Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 1 Volume 12 • Issue 3 • Fall 2020

64 © Bjorn Dihle

Departments Shooting for the Field 22 Features Hunting for a Compliment 6 Life on the Ledge 24 Gunwerks Long Range Experience by Art Hoffart 34 The Hunt 8 Red Gold 28 As technology has improved over the years, hunters can now Gear Shop 12 Backcountry Nutrition 32 make shots on game at ranges that were once considered incredible. However, the right shooting system and training is Trip Tips 14 Recipe 70 necessary to pull it off. Art attended one of Gunwerks Long After the Shot 16 Advertiser Index 72 Range Experience events and learned firsthand how to do it. He shares his experience with the equipment and the training Ballistics & Ammo 18 Online 74 with you in this article. Night Terrors by John Whipple 40 Perhaps nothing could be more terrifying than close encounters with brown bears in the dark. Hearing them from inside your tent, breathing, investigating, walking mere feet away…Early in his brown bear hunting years, John picked a great hunting area, but not the most prudent spot in which to camp. There are lessons to be learned from this successful brown bear hunt.

34 © Art Hoffart Wolves, Bulls, and Big Tips by Billy Molls 48 You never know what you might experience on a hunt in western Alaska. When calling moose, sometimes the hunters become the hunted. Billy Molls and clients Kurt and Trent Packingham were the fortunate witnesses of a pack of 14 wild wolves in action, plus they bagged a 61-inch bull. Unimak Caribou by Bob Lacher 56 Unimak Island, at the beginning of the Aleutian Islands chain, is a long way from anywhere, even from Anchorage. At roughly 750 miles from A-town, you’ll probably not see another person if you hunt there. Bob Lacher, Frank Ramsey, © John Whipple © John 40 56 © Bob Lacher David Todd and Jim Bowles made the journey in pursuit of big bull caribou. A Goat for Reid by Bjorn Dihle 64 Northern southeast Alaska is the setting for this mountain goat hunt by the brothers Dihle. Bjorn recounts the details in humorous good cheer, despite the usually arduous effort necessary to pursue Oreamnos americanus.

48 Molls © Billy COVER / Among the most coveted meat by Alaskans, moose range throughout most of the state. © Anthony Madden

2 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 3 PUBLISHERS Melissa Norris Marcus Weiner EDITOR George Krumm ASSOCIATE EDITOR Scott Haugen OPERATIONS MANAGER Wayne Norris EFFICIENCY MANAGER Ana Taylor ART DIRECTOR Bailey Anderson Production Russell K Porsley III Manager PUBLISHERS’ ASSISTANT Melissa Wong & GRAPHIC DESIGNER DIGITAL MARKETING Kimmy Jones

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Lon E. Lauber, Paul D. Atkins, Steve Meyer, Jim McCann, Ryan Schmidt, John Whipple, Casey Dinkel, Larry Bartlett

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Anthony Madden

REGIONAL SALES MANAGER Rick Birch 907-394-1763

Hunt Alaska Magazine PO Box 772424 Eagle River, Alaska 99577 Toll Free (877) 220-0787 (907) 345-4337 main (907) 223-8497 advertising huntalaskamagazine.com ISSN 2475-577X (print) ISSN 2475-5796 (online)

Hunt Alaska magazine is published three times annually in Spring (February), Summer (May), and Fall (July) by Fish Alaska Publications, LLC, P.O. Box 772424, Eagle River, Alaska 99577. Send all address changes to P.O. Box 772424, Eagle River, Alaska 99577. One year subscriptions, in U.S. funds, are: $10 in the United States, $16 in Canada and $25 in all other countries. Single copy price, in U.S. dollars, is $6.99. To subscribe by phone please call 907-345-4337. Editorial correspondence should be sent to Attn: Editor, Hunt Alaska magazine, P.O. Box 772424, Eagle River, Alaska 99577. Unsolicited manuscripts and photos will be considered, but must be accompanied by a self-addressed stamped envelope. Although we will take care, Hunt Alaska is not responsible for the loss or return of unsolicited materials. The opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily the opinions of Hunt Alaska magazine publishers and editors.

©2020 by Fish Alaska Publications, LLC. All rights reserved.

4 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 5 Cohen Miller, 9, took his first caribou off the Denali Highway in September 2019.

Matthew Sponable of Juneau, with his first-ever moose taken near the Innoko River in September 2019 while hunting with his buddy Chris.

Chase Fillman, 9, with Aaron Miller, 11, with Jack Darnall of Alabama, and Tim Dwyer of Florida, bagged these his first caribou. his first-ever caribou caribou near Cold Harbor, AK. he harvested off the Denali Highway in September 2019. Dan Moody and John Siegfried Eric Parcells took this Kodiak brown bear with their near Karluk Lake in November 2019. 50-inch bull.

Tom Netschert of Soldotna, AK, took this Boone & Crockett ram during a DIY hunt in 2019. Father and son TJ and Noah Payne, 10, with Russ Witherspoon, father Reubin Payne, took with three beautiful Send Your Photos! this 40-inch moose in unit blacktail bucks on E-mail hi-res .jpeg photos to: [email protected]. Subject Line: HFC. Include a caption in the e-mail. You can also mail 16B in September 2018 Kruzof Island, AK. photos to: HFC, PO Box 772424, Eagle River, AK 99577. Include a SASE if you want it returned. Include a separate caption for the photo. thanks to a youth tag. Do not write on the back of the photo. We will let you know when your photo will be in the magazine.

6 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 7 batteries, flagging tape, and maybe some reflective tape, you’re ready to track in these conditions. But that’s not all. Ideally you have a knife, game bags, a “Evening Shots...Yes or No?” pack and some rope. Before even taking the Story and photos by Scott Haugen shot, you should be committed to finding the animal and breaking it down in the You’ve hunted hard for days; now the dark. Why? Because it’s not okay to leave an animal of your dreams is standing in front animal in the woods overnight, no matter of you. The distance is 150 yards, but the how cold it is. The colder it gets, the more end of legal shooting light is only moments insulated big-game hides become as their away. A driving rain and dark shadows of fur thickens. This means they hold in heat, the forest fringe make finding the kill zone not allowing the animal to properly cool, a challenge, but not impossible once you even if death is quick. look through your riflescope. Before taking that shot, promise yourself If you drop the animal on the spot, field that you’ll quickly recover the animal, then care will be easy. If tracking is involved after break it down so every bit of meat can taking the shot, be aware that you’re miles begin cooling. If it’s a Sitka blacktail deer from base camp. With only a few days left or a caribou, you can often pack out all the in your hunt, do you shoot or not? boned meat in one trip; but it may take two How you answer this question comes trips if the headgear is big and you’re saving down to many factors, not the least of the cape for a shoulder mount. which is your ability to shoot accurately, If you can’t pack out the meat that and with confidence, in low light. If you night, at least get it quartered and in game drop the animal where it stands, great. But bags so it can properly cool. If leaving the if the hit is anything less than perfect, a backstraps and rib meat on the carcass, be tracking job may be necessary. sure it’s field dressed so it can cool from Remember, it’s raining hard and darkness the inside and outside. If removing the is near. If the hit animal disappears into the backstraps, tenderloins, and rib meat, place it in a game bag to cool. Neck meat should A moose backstrap is a large cut of forest, tracking will commence in a wet meat, and quick removal will ensure darkness. If you have a headlamp with extra quickly be filleted, as the upper neck is proper cooling.

8 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 9 Before pulling the Before shooting any big-game animal, or embarking trigger on any big- upon any hunt, be prepared. Before the hunt make sure game animal there your pack comfortably fits with a heavy load, and that it’s are many factors to consider, not the big enough to get the job done. Next, be sure to wear that least of which is the pack afield when leaving camp for a day of hunting. If breakdown process. your packframe is different from your daypack, consider strapping the daypack to the frame. This means you can hunt all day, and not have to worry about returning to camp to get your packframe when you shoot an animal. If covering a lot of ground on foot, it’s not a bad idea to have a small spike camp on your back so you can stay the night afield, if needed. Should you cripple an animal, spend a few hours tracking it in the dark, then another hour or more breaking it down, it might be very late before the job is complete. In some situations—where it’s safe from bears and the elements—catching a few hours’ sleep, afield, is an option that saves time and energy. Of course, the decision to shoot an animal in the waning moments of daylight—or in any situation— made of large bones that hold in heat and quickly cause meat spoilage. Slow comes down to confidence in your ability to make the cooked, neck meat is one of the most delicious cuts, so save every ounce. shot, then handling the responsibilities that follow. The Should you be forced to leave your animal overnight in bear country, hang more experiences like this you encounter, the greater the game bags so they can’t be reached. If no bears are around, this simplifies your confidence will grow, thus the more successful your things. If there’s snow on the ground and no bears, the meat can be placed hunts will become. The ultimate reward, however, comes in game bags and spread out on the snow to cool. If there’s no snow on the in knowing every bit of meat will be salvaged, with no ground, get the meat hanging in the shade, where air circulation will help waste, which equates to more game in the freezer and on cool it. the table. If you have the luxury of getting an animal out of the woods whole, make sure it’s gutted first. Transporting a game animal with the hide intact ensures the meat stays clean. Once home or back at camp, remove the hide For signed copies of Scott Haugen’s best-selling book, Hunting along with all the bloodshot tissues. Nothing taints game meat faster than the Alaskan High Arctic, visit scotthaugen.com. Follow coagulating, rotting blood. Scott’s adventures on Instagram and Facebook.

10 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 11 Frontiersman 9.2 oz Bear Spray with Belt Holster sabrered.com The Frontiersman 9.2 oz Bear Spray with Belt Holster contains the Skinner Optics 1-6x24 Riflescope strongest formula allowed by the skinnersights.com EPA (2.0% major capsaicinoids), all Known for the high quality of their sights, Skinner has entered tested by an in-house HPLC lab to BarnauL Ammunition 7.62x39 and 7.62x54R the optics market with a 1-6 magnification scope. The scope ensure maximum heat. The spray has barnaulammo.com features a 30 mm tube and 24 mm objective and is suitable a range of up to 35 feet (10.6 meters). The 7.62x39 cartridge is one of the oldest and most widely used intermediate for many different rifle platforms. Other features include easy, Frontiersman bear spray rapidly cartridges, predominately in the AK- and SKS-pattern rifles. It can be utilized crisp-click, covered-turret adjustments, and Skinner Specified deploys the heaviest fog of 1.84 oz in some AR platforms and bolt-action rifles as well. The 7.62x54R is a proven, Reticle with 1 MOA lit dot. The brightness of the dot is easily accurate and powerful cartridge, and is the world’s longest-serving military (52 grams) per 1-second burst. This Alaskan Gun Guard adjustable through a range of settings by simply turning the cartridge. In addition to 7.62x39 and 7.62x54R, BarnauL Ammunition offers creates the largest barrier of protection alaskanscopecouplerguard.com left turret. It also has a BDC-marked crosshair for easy between you and the bear. The holster a wide range of other grain weights and bullet types to fit any shooting need or range holdover. It has built-in lens covers, too. The Alaskan Gun Guard is designed for “Protecting Your Firearm Around the shooting platform you may have. has no cumbersome straps, so it does Stock” when your adventure takes you afield. The Gun Guard will protect the The view through the scope is bright and not obstruct the firing mechanism or alarm the bear with most important areas of your firearm—the scope, action and trigger area—from clear, and eye relief is 3.7 inches. Velcro noises. This spray gives you further confidence to be rain, snow, ice, dust, mud or whatever Mother Nature will throw at you when It comes with a 5-year in the wild with bears, which is a likely occurrence when out in the wild. The Gun Guard closes off on the bottom with five magnets that Knives of Alaska warranty. traveling in much of Alaska. are reversible for right- or left-hand use. Removal can be done by individually Professional Boning Knife disconnecting the magnets or quickly pulling away the guard. The No-Slip Grips knivesofalaska.com makes hand carrying a breeze. The Alaskan Gun Guard has proudly earned the Knives of Alaska’s new Boning Knife is modeled after industry-proven designs “Made in Alaska” designation. preferred by professional meat processors. Whether at the cleaning station, on Vortex Optics the farm, or in the home kitchen, this knife will make your butchering chores Razor HD LHT Riflescope vortexoptics.com SJK Nightfall 1-Person Tent more efficient. Available in both a flexible and semi-flexible option with a substantial Sure-Grip handle for added control and comfort, this model will With best-in-class optical quality in an slumberjack.com ultra-lightweight package, the Razor HD LHT is The Nightfall 1 has raised the bar for 3-season mountain help you to quickly process game animals, domestic animals, and fish, and have you working like a pro. It is made from D2 tool steel, features a full-tang handle, a versatile long-range hunting optic that can do it all. The tents. External pitch-pole architecture keeps the inner tent single-piece, aircraft-grade aluminum, 30 mm tube provides dry while pitching in the rain. Near-vertical side walls the blade is 5.5 inches, the knife has an overall length of 9.75 inches, weighs 3.8 ounces and is covered by a lifetime warranty. plenty of room for dialing, and makes for an incredibly provide huge interior space, and the Fast-Pitch option durable build. Vortex also built in a locking elevation turret allows the inner tent body to be left behind for a and a capped windage turret. The LHT showcases Vortex’s super-light and very compact shelter. Designed for new RevStop Zero System, a patented zero stop for a rock- hunters and backpackers alike, the Nightfall 1 is solid return to zero after turret adjustments. ready to impress. Gunwerks SKUHL gunwerks.com Dangerous game deserves a purpose-built rifle system. The SKUHL was designed for ultimate reliability and quick target acquisition in close quarters when shots count. Big-bore options include .338 RUM, .375 Ruger and .416 Ruger with matched loads and laser-etched turrets resulting in a rifle system effective from zero to 600+ yards, right out of the box. Gunwerks used their infamous lightweight carbon-fiber ClymR stock and gave it one serious makeover. The SKUHL features all-new laser engraving, never-before- seen stock design, and unique battle-worn Tungsten Cerakote finish. It’s the next MUST-HAVE in dangerous-game hunting.

