BACKCOUNTRY
JOURNAL
The Magazine of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Winter 2024
CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE
Growing Up My wife and I have two children, now both in their 30s. The teenage years were a rewarding challenge for us all – as they should be. Teenagers are programmed to try different things, question authority and work to find themselves, and ours did good work here. In their 20s, our kids were off to college, learning from others and growing in new ways. With some trepidation, our son returned to live with us for a year to pay off college debt. And after a time, he said, “Gosh, Dad, you’ve really matured.” Of course, I found this hilarious because I felt that he was the one who had matured into a fine young man. But truthfully, he was probably right about me, too. Change is good. So it is with BHA. We turn 20 years old this year and have made it through our teenage years. And I’d say we’ve done so pretty successfully. This is in no small part due to Land Tawney’s stalwart leadership. He raised a fine, strong, dynamic teenager. BHA grew madly during Tawney’s tenure, from less than 1,000 members to over 30,000. Our budget grew to match. And our effectiveness grew enormously. Tawney recounted many of our bigger wins in his last column in this space. If he had the room, he could have included many more. Like teenagers, non-profit organizations often go through predictable growth trajectories. After the explosive growth phase – the teenage years for us – often comes a different phase of existence. What lies ahead for BHA in this phase? How should we work to be most effective? These are questions we must always be asking ourselves, and new leaders at all levels in the organization will be tasked with helping answer them. One thing that will never change is our kick-ass grassroots advocacy in support of our wild public lands, waters and wildlife. You, the volunteers in the field, are the heart and soul of BHA. Our state and federal agencies manage our public resources, and
BHA North American Board Chair Ted Koch and his son, Shane, with Shane’s first elk with a bow in central Idaho, September, 2021.
legislatures govern them. But it’s we the people that hold the power to influence those decisions in favor of conservation. We will also grow our on-the-ground stewardship efforts, getting together in the field, often with other conservation groups, making a difference one acre at a time. And we’ll continue to work diligently to increase access to both public and private lands – taking the lead on advocating for issues like corner crossing and helping to implement voluntary programs for landowners. Importantly, we will remain the most diverse hunting and fishing organization in North America. We are famously evenly split politically, and we’re younger and more diverse than any other organization in our space. We’re even more diverse in our mission compared to other organizations that focus on a single species or just hunting or fishing. We’re unique and strong because we have chapters in both the U.S. and Canada. We are special in many ways. BHA in its third decade will be an even stronger force on behalf of conservation. I know this because over the last year, I’ve had the opportunity to work more closely than ever before with staff and volunteers at all levels. The power and talent you demonstrate is humbling. I am hopeful our path forward will be full of opportunities, and I’m confident we will continue to rise and meet them. Thank you for that sense of confidence. Our two children visit us regularly, thankfully. They are more like friends, even peers, now. We treat each other a little differently than we did during our younger years, and our love is greater than ever. So it is with BHA. How we view and treat ourselves and others will evolve to better suit who we are and how we work, and our love for conservation and days afield with gun or rod will only grow. -Ted Koch, BHA North American Board Chair
WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 3
“I hope the United States of America is not so rich that she can afford to let these wildernesses pass by, or so poor she cannot afford to keep them.” -Margaret Murie
THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE NORTH AMERICAN BOARD OF DIRECTORS Ted Koch (Idaho) Chairman Ryan Callaghan (Montana) Vice Chair Jeffrey Jones (Alabama) Treasurer T. Edward Nickens (North Carolina) Secretary Dr. Keenan Adams (Puerto Rico)
Bill Hanlon (British Columbia) Jim Harrington (Michigan) Hilary Hutcheson (Montana) Dr. Christopher L. Jenkins (Georgia) Katie Morrison (Alberta)
Ray Penny (Oklahoma) Don Rank (Pennsylvania) J.R. Young (California) Michael Beagle (Oregon) President Emeritus
STAFF Frankie McBurney Olson, Vice President of Operations, Interim CEO Katie DeLorenzo, Western Field Director Britney Fregerio, Director of Finance Chris Hennessey, Eastern Field Director Dre Arman, Idaho and Nevada Chapter Coordinator Chris Borgatti, Eastern Policy and Conservation Manager Tiffany Cimino, Events and Marketing Coordinator Trey Curtiss, R3 Coordinator Kevin Farron, Regional Policy Manager (MT, ND, SD) Brady Fryberger, Office Manager Chris Hager, Washington and Oregon Chapter Coordinator Andrew Hahne, Merchandise and Operations Aaron Hebeisen, Chapter Coordinator (MN, WI, IA, IL, MO) Jameson Hibbs, Chapter Coordinator (MI, IN, OH, KY, WV)
Trevor Hubbs, Armed Forces Initiative Coordinator Bryan Jones, Chapter Coordinator (CO, WY) Mary Glaves, Alaska Chapter Coordinator Kaden McArthur, Goverment Relations Manager Josh Mills, Conservation Partnership Coordinator Devin O’Dea, Western Policy and Conservation Manager Brittany Parker, Habitat Stewardship Coordinator Thomas Plank, Communications Coordinator Kylie Schumacher, Chapter Coordinator (MT, ND,SD) Zack Williams, Backcountry Journal Editor Interns: Robert DeSoto, Sylvie Poore, Harrison Stasik, Taigen Worthington
Contributors in this Issue On the Cover: Gaining elevation to glass, southwest New Mexico, Bobby Moberly, 2022 Public Lands and Waters Photo Contest Above Image: Seeking difficult things in difficult places, Daniel Corbett, 2022 Public Lands and Waters Photo Contest James H. Barker, John Barone, Adam Berkelmans, Charlie Booher, Travis Bradford, Hunter Evans, Kevin Farron, Laura Farron, Hannah Peter Flaherty, Melissa Hendrickson, Gage Herriman, JJ Laberge, Ryan Lockwood, Ben Long, Richard Martinez, Major Jocelyn “J.P.” McNair, Jeff Mishler, John Organ, Adam Parkison, Paul Peter, Steven A. Peter, Adeline Raboff, Garrett Robinson, Brianne Rogers, Pat Saunders, Josh Salisbury, Bessie Ann Peter Williams Journal Submissions: williams@backcountryhunters.org Advertising and Partnership Inquiries: mills@backcountryhunters.org General Inquiries: admin@backcountryhunters.org
BHA HEADQUARTERS P.O. Box 9257, Missoula, MT 59807 www.backcountryhunters.org admin@backcountryhunters.org (406) 926-1908 Backcountry Journal is the quarterly membership publication of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, a North American conservation nonprofit 501(c)(3) with chapters in 48 states and the District of Columbia, two Canadian provinces and one Canadian territory. Become part of the voice for our wild public lands, waters and wildlife. Join us at backcountryhunters.org All rights reserved. Content may not be reproduced in any manner without the consent of the publisher. Published Jan. 2024. Volume XIX, Issue I
JOIN THE CONVERSATION
Courthouse Fits 3 cots and stove
13.3 lbs
Efficient Set Up Light Weight Base Camp Solutions
8 Person Tipi 6 lbs. 15 oz.
8'6" tall
Sleeps 4 with stove Use Code: BHAfall at checkout for 10% off
Made in usa
www.seekoutside.com
"The Only Wall Tent Of Its Kind"
YOUR BACKCOUNTRY
The Everglades Wild and foreboding, the Everglades offer abundant opportunities for the intrepid hunter but are not without challenges and conservation issues
Photo: Richard Martinez
BY RYAN LOCKWOOD When you think of the Everglades, you probably think of water. Of airboats and alligators, miles of submerged sawgrass and cypress domes. Of swamps filled with mosquitos and invasive pythons. If you’re a saltwater angler, your mind might also wander to the amazing tarpon, snapper, snook and myriad backcountry fish that benefit from Everglades conservation efforts. What may not come to mind is dry land – and the hunting opportunities those thousands of acres provide. “It’s more than just bugs and swamps and reptiles down here,” says Richard Martinez, a lifelong outdoor enthusiast and Gladesman. “Hunting the Everglades uplands is like nothing else in the country.” South Florida is a well-known destination for Osceola turkey hunts. But Martinez, a diehard turkey hunter who’s been a guest on The Hunting Public and The MeatEater podcasts, also seeks public-land deer, wild hog, ducks and small game. This is largely due to a network of not only wetlands and waterways but also a mosaic of upland pine islands and hardwood hammocks that game species rely on for bedding, foraging and nesting. “In other parts of the country, you typically have to travel hundreds or thousands of feet in elevation to experience changes in habitat types, but here the ecology can change within a few inches or feet,” says Martinez.
A BHA volunteer since 2018, Martinez currently serves as chair of the Florida chapter board. He helps coordinate initiatives and outreach across the state and advocates on behalf of local sportsmen and sportswomen on habitat and access issues affecting South Florida. A strong hunting community exists in South Florida, including conservation associations and airboat and duck hunting clubs. The Everglades are the largest subtropical wilderness in the country. And for Martinez the biggest draw of hunting in the Everglades is exploring their sheer wildness. “I find it very humbling,” he says. “It’s not a very human-friendly place. I often feel like everything around me is telling me to go home when I’m there.” Foreboding as it is, Everglades hunting means not just opportunities for Osceolas, mottled ducks and black-bellied whistlers that can’t be found elsewhere, but it also offers an abundance of game in a place that can test even the most seasoned outdoorsperson. Martinez recalls one close encounter with a Florida panther (he’s had several confrontations with the big cats) while turkey hunting. He was on foot, traversing a “buggy trail” – Everglades parlance for offroad vehicle trails made for the region’s raised 4WD vehicles that sit atop tractor tires. “I came around a trail and was within 10 yards of a full-grown male panther. He bolted, but I nearly crapped my pants,” he laughs. “You don’t realize how big they are until you see them in real life.” WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 7
BHA Florida Chapter Board Chair Richard Martinez with an Everglades turkey.
Like most other hunters and anglers, Martinez supports Everglades conservation efforts but wants to make sure that hunters’ voices – in addition to the voices of anglers and other conservationists – are being heard, whether looking at panther protections or determining conservation pathways to undo decades of damage from drainage canals and levees. “Basically, half the Everglades are gone. The same amount of water remains, even though the land capable of holding onto that water is greatly diminished,” he says. The problem is the need to put those water inputs somewhere for the land to reabsorb and filter out pollutants before they reach the ocean. Martinez says an overlooked result of human-manipulated water levels is negative impacts on hunting and habitat. “There’s a lot of push to put more water into certain interior areas that traditionally don’t hold as much water,” he says. “Those plant communities are now changing and not supporting game species like deer and turkey as they used to.” Habitats found in slightly higher uplands, which require little to no long-term inundation, can be affected by water storage and release decisions that provide beneficial water treatment but keep plant communities submerged for extended periods. Martinez’s hunting community, alongside the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and various conservation groups tackling the challenge of Everglades restoration, recognizes the complexities of trying to undo decades of destruction and neglect. “We shouldn’t call it Everglades restoration. It’s really Everglades reinvention. And who gets to decide how we do this?” Thanks to the advocacy of hunters, anglers and conservationists, the Everglades remain a destination location for the adventure-seek8 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2024
ing archer or fowler. But out-of-staters often come unprepared, deceived by heavily edited online videos of the easiest, most successful hunts. Martinez offers a few tips for those who want to plan an Everglades expedition. The first is to not bite off more than you can chew – to realize how hot and inaccessible the southernmost tip of the nation can be. “You’re gonna have a real hard time adapting to bow season in August in South Florida,” he says. First-timers should consider a late-winter or spring hunt, perhaps for hogs or turkeys in March, when the weather is cooler and water levels have receded. Or go for mid-winter snipe, which Martinez says are “probably wing shooting’s best kept secret” in the Everglades. If you only have two or three field days to spare, and plan to be on public land, it’s also probably best to seek a local guide. Above all, if you head down to the Glades be sure to temper your expectations. “Don’t come to check a box and find easy success,” Martinez says. “Just come down for the experience.” Ryan Lockwood, who resides in northern Florida, is a communications manager for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. When not spearheading communications efforts to help conserve the Everglades, protect marine fisheries or raise awareness about invasive species, he stalks wild hogs and seeks slot redfish and spotted seatrout. Editor’s Note: A version of this story also appears on the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership website at trcp.org.
WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 9
BACKCOUNTRY
JOURNAL Winter 2024 | VOLUME XIX, ISSUE I
FEATURES 40
TI’YAA VANARAAZHRII (HUNTING WITH DAD) by Hannah Peter Flaherty, Paul Peter, Steven A. Peter, Adeline Raboff, and Bessie Ann Peter Williams
51
STORIES IN THE SNOW by Adam Parkison
10 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2024
DEPARTMENTS 03 CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE
DEPARTMENTS
07 YOUR BACKCOUNTRY The Everglades by Ryan Lockwood
12 HEADQUARTERS NEWS 15 FACES OF BHA Major Jocelyn “JP” McNair, Darlington, South Carolina 17 BACKCOUNTRY BOUNTY 19 KIDS’ CORNER Coloring Contest! by Hunter Evans 21 CHAPTER NEWS One Less Hurdle by Kevin Farron 30 ARMED FORCES INITIATIVE Full Circle by Garrett Robinson
59 SHORTS The Great Salt Marsh by Pat Saunders Simmering by Jeff Mishler New Pants by Melissa Hendrickson Do You Believe? by Josh Salisbury 76 BEYOND FAIR CHASE The Emotional Vacuum by John Organ 79 FIELD TO TABLE Venison Heart Gravy on Fries by Adam Berkelmans 83 END OF THE LINE BHA at 20 by Ben Long
34 PUBLIC LAND OWNER Prospecting for a Solution by Charlie Booher
Setting decoys amongst the bears in Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. Photo: Brianne Rogers, 2022 Public Lands and Waters Photo Contest
WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 11
PATRICK BERRY NAMED BHA’S NEW PRESIDENT AND CEO
BHA is excited to announce our new CEO: Patrick Berry! Berry is an inspiring and transformative leader, conservation advocate, skilled fundraiser, government relations professional and effective nonprofit and agency manager. He is regarded as a colleague who values collaboration and partnership and brings an infectious enthusiasm to his work. In his most recent position as the President and CEO of Fly Fishers International, Berry led efforts to develop an array of successful fundraising programs, overhaul membership strategies, create engaging and contemporary education programs, and launch a dynamic rebranding initiative. As the former Commissioner of the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, Berry managed 130 full-time employees, directed critical conservation initiatives and has been is widely credited for modernizing and financially stabilizing the department. Among other notable achievements while in this leadership role, Berry spearheaded a successful campaign to declare fish and wildlife as public trust resources. Berry has also previously served as Vice President at the Vermont Community Foundation, Director of Environmental Advancement and Governmental Affairs at Vermont Law School, and in other professional roles focused on conservation, government relations, and development. Early in his career, Berry spent almost 10 years as a fishing guide in the Northern Rockies while also working as an outdoor writer, commercial fly tyer and artist. We’re delighted to welcome him aboard and excited to see what the future holds! 12 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2024
HUNTERS AND ANGLERS FOR THE BROOKS RANGE An unparalleled experience for sportsmen and sportswomen can be had in Alaska’s famed Brooks Range – a region home to caribou herds, Dall sheep, moose and grizzly bear, and where the waters teem with Arctic grayling, Dolly Varden and sheefish. The proposed Ambler Road would bisect more than 200 miles of habitat across this range, insert 48 bridges and over 2,900 culverts into rivers and streams, as well as degrade important caribou habitat for the Western Arctic caribou herd, one the largest herds of caribou remaining in the world. The Bureau of Land Management has released their draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the right-of-way permit for the project. In response, hunters, anglers and conservationists have united to protect the iconic Brooks Range from irreversible impacts of the proposed Ambler Road. Hunters and Anglers for the Brooks Range is a coalition of 38 partners, including BHA, elevating the voice of hunters and anglers who want to keep the Brooks Range wild and untamed, safeguarding the unparalleled hunting, fishing and backcountry pursuits for hunters and anglers for generations to come. Follow Hunters and Anglers for the Brooks Range on Facebook and Instagram and join the conversation. Visit huntfishbrooksrange.com for more information and be sure to listen to Episode 168 of BHA’s Podcast & Blast, “Paving Paradise: Alaska’s Ambler Road” wherever you get your podcasts. Join BHA and Hunters and Anglers for the Brooks Range in protecting the Brooks Range from the proposed Ambler Industrial Road.
HUNTER & ANGLER: FIELD GUIDE TO RAISING HELL Looking for inspiration? Watching the demise of your local hunting or angling spot and want to know how to help? The Hunter & Angler Field Guide to Raising Hell is a long-awaited resource for people who hunt, fish and want to make a difference. Author Ben Long is a former BHA board chair, life member and the founding editor of Backcountry Journal (see page 83). This great addition to your library is available directly from the BHA store at shop.backcountryhunters.org Purchases help support the BHA mission.
Photo: Aaron Hebeisen
HEADQUARTERS NEWS
HEADQUARTERS NEWS
RECENTLY ON THE PODCAST & BLAST Dave Simonett, of Trampled by Turtles, is a Minnesota fisherman, hunter and dog man, a former roofer, and one of America’s most profound songwriters and hardest-touring musicians. Hal and Dave spent a morning fishing Montana’s Big Blackfoot this summer, throwing spruce moth bugs for cuttbows and browns, and then caught up in the afternoon for a conversation at the KettleHouse Amphitheater in Bonner, Montana. Dave was getting ready to rock a sold-out crowd in the beautiful summer gloaming, with the river running fast and cold in the near distance. Sometimes, it just all works out. Join us.
NEW BOARD MEMBERS AND STAFF MARY GLAVES
ALASKA CHAPTER COORDINATOR Having grown up in rural New York, Mary Glaves moved to Alaska in 2016, finding work in the Tongass National Forest in multiple capacities and spending time in rural communities. Mary worked with the U.S. Forest Service in fisheries and wildlife, river ranging, and interpretation and has dispatched bush planes all over Southeast Alaska, from Yakutat to Ketchikan. An avid hunter, she currently resides in Juneau with her husband Rueben and their two dogs, Rocky and Riggs. Mary is thrilled to now play a bigger role in BHA, being the voice for Alaska’s wild public lands, waters and wildlife as the Alaska chapter coordinator.
DON RANK
NORTH AMERICAN BOARD Don Rank is a lifelong Pennsylvania resident, born and raised in the Philadelphia area. Prior to joining the North American Board, Don served on the board of the Pennsylvania chapter, first as secretary, beginning in 2018, and since 2021 as chair. During that time, he has focused primarily on legislative and policy issues, making dozens of trips to the state capital to advocate for BHA with lawmakers and agency decision-makers. As the chapter policy lead, Don has empowered many BHA members to become advocates for conservation in the state. Don’s wife, Wendi, is also an active BHA member (and Backcountry Journal author). In addition to outdoor pursuits, Don, Wendi and their two children enjoy traveling in the U.S. and abroad.
RAY PENNY
NORTH AMERICAN BOARD Ray Penny is the CEO of G&H Decoys, Inc., the last manufacturer of waterfowl decoys in the United States. Prior to his time at G&H, Ray worked as a prosecutor on the gang and organized crime unit of the Tulsa County district attorney’s office. In addition to his time prosecuting organized crime, Ray also prosecuted all of the fish and game crimes in the greater Tulsa area. Before law school, Ray spent seven years as an artillery officer in the United States Marine Corps, deploying to Afghanistan in 2011. When he’s not hunting or fishing, Ray can be found in the kitchen cooking the game he hunts and fishes, playing classical guitar or driving his kids to extracurricular and sporting events. Ray lives in Tulsa with his wife Maggie and six children who love the outdoors almost as much as their mom and dad.
2024 BHA AWARD NOMINATIONS! Do you know an individual who deserves to be recognized for their outstanding contributions to conservation or our organization? This is your chance to help us honor their work with one of our 2024 awards! Award recipients are announced annually at the North American Rendezvous, set for April in Minneapolis, Minnesota! The deadline for nominations is March 1, 2024. More information can be found and nominations can be made at backcountryhunters.org/2024_bha_awards_ nomination_portal
REMEMBERING GRANT McALISTER Grant McAlister, a founding board member and treasurer for the Kentucky chapter of BHA, passed away this November. Grant had a passion for hunting everything from waterfowl to elk across America. He was a dedicated conservationist who volunteered his time and talents to DU and SCI in addition to BHA. He dearly loved our organization and the BHA mission, and much of what the KY chapter is today is a result of the work he did over the past five years. Grant leaves behind his loving wife Adair and their young son Liam. He will be truly missed by all. WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 13
14 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2024
MAJOR JOCELYN “J.P.” McNAIR Armed Forces Initiative
Photos courtesy Maj. Jocelyn McNair
DARLINGTON, SOUTH CAROLINA
FACES OF BHA
WHY ARE YOU A MEMBER OF BHA AND THE ARMED FORCES INITIATIVE? I joined BHA originally to connect with other service members who were like-minded when it came to hunting and the great outdoors. I’ve stuck with BHA because I’ve had the opportunity to help get fellow service members out on hunts, and I just couldn’t shake the joy it brought me. So, I’ve stuck with the organization to this day.
WHY WATERFOWL? I HEAR YOU ARE A DUCK AND GOOSE-CALLING CHAMPION. WHAT IS IT ABOUT WATERFOWL HUNTING THAT YOU FIND SO SPECIAL? I love waterfowl hunting because you get to talk about everything under the sun and still enjoy the hunt – from talking about the weather and tactics during setup to going over some life-changing experiences with some of your closest family and friends. I originally got into waterfowl as a way to hang out with my brother, and now we are both obsessed. I wouldn’t call myself a calling champ in the slightest, but I can make them look from time to time. I’ve had the privilege of having some good buddies help me with calling techniques over the last few years, which has made me more comfortable and confident in all scenarios. Waterfowl is so special to me because it’s created some of the best memories I have. I’ve taken my son out, and I’ve taken complete strangers out – both of which never would have happened without waterfowl hunting. I’ve made friends with some people that I never would have met otherwise, and for that, I will always be grateful.
WHAT’S ONE PIECE OF ADVICE YOU WOULD GIVE OTHER WOMEN INTERESTED IN THE OUTDOORS? Just go for it and don’t let nonsense discourage you! It might seem a bit intimidating, especially if you don’t have someone teaching along the way, but the opportunities are out there. And if you have questions and I can help, well, you all have a friend in me.
WHAT’S AN OUTDOOR ACTIVITY YOU WOULD LIKE TO GET INTO THAT BHA CAN HELP WITH? Hunting waterfowl in the Northwest or Canada. I’ve heard it’s amazing, and it’s definitely on my bucket list.
I UNDERSTAND YOU ARE ON A YEAR HOME BETWEEN DEPLOYMENTS. DO YOU HAVE BIG PLANS FOR OUTDOOR ADVENTURES DURING THIS TIME? I’ve talked with Trevor (BHA AFI Coordinator) about helping out with a few more waterfowl hunts. Outside of that, you’ll find me chasing birds from Tennessee to Oklahoma.
WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 15
THE #1 WHITETAIL HUNTING APP
WHITETAIL RUT MAP Unlock the most extensive Rut Map in the country
WHITETAIL ACTIVITY FORECAST Plan your hunt around peak movement times
Join millions of hunters who use HuntStand to view property lines, find public hunting land, and manage their hunting property. Enjoy a powerful collection of maps and tools — including nationwide rut dates and a 7-day whitetail activity forecast with peak deer movement times.
NATIONWIDE PROPERTY INFO
WHITETAIL ACTIVITY FORECAST
WHITETAIL RUT MAP
MONTHLY SATELLITE IMAGERY
WHITETAIL HABITAT MAP
Download and map for FREE!
huntstand.com 16 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2024
NATIONAL AERIAL IMAGERY
CROP HISTORY
BACKCOUNTRY BOUNTY BHA’s Backcountry Bounty is a celebration not of antler size but of BHA’s values: wild places, hard work, fair chase and wild-harvested food. Send your submissions to williams@backcountryhunters.org or share your photos with us by using #backcountryhuntersandanglers on social media! Emailed bounty submissions may also appear on social media.
Hunter: Oscar Chelmo (8) son of Sam Chelmo, BHA member Species: Sitka blacktail State: Alaska | Method: rifle Distance from nearest road: 70 miles Transportation: floatplane, foot
Hunter: Cole Chelmo (10) son of Sam Chelmo, BHA member | Species: Sitka blacktail | State: Alaska | Method: rifle Distance from nearest road: 70 miles Transportation: floatplane, foot
Hunter: Nickie Rowland, BHA member | Species: turkey | State: Idaho| Method: shotgun| Distance from nearest road: one mile Transportation: foot Hunter: Ian Davis, BHA member, chapter chair Species: bison | Territory: Yukon | Method: rifle Distance from nearest road:30 miles Transportation: snow machine, foot
Hunter: E Jay Zuspan III, BHA member | Species: whitetail | State: Maryland | Method: muzzleloader Distance from nearest road: three miles Transportation: foot
Hunter: Juniper Bergstrom (13) Species: elk State: Idaho Method: rifle | Distance from nearest road: one mile Transportation: foot
KIDS’ CORNER
COLORING
CONTEST!
