for a QBRIANuest LYNN King

An arctic adventure for & king eiders more

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF RAMSEY RUSSELL

“Eider!” shore tensed, each edging forward on perches of frozen boul- a pause of refl ection and admiration. And how could it not? In a “Eider!” ders, trying desperately to close the distance to the bird, raising land of muted grays and whites, the king eider’s markings pop, “Eider!” shotguns to shoulders as one of the crown jewels of waterfowl- identifying it as a rare and precious gem. A close inspection of The staccato voices echoed down the ing made his haphazard approach. Pushed shoreward by the the mighty sea duck reveals a multi-hued head—a crown of shore as I peered into the slow-rising sun pounding wind, the king eider could not hold his open-sea line blue feathers giving way to green cheeks, the plumage so fi ne for the one bird that had brought me thou- behind a protective wave once it crashed in the shallows. He and thick it nearly resembles fur. The bright yellow medallion sands of miles in January to a small island succumbed to the relentless forces of nature, and then to an- on the orange bill adds to the bird’s vibrancy. Ein the middle of Alaska’s Bering Sea. other gunner’s spray of shot. So prized and elusive are king eiders that only a handful of And there it was: a drake king eider. A A jubilant celebration of voices carried inland over the bar- waterfowlers have a chance to pursue them every year. Alaskan mallard-size silhouette framed by the over- ren snowscape as Dustin Jones, a native Aleut and guide for Eider Outfi tters, for example, accepts only 30 hunters a season, cast 10 am dawn; wings beating furiously, Alaskan Eider Outfi tters, scrambled down the shore through a with prime dates running from Christmas until the close of the body tilting side to side as it fought 40-mph maze of icy boulders and into the thigh-deep crashing surf to season, in late January. For those hunters enamored equally Cold-hearted hunting. Waterfowlers endure extreme conditions in pursuit winds in a vain attempt to stay over open retrieve the colorful bird. with adventure as with obtaining a trophy, St. Paul Island, in of one of duck hunting’s most coveted trophies: the king eider. water. The line of gunners spread down the For the next week, each king eider brought to hand produced Alaska’s Pribilof chain, offers the best, most consistent oppor-

74 November/December 2012 shootingsportsman.com 75 population is rumored to make its way down basically show up with the clothes on eastern Canada, but numbers are neither con- your back and we can outfit you to sistent nor huntable. The hardy birds weigh on hunt.” average four pounds and have been known to That outfitter preparedness and the dive to depths of 180 feet in their pursuit of few essentials I carried on the plane— mussels, snails, fish and vegetation. This latter including Cabela’s heaviest windproof ability strikes fear into the hearts of hunters, balaclava and Columbia’s Omni-Heat as winging a specimen can result in a lengthy Electric Wader Widgeon Jacket—saved chase as the bird continually dives and resur- my trip after every piece of luggage (in- faces, each submersion taking the prize farther cluding my gun) was short-checked in and farther away. Anchorage. If not for the extra gear, I For this reason follow-up shots must be tak- would have missed four days of hunting en quickly, regardless of whether the hunters waiting for my stuff. are on shoreline points or in boats. “If their That was a bullet dodged, because heads are still up when St. Paul Island most definitely is not they hit the water, keep St. Paul, Minnesota, where you can shooting until they’re not,” run into town and buy something on a tunities to take a king eider in the country—arguably said Capt. Moe Neale, a Hunting locations and styles depend upon the cooperation whim. The island has a year-round population of approximate- the world. near-10-year veteran of of the wind; in fact, ly 500 people, who Formed by a violent paradox of volcanic eruptions Bering Sea duck hunting everything about St. are served by a Rus- and pressure-loaded sea ice, St. Paul lies directly in and co-owner, along with Paul depends upon sian Orthodox Church, the path of migrating eiders. Located nearly 800 miles Capt. Jeff Wasley, of Alas- the mercy of nature, a general store, one southwest of Anchorage and only 500 miles from Si- kan Eider Outfitters. It was including making it to K-12 school, a beer- beria, the 40-square-mile island provides the only van- a mantra that became stan- the island. “Up here and-wine-only bar tage point from which hunters can simultaneously be dard operating procedure, Mother Nature is like (with odd hours) and a far out to sea and in the direct path of ice as it encroach- with hunters helping each an ice-cold iron maid- small medical facility. es southward. While we were in St. Paul, sea ice was other with follow-up shots en that shows you a lit- Big business con- a scant 10 miles out; within a week of our departure it to reduce the chances of tle leg now and then,” sists of the Trident would lock up the island until spring. lost birds—not just king said Ramsey Russell Seafoods processing King eiders have no want of land outside of nest- eiders but also harlequins, of GetDucks.com, the plant, where halibut ing season, and they stay at sea just ahead of forming long-tailed ducks (old- booking agent for and crab boats, such as ice throughout arctic waters, including those surround- squaw) and the occasional Alaskan Eider Out- those seen on Discov- ing Alaska, Greenland and northern Norway. A small Pacific common eider. fitters. “If she gives ery Channel’s Deadli- you enough respite to est Catch, unload their make it out to the is- cargo. Laborers are land, then you go. And Continued on page 139 then, hopefully, she’ll show a little leg again during the week and let you get out on the boat or to an advantageous spot on land.” When you’re talking Alaska in Janu- ary, travel is sketchy at best, and just getting to the island can be an adven- ture. (Travel insurance is strongly ad- vised.) Many hunters end up stranded in Anchorage, waiting days for safe flying conditions. Even if your flight does depart on time, there’s no guarantee your bags will. Weight restrictions and US mail (yes, there are residents on the island) take precedence, and you could end up on the island without your gear. “They do everything they can to at least get all firearms on board,” Neale said, “so we suggest putting essential gear in your gun case and wearing or carrying on everything you possibly can. But re- Hunting on St. Paul Island is either from shore or from boats towing decoys, gardless, we have gear for our clients, and bags include king eiders, harlequins, long-tailed ducks (old-squaw) including shotguns and shells. You can and the occasional Pacific common eider.