Man Gear Alaska Gen2-MTU-MOS Holster mangearalaska.com Man Gear Alaska’s patented Gen2-MTU- MOS holsters provide the capability to carry a semi-auto handgun with RMR- Work Sharp Whetstone Knife Sharpener style optic or reflex sight and are designed worksharptools.com to accommodate a handgun with or Stone sharpening is an age-old method to achieve without the optic. The holster is offered a razor-sharp edge before razor blades existed. The Black Hills Ammunition 6.5 Creedmoor 120 Grain Hornady GMX LEM Big Bite #12 Grinder in three colors: black, coyote brown, Work Sharp Whetstone brings angle guides and a black-hills.com lemproducts.com and universal digital camouflage. The water-control system to the table to make water- The 6.5 Creedmoor is currently the most popular medium-caliber cartridge in The 3/4 HP grinder features a powerful and quiet two-mag pouch option was specifically stone sharpening more precise, more secure, and existence. It’s accurate, flat shooting, and its high-BC bullets make it great for motor, and extended auger, to help you quickly grind designed for the Glock Model 40 MOS to eliminate the mess that accompanies sharpening long-distance shooting. The Hornady 120 GMX is Black Hills Ammunition’s up game, fish and whatever other food you want to with the 6-inch-long slide, but also works with water. Use the 15- and 17-degree angle guides choice of premium bullet for that application. The 6.5mm, 120-grain GMX offers grind. It sports a small footprint and modernized well with a shorter barrel. It can also be for sharpening kitchen knives and low-angle outdoor excellent penetration plus high weight retention. It generally retains nearly 100% brush-steel finish. A tray in the body has been added purchased with the slightly shorter, one- knives like skinning knives and fillet knives. Sharpen of its weight compared to 50-70% for lead-core bullets. This causes the bullet to for knife and plate storage. The head features a rifle mag pouch option. on the 1000-grit red stone then turn the stone over open immediately upon impact, over a wide range of velocities, causing large- pattern that helps to push meat forward, which to refine your edge on the white 6000 grit. diameter wound cavities that anchor game quickly and humanely. minimizes the need for the user to push the meat into the grinder. It comes with a 5-year warranty and lifetime customer support.

12 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 13 to call, wait, and listen while the wilderness below us continued to wake up. A pair of bald eagles stood out like beacons from Tony sends an enticing call out toward Bear tracks along the river. © Sarah Stallone their perch across the valley. Gray sky, black mountains, white- the meadow. © Sarah Stallone blue glacier, yellow birch and those white heads made a stunning Down to the Wire mental picture. There were fresh tracks and moose sign all around Story by Sarah Stallone us. They had to be in here somewhere; the question we needed to answer was where. “I flew, you get to check the fence!” Tony whispered over his As every Alaskan knows, you never go to the field without a shoulder. I couldn’t see him through the morning darkness, virtual file cabinet of harvest tickets in your pocket. Moose was but I could tell he was smiling as he shrugged on his pack. our main quarry, but also on the menu were black and brown The man did have a point. I switched my headlamp back on bear, and any small game we felt worth the noise disturbance (or and walked to the fence. It was clicking. Click, click, click, but the time to get out the .22). as Tony said often, “That doesn’t mean it works!” Field tip: We slipped off the knoll and deeper into the woods, calling Always take an engineer to hunting camp. They think of all every quarter mile or so and taking time in between to listen. As possibilities. the morning turned to afternoon, the sun rays became almost Reaching for the middle wire with the back of my hand the hot. Most animals would likely be seeking shade and a nap, but third tap connected. Zap! Good news, I didn’t need any more we stayed on our quest, climbing another knob and glassing coffee; bad news, I had to pee again. The fence worked just every inch of the visible country. For hours we visually combed fine. For a second I thought I could hear Tony laughing as he the terrain searching for movement. This was day two of three. A crunched his way down the frosty airstrip toward the river. last-ditch effort, an end-of-season hope for a full freezer. they’ll be right here by camp in the morning,” he laughed, high- here in Southcentral. For pilots, electric fences provide just one Rejoining him, I sequenced my steps between fence clicks. Not an unusual sight, but certainly welcome entertainment, stepping over the wire into the “kitchen.” Field Tip: Always take more method to separate rubber-loving, tire-popping, plane- Crunch, click, crunch, click, crunch, crunch, crunch…We I watched as another large black bear skirted the peak of an a good caller to hunting camp. They can call while you get to destroying bears from their only way back home. Don’t tell the were soon out of earshot of camp. adjacent mountain. With each step he would pause to vacuum shoot. bears it’s just a thin wire and not a formidable force field; this We crossed a shallow part of the river and scrambled up the up the nearest blueberries. He was the uncontested king of his We were one bite into our hot stew when something caught simple, lightweight hack must keep working so we can keep bank. Threading through a thicket of willow, we stepped into mountain, and for the umpteenth time this trip, I was glad that my ear. I stopped chewing and turned off the stove. Nope, I adventuring in the backcountry. I don’t know why the animal the open just as daylight allowed us to distinguish each other’s our only mode of transportation was back in camp wrapped in wasn’t dreaming. That was a bull grunting! I dropped my bowl brain hates electric shock, but it works well as a shenanigan faces and the jagged-peaked skyline. Our destination lay on electric wire. Where there are berries and fish, there will be bear, and grabbed the closest rifle. It was too dark to legally shoot deterrent. the other side of a broad swamp, a maze of floating, matted and where there are bear, there will be shenanigans. You can but the Leupold scope pulled from all available light to let me A legal-sized moose just wasn’t in the cards for this last-minute grass and an occasional grass hummock. A misstep could send count on it. see what we were up against. The love-struck bull was making a fly-out trip though we thoroughly enjoyed the hunt. The close you armpits deep into cold muck. Doing our best to follow Night fell as we climbed back down in the valley, ending beeline for Tony. 40 yards. 30 yards. He strutted his way toward encounter, the challenge of the short time limit and the new-to- the footprints of the large animals we sought, we hopped another day of hunting. Back at the river, we crossed fresh brown us wagging all 40 inches of his headgear like he was the boss. 20 us hunting area gave us another chance to test the gear, stretch and groped our way toward the far edge. Field Tip: Always bear tracks overlapping ours from earlier in the morning. We yards. We switched from whispers to voices hoping he would the legs, and hone our hunting skills. take someone bigger than you to hunting camp. If they fall followed them for a bit, but they didn’t leave the river to follow stop. At 15 yards I lowered the rifle just long enough to turn the Lightweight electric fences can cost well north of $400, but through, go a different route. Due in large part to luck, both ours back to camp. fence back on. All I could think was, “He’s going to wreck the local rental outfits offer an affordable alternative. Alaska Outdoor of us made it to the other side without getting wet. Previously The Piper PA-12 reflected the headlamp beam and aswe plane!” Between our voices and the clicking electricity the bull Gear Rentals in Anchorage (alaskaoutdoorgearrental.com) or we had scouted a hard-ground route to the same destination, approached camp you could hear the click of the electric fence. finally stopped his advance just yards shy of the fence. Confused, Boondock Sporting Goods in Eagle River are two local sources. but it was much longer and would only be used if we were Every pilot at some point must admit that the hunt part of a he continued grunting, pawing the ground and wagging his Fences come in a variety of weights, sizes, and run times. packing out meat. fly-out adventure like this gets only half of your brain power— antlers. Tony, (and all men, frankly) sympathized with the poor Research which options are best for your adventure. Be sure to We slipped into the birch forest grateful for the moss that the other half is hoping the plane is ok. Turning off the fence, bull as his evening companionship hopes were dashed. The bull inventory, assemble, and test (including battery levels!) fences muffled footsteps and for the limbs and leaves that hidour I started dinner prep while Tony let out one last enticing cow hung around for a few long minutes before dejectedly moving before heading to the field to avoid any unwelcome surprises. movement. Clawing our way to the top of a knoll, we stopped call—his best and longest yet. “That’ll get them riled. Maybe back toward the river. “Poor little guy,” Tony commiserated. An electric fence provides one additional element We primarily use electric fences in areas with high bear of separation between rubber-hungry bears and populations; this was the first trip I thought it might have to Sarah Stallone is an avid hunter, firearms instructor, and Leupold our only mode of transportation back home. work on a moose. Over the years electric fences like this one optics representative. She is grateful to be living in Anchorage, © Tony Stallone have preserved many pounds of precious meat during hunts in Alaska, enjoying the outdoors whenever possible. More at Kodiak, Afognak, southeast Alaska, the Alaska Peninsula, and AccurateAdvantage.US.

A black bear eats his way across an adjacent mountain. © Sarah Stallone

14 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 15 I realize that hunting in the vast space of Hopefully as this fall rolls the Alaskan tundra is hard enough even around you’ll be with when you are prepared. Unfortunately, Valuable Lessons those that share in your I wasn’t back then. Story and photos by Paul D. Atkins passion, out hunting and I had the wrong gear to start with— exploring the vastness of Hopefully by the time this is published, our the Last Frontier. everything from cotton shirts to a tent country, our state and our way of life are back to that wasn’t even remotely suitable for normal or at least something similar. As I sit here the conditions we were in. My sleeping typing this, I can only wonder, though. Keeping bag was worthless, too, and the leather safe these last few months has been a constant, as boots I had on became a miserable it should be, but from the hunting standpoint, experience. Extra socks? Yes, you need particularly this time of year, I really hope each to bring extra socks and the idea of of us are gearing up, getting ready to fly to some gathering firewood became a whole unknown sand bar where the caribou cross or new experience for me. maybe boat to an old, familiar spot where the To say I didn’t shoot anything during big bear you missed last year still lives. those five days goes without saying. There’s one thing we’ve all acquired these last Heck, I didn’t even see an animal, but few months, and that’s a lot of downtime at being a novice I learned a lot about home, in the shop, garage, or in my case, the myself and what it takes to succeed or at CONEX. Knowing how hunters think, I’m least stay alive in the Alaskan outdoors. guessing you’ve had a lot of time to think about I left wet, tired and with a case of lower an upcoming hunt or at least prepare for when back pain, but more importantly, I left you do get to venture into the mountains and with valuable lessons that have made me onto the tundra. I know these last few months a better hunter and prepared me for the have been long, but if you’re like me, you’ve next 20 years. I cherish that trip more probably had time to go through gear more than any other, and I truly believe if I than once, either to keep busy or just feel happy. was on one of those reality shows about Perhaps you’ve been fumbling through tubs staying alive, or social distancing, I bet or boxes, keeping this, throwing away that or I could actually survive the required 21 maybe fixing something, all in preparation for days. the next couple of months. I can honestly say Anyway, that hunt is probably why I that now I’m more organized than I’ve ever been have a CONEX full of gear, from years in my life! of trying to improve with the latest Whether you’ve been organizing new gear, and greatest, which by the way costs a Nothing compares to a lone tent on an unknown lot of money. I’ve also come to find it mending the old, or searching online for the riverbank or gravel bar far from civilization. You latest and greatest, we should all be prepared for can get away from it all and concentrate on takes up more room than you realize what hopefully has arrived, and that’s hunting being happy and truly doing what you like in a large metal container. Do I really season in Alaska. It’s something we all live for, to do. Hunting is the best medicine! need five tents and twenty-seven dry share in and look forward to. bags or the twelve backpacks hanging Digging through a CONEX of old gear these on hooks? Probably not, but they’re in past few months, I ran into some gear I used there just in case I do. It’s all part of the from my very first hunt in Alaska. It was many fun and who I am. years ago on a river way north of the Arctic So, as September rolls around and Circle… we prepare to head into the Alaskan I still remember sitting on that small hill, wilderness, let’s first remember how glassing for moose with rain pouring down my lucky we are to share these outdoor back. It wasn’t much fun. I was soaked to the experiences and such a special place. bone. It was September and I was in Alaska on Hopefully we’ll be able to tag along my first moose and caribou hunt. Looking back, with friends, family, or old hunting partners or maybe even someone new, Top to bottom: Having the right gear who will be going on their first hunt. is only part of the equation, but it’s an I hope it’s done with a sense of joy and important part. With all the time we’ve more importantly a sense of relief that had to prepare in pre-season, we should only hunting in Alaska can bring. be ready to go! Good luck and stay safe out there!

Whether hunting big game or spending time on the flats looking for waterfowl, fall is the time to get out and experience what Alaska has to offer. The Paul Atkins is an outdoor writer and opportunities are endless. author from Kotzebue, Alaska. He has written hundreds of articles on big-game There is not a better way to get away than to head upriver and set up moose hunting and fishing throughout North camp. You can fill your soul with America and Africa, plus surviving in the memories and if things go right, you can Arctic. Paul is a longtime contributor to also fill your freezer. Hunt Alaska magazine.

16 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 17 The Nimrod’s Dilemma Story and photo by Randy Flickinger

Again…another dilemma for choosing accepts .358-caliber bullets easily. It a cartridge. has a bit of a body taper, measuring As a true nimrod, I anticipate .390 at the base and .378 at the case firearm manufacturers introducing mouth, which aids in extraction from new and exciting cartridges every year the chamber. On further investigation at the Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor the Legend has a rebated rim. The taper Trade (SHOT) Show. The buzz starts does help on extraction but the rebated with all the magical ranges, velocities, rim design leaves little to grab when one-shot kills and “there is no other you throw back the bolt. I had heard cartridge likes this, end of story. Now they were going to introduce a Modern how many do you want?” My industry Sporting Rifle (MSR) in the caliber. colleagues and I seem to fall within the The only major manufacturer to date “camp of doubt” and the “wait and is Ruger with the AR-556, but for a seers.” Immediately upon availability, grand at cost and a 16-inch barrel, the we are not the first or second in line to performance of “fastest straight-wall” buy, but with more research we might just got lost. So why the straight wall? be tempted. Why an AR? My AR in .338 Federal I wrote a few months ago about pushes a 200-grain Trophy Bonded the .300 PRC from Hornady. Not bullet a little over 2,650 fps and has 2½ impressed at the outset, I explained you times more energy as the .350 Legend could achieve many of the same results at 250 yards. Give me a reason to pick with other older cartridges in .30 up the Legend. caliber. I talk a good talk downplaying Remington introduced the .357 it. Unable to hold my resolve, I ordered Maximum cartridge in 1983 with a new barrel (thank you Sarah Stallone) the same hoopla from writers and the for an existing action and waited outdoor press. The design was touted patiently for my .300 PRC pieces to for handgun silhouette competition arrive so I could put it all together and and for midrange hunting. The take it to the field. However… Maximum is a straight-wall, rimmed A recent introduction has me cartridge (looks like the .357 Magnum stumped. It is the .350 Legend but has a .300-longer case) and can Winchester. Winchester claims it is push a 140-grain Hornady FTX “the fastest straight-walled hunting projectile 2,340 fps from a 16-inch cartridge in the world,” boasting one- barrel—close to the Legend using a shot kills out to 250 yards. The .350 150-grain projectile and a 20-inch Legend is a rimless, straight-walled, barrel. Drop that to a 16-inch barrel .358-inch-diameter hunting round in an AR Legend and the Maximum pushing a pointed 150-grain projectile would probably exceed it in velocity. at 2,325 fps. That is fast. But I can do As it turned out, the .357 Maximum the same with a 150-grain soft point in failed to generate interest with hunters .30-30 Winchester. Granted, it is not and shooters, plus it had issues with a .358-caliber projectile, but the .30- revolvers from the high pressure and 30 has taken more game than the .350 velocity as it caused flame cutting of Legend ever will. the revolver top strap. You can still find The .350 Legend is somewhat based the .357 Maximum in a Thompson on a .223 Remington case (although Center Single Shot plus loaded ammo Winchester states it is a whole new from some independents can be found, design), blown out to be straight with but not from the major manufacturers. no shoulder and due to its diameter The Maximum was dropped from most

