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ALASKA ALASKA
SPOR SPORTING ORTTI NG JJOURNAL OURNAL VOLUME 4 • ISSUE 11
A
www.aksportingjournal.com PUBLISHER
James R. Baker ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
Dick Openshaw EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Andy Walgamott EDITOR
Chris Cocoles ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Tom Reale WRITERS
Paul D. Atkins, Mathews Cook, Christine Cunningham, Scott Haugen,Tiffany Haugen, Ron Howard, Jim Johnson, Luke Kelly, Jeff Lund, Steve Meyer,Tom Reale SALES MANAGER
Brian Lull ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES
Lee Balliet, Maime Griffin,Eric Iles, Karl Kukor, Mike Nelson, Mike Smith, Paul Yarnold DESIGNERS
Dawn Carlson, Beth Harrison, Christina Poisal PRODUCTION MANAGER
John Rusnak CIRCULATION MANAGER
Heidi Belew DISTRIBUTION
Tony Sorrentino, Gary Bickford OFFICE MANAGER / ACCOUNTS
Audra Higgins ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
Katie Sauro INFORMATION SERVICES MANAGER
Lois Sanborn ADVERTISING INQUIRIES
ads@nwsportsmanmag.com ON THE COVER
The Time Bandit is one of several Deadliest Catch crabbing vessels fishing the dangerous conditions on the Bering Sea.The treacherous waters, the larger-than-life captains, the grizzled deckhands, have made the Discovery Channel's reality show must-see TV. Season 10 premieres on April 13. (RICK GERSHON/GETTY IMAGES/DISCOVERY CHANNEL)
Inset photo: Chris Cox with a fat Klutina River sockeye salmon. (DENNIS MUSGRAVES)
MEDIA INDEX PUBLISHING GROUP WASHINGTON OFFICE 14240 Interurban Ave South • Suite 190 Tukwila, WA 98168 OREGON OFFICE 8116 SW Durham Rd • Tigard, OR 97224 (800) 332-1736 • Fax (206) 382-9437 media@media-inc.com • www.media-inc.com 8 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL APRIL 2014
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CONTENTS
VOLUME 4 • ISSUE 11
FEATURES 26
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Catch Them If You Can Ten seasons on TV is usually reserved for the Mad Men, The Office and Thirty Rock-style shows. Reality shows tend to have a shorter shelf life. But we give you the crabbers of Discovery Channel’s hit Deadliest Catch, which reaches season 10 this month. Our Luke Kelly goes one-on-one with veteran captain Johnathan Hillstrand for perspective. 1,000 Ways To Not Catch Steelies Everywhere he went, the jokes persisted about trying to catch that “fish of 1,000 casts.” Jeff Lund headed down to the river to put that catchless streak to bed. But the steelhead of his dreams was not going to come so easily. Or was it?
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Life And Death On The Nush All they wanted was to catch kings, but a trip to the bush got dangerous when one angler had a heart attack and another’s arm was chewed up.
133 Chasing Blacktail Deer On Kodiak Lower 48er Mathews Cook had always hoped to make a pilgrimage to Alaska to hunt Sitka blacktail deer. He and a group finally got that opportunity, and while huffing and puffing through the hilly terrain of Kodiak Island, Mathews hit paydirt with time running out. 149 Last Chance For A Caribou Paul D. Atkins loves to hunt big game in the extreme north part of Alaska. But with his son accompanying him on a caribou hunt, the quest for a bull was not going the way Paul had hoped. He was cold and wet and ready to call it quits. Then something magical appeared through the fog.
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE 19 21 41 91 105 115 127 156
Cabela’s opening in Anchorage Mysterious disappearance of the Alaska-based spy plane, Rivet Amber The good and the bad of 2014 salmon forecast This Prince of Wales lodge is a salmon angler and foodie’s dream From Field to Fire: Tips for fieldjudging bruins, and a recipe for a tasty bear dish Choosing the right cartridge for hunting Alaskan big game Longtime friends bond through many seasons afield in Alaska Loose Ends: The little white lies of ice fishing
DEPARTMENTS 13 17
Editor’s Note The Dishonor Roll: Minors charged in muskox case
63 Rock ’em, sock ’em salmon Dennis Musgraves and his fellow Alaskan Salmon Slayers lived up to their organization’s name, literally, during another fishing adventure. This time, Musgraves and friends got in on the fantastic sockeye salmon run in the Klutina River. (DENNIS MUSGRAVES)
Alaska Sporting Journal is published monthly. Call Media Index Publishing Group for a current rate card. Discounts for frequency advertising. All submitted materials become the property of Media Index 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 Index Publishing Group, or call (206) 382-9220 with VISA or M/C. Back issues are available at Media Index Publishing Group offices at the cost of $5 plus tax. Copyright © 2014 Media Index 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.
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EDITOR’S NOTE
The crabbing vessel Kodiak must navigate the rough waters of the Bering Sea, which has claimed plenty of victims throughout its history. (RICK GERSHON/GETTY IMAGES/DISCOVERY CHANNEL)
T
he Bering Sea must carry a lot of secrets both above and below the surface. What’s now open water separating present-day Russia and the United States was once a land mass that connected what eventually became two rival superpowers. Alaska’s left coast is the subject of two intriguing stories in this month’s issue. Luke Kelly gives us a look at the Discovery Channel’s reality show, Deadliest Catch. The lives of Alaska’s crab fishing industry is now into season 10, and Time Bandit captain Johnathan Hillstrand provides an entertaining Q&A with Kelly about the perils crab boats face in the Bering Sea. Deaths at sea on crab vessels aren’t as frequent as, say, the 1990s, but even on a reality TV show like Deadliest Catch, the risk remains inherently dangerous. Five crew members of a crabbing ship were plucked from the Bering Sea’s icy waters last fall, and though the Bureau of Labor Management now ranks commercial fishermen as having the second most deadliest job after logging, that doesn’t exactly make anyone feel too relaxed sailing out into the waters between Alaska and the Kamchatka Peninsula in search of our delicacies of the sea. That brings us to the tragic story of the Rivet Amber. On June 5, 1969, the RC-135 Boeing 707 reconnaissance plane left Shemya Air Force Base in the Aleutians on a routine maintenance run across the Bering Sea to the Alaskan mainland base, Eielson, near Fairbanks. A crew of 19 was aboard, but the Rivet Amber never reached its destination, presumably crashing into the Bering Sea about 40 minutes into the flight. No evidence of any wreckage or bodies was ever found, as told by Ron Howard, who was stationed at Eielson at the time. During a time when the mystery of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which had still not been recovered at press time, had the world’s attention, we remember how treacherous waterways like the Bering Sea can be. —Chris Cocoles
APRIL 2014
ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL 13
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THE 2014 FAIRBANKS OUTDOOR SHOW AND THE INTERIOR ALASKA GUN SHOW DATES: Outdoor Show / Apr 25-Apr 27 Interior Alaska Gun Show / Apr 26-Apr 27 FAIRBANKS, ALASKA /carlson-center.com • Afishunt Charters • Alaska Butcher Equipment & Supply • Alaska Angling Adventures • Alaska Clean Shoe • Alaska Fun Center • Alaska Outdoor Access Alliance • Alaska Outdoor Council • Alaska Railroad • Alaska Shrimp Pots • Alaska Tent and Tarp • Alaska Trackchair • Alaska USA FCU • Alaska Wildlife Images • Anderson Products • Big Ray’s Fly Shop • Chitina Dipnetter’s Association • Cookie Lee Jewelry • Cutco Cutlery • Delta Meat & Sausage • Denali Raft Adventures • Diamond D Custom Leather • Discover Kodiak • Eagle’s Rest RV Park & Cabins • Equipment Source, Inc. • Fairbanks CVB • Fairbanks Daily Newsminer
14 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL APRIL 2014
• Fairbanks Stump Grinders • FNSB Air Quality • Great Alaskan Holidays • Heavenly Sights Charters • MAC Federal Credit Union • Mahay’s Riverboat Service • Mat-Su CVB • Moosetard • Nenana Raft • Orca Island Cabins • Phantom Salmon Charters • Proving Trail Adventures • Really Cool Knives • Reeds Snowmachine and Marine • Renewable Resources • Scentsy • Seward Chamber of Commerce • Stan Stephens Glacier & Wildlife Cruises • Tanana Valley Watershed Assoc. • Tandy Leather Factory • The Kenai, Alaska’s Playground • Valdez CVB • And many more!
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CALENDAR OF EVENTS ALASKA FISHING AND HUNTING INFORMATION May 1-31 Big game draw permits available
MINORS SUSPECTED OF NOME MUSK OX KILLINGS
ALASKA FISHING DERBIES May 15-Sept. 15: Homer Halibut Derby, Homer, homerhalibutderby.com May 17-Aug. 31: Halibut Derby, Valdez, valdezfishderbies.com May 24-26: Sitka Salmon Derby, Sitka, (970) 747-6790 June 13-22: Slam’n Salm’n Derby, Ship Creek, Anchorage, downtownsoupkitchen.org June 13-22: Halibut Hullaballoo, Valdez, valdezfishderbies.com July 19-Aug. 31: Silver Salmon Derby, Valdez, valdezfishderbies.com Aug. 8-10: Golden North Salmon Derby, Juneau, goldennorthsalmonderby.org Aug. 9: Women’s Silver Salmon Fish Derby, Valdez, valdezfishderbies.com Aug. 10-18: Silver Salmon Derby, Seward, sewardchamber.org If you have an upcoming event you’d like added to the calendar, contact editor Chris Cocoles at ccocoles@media-inc.com.
Two muskox that were killed illegally and not harvested led to charges of wanton waste of big game on two minors in Brevig Mission, near Nome. (USFWS ALASKA)
BY CHRIS COCOLES
A
laska Department of Fish and Game officials are serious about cracking down on animals and fish taken illegally. But this was something altogether disturbing. In Nome, 11 charges of wanton waste of big game were handed out to two individuals from an incident involving two muskox that were killed and not harvested about a year and a half ago. What was significant here is the ages of the duo charged. They were 13 and 10, respectively, when the shooting took place near Brevig Mission, northwest of Nome along the Bering Sea. In September 2012, an Alaska State Trooper discovered five dead muskox cows and two bulls in the California Creek and Fish River drainage areas. An investigation revealed the boys, whose names were withheld since they are still minors, stalked the herd on four-wheel drive vehicles and shot at the herd. In all 15 Class A misdemeanor charges were filed. A conviction on an illegal killing of muskox would require a $3,000 restitution to be paid back to the state. According to radio station KNOM in Nome, it was unclear if prosecutors planned to pursue monetary or punitive charges. It makes one wonder about supervision from parents considering there were allegedly four boys together at different times during the days leading up the alleged shooting of the animals. The other two among the group were not charged. “There should be efforts, at least by community leaders, to talk to the younger generation about respecting wildlife as it was taught to us in past generations,” Elmer Setot Jr. of the Seward Peninsula Advisory Council and Eskimo Walrus Commission told the station. ASJ
A fly angler hooks a sockeye salmon fishing the Klutina River in Southcentral Alaska. (DENNIS MUSGRAVES)
APRIL 2014
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CABELA’S HEADS TO ANCHORAGE C
abela’s will celebrate the official grand opening of its Anchorage, Alaska, store on Thursday, April
10. A ribbon-cutting ceremony hosted by executives of the Nebraska-based outdoor dynamo will begin at 10:45 a.m. and doors will open for business at 11 a.m. Opening day will kick off a weekend-long celebration featuring giveaways, special guests, events for the entire family and more. The 100,000-square-foot store – Cabela’s first in Alaska, and its most northerly and westerly – is located on the south side of Anchorage near the intersection of Minnesota and C Street, next to Target. It will feature thousands
of outdoor products, museum-quality wildlife displays, a mountain replica, aquarium, indoor archery range, gun library, bargain cave, deli, fudge shop and more. Approximately 250 full-time, part-time and seasonal employees will staff the store. Since the company’s founding in 1961, Cabela’s has grown to become one of the most well-known outdoor recreation
brands in the world, and has long branded itself as the “World’s Foremost Outfitter.” Through Cabela’s growing number of retail stores and its well-established direct business, it offers a wide and distinctive selection of high-quality outdoor products at competitive prices while providing superior customer service. The company has 13 stores in the Western U.S., and has plans to build four more. ASJ
Cabela’s will open its newest location on the south side of Anchorage on April 10. (TOM REALE)
APRIL 2014
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20 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL APRIL 2014
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WHAT HAPPENED TO THE RIVET AMBER? CURRENT EVENTS CONJURE MEMORIES OF ALASKA MYSTERY FLIGHT BY RON HOWARD
M
any of us were absorbed by the news about the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 passenger jet that disappeared last month. At press time March 19 it was still unclear of what had happened aboard the flight, and besides a radar blip or two and local reports of a low-flying jet, no trace of the Boeing 777 had been found. Let me tell you a story of another airplane that mysteriously vanished. In 1967 I was transferred from the 22nd Bomb Wing (SAC) at March Air Force Base in California to the 6th Strategic Wing (SAC), 24th SRS, at Eielson AFB, near Fairbanks. At that time I was in airborne electronics. The job was to fly reconnaissance missions on RC-135 aircraft. The RC-135 was a heavily modified Boeing 707-type aircraft designed for electronic reconnaissance work. While we were stationed at Eielson (it was an
There were 19 crew members aboard the Rivet Amber at the time of the crash. The author was stationed at the plane’s Alaska destination, Eielson Air Force Base, when he heard radio transmissions reporting the plane was in trouble. Contact was then lost, and the author was part of a three-week search that never found anything. (USAF)
accompanied tour), we actually flew reconnaissance missions from Shemya Island. Shemya is one of the last U.S.-owned islands in the Aleutian chain, and just 600 miles from the then-Soviet Union’s Kamchatka Peninsula. The missions were to monitor and record information on Russian test ICBM
missile shots from their missile launch sites at Baikonur, Tura Tam and Sary Shagan. When we had advance notice that the Russians were going to conduct missile test launches, we would deployto Shemya, and then fly down the Kamchatka Peninsula to gather information on the missiles’ reentry.
The Rivet Amber, an RC-135 Air Force reconnaissance plane, was lost over the Bering Sea off the Alaskan coast on June 5, 1969. No traces of wreckage were ever found. (USAF) APRIL 2014
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THE CREW These are the names of the crew members of the Rivet Amber, the CR-135 Air Force reconnaissance plane that was presumed lost over the Bering Sea on June 5, 1969: Ltc. Charles B. Michaud Maj. Peter S. Carpenter Maj. Richard N. Martel Capt. Michael E. Mills Maj. Horace G. Beasley Maj. Rudolph J. Meissner Capt. James F. Ray M/Sgt. Herbert C. Gregory S/Sgt. Lester J. Schatz T/Sgt. Donald F. Wonders T/Sgt. Hervey Hebert T/Sgt. Charles F. Dreher S/Sgt. Robert W. Fox T/Sgt. Eugene L. Benevides S/Sgt. Roy L. Lindsey S/Sgt. Richard J. Steen Jr. Sgt. Douglas Arcano Sgt. Sherman E. Consolver Jr. Sgt. Lucian A. Rominiecki
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We had advanced radar that allowed us to track objects the size of a soccer ball at over 300 miles and an array of highly classified optical and electronic sensors. The missiles launched from Russia, would impact on the peninsula or in the Sea of Okhotsk. The Russians were doing the same things to us. When we launched Minuteman missiles from Vandenberg AFB in California downrange to Kawjalein Island in the Pacific, those so-called “Fishing Trawlers” stationed across the ocean were doing guess what? On the morning of June 5, 1969, a RC135 aircraft, the Rivet Amber, departed Shemya AFB to fly to Eielson for routine maintenance. About 40 minutes into the flight, Rivet Amber contacted Elmendorf AFB and reported a potential emergency. At the squadron, we listened to it all. The aircraft reported vibrations, with the crew going on oxygen and descending. After that transmission we heard nothing but what sounded like someone keying a microphone. That was the last
thing heard from Rivet Amber. The aircraft had 19 people on board: God bless their souls. We flew search-and-rescue missions for about three weeks. The Coast Guard and the Navy had many ships in the Bering Sea looking for wreckage. I flew on some of those missions aboard a C135. We flew as low as 300 feet over the sea; in a 135, that is pretty hairy. During those three weeks no one saw anything in the sea; not an oil slick; not a piece of wreckage. And believe me when I say that the Rivet Amber was one highly classified aircraft that everyone wanted badly to locate. The search was as good as it could get. Rivet Amber went completely missing and nothing was ever found. That aircraft’s disappearance remains a mystery to this day. So friends, while the mystery of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has captivated us, and we’ve prayed for a rescue, when an aircraft goes down in the ocean, sometimes it just disappears. ASJ
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MAGNUSON AIRWAYS Barney Anselment is the owner and pilot of Magnuson Airways. He is a third generation bush pilot born and raised in Alaska, specializing in off airport flying. With a life-long knowledge of bush Alaska, he has the experience to fly you to places the average pilot would never think of landing. For more information, call (907) 2982223, email anselment@yahoo.com or go to his website at www.magnusonairways.com.