76 November/December 2012 shootingsportsman.com 77 QUEST FOR A KING Continued from page 77 flown in to cook, clean and package the catch for shipping around the world. If not for the plant, a US Coast Guard sta- tion and government subsidies, civiliza- tion on the island likely would cease. When hunters do finally make it to St. Paul, Mother Nature can assert herself in full force, battering the island with gale- force winds for days on end and making every move a potentially life-threatening decision. According to Russell: “This is a com- plete immersion into an experience—the violent ocean, ice, volcanic ash. I’ve nev- er felt so insignificant and small in my entire life than on the Bering Sea chas- ing the holy grail of waterfowl. I’ve also never felt more comfortable and safe than in the hands of Moe and Jeff, and that in- cludes going out in a 14-foot rubber raft. When you’re talking about that environ- ment, you’re literally putting your life in the captain’s hands. Those two aren’t go- ing to risk your life or theirs, but they will do everything they can to safely put you on the birds.” Getting on those birds is wholly depen- dent upon wind direction and strength. High winds and rough seas relegate hunt- ers to rocky shorelines, where they face directly into the biting forces and pass- shoot birds unlucky enough to venture too close to shore. If winds lay down, hunters drag a line of decoys behind a moving boat, trolling in small bays and within a few hundred yards of shore. Every eye scans the sky and undulating surface of the sea. It’s a slow, choppy, wind- and sea-spray-filled affair that suddenly gives way to hurried excitement when a flying king is spotted careening toward the set or is spied hun- kered down on the water’s surface, hid- den by the immenseness of the seascape and the rising and falling swells. As curious kings heave into range, either decoying to the bobbing blocks or approached by an unpowered boat as it drifts toward them, hunters de- cide whose turn it is to shoot and who’s backing them up. It is then that the an- ticipation of encountering a king—the sole purpose for traveling to one of the most inhospitable places on the plan- et—begins to electrify the gunner and exert immense psychological pressure on him. More than once I wished that