18 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 19 reloading manuals years ago. these in their catalogs. When Nosler at 1.605 inches. Also, states considered Similarly, just about any of the comes out with the .35 Nosler…well, how far the .35 caliber and above older .358-caliber centerfire cartridges I will eat my words. projectiles will travel. Expectations are can meet or exceed the .350 Legend What makes the .350 Legend so that with a miss on a deer you are not special? I dove a little deeper into why as apt to shoot the neighbor’s barn with in downrange ballistics including The author’s 1955 Pre-64 Model 70 .358 the .35 Remington, .35 Winchester, Winchester would come up with the one of these cartridges. Winchester. Only 2,000 were made. .356 Winchester, .358 Winchester .350 Legend after so many .358-caliber So, I guess if I were to move to the It’s still a real shooter and lets you and .350 Remington Magnum. Not centerfire cartridges have failed. As it Midwest, I would probably talk the know you pulled the trigger! The .350 to be derogatory or critical, but how turns out, the application is the driver. talk and be convinced to pick up a rifle Legend has much milder recoil and many of you shooters and hunters Not the ballistics. Otherwise, again the in the .350 Legend, if not for owning muzzle blast. have one of these rifle cartridges in older .35s would still be around. the “fastest straight-wall cartridge” your safe and/or use it for hunting? A It’s the application in the sense that but also its suitability for use in MSRs few hunters, maybe, if you are a hand it was designed to fill a niche. Over the and its low recoil. Did I mention loader. Finding ammo on the shelf, or past few years, states in the Midwest Winchester has a Super Suppressed for that matter, a new rifle in any of like Indiana, Michigan, Iowa and 265-grain load? Now I need to buy these calibers probably won’t happen. Ohio have changed hunting seasons another suppressor. There’s a whole For comparison, all of these older .35s which previously restricted deer new set of circumstances to consider. will push 200-grain projectiles from hunting to limited-range slug guns or Again…another dilemma for choosing the low end with the .35 Remington muzzle-loading firearms. They are now a cartridge. at 2,100 fps to the fastest, the .350 allowing rifles chambered in straight- Remington Magnum, at 3,000 fps. I walled centerfire cartridges, .35 caliber realize it is not the same comparison or larger, in places with specific with the Legend using a 150-grain regulations for the type of firearm projectile, but I think you get the drift. used for deer hunting. Additionally, a Randy Flickinger was licensed as an I calculate if you were to load any of further restriction is cartridges must Assistant Guide in Alaska for 18 years the older .35s and stay within pressure have a minimum case length of 1.16 and is currently a manufacturer’s recommendations you would exceed inches and a maximum case length of representative for Federal Ammunition. the Legend. But the .35 (.358) is not 1.8 inches. The .350 Legend comes He teaches reloading, and shoots that popular, and dare I say most have in just under the wire at 1.71 inches competitively for Savage Arms, Bushnell fallen so far off the chart that very few overall. The .357 Maximum is also Scopes and Blackhawk Tactical. He manufacturers, if any, have a choice of legal in these areas as it is a tad shorter currently resides in Oregon.

20 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 21 of the message. Christine enlightened me with the news that activity. Besides hunting, which given the hunting, fishing, and other outdoor pursuits were allowed. time of year, is minimal, I’ve refinished Since my first solo foray with rifle in hand, into the hunting and re-cut checkering in several stocks, The Siege fields at age eight, hunting has represented the last vestige of loaded a bunch of ammunition, spent a Story and photo by Steve Meyer true freedom. Nothing else allows one to enter the balance lot of time on the range, and I’ve been of nature and either thrive or fail on your own terms. For a doing a lot of thinking. young person, there seems no better way to build character, Hunting participation has been confidence, and the attitude that carries one forward in the in decline for some years. Less so in “Let me go to hell the way I want to.” most demanding of times. Alaska, but still in decline. The hunting The line is attributed to Wild Bill Hickok, although the I don’t remember who first said it, but the idea that one “industry” has been in panic mode, origination seems sketchy at best. The meaning is not. cannot be lost if you don’t care where you are, exemplifies wailing and gnashing their teeth while Remember the feeling in the pit of your stomach when your the hunting spirit. Modern accoutrements have dumbed that devising recruitment schemes to bring high-school sweetheart told you that, as it turns out, there concept down some, but the fact remains that hunters who hunting back. were better fish to swim with than you? Or if you dodged that can wander the country and take care of themselves, regardless While recalling my introduction to character-building chapter of life, and the living hell that it of what happens, define true freedom. hunting, and the subsequent freedom I comes with it, how about walking up to the first moose you With that comes the importance of being able to go to hell gained as a youngster, I also think that if killed, by yourself, three miles from motorized transport? the way we want to. Perhaps Alaska, more than most hunting I had been pigeon-holed into only going I was out in the shop listening to a country station on the locales, demands that attitude. We know when we climb into when an adult could go with me, things radio, not just for the music, but because there is little in the a bush plane, or a boat, or set off on foot into wild places, we might have taken a different direction way of news on the station. My sensibilities will no longer may not return. for me. tolerate much of what passes for news these days. I was pulling My tired old-man mind slips when trying to remember That was in the 1960s and my dad the handle of the loading press, seating a 300-grain solid into who said what, but someone once noted that hunting is much hunted as often as he could (and still .375 H&H brass when I heard that Alaskans were being about hunting ourselves and facing our own mortality. does at age 82), but it wasn’t enough directed to “shelter in place.” Perhaps for those of us born with predatory instincts, for the level of enthusiasm I had. Plus, In the next few moments, my mind raced as the pit of hunting is how we prove our individual value and why we the value of hunting alone, of having my stomach turned itself inside out. Wild Bill’s line came to sleep better on a mountainside than anywhere else. that responsibility as a young person, mind—then my sense of humor surfaced as I thought, well, At this writing, the siege continues. No one knows how was immeasurably significant in my what if you happened to be in the outhouse behind your long it will last, but to a mortal certainty, even by the time development. remote cabin, complete with a radio (it’s done, I’ve seen it) you read this, the world will be fundamentally changed. In It seems possible that when trying to when you hear the order? Are you supposed to sit there and some ways it seems possible to learn some things and come rebuild a waning hunting population, wait for further instructions, even if you are out of toilet paper out the other side better. we’ve forgotten the value of individual and Sears catalogs? I’ve spent the past month in a flurry of hunting-related freedom in the hunting arena. What For the first time in my life, serious thoughts of civil if, during this time of social isolation disobedience crossed my mind. I went to the house and asked where one can still pursue hunting, Christine, who is much more in tune with current events than folks looking for a way out start taking I, if she heard the directive, and what the hell does “shelter in their kids hunting more often? Maybe place” mean? the activity would become less of the Evidently, the turmoil and the subsequent thoughts after novelty that it seems to have turned into hearing the first part of the broadcast deafened me to the rest in the modern world, and would once again be a lifestyle. Maybe through this, young folks will get to spend enough time outdoors with their parents to build the level of confidence and competence that allows them the sort of freedom I had as a kid. Mountains, game, gundog, and Of course, this may only apply to those gunner; freedom incarnate. who have the opportunity. However, I’d like to think I’m more than just an old man whose love of hunting transcends life itself and that this love is not a way of the past. My argument is that as long as we keep hunting alive, we’ll never lose the ability to “go to hell the way we want to.”

An outdoor writer and Renaissance man, Steve Meyer has wandered Alaska with gun in hand for 49 years and looks forward to at least another 20.

22 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 23 Know Your Arrow’s Trajectory Story by Lon E. Lauber

Bowhunter Harry Williamson practicing at dusk with a lighted nock on his arrow. Here you can see the arc of the arrow even though it’s only a 12-yard shot on a coyote 3-D target. Know your arrow’s trajectory! © lonlauber.com

Even if you shoot a modern compound 2,850 fps that drops only 1.31 inches bow, your arrow’s trajectory is shaped in the 60-yard gap between 100- and more like a rainbow than that of a 160 yards. And that same bullet only high-powered rifle bullet’s truly flat drops 3.22 inches total between 100- trajectory. and 200 yards. This is with a zeroing in Let’s take a look. Say your arrow at 100 yards. So, anyone who says their leaps out of the bow at 300 fps, bow and arrow shoots flat like a rifle is which is pretty darn fast. How far is full of baloney! that arrow dropping at 30 yards or Here’s why I say you must know 60 yards? Well, an arrow of average YOUR arrow’s trajectory. Please configuration starting at 300 fps will understand you can have two arrows drop about 18 vertical inches at 30 leave the bow at the same velocity but yards and 75 inches at 60 yards! Yes, they very well may impact at different that’s 6 feet, 3 inches of vertical arrow heights at all sight-in distances because drop at 60 yards. Remember you are there are a whole host of variables aiming the bow above horizontal so that affect trajectory. Knowing these the arrow arcs into the target… variables and figuring out how much Compare that to an average .30-06, they affect your particular bow rig can 180-grain bullet leaving the muzzle at often make the difference between

24 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 25 material/texture, the arrow’s front-of- arrow arc over that brush for an ethical tournaments, or set up your own between filling the freezer and eating center balance point and even the air shot? scenarios that may mimic your hunt. tag soup. temperature and the elevation where One time I killed a dandy blacktail You can also gain insight by watching you are hunting! Whew! That’s a lot while standing on my tip toes shooting bowhunting videos, reading articles to keep track of but what is most steeply downhill. I had to aim at the about bowhunting, etc. But it’s key Lon E. Lauber is a freelance writer and important is that you sight in your rocks and grass between me and the to really pay attention to the various, outdoor photographer from Spokane, bow in conditions similar to your buck to get the arrow to arc over the real-world shot opportunities that Washington. He lived and hunted upcoming hunt so there won’t be obstacles but not aim too high and happen on real hunts. YouTube is a extensively in Alaska for 17 years and much variation from practice sessions shoot over his back or aim too low and great source for finding all kinds of has returned many times to continue to hunting scenarios. smack the rocks. He was only 34 yards videos but if you don’t pay attention to his passions of bowhunting and wildlife Here’s what will help you learn your away but with the angle, my precarious the details it’s wasted time. photography. Lon is a nine-time Alaska arrow’s trajectory: Learn where your stance, obstacles and harsh light (I was In closing, with hunting season state archery champion, and the holder of arrow impacts at nine yards from a tree in bright sun but the buck was in deep upon us, do yourself a favor and truly 52 Pope and Young record-class big-game stand when aiming with your 20-yard shade), this shot only came to fruition learn the trajectory of your arrow. It animals. Lon also spent 28 years as a pin. This is a typical southeast Alaska because I knew my arrow’s trajectory very well could make the difference paid, professional archer and bowhunter. scenario when bowhunting for black and was confident when I squeezed off bears. What pin should you choose the shot. when shooting at a full-curl Dall Here’s another practice session that ram at 59 yards if your rangefinder will really show you what your arrow Here, two bowhunters practice shooting at a life-sized 3-D deer target in doesn’t have a built-in inclinometer? is doing downrange. Shoot at 10 yards their full hunting garb to simulate a real-life hunting scenario. Learning your For this you’d better practice a lot on with your 20-yard pin, practice at 40 arrow’s trajectory in practice, before hunting season, will lead to more steep ground at various distances and yards with your 30-yard pin and try to success while bowhunting. © lonlauber.com also purchase a modern range finder make the shot at 60 yards with your with an inclinometer—and practice 50-yard pin. By doing these exercises filling your tag while bowhunting or Here are just some of the variables while using this rangefinder to make you’ll start to get a better visual handle coming home empty handed. Most of that I can think of right off the top of sure your bow-sight pin gap and your on just how much arc there is in your these variables will be determined in my tired, old memory: initial arrow rangefinder match up. How about arrow’s trajectory. the sighting-in process but you must velocity, arrow weight, arrow diameter, when you have a bull moose standing I’d suggest you practice shooting over be aware of what affects the arc of length and weight of fletches, amount at 35 yards but there is a wall of brush and under horizontal branches at all your arrow. of helical on said fletching, fletching between you and the moose? Will your kinds of distances to learn your arrow’s trajectory. It’s also good practice to shoot between narrow, vertical gaps between trees. Shooting through the crotch of a tree is always good practice too. Really concentrating on “the spot” and mentally and visually tuning out the obstacles is the best practice I know of. Attending as many 3-D shoots as possible will really help, too. First, the added pressure of shooting around other people will somewhat simulate the pressure and excitement of shooting at game, but also, most 3-D shoots have a number of targets set up to shoot over, under, or through obstacles as mentioned above. Furthermore, what do you do when shooting at odd distances that don’t match up exactly to your pin gap, say 33 yards or 37 yards? Do you aim with the 30-yard pin held high or hold the 40-yard pin low? These decisions should be conscious and well-practiced before the hunt. Think in practice of all the possibilities of obstacles you might encounter on the specific upcoming hunt. Draw from experience, pun intended! If you don’t have a lot of bowhunting experience, spend as much time as possible shooting 3-D

26 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 27 rose into the swirling fog. At the edge people—interacting with the latter of an expansive meadow, someone had makes me sweat profusely, get weird recently nailed a big “No Trespassing” and often suffer incontinence. But, sign. I’d heard rumors that someone since I appreciate BHA’s defense of had bought a wide swath of this public land, wildlife and water, I The Backyard Mountain land and was planning some sort of swallowed my anxiety and walked into Story and photos by Bjorn Dihle development. I thought of my dad, the bar where the event was being held. who moved to Alaska in his early 20s The strangest thing about BHA is how because there was no more room in mainstream they’ve become. When I It’s no secret that the number of California, where he had been living. was a kid, shooting a buck or catching hunters in the U.S. has been in a sharp He’d come here for wilderness and to a king salmon didn’t make you decline for years. There are many hunt and fish. I glanced back at my popular; girls didn’t think you were reasons for this, but one of the most son and wondered if he’d be able to dreamy and want to talk to you if you prominent is that each year there are hunt our backyard mountain when he smelled like the anal glands of a mink. fewer wild places to hunt. Last winter, was old enough. Somehow BHA has made these sorts with my infant son in my backpack, I Not long after, I attended my of things cool, demonstrated by the hiked along a snowy trail near where I first-ever gathering for hunters and fact that I instantly smelled the musk live in southeast Alaska. The ramparts fishermen, sponsored by Backcountry of beaver and other furbearers when I of a mountain that had given me many Hunters and Anglers (BHA). I’m began mingling. Some of the folks in deer and sooty grouse over the years more comfortable around bears than attendance were new to hunting and

The author and his dad with a moose in the Interior.