24 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL APRIL 2014
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Brothers Johnathan (left) and Andy Hillstrand are longtime crab fishermen. Johnathan can add another notch on his resume to go along with crabbing skipper. He’s now also a published children’s’ book author. (RICK GERSHON/GETTY IMAGES/DISCOVERY CHANNEL)
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BY LUKE KELLY
D
CATCH OF THE DAY STILL SALTY REALITY SHOW’S CAPTAIN CRABBER SAILS INTO SEASON 10
eadliest Catch is going into its landmark 10th season, which is quite a feat when you consider the lifespan of many reality shows these days. Even after all this time, the hit Discovery Channel program remains as popular as ever. The show depicts some of the harshest conditions and toughest people that Alaska has to offer: the Bering Sea, and the crab fishermen who dare to brave its icy waters. Viewers remain fascinated by Deadliest Catch after a decade for a handful of reasons. For one thing, there’s plenty of adrenaline: 800-pound crab pots swinging wildly over the heads of crewmembers, threatening to crush bones and mash fingers; 80-foot rogue waves powerful enough to capsize a boat in an instant; fistfights and Coast Guard rescues that will grab the attention of even the most apathetic viewers. Yet beyond the pulse-raising action on deck, much of the show’s appeal lies in the fact that the cast appears to be just a bunch of ordinary guys. Watching the show, you get to know the different crews, and you catch yourself beginning to empathize with the personal struggles of the fishermen; you feel as if you’re actually out there on the sea with them. One of the most popular “ordinary guys” on the show is the captain of the Time Bandit, Johnathan Hillstrand. A native of Homer, Alaska, the seasoned skipper is a favorite among fans because he is able to take on the role of both the hard-edged crabber, and fun-loving family man. On one side, Hillstrand displays the hardened exterior of a fisherman who has spent 34 years on the Bering Sea. The raspy captain is known to work his crew – and himself – to the point of exhaustion. Though he’s battling recent injuries, he still doesn’t accept anything less than maximum effort on his boat, and he prides himself on never quitting. This never-say-die attitude (along with his penchant for fast motorcycles), has earned him a reputation as the “bad boy of the Bering Sea.” APRIL 2014
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But beneath the backwards cap, gravelly voice, and scruffy goatee, the veteran crabber has a kind heart. With a loud, booming laugh, Hillstrand is easy to like. He is committed to his job, and is quick to make it known that he also cares deeply about his family and crew. His brothers, Andy and Neal, along with his
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son, Scott, join him at sea, and their safety and well-being is never far from his mind. “It’s all about family,” he says. “That’s the most important thing.” What’s more, in an industry that is exceptionally serious given the stakes, the captain loves to keep things light by always making time for some old-fash-
ioned fun. “We do things a little differently on the Time Bandit,” he says. “We work hard, but we play hard.” Common pastimes on Hillstrand’s boat include shooting off fireworks, pranking other skippers, and causing loud explosions, all in the name of a good time.
Capt. Johnathan Hillstrand’s ship, Time Bandit, navigates the Bering Sea waters through treacherous seas and icy waters in search of valuable crab harvests. (RICK GERSHON/GETTY IMAGES/DISCOVERY CHANNEL)
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“There is never a dull moment,” says the skipper, with sincerity. There’s no arguing the fact; the Time Bandit and its crew certainly help to boost the show’s entertainment factor with both their shenanigans and passion for crab fishing. Pranks and explosions aside, Hillstrand recently authored a children’s book, a further testament to his giving nature. The book began as a gift idea for his grandchildren, but then he decided to have it published to help teach young children moral values. How many crab fishermen can say they’ve done that? Although he was out on the high seas finishing up a long opilio crab season at the time of the interview, Alaska Sporting Journal was able to catch up with Jonathan between sets to talk about the reality star’s life both on and off of Alaska’s waters.
The Time Bandit crew protects themselves from the unforgiving and wet conditions while sifting through a crab catch. (RICK GERSHON/GETTY IMAGES/DISCOVERY CHANNEL)
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Luke Kelly Deadliest Catch is going into its tenth season, and it’s remained as popular as ever. Why do you think that people have remained fascinated by the
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show after all this time? Johnathan Hillstrand I think it’s because the cameras have gotten a lot better. They have cameras in more places, little tiny ones that catch more of what happens. And then it’s one of the only shows where it’s real. We don’t have scripts. There are a lot of shows out there that are supposedly reality, but they’re not. (Our show) is about real people, and real lives, and people have died on the show. And then everybody gets to know the characters, so it’s sort of like a soap opera for guys. LK Has becoming famous, or a recognizable figure, changed you at all? JH No, we actually all forget about it, because we’re just doing our jobs. You forget, and then you’ll be at the airport and somebody will go “You’re that guy,� and then you go “Oh, yeah, that’s right, I am that guy!� But we’re regular guys. We’re busy boys; we work all the time, so we forget. It doesn’t even seem like it’s been ten years. It’s crazy, but we’re pretty
Time Bandit deckhand Mike Fourtner works the rail on the Bering Sea during king crab season. (RICK GERSHON/GETTY IMAGES/DISCOVERY CHANNEL)
humble. LK What was it like growing up in Homer, Alaska? The perception is that it would be a lot different than growing up in the Lower 48, so what was it like being a kid
in Alaska? JH It was a lot like Huckleberry Finn. We had bicycles, but we also had rafts and skiffs. We grew right up on the beach, and we had skiffs running up and down the beach in the summer. There was
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JH Yeah, I used to watch my dad. He’d sail into the sunset, like the cowboy at the end of a movie. He’d leave me home with all the women. But ever since I can remember, my oldest memories have been on a boat. I always wanted to go out fishing with him, though lately I just want to stay home with the women [laughs]. No, it’s still fun. It’s fun to get the hell out of there, and just sail off and go fishing. No news is good news; you never have to watch the news or anything like that.
Time Bandit captain Johnathan Hillstrand (center) is one of the most popular real-life crab skippers on the Discovery Channel hit show Deadliest Catch. His crew (from left to right) includes deckhand John ‘JJ’ Jorgensen; deckhand Mike Fourtner; captain/deckhand Andy Hillstrand, deckhand Scott Hillstrand; deckhand Neal Hillstrand; and deckhand Eddie Uwekoolani. (RICK GERSHON/GETTY IMAGES/DISCOVERY CHANNEL)
never a dull moment. My mom was telling me that one year – she had five boys – she took us all in for stitches twice one summer, and the doctor said, “Why do you even bring them in anymore? You
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know how to do this.” She was embarrassed as hell. LK When did you realize that you wanted to be a crabber? Did you get into it when you were young?
LK I’ve worked on a boat in Alaska myself, and that’s one thing I like too. You don’t really have to worry about much besides fishing. JH Yeah, you don’t get in any trouble; you just get on your boat and go. To sort of answer the question about why people still love the show – I know that no matter how miserable my life is, or my job is, there’s always other boats on the show that are more miserable than me. I love watching that! My job over on the Time Bandit, we have a little more fun than everybody else,
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so it ain’t so bad, you know? That’s why I watch the damn show. LK Working at sea with your son and your brothers, do you worry about them constantly, it being so dangerous? JH Yeah, I do. But my son’s such a good crane operator; he’s got 15 years (experience). If he’s running the crane, and I’m at the wheel, then no one’s going to get crushed. We shut down when we take green water – that’s when guys get washed around on deck. We’ve had quite a few of those this year, you’ll see. And we have some new guys, so there’s just never a dull moment here. Once you think you’ve seen it all – that’s one thing about the show – it’ll surprise you. A couple boats sank already, and it’s been wild out here. Murphy’s Law works better on the water than it does on land.
kings. Actually, me and my son caught a 647-pound halibut – it’s bigger than the world record – but I filled its head with lead so it didn’t count as the record, I guess. It spooled him 600 yards of line, and we caught it in like 30 feet of water. After we dressed it out, it was still like 550-something pounds. I should hold most of the records because I’ve been fishing for so long! I had a 48-inch steelhead; I caught that in a net. I took it to Alaska Fish and Game, and they took it from me; I thought it was a king salmon. So that’s a record I think. And then I had a 14-pound pink salmon once, and I caught it in this little river; actually I snagged him, so that didn’t really count, but I have caught world-record fish. I should be one of those record-holders, damn it! I’m still working on that.
LK Do you go sport fishing a lot? And what do you like to fish for? JH Oh yeah, I love sportfishing. Can’t get enough of it. I love trolling for king salmon, and we catch those year-round: feeder
LK Did you catch that monster halibut in Homer? JH I caught it up at the north end of Kodiak. As soon as the hook hit the bottom, bam! He hit it. The spool was flying out.
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I’m going, “Man, I hope I tied that knot good! I hope I tied that knot good!” Well, it turns out it was a good knot. He came out of the water; it was a 10-foot fish. It was amazing. LK You had a few injuries recently: a few broken ribs, a motorcycle accident. Has that affected you much when you’re out at sea and working, doing your job? JH Yeah, it did. I still have cracked ribs from king crab. You’ll notice I don’t move around like I used to. I’m all healed up now. It was a whole year I had broken ribs, so it was a miserable son of a bitch. But anyway, I ended up writing some kids’ books, so it turned out to be a good thing. Kids love them. You ought to check out my little kids’ books. LK I’ve heard about that. How’d you get the idea to do that? It seems like a big switch from crab fisherman to writing kids’ books. JH Yeah. When I was in the hospital, the lady gave me some Sharpies and some
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notepads, and I wrote a story for my grandkids, and one thing led to the next. A few months later, I got in a motorcycle wreck [chuckling]. So I go, “I’ll just write another book.” And they got published. I had a lot of fun; I just gave a bunch to the grade school where my granddaughter goes. I read to over 500 kids, and you could hear a pin drop. So that’s a good book if you can keep 500 little kindergarten kids quiet for 30 minutes [laughing]. I never thought I was going to (write a kids’ book), and it was quite a change. But it’s just good old-school lessons, like “listen to your damn mother” and stuff like that. LK What do you see yourself doing in 10 years? Do you think you’ll still be fishing? JH I want to be in the 1,000-pound marlin club, so that’s on my bucket list. I probably won’t be king crab fishing more then – I probably figure six or seven more years. And then I’ll probably be on an island somewhere, hopefully. And my grandkids will be in high school. I’ll be retired, hopefully, and
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just do whatever I want to do. LK You’ve definitely earned it. How long has it been? JH I think this is my 34th opilio season. I don’t know how I did it! [laughing]. Earlier this year, I had a struggle. You’ll see it when you watch the show. But now I got my mind right, and I got my body back in shape. I started running and stuff. When you sit in this wheelhouse 20 hours a day and you chain smoke out the window, it’ll just kill you. What made me strongest was being on deck. These guys on deck, they have hearts of athletes. They’re like Olympians; their hearts are so strong, they work so hard. And when I stopped doing that, I went in the wheelhouse for 23 years, and sat on my ass in a chair for 20 hours a day, chain smoking out the window. It was killing me. Anyway, I’ve been taking care of myself, and that’s the main thing: keep your health. Be healthy, man. If I could tell anybody young, it’s just try to stay healthy. That’s my best advice to anybody. LK That’s sound advice. I imagine it’s hard
to do out at sea. JH Yeah. If you’re in the wheelhouse, there’s not much time to exercise. There’s not much room for exercise equipment! There’s a lot of stress, and stress is not good for your heart. And then cigarettes; for some reason most of us chain smoke. But anyway, I started running in town, and solved everything. I started working out when I go to town. I feel a lot better; I just haven’t felt this good in a long time. As soon as I get back to town I’m going to start running again and stay in shape, and be around for a while. LK We’re glad to hear it. The last question I want to ask you is what would you like people to remember about you? What would you like your legacy to be? JH That I was always fair and honest. That’s the main thing. Treat people with respect. Also, that we were hardworking, honest people. My brothers, Neal and Andy, I don’t know anybody that works harder than them. And my family; in the end, it’s all about family. ASJ
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SOME SUN, SOME CLOUDS ALASKA SALMON FORECAST FOR THIS SEASON IS MIXED BY TOM REALE
T
he forecasts for salmon returns to Southcentral Alaska streams this year are the usual mixed bag, with prospects ranging from excellent to downright lousy. And, as usual, what you want to find and where you want to go will be a guessing game. Predicting salmon runs in Alaska is probably as much art as it is science, and
every year the biologists’ predictions also range between excellent and lousy. However, unless you’ve got access to some other method of predicting salmon runs that the rest of us are unaware of, these forecasts are all we’ve got. In Southcentral, there’s been a bit more conflict than usual among the various fishing interests. Commercial fishing boats in
Cook Inlet are primarily targeting the large runs of sockeye that return from the open ocean to streams on the Kenai Peninsula, the Alaska Peninsula and the Mat-Su Valley, north of Anchorage. In years when there are plenty of fish for everyone, the issues of overfishing by any one of the user groups subsides to a low murmur. However, once there’s a
Sockeye salmon in spawning mode around Pasagshack on Kodiak Island. The 2014 salmon forecast for many Alaskan waters is varied among great, promising and disappointing. (USFWS/KATRINA MUELLER)
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shortage anywhere, that’s when the fun begins. All of the salmon fisheries in Southcentral are interconnected in various ways, and some segments are more highly prized than others by different groups. In Southcentral, the “money fish” are kings, sockeye and coho, and of these, the species of most concern is the mighty Chinook (king). In recent years, king runs all over Alaska and especially in the Cook Inlet region have gone from bad to worse. When this happens, the scrambling for solutions begins, as does the finger pointing and the assessment of blame by the fishing community.
Salmon anglers, like these in Ketchikan, will be eager after another long winter to wet their lines and take a shot at landing kings, silvers, sockeye, pinks and chums. But in some areas of Southcentral Alaska, the 2014 forecast appears to have mixed reviews. (JASON BROOKS)
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THE KING SALMON returns to the streams of the Kenai Peninsula have an enormous effect on the financial wellbeing of the tourist industry there. Guides, lodges, restaurants, sporting goods stores, gas stations, etc., make a ton of money from the annual influx of visitors looking for a chance to land a king salmon that’s the size of your average elementary school kid. People save up for years for
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the trip, and when that opportunity goes away, so do the tourists. Some of the fishing effort can be transferred to other species, but not all of it. For one thing, this can result in crowded conditions in other fisheries, while other visitors will cancel trips to Alaska if the chance to catch and keep a king evaporates. The commercial fisheries in the area don’t target kings, but the incidental catch and killing of them occurs way too often for everyone’s tastes. The commercial outfits are divided between setnetters and the drift gillnet fleet. Setnets are gillnets anchored to land on one end and strung perpendicular to the beach to intercept fish as they head for their natal streams. Most setnet operations are small, familyrun concerns, many of them having been in operation for decades as a means of income. The driftnet fleet is comprised of fish boats setting gill nets in the open water and harvesting salmon. When Chinook wind up in setnets or drift nets, mortality is pretty much inevitable.
