Is Mushing Fun for the Dogs?

Well, no moose at Eklutna. Or, none that I could find. One day I was returning to the parking lot on my ATV and I could hear faintly over the engine this unnatural sound. I couldn't figure it out, was it a banshee swooping down to haunt me, a rabid moose out to exact revenge on me for it's fallen brothers, was the kanooter valve going out on my Polaris? No, none of those things. It was the pent up excitement of a dog team at the ready. The musher and his assistant were getting them harnessed. He had one or two dogs left. The quality of the video is poor because I had to use my cell phone. I forgot my camera this day, which made me think today was surely the day I would get a moose or bear or wolf or all three and have nothing to record the memories but my minds eye. But, fortunately (?), I only caught a brief glimpse of a coyote and the dog team. Both videos are short and shouldn't take too long to load.

All but one dog completely diverts their focus from mouth to legs the second the musher releases the ATV brake. It's funny, the one dog yelps and springs into the air as if to take flight a few times before he commits to the task at hand(paw). As they pulled away, I could hear the musher calling out "gee, haw", lining the lead dogs up with the trail entrance. An incredible thing to see.

Eklutna Moose Hunt

I don't know how many times I've moose hunted Eklutna, but this is the first time I've actually seen a moose. And there were two of them! Unfortunately, the tag is for any BULL, and these were both cows. In spring this year there was a wild fire, that's why the trees look they've been burnt. They have been. I was with my buddy Rob. He hunted here the night before and found the cows, then found them again in about the same place on this day. We sat on them for a while, called, got cold and bored and then walked on deeper into the woods. We came back a couple of hours later and they were still here. So, I took some pictures and dared them to invite some guys over later, I'll be back in a couple of days, just keep 'em busy.

Just a short video of the two cows. They didn't care that I was so close. It's interesting how their fur is different, one is darker than the other, one has almost white legs. Stockings?

Kodiak Goat Hunt #3

I concluded my last post with the harvest of our goats and the sense that we were short on daylight. A sense of urgency tugged at us to complete skinning our game and start our hike back to camp. That haste possibly lead to one of the scariest moments of my outdoor adventures. I lead the descent down the steep slope covered in short wet grass. Suddenly, I heard a yell from behind me. Herm had lost his footing and began sliding down the mountain. He was ten feet above me one moment, and twenty below me the next. In trying to slow his skid, his left shoulder became wrenched in manner that wasn't intended for the human body. He had dislocated his shoulder. It only took seconds to get to him, but thoughts of having to use the satellite phone to call in a helicopter forced it's way into my mind. One thing about shoulder dislocations, if you get on them soon, they're easier to reduce. I was able to get his back in with relative ease. No rescue from this mountain! We had come to Kodiak with hopes of taking a goat each, and we did just that. And so, with packs exceeding a hundred pounds, full of meat, capes and skulls , we started the long march back to camp. One of us with a sore shoulder. Any time your carrying heavy, I get into the mindset, "one foot after the other". No matter what muscle hurts, or how bad your dogs bark, or how heavy the pack, that gets it done. But you have to be able to see. The sun seemed to be streaking for the horizon at an unreal speed. We walked in the twilight with the hopes that each ridge line would reveal our tent. Herm fell in the alders and in trying to catch himself, he dislocated his shoulder again. Another thing about shoulder dislocations, once you do it, you're prone to do it again. We decided it wasn't safe to continue, and as much as I NEVER want to "bivy out", we were going to have to. Ideally, when you bivy, you have a bivy sack, and if your smart, a sleeping bag that goes in it. We didn't even fall close to the smart category, we had some warm clothing and rain gear. To make things worse, we're walking in waste high bushes past piles of bear scat as big around as a beer can. But what would you expect, we're on Kodiak Island, the home of the biggest bears in the world. Did I mention we're carrying bags of goat meat? The night past slowly, the clouds stayed away for the most part, revealing the most incredible view of stars I have ever experienced. We took turns napping and keeping a small, 9 inch fire going through the night. When the sun hit us in the morning, my water was frozen, but that was all. I could still feel some of my toes. We had made it. This is one of the last pictures I took before we decided to hunker down. It's pretty, I hoped to see it on my computer at home.

It took us another two hours to get back to camp in day light. We spent the day fleshing out our capes. Took turns napping in the sun warmed tent. Herm woke me with an urgent call that a bear was running towards our camp. I snapped awake and grabbed my revolver. We yelled at the bear that was 120 yards and closing, right at our camp. You could almost see the bears expression as it got closer, "What are those two yahoos yelling at me for?" It finally veered of course at 85 yards and kept running. It stopped about a half mile down the mountain and grazed on berries. We watched it for nearly half an hour before it finally meandered out of site. It wanted nothing from us. Neither one of us even thought to grab a camera. We slept well that night in our warm sleeping bags and dry tent that was surrounded by a fence just waiting to knock the snot out of any curious bears that may wander by. We needed rest, for the next day, we would have to pack everything off the mountain, back to the lake where the plane would pick us up. It took two trips, but we got it done. This isn't a cliff, it's the edge of the "flat" ground before we start bushwhacking again.

This was on the last pack out. Pretty, but it was on the front of the heaviest rain we got.

This is the only picture I have of what we had to bushwhack through in beer can sized pooping bear country. I look like I ate the wrong berries and just discovered my hand.