28 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 29 looking for someone to show them them down, and then, mold them the ropes. I took it upon myself to into pawns to do things like abduct offer wisdom on everything from the Hank Shaw to be my personal chef best snorkel to use while skinning a and re-wild Disney World with moose underwater, to how to utilize wolves, cougars, bears, deer and your baby’s crying as a predator elk so children could be more well- call, to tips on finding the best adjusted to how nature really works. camouflage patterns to complement I would create a New World Order a hunter’s eyes, to how to survive of Bacchae and Berserkers and all being attacked by multiple bears who heard my name would lament, at once. It was a tough crowd, but tremble and be reborn. I left the greenhorns with much to For the rest of the evening I tried ponder. I was pretty sure my advice unsuccessfully to recruit people. would save many of their lives Everyone thought I was joking. I someday. went home exhausted and feeling “If you want to survive the unsure about the future. My lady Alaskan wilderness, do exactly what MC and I put our son to sleep I tell you. You see this? Do you want and then went to bed ourselves. I this to happen to you?” I asked, lay awake wishing I could go back gesturing to a gruesome scar on my to the days of the Clovis hunter, face. when if you had a fire, the meat of “I don’t see anything. Wait, are a mastodon and a retirement plan you talking about that tiny pimple?” involving a giant short-faced bear, one cheechako said. you would have been considered “Ol’ Midnight, the black griz of a very successful man. Instead, I Deadman’s Cove, did that to me. was born into a rapidly changing You’ll never believe the story of this industrialized world where things other scar,” I said, rolling up my like living with brown bears and sleeve. hunting and gathering the food “Dude, that’s a freckle.” you eat are increasingly considered “Freckle, my elbow! I got that from Stone Age absurdities. My son’s Ol’ One-Fanged-Bone-Cruncher, cries roused me; I picked him up the monarch of Chitty Chitty Bang from his crib and held him against Bang Bay!” I said. my chest until he calmed. I opened More people filed in and as the curtain and stared up at our I listened to all the talk about backyard mountain looming in hunting and fishing, I was struck the darkness. I whispered into the with the realization of how easy it boy’s ear the words deer, wolf, bear, would be to form my own hunting moose, caribou—meanings uttered organization. I’d create mine out of by fathers to their children since our altruism—though I’d take members’ ancestors spoke their first words. money, homes, trucks, and dogs. My son made sounds, doing his best For the cause, you know. BHA to repeat my words—deer, wolf, has been tremendously successful bear, moose, caribou—until he fell in advocating for wild places and back asleep. garnering membership by luring people in with things like beer and live music. Instead of alcohol, I’d offer the blood of the most mystical creatures of the forest, the white stag. Forget live music; what people really need to feel alive is chaos and carnage. I’d stage pit-fighting matches and ritualistic sacrifices and Bjorn Dihle is a Juneau writer. He then, provide a safe and judgment- is the author of Haunted Inside free space where everyone could Passage: Ghosts, Legends and get naked, smear themselves with Mysteries of Southeast Alaska and various bodily fluids and drink Never Cry Halibut: and Other mead out of skulls while dancing Alaska Fishing and Hunting Tales. around a mountain of burning tires. You can contact or follow him at I’d recruit vulnerable and lonely facebook.com/BjornDihleauthor or outdoors men and women, break instagram.com/bjorndihle/.

30 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 31 intuitive, a review published in the Journal of the American Medical actually have a negative impact on immune function, and cause muscle chronic disease. Green tea and even red wine in moderation can also be Association in 1984 (not that long ago for some of us) stated that there damage and inflammation. If we find ourselves needing to exercise beneficial. In addition, bananas contain metabolites that may counteract is “no clear experimental or clinical evidence that exercise affects the host intensely or participate in really long training bouts, we should make the negative effects of intense exercise on immunity. It should really be Activity and Immunity response to infection in any clinically meaningful way.” In short, complex sure that we ingest some carbohydrates during the workout. Generally no surprise to us that our immune system derives numerous benefits systems require complicated tracking systems and our immune system speaking, 40 grams/hour will mitigate excessive stress-hormone responses from compounds that enhance recovery from exercise. For those of us Story by Larry Bartlett is literally distributed throughout our body (i.e., skin, bone marrow, and avoid the depression of the immune system that follows this type of living in higher latitudes during the winter (i.e., above 48° or around the blood, thymus gland in the upper chest, lymphatic system, spleen and activity. You might ask, “Why does intense exercise dampen our immune US-Canada border) who are negatively affected by the limited synthesis These are unprecedented times in the modern era of 2020. Wewere the mucosal tissues of our respiratory and gastrointestinal systems). The system?” Good question! Using a relatively new type of technology of vitamin D from sunlight, dietary supplementation of 1,000-4,000 riding a wave of prosperity that was brought to a screeching halt with redundancy of our immune system is one reason that it has evolved called metabolomics that can measure hundreds of metabolites from a IUs/day are warranted due to its important role in the activation of our the outbreak of a single infectious disease. In the early 1900s, pneumonia to be so incredibly powerful but this has also made it challenging to tiny blood sample, we know that intense exercise causes muscle injury immune system. Other relatively simple dietary strategies that provide a and tuberculosis were the leading causes of death which have now been study. Since the 1980s, tremendous advances in technology that include requiring the assistance of the immune system. Just like other systems variety of healthy food choices without crash diets or rapid weight loss displaced by heart disease and cancer. Back in those days and in the metabolomics, proteomics, lipidomics and other variations of alphabet in our body, immunity requires nutritional support and an inadequate also serve to keep our susceptibility low for quite some time. centuries preceding them, infectious disease was our biggest threat to soup have improved our ability to track and evaluate the complexity of provision of carbohydrates seriously limits the effectiveness of our The risks of viral or bacterial infection and the impact of these infections health and longevity. Despite vaccinations and incredible advances in our immune system, and how it responds to good stress, excessive stress, immune system under those specific circumstances. on health are further magnified by mental stress, sleep deprivation, and biomedicine, the impact of COVID-19 on our way of life has reminded nutrients, etc. We have all heard the stories about elderly people being the most at depression. Unfortunately, many of the policies implemented to “flatten us that we must be vigilant in our defense against chronic and infectious Moderate exercise (<60% maximal work rate or a slow jog for most of risk for complications from COVID-19. Despite the need for a lot more the curve” have also contributed to negative effects on the economy that diseases. Genetics, nutrition, exercise, lifestyle and luck are all at play in us) would be the most prescribed drug in the world if we could capture investigation, we do know that the effectiveness of our immune system increase stress for obvious reasons. In Alaska, we have been hammered this equation. it in a pill or liquid form. Among other factors, it has an immediate and declines with aging. This gradual change is called immunosenescence by oil prices that dropped below the floor and a sudden halt of tourism In the past few months, we have learned a great deal about how to beneficial influence on our metabolic health. The training methods of and it can be suppressed through the beneficial impact of mild-to- that normally contributes to our economy. The situation in Alaska is just limit or mitigate the transmission of a virus. We know or relearned the the Norwegian Winter Olympic team uniquely relies on training sessions moderate exercise. Similar to other physiological systems in our body, the one example. Similar problems have occurred in almost every sector of importance of cleaning our environment, washing our hands, wearing a performed at a moderate intensity. Not only does this strategy allow them robusticity of our immune system typically declines as the years go by. economy across the United States and the world. During these stressful mask in public, and even limiting our contact with the rest of the world to overload their aerobic system with a high level of precision, it also Fortunately, our body is lot like a house; it can be remodeled and activity times, we must develop effective coping strategies that include regular for days, weeks and even months. While some of the directives and reduces the incidence of upper respiratory-tract infections that have been prompts an immunity “makeover.” For example, in studies comparing physical activity. We know about many of the benefits of the active policies may be controversial, we have been largely successful in reducing demonstrated to increase significantly when exercising at a high intensity age-matched conditioned and sedentary elderly women, conditioned lifestyle already. Exercise also increases the circulation amongst the the spread of this particular virus. Nature is persistent though, and in the cold. Norway (population 5.4 million) took 47 gold medals and women had better-functioning immune systems as characterized by immune system and promotes our own (endogenous) protection. We are bacteria and viruses will pivot and mutate to survive. This means we must USA (population 328 million) took one in the 2018 Winter Olympics— higher levels of natural killer cells and reduced rates of illness. While wise to recognize that regular activity is probably one of the best tools in remain vigilant. “Shelter-in-place” has been a real challenge to many of us impressive statistics even if you don’t like stunning fjords, beautiful not only cool sounding, natural killer cells are especially designed to our arsenal against infection. So, let’s stay healthy on all fronts and get with gyms closing and the potential lack of adequate resources to remain people and pristine lakes. The good news is…You do not have to be an fight viral infections. Regular exercise also enhances the effectiveness of ready for a well-appreciated season of opportunity. physically active. Instead of focusing intensely on nutrition in this issue, I Olympic athlete in Norway to enjoy exercise-induced improvements in vaccinations, even in the elderly. chose to discuss the importance of activity on our immunity. How much immune function. One simple bout of walking improves the response of There are several nutritional strategies that may synergize with the value activity do we need? We have all heard plenty of news snippets over the our immune system to toxins as evidenced by improvements in white- of activity. Modest carbohydrate intake during exercise helps reduce stress last couple of months, to a nauseating degree, on clinical trials, vaccine cell function that fight off harmful intruders. Exercise even enhances the hormones and post-exercise inflammation. There is also considerable Larry Bartlett is the owner of Pristine Ventures based in Fairbanks, Alaska, development, and social distancing. What does science really have to say effectiveness of our microbial communities in our gut. Regular mild-to- support for the effectiveness of berries and fruits containing polyphenols and is an avid, hardcore outdoorsman. Pristine Ventures offers a slew of on the topic of activity and immunity? moderate physical activity is basically analogous to giving your immune to strengthen the immune system. In Alaska, we love our berries and resources for backcountry hunters and fishermen like selling top-quality We are very fortunate that our immune systems are exceptionally system a daily tune-up. It’s no panacea but it is effective. should know that they have great bioactive value as anti-inflammatory, packrafts and canoes that can hold loads needed for outdoor activities. Larry responsive to physical activity. While this statement seems somewhat On the other hand, continuous or repetitive intense exercise can antiviral and antioxidant tools that protect against infectious and also helps plan hunts for DIY hunters and provides equipment rentals.

32 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 33 At first I was a bit skeptical as to how successful most shooters would Why attend a long-range become in a two-day class. Everyone has different abilities, experience, age, shooting school? etc. I soon found my skepticism was misplaced. Ben and Phil, the two instructors who taught the class, really have What makes Gunwerks unique? the curriculum down to a science. It was well planned, well laid out and explained in a manner anyone can understand. One of the observations I After attending a Gunwerks two-day, long- made quickly was your level of experience really doesn’t matter. You will range shooting school at the Warren Ranch last come away with more than a few pearls of wisdom that will dramatically December (a combination of the Foundation and improve your marksmanship. Gunwerks During the first day of class Ben explained what makes Gunwerks Development courses), I feel I may be able to answer those questions a bit more accurately. rifles unique and so amazingly accurate. As their motto states, “ONE THOUSAND YARDS OUT OF THE BOX.” Long The bolt is easily disassembled in class. If you ever had an issue with the Spoiler alert: firing pin freezing up in cold weather, you could disassemble it right then YES, you should attend. and there. All it takes is a simple twist. Suppressors were used on all rifles we shot at the school. Gunwerks believes they are worth their weight, provide a harmonic balance, and allow for a quicker follow-up shot should it be Range needed. Plus, it makes the rifle much quieter, which makes them a joy to shoot. I learned this firsthand the first day at the range while sighting in our rifles. Even with shooters lying prone on both sides of me, conversations were easily heard. Hearing protection was not necessary, however I have Experience already lost more hearing than I should have so I still wore foam earplugs. Two of the main components to an accurate rifle are the trigger and the barrel. Ben carefully explained how triggers work and why their choice is Trigger Tech triggers. They provide one-screw adjustment, are very Story and photos by Art Hoffart crisp, and are sealed to keep out dust. The Trigger Tech design allows the trigger to literally be frictionless which represents a solid advancement in trigger design. For barrels, Gunwerks only uses the highest quality for their Entering the Warren Ranch. standard steel barrels as well as their carbon-fiber barrels. Stocks make or break the comfort and fit of the rifle. Important elements

I grew up on a small farm in North Dakota where I was able to walk out our front door and hunt. I moved to Montana 30 years ago and have been hunting this great state ever since. I have been fortunate enough to have gone on six hunts in Africa, primarily Zimbabwe and Cameroon. I have hunted in South America, Europe and Asia, including Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Russia. I enjoy traveling to Alaska several times per year fishing and have hunted caribou, bear and wolf. I rifle and bow-hunt elk, mule deer, antelope and bear in Montana every year along with turkey and pheasant with my dogs. It is safe to say that I am an avid hunter and shooter, and have been shooting for 50 years, so I was very excited to go to the Gunwerks Long Range Experience (gunwerks. com/experiences). Gunwerks has built a system versus a package. Ben teaching class on the first day. Sighting in our rifles on the first day. They provide the rifle, scope, ammunition and rangefinder. Once you properly learn to use these items it is amazingly easy to hit targets at ranges are the bedding, comb angle, does the stock allow for straight line of recoil, you may have never tried, or even thought possible. and the grip itself. The Gunwerks rifle I used was user friendly and very That is where the Long Range Experience comes in. comfortable to shoot. You can see Gunwerks rifles at gunwerks.com/shop/ It is designed to make your long-range shooting as category/custom-rifles-43. simple and successful as possible. Their equipment As to scopes, Ben stated he didn’t have a favorite; it depends on the and teaching style eliminate many of the variables application. Both instructors stated that some of the better glass is found normally encountered which in turn allows the in Kahles, Nightforce, Swarovski, Leupold, and of course Revic, which is a shooter the best chance of consistently hitting the scope offered directly by Gunwerks. I will get into that a bit later. target. After the first day of this shooting school I The rifle I was given for the two-day class had a Kahles 525i, 5-25x56 realized and saw that the system allows shooters to with a MOAK reticle. I found this reticle extremely useful for long- go to the next level of their shooting ability in a distance shooting. The small, centered dot seemed to draw my focus on very short period of time. This is true whether you the target. Scopes on the other rifles had the Gunwerks Revic mounted on are a novice or have been shooting your entire life. them. Revic was acquired by Gunwerks several years ago and is now offered

34 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 35 This chronograph attaches directly to the barrel and is very accurate. The author bought one after this class.

