordered at scotthaugen.com.

Scott is host of The Hunt on Netflix. Follow him on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

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RIDING THE SOCIAL NETWORK ROLLERCOASTER WHETHER IT’S FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM OR TWITTER, SPORTSMEN AND -WOMEN INVARIABLY FACE BACKLASH

BY JEFF LUND ILLUSTRATION BY JOSEPH FRUEAUF

M

y buddy Steve and I have never met. The modern hunting friendship does not require it.

Steve got my name from a mutual friend after I’d gone on an elk hunt in Southeast Alaska he had been eyeing.

Steve is from Fairbanks. I live in Ketchikan. Same state, but the distance makes it feel like a hunter from Florida talking with one from Kansas.

He’s been on my podcast twice and we have talked for an hour each time about gear, hunting, teaching and future hunting trips in each other’s backyard.

While social media has been blamed for introducing a new method

of bullying (which it has), enhancing political propaganda (which it also has) and eroding objective reporting (replaced it?), it is not totally useless.

It is an online archive of moments afield and a digital opportunity for camaraderie that can be a way to galvanize a message that the small – and often-attacked – community of hunters can rally behind. As long as that same community doesn’t get distracted by infighting, that is.

AREN’T WE ON THE SAME SIDE? I’m a member of a few hunting groups on Facebook, where the most popular posts often include three types of responders:

1. The hunting buddy. The person who you may or may not have ever met but

who is nonetheless excited that you are excited and simply likes or posts “Good job.” It’s simple support of other people sharing in the craft of taking meat. The hunting buddy might follow up with insightful discussion points about deer populations and management should the thread go down that road.

2. The expert. This person wants to hijack the post by interjecting his knowledge. Rather than say “Holy smokes!” or “Great buck!” and then discuss details, the expert will say “That place gets too much pressure, so I don’t go there anymore.” Not only does the expert fail to acknowledge the successful hunter, but also assumes he is the supreme omniscient alpha capable of

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identifying all muskegs by the spruce trees that border them and is above hunting where common folk do.

The expert is also capable of determining exact length of mountain goat horns, black bear hide size, and antler score all from a cellphone picture.

3. Chip. This commenter has an enormous chip on his shoulder, which doesn’t allow for him to just be happy for someone else. Chip currently owns thousands of deer and is upset when they are taken from him by nonlocals. While the hunting buddy is willing to discuss management and resource issues, Chip wants to point fingers. Chip is the more miserable cousin of the expert.

ADD AN “ENEMY” There are few better ways to find and communicate with people we don’t agree with or, more importantly, don’t understand what they criticize, than by engaging on social media. Follow people you don’t agree with and you might find a person separate from ideals and you too can educate yourself.

Note: Don’t try and change someone’s mind in the thread of a public post. Nobody is more protective of a worldview than a user backed into a digital corner.

As an experiment, I started following a couple of vegans and vegetarians on Instagram and found they just want to be healthy too. I didn’t try to infiltrate or post “bacon” on every one of their #plantprotein posts. They post some motivating stuff – stuff I totally agree with. It in no way made me want to change my lifestyle, but it did show me that lots of people just want to do what they want to do, love it and be left alone.

Like us.

I emailed a vegan blogger and told her I believed she was doing what she was doing for the right reasons even if I lived my life differently. People, not politics, were at the heart of her desire to help people. I hesitated for a second before I sent it because I wondered if she would take my olive branch, interpret it as weakness, and sick her vegan friends on me.

She responded quickly by thanking me for the email and said she believed that it was possible for people to respect each 104

ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

Author Jeff Lund’s Instagram feed is typical of dedicated hunters and anglers. But the photos of harvested fish and big game are always going to rub some the wrong way in the social media world. Yet Lund’s love for eating the organic meat of animals he hunted has allowed him to understand the vegans he’s interacted with – both sides of the fence just want to eat healthy. (JEFF LUND/INSTAGRAM)

other while having different lifestyles.

However, there are many people who have been driven to politics because their interactions with us hunters have been confrontational. When we don’t try to explain and we instead do to them exactly what they do to us, it’s like a little-kid fight on the playground.

“He started it!”

The even bigger problem is the anti-hunting crowd already has a massive following. As society becomes increasingly influenced by the money and whims of urbanites, we can’t afford to waste time being childish.

STOKING THE FIRE WITH SOCIAL MEDIA Many people have made a choice not to eat meat and aren’t looking for a fight. But our core values are different and there is a huge potential for confrontation. If we weaponized their ideas or move them to action, we could lose, because it has become socially acceptable to shame or bully someone who hunts because of a perceived moral high ground.