We finished the last half mile in heavy rain. It dried up shortly after we reached base camp. By now it was too late for the plane to pick us up, so we set up the tent and bear fence for one more night in the Kodiak wilderness.

The next morning, a welcome sight indeed.

Kodiak Goat Hunt Part 2

Sleep during our first night was intermittent and restless at best. A fall storm howled throughout the night, bringing fierce winds and icy precipitation. Every time I awoke with one part or another of my body aching and screaming for repositioning, the storm forced thoughts of doubt into my mind. I thought , "surely we didn't get this far just to spend our trip in the tent out of the elements". I've heard horror stories of hunts gone bad before, where the unfortunate hunters saw no sign of the mountain, let alone their prey. Alaska's weather has a way of foiling even the best of plans. When we awoke, one peak out the tent revealed this to us. Snow. The picture below is looking up towards the mountain. We made breakfast and waited patiently for a break in the weather.

This is a short video clip of the wind that thrashed our tent through the night. It was taken in the morning while we prepared breakfast.

Around nine o'clock, I realized that not only had the wind died, but the sound of sleet tapping against our tent had stopped. Herm looked out the door and sure enough, the sky had dried up and the clouds were breaking. We decided to make a run for the mountain. A goat could be just an hours hike away. Only one way to find out. The terrain up top was rocky and lightly covered in snow. We decided to clear the east side of the mountain first as it was mostly cliffs according to the topo map. It didn't take much glass time to clear the area of goats, so we headed to the west side.

We cleared ridge line after ridge line, approaching each with as much stealth as we could muster in the slick, unpredictable moraine. Eventually, our persistence paid off. I approached this ridge and slowly peaked over the craggy top and saw close to a dozen goats bedded down in the shadows below. They were barely discernible against the snowy back ground. I called to Herm and made a devil horn sign to him. His expression was that of a ten year old at the naked lady booth at a carnival. We saw more on the ridge line below us. You can barely see one sky-lined mid way on the ridge in the picture. To our dismay, at least one was looking up at us. One thing I've read and experienced with sheep and now goats, is if you get above them, they are more curious than alarmed. Threat for them comes from below, and this was going to be their undoing.

But we weren't close enough for a shot, and our potential undoing looks like this. The only way down is through this skree and moraine filled shoot. We patiently picked our way down the slope. Herm took the lead, occasionally stepping out of the way so I could descend and not risk hitting him with the rocks that I may knock loose, or my self should I fall. While I paused for him to descend, I took this picture.

We finally got into position to shoot, their were 5 goats on the ridge. Four adults and one kid. Alaska law states you can't kill a kid or a nanny with a kid. Their are ways to discern a billie from a nanny, but they are subtle and unless you can lift their leg, it's not certain. Fortunately, the nanny had enough of watching us creep to with in 140 yards, and she got up, taking her kid with her. This put targets on the remaining three. Herm's gun rang out and a huge nannie dropped in her tracks and began rolling down the grassy slope. Confusion ran amok amongst the remaining two, I quickly set my sights on one and we had two goats down. It was 3 p.m. Sunset was at 7:45, we had two goats to clean, and camp was a rugged four miles away. Time was not on our side.

Justice's 6th Birthday

He got a cake from Cold Stone. Dang, that's good.

Kodiak Goat Hunt Part 1

We arrived at Andrew Airways on the morning of October 4th to this beautiful weather. Float planes come and go through out the day from these docks, ferrying sportsman to all areas of the Island. With weather like this, it's easy to over inflate your expectations for a successful hunt.

For the flight into the hunt, we took a smaller plane. It saves us money and we're all for that. There is a place for a fourth seat beside me, but our gear is stored there and extends into the hollow rear of the plane.

This is just after floats up. That's Kodiak airport, there's a whole 2 airlines in the airport. One gate.

The distant lake is Lake 629. Yeah, too small for a real name, but let's land a plane on it. That sounds like a good idea to me. We looked at three different possibilities for areas to hunt. The other two were on salt (Gulf of Alaska), we chose this one. Every one we spoke to about goat hunting Kodiak told us, "You see goats everywhere when you're flying in". We saw zero. But the mountains were snow capped, and that would make seeing a white goat challenging. I must admit, I was a little disappointed. I also thought, "Look on the bright side, it's still sunny."

Six hours and a 3 mile bush-whacking up hill hike later, we couldn't see the top of the mountain anymore. That's the mountain we're supposed to hunt for goats in the morning. The weather changed for the worse. Our hopes were that it would change for the better. We set up camp with the door facing our objective. The bear fence was set up and tested, it hurt. The sun would set soon, although it's descent would be obscured by clouds, and we were ready for sleep. Day one had come to an end.

September 2010

I realize I haven't posted for a while, sorry. I decided to do a post just for September. Colt made cookies to fulfill a requirement for scouts. Cathy helped him of course, but he did most of the work.

They were good. Chocolate peanut-butter cookies.

With all the kids in school, Cathy and I got to go on an ATV ride. We went to Eklutna Lake. It was a beautiful day. We saw two bears, a bunch of sheep and three goats.

We call this Heebie-jeebie hill. It will make your inside flip when you walk up to it.

This is two of the goats we saw. The standing one is a whopper.

No words.