About the artist: Hunter Evans is from Logan, Utah, and is currently studying outdoor product design and development at Utah State University. More of his work can be found at hunterevansarts.com, on Instagram at @hunter_evans_arts, or on Facebook at Hunter Evans Arts. Kids, email your completed coloring contests to williams@backcountryhunters.org. We’ll choose three winners to receive a BHA t-shirt or hat of your choice! WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 19
YETI
One Less Hurdle
CHAPTER NEWS
BHA chapters across the West are pulling more and more problem fences – and witnessing the results
Photo: Laura Farron
BY KEVIN FARRON I crawled through the rocky saddle until I could see down the gully below. The solo pronghorn buck we had been stalking was bedded right where we last saw him, halfway up the hillside at the head of the canyon, overlooking his sagebrush kingdom below. After waiting for what felt like an eternity, I found myself purposefully fidgeting as I lay behind my rifle. I wanted the buck to get curious enough to stand but didn’t want him to bolt. Finally, he caught my movement. He stood, stared directly at me – and then took his final step. The shot echoed through the canyon as he kicked and nose-dived into the ravine below. I looked back over my shoulder at my wife and slowly nodded. “I got him.” The two-hour stalk on this buck had come to an end. Our freezer would once again be restocked with our favorite wild game meat. It was late afternoon on opening day in southwest Montana, and my 2022 pronghorn season had come to a close. Relieved that it was a quick, ethical kill, we walked up to the buck and began pulling him uphill to a more gradual slope, which would be more conducive for quartering. As we started to drag him, we noticed a wound on the buck’s hind leg. I cautiously stretched my head in for a closer inspection. The sore was rotten and smelled awful. A few hours prior, we’d watched the solo buck feed at 7,800 feet before it bedded. It seemed perfectly fine. We didn’t notice the injury until now. “Do you think it’s still safe to eat?” my wife asked. “Yeah, it’s fine,” I assured her. “We’ll just cut around it.”
in fences. I figured this was the cause but asked around. “It looks as though this buck may have tried to jump over or through a multi-strand barbed wire fence and its hind leg was either entwined between the middle wires or was caught in the upper wire,” explained Dr. Andrew Jakes, fence ecologist and pronghorn expert. “You can see that, likely, a barb must have cut neatly through the fur.” It’s hard to say if the animal would have made it through the winter. He was destined to succumb to his fence-caused injuries soon enough. Unknowingly, my bullet likely saved the pronghorn from a slow, painful death, not uncommon in this fence-riddled country.
Although pronghorn have the ability to jump, they rarely do, especially when faced with a fence they can safely and easily go under. And when they do jump, they’re apt to get tangled or injured WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 21
Not far from where we were hunting, a study called the Pronghorn Movement and Population Ecology Project was launched a few years prior. The study was set in motion by Secretarial Order 3362 – Improving Habitat Quality in Western Big Game Winter Range and Migration Corridors – which seeks to encourage collaboration between the federal government, state fish and game agencies, conservation groups and private landowners to identify, improve and conserve migration corridors and winter ranges for big game including mule deer, elk and pronghorn. “There simply hasn’t been enough information about pronghorn movements and the factors affecting their populations,” says Jesse DeVoe, wildlife researcher at Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks and project lead for the PMPE. So with that in mind, in 2020, Montana FWP collared 702 adult female pronghorn with GPS units, which resulted in the mapping of some 30,000 miles of fences. “A really huge effort to say the least,” says DeVoe. “Collaring efforts allow us to better understand and address the spatial and temporal parameters that help determine how and why animals move,” says Dr. Jakes, coauthor of a study on this work called Advancing fence datasets: Comparing approaches to map fence locations and specifications in southwest Montana. “From that, we can better manage and conserve for wildlife populations.” In this part of the state, data showed the collared animals traveling from winter range in Horse Prairie to summer range in the Big Hole Valley, many venturing all the way to the Mount Haggin Wildlife Management Area, an impressive 90-plus mile journey. The Horse Prairie project also revealed more than 30 miles of fencing – some 80 individual fences – as being mostly impenetrable to pronghorn along their route. Worse yet, they’re the kind of fences 22 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2024
that pronghorn get tangled up in – fences like the one that injured the buck I shot. “Through visual examination and analysis of the data, we were able to highlight fences where collared pronghorn demonstrated the most altered movement behaviors,” said DeVoe. Noting that all fences can create barriers for pronghorns, she elaborated. “Not too surprisingly, we found that woven wire sheep fencing has a very strong barrier effect compared to strand wire fences. If we really want to improve pronghorn movements, we need to get those relic woven wire sheep fences off the landscape.” What followed was a partnership between federal land management agencies (Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service), NGOs and stakeholders (National Wildlife Federation, The Nature Conservancy, Montana BHA, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks), private landowners and other concerned groups with the shared goal of tackling as many of these fencing issues as possible. At the onset, Montana BHA pitched in to help secure the grant funding to oversee this collaborative project. Then, in the summer of 2021, we rolled up our sleeves for the first phase of work. On a hot July day, I – along with board members and volunteers from Montana BHA – joined staff from NWF to remove a section of problematic woven fence. (It’s worth noting that this fencing creates issues not just for pronghorn, but many big game species, and can lead to higher rates of mortality for nesting sage grouse.) The goal of the project was to rid the landscape of these barriers, or if still needed for livestock, to replace them with wildlife-friendly fences that are higher off-the-ground with smooth bottom wires allowing wildlife to move more freely through the landscape. Some of us popped the fences from wooden posts, others pulled
Photo s: Kevin Farron
There are three ways a fence can kill a pronghorn: 1) a pronghorn gets caught up in it, unable to break free or escaping with an injury that becomes infected; 2) the fence makes them susceptible to predators by corralling them and limiting the best defense they have for eluding prey: their ability to flee; or 3) the impenetrable barrier forces them to zig zag out of their way, making an already long migration even longer. This weakens them before winter finishes them off.
BHA Aims High and Expands Habitat Work with BLM Grant BHA was recently awarded a substantial grant of $2.5 million under the Inflation Reduction Act by the Bureau of Land Management. This funding is set to bolster and expand our critical work in fence removal and modification projects throughout the American West with a focus on enhancing and improving wildlife habitat permeability, from vital migration corridors and critical habitats of big game to sensitive sage grouse territories. The BLM’s commitment extends over five years and will empower BHA to spearhead initiatives aimed at dismantling outdated fencing, transitioning necessary fences to wildlife-friendlier alternatives and thoroughly cataloging the extensive network of fences present on BLM lands. BHA’s Stewardship Manager Britt Parker attests to the significance of this work. “In my time dedicated to fence removal as BHA’s Colorado Habitat Stewardship Coordinator, I’ve witnessed the grim realities and adverse effects of fencing on wildlife firsthand,” she said. “The barriers that our wildlife must navigate to reach essential forage, breeding grounds and sanctuaries are unmeasured. While we may not be able to eliminate highways, housing developments or reservoirs, we can certainly dismantle fencing. It represents the low-hanging fruit of habitat permeability and migration corridor restoration, and I take immense pride in the fact that it has become a collective priority among agencies, with BHA taking a lead role in supporting this vital work.” BHA has set an ambitious, yet attainable, goal to eliminate 250 miles of fencing and modify an additional 50 miles over the next five years. To achieve this monumental task, we plan to recruit new staff in several Western states. However, the success of this endeavor will undoubtedly hinge on the commitment and dedication of our extensive community of volunteers, chapter leaders, members, supporters and NGO partners who collectively form the backbone of this critical initiative.
t-posts, and a few used loppers to free the woven sheep fence from the sagebrush. Often, my eyes wandered up towards the neighboring mountains I knew so well and the foothills I’d been hunting pronghorn in for nearly a decade. Once cleared, we rolled the wire, piled the posts, and looked back at our work: nearly a mile of a fence-free prairie for pronghorn to traverse.
Before I’d eaten all the steaks in my freezer from the injured pronghorn buck I shot in 2022, we were approached by NWF to partner again in 2023 to pull more fences. Thinking back to the maimed buck, I agreed to help without hesitation. I had been motivated to help with this work before, but now I felt a sense of obligation. Montana BHA went on to co-host two weekend-long projects in June and July of 2023. Once again, volunteers showed up for long days of hard labor, hacking away at the fencing labyrinth, one problematic section at a time. New dad duties prevented me from making the trek in June, but I joined 10 other conservationists in mid-July. We tackled a half-mile stretch of dilapidated and stubborn fence and hauled out a trailer loaded with any and all remnants. Surveying the land, you would have never known there was a fence there. While it was a relatively small section, it felt great. Simon Buzzard, wildlife connectivity coordinator for NWF, has led the collaborative fence modification work and described how overlaying fine-scale GPS movement data with accurate fence maps helped prioritize the work. “The combination of research with on-the-ground conservation
work is what makes this project so exciting,” said Buzzard. In the Horse Prairie area alone, the combined, years-long efforts led by Buzzard have now completely removed or modified 23 miles of fences in pronghorn winter range and along migration routes. Truly a team effort, Buzzard has organized work trips with a dozen different groups and businesses. But there’s a lot of work left to be done, and this is just one small corner of Montana, one sliver of the West. “Now that we are armed with this data and bolstered by effective partnerships,” added DeVoe. “There is a lot of momentum for continuing to remediate pronghorn habitats.” We’ll be back in 2024 (and hopefully 2025!) to work with partners to rid more of the landscape of fencing, and we hope you can join us.
While my family didn’t draw any pronghorn tags in 2023 (FWP reduced license quotas in many hunting districts in southwest Montana due to a number of factors), we hope to continue to hunt pronghorn in this part of the state in the future. As the fence removal work continues, I hope to never again encounter any wildlife with a mortal and preventable injury caused by a fence. We can do better. And thanks to volunteers pulling up their sleeves to help with onthe-ground projects like this, we are. Kevin Farron is BHA’s regional policy manager based out of Missoula, MT. He and his wife are doing their best to raise two young kids with a heavy dose of public lands and wild game.
WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 23
Chapter News & Updates
ALASKA
•
• •
•
• •
The Alaska chapter is thrilled to welcome the new Alaska Chapter Coordinator Mary Glaves, of Southeast Alaska. Board members look forward to working with Mary and reaffirming the chapter’s commitment to all current and future issues affecting hunters and anglers across the state of Alaska. Alaska Chapter Vice Chair Barry Whitehill, presented to the Washington State University BHA collegiate club during a fall visit. Local AFI team members and BHA Headquarters organized a Central Arctic caribou hunt. Post-hunt participants were joined by Alaska Native Elder Chief Paul Williams in Fairbanks who shared stories while joining in on processing the bounty. Chapter leaders and members volunteered with ADF&G small game biologists to conduct brood surveys for grouse and ptarmigan around the Interior and Southcentral over the late summer prior to the season start in August. A draw tag informational pint night was held on November 16 in Fairbanks. Chapter leaders are planning several events around the state to bolster engagement in opposition to the proposed Ambler Road project. Hunters and Anglers for the Brooks Range is a partnership campaign highlighting the unacceptable risks the road poses to America’s most wild and scenic hunting and fishing opportunities.
ARKANSAS
• • •
ARIZONA
• •
The 7th Annual Family Squirrel Camp was truly a family weekend, with ages ranging from a 10-month-old baby to retirees, who all enjoyed chasing squirrels, falconry, smores and a delicious potluck. Flocks of doves were bagged at this year’s Yuma Dove Hunt by eager hunters. Following the group hunt, the dove cookoff featured various preparations with the winning entry of Asian dove egg rolls, skewered hearts and dove breast wrapped asparagus.
ARMED FORCES INITIATIVE
•
• 24 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2024
The chapter participated in multiple meetings concerning the future of the Buffalo National River and the Kings River in Northwest Arkansas. Chapter members shared food and spread the mission of BHA at the World Championship Squirrel Cook Off, talking with and serving squirrel to hundreds of people. Coordinated with federal officials to put out OHV reward signs on White River National Refuge.
AFI hosted Learn to Waterfowl Hunt events in Nebraska, New England, Texas and Virginia. Thirty-seven participants learned waterfowl biology, ecology, calling techniques, how to set decoy spreads, public land access and how to prepare and cook their birds. In 2019 Senator Hyde-Smith of Mississippi championed federal regu-
CHAPTER NEWS
•
•
lation changes to the waterfowl hunting season. As part of the effort, two days were allowed to be allocated by each state specifically for active duty and veterans to hunt waterfowl. This legislation was passed to show appreciation and gratitude to service members past and present and recognize that they often miss hunting opportunities due to deployments, weekend drills or other duties. AFI is championing efforts in states that have not yet instituted this regulation change. In the 4th quarter of 2023, our efforts were focused on New Hampshire and Nebraska. If your state doesn’t offer a Military Waterfowl Weekend and you would like to have one, please reach out to AFI Policy Chair Garrett Robinson for a campaign planning session AFIPolicy@backcountryhunters.org AFI Montana hosted two elk ecology events in Missoula and Lewistown during which participants learned elk calling, elk habitat identification, elk conservation history and how hunters contribute to effective elk management in Montana.
BRITISH COLUMBIA
• •
•
The Canadian Armed Forces Initiative announced its first on-base installation club at CFB Comox. Master Corporal Dylan Unrau is spearheading the effort and signing up members. Provincial Chair Al Duffy was in Victoria participating in Provincial Hunting and Trapping Advisory Team meetings with bureaucrats, the Minister’s Wildlife Advisory Council and First Nations – discussing wildlife and Wildlife Act review. Regional teams hosted events including a youth and newbie range day and foraging event ending with a wild feast.
IDAHO
•
• •
ILLINOIS
• •
• •
California BHA spearheaded a coalition working to implement a wildlife overpass in Southern California and continued efforts to secure funding for phase one of the project. The chapter hosted habitat improvement projects and public land pack outs in northern, central and southern California on Public Lands Day, Sept. 23, 2023. The chapter hosted a Native Fish & Bear Hunting Camp where volunteers helped Fish & Wildlife staff with electrofishing in Silver Creek, of the Eastern Sierra, to restore habitat for Lahontan cutthroat trout.