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The main problem is that the kings travel at the same time and in the same manner as the returning sockeye and coho. The state Board of Fisheries has been trying to reduce the incidental catch of kings by limiting fishing days for drift and setnetters who are targeting the other species, and in some cases closing down specific commercial fisheries. These moves have not been popular with the commercial entities. Last year the board closed setnetting for a large portion of the season to try and reduce incidental king catches, since setnets are seen as the primary offender in the commercial fishery; according to an Alaska Department of Fish and Game study, the setnets account for approximately three-quarters of the kings killed by commercial fishers. Almost no one is charging that the local “comm-fish” industry is entirely responsible for the low Chinook returns – the jury is still out on the ultimate cause or causes of this issue. It’s probably something that’s going on in the open
ocean, such as loss of feed species, predation, climate change, bycatch, etc. But killing thousands of these fish in gill nets sure isn’t helping things, and obviously can’t be allowed to continue. One possible solution that’s being considered is to alter the size and positioning of setnets. It’s been postulated that the kings swim deeper than sockeye. If the nets can be positioned to allow the bigger fish to escape underneath while still capturing the sockeyes swimming closer to the surface, the bycatch can be greatly reduced. More study is needed, but this could have some potential. Another conflict involves the drift net fleet in the Inlet and their coho and sockeye harvest. In recent years the returns of silver salmon to streams in the MatSu Valley north of Anchorage have suffered, as have sockeye returns to the Susitna River drainage. The local sportfish community has been blaming the driftnetters, while the commercial fleet has tried to shift the blame for the poor
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runs to environmental conditions in the valley. They say the real reasons include stream bank erosion, bad culvert maintenance, predation by northern pike and poor water quality among the stressors on valley salmon. In addition, valley fishing interests believe that the issue has received precious little attention and study because of all the focus on the Kenai River king salmon problems. While ADFG lists 11 salmon
King salmon are the golden goal of Alaska salmon anglers, and the Kenai Peninsula in particular continues to struggle to find a good run. (USFWS/ALASKA)
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“stocks of concern” in the state, seven of these are in the Mat-Su region. WHAT’S THE OUTLOOK for king salmon? In an effort to increase the returns of king, sockeye and coho salmon to their home streams, the Department of Fish and Game has issued a series of emergency orders, (EOs). These orders affect sport, commercial and personal-use fisheries in Cook Inlet, and there’s something in these orders to irritate and anger almost everybody this year. However, desperate times demand desperate measures, and the Board of Fisheries is hoping to get these regs in place and to make the public aware of the details while there’s still time for people to make the appropriate changes in travel and fishing plans for the season. So let’s start with the Big Dog: the first run of king salmon to the Kenai River is closed to all fishing in May and June. In an article in the Anchorage Daily News, ADFG biologist Robert Begich said, “The last time the king salmon season was
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closed for two consecutive years was 1964-65. And it hasn’t been done preseason since 1965.” The escapement goal for this run is from 5,300 to 9,000 fish, and the predicted return is more like 2,200. A potential bright spot here is that, after the closures in the 1960s, the stocks rebuilt, according to Begich. We’ll all just have to hope for the best and that history manages to repeat itself in this case. Indications are that the second run won’t fare noticeably better, and will probably be closed as well. In other king salmon fisheries in the Upper Cook Inlet area, the news is only slightly better, and the resulting regulations are complicated. For example, the Susitna and Little Susitna River drainages allow king fishing, but harvest is only allowed on certain days of the week, while catch-and-release fishing is allowed on other days. Other drainages in the valley are subject to numerous restrictions as well, so if you’re planning on fishing kings there, be sure
to check and double check the regs and the ADFG website (adfg.alaska.gov) for the latest EOs – everything is subject to change based on how the runs progress, or not, as the season unfolds. OTHER KENAI PENINSULA streams have issues as well. On the Kasilof, earlyrun king harvest is restricted to hatchery fish, identified by a clipped-adipose-fin scar. In the Anchor, Deep Creek and Ninilchik Rivers, only unbaited, singlehook artificial lures may be used, annual limit is two kings of 20 inches or more in length, and the Anchor River is closed to fishing on Wednesdays. See what we mean by complicated? In fishing for sockeye in Cook Inlet, the drift gillnet fleet manages to catch quite a few silvers as well. This bycatch isn’t a real problem for the gillnetters, since coho salmon sells quite well. For the people looking for silvers to return to Mat-Su Valley streams, however, this is a problem. For the majority of accessible salmon
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streams in the valley, silvers are the primary target species, and when those runs suffer, people notice. Sportfishers in the valley have claimed in the past that the commercial fleet needs to back off a bit and allow more coho to reach their streams. In an unexpected move this year, the Board of Fisheries has placed restrictions on the driftnet fleet in hopes of allowing more silvers to get past the nets. The fleet has been pushed farther south in hopes that they’ll catch more of a mixed bag of salmon rather than placing too much pressure on any of the “stocks of concern” that the state is worried about. In addition, the drifters must leave corridors or open water to allow more salmon to reach valley streams. It’s hoped that the commercial fleet will be able to catch more sockeyes headed for the Kenai and Kasilof Rivers to offset any losses from these restrictions. However, only time will tell how successful these efforts will be. Add in the almost untold numbers of other variables involved and you can see how this tinker-
ing around the edges of these vast and complex biological processes is a very inexact science. Are there any bright spots here? Fortunately, yes. The sockeye return to the Cook Inlet region is expected to top six million fish. Commercial fishers are expected to harvest about four million of them, so that leaves about 2 million fish for the rest of us- not too shabby. In addition, the Mat-Su Valley streams along the Parks Highway and the Susitna River drainages ought to see good returns of coho and sockeye. If you’re looking for kings (and who isn’t really?), on the peninsula the Kasilof, Anchor, Ninilchik and Deep Creek fisheries offer a bit of hope. As always, everything is subject to change, and to regulation by emergency order. Before wetting a line, make sure you’ve got the latest and greatest info from the ADFG website or by calling in to the nearest office – they update their recorded info on changes frequently. It’s not always easy to follow the rules, but make sure you do, and enjoy your time on the water. ASJ
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This steelie was given a chance to be caught on another cast, and perhaps ending another catchless-stretch of futility for someone else. (JEFF LUND)
1,000
COUNTING CASTS TO THE QUEST FOR AN ELUSIVE FISH BY JEFF LUND
E
ven the girl at the local clothing store knew, and that made it worse. I was in there to buy a no-nonsense commercial fishing-grade rain jacket, so in case I was in a situation that required dryness I’d be more equipped than I was when I went out with wolf trappers to do a story, when I was cold and wet for half a day, because medium jackets don’t fit 6-
foot-2-inch dudes. There’d be rain during steelhead season, but I’d be prepared, I told her. “The fish of 1,000 casts,” she said ignoring the coat and referring to the catch. She engaged her whole face in an enraptured while taunting smile of someone who knew, even if she didn’t pursue steelhead and seemed to be telling my fortune. It was friendly, but not what I wanted to hear. The whole “thousand cast” thing is not
literal, but speaks to the truth that it can be really hard to get fish that aren’t feeding to actually bite something. I didn’t know where I was on the 1-to-1,000 continuum, but I had put enough casts on my shoulder that, had they been done in immediate succession, I’d have no rotator cuff. I just wanted to be told everything was going to be OK. But with steelhead, the emotional fetal position is the last place you want to be. So I smiled, stayed APRIL 2014
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There wasn’t a lot of light left when the angler donned his newly bought rain jacket to chase the elusive steelhead that was taunting him from the river cast after cast after cast. (JEFF LUND)
confident and bought the jacket. Two weeks later I was still without a fish and kept the mental tally moving. After working as a substitute teacher for a guy who starts his day with high school construction and ends it with middle school art, I headed to the river. I was just
going to go, just to tear off more numbers in the countdown. THE WATER WAS still cloudy from landslides earlier in the month, but the flows were a little more normal. Cast. Cast. Cast. Closer. Closer. Closer.
Right? Down the river a bit, seagulls and ducks were using the pool to relax, feed, or watch the human not catch fish. Cast. Cast. Cast. I started to lose the stress of the day. The sun would be down in an hour and I’d
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Do you think the author is happy he broke his no-steelhead streak? (JEFF LUND)
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be more than likely chased off the river without catching a steelhead, but where else on earth could I go from school to a bona fide steelhead river in less than an hour – and not have to share it with anyone? Everything really was great, and when summer came along, and the salmon were in the river, and the trout came out of the lake there’d be: The indicator dove under the surface. In that fraction of a second I was able to compare that action to the fly bumping on the bottom or snagging on a rock. I pulled to the side. The tip bounced. I had something, and since there weren’t many trout in this river, too short and too small for trout to winter-over in, that something had to be a steelhead. A millisecond later I knew for sure as the water surface was broken with a thrash. I was attached to a steelhead in the murky water not 10 feet from my boots. I’d worn regular XtraTufs, because I wasn’t sure how close I was to that
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Prince of Wales Island 1,000th cast and approached the day with more of a dutiful-casting than steelheadcatching attitude. Shin-high boots changed the fighting dynamic, especially since it was 31 degrees outside. That’s maybe a little warmer than expected for winter in Southeast Alaska, but still, a little chilly, and though I didn’t need waders to cast where I wanted, my usual slipping and falling had to be avoided or risk misery. The fish thrashed more than it ran, enabling me to stay at least relatively calm. I kept tension, eased off the drag a little in case it was playing possum, and looked for a landing spot which would be soft on the fish if it got fussy when I landed it. I glided it close enough to tail it. With one hand on the resting fish and the other organizing the camera, I tried to process the moment – my first Alaska steelhead in two years. There had been trout and salmon during each summer home, but this was a winter-run Alaskan steelhead. I lifted the fish, held an awkward DMVesque pose, then released the fish. There was still light left, but I only casted for a few more minutes and called it quits. THE NEXT DAY I started on another 1,000 casts, and it seemed like everything was back to normal. I tried the same spot and fished it with enthusiasm, vigor and waders. It can be hard to believe the fish are there when you haven’t seen any, and the result can be sloppy technique. After you get one, though, you’re not dealing with just faith; you’ve got evidence and you could make instructional videos on roll-casts and swinging. In the cold brightness of another postsubstitute teaching afternoon, I hooked into another steelhead. This one was a chrome-bright fish, which made me nervous. My previous fish was a little aged, and while it wore the telltale blush of a steelie, its belly had taken on a greyish hue, as if I’d smeared clay on its stomach before snapping a picture. This guy was fresh and feisty. I needed to get him in, and somehow did. Two fish in three days! I didn’t feel like a master, but if one was an accident, two probably wasn’t. I moved downriver and fished a
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Prince of Wales Island classic steelhead run. Just as I was about to let the sun set on another successful day, my submerged pink pattern was redirected into a spasm of headshakes. Another? Really? I was suddenly warm, and the slow leak in my waders that cut my foot off from feeling didn’t exist. My foot still didn’t belong to me, but at least I wasn’t thinking about it. The fish ran up and down the run before I was able to coax it near a log. I fumbled to get the camera out of my bag, as I didn’t want to beach the fish, have it flop around on shore while I was trying to get my camera out for a hero pic, then have it die after I released it because it clubbed itself on a stump or rock. It held for me, so I pushed the shutter, moved back, and lifted the steelhead just in time to get an image, albeit ruined by poor lighting. The fish cooperated for a shot down the flanks and after I held its tail for a few seconds, it propelled itself back to safety, splashing my face with its wake. Three fish in three days, and two in one hour in one afternoon after teaching fourth graders. It was the type of moment you have to slow down and enjoy, because streaks get snapped. Two days later I fished for hours and caught nothing, then my truck broke down at the river and I had to be rope-towed back into town by my former basketball coach. I officially deemed my good fortune over and began counting to 1,000. ASJ
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SOCK IT TO ‘EM ON THE KLUTINA RED SALMON FISHING AT COPPER RIVER CONFLUENCE
BY DENNIS MUSGRAVES he Klutina River embodies everything about what a roadside salmon fishery in Alaska should be. Easy accessibility via driving, gorgeous panoramic views of the Wrangell Mountains, majestic bald eagles soaring overhead, and the headliner: a cascading river abundant with salmon. Lots of salmon. Healthy numbers of sockeye (red) salmon are present in the system annually from June through August. The beautiful river is a can‘t-miss annual fishing destination for me every season, with intentions to arrive at the beginning of the salmon run. Swinging a yarn fly in the swift water of the river for
T
The author celebrates with a Klutina River sockeye. Keep an eye on online salmon counts for the river, and when numbers are estimated to be at 10,000 more, that could be a perfect time to go. (DENNIS MUSGRAVES)
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the early run of salmon is addicting Cravings can only be satisfied by hooking into a wild fish in the untamed current. I am always eager to catch a season’s first salmon after experiencing an Alaska winter. Visions of a snowcapped Mount Drum towering over the river and the noise of the roaring glacier water fill my mind with anticipation and call me. Chasing Klutina sockeye never gets stale. Instinctively I return every June, just like the fish, looking forward to feverously flipping my fishing line and having high expectations on harvesting a limit of chrome-sided salmon. THE ORIGIN OF the river begins from a glacier in the Chugach Mountains and flows a total of over 60 miles, passing through Klutina Lake and eventually ending at a confluence with the mighty Copper River. The lower stretch of the river receives the most attention from anglers. You can get here via the Alaska Highway System. The Klutina River flows right under the scenic Richardson Highway at milepost 101 near Copper Center. The small historic community sits adjacent to the nearby confluence of the two rivers and
GOOGLE MAPS
The Klutina River flows for 60 miles until running into the larger Copper River and its large sockeye salmon population. (DENNIS MUSGRAVES)
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Largest Run of Salmon Since 1938! The Big Horn Sportsman Show Spokane, WA • March 20-23
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The sockeye salmon run to the Copper River numbers in the hundreds of thousands annually. The Copper’s confluence with the Klutina River makes for a prime fishing location. (DENNIS MUSGRAVES)
is a popular destination for residents and visitors for an assortment of outdoor undertakings, with sportfishing being the most popular. Privately owned riverside campgrounds are located on both sides of the Klutina and accommodate guests with sites for tents or recreational vehicles. Productive fishing can be experienced during the peak of the salmon run right at the riverbank at any one of the campgrounds. Those who choose not to rough it overnight can stay at the Copper Valley Princess Lodge (princesslodges.com), perched on a hilltop overlooking the Klutina River. The lodge is an 85-room modern facility with amenities that include a restaurant and gift shop. Stunning views of volcanic peaks in the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park can be seen from inside the comfort of the lodge’s great room. Area recreational activities include jet boat and rafting tours from local outfitters, hiking, wildlife viewing, and, of course, fishing for salmon. HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of return-
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ing sockeye journey from the ocean up the Copper River in Alaska every year. Daily numbers from a sonar counter located at Miles Lake provides a good estimate on just how many fish are actually on their way. Data from the fish counter is reported and available for viewing on the Alaska Department of Fish and Game website (adfg.alaska.gov), and that’s exactly where An angler hooks up with a Klutina River sockeye, which usually swim near the bottom, making it imperative to use a bouncing weight to drift the line toward the river’s floor. (DENNIS MUSGRAVES)
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I can be found lurking every morning in late May, hovering over my computer or checking my smartphone for daily updates and cumulative counts. When the salmon counts reach a daily number of 10,000 or more, I know it’s
almost time to wet a line. The sockeye are pursuing a rendezvous with destiny to ultimately spawn and expire. A large portion of this massive hoard of fish takes a hard left turn when reaching the confluence of the Klutina River. The fish continue to swim 22 more
IF YOU GO LOCATION
The Klutina River intersects with the Richardson Highway at milepost 101. Copper Center is the closest community and located on the bank of the Copper River at the confluence with the Klutina River. The glacier-influenced river host Pacific salmon runs of both sockeye “red” salmon and king “Chinook” salmon. Resident fish include Arctic grayling, Dolly Varden, and rainbow trout. The sport fishing season for sockeye normally begins in early June when the fish arrive in good catchable numbers and runs through the month of August. Copper Center and the surrounding area offer additional recreational activities which include rafting and jet boat tours offed by local outfitters. The Wrangell-St. Elias National Park is nearby, with hiking and wildlife sightseeing as well as viewing the three tallest peaks of the mountain range. The TransAlaskan Oil Pipeline crosses over the Klutina River and can be seen and explored at viewing stations along the highway. WHERE TO STAY
Accommodations for an overnight stay range from rustic tent camping to modern hotel amenities from the 85-room Princess Lodge. Area campgrounds are RV-friendly with electrical hookups and dumping stations. Recommendations include these two properties: Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge 1 Brenwick Craig Road Copper Center, AK (907) 822-4000 princesslodges.com Klutina Salmon Charters & Campground Milepost 101 Old Richardson Hwy Copper Center, AK (907) 822-3991 klutinasalmoncharters.com WHAT TO BRING
Klutina Salmon Charters A good medium/heavy action (klutinasalmoncharters.com) offers fishing rod with a minimum 7 feet guided fishing tours on the river. in length will be sufficient, in ei- (DENNIS MUSGRAVES) ther bait or spin-casting style. Fly rods should be 8-weight or larger size. Bring monofilament line or braided equivalent should be at least rated 20-pound test; waders or hip boots (not of the felt-soled variety) to avoid wet shoes; a landing net to tame frisky salmon; and sunglasses for eye protection (avoiding inadvertent fishing hooks to the face). Having a sharp filet knife and materials for processing and storing your harvest will allow preserving the fish well and make for a great meal. Strict rules apply for sportfishing in Alaska and anglers should be aware of all the regulations before they cast a line. Current regulations, additional information and emergency orders can be found at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game website (adfg.alaska.gov).