The more we drive people from hunting and fishing by toxic tribalism, the more the conversation is divided, and eventually our freedoms will be further encroached upon. When people are defensive they are not open to logic.

The people I found who have angry

FEBRUARY 2018 | aksportingjournal.com

anti-hunting hashtags and are looking for a social movement to make our country a homogenous group of plant-eaters don’t want to listen. We know where they stand.

It’s to the rational middle we must appeal.

As Field & Stream backpager Bill Heavey wrote, “In a country where fishing, like Mideast politics or women’s fashion, has been taken over by the extremists, guys who take the middle path … are accorded all the respect of carp chum.”

People don’t often mock the middleof-the-road vegetarian. People don’t often abuse the common hunter or angler – though when they do, it’s done with fury. Most of us live in that middle zone, because how can we expect people to respect our lifestyles if we are combative?

There are more people living in big cities, and if we are typecast as a bunch of people happily killing animals, then the urban areas where many of social issues are decided will be decided against us. Look at British Columbia.

People who don’t know about the rural world are making the decisions, probably with the help of the U.S. dollar.

In an article after the ban, BC Forest Minister Doug Donaldson said, “It is no longer socially acceptable to the vast majority of British Columbians to hunt grizzly bears.”

Socially acceptable. What the loudest

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“The more we drive people from hunting and fishing by toxic tribalism, the more the conversation is divided, and eventually our freedoms will be further encroached upon,” Lund writes.

“When people are defensive they are not open to logic.”

(JEFF LUND/FACEBOOK)

mob demands the government regulates.

There should be some level of responsibility felt by a hunter to represent the lifestyle. You can do what you

want because it is a free country, but on some level, all hunters should wonder what he or she is contributing to the national debate. ASJ

Editor’s note: Follow Jeff Lund on Twitter and Instagram (@alaskalund). His book, Going Home, is available on Amazon.com.

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IN SOME OF ALASKA’S MOST REMOTE WILDERNESS, HUNTING TRIPS CAN TURN INTO NIGHTMARES WHEN SOMETHING GOES WRONG

BY PAUL D. ATKINS

C

rossing the tundra was painful. The constant pounding of hard snow on steel was sending sharp pains up and down my spine, making it miserable.

It was cold too, 40 below zero, and the snow was practically gone. The wind had done its job. In the back of my mind I could hear my father, 6,000 miles to the south, talking to me.

“Watch what you’re doing,” he would say. And as clear as day, I could also see my son’s face – home, warm, happy and waiting for me. Will I ever get back? Deep down I was scared in this place.

THERE HAVE BEEN MANY of these ex-

Hunting in winter is tough, and in the unforgiving terrain of Alaska’s Arctic, mistakes can result in downright terrifying situations, as author Paul Atkins has endured multiple times. (PAUL D. ATKINS)

periences during my time in the Arctic – dangerous situations that should have been avoided but weren’t. Let’s go anyway, I would say. I was younger then and had a lot to learn. Luckily, I have since then, but only after several close calls. Maybe that is what experience hunting in the high Arctic does for you. It gives you experiences that most can’t fathom or even want to.

A few of these experiences stand out, most happening in the deepest depths of winter, when conditions are the most dangerous, especially when it comes to predicting the weather and what it will do. Yes, you can try, but once you leave the security of home and venture “out here” things can and are usually quite different. The windswept tundra and the cold, hard river can play hell on your decisions like no other, but you go anyway.

The best and worst experiences have come during February and March.

All have had to do with muskox or subsistence hunts, and later, grizzly. Occurrences evolved into situations, but

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Surviving extreme conditions is tough on everything – even cold-adapted animals have a tough time. One thing Atkins has learned traveling through the Alaskan wilderness in February and March is that you never know what you will see, or in most cases, expect. (PAUL D. ATKINS)

only until later or after the fact. Some of those dangerous instances rode on decisions that would decide whether you lived or died. If it sounds serious, it’s because it was serious.

DANGER IN THE DARKNESS Probably the biggest near-tragedy I’ve ever been involved with was the time Lew Pagel and I decided to chase muskox on the Alaska Peninsula. Being outside wasn’t ideal, but it was the last day of the season and we had to get it done. Muskox tags are hard to come by and it was Lew’s first one. We had to try.

As usual it was cold, but it was clear and calm when we left home.