CAPITAL
•
• •
The chapter continues its ongoing recruitment, retention and reactivation campaign with mentored hunts occurring at Patunkson Wildlife Refuge in Maryland and Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia in Dec. 2023. The events aim to introduce new hunters with one one-on-one mentorship over multiple days. Scouting and range days will precede the hunts and provide mentor/mentee relationship building and skills development. Skinning and butchering demonstrations will follow any successful hunt. The Capital Region chapter remains actively engaged with congressional leadership in support of passage of the Virginia Wilderness Additions Act and Shenandoah Mountain Act. Events including the Richmond Low Country Boil, regional 3D Shoots and a cleanup at the C.F. Phelps Wildlife Management area demonstrate the continued efforts toward the chapter’s engagement goals.
COLORADO
• • • •
Janet George was appointed to serve as an Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest Habitat Watch Volunteer. Paul Painter was appointed to serve as Denver Metro Area Work Projects Liaison. The chapter issued a Legislative Statement in support of the Colorado Outdoor Recreation & Economy (CORE) Act and Dolores River National Conservation Area and Special Management Area Act. Britt Parker, BHA’s habitat stewardship manager, is featured in BHA Podcast & Blast, Ep. 165.
The chapter and partners held a conservation shoot at the new Lake Shelbyville Archery Park. The chapter is continuing to build traction with multiple organizations to expand public stream access in Illinois.
INDIANA
•
• •
CALIFORNIA
•
Volunteers participated in different stewardship projects, including trash cleanups, fence pulls, fence building and planting bitterbrush seedlings for habitat restoration. We also presented at the Selkirk-Pend Oreille Food Summit. Learn to Hunt graduates and mentors hit the woods throughout the fall seasons, developing new skills and relationships. The chapter welcomed Don Carpenter as East Idaho co-chair, Matt Bair as communications chair, Zac Swank as region 1 representative, and Jeff Klausmann transitioned into region 6 representative.
The Indiana chapter came together for their 3rd annual Chapter Rendezvous at White River Campground. The event was a great success, with events consisting of a morning invasive species removal project, special guest presenters, an archery shoot-off, wild game cooking experience and general conversation about where we are headed as a chapter. The chapter is busy planning events for 2024; we hope you will join us for an event in your area. The chapter is actively seeking members for our events, policy and communication teams. We are also seeking additional members for our board of directors. We invite you to get involved. Email indiana@ backcountryhunters.org
IOWA
• • •
The chapter raised and donated funds toward the IA DNR purchase of a permanent easement for public fishing along 2.57 miles of Otter Creek in Fayette County. The chapter hosted a get to know BHA event at Iowa State to promote the organization at the university. The chapter hosted a pre-event in Davenport for the MeatEater Live Show.
KANSAS
• • • •
On May 19, volunteers with the Kansas chapter partnered with KDWP to remove Eastern red cedars on 1,000 acres of greater prairie chicken habitat in north-central Kansas. On June 24, Kansas BHA volunteers worked with managers at Quivira National Wildlife Refuge to remove fencing. On July 29, the Kansas chapter assisted the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks in posting Walk-In-Hunting-Access signs on a large, newly enrolled property in south-central Kansas. On Aug. 19, the Kansas chapter attended Walton’s BratFest in Wichita, where information regarding BHA was dispensed to attendees.
KENTUCKY
• • •
• •
The chapter is pleased to announce our second state sponsor of Wild Rivers Coffee Co. The chapter participated in our annual fall trout stocking event in Red River Gorge and held a Kentucky Bear Hunting 101 Virtual Event. The chapter did a Buckhorn WMA trash pack out in Hazard/Hyden, a Sloughs WMA work day in Henderson/Morganfield, Harris-Dickerson WMA cleanup and wood duck box project in Madisonville, a Jigg Water River cleanup in Richmond, and a Bluegrass Trout Unlimited cleanup partnership on Hickman Creek in Lexington. The chapter partnered with Kentucky Hunters of Color for a shotgun skills class/pre-dove season warmup in Harrodsburg. The chapter held a Kentucky Native Plant ID Walk partnership at Fleming WMA in Flemingsburg.
WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 25
MICHIGAN
•
• •
The chapter has an action alert and communications that went out to show our opposition to a proposed house bill in regards to commercial fishing, and the Michigan chapter will continue to stay engaged on policy measures. The chapter planned two MeatEater trivia pint nights in conjunction with MeatEater Live Podcasts. What a great collaboration and exciting events! The chapter is planning Conservation and Coffee events for the winter, lining up guest speakers on a number of subjects.
MINNESOTA
• • •
The chapter completed a five-city CWD pint night tour throughout the state with the MN DNR discussing CWD in Grand Rapids, Nisswa, Ely, the Metro area and Rochester! The Minnesota chapter participated in the Governor’s Deer Opener on Nov. 3. The chapter would like to congratulate returning board members Eli Mansfield and Keng Yang on reelection for another term and welcome new board members Kyle Hildebrandt and Alex Gorman!
MISSOURI
• • •
The Missouri chapter had their last event of the 2023 season when they attended the Main & Mill Brewing Streetfest in Festus. The chapter renewed its partnership with South County Archers in St. Louis to host the monthly chapter archery shoot. The Missouri chapter is celebrating its recent victory to help restore a waterfowl hunting season at the Swan Lake National Wildlife Refuge in central Missouri!
MONTANA
•
• • •
The chapter submitted letters of support for various proposed land acquisitions, easements, wildlife crossing pilot programs and the Missouri Headwaters Conservation Area and commented on the Fish Creek Watershed Draft Recreation Strategy. The chapter attended events applauding the advancement of Sen. Tester’s Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act and the restoration of funding for hunter’s education in schools. The chapter hosted fence pulls, trail improvement projects, a beaver dam inventory count and our 2nd Annual General Season Send Off at the Sitka Depot. Said thanks and farewell to two outgoing board members, Scott Mylnechuk and Chris McCarthy.
NEW MEXICO
•
•
NEW YORK
• •
•
• •
The chapter broke the story on the 150,000 acre public to private Winecup Gamble land transfer. The chapter hosted a range day at the Carson City Rifle Range to help members get sighted in for rifle season. The chapter is looking forward to its inaugural Winter Banquet and Sheep Show 2024.
• •
In Rhode Island, the New England chapter got involved with the process of bridge construction over tidal creeks, working with the RI Dept. of Transportation to secure assurances allowing continued fishing access. The Massachusetts team has worked diligently to clarify verbiage within legislation that will safeguard hunting access on state land. In Vermont, team members weighed in at a legislative rules committee hearing, supporting the results of a working group that made recommendations on the management of furbearing species and to ensure that this committee does not exceed their mandate.
26 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2024
The chapter hosted an onX sponsored pint night at Fargo Brewing Company.
OHIO
• •
•
The Ohio chapter is sharpening pencils in preparation for the MeatEater Trivia Night to be held in Cleveland in advance of MeatEater Live. We look forward to a fun night with awesome prizes! Board Chair Dustin Lindley met with Ohio Department of Natural Resources Director Mary Mertz and team to discuss issues facing Ohio public lands, focusing on ongoing threats associated with oil and gas development on state park lands. The board looks forward to a January planning session and a bomber 2024!
OKLAHOMA
•
• •
NEW ENGLAND
•
The chapter held an archery shoot at the Saratoga Sand Plains Wildlife Management Area Public Archery Range and got archers tuned up for deer season. The chapter’s 2023 Rendezvous was a hit! We had a great time in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains, along the banks of the Ausable River, with outstanding speakers, fly casting lessons, hunting skills, cooking demos and a river cleanup with The Ausable River Association! The chapter will partner again this hunting season with Hunters of Color and The Nature Conservancy to have two mentored hunts: a bow hunt on Long Island and a crossbow hunt near Albany.
NORTH DAKOTA
•
NEVADA
•
Chapter board members attended meetings and provided valuable comments regarding the bear and cougar hunting quota system, which is reviewed every four years. The rule was passed by the state game commission unanimously despite significant opposition to bear and cougar hunting in general from non-hunting groups. Board leadership reviewed the Bureau of Land Management’s Taos Field Office’s resource management plan, which affects nearly 600,000 acres of public lands in north-central New Mexico. The chapter added its support to scoping comments spearheaded by a broad coalition of hunting and conservation stakeholders.
In September, the Oklahoma chapter hosted a cleanup day on the Lower Illinois River in alignment with National Public Lands Day. Eighteen individuals gathered items from the river, resulting in the removal of 37 bags of trash, numerous tires, a car hood, several T-posts and large stack of plastic home siding. Several anglers expressed their gratitude for the chapter’s efforts. The Oklahoma Chapter hosted a booth at the Oklahoma Waterfowl Festival held at G&H Decoys in Henryetta, Oklahoma. On October 12, the Oklahoma chapter chair and vice chair were guests on the Oklahoma Outdoors Podcast. The podcast highlighted the mission of BHA and shared many of the habitat projects and partnerships the Oklahoma chapter has been involved with since its inception.
OREGON
•
•
The chapter just completed replacing 300 yards of barbed wire fence with wildlife-friendly fencing, as well as planting 1,500 sagebrush plugs. This stewardship project took place in central Oregon in an effort to improve migration corridors and habitat for migrating ungulates in the area. The chapter will hold the first annual Field to Table experience in Portland. Four chefs are expected to serve a variety of wild game dishes, among them are celebrity chef Eduardo Garcia and the OR chapter’s very own Kelly Warren.
CHAPTER NEWS PENNSYLVANIA
• •
•
Adam Eckley has been named as the new chair of the Pennsylvania chapter. He had previously served on the board and directed the chapter’s Take Two mentoring program. The chapter led a successful campaign against an amendment to HB 1300. It would have diverted 150 million dollars from the Game Fund and also would have rendered Pennsylvania ineligible for Pittman-Robertson Funds. Board members met with numerous legislators and members responded in force with emails and phone calls. The chapter held the second annual Bustin’ Clays event. It has become one of the chapter’s most popular events.
SOUTH DAKOTA
•
The chapter welcomed four new members to the board – Travis Entenman, Cody Grewing, Kyle Gall and Trevor Umnus – who will help advance policy and outreach efforts in the state
WISCONSIN
•
•
•
In October, the chapter hosted eight first-time hunters for its annual Learn To Hunt Deer class, all on public land in Southeast Wisconsin. The weekend was marked with success, not only by harvesting deer, but also by creating a group of passionate hunters and public land advocates! In November, the chapter will be hosting another 20-plus students in a Learn To Hunt Pheasant class and proving how R3 efforts can pay dividends by creating additional advocates for our public lands and resources. The chapter added 12 people from throughout the state to the policy committee to address more local issues as well as strengthen our state work. The diverse backgrounds, locations and public land experiences will be invaluable to the chapter. The chapter participated on the Cherish Wisconsin Outdoors Fund Grant Review Committee and helped determine where $62,427.04 in funds for public land habitat projects would go this year.
TEXAS
•
• • •
In September, the chapter hosted the annual Conversation Conservation in Austin. The event held two panels featuring experts who shared their unique perspectives, timely insights and captivating stories. Riverhorse Nakadate, Pat Murray, Chuck Naiser, and Craig Bonds spoke on the Public Water Panel, while Danielle Prewett, Jesse Griffiths, Josh Stratton and Hal Herring rounded out the Public Land Panel. The chapter also gave awards for leadership in public lands and waters to Chuck Naiser, Riverhorse Nakadate and Jesse Griffiths for their outstanding commitment, leadership and guidance in conservation. The Texas chapter continues to support the Voluntary Public Access Program with the Adopt an Access Program, where BHA members can adopt an access site for the season. The chapter partnered with All Water Guides and Cleanup the Colorado for the LoCo Trash Bash.
UTAH
•
• •
The Utah chapter hosted its first ever Stewards on Stage speaker series event in Park City on December 6, with former National Park Service Superintendent Walt Dabney, who will present on the history of public lands in the United States. The chapter opened up applications for vacant board positions starting in October and is excited to bring new talent to the board in 2024. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources circulated various proposals for public comment, including a study to assess season changes on deer quality in general units, changes to the Landowner Association program and mandated harvest reporting, among others. The chapter developed positions on the various proposals and provided comment during the public forum period.
Find a more detailed writeup of your chapter’s news along with events and updates by regularly visiting www.backcountryhunters.org/chapters or contacting them at [your state/province/territory/region]@backcountryhunters.org (e.g. newengland@backcountryhunters.org)
Enhance Your Wild Food
WASHINGTON
•
•
The chapter sponsored 100 multi-season deer tags in partnership with WDFW in an effort to encourage hunters to get their deer tested for CWD. Those who submit samples for testing will get entered into a drawing for a multi-season tag. In October, Washington chapter volunteers joined staff and volunteers from WDFW for a fence-pulling project in the Whiskey Dick Wildlife management unit. Eight miles of fence were pulled from critical mule deer and sage grouse habitat.
WEST VIRGINIA
• • •
The chapter will be hosting its first Mountaineer Heritage Hunt Camp in Hendricks this January. Stop by our booth at the WV Hunting & Fishing Show this January to pick up some BHA swag. Stay tuned to our social media channels to learn more about upcoming events.
Podcasts • Spice Blends • Recipes Wild Food Camps • Cook Books Magazines • Adventure Articles Visit harvestingnature.com or scan the QR code
WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 27
Buy American. Support conservation. Pass it on.
As the last American-made decoy company, we will support and preserve American waterfowling for the next generation. Will you join us?