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Cordova’s Fishing Lodges: After collecting the Klutina, the 300-mile Copper River drains out into Prince William Sound near the city of Cordova, which itself features some outstanding fishing. Here are three Cordova-area lodges worth checking out: Orca Adventure Lodge (907) 424-7249; orcaadventurelodge.com Orca Adventure Lodge has been named a top multi-species destination. With the combination of two ocean-worthy, highspeed catamarans, the lodge fishes both the protected waters of Prince William Sound and the outer waters in the Gulf of Alaska. Saltwater action is for halibut and lingcod, as well as trolling for kings. It’s the only permitee in the eastern Chugach National Forest for flyout trips for freshwater sockeye, trout and, later in the season, silvers. One flyout camp is high in the mountains and targets wild rainbows in the heart of the Wrangel-St. Elias National Park, and two flyout camps are for prime fall silver action. There are incredible options available. Ravencroft Lodge (907) 200-4665; ravencroftlodge.com Ravencroft is a remote adventure lodge in the heart of Prince William Sound. Free from the crowds, boat traffic and the road system, this is true wilderness. Ravencroft has catered to self-guided and guided fishermen for over a decade. There is worldclass fishing at the front door of the lodge, include tackle-busting salmon, monster barn-door halibut and numerous other line-
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Cordova, which is located at the mouth of the famed Copper River, offers plenty of lodge options for those looking for some outstanding fishing. (RAVENCROFT LODGE)
ripping, spool-peeling species. You’ll also find the best coho salmon run in Prince William Sound just down the beach from the lodge. There’s more than just fishing here. Take a stroll along the beach at low tide to witness a flourishing ecosystem. Kayak or paddleboard for the day along stunning coastlines, or just cruise the shores discovering Alaska’s rich underwater sea life.The lodge also offers flyout heli-adventures from the lodge to the Chugach Mountains. Bear’s Den Cabins (907) 424-7168; bearsdencabins.com Sockeye salmon are the main attraction here. Bear’s Den’s lodge is adjacent to the Eyak River, which shares the same watershed system as the Copper. From May through September, the Eyak has some of Alaska’s greatest sockeye fishing. The lodge offers custom-built cabins that “will have a quaint Alaska charm” to them. Here’s what the Bear’s Den website says about its fishing opportunities: “The Eyak River Drainage mixes with the ocean in the intertidal zone, where the salmon pick up on the scent leading them on the final leg of their journey ... During this time of annual migration, sportfishing opportunities abound. We offer top-notch boat rentals, a convenient place to clean and package your catch (or if you get swamped, arrangements can be made for custom processing), and your own freezer to store your catch until your departure. If you can’t wait to taste those fish, we also offer an area for cookouts and campfires.” ASJ
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miles against a very fast current towards Klutina Lake and eventually make it to their final destination for spawning. That is, however, unless they end up being caught by one of the many anglers attempting to plunk them from the water during the summer as they swim past the campgrounds. Trying to be among the first anglers to greet the early run of reds is a crapshoot. Although the high numbers of the fish counter may seem convincing, several factors are involved for when salmon show up in the river. Water levels and current speed play significant roles in how fast the salmon travel up the Copper to reach the Klutina. Estimating their actual movement and arrival is a game of chance, never knowing exactly when the fish will make their push from the counter to the confluence. Timing is everything when it comes to salmon fishing in Alaska. Sometimes rolling the dice is what one does in order to get in the game of catching an early salmon ahead of the crowd. I live by a motto of “hero or zero.” I understand fishermen cannot catch salmon if they are not at the river. Some
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years in the past my excitement for catching salmon got the best of me and I left way too early and went home fishless. Arriving way to soon, ahead of salmon and finding the river void of any fish is no fun. Fortunately I have built trusting rapport with the owner-operators at Klutina Salmon Charter and Campground (klutinasalmoncharters.com) from multiple years of visiting and fishing with the family business during my many visits to the river. Jay and Glenn McDowell are just a phone call away and provide me honest, real-time reliable reporting on fishing and river conditions before I venture out on the 275-mile-long road trip. So I always make a call. ACCEPTABLE METHODS USED by a vast majority of anglers in Alaska targeting sockeye salmon run the gamut. Fishermen employ a variety of nontraditional techniques by using a modified wet fly swing called “flossing” or “lining.” Fish are caught by drifting a weighted section of leader and single-hook lure or fly. Casting is more like
flipping, accomplished in short distances of less than 15 feet on the upstream side. The leader of the fishing line moves through the water with the assistance of a bouncing weight, keeping it close to the bottom and eventually getting drawn across the open mouth of a salmon during the drift. As your line drifts further downstream, the hook gets pulled into the salmon’s mouth. Changing line tension is felt by the angler and the hook is set. Since sockeye swim close to the bottom and near the bank, taking a path of least resistance against strong-flowing current, the controversial technique is very effective when executed correctly. Needless to say, debating the legality, ethics and sportiness of the untraditional method happens often among fishermen because the fish are not actively biting. Flossing can be deployed by virtually any type of rod-and-reel combo, so fishing equipment varies in a wide range. Using an 8- or 10-weight fly fishing rod is my preferred tool. However, conventional medium-heavy action rods in lengths of 7
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feet and longer work well also, in conjunction with using either a spin or baitcasting reel. I keep quick-sinking fly line on my reel and tie a leader of 20-pound-test monofilament line using a nail knot. Heavy line is normally used by fisherman whether it’s a mono-based or a braided super line. Terminal tackle choices are not complicated. Very popular prefabricated coho flies in assorted colors are widely available at local retailers and tackle shops. My choice is to tie up my own rig using a single 3/0 size octopus-style hook and tied onto the end of the leader with an egg loop. I use the loop to thread bright-colored yarn into and pull the leader to cinch it down. Sinkers used to get the leader beneath the surface on and close to the bottom include pencil lead systems, banana-shaped trolling weights and lead split shot. Even during the peak of the salmon run when the campgrounds are full, anglers can still find some solitude with a little effort. Good locations for fishing can be found short distances away from the crowded campgrounds by hiking along the
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Casting from the Klutina’s banks to catch sockeye salmon is defined by an unorthodox technique known as “flossing,” a modified wet fly swing. (DENNIS MUSGRAVES)
bank up- or downstream in the early morning or late afternoon. Taking a chartered raft float or jet boat is another way to see the river from a different perspective; you’re able to fish from a number of isolated sand bars upstream and away from the populated campgrounds. LAST SEASON WAS one of the most productive, earliest trips I’ve ever experienced fishing for reds on the Klutina in the
last 14 years. A couple of my angling buddies, Chris Cox and Paul Ferreira, decided on taking a gamble with me. We acted on a gut feeling very early in the season, and we were all rewarded with empty campgrounds and limits of shiny bright sockeye. I swear, if the fish were any fresher they would have dripped with saltwater. Harvesting prize sockeye allows me to bring home a delicious and healthy food source for my family and I to enjoy. The Klutina River is a special place for me. My memories are full of many fishing trips with family and friends under the summer sun; there are countless stories told around a warm campfire, thrills from rafting the turbulent waters, and, best of all, watching both my daughters catch their very first sockeye salmon. Traveling a road less taken, and a little earlier than others, has definitely had its benefits. ASJ Editor’s note: Dennis Musgraves spends over 100 days annually sportfishing all over Alaska. Chronicles of his adventures are at his group’s fishing website, alaskansalmonslayers.com.
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THE STORY OF RORY SALMON ANGLERS RUSH TO AID FRIEND’S HEART EPISODE
Rolly Johnson hooks a king salmon in the Nushagak River near Bristol Bay. Rolly, a volunteer fireman and EMT, used quick thinking in a small and primitive village medical clinic probably helped save a friend’s life after a heart issue. (JIM JOHNSON)
BY JIM JOHNSON
A
t 3 a.m., we got the dreaded call that we feared: we were awakened by an urgent and loud voice: “Rolly, get up; Rory’s in trouble!” OUR KING SALMON fishing trip wasn’t supposed to be this way. My son, Rolly, and I had a favorite place, a very remote stretch of the Nushagak River in Alaska. We had decided it was time to go back, so we’d gathered a bunch of friends to join us. The group was to include Mike Bordwell, an old friend and customer of our supply shop, from Lewiston, Idaho. One of the outfitters, Rod Benner, was Mike’s minister at the time. Rod and Gordon Fout, also from Lewiston, had river property from the Ekwok Eskimo tribe. They set up
a primitive fishing camp, Fishing Fever. Also joining us was our 65-year-old fishing buddy, Dick Gingrich, and his son-inlaw Pat Tyrie; Kent Hull, Ed Melville, Chuck Pettey, Dan Redinger, Tim Womack, and Tom Golis. But that May, we’d received some terrible news: Ed, 61, had a heart attack in Missoula, Mont., while making sales calls. He’d driven himself to the local hospital’s emergency room. They performed emergency surgery on him that night and saved his life. Six weeks before our trip, it looked like he wouldn’t be fishing with us. Also, just a couple weeks before we were scheduled to leave, Mike called and told us he couldn’t make it, but asked if it would be OK to send Rory Burisch, one of Mike’s employees, in his place. You can’t help but like Rory; he’s a super nice gentleman. We were
delighted to have him join us, but Rory was also fresh out of heart surgery to repair a malfunctioning valve. He was only 43, awfully young to be having heart surgery, but his doctor gave him the green light. EIGHT OF US left Spokane, Wash., International Airport to head north to Alaska through Seattle. From Anchorage we flew to Dillingham, and then loaded onto small planes to a little Eskimo village, Ekwok. It’s only about 60 miles from Dillingham, across a vast stretch of uninhabited tundra. We were soon over the lazy-flowing Nushagak River, which meanders its way through the wilderness and eventually dumps into Bristol Bay near Dillingham. It was hard to believe that you could be in a modern city like Seattle in the morning and a remote Alaskan Eskimo village APRIL 2014
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that afternoon. We went through the village down to the river and were met by Gordon, one of our two outfitters. He had three small boats waiting for us, and we made the 6-mile trip downriver to the camp. Our accommodations were wall tents with tarps on the ground for floors. We brought our own food, mostly pasta, and depended on eating salmon we would catch for dinner. I sure hoped we’d catch some, since it was a long way to the closest grocery store. It was remote, with almost no communications with the outside world. This being the Land of the Midnight Sun, we could often fish until 1:30 or 2 a.m. All the other camps were regimented to a time schedule. So we were more than anxious to go fishing. We went out on three different boats to fish downriver in some of Rolly’s favorite spots. But things weren’t happening. We hooked and released the occasional salmon, but nothing big. Maybe we were a bit early for the run? But we saw a neat scene of a cow and calf moose swim the river ahead of us. And we figured we’d
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Rory Burisch was just 43 at the time of the trip, but he had recently undergone heart surgery to repair a malfunctioning valve. He seemed to be OK early in the trip, but felt fatigued. (JIM JOHNSON)
get into some kings. Wouldn’t you know it: Ed hooked into a monster. I graciously offered to take over for him because I sure didn’t want him to have another heart attack. But he didn’t accept, so oh well. The granddaddy fish
made a savage run and then went airborne, snapping Ed’s 30-pound line. He later landed a 20-pounder, and by 10:30 p.m. it had been a long day, and I hoped the cardiac boys, Ed and Rory, weren’t pushing themselves too hard.
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Pat Tyrie grabbed a T-shirt and used it as a makeshift bandage to help patch up his father-in-law, Dick Gingrich, whose arm was cut by the flywheel on a boat’s motor. (JIM JOHNSON)
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THE NEXT DAY, we headed downriver and still found the fishing slow. But we headed upriver and began to find a few fish. Chuck landed an 18-pounder and asked me to help take a measurement and photos to have a replica made. “You can do better than this,” I told him while trying not to belittle his fish. But at this point, Dan radioed Rolly that he was taking Rory back to camp, as he needed some sleep. But Rory insisted he was OK and just tired. That night, Chuck landed a 25-pounder, and I suggested he’d rather get a replica of this fish since it was beautifully colored and wouldn’t cost that much more. “Maybe you’re right,” Chuck replied, and we took the measurements again. “At least the fishing is a little better,” I thought. It was about to get much better. On Monday, at one point, all five of the guys in Dan’s boat had a salmon on. Fish were jumping and lines were going every which way, so it was a real circus. It was wonderfully coming fast and furious. Things were happening. Rory was fishing with Dan, Tom and
Tim, but he felt tired and wanted to go back to camp. Rolly ran Rory back to camp, and since Rolly is a volunteer fireman and EMT, he became a bit concerned; he questioned Rory about how he was really feeling. “If you’re not OK, I want to know. We’ll get you out of here.” Rory insisted he was fine, only tired. All the while, we were catching a lot of fish. Dan and Kent had a couple 40pounders, and despite the mosquitos feeding on us, we were all smiles. But our elation was short-lived when at 12:30 a.m. Rod showed up and looked down at us from the bank with a grim face and a sense of urgency in his voice. “Rolly, Rory’s in trouble. You better get up here.” Rolly stopped cleaning fish and headed up the steep embankment with myself at his heels. We found Rory in the cook shack sitting with his head down at the table. “How do you feel?” asked Rolly. “Not very good,” Rory replied. “I have a bad pain in my chest.” Wouldn’t you know it? Ron had no way
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This had to be scaring the hell out of Ed considering his own heart condition. At 3 a.m., Rod called us into the shack to say those words: “Rolly, get up! Rory’s in trouble.”
Dan Redinger (left, pictured with Kent Hull), teamed with Rolly to give Rory muchneeded CPR when the small medical clinic they were at waiting for a plane to arrive was understaffed. (JIM JOHNSON)
to communicate with Dillingham. But he thought a neighboring camp had a satellite phone. Rolly and Rod hot-footed it for the camp, which was about a half-mile away through the tundra. They found the phone and Rolly reached an Eskimo doctor who was on-call in the Dillingham hospital. He let the doctor know he was an EMT, then explained the situation about Rory’s condition and his heart-valve operation. The doctor asked Rolly for Rory’s vital signs, but Rolly explained he had nothing to work with, and that all he could give him was Rory’s pulse and his general impression. In Rolly’s experienced opinion, it was not good at all. We requested a helicopter and 84 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL APRIL 2014
planned to clear a landing zone, but the doctor replied Dillingham didn’t have a helicopter. You would have thought an ocean fishing village the size of Dillingham would have had a rescue helicopter. The doctor said there wasn’t enough fuel to send one from Anchorage, and there was no floatplane that was equipped for an emergency. What they had was a wheel plane, but according to FAA rules they couldn’t land the plane until 4:20 a.m. Rolly feared Rory might be dead by then. The doctor told Rolly to make Rory as comfortable as possible. Rod set up a cot for Rory at the food shack and we all tried to get some rest while Rod stayed with Rory.
WHEN WE FOUND RORY, he looked up at us, wincing in pain, face gray and ashen with tears running down his cheeks. Something had gone dreadfully wrong with his surgery; there was no question that he was in serious trouble. Rory told Rolly he wasn’t going make it. “Tell my wife and daughter and I love them.” That was the last thing Rolly wanted to hear. When someone tells you they’re going to die, and it’s a heart situation, they usually do. He called the doctor in Dillingham and asked to dispatch the plane to Ekwok as soon as possible. Back at the cook shack, Rory wanted me to pray with him. I didn’t want to further scare him by praying for his life and admitting I also thought he was dying. So I did the best I could and took his hands while saying The Lord’s Prayer. This seemed to give him some comfort. Rolly and Dan took Rory on the fastest boat we had to Ekwok to have him flown to the hospital in Dillingham. A helpless morbid feeling settled over me, not knowing if I’d ever see Rory again. They pulled into shore in Ekwok and there was a young Eskimo lady with a small emergency van waiting for them. It must have been the only vehicle in Ekwok, as there is no road in or out of the village. The woman turned out to be a nurse, and they headed for a little community medical building that was not much larger than Rolly’s garage. The facility lacked professional help, however, and while waiting to give Rory an IV that Rolly volunteered to give himself when the nurse said she was unable to insert the needle, Rory’s eyes suddenly rolled back in his head; he slumped over and quit breathing. The nurse ran out of the room to find help. “Dan, get over here!” Rolly shouted. “I need him laid flat. I’ve got to get his airway open so I can do CPR.” Rolly and Dan, who managed to flatten the tiny bed they transported Rory onto, teamed to give CPR, and, like a corpse
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coming back from the dead, Rory sat up, blinked his eyes a couple times and said to Rolly, “I feel so much better now.” It must have not been Rory’s time, or perhaps it was divine intervention The rescue plane then arrived with a more experienced medical team, which loaded him in the van and took him to the airstrip. Rolly insisted to fly with Rory, but the patient demanded he not fly out with him. “I’ll be OK,” Rory told him. Suddenly, Rolly realized that Rory was more concerned about Rolly’s fishing trip than his own needs. Rory is a most thoughtful soul. When they returned to camp, Rod made an announcement: “Hope I don’t offend anyone, but I think a prayer is in order.” AT BREAKFAST I announced my intention to catch up with Rory and felt awful he was all alone. Salmon fishing wasn’t all that important anymore. Rod and Rolly convinced me to forget it. He’d be sad and upset if you showed up, they said. But, like Rolly, I couldn’t help but feel like I let him
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down. It was an ugly feeling. As distracted as we were, we did what Rory wanted us to do: we fished. But we all were wondering, “How’s Rory doing?” Dick soon has a problem of his own. The circle boat didn’t want to start, and Dick was leaning on the motor’s large flywheel. Rolly did not see him and hit the starter, which engaged the flywheel and gobbled up the fleshy underside of Dick’s arm into the mechanism. Dick let out a panicked yelp, and his arm was gnarled up in the motor, blood flying everywhere. A horrified Rolly and Pat clambered back and forth and latched onto the flywheel. They managed to free Dick from it. Fortunately, Rolly had some antibiotic lotion from his travel bag. Pat grabbed a clean T-shirt that he cut up and used to bandage Dick’s mangled arm. He refused to be flown out to see a doctor. “We don’t need another crisis in camp,” he said. “We’re not telling anyone. No one needs to know until we get home.” He was being a tough old bird. The outboard motor got cranked up;
they wiped up the blood and it was back to fishing as if nothing ever happened. Wow. Rolly soon radioed us and said for us to get up where they were, and we knew that meant they were into a lot of fish. The rest of us found Rolly, Dick and Pat fishing from shore with fish on. On my very first cast I hooked a big Chinook. I never get over the thrill of hooking a big king salmon. It’s well worth the trip to Alaska At one point I glanced around to see that five of the seven of us had a salmon on our lines. Then Dick pointed out some mammoth and very fresh brown bear tracks on the silt of the shoreline. He was a big fellow, and we hope he didn’t mind us fishing there. WHEN WE HEADED back to Ekwok, our mission was to call Spokane and call to find out about Rory. Ed and Kent made the trek to the pay phone, which wasn’t working. Only in Alaska, was what I was thinking. We had our last day to fish, and we fished our way back up to Ekwok, and Ed and Kent again tried the pay booth, which was the only phone in the settlement. This time,
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THE HOMER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND VISITOR CENTER PRESENTS ITS PREMIER FISHING EVENT FOR SUMMER 2014
The Homer Jackpot Halibut Derby The Jackpot Halibut Derby is the longest-running halibut derby, with the biggest payout in total prizes, in the state of Alaska. The 2014 event will be its 28th year. Recent changes to the rules turned the focus away from the catching of large halibut and towards tagged fish prizes in an effort to promote conservation of the resource. Back again in 2014 are the BIG tagged fish prizes: the GCI $50,000 Tagged Fish, the largest tagged fish cash prize ever offered in Alaska, and the Stanley Ford F-150 Tagged Fish. There’s also more than 100 tagged fish to catch worth $250, $500, and $1000. Gene Jones of Bellevue, Iowa, won the 2013 derby with his 236.2-pound halibut, and took home $21,281 in total winnings. Early in last year’s event, Monique Peters of Willow caught a little fish with a tag. The actual prize was kept a secret until Peters flew to Homer in September to learn what she’d won: her little dinker of a fish was the Stanley Ford F-150 prize, worth $30,000! In August an angler on a North Country Charters boat brought a tagged halibut to derby headquarters. When we checked the ticket number against the prize, it was for the GCI $50,000 tagged fish. BUT HE DIDN’T HAVE A DERBY TICKET! So, the simple lesson learned? Buy your derby ticket! Even little fish can win big. In 2014 the price for a day ticket in the derby remains $10. For the first time, a $100 season pass is offered for anglers who know they’ll be hunting for a winning fish on many days. Come to Homer, the “End of The Road,” enjoy our hospitality and our wonderful fishing, and go home with great stories. www.homerhalibutderby.com
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Rory turned out to be OK, and as he wanted it after he was airlifted out, the guys did what they came to Alaska for: catch a lot of king salmon. Pictured are (from l-r) Tom Golis, Tim Womack, Jim Johnson, Chuck Pettey, Kent Hull, Ed Melville, Rolly Johnson, Pat Tyrie, Dick Gingrich and Dan Redinger. (JIM JOHNSON)
Ed got through to Rolly’s office in Spokane, but at least at the time, nobody there had any news. So we had to wait a while longer. Our last dinner in camp was hardly a surprise, salmon and pasta. We fished one last night, and between what we kept and released, we determined our final salmon tally was 914. Dan wrote it on the wall. “That’s a record that will never be broken,” Rod commented.