Seventy-five miles south it wasn’t. The wind-scarred tundra combined with dropping temperatures made it quite miserable, but we were lucky and did find a herd of muskox. Lew took his bull late in the day, and even though we were happy we knew it was going to be a cold, dangerous ride home in the 112

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dark, especially having to cross the ice.

Snowmachines work great in most weather, but not so much when it’s approaching 50 below. A busted gas can didn’t help and the constant fogging of goggles made things worse.

Open leads in the ice while driving in the dark scared the crap out of me, but there was no other choice.

We had 25 miles to go to the nearest shelter cabin, placed along the trail for weary travelers to use during the winter, and if we could get there we would be fine. As we inched along I could feel the burning sensation of frostbite inside my nose and the cold numbness seeping through my snow gear. It was getting serious.

Eventually we got to where the cabin should have been, but our GPS was frozen and the batteries were dead. In the light of a snowmachine I watched Lew frantically trying to change the batteries, but with no luck. Freezing to death, I told Lew, “Let’s ride the coast and look; it’s our only choice.”

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Luckily for us it worked out; when the headlights shined on the green paint of the cabin, I knew we were saved. Broken, but saved.

EXPERIENCE CAN BE EVERYTHING There have been other instances of close shaves, like the time I was hunting grizzly in March. I was young then and had newly arrived in the Arctic, so to say I was a novice is an understatement.

As a native Oklahoman, I had never even seen a snowmachine before – let alone ridden one – and the experience I did have only included riding in front of town to go ice fishing. My first snowmachine, which was an old Polaris I had picked up used, did OK, but this was my first long excursion into the unknown, which created a mixture of excitement and nervous anxiety.

The 100-mile journey went well at first. We saw sheep, caribou and moose, plus the side-hilling and deep snow wasn’t too tough to get through.

I only got stuck a few times, and with

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Things can go downhill fast in the Arctic, where getting around requires experience and nerves of steel. If something ends up broken, it can be very bad news. (PAUL D. ATKINS)

the help of others I was out in no time, even though they were starting to get frustrated with me.

However, it was a different story once we got into the trees, where the snow turns to sugar. I buried that machine so many times and it took what seemed like hours to get it out. I was soaked in sweat from digging, only to get stuck again and again. It wasn’t fun; it was miserable.

Finally, we found some harder stuff to make the ride through the trees more manageable. As we cruised along at a comfortable speed, I was keeping one eye on the guys ahead of me and the other on my surroundings when I noticed my comrades had disappeared and the tree line ended just ahead.

A bad feeling swept over me just as I came to a cliff overlooking a drop onto the river. My team had made it down and across and were coaxing 114

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Atkins has buried a few snowmachines over the years. Digging them out isn’t as easy as you might think, but there’s no other choice. (PAUL D. ATKINS)

me onward. I didn’t want to go off the edge, but I didn’t have a choice. I hit the throttle and eased down the bank.

I didn’t know it at the time and couldn’t even see it, but the river was soft and covered in overflow and seep-

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ing water. I made it down only to bog down in the middle.

I was sinking and sinking fast, scaring me beyond belief. I had heard of overflow (water on top of ice, sometimes called aufeis) but didn’t have any

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experience with it. (It still scares me to this day.) Luckily, there was an ice layer underneath that stopped me, leaving the front of my machine sticking up through the frozen slush. I climbed up onto the cowling and wanted to cry.

But my buddies were experienced and in no time inched out using a wooden sled and rescued me. We then tied a strap onto the front of my snogo and winched it out. Since I was wet and shaking uncontrollably, they built a fire and warmed me up, which also allowed time for the machine to dry out a bit. When I felt better we tried the starter; to our surprise the machine fired up and we were on our way.

I never did get a bear, but that was OK; I was just glad to get home!

Having the right person or persons with you makes all the difference. If you’ve read my stuff before, you may have remembered the piece I wrote on hunting partners. Be picky and choose wisely, because you never know what circumstance will require help and teamwork to get you out of a situation.

PINNED IN THE MOUNTAINS One of the scariest situations occurred several years ago, on a trip up north to look for sheep on a subsistence hunt.

Because it’s a long way to those mountains, getting there is way more than half the battle. I’ve done it many times before, each trip with the right person, and with each occasion ending up as a successful hunt.

Weather played a big factor on a couple of those trips, but we were prepared, had the right gear and handled it just fine. However, there was the one time when things didn’t go right and the wrong person was with me, which takes me back to my opening paragraph ...