GHDecoys.com G&HDecoys_DUads.indd 4
28 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2024
3/17/22 9:26 AM
WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 29
ARMED FORCES INITIATIVE
Photos: Garrett Robinson
FULL CIRCLE
BY GARRETT ROBINSON “And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul,” John Muir famously wrote. On July 14, 1997, I left for boot camp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina, to become a United States Marine. Twenty-six years later, July 30, 2023, I retired from the Marine Corps. I had begun my transition to civilian life by using up my unused leave and working with the Armed Forces Initiative of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers as their project manager through the DOD SkillBridge program. It all seems surreal, to be honest with you – I keep thinking I am going to get up one day and drive back into my office at the Pentagon and get back to work. This transition thing is hard. From my early childhood, I always looked up to my father and other relatives who served in the Marine Corps. Hearing their stories fueled the fire inside me to become a United States Marine myself. My familial roots also fueled a deep passion for the outdoors. My father loves the outdoors, born from a childhood surrounded by men and women who also fueled his passion. Spring 1997: With a mere six weeks between graduation and shipping off for boot camp, I needed to take off on one last adventure on my own terms. I had no idea what my future held other than I would be a United States Marine, and I wanted to have that one last hoorah, so to speak. That meant I spent months planning a trip west with my childhood best friend. We found a book, Out of the Way Places of the Southwest, at a local bookstore, which became our main planning document. That book would take two teenagers on an epic trip that has continued to influence us throughout our adult lives. The day after graduation, my friend and I loaded our camping and hiking supplies into the back of my 1988 Ford Ranger and started west. We would spend the next few weeks exploring the backcountry public lands of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah before heading north into Wyoming. Our explorations took us to some 30 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2024
of the most extraordinary public lands in our great country. But, at that time, we did not understand what that public land meant or how fortunate we were to have access to it. In its way, the Marine Corps only fanned the flames of the burning passion that began on that trip. I found myself thousands of miles away from home, stationed in southern California. Gone were the farms and rural wanderings of my childhood. I quickly became dependent on access to public land and water to quench my thirst for time spent outdoors, away from the hustle and bustle of life. I became aware of how delicate these places were, how fragile the ecosystems are, and how important it is to conserve them. It fueled yet another fire in me, bringing me to where I am today. I learned of the power wild places have to heal. Many veterans understand this (which is why outdoor adjunct therapy has gained so much traction in recent years): that raw and wild connections to the earth are transformative. As my time in the Marine Corps began to draw to a close, I felt a pull to do something with the free time I would have, thanks to all the leave I had saved up. I knew I needed to get out in nature and take time for myself. So, I loaded up my truck and headed west, just as I had 26 years prior. I traveled from one piece of public land to the next, living out of my truck, with no real plan other than following the rising sun on a southern route and returning home via a northern route a few weeks later – a public land road trip that would allow me to come to peace with the life I had led, and who I have become, for better or worse. What I had not considered was how familiar the trip would be. My final assignment had me stationed in Northern Virginia and was a mere 120 miles from my boyhood home. After a few weeks of planning my trip, it dawned on me: I would be taking a mirrorimage trip to the one I had taken 26 years prior. My Marine Corps career would be bookended by these journeys: on one end, an 18-year-old boy preparing to leave for boot camp, and on the other, a 44-year-old man looking for what comes next.
I was not prepared for the thoughts, memories and emotions I would have over that month alone on the road. Maybe I will never fully understand. What I do know is I needed that month. Sticking to the back roads of America, staying as far away from the highways and byways of society as I could, I camped in remote places, on public lands across the nation, and opened my soul to the earth, yearning for a deep connection with the natural world. Advocacy for those places has become a driving force in who I am. The passion to serve is still there – just like it was in the Marines – but it is a passion to serve in a different capacity. The previous chapter of my life was service intended to preserve a way of life, but often, it meant we destroyed everything around us in the process. I hope the next chapter takes me to a place where I can put my service to use focusing on conserving the wild landscapes that save us. Garrett Robinson served 26 years in the United States Marine Corps, retiring as a Master Gunnery Sergeant in July 2023. He serves as the vice chair of the Capital Region chapter and as the policy chair for the Armed Forces Initiative board. Currently he, his wife and his daughter live in northern Virginia where he enjoys opportunities to get in the backcountry every chance he gets.
I was not prepared for the thoughts, memories and emotions I would have over that month alone on the road. Maybe I will never fully understand. What I do know is I needed that month.
Comfort
from the ground up.
New air chamber sleeping pads made with recycled ripstop nylon. bigagnes.com.
Photo by: Greg Houska
HEST reinvented what it means to sleep outside co mfo r t a b ly.
HOME COMFORT B U I LT FOR THE OUTDOORS
Lorem Ipsum
WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 31
BECAUSE THIS IS MY HAPPY PLACE
MADE WITH
INTRODUCING THE NEW GORE-TEX BOUNDARY WADER COLLECTION
LEARN MORE AT
GRUNDENS.COM 32 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2024
WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 33
PUBLIC LAND OWNER
BY CHARLIE BOOHER Nearly all our public lands – and a fair share of private ground – have some history with mining. Mineral and hydrocarbon wealth has enamored us for generations, and the process of extracting and refining metal ore into usable commodities has evolved with humans over the last several thousand years. The first coal mines were dug in southern Africa nearly 40,000 years ago, and the ancient Egyptians and Sumerians began smelting pure gold and silver ores to create coins 6,000 years ago. Eastern Europeans and North Africans as early as 3,300 B.C. began to dig for tin and copper, smelting and mixing the two melted ores together to make the bronze we often associate with the tools of that age (appropriately named for this useful alloy). Earlier still, people quarried stones like flint to knap arrowheads, spearpoints and atlatl darts. Today, mining is different. With the advent of massive earthmoving machinery, Alfred Nobel’s invention of dynamite and hydraulic pumps that enable facilities to lower the water table and flush out sediments, the scale and scope of mineral extraction has never been greater. The biggest trouble comes not after the first scoop of ore is extracted but in the years and decades after operations and monitoring stop. Hardrock mining is different than hydrocarbon (coal) mining. In the United States, the General Mining Law of 1872 governs the mining of most minerals that we call “hardrock.” That law declared all valuable mineral deposits in land belonging to the United States to be free and open to exploration and purchase – thereby motivating companies and individuals to lay claims to vast swaths of public lands. The Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA; “flip-muh”) put an end to this practice on most of our federal lands, but claims can still be laid – and public lands effectively removed from the public trust – in some parts of the western U.S. and in Alaska. “With more than half a million abandoned hardrock mines on our public lands, and more than 20,000 of them posing environmental hazards, there can be little doubt that the legacy of mining in the 34 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2024
United States has resulted in significant impacts to fish and wildlife habitat, particularly in the West,” said BHA Government Relations Manager Kaden McArthur. “Coldwater trout streams and adjacent riparian zones enjoyed by elk and mule deer are especially harmed by acid mine drainage, which has lasting effects long after mining has occurred. Much of the fish and wildlife habitat on our public lands – 40% of western watersheds – is contaminated by tailings and runoff from these abandoned mines.” There are currently tens of thousands of polluting, abandoned mines throughout the United States. Many of these have no identifiable party responsible for reclamation and are left to continue polluting unless cleaned up using one of a very few, underfunded government programs. The opportunity to clean up and restore the productivity of these sites is huge, and it will not only improve the health of wetlands and downstream fisheries but also terrestrial wildlife habitat. There are several state agencies and private entities who want to help – true Good Samaritans. However, the very laws that aim to protect human and ecosystem health from pollution are blocking good work from being done. The Clean Water Act closely targets point-source pollution – like water flowing or being pumped out of a mine. Responsibility for that pollution is tied to whomever (either a person or a company) owns the mine. However, the law does not distinguish between good or bad actors, nor does it differentiate between a company looking to extract as much value as possible from the earth and leave the taxpayers to clean up their mess, and a for-profit or nonprofit entity that aims to restore the abandoned site. That liability is a huge barrier to entry for organizations that otherwise have the money and the expertise to get to work on these cleanup projects. Because of this, these mines go on polluting with no end in sight. A bipartisan coalition of United States senators has introduced the Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act of 2023 (S. 2781) to resolve this issue. This legislation would extend a targeted, conditional liability shield for qualified Good Samaritans to work on cleanup projects where no party can be held responsible for remediation.
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:D%26RG_Railfan
Prospecting for a Solution
“Abandoned mines are one of the biggest water quality problems in the West with the EPA estimating that 40% of headwaters are affected,” said Corey Fischer, Public Lands Policy Director at Trout Unlimited. “It’s a huge problem, and Trout Unlimited has been working for years with state and federal partners to clean up some of these sites, but these efforts are limited by liability that treats those who want to clean up abandoned mines as if they were the ones who created the pollution in the first place. The Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act of 2023 is a wildly bipartisan solution, creating a pilot program for state agencies, nonprofits and other third parties to help clean up abandoned mines sites, creating clean water and improving the fish habitat.” S.2781 would create a pilot program administered by the Environmental Protection Agency to permit up to 15 cleanups of abandoned mines by verified Good Samaritans. The bill requires that remediation projects pose a low risk to the environment and produce improvements in conditions, while also requiring public involvement and a review process. When one of these permits is approved, the qualified Good Samaritan will receive conditional liability relief, allowing them to address toxic waste from these facilities and improve habitat for fish and wildlife. Plus, if one of these Good Samaritans ever made things worse, then all their liability protections would be voided. It’s a winwin with little downside. Rocks and minerals make extraordinarily useful tools and technologies. And the ability to melt, mix, forge and craft these rocks define our modern society. Like most elements of our world,
the process of transforming these natural resources into a useable product begins with extraction. Lately, human rights abuses in mines abroad – particularly in Central Africa – have raised concerns over where and how mining should be done. To be clear: mining has a place in North America, but it must be done carefully and with restraint. Mining should not take place in ecosystems like the headwaters of Alaska’s Bristol Bay or near the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area, however, there are plenty of places on this continent where responsible mining can be done. We must act with restraint if we are to maintain any semblance of the society that we’ve inherited or the wild places we treasure. Yet we must also innovate and iterate. New mining technologies allow the industry to operate in a way that better serves customers, consumers and the environment – now the law must do the same. “As hunters and anglers, we want to be able to enjoy healthy, intact ecosystems during our outdoor pursuits,” McArthur continued. “Passing Good Samaritan legislation into law is a key step toward tackling this enormous problem and cleaning up these watersheds. Charlie Booher is a conservation lobbyist at Watershed Results LLC and holds degrees in wildlife biology, public policy and natural resource conflict resolution from Michigan State University and the University of Montana. Outside of the office, you can find him hiking the mountains of Western Montana and re-learning how to hunt and fish in the Northern Rockies.
INTRODUCING THE
KNIFE & TOOL SHARPENER MK.2 Experience shaving sharp edges on all your knives. The KNIFE & TOOL SHARPENER Mk.2 is easy to use and delivers best-in-class sharpening for all knives and edged tools. Sharper than the day you bought them. L E A R N M O R E AT: WORKSHARPTOOLS.COM/WSKTS2-LEARN-MORE
S C A N TO WATC H THE VIDEO
THE KNIFE SHARPENING COMPANY WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 35
Imagine if someone put the same time, thought, and effort into designing fishing apparel that you put into finding fish. Someone did; we’re Skwala. We make thoughtful, dependable, comfortable gear—so meticulously built and thoroughly tested that you hardly notice it. Allowing you to focus on more important things, like fishing.
BUILT TO FISH
36 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2024
skwalafishing.com
the hike. the hunt. the catch. the harvest. the adventure. the journey. the spot. the story. the meal.
the fearless
PURSUIT OF
FLAVOR. Get 10% off any order with discount code BHA10
www.montanamex.com
NEW FRAMES MADE FROM OLD NETS.
WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 39
HUNTING WITH DAD As told by his children, Hannah Peter Flaherty, Paul Peter, Steven A. Peter, Adeline Peter Raboff, and Bessie Ann Peter Williams Our dad, Stephen Tsee Gho’ Tsyaa Tsal Peter Ch’igiioonta’ (1906-1997), lived an exclusively nomadic lifestyle until the end of the 1940s, while he lived in Arctic Village, and then he moved to Fort Yukon, Alaska. These are hunting stories of his children, from oldest to youngest, Bessie, Hannah, Paul, Adeline and Steven. They hunted with him during different decades. Bessie and Hannah hunted with him during World War II, when bullets and storebought foods were scarce. At one point the family almost starved. At the time the family lived year-round in a canvas tent. We are grateful for having had this shared life with our father and wish to share these stories with our own families and the larger world. The stories that follow occurred during the childhood of each of the storytellers. Most of the hunting took place in the Teedriinjik country (formerly the Chandalar River) on and near the Venetie Indian Reservation in Northeastern Alaska. Most of the hunting took place in the mountains and hills of Gwazhał (presently known as the Brooks Range) between 1943 and the 1970s. 40 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2024
Bessie Ann Peter Williams started hunting with our father when she was 7 or 8 years old – old enough for her attention span to have increased to the point of paying attention to her duties while hunting. It was during and after World War II and up to about 1952 – a period of about eight or nine years. Bessie now lives in Fairbanks, Alaska. Hannah Peter Flaherty also hunted with our father during the late 1940s to 1952. Hannah now lives in Anchorage, Alaska. Paul Peter and his cousin Frankie Francis hunted with our father from the time they were 6 years old – from 1946 to 1952. After 1960, Paul Peter lived his life in Sacaton, Arizona. 1952 was the year my mother and my sister Hannah were so ill with tuberculosis that they had to stay in the hospital in Gwichyaa Zhee (Fort Yukon). Our family left the Teedriinjik country for the Yukon Flats to be near them. My mother recovered, and the family returned to the North Country in 1957. I (Adeline Peter Raboff ) started hunting with our father in 1957
Artwork: Travis Bradford
TI’YAA VANARAAZHRII
Left to Right: unidentified, nephew Jonas Peter, Stephen Peter (Dad), brother Joseph, and sister Madeline, circa 1921/22.
for a period of two years. It was during the time when Bessie was married and away and Hannah and Paul went to boarding school in Mount Edgecumbe, across a narrow inlet from Sitka, Alaska. I now live in Fairbanks, Alaska. Steven A. Peter went hunting with our father in the 1970s when he was once again living in the Teedriinjik valley. Steven now lives in Fairbanks, Alaska.