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Now it was time to check and get the straight scoop on Rory. Eventually, Rory’s wife, Kelly, was reached. Rory was safely home and recovering from the ordeal. Hallelujah. The doctor in Dillingham stabilized Rory and had him flown to Anchorage. Kelly flew there to escort him back home. It was a relief knowing Rory was alive and OK. Rod took me aside. “You can be proud of your son. Being a
minister, I’ve been involved in a lot of crisis situations, and Rolly performed the best of anyone I’ve ever seen.” I told Rod how proud I was of him. Since that trip, the most important news of all is Rory’s well. He’s working and doing fine. Ed’s fully recovered from his heart attack, too. Dick’s arm still displays gear tracks. The nasty scar runs down the inside of his right arm. It serves as a lifetime souvenir of the trip, though not pretty or wanted by him. The crew is looking forward to the next expedition. After Rory’s episode, Rolly says he’ll never go into the wild again without a well-equipped medical bag and satellite phone. Good idea, but surely an adventure like ours happens only in Alaska. ASJ Editor’s note: While all licensed guides in Alaska are required to have a current aid/CPR card, it is always a good idea to know the basics of emergency first aid. Especially in bush Alaska, where advanced medical attention is often hours, help is sometimes days away.
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Jay Mar and his wife, Jodi, take advantage of some of Prince of Wales Island’s fantastic fishing. Jay, a Kansas native who plied his trade fly fishing Colorado’s Crystal River, is now the lead guide at the Boardwalk Lodge on the island. (VAL ATKINS/BOARDWALK LODGE)
BOARDWALK’S EMPIRE DRIVES IT, CATCHES IT P.O.W. LODGE IS A CAST AND CUISINE EXPERIENCE
BY JEFF LUND
T
he ice chute that meandered through the forest is back to being the Thorne River. It might freeze again, because that’s what Alaska rivers do even if it’s March, but the deep freeze is over and spring looms. Jay Mar can feel it in his home on Thorne Bay, which sits on the eastern side of Prince of Wales Island, near Ketchikan. He sits on the couch next to Jodi, a local
teacher and his wife of three years. She’s grading papers, and the couple divides attention between the view of the ocean out their living room window and the college basketball game playing silently on the television. His days of relaxation are numbered. The coming spring brings with it a fresh season as lodge manager and guide at Alaska’s Boardwalk Lodge (800764-3918; boardwalklodge.com).
“You’re always scheming,” he says of the weeks prior to the first trips. “There’s always that anticipation and those sleepless nights. You don’t know what to expect even though you’ve done it before.” Mar grew up in Kansas and learned how to fly fish on a trip to the Crystal River in Colorado when he was 12. He later guided turkey hunts in the Jayhawk State and got to the Boardwalk Lodge via Le APRIL 2014
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The lodge is located on Prince of Wales Island, just 35 miles southeast of Ketchikan in Southeast Alaska. Sporting Classics has named the Boardwalk its “Lodge of the Year” three times. (VAL ATKINS/BOARDWALK LODGE)
Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute in Scottsdale, Ariz. He needed externship credits, while the lodge needed a chef, so in 2000 Jay started his tenure at Boardwalk. He began as the executive chef, and took on the overflow freshwater charters. A few years later his casting overtook his cook-
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ing and he found himself the head guide and a full-time resident of Thorne Bay. “[Jay] is an amazing man,” says Boardwalk owner Brad Steuart. “We’ve had people book with us just because they’ve seen him cast. He looks just like the guy in A River Runs Through It.”
THE LODGE What started off as a mom-and-pop place made from timber cut and milled locally 35 years ago has become one of the premier fishing destinations in Alaska. In 1993, the Boardwalk changed hands and became a full-service lodge, offering charters to visitors seeking hero shots and the solitude that Prince of Wales Island provides. It’s not a flyout lodge (arrangements can be made, but aren’t needed), meaning the lodge doesn’t double as an air base with floatplanes and helicopters ready to whisk people from the property to outlying areas. Instead it’s quiet, and there’s no risk of sitting around the lodge not able to fish because the weather has you trapped. It’s the happy medium between a lodge on a road system, which brings angling pressure (especially on the mainland), and isolation, which requires daily air travel. Boardwalk’s seclusion provides anglers an intimate glimpse of what the island and its people are like. “It’s a different type of experience,” says Steuart. “We know most of the lodge
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owners [around Bristol Bay] and they do a great job, but they are flyout. That’s an excitement and that’s also a hindrance. We can drive to all of the lakes and streams here.” Steuart says that dynamic is a big reason 80 percent of the clientele are return guests and most of the advertising done
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is word-of-mouth. While Boardwalk might lack the ability to accommodate the sheer numbers of some of the larger lodges elsewhere, it offers what many others can’t – both fresh- and saltwater fishing. “Most lodges can do one or the other, but do not do both effectively,” says Steuart. “They have a river or stream near
The Boardwalk’s fleet of fishing boats. While many fishing lodges require guests to fly in, lodge owner Brad Steuart says his guides are able to drive to the top fishing spots and catch various Pacific salmon species. (VAL ATKINS/BOARDWALK LODGE)
their lodges, but it’s not the same experience as having an entire island like we do. (Guests) choose every day if they want to go fresh- or saltwater fishing.” Mar adds that if there’s a place to learn one or the other, it’s Alaska in summer, and being able to offer both to guests is an advantage especially when it comes to learning how to fly fish. The lodge is endorsed by Orvis, so the all-inclusive package features premium Orvis gear, and full service means full service. “Guests don’t have to bring anything; they can basically just show up,” says Mar. “We use Orvis waders, boots – the whole nine. We’ve had people who have never been fly fishing say, ‘I’d like to try.’ It’s great because you don’t have to charter out (to another business). You want to provide your guests with a positive experience, and being able to offer both aspects of fishing is a great selling point.” EXPECTATIONS Rivers that run through Prince of Wales are not as big as mainland waterways, so
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Jay and Jodi Mar get in some of the Prince of Wales Island fly fishing action. Salmon and steelhead are the fish of choice for Boardwalk Lodge guests. (VAL ATKINS/BOARDWALK LODGE)
access and covering water do not require a jet boat. The rivers are still chock-full of silver, sockeye, chum and pink salmon. However, only the occasional lost king salmon is claimed to be caught in the river systems, and the rainbows aren’t the stuff of legend. Mar says that doesn’t impact business. “We ask (potential guests) what their expectations are,” he says. “If your main objective is a 30-inch rainbow, then we’re going to direct you somewhere up [north].
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I can’t promise what we don’t have.” What guests can expect is the potential to catch hefty steelhead in spring, and, in summer, four or even all five species of Pacific salmon. Local cutthroat and rainbow trout readily take dry flies and top out in the 20-inch range. But Mar says that the guests come to the lodge for more than just the potential for one big fish or a grand slam (all five species in a day). “They’d like to catch fish, but that’s not the main thing. They come up here to
relax,” says Mar. “If you’re just coming up to kill fish and don’t care about the food or the facility, then there are less expensive ways to do it.” THE FULL EXPERIENCE Though the lodge has a maximum capacity of 22, the lodge is anything but small time. Over the years, Boardwalk has welcomed NBA Hall of Famers, dignitaries, four-star generals and noted government and industry executives. The 2010 North American Lodge of the Year, according to Sporting Classics, has also been featured on numerous television shows. “At times, it can be a lot of fun; at others, it can be a big rodeo,” says Mar about hamming it up for the camera (can you tell he’s a Kansan?), “but the crews and hosts we’ve had have been great. They realize we can’t control everything, so if it rains, they know they’re going to get wet.” Despite of all this notoriety, the lodge isn’t an uppity destination for the rich or pretentious. The individualized, authentic, log-home experience remains. Steuart
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Protecting Your (Re)source O
ne would think that a fishing guide would be one of the most satisfying and effective ways to leave high school math behind you, but life is a story problem and you can’t be a guide without solving for x. Depending on the equation, x is the amount of fish, clients, guests, or time left until the equation goes out of balance. There are more x’s and if’s than anglers and guides might like to think about. “We’re constantly thinking about the resource,” says Boardwalk manager and guide Jay Mar. “It’s been a fine balancing act.” There was a time when most of the rivers on Prince of Wales Island were accessed by small trails that looked more like game trails than the human variety. But with more anglers living out their fishing dreams on the island as relocated locals or summer visitors, the paths get wider. “The improvements of the roads have been great if you are around here yearround, but it opened the door for more people,” says Mar. “I don’t think that’s been bad, but you have a lot more people around here fishing, and we will have to keep looking at that. The more people you have, the more (fish) you take out. Because the lodge Mar manages is on the road system means plenty of other people have access as well. While access might
be a great selling point, chances are other people are using that same selling point and the result is more pressure. “It’s still pristine,” says Boardwalk owner Brad Steuart of the rivers on Prince of Wales. “It’s seldom we see another angler. We will see another angler more than we used to, but we don’t have the crowds like other rivers.” One of the rivers that birthed the term “combat fishing” is the Kenai. Images of people holding massive king salmon pulled from the Kenai brought droves of anglers to join locals who drive hours when the kings are in because the river (and others) are on the Alaska mainland road system. The Kenai is still a world-class fishery without a doubt, but after decades of punishing use (some point also to commercial bycatch and charter catch), returns have suffered. On Feb. 27, the Anchorage Daily News reported the Kenai River will be closed to king salmon fishing in May and June. While in the short term it might hurt business, it’s the long term which provokes action by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Closing rivers isn’t the only way officials have tried to help preserve fish. In addition to barbless, single barb, or no bait regulations, other stipulations have been made regarding traffic, methods of catch and of release.
Chef Jeff Brady holds one of Prince of Wales’ chrome silver salmon. The guides of the Boardwalk Lodge are focused on not overfishing the waters they take guests on. (VAL ATKINS/BOARDWALK LODGE)
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On the Umpqua River in Oregon, there is a stretch designated for fly-fishing only. Washington officials have implemented no-lift laws which require anglers to not lift steelhead completely from the water – sacrificing the grip-and-grin photo for the sake of a lower post-release mortality rate. In a 6-mile preserve on the McCloud River in California, only 10 anglers are allowed on the water at a time. Fortunately for locals and visitors, there are no beats to sign up for on Prince of Wales, or first-come, first-serve passes. Certain rivers carry specific rules, but outside of daily bag limits, it’s largely regulated by individual ethics, as are many places around the state. Though it would be nice if all anglers, locals and guests, could be counted on to self-regulate (follow laws, take only what one will eat, gently handle fish to be released), the reality is that’s not going to happen. Outside of the occasional accident, there are always plenty out there who choose to live big in the now and not worry about the future. The job of the guide is to get anglers into fish, and maybe an understood dynamic of that agreement is that any fish taken will be used. For the most part, with salmon being lauded as part of a healthy diet, it probably is, but only the angler knows. Let’s face reality: it feels good when everyone at the airport’s baggage claim is watching box after box of your fish get loaded onto a cart and pushed out the terminal door, but is looking good to strangers worth those fish being wasted by freezer burn? “We’ve been fortunate to have guests who just want to take what they are going to eat,” says Mar. “I don’t think you need to kill fish for it to be a great day.” Many locals agree and treat tranquility and solitude as a resource nearly as valuable as the fish itself. While the fish populations on Prince of Wales are healthy, there will probably be a point down the road when more control will be needed over certain variables. “You love having people come up because it’s a source of income, but I’m not sure what the great solution is,” says Mar. “The resource is renewable to an extent, but if it can’t keep up with what’s being taken out, something would have to be done.” JL
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says no matter the background or investment portfolio of the guest, the principle motivation is to ensure all have a positive experience – especially since 25 percent are women or youth. “We’ve got hiking, kayaks, the El Capitan caves, or people can just go out whale watching. There are a lot of activities people can enjoy if they choose not to fish. That’s what sets us apart as a resort: rather than just be a fishing lodge or a man’s fishing lodge, we offer a more family experience.” Mar says the opportunities for the entire family make the bookings diverse. “Our client base is pretty wide. We have the average guy who saves two to four years for one trip, and we have guys who will call up a week before and book a trip.” Another important aspect is the staff and its close ties with the community. Unlike some lodges that have seasonal employees flown in for the summer, Boardwalk is staffed mostly by locals. Mar says that seeing consistent local workers helps the total experience. “When people want to know something about the area, we have the knowledge,” he says. “There are a lot of lodges that import their staffs, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. But we like to help the community as well.” The fish cutters are local kids earning money for college, and, if you want some good stories, talk to kids who spend their time at the rivers and on mountains rather than at malls or movie theaters. “Our guests have watched a lot of the kids who work here grow up, and a lot of them seem to like that,” says Mar. One such kid started out as a maintenance worker around the lodge at age 13. Within a few years he was a freshwater guide. It’s funny how things work out like that. They’ve worked out for Jay and Jodi, who stay in Thorne Bay year-round, completing the annual cycle of guiding (Jay) and teaching (Jodi) garnished with some fishing trips together when time allows. So Jay enjoys the last weeks of the off-season before a fresh batch of guests arrives. It’s getting close now. He can taste it. ASJ
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FIELD
From
To
FIRE
The most challenging part of finding a big bear can be getting enough time to observe them, especially amid thick habitat. Try spotting a bear from a distance where you can evaluate its size, undisturbed. (SCOTT HAUGEN)
NOT YOUR AVERAGE BEAR TIPS FOR TRACKING A TROPHY BY SCOTT HAUGEN ’ve been fortunate to take dozens of bears over the years and observe hundreds of others. One thing I’ve concluded is, it’s tougher to accurately estimate the size of live bears than any other animal in North America. The following is what I personally look for when trying to tag a trophy-class bear. Mind you, this is what has worked well for me and this is the precise order in which I evaluate every bear:
that doesn’t help new hunters, or hunters who continually pull the trigger on smaller bears. However, the statement does carry merit, and it has to do with their gait. The first thing I look for in a bear is his walk. If his bulky hindquarters appear to rotate independently of his front shoulders – almost like they’re two separate units – then you’re likely looking at a big bear. The bigger his backend, in proportion to his front shoulders, the greater the chance you’re looking at a bear worth taking.
THE WALK Experienced bear hunters often say, “You’ll know a big bear when you see one.” But
FRONT LEG Next, I look at the front leg. If the shoulder and elbow are the same width, with no ev-
I
ident elbow being seen when the bear stands broadside, then it’s a mature bear. If the width of the leg continues all the way down to the paw, it’s time to get excited. When the bear walks, if there’s no differentiation between its foreleg and paw, then it’s a big bear. When the bear walks, if you see a visible “flipping” motion at the wrist, you’re looking at a small bear. FOREHEAD CREASE All mature boars develop a triangular crease in the center of their forehead, just above their eyes. This triangle forms below where the cranial muscles attach to the back half of the skull, along the cranial ridge. The bigger the muscles atop the APRIL 2014
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head, the bigger the divot. The divot is more visible in black bears than brown or grizzlies, due to the color and hair length. If the crease appears, but is more elliptical than triangular, and runs from above the eyes to the top of the bear’s head, it’s likely a mature bear, not a big one. If there’s a definite triangular crease situated above what looks like thick muscle and fur between and slightly above the bear’s eyes, then you’re looking at a probable shooter.