shootingsportsman.com 139 didn’t just go to sea in a small rubber raft; in the preceding months I had figured momentarily in the afternoon before be- we had to break through the ice to reach out some way to practice crossing shots ginning a slow descent into the western open water on the south side of the island. while bouncing up and down to prepare sea. With approximately 7H hours of We capitalized on a few king-eider oppor- for those moments . . . . daylight in January, morning and evening tunities as well as added more harlequins hunts lasted about two hours each—clos- to the mix and even a pair of juvenile Pa- or the first four days of our January er to three if we were lucky. cific common eiders. Fhunt—save for one short-lived, sea- That afternoon we carried the Achil- spray-filled excursion that was called off n the first two days I pulled the trig- les down a makeshift launch on the west when Neale noticed changing wave ac- Iger only four times, and I had just a side to hunt “The Slick”: a long, oily tion associated with the arrival of danger- single juvenile harlequin to show for mess of puréed crab particles discharged ous conditions—steady 30- to 40-mph it. That changed on day four when my from the processing plant through a 200- northeast winds kept us shore bound. bags and Benelli arrived, the waterfowl yard pipe into the sea. The Slick attracts Those pass-shooting mornings fol- gods began to smile, and Mother Nature long-tailed ducks by the hundreds, and lowed a familiar course: a 20-minute showed us some serious leg when winds a swarm of the delicate ducks provided drive on a single-lane, snow-covered dropped enough to allow us two days in fast and incredibly fun shooting for a gravel road followed by an ATV ride over the boats. quick limit. a frozen lake to a rocky protuberance Splitting the hunting party, three hunt- A sneaky king was resting in the same known as Sea Lion Neck, on the extreme ers went with Neale on the big boat—a area, his bright head seeming to glow northeast end of the island. There each 17-foot sea-class TDB outfitted with a against the slate-gray water. With a deftly hunter would take up a spot on a rock 50-horsepower motor and kicker as well maneuvered drift by Wasley, we eased layered in frozen sea foam and spray and as pop-up sides to help conceal hunt- into gun range just as the drake flushed. face directly into the harsh wind. ers—while a father-and-son team wanted I added his royal highness to the day’s Separated from other hunters by 30 to to hunt a small west-side bay from land. mixed bag. 50 yards, I constantly would scan the ho- Russell and I ventured out with Wasley With a season’s limit of long-tails, rizon and undulating waves for the iden- in a 14-foot inflatable Achilles with a which for nonresidents is four—the same tifying outlines and wingbeats of eiders. 20-horse engine. as it is for king eiders and harlequins— Wasley and Neale would help identify With the harbor already icing up, we we worked our way south toward an the silhouettes of passing birds headed area known as The Washing Machine: out to sea to eat or do who knows what A King for the Books a shallow reef that agitates waves to a by shouting species names, which then frothy white and attracts king eiders and would be echoed down the line by each n January 15, 2012, Trevor Pe- other marine life interested in churned-up hunter. Oterson of Bethel, Alaska, collect- meals. Russell added his final drake king While everyone had traveled to this ed a king eider for the history books. to the bag, and I missed a mature, dark- dot of land to kill a king eider—and to It was Peterson’s first day of hunt- reddish-looking hen king to pair with my a man would have considered the trip a ing with Alaskan Eider Outfitters and, drake. success if they’d taken just one speci- while sitting on the shoreline rocks As a group, we had scratched out a few men home—we also targeted petite before legal shooting light, he had to kings, harlequins and long-tailed ducks harlequins, majestic in their contrasting watch king eider after king eider pass during the preceding days, but when markings of white against indigo-and- by. Finally his guide, Dustin Jones, Mother Nature cooperated, easing her slate-blue plumage, as well as tan-and- told him it was go time. Moments lat- disposition long enough for us to get to white long-tailed ducks. er a pair of drake kings came zipping sea, we boated 10 kings, making travel The difficulty of hitting a crossing sea up the coast, and Peterson crumpled hassles, skin-cracking arctic cold and the duck was matched by the retrieval pro- one with a load of HEVI-Shot No. 2s. expense of travel all worth it. cess once a bird was down. Dogs aren’t But this was no ordinary king. Hunting king eiders on St. Paul Island allowed on the island because of its Turns out that the beautiful drake is as much about collecting a prized and importance as a marine sanctuary (the was sporting a leg band. Upon re- rare species as it is about enjoying an ad- world’s largest population of northern fur porting the band, Peterson learned venture that few other hunters will. It is seals and more than 200 species of birds that the king eider had been tagged something that will leave you rich in ex- visit its shores), so the recovery of wa- on St. Paul on March 14, 1996, as an perience, with stories to tell of hunting the terfowl falls to the guides and shooters. adult—meaning it had survived an great white north for the elusive king of When hunting from land, a small area of area oil spill and lived in the arctic sea ducks. surf existed to drop birds in; outside of waters for at least 17 seasons. that they would wash out to sea or around To put it into perspective how spe- Author’s Note: Ramsey Russell’s full- the point and disappear in the heavy cur- cial this eider was, from 1962 to 2011 service travel agency specializing in wa- rents. only 591 king eiders have been band- terfowl and upland bird hunting world- Both sides of the arctic twilight seem- ed. Before this year, only nine bands wide. For more information or to book a ingly last forever. The sun rose around had been recovered. Peterson’s made king eider hunt with Alaskan Eider Outfit- 10:30 am, making for unhurried morn- 10. —B.L. ters, contact GetDucks.com, 866-438- ings, and crept across the sky, peaking 3897; www.GetDucks.com.

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