Denali Highway hunt

This post is about our Denali Highway road hunt that we did on Saturday. The Denali Highway runs east/west between Anchorage and Fairbanks. The road parallels the Alaska Range. Our plan was to hunt snowshoe hare and ptarmigan, with the possibility of a wolf or early grizzly bear hunt. This was a long drive for just some bunnies and birds, about 267 miles one way actually, but none of the 6 of us would have changed a thing. Sometimes a man just has to kill something, and a few measly gallons of gas at 3.25 isn't going to get in the way of that. It's not only about the hunting, the view, memories and camaraderie are priceless. I got within a hundred yards of a 50 head caribou herd. It was very neat.

In this area, the limit on ptarmigan is 5/day. It looks like I limited out, but one of these was Eddie's. He got his first snowshoe and ptarmigan on this day. This is my first snowshoe. At first sight I thought these things were twice the size of our Kentucky rabbits. They're all fur! They may be a little longer than I remember KY rabbits being, but they are about the same size otherwise. I meant to keep some hide but forgot, it is so thick and soft. I was going to make a loin cloth with it. Maybe next time.
This is a view from the road north towards the Alaska Range. One lane is plowed for vehicle travel, the other is a foot deep for snow machines. This picture does not do it justice. You'll just have to see it for yourself.
This is Eric, he's a good friend, a heck of a hunter and a nut. He and Jeremy stayed the night in sub-zero temps. When they woke (cuddling I'm sure :-), there was a huge flock of birds outside their tent. They got eight, he also has a snowshoe in this picture with some caribou antlers that he found. We got out of the trucks to scout some willow stands for ptarmigan and he found a wolf killed caribou carcass. So he shouldered it up and came walking down the road holding the rack with skull, spine and part of the pelvis still attached. IT STANK! He was going to take the whole thing home and deal with it there, but I had a bone saw and he just cut the antlers off. It was a nice find.