Though mature and carrying a short muzzle, this bear is not a shooter if you’re looking for a giant. Tall, somewhat pointy ears confirm this bear needs a few more years to grow. (SCOTT HAUGEN)
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SMALL EARS When judging a bear, many folks look at the ears first, but I save it for the next to last step because I’ve been fooled too many times. Not until step Nos. 1, 2 and 3 check out do I look at the ears. If the ears appear small and turned out to the side of the bear’s head, and all other checkpoints have held to my standards, then I’m likely about ready to shoot. On big bears, the ears appear to almost lay flat across the top of the head. On really big bears with well-developed cranial muscles, the tips of the ears will
actually lay slightly below the top of the head. If the ears appear pointed atop the bear’s head, you’re staring at a small bear. DRAGGING BELLY The last thing I look for in a big bear is a sagging belly. This is relative to the area being hunted, time of year, food availability and how harsh the previous winter was. One of the biggest bears I’ve seen had 2 feet of daylight under his belly. The other four checkpoints proved favorable — he was simply a skinny bear. That wouldn’t have kept me from shooting, but the bear stood 70 yards away for several minutes, never giving me a shot with my bow. Typically, big bears have big bellies, even in the spring. Bears are driven by food, and as fall progresses, their bellies should be nearly dragging the ground as they prepare for their long winter’s nap. Generally speaking, but not always, the bigger the bear appears on the outside, the greater the size his skull will be. By utilizing quality optics – especially a
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This bear carries some great qualities, including thick legs, a crease in the forehead and ears turned out to the side. For the area the author was hunting, this was an exceptional bear. (SCOTT
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HAUGEN)
spotting scope – and truly studying bears, the more proficient you’ll become at judging them. Don’t be surprised if you pull the trigger and walk up on a small bear; something like that happens to the best of hunters. Learn from any mistakes, spend as much time in the field as possible and your field judging skills will progress to the next level. ASJ Editor’s note: For copies of Scott Haugen’s popular DVD, Field Dressing, Skinning & Caping Big Game, send a check for $20 (free S&H) to Haugen Enterprises, P. O. Box 275, Walterville, OR 97489. This is a twohour DVD that shares multiple ways to take care of game in the field, including bear, and is the most comprehensive of its kind. It can also be ordered at scotthaugen.com.
INGREDIENTS 1 pound skinless Alaska halibut 10 to 12 skewers (4 to 6 inches in length) 1 cup pistachios, coarsely ground ¼ cup breadcrumbs Olive oil spray Salt and pepper, to taste 10 to 12 butter lettuce leaves, small romaine leaves or endive Yogurt Mint Sauce: ½ cup Greek yogurt (2% or non-fat) 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 1 tablespoon fresh mint, minced 1 clove garlic, minced ¼ to ½ teaspoon salt, to taste ¼ to ½ teaspoon chili flakes, to taste Description: Cut a piece of aluminum foil to fit a heavyduty baking sheet; set aside. Heat the baking sheet in oven at 425°F while prepping halibut. Cut Alaska halibut into 1½-inch-wide pieces (by 2 to 3 inches long, depending on skewer length), then skewer. Mix pistachios and breadcrumbs; sprinkle onto a plate. Roll in or press pistachio crust onto halibut pieces. Spray fish and aluminum foil with olive oil spray; season bites with salt and pepper. Remove baking sheet from oven. Transfer foil, with halibut skewers, onto baking sheet and return to oven. Roast for 8 to 10 minutes, turning once during cooking. Cook just until fish is opaque throughout. Whisk together yogurt, lemon juice, mint, garlic, salt and chili flakes to make sauce. Place halibut bites on butter lettuce and serve with sauce. Nutrients per serving: 127 calories, 6.5g total fat, 1g saturated fat, 46% calories from fat, 30mg cholesterol, 12g protein, 6g carbohydrate, 1g fiber, 59mg sodium, 36.5mg calcium and 290mg omega-3 fatty acids.
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FIELD
From
To
FIRE
COFFEE A SECRET FOR TASTY BEAR DISH BY TIFFANY HAUGEN
B
ear meat is among our favorite wild game in the Haugen household. There’s enough fat that it’s easy to cook with, and it also carries great flavor. The fact bear season is upon us means there will soon be some great table fare to sink your teeth into. True, we love bear jerky, sausage and Thuringer, but we also like to highlight bear for dinner. It’s amazing how many guests, once they’ve tasted this dish, can’t believe it’s actually bear; most think it’s beef. The secret ingredient in this tasty recipe is coffee. Coffee enhances the flavor of the meat and creates a rich, dark sauce. This quick stir-fry is also great with venison. The author says coffee is a secret ingredient that makes bear meat so flavorful, unsuspecting guests may mistakenly think they are eating a tender piece of beef. (HAUGEN ENTERPRISES)
1½ pounds bear meat, cubed 2 cups strong coffee ¼ cup sugar 2 tablespoons peanut oil 1 ⁄3 cup shallots, thinly sliced 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced 1 tablespoon ginger, minced or pureed 2 tablespoons soy sauce 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil ½ teaspoon Chinese 5-Spice 2 cups broccoli, steamed Marinate bear in coffee and sugar overnight. In a large wok or skillet, heat peanut oil on medium-high heat, stir-fry shallots and garlic three to four minutes. Add bear cubes and thoroughly brown, five to eight minutes. Add ginger and continue cooking one to two minutes. Add remaining ingredients, turn heat to
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medium-low, cooking 20 to 30 minutes or until meat is tender. In a separate pot or container, steam broccoli and add right before serving. Serve with rice or soba noodles. Editor’s note: To order signed copies of Scott & Tiffany Haugen’s popular book, Cooking Big Game, go to scotthaugen.com, or send a check for $19.95 (free S&H) to Haugen Enterprises, P.O. Box 275, Walterville, OR 97489. For more free recipes go to tiffanyhaugen.com.
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MEET THE CARTRIDGE FAMILY
PICKING THE RIGHT BULLETS FOR ALASKAN HUNTS
The .270 Winchester and .270 Winchester Short Magnum, are great choices for caribou, goat or sheep. (STEVE MEYER)
BY STEVE MEYER
“T
he best cartridge for Alaska big game hunting is…”
Not many better ways to start an argument amongst those of us who love the hunting arena, love guns and love talking about all of it. The “best all-around rifle, best cartridge, best bear gun, etc.,” argument has been going on longer than most of us have been alive and yet it always draws interest and, it seems, always brings out points heretofore not considered. Hunting Alaska is perhaps only second to hunting Africa in terms of most desirable places for a big-game hunter to have
that “once in a lifetime” adventure. On many occasions while visiting other hunter’s homes, I’ve had them point out their “Alaska” rifle or their “Africa” rifle. Of course that demands an inquiry that allows the hunter free reign to recount the memories these guns have helped them make. Besides, going on an Alaska big game hunt provides all the excuse one needs to get another gun, never mind that you probably already have one that will work just fine. There isn’t any big game in Alaska that cannot be taken with the venerable .3006; its record in the game fields of world speaks for itself. The proliferation of factory loads that offer premium bullets in a
wide variety of weights and profiles offered today are icing on the cake for this old workhorse. Nevertheless, the current selection of cartridges and rifles available, catering to many specific needs, is rather astonishing. Cartridges that were not so many years ago wildcats or only existed in hunter’s imaginations are now mainstream fixtures. Specific need may be the most important question to ask before selecting an Alaskan cartridge. IT SEEMS THE days of coming to Alaska and taking several game species that might include sheep, moose, caribou and grizzly bear, are largely only distant memories and great stories. For most, a one- or APRIL 2014
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Ruth Cusack took this brown bear with her .300 Ultra Magnum. Brown bears are usually taken within 100 yards of the shooter. (STEVE MEYER)
maybe two-species hunt covers the majority of Alaskan hunts. Obviously if one of those species will be brown bear, then a larger caliber that might not be perfect for, say, a caribou, would get the nod. A sheep hunt with a caribou option opens up many more options. The terrain hunted should play a role in cartridge selection. A hunt in the rain forests of southeast Alaska for brown bear and Sitka blacktail deer will typically involve much shorter shooting distances than a caribou hunt in the Brooks Range, an interior grizzly bear hunt, or a sheep hunt virtually anywhere in Alaska. Caribou and sheep are relatively small and not particularly tough in the grand scheme of Alaska big game hunting. Both will likely offer opportunities to shoot at relatively long distances. There are perhaps few things more misunderstood than “long range” shooting in Alaska. The vast 116 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL APRIL 2014
majority of big game is taken within 200 yards,
The 7-mm Remington Magnum, .300 Winchester Magnum, .300 Weatherby Magnum and .338 Winchester Magnum are some of the go-to bullets for larger Alaskan critters like bear and moose. (STEVE MEYER)
and a fair number much shorter. But, for the oncein-a-lifetime hunt where the only opportunity
might instead be 400 yards, why not be prepared? This is where the small to medium calibers shine. The venerable .270 Winchester is a fine distant-range round, as are the .25-06 and .280 Remington. The .257 Weatherby Magnum, .264 Winchester Magnum, .270 Winchester Short Magnum, .270 Weatherby Magnum and the recently introduced .26 Nosler are even better and all present recoil that is manageable, even in light weight rifles. The disadvantages presented by selecting these relatively “overbore” rounds include the necessity of a longer barrel to achieve maximum velocity and barrel life. The 2- to 4-inch increase over the standard 22-inch barrel length in most nonmagnum calibers is not nearly as inconvenient as one might imagine, particularly in open country. As to barrel life, we should all be so lucky to shoot our big game rifles so much that we burn out a barrel.
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Moose, for all their size, do not seem to possess the vitality of other large big game animals. Slip up on a moose unawares and send a decent expanding bullet into the huge lung area and, chances are, the big fella will stand there until he tips over. A moose alerted to danger with a bit of adrenaline starting to flow can be a different story. A heart/lung shot will kill them but maybe not before they’ve ran into a lake or stream. Difficult to say why they do this, but they do and standing in ice-cold water up to your unmentionables is not how you want to clean one. Moose are often taken in the evening as darkness is closing in quickly. Tracking a wounded bull moose is difficult enough without adding darkness to the equation. Oh, and they almost never stand nicely broadside while you take your shot. For those reasons a well-constructed bullet of larger diameter and heavier weight is desirable. Penetrating the massive bodies on quartering shots requires a tough, heavy bullet driven at sufficient velocity. For all of those reasons the various
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The .270 Weatherby Magnum is one of several tough, heavy bullets used to hunt moose. It also presents recoil that is manageable, even in lightweight rifles. (STEVE MEYER)
7mm, .30-caliber, 8mm and .338-caliber magnums; 7mm Remington Magnum; 7mm STW; 7mm Winchester Short Magnum; .300 Winchester; .300 Weatherby; .300 Remington Ultra Magnum; .338 Winchester Magnum, and .340 Weatherby Magnum have a large following with Alaska moose hunters. Driving 175- to 250-grain bullets in the 2,900 to 3,200 feet-per-second range, these heavy hitters will break bones and get into the vital areas from virtually any angle at any reasonable range. Moose are not typically considered a “long range” animal, but they can be. In the 42 years I’ve hunted moose in Alaska I’ve taken a bunch. Oddly enough, to date, my longest shot on a big-game animal in Alaska was a moose, a bit over 400 yards, with a .300 Winchester and a handloaded 180-grain Nosler Partition. The shot broke both shoulders and the spine, and, so far as I can prove, is still going. The closet such animal I’ve taken in Alaska was also a moose, from 10 yards with a .458 Winchester Magnum and a hand-
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loaded 500-grain Hornaday round nose soft point. As you might imagine, the moose died in its tracks. Having the luxury of living in Alaska and being able to hunt moose every year, I’ve also taken them with a .264 Winchester Magnum, a .270 Winchester, a .270 Weatherby Magnum, a 7mm Remington Magnum, a .300 Weatherby Magnum and a .375 H&H Magnum. With the exception of the .375 H&H and the .458 Winchester, they’ve all been taken with hand-loaded Nosler Partition bullets. All except the .458, which was a head shot, have broken at least one shoulder and the spine, and the moose never left its tracks. The only bullet I’ve ever recovered was from the .375 H&H, largely because at the time, Nosler Partitions were not available for that caliber. With that, legions of moose have been taken by homesteaders, trappers, and villagers with the .30-30 Winchester, .32 Winchester Special, .308 Winchester, .4570, and even the .223, calibers that get the
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BROWN BAGGING THAT BUCKET LIST BEAR The brown bear, with all of the stories of charges due to lack of firepower, has prompted suggestions that one needs a .375 H&H or similar to be sufficiently armed. Let me say that the .375 H&H is a marvelous cartridge for big game, and even if you never intend to hunt anything larger than a whitetail deer, a hunter should have one. The history of the cartridge and its outstanding performance in the game fields of the world make it one of those guns a hunter just ought to have. The need to have for brown bear is an entirely separate issue. The reality of brown bear shooting is if you do not hit them properly and break them down, they can and sometimes do provide for more excitement than the hunter bargained for. Shot placement is critical, and shooting a gun that maybe has more recoil than you are comfortable with may provide undesirable results. Put another way, a well-placed shot from a 180-grain, a .30-06 is vastly more effective than a poorly placed shot with a .375 or .416 or whatever large cartridge you might choose. Brown bears are not bulletproof, but they are thick and have a massive amount of muscle covering the shoulder/spine area that needs to be penetrated to anchor them in their tracks. Typically brown bears are taken under 100 yards out, and one of the aforementioned .30-caliber magnums with good bullets (Nosler Partitions or at least the equivalent) will penetrate the muscle and break the heavy bones necessary to stop the bear in its tracks. Sure, an expanding bullet into the heart-lung area will eventually kill them. But they have tenacity to live unmatched by other North American big-game animals. They are incredibly fast and when wounded can cover ground quicker than a racehorse. If you can shoot a .338 Winchester Mag., .340 Weatherby Mag., .375 H&H or similar cartridge really well, it is an excellent selection. If not, shoot the largest caliber you can shoot really well. Again, precise, well-constructed bullet placement is the key to putting these magnificent creatures down and keeping them down. SM
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job done and do not garner much attention. For these folks the circumstances are a bit different than for the once-in-a-lifetime hunt. They are very familiar with the area they hunt, probably know the animal’s movements very well and have all season (and sometimes more) to pick the time and place to take the winter meat: luxuries the typical 10-day hunt does not afford.
A moose succumbed to Rush Cusack’s .300 Ultra Magnum. Moose seem like they are often taken in the evening right around dusk. (STEVE MEYER)
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RECOIL IS A FACT of life in firearms and sadly enough, there has been way too much emphasis on how bad it is in “magnum” calibers, so much so that frequently the prospective purchaser of a magnum rifle of any type is convinced before they pull the trigger it will brutally beat them. To put recoil in perspective, a 12-gauge 11⁄8ounce trap load at 1,200 feet per second in a 7.5-pound shotgun produces 23 pounds of recoil. A 12-gauge, 1¼-ounce field load in a 7.5-pound shotgun produces 32 pounds of recoil. A .270 Win. with a 130grain bullet in an 8.0-pound rifle produces 16.5 pounds, while a .270 Weatherby
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COWBOY .25 .32 .38 .38 .38 .38-40 .44-40 .45LC .45LC .458
85 GR. 78 GR. 120 GR. 125 GR. 130 GR. 180 GR. 180 GR. 160 GR. 200 GR. 350 GR.
RNFP/500 RNFP/500 TC/500 RNFP/500 RNFP/500 RNFP/500 RNFP/500 RNFP/500 RNFP/500 RNFP/100
$28.00 $25.00 $32.00 $33.00 $34.00 $42.00 $42.00 $44.00 $44.50 $26.00
STANDARD .32KEITH .380 9MM 9MM .38 .38 .40 .45ACP .45ACP .45LC
125 GR. 95 GR. 115 GR. 125 GR. 148 GR. 158 GR. 180 GR. 200 GR. 230 GR. 255 GR.
SWC/500 RN/500 RN/500 RN/500 DEWC/500 SWC/500 RNFP/500 SWC/500 RN/500 SWC/500
$46.00 $30.00 $31.50 $33.00 $34.50 $35.00 $41.00 $42.50 $46.00 $55.00
GAS-CHECK .38 .357 .41 .44 .44 .44 .45LC .45LC .458 .500
158 GR. 180 GR. 230 GR. 240 GR. 240 GR. 305 GR. 260 GR. 325 GR. 430 GR. 440 GR.
SWC-HP/100 LBT-WFN/100 SWC/100 SWC-HP/100 SWC/100 LBT-WFN/100 SWC-HP/100 LBT-LWN/100 LBT-LWN/100 LBT-WFN/100
$21.50 $24.00 $26.00 $32.00 $32.00 $39.00 $37.00 $41.00 $49.00 $61.00
This is a good cross reference of the bullets we offer. We have about 144 set of molds with new molds coming. Sixteen employees working 10 hr. a day shifts 4 days a week with 9 casters, 6 auto lubers, and 12 star lubers gas checking every day. We have bullets made with five different alloys that we order in 40,000 - 60,000 lbs at a time a mixed per our set alloys. By the time you read this ad we should be in our new state of the art 10 thousand square foot facility. Prices subject to change without notice.