Phil demonstrating use of the chronograph and Phil showing how Hornady’s 4DOF system works. correct trigger pull. directly on the rifle packages; they can be One of the advantages of a FFP scope is the first adjustments made after mounting purchased separately, too (gunwerks.com/ the MIL/MOA lines will be accurate and the scope. A very high percentage of shop/category/optics-scopes-5?filter=2- true throughout the entire magnification shooters never do this properly or frankly 55&filter=). The Revic Smart Rifle Scope range. With a SFP, this will only be true are not aware how to do it. Ben stated has an onboard ballistics computer. The on a specific magnification. Additionally, that scopes set to the maximum power sensors on the scope determine incline, scopes will come with adjustments in setting magnify movement and normally cant, pressure, temperature and compass. MOA or MILs—minute of angle or contribute to shooting error, causing Ballistic information can be downloaded milliradians—which is better? Neither, a miss. I found this to be particularly to the scope. My experience with it is very it’s personal preference. true…even as I engaged targets beyond limited—as I stated earlier, my rifle was Next the parallax setting, and its 1000 yards. Setting my scope at 17 to topped with a Kahles. importance for long-range shooting, was 18 power was about perfect for me, even Ben explained that scopes will be either discussed. To determine parallax, while though my scope would have allowed a first or second focal plane. With a first settling in behind the scope and looking max of 25 power. focal-plane (FFP) scope, the crosshairs at the crosshairs, if the crosshairs move Cant is a critical detail for long- get bigger or smaller depending on the when you move your head up and down, distance shooting. One degree of cant power setting the scope is adjusted to. the parallax is probably not adjusted will move your impact five inches at With a second focal-plane (SFP) scope, correctly and will affect your point of 1000 yards. The human eye is only able the crosshair size remains the same no impact (POI). This should be checked to detect a cant of three degrees or more, matter what power your scope is set to. every time you are getting ready to shoot which is why having a level on your rifle Many long-range shooters and most at a different target. is very important. competitors use first focal-plane scopes. Focusing the scope should be one of The importance of rangefinders was

36 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 37 asked several of the attendees why they for the particular rifle and caliber you after you were given a particular target were attending and why they chose are shooting. In order to get an accurate to engage. Everyone had a great time and Gunwerks. Consistently I got the same calculation there are certain pieces of once again it proved to me that attending answers: quality of the firearm, the quality information that need to be entered. a Gunwerks Long Range Experience is of the instruction at the Long Range One such item is muzzle velocity. We something every serious rifleman, hunter Experience classes, customer service and installed a MagnetoSpeed chronograph and shooter should do. that Gunwerks provides the total system. (magnetospeed.com/pages/how-it-works) A testament more so to their equipment Many who were attending the class had to each of our rifles and fired five shots. and teaching abilities versus my shooting attended two or three classes previously. From this we got an average muzzle skills, on the second morning while And most had not one but two, three or velocity of our rifles and inputted that waiting for others to get set up and dialed more Gunwerks rifles. One attendee had information into the program. in for the day, we were allowed to shoot seven. They all said they love the classes The 4DOF system has a huge library at various targets until formal class began. and the comradery among everyone of bullets already listed in its database. Ben came by and I asked if I could try attending the class. The quality of All you need to do is select the bullet for one of the silhouette rams out past the instruction is second to none. you are using and enter that info into the 1000-yard mark. Ben said, “Sure, but you system. After completing the remaining are on your own.” Phil was the instructor for the second fields, we engaged our first target at I applied the shooting techniques and day of the school. He is a former marine- 500 yards. It was a hit, however it was information Ben and Phil had presented sniper instructor, nationally ranked long- determined we needed to come up just in their classes. Ranging the target, The front half of the main hall at the Warren Ranch. distance competitor, and like Ben, a great one click. The system allows for individual reading the wind and inputting the data instructor. Phil discussed more of the corrections—a great option. Phil made into the Hornady 4DOF system, my first science behind long-distance shooting. the correction and fired a few more shots. shot was about three inches to the right, Discussing the difference between MOA It was hitting dead center. The rest of us elevation good. I re-adjusted and fired and MILs, the effects of wind, and how did the same with each of our rifles. We one more time. Boom! The ram fell. I had important it is to not only look at what were then instructed to fire at the 500- just made the first shot of my life at 1400 the wind is doing from your shooting yard target. Slowly we worked our way yards! location, but also what is it doing further out to the 1000-yard line. Again, this is not a testament to my down range and at the target. Next we were introduced to the shooting abilities, but more so to the There are several methods you can use Gunwerks BR2500 ballistic rangefinder quality of instruction and the products to determine wind speed down range. which is accurate to 2500 yards. This offered by Gunwerks. As I stated earlier, First, by using observation skills, mirage piece of equipment is a complete I have been shooting for over 50 years, and natural terrain features such as what ballistics-calculation device, solving for and have literally shot thousands and is the grass doing further down range or drop and wind. It can be set up in MOA, thousands of rounds. It was clear to me at the target, can provide clues. Second, MRAD (MILs) or BDC. When ranging after attending this class that Gunwerks using a wind meter such as a Kestrel 5700 an object it automatically compensates for had provided me the tools to become a Elite, provides much of the essential data range, pressure, temperature and incline better and more accurate shooter. There Long Range Experience combines class and range Explaining the difference between MIL and MOA. needed to allow for long-distance hits. to target. is something for everyone to learn and time. Finally the direction of the wind—where Prior to using it on the range, the user experience, from novice to expert, is it in relation to the front of my barrel? will input the information for the rifle and as a result you will become a more At what angle is it hitting the bullet path? and ammo he is shooting. Shooters enter accurate rifleman. I strongly suggest a discussed but we were told that once at straight on. long-distance range. We each took our You should only be interested in the cross- the ballistic coefficient G1 or G7, muzzle Gunwerks Long Range Experience for the range we would get a more thorough For the trigger hand, have a gap in turn with the rifle assigned to us getting wind value. Once determined, that is the velocity, sight height and zero range. I used anyone interested in improving their explanation of the Gunwerks rangefinder, your palm, almost like you are holding it to zero at 100 yards, while practicing value you will need to input into whatever one on the second day for several hours. marksmanship. including its ballistic-solution capability. an imaginary walnut-sized object in some of the techniques discussed in the data-collection system you may be using. It is an invaluable piece of equipment for Next we went into proper shooting your palm. This allows the trigger finger classroom. Along with the science, Phil also the long-range enthusiast. Adding the form. Ben demonstrated while getting to execute a straight-back pull versus an After a fantastic lunch inside one of the discussed the advancements in technology information into the onboard computer is into the prone position, the shooter angled one. Angles can create a slight Warren Ranch lodges, we got into our that assist long-distance shooters. Scopes reasonably quick and easy. Once entered, needs to be squared versus bladed. The torque to one side or the other. Ben again vehicles and headed to the long-distance are one item in which huge advancements it solves the equation for you as to how support hand controls the stock. Ben stressed the importance of having the range. We were given a thorough safety have been made in the past 20 years, many clicks you need to dial for the demonstrated proper gripping of the stock shoulders squared to the target, elbows talk, discussing the rules of the range, specifically because of the huge spike range you are shooting. Gunwerks stated with a v-grip, bringing the gun up to the out and to your side for stability, and legs and then prepared our space for a bit of interest in both long-range shooting that they are coming out with a newer Art Hoffart is the owner of Bissell Insurance neck then sinking into it. The trigger hand wide. of shooting. All the shooting was done and long-range competitions held every version in mid-2020. Based on this one, in Bozeman, Montana. He is an avid is for control with your arms squared and Some of the more basic fundamentals from the prone position lying on mats weekend around the U.S. I can hardly wait to see the next iteration. hunter, shooter and outdoorsman, as well as to your side for stability. Base structure is discussed were to not turtleneck or provided by the facility. Once we were A very helpful software program (Editor’s note: The next iteration is the an accomplished martial artist and devoted very important. If incorrect it will lead to gooseneck; and do not hold your breath. set, we were told to start by shooting used by a high percentage of shooters G7 BR2500. More info here: gunwerks. family man. This is the first time his work muscle fatigue. One way to test if you are The “natural point of aim” drill was at the closest target. The first target was is offered by Hornady. It is called the com/shop/product/ay-e1015-g7-br2500- has appeared in Hunt Alaska magazine. doing this correctly is to bring the rifle to given to us to continue to improve our 300 yards, progressing from there to 500 Hornady 4DOF calculator. Phil stated rangefinder-17879?category=6). your shoulder while sinking into it with understanding of what it takes to make yards. Then the targets were 600-, 700, the difference between using the G1 or For the remainder of the day we did Publishers’ Note: In mid-May 2020, while your eyes closed. Open them up and you consistent hits on long-range targets. 800-, and 1000 yards. While we were G7 ballistic coefficient of a bullet versus drills and practiced reading the wind while attending a local long-range shooting should be on target. Close your eyes, Muscles need to be relaxed, you need to shooting Ben was constantly watching using the Hornady 4DOF system was like shooting at pop-up targets at varying event, Art connected on his longest shot take a deep breath and open them back have follow through, keep your finger and engaging with us as to items we may comparing flipping pages in a book to tell ranges. We also had friendly competitions yet—1972 yards! Congrats to Art for up, and you should be on target. If this is depressed until recoil is over, and press the want to adjust or correct. It was a very a story versus watching an action movie. as to who could hit the most targets with hitting a target over a mile away and not the case keeping practicing until you trigger; don’t squeeze. helpful and constructive learning day for Once you upload the system on your first-shot engagements. Another of the there’s not doubt he’s putting to good use are on target and squared. Do NOT lean Next we headed out to the range to all who attended. smartphone (for free, I might add), you competitions was to see how fast you what he learned at the Gunwerks Long your head over, it should be squared and sight-in our rifles before heading to the While back at the lodge for dinner, I can then enter the ballistic information could engage and make a first-shot hit Range Experience.

38 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 39 Story & photos by John Whipple

The bear’s head and shoulders materialize but then it occurs to me that turning on my headlamp suddenly out of the inky blackness, visible might be an even gentler method of notifying her. I am as it skylines on the crest of the low hill also considering my hunting partner Casey, who at this moment is filtering water from the stream into our water to scan the stream bed below—the very bottles. The bank of the stream has a sharp, five-foot drop stream bed that I now find myself standing that you have to jump down in order to reach the water. on the bank of, between the bear and what This bank, combined with the noise of the running water, is no doubt its favorite fishing hole. Next to leaves him oblivious of the situation that is unfolding on the large head appear two more heads, smaller this time. the bank above, and I don’t want to startle him with a yell One’s brain moves quickly in times like these, and all if I can help it. All three bears are still on the crest of the the factors and the subsequent options for taking action hill as I reach up to my forehead and press the ON switch flash through my mind. This sow has cubs. This is an area of my headlamp. As soon as the beam of light cuts through with high bear density and so she is no doubt on edge the darkness, the sow gives out one great huff, and charges from having to constantly protect her cubs and food straight for me! sources from other bears. She is still 75 yards away, but she is on a well-established bear trail that leads straight As a hunter growing up in Palmer, Alaska, I became an down to the salmon stream and now, unfortunately, me. avid bear hunter. At first, this was simply a matter of The stream is loud enough that she has not heard me, the practicality as the local moose-hunting scene was akin to night is dark enough that she has not seen me, and the fishing on the Russian River; you were hard pressed to find wind is not in her favor, so she cannot smell me. any elbow room! Bears, on the other hand, were relatively I decide that I need to make her aware of my plentiful, the season was longer, and there was less hunting presence now, before she gets any closer, and I must pressure on them. With few resources other than my The hunters take one last look youthful energy I eventually started to figure things out for any bears too close to camp do it in a way that does not startle her and provoke before turning in for the night. a defensive response. I first consider calling out softly, and began to enjoy a modicum of success in the black bear

40 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall Fall 2020 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.comHuntAlaskaMagazine.com 4141 Hunting partner Casey pumps Most bear hunting This red fox was a regular water in the same spot we consists of patiently visitor to the author’s campsite were charged by a bear the watching, and waiting. throughout the hunt. first day of the hunt.

department, but I never did connect with good friend and hunting partner, Casey country, we learned that most of the bears by the massive bear trails that had been a brown bear. As the years went by and Dinkel. We both prefer DIY-style backpack would sleep during the day and then fish at beaten into the tundra from decades, if not my resources increased, I began to make hunting, and decided that an October spot- night, so our only chance would be to catch centuries, of bear traffic. By late afternoon we plans for a dedicated brown bear hunt, and and-stalk hunt would be just the ticket. them during the first few minutes of light found the type of spot we were looking for. settled on heading for the Alaska Peninsula. After considerable research we settled in the morning, and the last few minutes The brush line was about 150 yards to the My goal for my first bear was modest, on our hunting destination. The area of light in the evening. Therefore, our plan south and the east, while to the north was as I hoped that this would be just the first had a wide-open flat perhaps two miles was to set up camp between the brushy the great, open flat and the salmon streams, of many brown bear hunts. I decided that wide, surrounded by rolling, brushy hills. hillsides where they made their beds and the first of which was perhaps 200 yards while bigger was always better, anything Waterways ran down out of these hills and the salmon streams where they did their away. To our west was the ocean, some three over 7.5 feet would be more than fine for through this flat like arteries. In them ran fishing, so as to intercept the bears as they quarters of a mile downstream. As we set up my first bear. What I really wanted was to the lifeblood of the region: salmon. By the traveled to and fro. This seemed like a great camp, we heard for the first time what would learn more about bear behavior and gain time we arrived all the major runs had come idea at the time, but we would soon learn be our constant audio backdrop for the next some experience. Little did I realize how and gone, but the streams were still teaming that while hunting in such an area is great, nine days—the distant cacophony of tens of much experience we would get! with spawned-out fish ripe for the taking, camping in it is not. thousands of geese and ducks milling about Joining me would an irresistible attraction for the brown bears After being dropped off by our on the ocean shoreline. I couldn’t have asked be my in the area. transporter, we shouldered our packs and for more. After setting up our camp we In speaking with folks familiar with the began the hike in. Walking was made easy glassed for the remainder of the evening, but only succeeded in spotting one red fox. Dusk found us a little deflated over not yet seeing a single bear. We consoled ourselves with the fact that it was only the first day, and that bear hunting is typically a game of patience. We got up to walk the 50 yards back to our tent when all of a sudden, out of the brush popped a large sow and three cubs! They were about two hundred yards away to our left, beyond our camp, and were headed straight for the salmon streams, the mother taking purposeful steps while her three cubs scampered around her and roughhoused with each other. Our spirits were lifted by this, and we continued on our short walk back to the tent. We had taken perhaps ten steps when from our right there appeared another sow, this time with two cubs. We were only about 100 yards away, and were between the bears and the salmon streams, so we kept walking in an Bear camp. In the distance, the effort to clear a path for her to pass before she salmon streams can be seen saw us. When we were almost to our tent, yet flowing down into the ocean. another bear suddenly appeared from behind a bush, this time only 35 yards away. This

42 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 43 Bears walked right past camp daily, but most of them were sows with cubs or younger bears such as this one.

one was a young boar, about a 6.5-footer. He meals consisted of dehydrated food, this put stared at us for a moment, then faded back us in a bind. By now it was really starting behind the bush. Where seemingly there to get dark, and the only water source was had been no bears for the last four hours of the nearby salmon stream…the same salmon glassing, we had seen eight bears in the span stream all eight of the bears had been heading of five minutes, all less than two hundred for. In hindsight, we probably should have yards from our camp! had a Snickers bar and called it a night. Sitting in our camp, we talked excitedly Instead, I found myself standing on the bank about what the morning would bring. With of the stream with a defensive mother bear so many bears in the area it seemed as though charging full tilt down the hill at me. we had certainly found the right spot. As we discussed preparations for the following As soon as she started her charge, she came day, it dawned on us that we had neglected off the crest of the hill and it became all to collect any water for that evening’s dinner, but impossible to see her as she was no or for the morning’s breakfast. As all of our longer skylined and it was just dark hillside behind her. I was carrying a Remington Salmon carcasses littered the banks M700 chambered in .375 H&H, topped of every stream, evidence of the with a Vortex 2- to 10-power scope. I always nightly feeding frenzy. carry my rifle dialed to the lowest power so it is ready for quick, close work, and when I brought the rifle up I was relieved to see that I could make her out through the scope. At 30 yards I shouted “Get out of here!” and thank the Lord, that bear immediately skidded to a stop then swapped directions, going right back up the hill and out of sight, cubs and all. Doing my best impression of someone speaking normally, I told Casey what had just happened and that whatever water he had was going to be enough! After cooking and eating our hard-earned meal, we fell asleep to the sounds of bears splashing about in the stream… Over the next several days we settled in to a bit of a routine. We would wake up early and try to catch the bears out in the open before they disappeared into the brush for the day. On the first morning we got within shooting range of a nice 8.5-foot boar, and in retrospect should have taken him, but it was so early in the hunt that I opted to pass on him, even though he exceeded my admittedly modest personal minimum of 7.5 feet I had set. Every morning we saw bears, but they were either sows with cubs or too small. Evenings also usually brought a bear sighting or two, though never as many as the first night. During the daytime hours we never saw any bears, though once we saw a wolf following some caribou off in the distance, a