I was surrounded by burnt tussocks, charred to shades of black and charcoal after a lightning storm-ignited fire. The landscape looked more like an eerie picture from a distant planet rather than the flats up to where the sheep were.

With little to no snow my machine bucked and bounced me through them, and then it happened. The bright silver snowmachine ski that I had been 116

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Overflow, or aufeis, is serious business. Crossing what looks like solid ice or snow only to have the bottom disappear, sinking you, your machine and gear into the slush can make for a life-threatening emergency. (PAUL D. ATKINS)

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staring at for hours suddenly caught on one of the tussocks and brought me to a dead stop. Like a horse throwing its rider, the machine was on top of me.

It pinned me to the ground like a wrestler. I was stuck.

With winter twilight fading in the western sky, I peered up at the moon through my plastic windshield. My mind kept telling me to panic, but I resisted. The machine was heavy, but I had a massive dose of adrenaline and in one desperate shove the machine was off of me and I was free. Covered in sweat, legs hurting and back aching, I got up to inspect the damage. Everything was in place so I instinctively reached for the starter, a tiny knob just above the seat and turned the key.

Silence; I wasn’t going anywhere.

My only salvation lay in my sled, a long blue flat piece of plastic that has followed me around for years and over many miles. I looked at it like a life preserver and begin untying the orange rope that held the tarp surrounding what would save my life. Frantically, I found the grey tote that held the one

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Shelter cabins are strategically placed throughout the Arctic to help those who need to get out of a storm or who find themselves, as in the author’s case, caught out after dark on a muskox hunting trip.

(PAUL D. ATKINS)

thing I knew that could save me and my hunting partner’s life. My tent.

But my partner began to freak out at this point and had a different idea: “Let’s leave the machine, grab some gear and head back the way we came as quick as we can on my machine.”

It was getting dark and we were 80

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miles from anything that resembled civilization. I didn’t want to do it, plus a storm was blowing in.

The tent would be our safest bet, but I couldn’t convince him. We were going, or I should say, he was going and I could come along. I’ve never felt dread but did at that moment. I had no choice; I had

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to go. Leaving my machine, sled and gear behind bothered me a great deal.

Would I ever see it again? Would I ever be able to get back up here and retrieve it? And with little to zero snow, would it even be possible until next year? I was sick to my stomach.

Darkness and wind were setting in and my hesitation was wasting time, which we didn’t have much of. I grabbed what gear I could and built a bed in the back of his wooden sled, but what would I take? I couldn’t take it all. I felt ill again.

I grabbed my rifle, the one possession I would not leave without, and my tent. It took me years to acquire both, using savings and skimping to buy them. I left the rest – old friends left behind in the dark.

It would be a rough ride but I thought I could handle it; I was mistaken. My partner’s urgency to get out of there, combined with panic, had set us both on edge. He wanted to leave – and I mean leave now – and I tried telling him to calm down. Hindsight is a funny thing, but we should’ve stopped and thought things out. Even though there was zero

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Cold is cold and even more so when you’re 100 miles from home. Lew Pagel (left, with the author) took this fine bull late in the day, and by the time they field-dressed it and put on the sled, it was dark and the snowmachine wouldn’t start. They were briefly in panic mode, but luckily it started after some tinkering. Still, it’s a lesson learned. (PAUL D. ATKINS)

wood to build a fire, we had good sleeping bags and would have been fine staying in the tent, but we didn’t.

I jumped into his sled and felt the sharp edges of gear poke into my back.

Tubs, wood and other necessities that

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come with an adventure like ours surrounded me. I arranged each in order to smooth out a place to lie. I thought, “This is going to be miserable, but at least I am alive and heading south towards home.”

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GOING HOME

care of business. It was just as we left it. Even though I figured The snow was cold but dry as it the bears and wolves would have hit me in the face. I pulled down destroyed it and ravaged the food my facemask and beaver hat – we left behind, they didn’t. thank God for their fur! The next 80 miles would be no problem, I said; I can handle it. I was wrong.

HEY, IT’S ALASKA Within the first mile I was in pain Would I trade these experiencfrom the pulling and jarring of the es? No, I wouldn’t, they are part sled. My back and kidneys felt of who I am, and if not for them I like I was going 10 rounds with a wouldn’t have learned the things prizefighter. But I had no choice.