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Mag. produces 23 pounds. The various .30-caliber magnums that drive 180-grain bullets at 3,100 to 3,200 fps, in 9-pound rifles produce around 30 pounds. Moving up to the .375 H&H with a 270-grain bullet at 2,700 fps in a 9-pound rifle produces 36 pounds of recoil. When compared to shooting trap or duck hunting the recoil for the magnum rifles is essentially the same. Sometimes the mind can convince well beyond the reality. Perhaps more important is what is to be gained with a higher velocity for the given caliber and bullet weight? Simplified, it’s hit-ability and range. A bullet of the same diameter, construction and weight, driven 300 fps faster, has less time before arrival on target for the elements of gravity and wind to affect it. Gravity being a constant, velocity lessens the perceived effect of gravity by delivering the projectile faster, and therefore with less drop than a bullet boasting slower velocity. There is some discussion of late suggesting that, with the precision of ballistic
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drop compensators in modern scopes and precise range finders, the need for highvelocity cartridges is diminishing. Frankly, that is a load of bull for several reasons. While one may lock on the distant range and dial up the scope for a hit with a lesser caliber, that is perfect-world, square-range thinking. Distance shooting involves wind, wind that you may have a very difficult time estimating. In mountain terrain wind may blow several directions while the bullet is on its way. Field conditions often do not allow the use of a rangefinder, and there is a bit more to it than simply having the correct trajectory. Light conditions affect the way you are looking at the target and the zero for your eye. Years of shooting high-power metallic silhouette cartridges with relatively low velocity like the .308 Winchester teaches you, if you don’t show up early and zero your rifle for the conditions of the day, you won’t win many matches. High-velocity, flat-shooting cartridges help minimize those issues when you don’t have the option of zeroing the rifle
for every condition. SADLY ENOUGH, we don’t have the option of “test driving” a rifle/cartridge combination, or buying an expensive rifle to find out the cartridge is less than what you hoped for. However, there is an option if you have a local firing range that you can frequent. A lot of folks shy away from people shooting at a firing range for a variety of reasons. The truth is, shooters are one of the most engaging and helpful groups of people out there. Spend some time at the range and figure out what folks are shooting and ask to fire a round or two; it is a virtual guarantee you’ll be welcomed and probably learn a lot about the cartridge/rifle combination in question. Finally, when you do make the selection, spend time at the range firing the combination at varying ranges and from various field positions. There is virtually nothing better to improve your odds of success, no matter what cartridge you choose. ASJ
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traded the rug made from that bear to a vacuum salesman for a new Kirby for his wife. That is still the only black bear he has shot. Two of Don’s kids, Paul and Tonya, sit and listen as their father recalls another story with the vigor and energy of a 30-year-old, never losing a smile. IT WAS A REMOTE Dall sheep hunt outside of Tok, near the Canadian border. The guys were dropped off by a wheel plane, crossed a creek, made camp, then decided to hike over a ridge with their sleeping bags, some trail mix and a few candy bars. “We looked and there were nine sheep,” Don says. “Nine?” I ask, wondering if the years had added to the number, but sure enough, in his archived Christmas letters, in 1990, he was hunting out of Tok and there were “nine critters.” They moved over the ridge and down a shale slope. “It’s easy going down because the shale moves with you, but we never thought of going back up.” They managed to get close to a ram, but both missed. “Those things go 90 mph in about two steps.” Busse has mastered the art of hyperbole while still keeping pertinent facts as accurate as a hunter or angler can be expected to be. Rob positioned himself for a second shot and dropped the ram from over 300 yards. As Rob started processing the kill, Don moved to get his own and shortly thereafter. “I was excited, I had my first ram. I started doing cartwheels.” “Cartwheels?” Paul questions attempting to put his dad in check but Don continues his story, he’s rolling. The trip was in its infancy, and they both had their rams, but they couldn’t get up the shale slope up over the ridge. “We just couldn’t get up it. We were sliding down faster than we could climb,” Don says. They consulted their topographical maps and plotted a route that would take them out and around the ridge instead. Don leans forward a bit and drops his voice for effect. “We figured it was 24 miles out of there, and we had 128 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL APRIL 2014
Luck was not on their side once they gathered their strength and the weather kept them from getting a caribou, but they returned a few years later and bagged two. “We did a lot of crazy things early,” Busse says. And they could talk all night. That’s what happens when you have over 100 hunting trips together. Many of them have faded to leave room for the best ones, but their hunts are still chronicled well between the two of them.
A mounted ram represents one of many Don Busse trophies decorating his house in Klawock. Busse and his friend, Rob Steward, have hunted all over Alaska and other areas of the world. (JEFF LUND)
three days to do it.” With their packs, plus the weight of the meat and the racks, the two started their way around watching for bear sign but not escaping attacking mosquitoes. “The mosquitoes were there by the billions,” Don says with possible hyperbole. “We had to shake our head nets just to see.” (That is probably true.) In the hot summer sun, they fended off dehydration by dropping iodine tablets in pockets of water left in big game tracks, and later in a river they had to cross before getting back to camp. “(Rob) was out of his trail mix and I had one candy bar a day, but we ended up having sheep for dinner. Then in the morning, we had sheep. For lunch, we had sheep. Now, sheep is really good when you cook it with some salt and pepper, but we were just cooking it on a little stick. After a while, Rob said, ‘I’m not going to take another bite of sheep.’” They finished the epic trek back to their tents and collapsed exhausted next to their packs. “If a bear comes he can have us,” they thought. The next day Don and Rob left for the second half of their trip – a five-day caribou hunt. “The first two days we just stayed in the tent; the only way we were going to get a caribou is if it walked into camp,” Don remembers.
PEOPLE IN GENERAL seek reliability in relationships, and any hunter or angler has to wonder when his or her hair turns to gray, or fades out altogether, if they will recall their lives in the same way with a true hunting or fishing buddy. “We both like the adventure and know that there are going to be good times, and some not so good times, but it will all work out,” Rob says. “Our values are very much the same: Christian values, family values, hunting values.” Don agrees. “He’s just such an easygoing, laid-back guy. He doesn’t get mad at me when I shoot the big one.” The glorious and brave days of their youthful hunting friendship are over now. No matter how young at heart one feels, the vulnerability of age begins to wear on a man physically, but only as much as one mentally lets it. They’ve endured sickness in the field, detached retinas and other pleasures of age, but they are still going. Just months removed from hip replacement surgery, Don sent a picture to his doctor of him standing on one of the highest peaks on Prince of Wales Island, posing with a buck. The titanium ball-in-socket worked great. Don, who has been threatening to retire from teaching physical education for the past half-decade, is still at it and says hunting has had a big role keeping his mind sharp and body in shape. “It’s a little harder and I’m a little slower,” he says, “but I just love it.” Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this kinship is that they are ordinary teachers - Steward teaches history wealthy only in experience.
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THE BUDDY SYSTEM Don Busse (left) and Rob Steward had to work hard to finally put down this black bear on one of their earliest hunting trips. They both moved to Alaska from the Lower 48 in the late 1980s and have been hunting partners and close friends for about a quarter-century now. (DON BUSSE)
BY JEFF LUND
D
on Busse turns a student desk to face the teacher’s, sets his lunch bag down, pulls out a bowl of warmed leftovers from the night before and asks for the pepper. Rob Steward obliges, reaches to his left and hands Don the shaker. Lunch has started this way hundreds of times over the years. What comes next is equally as frequent regardless of time of year – talking hunting. Rob and Don moved to Klawock, Alaska, in 1987 (Rob from Colorado, Don from Kansas) and began hunting together in 1988. Had they attended the same high school, you’d think they’d have memories of Rob bringing the ball up the court and passing it to Don on the wing or in the post. But their sporting past together involves bullets, not bas-
ketballs. Together they’ve hunted pig in California, caribou on the tundra in Alaska and wild game in Africa. Their early days were marked by bravado, machismo and maybe even a little chaos. While they can’t pin down the very first hunt, the first memorable one is easy. THE GUYS WERE ON A camping trip with their wives, and Rob’s 9-month-old daughter, Melissa, each sleeping in the back of their respective trucks. Rob and Don woke up early, and not five minutes from their camp saw a black bear in the road. The bear took off and down a clearcut where it stopped. Rob shot it and down went the first black bear of his life. “We were a little nervous,” Rob says. “We threw rocks at it and poked it with a stick to make sure it was dead, then
LOWER 48 TRANSPLANTS FORGED HUNTING FRIENDSHIP IN ALASKA went to get our wives for pictures.” Wives looking on, Rob and Don tried to position the bear for a picture, but its head was wedged between two small trees. “I put my arm around its neck and pulled, and it made a really angry growling sound,” Rob says. “I let go and jumped back; Don jumped back.” Rob yelled at his wife to grab his rifle and shoot the bear, but she had limited experience with guns, so she followed Rob’s frantic directions on how to take the gun off safety; but her finger was on the trigger and the gun fired a round into the ground. “It ended up just being air escaping from the bear as we were lifting it, but there were bears growling and guns firing; there was a lot of adrenaline,” Rob remembers while laughing. He keeps his smile but shakes his head when he talks about how he later APRIL 2014
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“You have to save your pennies,” Rob says of making these trips on a teacher’s salary. “We worked Saturdays and saved the Permanent Fund checks and whatever else we could. I think it makes it more special because you have to work for it.”
Rob Steward (left) and Don Busse are both longtime teachers, and age has naturally slowed them down. But they still hunt and love to swap stories of their adventures. (JEFF LUND)
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IF THERE WAS A climax for this hunting duo to date, it was a June trip to Africa. “Africa was so different than our normal hunt because we haven’t been on guided hunts and we had everything prepared for us,” Rob said. “We’re usually lucky to get a hot meal, but everything was taken care of. We’d come home to a nice bed, so it was very different.” There are probably men like Rob and Don all across the state, if not the country. Not exactly the same, but with volumes of stories told to small, nonpaying audiences. They aren’t wealthy enough to drop everything and go, and it’s only after 25 years of hunting together that their stories have been
printed for strangers to see. You get the impression when these two talk they aren’t excited to impress you. They see their lives as their favorite movies or books, not because it’s the best plot they’ve encountered, but because they played the protagonist. They’ve done it, and doing is different than watching or reading. What has made them rich has been the experience and the lifestyle they passed on to their children, whose deer racks and bear rugs now decorate rooms in their homes. If there is a larger point to pursuing horns for the walls and meat for the freezer, it has to be something like that, something found in the eyes of those who tell stories of how they live what they love, and share it with family, or a family-like friend. ASJ Editor’s note: For more information on the author, check out his website at jlundoutdoors.com; email Jeff: aklund21@gmail.com; Twitter: @alaskalund.
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WINNING KODIAK’S BLACKTAIL JACKPOT
The author’s patience finally paid off with a buck (and a view) to remember and cherish. (MATHEWS COOK)
PERSISTENCE PAYS OFF WITH A BUCK TO REMEMBER BY MATHEWS COOK
L
ast year was the first time I had started to throw around the idea of an Alaskan hunting trip with some seriousness. I had a few options available on the DIY route between a Kenai Peninsula moose hunt in September and a Kodiak Island Sitka blacktail hunt in November. When spring rolled around this year I was surprised to learn that I had drawn my multi-season elk tag and a quality deer tag for November in my home state of Washington with my friend Tom Ryle.
Plans started to fly around, and soon I realized that a September moose hunt was not in the cards. I then decided to plan on a Sitka blacktail hunt to Kodiak in midto late- November. I had a standing invitation from a close family friend to hunt deer on Kodiak in a remote area that his girlfriend’s family had homesteaded. Plans took a spin again when my wife informed me that our family was going to grow, and with thoughts of my first child on my mind, Kodiak suddenly seemed a long ways off. I was lucky enough to harvest a nice Roosevelt bull in September and then focus my energy on blacktails for
my permit hunt. No sooner than I had tagged out for the year my wife informed me that she would like to get away for Thanksgiving and a trip to remote Kodiak to unwind would be a fun adventure. With my jaw on the ground and speechless I gladly accepted and called my friend Andre to see if the invitation still stood. Within days the tickets were booked and I was packing for my first-ever hunting trip to Alaska. My first mistake was assuming that I was fully prepared for the adventure that was in front of me; boy, was I wrong. WE ARRIVED IN Kodiak on Sunday evening of Thanksgiving week and stayed APRIL 2014
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the night in town at Andre’s condo. The next day we ran errands around town, bought my license and one deer tag, then loaded the boat and waited for the evening tide. That evening I didn’t sleep much in anticipation for the days ahead. We went down to the dock at 10 p.m. and left on the tide with favorable traveling weather. My wife and I slept throughout the ride, while Andre and his girlfriend Beth took the watches and let us sleep. We woke up the next morning on anchor and made breakfast while waiting for the sun to rise. When light finally broke the hilltops it was 9:30, and the skiff came from the beach to take us to the cabins. We took some time to get settled in, then geared
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up and headed out in the skiff looking for deer that afternoon. My education on Sitka blacktails began that day, and everything I thought I knew went out the window. I can only say that this was more like mule deer hunting: open terrain with rolling hills and miles upon miles to glass. The terrain was my next challenge, as everything looked so open from the skiff, but the reality was that the grass was chest-tall and the brush thickets were noisy and extremely tough to navigate. Lastly, there had been snow the week before but had thawed; freezing temps had made the top layer a thin crust which made stalking very difficult. I learned all of these things on the first stalk of my first evening hunting.
After cruising in the skiff for a few hours we saw several does and possibly a few bucks up high on the hills. My friend insisted that we stay close to the beach for the first afternoon since I was set on using my bow. We came into a small cove and I saw a buck feeding on a hillside 100 yards away on a bluff. I quickly planned a stalk path and was dropped on the beach 200 yards away and below the line-of-sight of the buck. I climbed off the beach and was crunching through the snowpack towards the buck. I thought for sure the sound would scare the deer away long before I had a shot opportunity. To my surprise, the sound didn’t spook off the deer, and within a few minutes I had closed the gap to the spot where I last
The hunters encountered a lot of hilly terrain on the hunt, including spots of chest-tall grass and brush thickets that created lots of noise and difficulties navigating. (MATHEWS COOK)
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saw the buck. I made a mistake and came in too low on the hillside which put brush between us, and when I saw the buck he was already on the move having either seen or winded me. I watched the buck move over a hill and then disappear, then quickly got on his track to follow. When I got the point where I last saw the buck, he was already across a draw
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and up a hillside a few hundred yards away with a spike and a doe. I decided to try crossing the draw in plain sight of the deer then side-hill up to them in hopes of getting another chance at what looked to be a wide and heavy buck. Again while in plain sight and making enough noise for a herd of elk I was able to get within 30 yards of this buck, but with all the brush I
didn’t have a shot window and had to watch the buck walk away, again. That night back at the host family’s lodge I retold my account of the day’s hunt and how perplexed I was about the lack of fear in the deer and their non-responsiveness to noise. The family (most of whom are hunting guides) told me that these deer have very little hunting pressure and
At one point, the author seemed to have a 3X3 buck in his sights, but a doe appeared and alerted the buck to pending danger, delaying the opportunity to take down a Sitka blacktail. (MATHEWS COOK)
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These prints in the snow proved there was no shortage of deer in the area. But stalking a buck to a point where a good shot was within range proved to be a difficult task. (MATHEWS COOK)
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are so used to the noise of other deer moving around that they don’t spook as easy. I tried to put these tips to use the next two days but we were unable to connect or locate any bucks worth pursuing. FRIDAY WAS THE last day that I would be able to hunt, and with it coming down to the wire, I was getting nervous. We started hunting right at first light and the hillsides were already pockmarked will deer. After cruising in the skiff we spotted a buck and does on a bluff just off the water. I was dropped on a nearby beach and started to stalk up the hillside to the thicket where I last saw the buck. This time, I was more concerned with staying low in the grass, but not as much about the noise I was making through the crusted snow. Soon enough I found myself in the brush with two deer close by, and I set up for a shot window with my bow. Minutes later a 2x2 stepped out at 25 yards broadside and offered the ideal bow-shot. I found my anchor point and settled the pin behind
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the shoulder but never touched the release. He eventually winded me, then busted off, but I was content with letting him walk. I made my way back to the beach with the mindset that I’d had my opportunity on a Sitka blacktail and let him walk. But I could go home feeling accomplished. We made our way around a few more bays and were on the way home for lunch when we literally drove past a 3x3 feeding on a hillside 50 yards off the beach. My friend stopped the boat and handed me his rifle saying that I’d better get this done while I had the chance. Drifting there in the boat 75 yards away from a feeding buck was not what I had envisioned when I set out for Kodiak. I knew this was probably my last chance to harvest a buck. But shooting one out of a boat wasn’t going to do for me. I opted to again be put on a beach nearby and stalk the buck with my bow, but I would also have the rifle on my shoulder. I made quick time on my stalk route, but, as I neared the hillside where the buck had been, a doe blew out and alerted the buck.