Bessie Ann Peter Williams’ Story Tr’injaa hihłyaa gwats’a’ datthak, khyit ts’a’ ti’yaa vaa nalzhrii. Izhik gwats’an, shats’an t’igwiin’in kwaa dai’ gwazhri’ vaa oo’ok neehihdik. Izhik gwanna dai’ ganaaldaii, nijin diits’an t’igwii’in dai’ duuyeh nilii, łuk, ts’a’ nin tsal kwaii kat naraanjii,. Aiits’a’ jidii haa nagaazhrii kwaii kat narahaandal kwaa goo’ii, dink’ee, dink’eeki’, ts’a’ shrii haa. Jidi gwach’aa gii haa naazhrii kwaii chan. Łyaa zhyaa naazhrii nąįį duuyeh gootth’an, gookwai’ taa rahaa’aa kwaa goo’aii. Jii t’ee goodiveegwiizuu gwarahahtsyaa gwits’i’ gehan. Jidii datthak eenjit naraazhrii, vadzaih, dinjik, divii, tthaa, dzan, geh. Jidii tr’ehee’aa kwaii. Oo’ok naazhrii gwizhit łąįį gookáałtii. Aii łąįį aii dinjii k’it goveegoo’aii ts’a’ gwinzii goots’a’ garinkhii. Yee’ok naraazhrii gwizhit, aii t’ee ły’aa shigwitr’it. Geetak divii vehkii naał’ik, aiits’a’ nijin t’iinch’yaa vaagwaaldak. Gwinzii shoahkat ts’a reh. Shoakat, “Nijin nagadhat, deegaanchy’aa, nijin t’iginchy’aa, aii ddhah gwikhyuu deegoonchyaa?” Datthak vagwaldak. Shindee t’aahch’yaa. Nijin divii eenjit naazhrii dai’ geetak niinghyuk haljii gwizhit łąįį naii haa than dhiidii ts’a’ naljat nagwaadhak. “Ddhah tee dhindii dai’ naljat,” vaihnyaa ts’a’ jyaa dashahnyaa; “Noonjat shro’, shaa dhindii ts’a’ shii chan naa dhiidii,
oodak ddhah tee dhiidii ts’a’ hadhaljii gaa k’eegwiich’yaa tinjii ji’, gaashahandaii.” Divii ki’ neekwaii haa oo’ee neezhii, gwandaa diłk’ee ji’ gaa vaashandaii kwaa. Duulee gwandaa diłk’ee ts’a’ zhah t’eh yinlii, ts’a’ jyaa dii’in dai’, yee’an Dinjii naii yinkineedal. Jii aii gwinziii ganaldaii kwaa. Tr’iintsal gwanaa dai’, shii, Hannah, Paul haa khyit khałzhit tr’eelk’ii ch’yaa. Ch’ihłan ti’yaa vaa nirilzhrii, yeedee K’iiviteiinlii hee t’agwii’in. Shii, Paul haa vaatr’ahaajil, naazhrii gwizhit łąįį naii k’eeraahtii, yeezhok nan tee hee aakin tr’ii’ii. K’iiviteiinlii ts’a’ geeghaih ddhah dha’aii deetak reh. Oozhee k’oo gwiin’ee jidii tsal zhyaa nilii. Duulee jyats’a’ gwizhrih vanaldaii, izhik dai’ łyaa ihtsal, gaashandaii kwaa. Ch’ihł’an naa’in ti’yaa vinjyaa naa’ii, ti’yaa drin neeyehee’aa reh. Ni’ee gwach’aa zhit, łuhch’yaa, nilii tsal, lidii haa naandoo, dahaa yeheelyaa eenjit. Naa’in yishii naa’ii. Ch’ihłan oonji’ Khiinjik zheh gwadhaa zhit tr’eelk’ii, ti’yaa, ni’ee haa nagaazhrii, “Zheh gwadhaa giłeehohjyaa shro’,” diigahnyaa. Ch’ihłee gwahaadhak gwizhit t’ee han hee zhyaa chiitaii gach’aatth’ak, juu t’ii’in li’, gwiriittha’k ts’at t’eh tr’iinjil ts’a’ needoorahaadhak gaa kwaa. Naritr’al. Zheh gwadhah nihdeiinzhii ts’a’ zhyaa gaa diinaahtrat, oodak gaa gwaraah’ya’ kwaa, naa’in t’ii’in gwich’in gwiindhan ts’a’ reh. Nitsih Ddhaa gehzhee zheh gwadhaa gwanarah’ee, nats’ahts’a’ tr’oozhrii vanaldaii kwaa. Izhit it’ee sheenjit tr’ih tsal iłtsaii, dachan neekwaii nihts’ii dha’aii reh. Shahai’ neech’ihihkwak. Shaa tr’ih tsal zhit tr’aadii kwaa. Nijin datthak k’eerahoojil, shih eenjit khanaraandaii t’agwii’in. Khaihłan gaa tr’aak’i’ kwaa. Khyit ts’a’ zheh gwadhah dachan haa gwinaarah’ee zhit gwarich’ii. Shin, khaii, nihk’it t’oonch’yaa. WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 41
I hunted with Dad all the time until I became a woman; then, after that, only when I was not on my (monthly) period. You know, back then, we couldn’t handle meat, fish or game when we were on our period. Then, also, we had to not touch any article that belonged to the hunt, like guns, bullets, knives or even personal articles of clothing. We could never walk over a hunter’s legs or feet. That was bad luck for hunting. We hunted for everything: caribou, moose, sheep, ground squirrels, muskrats, geh – everything that we ate. I watched the dogs while he went off to hunt. That was my job. I keep those dogs quiet. You could talk to those dogs like people. Sometimes I could see the sheep better than he could so I would tell him where they were. He’d ask questions: Where is it standing? How many? Where are they? How is the slope of the mountain there? He’d use my eyes. When we hunted for sheep, sometimes he would be gone a long time, while I was left with the dogs. Then I would get scared. I told him that I was afraid while he was away. He told me, “Don’t ever be afraid; you are with me, and I am with you, even when I am up in the mountains. And if something happens, I will know it.” He came back with two heads, but I do not know how many sheep he got. Maybe he got more and buried them in the snow, and those other people came later to get the meat. I don’t remember that part. When we were little, Hannah and Paul and I would sit on the 42 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2024
sled all the time. We went hunting with Dad one time up Kiiviteinlii. He didn’t get sheep on Kiiviteinlii but on the next mountain north; I forgot its name. Paul and I went with Dad, taking care of dogs while he was hunting. We looked down in the valley between Kiiviteinlii and the next mountain, the stream all the way down looked so little. Maybe I remember it that way because I was little, I don’t know. One time Naa’in (bush man) stole Dad’s njyaa – his lunch. You know, Mom wrapped up a biscuit and a little meat and tea in a cloth for him to take. Naa’in stole his food. One time we were up Khiinjik (fall salmon river, also Sheenjik) in a tent, and Mom and Dad went hunting. They told us not to leave the tent. Pretty soon we heard someone outside, so we crawled under the blanket and closed our eyes. This person came in the tent and even touched us, but we didn’t look. We thought that was Naa’in.
Artwork: Travis Bradford
Shahan ts’ik iizuu yuunjik. TB oozhrii reh. Ch’adhah eetr’agwał’in, nilii vakat giłeehihłii. Deeshihi’yaa tthak shaagwandak, gwach’aa gandzaahtsuu gwant’ii dhidii. (Tr’eenjyaa gwizhrih t’agwii’in, reh. Tr’injaa googwitr’it t’aihnyaa.) Tr’injaa shagaii shoahtthaa naii ts’a’ goolat naii chan k’eejit giinlii, jyats’a’ tee neerahiinjik deegahee’yaa datthak gagiindaii, ts’a’ khaihł’an tr’aak’i’ kwaa datthak. Nijin ni’ee, ti’yaa haa Gwichyaa Zheh gwats’a’ gihee’al dai’, shii, Hannah haa geetee shitsuu Soozun (ti’yaa vahan) vaa tr’aadii, vaa gwirich’ii. Ini’tsu’! Hannah, shii haa drin datthak tseegwii’in. Ch’ihłan tthaa tr’oonjik ts’a’ vak’oh khin dich’iriłchaa, iłchii. Drin datthak tseerii’in ts’a’ chuu zhit neet’eerahthak, ts’a’ aii diitsuu. “Deegohtsai’ kwaa,” diinahnyaa. Nilii it’ii ts’a’ ahgaii gwiizhit. Nilii tr’it’ii diits’an gwahtsii kwaa, tth’aii hee tr’iintsal ts’a’ reh. Nilii lęįį an tr’ahahtsyaa gits’i’. Adan aii vaghaii lęįį ts’a’ ch’anjaa nilii. Nats’ats’a’ tł’il tr’ahtsii geediinołtin. Nijin shitsuu neeheedyaa nagwaadhak dai’, łąįį ghwaa datthak shriitr’irilii ts’a’ vizhit, gwinzii gwizhit gwirilii. Nihłaandii ts’a’ t’arah’in. Aiitł’ee łąįį kat nirilii ts’a’ shitsuu giiyahchaa vaagwiindaii kwaa geh’an. Gwinzii giheechaa goo’ąįį. Van choo vee geeghaii, Van K’eedii gwirich’ii. “Ti’yaa, “chihjal oł’ai’,” vaihnyaa. “Daanchy’aa neehinlyaa zhrih hoiindal yuu’,” shahnyaa. K’aii luhts’ik haa łuk neereelyaa vachan vakat kwaa reh. Aii k’aii luhts’ik łuk vighit gwizhit gwankeeratthak haa neerahaazhik. Nijin chihjol dhał’aii dai’, tǫǫ oozhrii adrii ts’a’ naljat kwaa. Łyaa gwinzii gi’yiichy’a’. K’aii luhts’ik kat łuk lęįį haa shizheh gwits’ee shoozhii. Aaha’, ti’yaa łyaa dinjii vagawaahtł’oo iinli’. Ch’ihłan shih diihaa niinjii, dinjii naii gaa goot’aii kwaa gwilii, goovihdeiingaii haa reh. Ts’a’ t’ee ti’yaa Gwichyaa Zhee gwats’a’ haazhii, diits’igaheenjyaa geenjit. Drin doo łaa gwahiłthat. Nijin khan tłihteeheehaa k’ee’an hee haazhii, van, han haa taa ivyaa, vakwai’ chųųdal zhrih zhyaa dhidlit Gwichyaa Zhee k’idik dai’.