44 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 45 The author (right) is all smiles after days of tracks. I have since stopped shooting bears in the close encounters finally culminate in the shoulder and stick to traditional heart/lung shots harvest of his bear. when possible, with good success. Hunting bears, or any other dangerous game, true highlight of the trip. Nighttime, on the other generates feelings different from other types of hand, was a different story. hunting. There seems to be a heightened level of Every night we would hear the bears all around awe and respect for animals you know that, given us. We could hear them walking by, or breathing, the chance, could turn the tables in their favor or splashing in the stream as they fished. At that and put your life at risk. To successfully harvest time of year, the nights were about 12 hours long, a bear is truly a special moment in one’s life; the which allowed for plenty of time to sit nervously feelings experienced are a cross section of joy, in our tent imagining all the things that could go adrenaline, relief, and solemnity. I cherish each wrong. It made for a lot of tense moments and and every one of those moments. light sleeping. To make matters worse (or perhaps The next four days were spent caring for the better?) I was battling a pretty severe ear infection, hide and trying to find Casey a bear, but it and couldn’t really hear out of my left ear. On seemed that news had spread amongst the bear the one hand I felt handicapped at night, often community of our presence in the area, and we not being able to tell just what I was hearing, had seemingly worn out our welcome. We saw but on the other hand it eventually caused me to only two more bears over the next four days, and just shrug my shoulders and go to sleep. Since I The author’s bear hide. they were both a long ways off. We even tried couldn’t really hear anyway, I figured what was the moving camp, but it seemed that our hunt was point of trying to listen? This was of little comfort destined to be over. to Casey, of course, who could hear all too well. Day nine found us packing up and heading There was one night in particular when I was sound asleep and up getting quite a bit more sleep than Casey did over the course of we were starting to think another day was over. We judged the back. As we rolled to our knees and staggered upright under the Casey heard a bear approaching the camp. There was six- to eight the hunt! bear to be about eight feet, and I said that was good enough for weight of our success-laden packs, we both agreed that we would feet between the tent and the electric fence that we had brought On day five the morning started off with a bang as we spotted a me. We positioned ourselves in a good spot, and let the bear work be back soon, but that next time we would camp far, far away from with us, depending on which side of the tent you were on, and good-sized bear heading for the brush line. We rushed to intercept, closer and closer to us. At 80 yards, the bear turned and gave me a those salmon streams! as Casey breathlessly listened, he heard the bear come up to the but it sensed us somehow and disappeared into the brush for good. broadside shot. I lined the crosshairs up and sent a 260-grain Nosler fence, then give a loud “Whoof!” as its nose or paw presumably We then spotted a 7-footer in the stream, and watched it fish for a AccuBond through both shoulders. The bear let out a whoof, rolled came in contact with the fence. He then heard it gallop off into little while. A little later, a sow with two cubs appeared a mile or so once and then was up and running! I am a firm believer that if you the distance. He woke me up and explained in short whispers what off in the distance. As usual, things died down after the first hour are going to shoot a bear once, you might as well shoot it twice, John Whipple is a hunter, photographer, and author based in Palmer, had happened, and we both lay awake for a bit, straining our ears of light. and as soon as the first shot went off I had racked another round, Alaska. He operates the media company 60th Parallel Adventures with for the slightest sound, but the bear never seemed to come back That evening we were back at it, and around 8:00 p.m. a bear so when the bear started running I fired again, this time aiming co-owner Casey Dinkel and specializes in filming and photographing and eventually I went back to sleep. Looking back, I think I ended broke out of the tree line just as dusk was beginning to set in and just behind the shoulder for a lung shot. The bear dropped in its outdoor adventures.

46 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 47 I remember it like it was yesterday. It was one of those things you daydream about, but you never expect it will actually happen. Like many dramatic events it was as if the world went into slow motion. I asked myself, “Is this actually happening?” It was early September. My longtime friends and clients, Kurt and Trent Packingham of Indiana, were searching for moose and grizzly respectively. We were hunting in the hill country of western Alaska. Considering the three of us and our outfit was stuffed into four Super Cub loads, our camp was first class. I cleared an area in the middle of an alder thicket, set up our tents, organized some gear, claimed the flattest spot for my bedroll, and we commenced hunting. The first couple days were slow. Weather was warm. Our time was spent glassing, blowing on a moose horn, napping, and telling stories. We did spot a few good bulls, but they were miles in the distance and not yet interested in anything I had to say through my Parmesan cheese container/moose call. Late morning on Day 3, 1,000 yards from our vigil, a white-antlered behemoth stepped out from a stand of cottonwoods and stared in our direction. I mimicked every moose sound I knew, but he wasn’t having it. Out hearts sank as he disappeared into the timber. That evening the wind switched in our favor, so we slipped in to where we last saw the 65-inch-plus giant and tried to coax him out. No luck. By noon of Day 4 we’d seen one king-sized boar grizzly on a distant ridge and the same bulls we’d seen every day, still miles away with no interest in my calls. Kurt and Trent were still in good spirits, but long about sundown they’d decided it wasn’t meant to be that day. “I knew we should’ve hired a better guide,” joked Kurt as he shouldered his pack. “We haven’t seen anything since 11 this morning…We’re ready for a sun-downer. You in?” As tempting as Kurt’s Vodka-Tangs sounded, I decided to hold off. “You guys go ahead and pour one for me. I’m gonna give it a few more minutes.” About the time the fellas were pouring their nightcaps, I spied several silhouettes moving on a distant ridge. Caribou was my initial thought, but something didn’t look right and they were rare in this country. I couldn’t believe what I saw through my binoculars—wolves! Fourteen of them, moseying along without a care in the world. I packed my belongings and raced back to camp to show my dudes. Camp was only 100 yards on the other side of the ridge. Upon (L to R) Guide Billy Molls, with hunters hearing the news, Kurt and Trent raced out of the tent—both in their Trent and Kurt Packingham with Kurt’s long underwear—to see for themselves. Through the failing light they 61-inch “camp bull.” marveled as the pack loped down a ridge, quartering toward our camp.

48 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall Fall 2020 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.comHuntAlaskaMagazine.com 4949 Guide Billy Molls casts his moose calls into the surrounding landscape.

When the pack It was dark when we watched them first started bed on a knoll a mile south of us. toward the “Unbelievable! Just to see something moose calls they like that makes this trip a success,” were single file, smiled Trent, with his drink in hand. but they fanned “What are the odds of them being out as they drew closer for the kill. there in the morning?” “Slim I’d say,” I replied. “That said, I don’t have any firsthand experience as to the nighttime movements of a wolf pack, particularly one of this size.” I peered out of the tent after breakfast to see a new day dawning. It was foggy, but I could see the knoll. I glassed. Nothing. Minutes later my pack was shouldered and my clients were nearly The wolves just prepared for another day of hunting, before they when I glassed again. “There they are!” dipped out of I piped. “In the exact same spot as last sight from the hunters. night.” A couple of them were on their feet, but most were still lying down. I offered a couple howls, but they didn’t seem to notice. “I think it’s too windy,” I reasoned. I grabbed my hollowed-out Parmesan can and ripped a lowly moan (L to R) Trent, Billy, and Kurt of a moose heifer. Their ears perked, with the wolves taken from heads snapped toward us, and most - a pack of 14. of the pack sprung to all fours. “They definitely heard that!” said Kurt. -

50 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 51 The entire pack began howling incessantly “200,” I whispered. “Wait for ‘em to stop and hold right on ‘em.” as they pranced around, all the while gathering As they continued toward us I couldn’t help but selfishly remind myself of the fact closer together. Their song and dance lasted Guide Billy Molls atop a that the bag limit on wolves was ten and no tag was required. I’m gonna be skinning long enough for the guys to tie their boots, knoll glassing the expansive wolves all day! My back became sore just thinking about, but if 20 years of guiding and shoulder their packs, and sling their rifles, after Alaska wilderness for moose. 40 years of living has taught me anything, it’s that about the time you think you’ve got which, all fell silent. We stood there waiting a sure thing is when it always seems to blow up in your face. for them to make the next move. The pack also With the wolves 100 yards out and closing fast, the guys were forced to reposition stood waiting. With nothing to lose, I bellowed themselves constantly. “Just stay low,” I reminded them, “and wait for them to stop.” another cow call. Without a sound or inkling of At 80 yards they disappeared in a slight fold in the terrain. “I’ll stop them when they reservation, they began trotting straight for us. pop back up,” I whispered. There was no doubt as to their intention. By the time all eight of them rose back into full view, the closest was only forty yards “Holy crap!” marveled Trent. “They’re away. All I could think to do was yip like a coyote. My third bark worked. The pack comin’.” froze at attention. “Take ‘em!” “Let’s go!” I ordered. “Boom!” Down went the lead wolf, before they scattered. “Boom!” Hair flew, but We scurried 800 yards to the end of the rocky nothing fell. hogback that made for our airstrip. Before us The wolves turned and dropped into the terrain fold. “Be ready for them to come was a gentle saddle made up of hummock- back out,” I ordered. When they reappeared the pack was scattered. Some were fleeing riddled tundra and sparse spruce shrubs. Kurt for dear life, while others were bounding confusedly. I howled. Two of the wolves and Trent laid prone over their packs and stopped. “Boom!” a narrow miss. loaded their chambers. Seconds later I caught Kurt and Trent couldn’t get a steady aim as the wolves leap-frogged across the movement in the brush. tussocks. I howled incessantly. At 220 yards, one stopped to look back. “Boom! “They’re half-a-mile out. Comin’ straight for Boom!” the shots rang out almost instantaneously, both scoring solid hits on us.” the same gray. Soon the wolves disappeared in the fog. I howled some more, but by this time the remnants of the pack When they emerged eight of them were galloping single file. “500 yards,” I said calmly. “Don’t shoot until I tell you.” (L to R) Trent and Kurt Packingham As they drew closer, the five grays and three with wolves taken during what was blacks slowly fanned out across the open truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. meadow. I could only assume the other six had taken flank positions somewhere in the brush.

52 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 53 A young bull the hunters had learned curiosity is not a virtue of “It’s all about timing,” I assured them. too brushy to shoot. A few calls started whiskey in his cup. “Let’s just hope he’s called into camp. longevity. One more shot was fired, but “It’s too late in the day and too warm for him in our direction. enjoying his tip as much as we are.” the death toll remained at two. him to come this afternoon...He might The bull moved slowly and nonchalantly. “Did that really just happen?” cheered come in late this evening, but my guess We had to wipe moisture from my Kurt, as he cleared his chamber and stood is we’ll shoot right in camp tomorrow camera and Kurt’s scope constantly, but up to high-five his brother. morning.” eventually the bull stepped clear of the “I was calm until I saw their ears “We’ll see,” scoffed Kurt. brush and turned broadside at 120 yards. For the past 22 years Billy Molls has guided rising up over the berm right here,” By 5 o’clock that afternoon gale-force At midnight it was cold and starry. across Alaska for brown bear, grizzly bear, pointed Trent. “That’s when my nerves winds were driving ice pellets into our Spirits were high inside the tent. Our Dall sheep, caribou, and moose. He’s also kicked in…I felt like I was in a dog-food faces, and the clouds were on the deck. hands were speckled red under the glow an author, renowned public speaker, and commercial, and my ass was Kibbles and No one argued about heading back to of the lantern and supper was frying in filmmaker of the award-winningModern Bits!” camp. the pan as Kurt poured our second round Day Mountain Man video series. You While skinning, we laughed and jabbed The weather was even worse the next of libations. “Well Trent, our guide says can find him on Facebook, Instagram each other as to what we could have done morning. The tent walls were slapping he only calls in bulls for big tippers,” Kurt @themoderndaymountainman, or go to differently to have killed another wolf our heads as our second pot of coffee smirked as he doused a double ration of billymollsadventures.com. our two. Just then we heard howling. The percolated. “Well, unless that bull sticks pack was separated on opposing hillsides, his head in this tent, I think he’s pretty calling back and forth. Hearing and safe this morning.” watching them and imagining what they At 6 p.m. the wind and rain had were saying was a powerful, humbling, subsided. We were still swallowed in fog, and conflicting experience. The entire but the three of us were all ready to stretch event was, indeed, a once-in-a-lifetime our legs. We climbed out to our glassing experience. Later that afternoon we knob and stood silently in the fog. watched as the pack of 12 trotted over a Half-an-hour went by before occasional distant ridge. openings in the fog would briefly That evening we indulged in a nightcap materialize. “You guys wanna stay here?” as I prepared supper. “You know what? I said. “I’ll go set up on the other side of I don’t think it could’ve worked out any the ridge.” better,” said Kurt raising his cup. “Trent Kurt nodded. “Come grab us when you and I got a couple amazing trophies and find ‘im.” we saved a few moose in the process… I was no more than out of sight of the But strangely, what gives me the most guys when an updraft instantly heaved satisfaction is simply being here, in the the fog out of the canyon in front of me. Alaskan wilderness, and knowing that Bull! I threw my binoculars up. It was pack is still out there somewhere, roaming him! The same bull we’d called to the day free.” before was standing in a saddle, not 400 Trent grinned as the three of us tapped yards from our tent, letting the thermals our cups, “Here’s to the past five days, and from below blow to his nose. I raced back five more still to go.” to grab Kurt. After the wolves moved out, moose “Big bull!” I hissed, still a stone’s throw activity increased. Just before noon on from my hunters. Neither one of them Day 7 we were keeping tabs on a mature believed me at first. “I’m serious! It’s the bull with a small harem of cows a couple same bull. 400 yards on the other side of miles north of us when another bull the ridge.” emerged from a distant, brushy canyon. They jumped to their feet. Kurt “There’s your bull,” I said flatly to Kurt. followed right behind me. Trent trailed The 60-incher glared directly toward us close behind. when I called. When we returned there was nothing Well over a mile away, he proceeded to to see but fog. Kurt knew I wasn’t joking, shred every willow bush he could find. but he shot me a sideways glance anyway. I called to him every few minutes over “Big bull, huh?” the next half hour. Each time he stopped “He’s right there,” I pointed. and stared our way, until he eventually Kurt pursed his lips, squinted his eyes, disappeared in a huge alder thicket. “He and nodded as though I’d told him I’d must’ve bedded down,” I offered. seen an elephant. “All week you’ve been telling us how Minutes passed before we heard antlers these bulls just come charging into the raking brush. I elbowed my hunter in the calls,” Kurt crowed sarcastically. “Is that ribs. “Just like I told you,” I whispered. you talking from experience, or is that “You’re gonna shoot ‘im right in camp.” what real moose guides have told you?” “I gotta see him first,” he snapped. “Naw,” I scoffed. “I only make the calls More tense minutes passed. It started that actually work for big tippers.” drizzling. Slowly, the fog began to “Sounds like he’s got us pegged,” huffed dissipate. The bull’s antlers flashed in the Trent. “We might as well hang up our willows. He hadn’t gone 50 yards from rifles.” where I last saw him. It was too far and