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I was 70 yards away with little cover returning a stare from this buck and well out of bow range. I set my bow down, unshouldered the rifle as I stepped forward get a better shot when they both busted hard. My heart sank as they bounded away along with my chance to harvest a great representation of the Sitka blacktail. The skiff ride back was long, cold, and very quiet with the realization that my hunting trip was now almost over. We were nearing the beach when we saw that three bodies were waiting there for our arrival. My wife, Beth and her younger sister Amy had coffee and sandwiches. We ate quickly, then headed out again with all the girls and a last-ditch hope at filling my tag. We were glassing a hillside in the boat when we saw Beth’s father’s skiff coming towards us in the distance. He had been duck hunting with his two sons and they pulled alongside with good news. They had just seen two nice bucks in the exact place where I had chased the wide buck my first evening. We were only 10 minutes away, and
the last sighting had the bucks tight against the beach. We talked it over quickly and then poured the coals to the motor and headed towards the distant bay. Both skiffs came to a stop 100 yards off the beach, and in seconds eight different pairs of eyes had locked onto a healthy buck feeding in the brush. No one had a great visual on the buck, but he was a shooter, and shortly thereafter I was dropped on the beach with Amy and the rifle; but there was no bow this time. The skiffs were drifting off the beach with everyone watching through the Swarovski cable channel as Amy and I made our stalk. We crept up the beach and came over a berm where the buck had last been, but he was no longer there. Seconds later I saw the buck walking away at 60 yards, so I threw up the rifle and got a shot off. I knew I’d hit him but wasn’t sure on the shot placement as I reloaded and approached the spot he’d been at. Amy and I found the blood and began to trail it up towards a hill with no difficultly. The first
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200 yards had great blood everywhere, but I had a bad feeling since we had not found the buck yet. Further up the hill, the blood began to thin out and I started to get a sinking feeling inside. From behind us the two brothers, Aaron and Levi, came up with Andre. Aaron had inspected the point of impact closer and confirmed my greatest fears:
The author (right) joined his wife and good friends on a memorable hunt that would have been worth the trip even had he not finally harvested the blacktail he set out for. But getting the buck made it more special. (MATHEWS COOK)
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gut shot. Reality set in that I had just botched a layup shot, and now, with darkness only a few hours away, my chances were getting slim. AT THAT MOMENT everything changed and I was no longer on a friendly hunting trip. Aaron stepped up and assumed the role as my guide, and Amy and Levi hit the
trail as trackers. The siblings were raised in the Alaskan bush and basically bred to be guides, and they filled those roles perfectly. Aaron kept my spirit up, and the knowledge that he had been guiding for over 10 years put all my ill thoughts to rest. The next halfmile was covered from blood drop to drop, with the trackers on their hands and knees. Aaron and I glassed ahead of them looking for any sign of the buck. With the sun setting over the near hillside we finally spotted the buck 300 yards off on a scrubby hill. I tried to make the shot, but without a rest and sucking wind from the hike up the hill, it was a hopeless attempt. Thankfully the buck didn’t move and we elected for Aaron and I to push closer, while everyone else kept eyes on the buck. It took a brisk 15 minutes of side-hilling and brush-beating to close the gap. As we came out on another hillside, breathless, we knew we had to be close. We started glassing but couldn’t see the buck, but after yelling downhill to the other party they confirmed he was still bedded down. After another 10 minutes of unsuccess-
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ful glassing, Amy climbed her way up to us and pointed out the buck. The only thing visible was the head and neck hiding under a dead tree, but there was a small window for the 150-yard shot. I was able to sit down and use an improvised shooting stick that Aaron had judo-chopped out of a snag. I settled my breathing and rested the crosshairs on the base of the neck when I connected on a solid shot that sent the buck rolling downhill. Redemption was the only thing I could think of as we moved up to the buck, and one more insurance shot later it was all over. No one was prepared for what we saw when we finally were standing over this buck. He had everything you could hope for: eyeguards, nice forks and good mass. In comparison to other bucks taken from that area over the years, he ranks pretty high on the list. After a lot of high-fives and hugs we settled down and started taking pictures. While his back forks were weak compared to the Columbian blacktails back home in Washington, it didn’t take
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away from the fact that he was a solid 4x4 with legal eyeguards. With the sun fading and the wind picking up on the bay we opted to drag him down the hill to the skiff and jetted back to the cabin while there was still light. This buck ended up going almost 2 miles from the original point of impact and still had a lot of life left before I could finish it. BACK AT THE LODGE we gutted the buck and skinned him out, then quartered the meat and set in inside to cool overnight. After dinner we ran a quick-and-dirty score over the antlers and came out to 101-inch gross and 96-inch net for Boone & Crockett. This buck was everything I could have hoped for in a Sitka blacktail, and I am still convinced it was the same buck from the first evening based on the spread of the antlers and the fact that it was only 150 yards from where I’d chased the buck prior. My only regret from this trip was that I didn’t perform on my marksmanship and put the animal through unnecessary suffering before being able to close the final
gap. I am convinced that without the help from the family friends I would not have been able to track the buck down before nightfall and would have had to return the next morning. Thankfully through their experience we were able to make it happen in the 11th hour and I could hang my tag on this respectable buck. We packed up the next morning and caught a float plane back to town then started our trip back down to Washington. In reflection of this adventure I can honestly say that had I come home empty-handed I would still have considered it a success. I was able to witness hundreds of sea otters on a daily basis and watch orcas and humpbacks surface a stone’s throw away from us. I saw plenty of deer and fox along with fresh traces of brown bears. The waterfowl sightings were amazing with old squaws, harlequins and all other types of seaducks buzzing by us constantly. I was able to get a full draw on a buck easily within range but chose to pass, and then ended up tagging a lifetime buck later that day. ASJ
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QUEST FOR A CARIBOU SPORADIC HERD SIZES MAKE HUNTS A CHALLENGE BY PAUL D. ATKINS
I
t was time to go home. Well, that’s that I told my son, Eli. After a long day of riding in a boat, getting pretty much soaked and traversing through miles of deep tundra, this seemed like the end. And it was starting to get cold. The hole in my waders was giving me problems too, especially after taking a fall in the creek earlier that day. Caribou were nowhere to be found as we loaded up and headed downriver. Ever the optimist and knowing that anything can happen at any moment, I kept glassing as we made waves down the frigid river. Are those ptarmigan in the willows or something bigger? Caribou season has been tough these last few years. The effects of weather and the migration pattern of the herds, espe-
cially here in the far North, seem to be different each and every year. Temperatures seem to be fluctuating more and more, and when September rolls around you really don’t know what to expect anymore. Many years ago when I first moved to Alaska you could count on seeing caribou the first weekend in September. Labor Day weekend was the ultimate time for catching big bulls as they moved south through the hills and along the rivers. Hunting camps were full and joyous with anticipation of what was to come, and most times we had our tags filled after the first couple of days. These days it’s tough, but hunting is supposed to be. ADVERSE CONDITIONS OR not, caribou hunting is still an affordable hunt that provides a great do-it-yourself adventure for those seeking the Alaska experience. With the high price of drawing tags and obtaining licenses in most Western states, booking a caribou hunt is still cheap in comparison, and tags are
guaranteed. Most units you don’t have to draw a tag and an Alaskan hunting license is still a bargain at just $85 ($325 for nonresidents). Caribou tags can be bought over the counter here in my neck of the tundra, Kotzebue, and a nonresident can take two bulls. That’s a pretty good deal when you think about it. It’s also a great way to share an experience with family. That said, with these great deals the demand for caribou has grown significantly. More and more hunters are heading north to pursue these nomads of the tundra, where it can sometimes get a bit crowded, particularly when hunting a certain concentration. Most would think this impossible considering how big this land is, but it does happen. Transporters dropping off hunters
One of the advantages of hunting via a boat is the ability to stop, climb a bank and glass the surrounding hills. If caribou are close by, a stalk and ambush plan is in order. (PAUL ATKINS)
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seem to be hauling people out nonstop, hoping to find a caribou close. Areas of past success are becoming a little more crowded, but at times this is what it takes to be in on the action. However, the really good pilots go to far lengths to limit crowded camps and always try and put the hunter into the best position. The caribou seem to know those who do not create distractions. The animals will avoid certain places after they realize what is going on, sometimes taking them hundreds of miles in another direction. I COULD SEE a change a few years ago when I went to book a transporter for a ride to the bush. I told him to drop us off where
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caribou were coming through. He looked at me grimly and said that would be about a two-hour ride north. In past years we could find caribou 20 to 30 miles upriver, and usually in big numbers. When we left the tarmac for our adventure I thought for sure we would see a herd sooner than later, but we did not. Sure enough, two hours later we found a spot that had a trickling or two of caribou. I immediately noticed two camps right next to ours. What a bummer, but what do you do? We eventually got our bulls, but it was a hard-won battle, and the packing job was killer. The caribou were hundreds of miles off their normal route. It isn’t all about pressure. The weather
has played havoc on everything Alaska the last few years. Whether you believe in climate change or not, there have been some drastic changes form north to south, and it has affected not only caribou, but all biggame species. Most people think that it is getting warmer and warmer. But this year brought some very cold temperatures in early September, with most rivers and creeks freezing by the middle of the month. Then it warmed up again and didn’t freeze again until late October. Some studies say caribou sit and think during the summer months, and you can usually tell what they will do depending on how July and August go. Warm summer
Caribou herd numbers seem to be down overall in Alaska, and the reasons for the decline are being debated. Hunter harvesting of the animals doesn’t seem to be as big a factor as perhaps predation or climate change. (PAUL ATKINS)
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temperatures will keep the caribou north, which creates a late start. Not wanting to move or fight the mob of mosquitoes they will stay on the North Slope before heading south. Cooler temperatures during July will usually get them going, and when late August and September rolls around, you will usually see them coming through the river valleys and drainages. In August 2008, I was lucky enough to get into position to arrow a bull close to home; he was a nice bull considering that most of the big bulls come late. The summer had been warm and the bugs were awful, so the idea of what the summer was like and how it impacts the migration was shot, literally. Most herds in the state are on the decline as well. There are 41 different herds in Alaska, with the Western Arctic herd being the largest, numbering close to 350,000. It was 600,000 just a few years ago. The reason for the decline is still being debated, but several factors are being considered. Predation is a big concern, and with the ever-increasing wolf and bear population it
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is a justified concern. Hunter harvest? Not as much. Only 12,000 caribou are usually taken from this herd each year, which is hardly a dent. But in other herds throughout the state it has become a much bigger issue. Many units have gone to a draw, but here in Northwest Alaska it has remained the same. This past year was no different. September found me searching high and low for caribou. We went out every chance we got and even flew out to a spot where I had had success on a moose and caribou many times. In the seven days we were there we did not see a caribou track. It was disheartening to say the least, but we did take a nice bear. We then started using a boat for transport, and each weekend you could find us up one of the many rivers. The cold spell that hit in late September brought ice, and most rivers were impassible. Then like a furnace, the temperatures warmed and we were able to travel late into October, something unheard of in past years.
ON OUR LAST HUNT out I was able to bring along Eli, my 11- year-old, which for me is what hunting is all about these days. We were on our way back when I noticed through the fog white specks in the willows. At first I thought they were ptarmigan, due to them usually nesting in the dense willow thickets, plus they were turning from their summer plumage to the white color, giving them that light-brownish look. After slowing the boat and getting the binoculars up, I was amazed, seeing caribou this close to the river and this late in the season. Lew Pagel, my good friend and hunting partner, and I immediately made a plan. We would ease to shore trying not to disturb them, then climb the high bank and try to get into position for a shot. I noticed it was a group of about 20 and there was only one bull in the group. Not wanting to take a cow, which is quite legal, I concentrated on the bull. Making our way through the dense willow was tough, but we trudged on. I could tell the caribou had been hunted before, or
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at least it seemed as such. As soon as I made my way through the last of the thick stuff they started to run. It was a challenge trying to find a resting spot after huffing and puffing up a hill. I found a small willow to set up from and eventually found the bull through the Trijicon scope. The bull had made his way up the hill and the shot was going to be long. I felt the recoil of the Sako 7mm, and the bull dropped to his knees. After a second shot he was down for good and, luckily for us, less than a mile from the boat. It actually amazes me that being able to take a caribou this late in the season was possible, yet we did it. He was a great bull too, and to share it with my son was the best part of the story. Finding caribou has become a challenge these days, but with persistence and patience it will eventually pay off. If your plans include a trip to the Last Frontier in search of big caribou bulls, you will need to do your research and plan. The hunt starts long before you make your way through the willows. ASJ Editor’s note: Paul Atkins is an outdoor writer and photographer from Kotzebue, Alaska. He’s written hundreds of articles on big game hunting throughout North America and Africa.
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The author with his bull, which was taken late in the season and seemed like a surprise that it was able to be harvested after the hunters struggled to find any herds of note. (PAUL ATKINS)
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S
Canal Marine Co. 10 Front St Haines, AK 99827
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THE WHITE LIES OF ICE FISHING BY CHRISTINE CUNNINGHAM
I
t had been four hours and not a single fish had taken interest in my lure, while my fishing partners were reeling up fish after fish and having a grand ol’ time. Suddenly, the lake got quiet. “Any bites over there?” one of my friends asked. “No,” I said. “Would you take a suggestion?” another asked. Before I could even agree to accept a suggestion, one was offered. “You know,” my fishing partner observed, “I’ve never seen anyone catch a fish while warming at the fire with their lure out of the water.” I closed my eyes the way people do when they’re talking to someone who could not possibly understand. I’d caught plenty of fish with my lure out of the water. They were small fish, so I threw them back or grilled them up on the spot. The big ones usually got away. There wasn’t a camera or a witness because my only purpose on those days was to enjoy the serenity of the outdoors. Most of my best fish were caught when no one could see my secret fishing techniques. My friends could make fun of my method, but nothing would make me give away my secret. “You’re just lucky today,” I said. “That’s all.” “You’ve got to keep working the holes if you want to catch a fish,” the lucky one said. “You’ve got to present your lure like this.” He made a show of bringing his rod high above his head fast and dropping it down slowly. That advice didn’t make any sense for me. He was over 6 feet tall and standing over his hole. I was about a foot shorter and hunched over in a camp chair by the fire. The angle would be completely different. Anyways, I’d caught plenty of 156 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL APRIL 2014
fish using my own perfectly good method. “Sometimes,” my fishing partner said, “I check in on her in the shanty and she’s asleep in there.” “I catch fish!” I said. “Even in Vegas,” my tall friend said, “you’ve got to put money in the machines.” “Someone’s got to tend the fire,” I said. “It looks like that fire’s about to go out,” my fishing partner said. “How can you say I’m just lucky, when I’m fishing and you’re not?” the lucky fisherman asked.
cret spot and then disorient them for a least an hour before drilling a hole in the ice. After all of this effort, if a fish is caught, the lure must be changed out as inconspicuously as possible and replaced with a decoy lure. To assure that other anglers outside of the fishing party are not alerted, any traces of a fish being caught must be concealed. Any photos must be taken at a secondary location known not to contain fish. Anyone outside the fisherman’s circle of trust is told that the fishing wasn’t great or that the views were so amazing it did-
The hardest way to conceal secret fishing spots and techniques is to catch fish. Fishing in mixed company makes it even more difficult to conceal the results. “I’m just on a break,” I said. DidnooneIfishedwithevertakeabreak? “She does that a lot,” my fishing partner volunteered. “If she doesn’t catch a fish in the first five minutes, she takes a break.” It was useless. All of my friends were focused on catching fish. They were missing out on the real reason for being in the outdoors, which is to have peace and quiet and plenty of snacks. Besides, the hardest way to conceal secret fishing spots and techniques is to catch fish. Fishing in mixed company makes it even more difficult to conceal the results. The best fishermen drive low-profile vehicles and cover them with stickers such as “Invasive Species Response Crew” and “Biohazard Research Staff.” They learn a language amongst themselves that refers to species, gear, and waterways by code. They make sure to blindfold anyone taken to a se-
n’t matter that fish weren’t caught. What ruins this elaborate farce is when everyone that you would lie to is standing around catching fish. “How can you say I’m just lucky when I’m fishing and you’re sitting there with your rod 20 feet away?” “I just want to give you guys a chance to catch some fish,” I said. It’s what a good friend does. My grandfather was just as considerate. He told me that if he ever shaved off his beard he would be so devastatingly handsome that all of the women would throw themselves at him shamelessly, so, in order to save my grandmother from the embarrassment, he grew out his beard. It was so selfless, I thought. And that is why, whenever anyone goes fishing with me, I make sure to never catch any fish. I’m still working on the beard. ASJ
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LIGHTWEIGHT. The lightest 200-hp four stroke on the market
POWERFUL. 2.8L displacement and Variable Camshaft Timing give it the best power-to-weight ratio of any 200-hp four stroke
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THE ALL-NEW F200 IN-LINE FOUR.
FORWARD THINKING. Show the water who’s boss with the new F200 In-Line Four. Incredibly light, responsive and fuel efficient, it serves up plenty of muscle to handily propel a variety of boats. On top of that, its 50-amp alternator offers the power to add a range of electronics, and its 26-inch mounting centers and compatibility with either mechanical or digital controls give you the flexibility to easily upgrade your outboard or rigging. Experience legendary Yamaha reliability and the freedom of forward thinking, with the all-new F200 In-Line Four.
Juneau Willies Marine 2281 Industrial Blvd Juneau, AK 99801 (907) 789-4831 www.williesmarine.com
YamahaOutboards.com/F200InLine
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REMEMBER to always observe all applicable boating laws. Never drink and drive. Dress properly with a USCG-approved personal intended to be an endorsement. © 2013 Yamaha Motor Corporation, U.S.A. All rights reserved.
APRIL 2014
ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL 157
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