I needed to know in order to surThe storm increased in intenvive here in the Arctic. I still don’t sity and the trail back was almost know everything and even if I did, unrecognizable, making travel a you never know what lies around guessing game. I did have the one In this unforgiving corner of Alaska, getting home safe – the next corner or through the thing that I do not leave home if a little harried – is an accomplishment. (PAUL D. ATKINS) trees or down the river. Just make without, my satellite phone. If sure you’re ready, prepared and snow were excruciating, but we made nothing else, we could call and let somehave the right people with you with the to a shelter cabin 60 miles from where body know where we were and what our right attitude. ASJ my mishap occurred. I was bruised and situation was. battered but so happy to be alive and Luckily, I had a worthy partner back Editor’s note: Paul Atkins is an outdoor in one piece. We made it the rest of the home who knew how to read coordiwriter and author from Kotzebue, Alaska. way home the next day. nates, and my GPS worked too. So evHe has written hundreds of articles on I did eventually get back up there ery 5 miles or so we dared to stop and hunting big game and fishing throughout to retrieve my machine and gear, but it call. My buddy back home received and not only Alaska, but all of North America was a month later – and with the help sent back info to guide us to safety. It and Africa as well. He is a regular conof good friends who know how to take was miserable, and the cold wind and tributor to the Alaska Sporting Journal.

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ASJ18

Mountain goats, which thrive on the steep mountainsides of Southcentral and Southeast Alaska, are one of the state’s toughest big game species for hunters to reach. (PAUL D. ATKINS)

ALASKA BIG GAME FOCUS

ALASKA BIG GAME FOCUS: MOUNTAIN GOAT

BY PAUL D. ATKINS

B

reathing hard, I stepped onto the first big boulder in a field of even bigger boulders that lay before me. I pulled the rifle off my back and waited, but I didn’t have to wait long as the two black horns appeared above the gray rocks in front of me. It was my billy and it was now or never.

The mountain goat is a phenomenal creature that has thrived in Alaska.

Its range is restricted to the steep and broken mountain ranges of Southcentral Alaska, but the animals can also be found in Southeast Alaska, where their range extends north and west along the coastal mountains to Cook Inlet.

In the former region of the state,

goats are found in the Chugach and Wrangell Mountains, and a few occur in the Talkeetna Mountains.

And goats have been introduced to Kodiak Island, as well as to Southeast’s Revillagigedo and Baranof Islands.

Mountain goats are both grazers and browsers, depending on the particular habitat and season of the year. In summer, they can be found in high alpine meadows where they graze on grasses, and low-growing shrubs, but when winter rolls around they migrate down to or just below the tree line.

However, some goats do remain on windswept ridges throughout the year.

As winter advances and the more succulent plant species die back, a goat’s feeding habits shift to browsing and be-

come more of a matter of the availability of forage.

Mountain goats rely on the security of cliffs and steep jagged rocks for protection. If you’ve ever hunted them, you know the kind of country they like to call home. Approaching within shooting range is not difficult if the hunter is able to negotiate the terrain, which isn’t for the faint of heart.

When possible, it is usually best to approach from above, as goats are more alert to possible danger from below. If you can’t get above them and going up is your only option, then you better plan ahead and get the best gear and be in the best shape of your life.

Both billies (males) and nannies (females) have horns, and both are legal to

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GIMME FIVE: FACTS ABOUT MOUNTAIN GOATS (OREAMNOS AMERICANUS) Hunters are advised to approach goats from above, as the animals are more alert to possible danger from below.

(PAUL D. ATKINS)

take in specific areas in Alaska. Billies and nannies look similar, but if you plan to take a billie, you better study long and hard.

And even though it is legal to shoot nannies, wildlife managers encourage hunters to target billies instead. They even have a goat identification guide available online to help those who choose to.

Believe me when I say that goat hunting is hard. It took me four tries before I

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was successful (Alaska Sporting Journal, December 2017). Many consider it the toughest hunt in North America, and if you do plan one of these hunts, you better be prepared, both physically and mentally. ASJ Editor’s note: The Alaska Department of Fish and Game contributed to this report.

For more on mountain goats in Alaska, go to adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=goathunting.main.

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• Billies are about 40 percent larger than nannies and average 260 and 180 pounds, respectively.

• An adult goat may lose 50 pounds on its meager winter diet and gain the weight back during the lush summer months.

• In 2007, 518 mountain goats were harvested in Alaska, 158 by nonresidents (about 30 percent) and 360 by resident hunters.

• Nonresident mountain goat hunters are required to have a guide or be accompanied by an Alaska resident who is a relative.

• The dressed weight of a 250-pound goat is about 150 pounds; about 85 pounds of this is usable meat. ADFG

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