54 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 55 The magic of light and shadows in the From the Arctic plains all the way down the length of its Aleutian the unbelievable views with just the barest hints of civilization. Unimak evening sky. © David Todd Islands, it is a two thousand-mile odyssey of seemingly endless, King Salmon is the next enclave to come into view, a considerably mind-altering scenery. What is equally exotic is that an animal in larger town of 374 permanent residents. Here we took a break and the deer family successfully populated such an immense and variable fueled up the airplanes with a load of their $9-per-gallon aviation ecosystem. The caribou is quite a hunter’s specimen, with the largest fuel, a relative bargain as things go in the bush. After King Salmon and heaviest antlers of any of the deer family by body weight, as we turned west to the beach and the flight slowly took on a less well as the longest migratory routes, sometimes covering a roundtrip serious, more playful rhythm. We swooped down to the sandy of 1600 miles in a single seasonal swing from breeding grounds to coastline, skipping low over the breaking ocean waves. The black- feeding grounds. What else on this planet is able to clock a top speed sand beach stretches on for hundreds of miles. Hour after hour, of 50 miles per hour and possibly arrive in super-herds of 250,000 at 75 feet above its surface, you scout for dead walrus ivory and to 500,000? whale bones just to pass the time. The ceilings that day were typical; Not only are caribou unique biologically, they are visually majestic. low and spitting rain with patchy ground fog in places that pushed And if that is not enough to place the animal at the top of your list, you briefly on or offshore to avoid it. Rain and all, it’s one hell of try a good stew of it mixed with some of Alaska’s famous vegetables. a fantastic ride. In my new extreme-hunting book, Alaska Raw, I Sheep is my number-one game meat but caribou is by any measure succinctly described this part of the journey from an earlier trip: the closest second. They are, best of all, accessible and plentiful. Word was that way down the Alaskan Peninsula, and then just “It is possible to land anywhere along the beach and explore or if beyond it, the first Aleutian island held some bottled up caribou you simply wanted to stop the clock for a while and take in a trek. genetics that produced some grand results. Unimak Island, with its Land anywhere, eat, drink, rest, listen to the breakers crashing, fill denuded, windswept rolling hills would be our exclusive playground your lungs with the salt air and decomposing kelp and sea grass, for this hunt. It was far enough from civilization we would see no watch the birds, the pods of seals or observe huddles of walrus. one else. If we managed to find the fabled big-antlered beasts we “You have arrived at one of the most breathtaking marine would have no competition. That alone was reason enough to make environments anywhere in the world, and you have hundreds of the long trip. miles of it all to yourself, and I do mean all to yourself. You will I would be making the trip in a Super Cub. My frequent hunting see no one else. You are as infinitely mobile as an eagle and your partner, Frank Ramsey, would bring a second airplane on the full accommodations for camping are packed tightly in the back

ten-hour flight that we would accomplish in a couple of pitches, seat and the trunk. The sense of freedom and discovery is off the stopping for fuel, incremental weather checks, and to accomplish charts. It is a delight to be slipping down the beach, lazy as she the flexible flight planning required in this very often difficult, black goes, two notches of flaps to dirty up the slipstream, throttled back hole of Alaska’s worst weather zone. We invited a couple of friends, to 55-percent power, the tail a bit low and dragging through air, David Todd and Jim Bowles, who were relatively new to hunting in bumping along in an easy chair with wings and without a worry Alaska. They jumped at the chance to see some country almost no in the world. We continued south, past Pilot Point and then on to one gets to see. Port Heiden. Flying a small airplane the length of the Alaskan Peninsula can be “Large pods of seals speckled the sandbars surrounded by endless, interrupted by a variety of weather problems. The mountain passes crisp, white breakers as far as the eye could reach. I brought the are tight and unpredictable. The 400 miles of pristine coastline airplane up a few hundred feet to give the seals a break from the is subject to fearsome winds that can dismember your airplane, propeller noise we were about to greet them with. The seals noticed one limb at a time, no matter what you found along the beach to us but just rolled on their sides in the sand, unbothered. We pushed attempt to anchor it to. For these reasons we had our two guests fly a on down the coast taking it all in, straining our vision onto the commercial air carrier from Anchorage to Cold Bay where we would beach, moving past in relative slow motion to hopefully detect a pick them up and continue on south to hunt. Our final destination whale vertebrae or skull or a walrus carcass.” was about 750 miles from our departure point in southcentral Alaska, or about as far as Orlando to Washington, D.C. There are Eventually we made Cold Bay and landed. It was a relief that a few aboriginal villages to layover, if ever it became necessary, and on this trip our flight down the coast went reasonably well. Frank fuel is available at the villages of Iliamna and King Salmon near the and I had, on other ventures to Unimak, survived hellish storms, halfway point. wrecked airplanes, and generally battled demons and dragons of Within two hours you are flying through the awe-inspiring peaks every imaginable kind. We welcomed the lack of drama. After some tightly lining Lake Clark Pass and down the lake’s aquamarine, blue gear sorting and fueling up, Frank and I headed for our hunting length. Lake Clark’s blue is so deep and unusual it is hard to focus grounds just another 45 minutes south. The two of us would be on the flying. You can’t look away—it’s as if the lake created a color setting up a camp there and then returning to Cold Bay the next spectrum unique in nature to lure you in. Continuing on towards day to retrieve our two hunters. Lake Iliamna, the towering mountains begin to diminish and Rested and relaxed, we coaxed the small airplanes across the then sink rapidly into the rolling green tundra. The land becomes channel of ocean separating Cold Bay from Unimak after just a few something resembling the Manchurian Plain or the grasslands of minutes of flight time. This narrow channel is the first place that Serengeti—infinitely expansive, beautiful, and so uniquely original the Bering Sea meets the Pacific Ocean. On our left, several long, Jim Bowles shows off the rewards of that it alters your soul when you bear witness to it. The small and shallow gorges came into view first; volcanic remnants being eroded a long day’s pursuit. © David Todd isolated villages of Iguigig and Nondalton come and go, interrupting into oddly sculpted landscapes, each lined with low, green foliage

56 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 57 Unimak on a rare, sunny day— an Alaskan Serengeti. © David Todd

interspersed with scree slopes of black, volcanic rock. Open plains slip through your fingers. It was September 28. We had only three with low brush and intermittent alder lay dead ahead as the horizon days to bag two big bulls. Frank and I spent the night on Unimak bled out into the far distance. Tumbling out of each gorge to our left, and returned to Cold Bay early and gathered up the rest of the countless small streams brimming with salmon gathered energy and crew. headed toward the Bering Sea. Jim wanted something particular in the caribou he took if he On the flight in we had located several small clusters of caribou could find it. He wanted heavily spiked rather than palmed upper and found a sheltered place to set the airplanes down. Camp was a antlers. David was just looking for a big bull caribou with mass. simple spread of two Bombshelter tents and a smaller one in which to Height and width topped his wish list. Back at camp the four of us cook and store gear. During scouting from the air, there were no large made a mental list of the several likely suspects and scratched the herds of caribou in evidence, but multiple groups of 5- to 15 were details out on an old aviation chart, measuring the distance and spotted all over the island, and many were close enough to camp to laying down plans for the morning. We began packing day packs be viable. We also saw several big bulls among a couple of these small to match the anticipated effort. clusters. There was game everywhere. Several brown bears were on Our small cook stoves came out and we fired up some ribeyes the prowl between the beach and the salmon streams. The bears had and sautéed a few vegetables to wash down with merlot. It was a so much fish to eat they rare, fine meal that somehow were not bothering the matched our otherworldly caribou. We spotted both surroundings. As the wine fox and wolves when flying bottles were emptied the out near the beach. Both mood lightened. Soon we species were feeding on were each conjuring and carrion, dead walrus, dead then enacting pre-hunt whale and the occasional animations that included spent sea bird. everything from super- It seemed a little odd for stealth ninja stalks to how wolves that had live game to we would get the job done if bring down, but there they we only had a stone-tipped were, tracking up and down spear. An unexpected squall, the beaches, scavenging spitting rain and sleet driven like homeless dogs. We by 25 mph winds, forced also spotted a particularly an end to the big talk and large bull hanging out campfire bravery and finally alone on a small patch of drove us into our tents for black volcanic ash in the the night. middle of a sprawling, The morning delivered radiant-green tundra field. wildly snapping tent fabric Its large and majestic rack and a relentless howl in our impressed us and added an ears but there was some edge of urgency. This was I discovered some breathtaking scenery on Unimak. good news…The wind not a bull you wanted to let © Jim Bowles had largely pushed out the

58 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 59 David Todd with his first-ever west of our camp but they were moving and caribou…and that settles that! grazing…away from us. There was little © Bob Lacher chance to catch them before dark so we finished what was an eight-mile, round-trip recon mission that circled us back to our base. The following morning we found them in a spotting scope. The bulls had not moved very far but had started onto the foothills from the plains. The four of us prepared for a full-day hike and struck out on an indirect route that would hide us part of the time in two different creek draws as we made our way to the foothills. After three hours of slogging across the miserably uneven terrain and managing three significant creek crossings, we were staring at the group of bulls about 500 yards up the first sections of inclined terrain. The bad news was the animals were feeding deliberately upward and away. We would be in a foot race to catch them and ever hope to get a shot. We had humped steadily from eight that morning until two in the afternoon. We weren’t exactly fresh. It would be a push. The terrain was favorable in one regard. As it rose it had several lumps and valleys along the charge, so we would be able to scratch out some thin cover. After stripping off every bit of spare clothing and stowing it we were ready to attempt to outpace and out climb the caribou. It went about as well as these things usually do…each time you breach a rise to be able to scan ahead, and to confirm you are almost there, you discover they have moved faster and farther than your unbridled optimism ever thought possible. We just kept dogging them upward as well as several more miles laterally. We only overcast. We were going to see an exceptional rarity on this island. of logical-sounding justifications that all boil down to why this caught them because they got full, or lazy. Unimak unicorns are a more probable sight than a clear day, or any opportunity should be “Me first.” After quietly cresting one prominent, grassy sun at all, really…but there it was, the carnivore gods delivering a Now understand that David was an employee of Jim’s in a very spine we spotted the group at only 60 yards. miracle. Without conversation we downed some instant coffee and large business, and David was some distance down the pecking A couple of the bulls were bedded down and grabbed our personal choices of whatever breakfast and lunch we order at that, so I was certain I knew how this conversation would others were standing in place and grazing. could jam in our pockets; blocks of cheese, dried fruit, jerky, mixed go before we held it. But before anyone uttered a word, my noggin In the late afternoon sun, with the caribou nuts. was detonated with an exploding round lit off four feet to the almost in our lap, Jim was able to get a very Hustling to the first gentle rise about five hundred yards from right side of my head. Surprising everyone, it would be David’s good look. camp, we glassed the plains eastward, the direction we had last seen animal after all. Right then I was thinking David and the boss He picked just what he wanted. The bull one of the solo, bigger bulls late the evening before. About a mile must have some primal telepathy between them, or that they had wasn’t the largest of the five, nor one of the away a single bull stood almost exactly where we had left him. The actually communicated in a bandwidth that only they and dog’s two animals with double nose shovels, but stalk would be bare naked. It was that or pass. There was no other ears could pick up, or maybe there were secret hand signals while the rack had great height and the dramatic choice. We would be going prone if the bull appeared to be feeding I wasn’t looking, or maybe they had none of that and in such case flaring, upper points that he wanted. It had or alerting in our direction, but then scurrying along like rodents I wouldn’t want to be David once they got back to the corporate a single shovel but it was a larger center palm every moment we had a chance to close the gap. This worked up wood shed. In any event, you’ve got to love the enthusiasm, than any of the five. Painted red and orange, to about 200 yards, right up until the bull turned his big head our the fever blotting out everything but the hairy image coming the upper points would resemble flames. Jim way and caught us. He didn’t spook, but for sure he wasn’t going through the scope, obliterating even the shadow of career-ending took a rest and placed his crosshairs deep on back to feeding, knowing way deep down in his walnut-sized brain repercussions. I blushed just a little. The .270 round struck high the neck of the bedded animal. The high- something was going sideways. As the stare-off continued, and with but hard. The bullet severed the spine. The animal’s legs instantly pitched bark of the .243 split the silence all of us belly down in the volcanic sand, our two shooters got a real disappeared from under it and it took not another breath. around us and the big bull, killed instantly, good look through their glasses. I noticed David had his scope on the After field dressing and packing the meat and antlers back to rolled serenely onto its side before beginning bull, I assumed just to get a framed visual, and I thought we would camp, Jim and I headed out for a long scouting hike while David to roll and tumble down the steep side slope all soon begin the hunter’s dance of quiet conversation concerning and Frank remained in camp. The day before we had an eye on and finally onto a narrow bench. The four who wanted it the most, who’s turn it really was to shoot first, who five gorgeous bulls in a group that were lounging at the edge of other animals stared in momentary disbelief had originally spotted it, who couldn’t hold his booze the night before rising terrain, foothills to the few legitimate mountains found on before nervously trotting away uphill. and had therefore forfeited all his rights, or any one of a number the island. It was not long before we located them about 2.5 miles We dressed the big-bodied animal and

60 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 61 Author Bob Lacher and Jim Bowles with Jim’s trophy. © David Todd

plotted a strategy back to camp that had all four of us making a trip down to the base of the mountain with meat, antlers, cape, guns and gear, with packs big enough no one wanted to walk the four miles back to camp if there was an alternative. Ultimately, Frank and I walked the four miles out to base camp and I was to bring the Super Cub back to retrieve the caribou, and then David and Jim, in that order in three loads. It was a good idea. Almost as good as limousine service. But as it always goes, the weather on the Aleutians is given to fits. I was able to fly all the meat back in the first airplane load, but in that hour the sky snapped shut, the wind rose to 40 mph, and the ferry service came to an abrupt end. David and Jim had to make their way on foot after all, finally arriving in the dark. As any hunter who has been at it very long knows, what we do is so often about the journey. Alaska is vast. You can hunt caribou from Kaktovik to Adak, from the extreme north to the extreme south, on the road system, on foot, on four wheeler, in a boat, or out of an airplane. There are many ways to get it done. But if you want to do something different, if you want see the world…go south young man. Go south. It’s waiting for you. What you see there will change you.

Bob Lacher is the author of the new, best-selling, extreme-hunting memoir, Alaska Raw.

Author, far left and Frank Ramsey loading for the trip home. © David Todd

62 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 63 Mountain goat hunting is an activity best reserved for the worst sort of existentialists. I’m talking about folks who bathe in icy streams, pour shots of whiskey in their kale smoothies, willingly go to the dentist, twitch and fart whenever they see rugged mountains, and find a sick joy in hanging off cliffs and being battered by storms—all just for the chance to pursue an animal most folks believe is a feral, oversized version of a barnyard goat. I’m a rational man who’s content with hunting Sitka blacktails and the occasional caribou, moose or Dall sheep, all which live in country that does not defy gravity. My older brother Luke, on the other hand, is the most goat-obsessed dude I know. Whenever I walk into his house I’m surrounded by so many goat horns I feel like I’ve stumbled into a pagan ritual and have a decent chance of being cannibalized. In truth, though, mountain goats are more closely related to antelope species of Europe and Asia than to your average farm goat. A big billy goes well over 300 pounds and can yield 100-plus pounds of meat. Goat flesh runs tough but possesses a sweet taste. There is some variance The Dihle brothers with in opinion of the quality of the meat—a goat taken in the goat Reid shot. August has a better chance of being more tender than a later-season goat. I think it tastes great, but I generally burger all but the rump roasts of any goat taken after August. Goats live in some of the most beautiful and treacherous mountain habitat and are considered by many to be the most dangerous big game in North America to hunt. For the inherent risk, and because of how important it is to try to not harvest nannies due to their slow reproductive cycle, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game requires nonresidents to hire a guide or hunt with Alaska residents who are next of kin. In the fall of 2018, Luke was, as always, eager to get after a goat. Our younger brother Reid was just as excited. His wife’s favorite meat is goat and, like any progressive, new-age and self-aware man, Reid knows nothing in the

64 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall Fall 2020 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.comHuntAlaskaMagazine.com 6565 world makes a woman happier than having A young billy eyes the to our drinking water. We set up our tents her man come home carrying a big chunk author from yards away. nearby and then my brothers passed the of her favorite type of meat. Primatologists time twitching, frothing at the mouth studying chimpanzees have noted that and staring at their hands. They eyed me females barter sexual favors for meat. In irritably when I took a break from reading a Alaska—at least with most ladies I know— book to stand up and stretch. mating rituals are remarkably similar. If I “You’re going to spook all the goats!” Reid don’t bring home meat, my old lady makes whispered, and Luke cursed in agreement. me sleep outside regardless of the weather or The afternoon passed in this manner: At how desperately I beg. Success at hunting sunset, when Luke and Reid began a soft means more than filling the freezer; it’s also chanting, I sacked out in my tent before the key to a temporary respite from the things got too weird. I barely survived the loneliness. last pagan ritual I’d inadvertently gotten September 30th, the day before the opener involved in, and besides, was looking in the area Luke and Reid wanted to hunt, forward to a quiet night’s sleep. Reid and was crisp and clear. Jagged mountains rose Luke were up well before dawn. They shook out of the calm ocean of Lynn Canal. The my tent and said terrible things about my pleasant weather was highly anomalous— honor until I finally crawled out of my the stormy seas of Lynn Canal have sunk Nanny or billy? Mountain goat hunters should take the utmost care to harvest sleeping bag. hundreds of boats. On one goat hunt years only billies due to mountain goats’ slow reproductive cycle. their manhood other than by dancing and other’s presence. They were still dancing A short while later I was trailing my back, Lynn Canal wasn’t too far off from drinking, the two men got into the most even after the music had been turned off. In brothers up a rocky ridge as dawn revealed sinking a skiff two friends and I were in. hadn’t been walking for more than a few to the base of a ridge. I huffed, puffed and epic dance-off I’ve ever witnessed. It was the end, their wives made the two men call an expanse of raw, rugged mountains. At My buddy driving was literally wearing a minutes before we interrupted a small black sweated my way up the mountain while eying akin to the movie “Rocky 4,” when Balboa it a draw so they could go home. first, our mountain seemed devoid of goats. snorkel mask. If the outboard had died or bear digging roots. The poor little critter Luke malevolently. Another characteristic of a fights that big Swedish guy pretending to My brothers had been sure we needed We picked our way carefully along, peering it had been a few degrees colder we would had a big scare when it looked up and saw seasoned goat hunter is that they don’t sweat be Russian. It was more than two men: it a whole day to get to the base of the over the edges of cliffs and checking every have iced up and been goners. us bumbling along. or breathe hard while climbing mountains. was America versus Canada, and like two mountain, and then, to the edge of the nook and cranny. At the base of a near- My brothers and I walked across a We followed a stream into a maze of jungle It’s hell when two alpha hunters meet. For dominant, male brown bears squaring off, area we planned to hunt the following day. vertical ravine, I saw a goat just a hundred meadow that had been rototilled by bears. and giant trees, calling out periodically instance, at Reid’s wedding in Newfoundland, Luke and Ted were dancing to the death. It When I mentioned I thought we should yards away. It was close enough that I didn’t Both the pink salmon run and the berry so as not to startle a bear at close range. Canada, Luke made the acquaintance of Ted, lasted into the early morning, long after just get a later start, both had muttered about need to use the little spotting scope I was crop had failed, meaning bears were more The brush was thick, but we found a well who’s likely the most legendary hunter in about everyone else had gone home. It was leaving me behind. We made it to the alpine carrying to verify it was a young nanny. desperate and ornerier than normal. We beaten-down trail made by bears and moose that province. Having no real way to assert a moment of pure poetry: two woodsmen a little after lunch. A wolf had pooped in While legal to shoot, it would have been flailing wildly and somewhat drunkenly, the only pool of water we could find, which an irresponsible kill with how slow goats’ all the while refusing to acknowledge the added both flavor and, likely, trichinosis reproduction cycles are, and because the

Luke and Reid Dihle hunting mountain goats in northern southeast Alaska.

66 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 67 goat population in northern southeast Reid Dihle with a nice billy moment later. I followed a hundred yards Alaska seems to be on a down swing. We bid in northern southeast Alaska. behind, watching my brothers go from rock the little goat good luck, pulled out our ice to rock until they were out of sight. Reid, axes and began navigating through a band of who was in the lead, knew the goat had to be cliffs in hopes of exploring the backside of close. It still came as a surprise when the billy the mountain. The going was steep and slow. materialized out of the mountain at 30 yards. Every movement was measured, as a fall Reid’s shot echoed across the mountain and would result in a good busting up. When we faded into silence. I came upon my two were nearly through the cliffs, I glanced down brothers kneeling before the mountain goat. just as a big goat emerged from a clump of We thanked the animal before taking its mountain hemlocks 600 yards below. I knew hide from its flesh, and then its flesh from its it was an adult billy even before I put the bones. Ravens, bald eagles and pair of golden scope on it. I glanced at my brothers, both eagles descended onto the gut pile as soon as who were in rather precarious positions. we began the pack down the mountain. “Billy! Don’t move an inch,” I whispered. Late that evening we made it down to This proved difficult, though amusing to sea level, where we paused to get drinking me, due to the real estate they were clinging water from a stream as the sunset illuminated to. Whenever one of them tried to readjust mountains and ocean in soft layers of to get better footing or more comfortable, red. The fresh tracks of a large brown bear I’d hiss, “You dirty, good for nothing, sons appeared in the sand. By the light of our head of…you so much as breathe and you’ll spook lamps, we followed the same game trail the that billy!” wolves; they’re always ready to chase and usually have good results bear was traveling through the forest. For Being in the situation we were in felt a bit like being caught with for their efforts. I’ve watched Reid race two billy goats on moderate a second, I allowed my mind to wander. I your pants down, something that had literally happened to Luke two terrain and win. There was a certain irony to our situation; we had thought how by now, up on that mountain, weeks prior with a brown bear on Admiralty Island. Luke had taken kind of switched roles with the goat, us clinging to a cliff while the all that remained of the goat was the stain a break from deer hunting to relieve himself unknowingly next to a goat moseyed along on easy terrain. It seemed our only chance was of blood and offal, and a few bones that bear asleep in its daybed in some brush. Everyone in my family has a to stay still and hope the goat would take a route where it would had been picked clean. Soon, a wolf, bear habit of talking to themselves while doing their business—for me, it’s disappear and give us a chance to make a stalk. The next 30 minutes or wolverine would crunch them to feast on how I get all my great writing ideas—so, you can imagine how put were hell for my brothers. It was like watching two addicts staring marrow, and then the broken remains would out the bear was when it suddenly realized there was a half-naked man at their fix, unable to do anything about it. The goat stepped out of be reabsorbed by the mountain. My light gabbing like a mad man next to it. The bear roared and charged past sight and my brothers were off after it. I stayed behind to give the illuminated gnarled trees rising into the black Luke with a look of horror and disgust on its face. goat something to look at when it appeared back into view. Once I and I yelled out a warning to the bear. I knew I had a good spot to sit and was enjoying my brothers’ discomfort; was sure it was out of sight for good, I clambered off the cliff as Luke it could hear me, and sensing its restlessness, after all, it served them right for only allowing me time to have two and Reid sprinted for all they were worth to cut the billy off. I thanked it for allowing me and my brothers cups of coffee that morning. When the goat looked away, Reid and When the goat appeared, Reid sat down and took his pack off to walk its path. Luke repositioned and we discussed our options. My brothers are like to use it as a rifle rest, but the billy disappeared behind a rocka

Bjorn Dihle is a Juneau writer. You can contact or follow him at facebook.com/BjornDihleauthor Goat country in northern or instagram.com/bjorndihle/. southeast Alaska.

68 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 69 Wild Game Pepperoni Sticks Provided by Smokehouse Products Recipe by Tiffany Haugen

Pepperoni can be as simple or complex Directions: as you want to make it. Once you Remove all fat and silver skin from wild game and grind in a Smokehouse Products have the techniques and equipment Grinder, using the medium-grind plate. In a medium bowl, mix all ingredients until mastered, the flavor possibilities are thoroughly combined. Cover and refrigerate 8- to 12 hours. endless. Using ground pork with wild- Secure sausage attachment to the Smokehouse Products Jerky Gun. Stuff the barrel game meat keeps the pepperoni sticks of the gun with the pepperoni mixture. Cut casings to desired length and slide onto from drying out too much. The pork the horn of the jerky gun. Fill casings and twist ends or pinch together to keep meat also acts as a neutralizer for taming mixture from coming out. wilder-tasting meats like waterfowl. Place pepperoni sticks in a Big Chief or Little Chief Smoker. Use whichever Smokehouse Wood Chips flavor you prefer. Smoke 6- to 12 hours or until pepperoni Ingredients: sticks reach an internal temperature of 160oF. Replace wood chips 3- to 4 times during 1 lb ground wild game the smoking process. ½ lb ground pork If desired, pepperoni sticks can be smoked for 3- to 4 hours, then finished in a 2 tbsp red wine vinegar 160oF oven or food dehydrator. Keep pepperoni sticks refrigerated for up to one week. 1 tbsp brown sugar Vacuum seal and freeze for long-term storage. 1 tsp smoked paprika 1 tsp granulated garlic 1 tsp black pepper ½ tsp kosher or sea salt ⅓ to 1 tsp cayenne pepper Smokehouse Products, LLC ⅓ tsp Smokehouse Salt Cure SmokehouseProducts.com 19 mm pepperoni casings

70 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Fall 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 71 Kenai BarnauL Ammunition ...... 21 Alaska USA Mortgage Company . . 70 Black Hills Ammunition . . . . . 53 Kodiak Caddis Waders ...... 5 Anchorage Kodiak Combos ...... 23 DiamondBlade Knives ...... 46 Ahtna ...... 75 McCarthy Garmin ...... 2 Alaska Mining & Diving Supply . .4, 9 Solo Creek Guide Services . . . . .26 Gunwerks ...... 37 Alaska Sausage & Seafood . . . . .61 Petersville Hilleberg the Tentmaker ...... 47 Dewey’s Cook Inlet ...... 45 Bent Prop Lodge ...... 61 Kenetrek Boots ...... 76 Full Curl Archery ...... 27 Prince of Wales Island LEM Products ...... 55 Remote Properties ...... 29 Alaska’s Fish Tales Lodge ...... 67 Muck Boots ...... 52 Rural Energy Enterprises ...... 7 Log Cabin Sporting Goods . . . . .69 Nightforce Optics ...... 32 The Lakefront Anchorage . . . . . 23 Soldotna Otis Technology ...... 33 The Surveyors Exchange ...... 69 Sweeney’s Clothing ...... 70 Rogue Jet Boatworks ...... 8 Cordova Wasilla SeaArk Boats ...... 6 Serenity Adventure Charters . . . . 30 Man Gear Alaska ...... 31 Skinner Sights, LLC ...... 20 Eagle River Whittier Slumberjack ...... 43 Eagle River Polaris & Arctic Cat . . .63 Whittier Marine Charters . . . . . 18 Smokehouse Products ...... 71 Fairbanks Statewide Spyderco ...... 31 Pristine Ventures ...... 51 ADF&G ...... 59 Vortex Optics ...... 25 Homer Alaska Game Bags ...... 44 Wildlife Forever ...... 59 Best Western Bidarka Inn . . . . . 54 Dewey’s Cook Inlet ...... 45 Winchester Ammunition . . . . . 10 Big Dan’s Fishing ...... 44 Man Gear Alaska ...... 31 International Icy Bay Pristine Ventures ...... 51 ZOLEO ...... 11 Icy Bay Lodge ...... 19 The Surveyors Exchange ...... 69 Iliamna Three Bears Alaska ...... 45 Bent Prop Lodge ...... 61 National Juneau Alaska Game Bags ...... 44 Western Auto Marine ...... 30 Alaska Outdoors TV ...... 73

72 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com Fall 2020 Summer Fall 2020 2020 HuntAlaskaMagazine.com 73 Fall in Alaska is a hunter’s dream; make sure you’re prepared for the season with tips, updates, and recommendations from the pros at Hunt Alaska.

Fall Highlights at: HuntAlaskaMagazine.com

We’ve got a new video from Gunwerks on their new .375 CheyTac Gunwerks HAMR 2.0 online. Visit our website video galleries to check it out.

Our friends over at Henry Repeating Arms have written a couple blogs for the site. Find one online now featuring the Henry X models and the second blog this November.

Have you tried out our online trip planning service? It’s free, just click the Plan a Trip tab on our website for free custom trip tips, our favorite Alaska lodges, hotels, transports, and more!

Check out the new blog we’ve posted on bear safety in the backcountry and about the safe use of bear spray, written in conjunction with Frontiersman Bear Spray.

Think Outside, Fish Alaska and Hunt Alaska’s new Virtual Outdoor Show, is still live this month. It features informative presentations by industry experts, handy tips by active outdoor enthusiasts, and engaging trade-show booths from top businesses in the fishing and hunting industry. Entry to the inaugural event is FREE. You can learn a bunch of valuable information about Alaska fishing and hunting, while communicating with experts. While we may not be able to meet in person, we can all come to a virtual show and this one was created to help us all focus on the better times to come.

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