Nitsih Dhaa gehzhee camp tr’ii’ee. Nahts’ahts’a’ tr’oozhrii vanaldaii kwaa. (We had a camp below Nitseh Dhaa, I don’t remember the name of the place.) Anyway, sheenjit canoe iłts’aii, dachan neekwaii nihts’ii dha’aii. (Anyway, he made me a canoe, with two wooden balances on either side.) I paddled by myself; no one sat in that canoe with me. We went all over the place hunting for food; we never stayed one place. Always lived in a wall tent – summer, winter just the same. Mom got sick with tuberculosis, and she told me what to do while I was fleshing caribou skin. She was behind a curtain. (This was women’s work, and she was learning as a young girl how to flesh caribou.) All those women my age, and some younger, they know about moving around and never staying one place. When Mom and Dad would go to Fort Yukon, sometimes
“Don’t ever be afraid; you are with me, and I am with you, even when I am up in the mountains. And if something happens, I will know it.” Hannah and I had to stay home with Grandma Soozun (Dad’s mother). Gee, Hannah and I would play all day. One time we got a ground squirrel and tied it with string around its neck (it was dead). We played all day long – we even dipped it in the water, and Grandma would tell us to be quiet. Meanwhile, she was cutting up meat and drying it. She wouldn’t let us cut the meat because we were too young. We would have wasted a lot of meat. She was old then, maybe in her sixties. She taught us how to make tłil, babiche. When Grandma was ready to go, we could get all those dog packs and pack them so they were balanced. Then we put them on the dogs, and Grandma would tie those packs to the dogs. We didn’t know how to do that, but it had to be just right. We lived near van choo vee, Van K’eedii – Old John Lake. I told Dad I wanted to go fishing. He said, “Only get what you can carry.” We carried the fish on long, thin willow branches, but the bark had to be off. We’d stick that branch through its gills. It was moonlight when I went fishing, but I was not afraid. It was so pretty. I came home with a willow branch of fish. Yes, Dad was a very strong young man. One time a food shortage came, and people were getting weak, starving. So Dad walked down to Fort Yukon to get help. It took him 4 days. He took all the shortcuts, even swam across lakes and rivers. His feet were all blistered by the time he got to Fort Yukon. -Bessie vagwandak
Hannah Peter Flaherty’s Story Ch’ihłan ti’yaa vaa nalzhrii. Ihtsal t’ihnyaa. Paul, Frankie gintsal googaa adahaa neegoovahaazhik, Frankie aii viti’ kwaa ts’a’ reh. Ne’ee aii goovaa nalzhrii gatr’ii’ee gaa reh. Vadzaih zhyaa gaah’oo gwizhit ti’yaa vadzaih choo diłk’ee, izhit gwanaa dai’ dink’ee ki’ agwantrii roh, aiits’a’ shiti’ khaih choh nehkaii
dhidlit ts’a’ yataii hilgit. Vadzaih haah’oo tee t’ii’in t’aihnyaa ts’a’ yaat’aih t’ah’in gwizhit yiji’ ahtsit ts’a’ zhak yoonta’, gwizhit yachaa gadaahtrit. Naljat t’ihnyaa, sheelin datthak zhyaa vadzaih gwanlii nahaa? Ti’yaa aii ts’iivii geeghaih niindhat shahnyaa, ts’iivii gwiintsal shandaa t’ahtsii reh. Gwik’it t’ishizhik, gaa nihk’it naljat. Aii ch’iłtaa dai’ han hee zhyaa vadzaih gwint’aii haah’oo. Vadzaih naii deegwagwahtsai’ dagantsih k’iizhaa ts’a’ gihdeegahaałak. Jyaadagwee’in gwizhit ti’yaa zhrih aakin al’ii, shandee vitłeehih’aii kwaa t’ihnyaa, t’eełi’ naljat ts’a’. One time I went hunting with Dad, alone. I was very small. Even though they were small, Dad often took Paul and Frankie with him. He took Frankie because he had no father. I went even though my mother did not like me hunting with them. While the herd was leisurely moving along, Dad wounded a big bull. At the time, bullets were scarce, so my dad ran after the wounded bull right through the running herd and wrestled it down, holding its horns, and slit its throat. I mean, he ran right through the running herd, and while he was running after it he caught ahold of his antlers and while holding it down, slit its throat. I was very scared because there was a running herd of caribou all around me. Dad instructed me to stand beside this little spruce tree barely taller than me. I did that, but I was still scared. When Father shot the rifle, the caribou ran. The caribou were loudly snorting and running by. I was so afraid I kept my eyes on Dad the whole time. -Hannah Datsoo vagwandak
Paul Peter’s Story Oondee Vashraii K’oo Jumus Gilbert vaa dhiidii ts’a’, akhaii ti’yaa naazhrii vagwandak shaagwandak. Jii t’ee eegwandak: WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 43
Dad told me a lot about hunting animals, not just in the field. He said that if a grizzly bear charges you, and it doesn’t stop within 10 feet, then it is going for you. One time a grizzly bear charged him, and it didn’t stop, so Dad jumped into a small depression that was right in front of him, and the bear bounded right over him. As the bear turned around to charge again, Dad shot him in the armpit. It was one of those situations where, if not for that small depression in the ground, who knows what would have happened. -Paul Dyahdil Vagwandak
“Ch’ihłan niti’, shii haa naraazhrii, ddhah tee. Vadzaih shriit’aanch’yaa tr’eełk’ee. Niti’ khaih choo diłk’ee. Ddhah gwikhyuu vadzaih taii k’iitthan niinzhii ts’a’, zhat neet’aanaii. Aii vadzaih taii ddhah gwakat datthak t’inch’yaa. Ddhah khyuu hee neegahaa’oo geet’agindhan. Aii khaih iłchii tr’oonyaa, nakhaa. Aiits’a’ niti’ yats’a hilgit, yatchaa gich’iheet’al eenjit. Yitji’ ch’ihłak ahtsit akhai’ chan, zhyaa khaih choo dak neeltłee, gwiint’aii t’iizhik t’aihnyaa. Niti’ zhyaa yeedak hee zhyaa vakwai’ haajil, yeethan vadzaih taii hee zhyaa niti’ aachaa, gaa yiniintrat kwaa. Aii shrii chan tth’aii oonta’, oozhak yideeghan gwint’aii oogit, shriit’agwanch’yaa yagwat, ts’a’ aii khaih neet’aanaii ts’a’ iłchii.” Ti’yaa ginleii nagaazhrii gwagwandak shaagwildak, yee’ok gwizhrih nakwaa. Jii t’ee shaagwandak: Shih tthoo nats’a’ eethal ts’a’ jyaadagwahthee neiilii kwaa ji’, it’ee łi’yaa yahaahkwaa eenjit t’ii’in. Ch’ihł’an shih tthoo yats’a’ treetthaii, ts’a’ ti’yaa, ddhah kat yeezhok nan gwizhit goo’aii (teełtin oozhii), izhik zhyaa gwizhyaatł’ee ts’a’ chan hee yats’a’ tr’eetthaii, gwizhik ł’aa yigee diłk’ee ts’a’ yeełkhwaii. Aii teełtin deekit goo’aii kwaa ji’, it’ee nats’aatee zhrih gwaheelyaa. I was up in Arctic Village, sitting with Jumus Gilbert. He was telling me hunting stories about Dad. This is what he said: “Your father shot a big bull caribou, and it went down a caribou trail for a while and then it dropped. You know those caribou trails are all over the mountains, and they prefer walking along the side of the mountain. We assumed that big bull was dead; your father ran over to slit its throat. He grabbed ahold of one antler, and that bull bounded up with such force that it knocked your dad off his feet. That bull was dragging your dad down the caribou trail, but he did not let go, and since he still had the knife in hand, he stabbed it in the chest. After a few stabs the bull fell.” 44 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2024
Ti’yaa vaa naraazhrii dai’ k’eech’ii naah’ik dai’ diits’a’ khach’aahthak, tr’eedaa zhyaa tr’ahotan k’it t’igwinch’yaa nagwaadhak. Nijin jyaadii’in dai’, han heezhyaa, “ha’,” nyaa. Tr’inin tr’iinlii dai’ gaajyaadii’in. Tr’ih choo zhit tr’eelaa dai’ gaa. K’eech’ii naah’ik dai’, “Ha’” nyaa. Diikwaa’in jyaanyaa aiitł’ee. Jidii t’ahnyaa veenjit keegwaraah’in. Ch’ihłan Gwichyaa han gwinjik tr’ih choo tr’ahłaa akhai’, “Ha’” yahnyaa. Datthak ts’a’ nihk’yaa rihi’ik, aiits’a’ t’ee khai’ ts’a’ ch’ihłee akin gwaraa’ii ahagwaroonyaa datthak gwilii ts’a’ jyaa nyaa, “Handuhts’aii goohin? K’aii tee jidii k’aa noh’in? Jyaa dii’in (danli’ haa gwik’it taahtsi’) dinjik ji’ t’inch’yaa.” Dinjik shriit’ahthee hee dhidii, one mile agwahthee, k’iidi’ niinghit, ohts’aii teeghaii hee t’inch’yaa łee. Jyats’a’ t’ee nin eenjit khach’arahaa’ya’ geediinoo’aatan t’ii’in. Ti’yaa khyit ts’a’ jyats’a’ neehidik chan. It’ee taii gwinjik tr’ahak dai’, “naazhrii jyats’a’ ahaa gwik’it ahaa.” Jyats’a’ t’ee t’avaihnyaa. Yeezhok hee t’injik ts’a’ yeendaa hee daa’yaa. Khanjii zhyaa Groucho Marx k’it ahaa. Ti’yaa yeendaa hee daa’yaa aii, taih k’eedak, taih keezhak, taii tr’adogoiidhan gaa nihk’it jyts’a’ ahaa gwik’it ahaa. Tr’ohkit dai’ khyu’ vaa ihshyaa, gohch’it t’ee gwagwał’aii ts’a’ vaa ihshyaa. Shaghaii ch’ihłoaatin nilii dai’ tr’ohk’it ti’yaa vaa nadhalzhrii. Khaii ts’a’ gwanlii, khaiinkoo di’ilii gwizhit t’agwii’in, kwaiik’it nilii kwaa nagwaayii. Vaa nahalzhrii ji’ eenjik shoaakat. Gwizhrih roh, duuyee nakwaa dihnyaa nyaa. Niinghyuut tr’aheeda ts’a’ duulee nihkaa hee oo’ee neeraheedaa shahnyaa. Aii ts’a’ hihshyaa kwaa eenjit gwik’ee gwandaii gaa khyu’ t’ii’in. Nihk’it jyaadihch’yaa, noolzhrii yiithan roh. Vanh tr’ahaajil, tthał ch’ahtł’oo, ik, ik dakzhak kwaii haa naalzhii ts’a’ chan ahtsin kwaiitryah atsoo chan nalzhii, neeshraałch’yaa t’aihnyaa, gwintł’oo daatł’oo kwaa. Aii chan tł’yah dach’at haa dohotchaa. Datłok googaa jyaadiinch’yaa ts’a’ naalzhii. Ohtsuu k’eehih’ak shriilik, vizhit shih ts’a’ tthaa kyaa haa gwizhiilii. Vanh datthak tr’ee’al ts’a’ Dachanlee gwatł’an van tsal dha’aii niriinjil, ddhah Vashraii K’oo k’iinji’ hee goo’aii reh. Narahaazhii ts’a’ ch’arahee’aa eenjit gwinzii gwiriłtsaii. Tthaa khyaa nii’aii ts’a’ tthaa dhałdroo. Aii chan neeriin’al. Tthaa khyaa nahih’aa eenjit shagwah’ee, traa ch’ok nihts’ii tsal tthaa an nii’aii, tthaa khakiinzhaa ji’ aii gał ch’ok haa gahazhak, gwizhit t’ee tr’iihaachaa oozhak da’an gwizhit haatłaa gwehkii. Diirahtee gwizhit naatłee ji’, da’an gwizhit hahchyaa nahaa. Ti’yaa, “Ihtsal dai’ shoondee, shachaa, Isaac Tritt nąįį haa drin datthak jyaa digwii’in,” nyaa. Khaiits’a’ gwizhit chiitaii gwizhri’ goo’aii, zhee laii gwanlii,
Artwork: Travis Bradford
Adeline Peter Raboff ’s Story:
shroonch’yaa ts’a’ gwiintsal chan ahtr’aii. Ti’yaa vizhyaahch’ya’ (vizhit haa gwik’itahkhaii gwich’in, ts’a’ jyaa dii’in gwagwaa’ee’ ts’a’ vaa gwaraah’in ch’ihł’ak zhrih vak’aa dhaa’aii, ch’iitsii haa iltsaii) haa taih gwagwantrii kwaa. tee khach’aa’ya’. Ch’ihłok neerilzhii, neegwahk’a’ gwizhit nilii akaii ko’ ts’a’ iłch’yaa, Han heezhyaa, “K’ihtr’uu kat vadzaih nał’in,” nyaa. Vizhyaahch’yaa izhik dai’ gaashandaii kwaa gaa shahan ninghit gwahaadhat aiitł’ee zhit gwaał’in gaa vadzaih nał’in kwaa. Gohch’it t’ee, “ Jii shanlee shagwildak, “Nijin niti’naazhrii dai’, oo’ee neeheedyaa gwats’a’ nilii tth’ak gwitsii ahtsii t’aginch’yaa,” shahnyaa. “Neenjii Kihtr’uu gwakat sheenjit ko’ ts’a’ ahch’yaa,” shahnyaa. Nilii ahch’yaa gwideezhak datthak t’inch’yaa k’it t’aginch’yaa. Goots’a’ iichi’, nijin diizheh k’ineerii’oo dai’ He grabbed ahold of one antler, and that bull tr’ahoojyaa yiindhan,” shahnyaa. vanh vanleechoh ch’ihłak zhat Oodee Kihtr’uu gwikiit’ik, vadzaih bounded up with such force that it knocked your dad dhitin gwa’an gweedhaa. niinjii tsal k’it neehiidal gwaał’in. off his feet. That bull was dragging your dad down the Kwaiik’it, tr’injaa naii, “Goots’a’ tr’ahoo’oo niindhan?” caribou trail, but he did not let go, and since he still Myra’ tsal, Alice Peter, datthak shahnyaa. Yeedak tr’ahee’al geenjit had the knife in hand, he stabbed it in the chest. After a oodak ddhah ts’a’ geheedaa nan nizii k’it t’oonch’yaa, nihthan geenjit shrigwagwilii, nilii few stabs the bull fell. ts’a’ oodak gwał’in gwiizhik, “Aaha’,” oodaa neegeheelyaa geenjit. Ko’ vaihnyaa. “K’ihtr’uu gwats’a’ drin gaah’in geh’an vadzaih tr’eełk’ee datthak gwiheeddhaa t’oonch’yaa,” shahnyaa googaa nihk’it hoihshi’ gaagiindaii. nihthan. Digilik datthak kat łaii ghwaa nigiinlii ts’a’ t’ee geheedaa geenjit Ohtsuu zhit gwarinlii ts’a’ t’ee yeedak shreekahchyaa kat nihk’iitik shrigwegwiinlik ts’a’ dloodeegidlii haa nijin ti’yaa nilii dhidlii goovaa gahkhyuk gwiintthat datthak, nan ghoo, k’oh, ts’a’ k’aii tee chuu zhit gwaandak ts’a’ t’ee shoo haa tr’igiinjil. tr’ee’al. Jii t’ee Dinjii Zhuh K’yaa dahjal, gwarahnyaa, aii t’ee ddhah Shatthai’ niindhaa ts’a’ ts’at t’eh iizhii, ts’a’ khaa gwandaa hee khyuu dahthee hee chuu t’ee van tsal ts’a’ ninlaii, izhit neeraazhii. khakeesha’aii, shakat gwiłts’ik gaa shoo ihłii. It’ee van tsal neeraazhii gwats’an, jii ahtsin gwakaiitryah atsoo gwilei’, zhyaa handahtłii ts’a’ vaa shakwai’ trah gwanlii, chan datan. Gwandak neekwaii (October 1956): Jii tthaa khyaa shaa nidii dhidlit drin tr’eedaa hee, ah, nidii t’aihnyaa. K’aii choo ts’a’ nan ghoo tee zhyaa drin gweedhaa gwideetak t’aldhal, Gohotan, aiitł’ee tr’ookit khaii ti’yaa vaanadhalzhrii, Vashrąįį K’oo ch’ihłok gaa gwinzii neeraazhii shats’an iłts’aii kwaa, gwizhik adan aii gwats’an yeedak shree hanee’ak niitakts’aii hee.] shaakwaa’in. (Jii t’ee noohaagwahaldak, gookhwandaii geenjit, sheejii ts’a’ Khaa gwats’a’ gweedhaa gwiizhit ddhah kiit’ik kharaa’oo ts’a’ zhat shoondee naii geech’oorahtan zheh gwats’a’ gahaajil ts’a’ sheejii shats’aii tr’aadii. Vadzaih dilk’ii gwats’an diits’a’ ts’aii ahtraii. Ti’yaa dink’ee nilii chan ti’yaa haa nahahzhrii geenjit vat’aii kwaa, ts’a’ shachaa, 22 shantł’eiintin, ts’a’, “Vadzaih nehkaii dhidlit ji’ khaak’ee yuu,” shijuu naii chan gintsal.) shahnyaa. Hagideedi aiitł’ee oodak gwideetaa hilgit ts’a’ ch’ahdoo. Aih shi’ii kwaa geh’an aih nalzhii kwaa, gaa ti’yaa aii aih Ch’ihłak nehkaii iłtsaii, aii zhyaa nadhat ts’a’ aakin shaa’ii, vaghai’ neehaazhik gwich’in gaa aii ganaldaii kwaa. nizii, ts’a’ gwinzii vigweech’in. Khoołk’ee gwiizhit dink’ee shaa ohotan Chuuluu kat tr’ahaa’oo, tr’ee’al geenjit gwinzii. Zhee laii gwanlii naa’naii, deekih vizhit haayii kwaa akwat tth’aii hee safety dhitin ji’ gwizhit gwiink’oo, duulee 10 below gwanlii. vanaldaii kwaa. Juk drin gaa tth’aii hee deegwiizhik gaashandaii Tik akwat doo gwahthee gwa’an deetryah łihts’eenihiindal, kwaa. niłigoozhrii. Aii vadzaih nehkaii taih kat k’iizhak hee gwik’it ch’ahkwaih. Ti’yaa, Niinghyit gwa’an gwats’an deetryah haahchik gwiriitth’ak. “Zhoh kwaii yehoondal t’inch’yaa, yahee’aa,” nyaa. Van shreezhatnee’aa ts’aii neeriijyaa gwizhit ti’yaa, “Ha’,” nyaa. Too nagwaanaii ts’a’ gwink’oo goodlit ts’a’ gwintal gishrih Khaihłan naraadhat gwiizhit shandee haa zhit gwa’an gwaał’in, ahtr’aii geenjit mahsi’ nihthan, ihdluu t’ihnyaa. Vadzaih nehk’ii jidii nah’in tii’in li’ eenjit. Khan tr’ee’al, aiitł’ee chan hee khehłan doo neethahch’aa ts’a’ yitsinh tr’igwilii, vits’ihnyaa. Nijin vadzaih naradhat. Van deetaa datthak jyaadigweeyah. neet’aanaii izhik jyaayahthan, ts’a’ nilii kwaii nihkat deedhadlii ts’a’ Aii gwiizhit oodak deetrya’ kiht’eedahaadhak. ch’ahdhah yakat diłtsuu. Khaihłan narahdhat gwiizhit ti’yaa, “Aii shree hanee’aa ts’aii Gwiizhik t’ee, “Neegwaahk’ii,” shahnyaa. Nijin ts’iivii ehdee tr’eelk’ii oondak gwiintsal ts’iivii deetak goo’aii shats’ah gwigweełkii. Zhat gwa’an traa k’il tsal zhrih agwał’aii, niinkhyut veetr’agwał’in t’aihnyaa, k’ihgwaa’ee khaih nadhat aakin diinaa’ii,” shahyaa. ti’yaa oo’ee haazhii ts’a’ gweełk’in. Oodee dhah kat yeenahjyaa ts’a’ zhat Aii gwidee’ak datthak gwak’oorinjil oonjit shree khanee’aa ts’aii neech’ee’aa ts’aii kǫh tr’aah’in, nilii lih k’o ts’a’ dhich’yaa, neera’aa. gwats’ah datthak. Łyaa tǫǫ gwanlii gwiizhik neerihii’oo. Nijin gweedhaa gaa “Dahthee ch’ahaak’ee gwihitth’ak gwats’a’ dathak zhat dhindii,” gaashandaii kwaa, duulee vanlee choo ch’ihłakzhat dhitin gwah’an shahnyaa. gweedhaa dohłii. Vashraii K’oo gwats’a’ tr’eeree’oo dai’ łyaa too gwanlii, Zhah lęįį łee, k’ii’an tr’iinzhii. ts’a’ gweech’in gaa kwaa. Dzaa t’ee aih zhuu’yuu ji’ gaa vanaldaii kwaa. Gaa gwich’in It’ee łi’ cheeshandak ts’aii ihshyaa gwizhik gaa neeshichik. Ti’yaa oiihnyaa, yizhuuyuu kwaa ji’ duuyeh khan zhah tee ahaa. Zhat drin shaghwaa zhit nilii inlii ts’a’ dink’ee chan shideeghan tł’yah deetak dai’ zhah lęįį tee vadzaih dǫǫ tr’eełk’ee. niyintin. Gwizhik deetryah, shriit’aganch’yaa, łyaa goovaa shroonchy’aa. Aii dink’ee vitsii aii ts’iivii ts’a’ k’aii anahaltthak gwits’i’ izhit Gaanjat kwaa ts’a’ vadzaih neerah’aa deetaa neeginiit’ee ts’a’ nilii niyintin. Ihshyaa gwiizhit gaa gwalak dhiichii. dal ts’a’ ch’eekaii akhwatan keegwagwaah’in. Ti’yaa, zhit ch’adhah Juk drin gwats’a’, it’ee łi’ tǫǫ gwanlii ts’aii juk drin gwats’a’ natsaa t’ee nilii tsal ts’a’ ch’ik’eh gooveenjit akhoonyaa. Tiyaa izhik dai’ jyaa ti’yaa nijuk ahaa gaandaii vaashandaii kwaa. Duulee sa’ nah’in nyaa kwaa, gaa aii kwantee gwideetrya’ tiginch’yaa kwaa, Geedan aii WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 45
Stephen Tsee Gho’ Tsyaa Tsal Peter Ch’igiioonta’ Photo: James H. Barker
One time we were going down the Yukon River, and he said, “Ha,” and we all looked around. One by one we all gave up, and he said, “Handu’ts’aii goo’iin, k’aii tee jidii k’aa noh’in? Jyaa di’in. (Demonstrates with hand movement.) Dinjik ji’ t’inchy’aa.” The moose must have been a good mile away on the opposite downstream riverbank. It was his way of teaching us to be alert to game. 46 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2024
khanagandaii k’eeghaih gwizhrih neech’agaa’aa. Nijin gwa’an vadzaih dilk’ii dihaagwandak ts’a’ reh. Kwaiik’it gwachoo gwa’an gwideetryah dump giilii neeranjaa gwats’an ch’a’aa t’iginch’yaa kwaa. Gwintsal gwiink’oo, googaa ti’yaa khaiits’a’ nats’aa vadzaih nah’aa gwik’it vadzaih nił’aa. Khadiyinlii ts’a’ nihkat deeyaadlii. Nijin gwichyah kat nach’a’aa dai’ shrii zhrih t’aachy’aa. Nilii tr’iłchy’aa ts’a’ neechiriin’al aiitł’ee diizheh gwints’ee rahoo’oo. Tth’aii hee drin niinyit, ti’yaa, ts’a’ ch’izhii dinjii haa oondak neegohoo’oo ts’a’ nilii oonaa neeginlii. Jidii dee zhat dai’ nyaa jyaadinyaa kwaa, gaa deetryah naii nijin goozhit gwiłts’ik dai’ naazhrii naii ch’agahahk’ee eenjit ts’iginyaa. When hunting with my dad, he would signal for us to freeze in stride if he saw anything. Usually it was “Ha” said very abruptly. He did the same thing when we were young, even while riding along in a boat. If he espied anything he would say, “Ha,” and wait for us to find what he had seen. One time we were going down the Yukon River, and he said, “Ha,” and we all looked around. One by one we all gave up, and he said, “Handu’ts’aii goo’iin, k’aii tee jidii k’aa noh’in? Jyaa di’in. (Demonstrates with hand movement.) Dinjik ji’ t’inchy’aa.” The moose must have been a good mile away on the opposite downstream riverbank. It was his way of teaching us to be alert to game. I was 10 years old when we went on our first hunt. It was fall time, late August, and the community was running low on meat. He asked me if I wanted to go hunting with him. Of course, I couldn’t refuse. He said we would walk a long ways and might not be back until the next day. He gave me every opportunity to back out of going, but I insisted; I wanted to go hunting. The next morning we set off, me in blue jeans, a shirt, jacket and a cheap, torn pair of yellow rainboots that were tied together with a cord. They were soft and designed to fit over another shoe. I had a pack sack with some food and a ground squirrel trap. We walked all morning to a small lake in the middle of Dachanlee, a mountain range to the east of Vashrąįį K’oo. It was a perfect place to rest and have lunch. I set a trap and caught a ground squirrel, which we ate. Then he taught me how to make a small piece of wood sharpened on both ends and to place it at the mouth of the ground squirrel hole. The idea is that the ground squirrel pokes his head out of the den at a certain rate of speed, at which time he will impale himself on the small shaft. Then the hunter must catch the squirrel before it can disappear down the den hole. If the squirrel is not caught, then it dies in the den. My father said, “When I was little, my older and younger brothers and Isaac Tritt would spend all day catching ground squirrels (in this way).” It was a perfectly clear fall day and with a good breeze. My father was looking off to the hills with his brass monoscope. Pretty soon he said he saw caribou on K’ihtruu. I took a look through the monoscope but couldn’t make out any caribou. Finally, he said they were the size of the tip of my fingers. I saw movement, as if ants were on the top of K’ihtruu. He asked me if I wanted to go get them. Looking up the gradual slope of the walk, it looked like pretty solid footing to me. I said yes. He said it would take most of the day to reach K’ihtruu. I still wanted to go. We packed up, set off and walked along the east side of the incline. We walked for six hours through tussocks, dwarf birch and willows, all through water. In Dinjii Zhuh K’yaa, that is called a dahjal, a whole sloping mountain just soaked in water that gradually filters
through moss, tussocks, dwarf birch and willow for miles – in this case, to the small lake where we had rested. My poor little yellow rubber boots chafed, and my feet were soaked and cold. I tumbled through taller willows and tussocks for hours, and we did not stop once. Meanwhile, he would wait for me from time to time. Finally, toward nightfall, we reached a crest and crouched down. We were downwind of the caribou. My dad gave me the .22 rifle and told me to kill any wounded caribou. After a short kneeling prayer, he ran over the crest and started shooting caribou. He wounded one, which just stood and looked at me. Its fur was in perfect condition, and she looked perfect. I tried to shoot it, but the gun jammed or it was still on safety; I never did resolve that issue. As nighttime came, it became very cold with thankfully only a small breeze. I was cold. I helped while he gutted and skinned eight caribou. He left each caribou where it fell, piled up the meat and covered it with the skin. At one point he instructed me to build a fire. I could only find small twigs, above the tree line as we were. I worked a long time on this project until my dad came over and started the fire. We saw two other fires on the hills to the north and west as we sat back and ate some fresh, fire-roasted meat. It was totally dark by the time we started to leave. Meaning it could have been 9 p.m. I lost all track of time. It was pitch dark as we started down the hill toward Vashrąįį K’oo. I was so tired I was falling asleep walking. My dad put meat in my pack sack and put the rifle in front of me through the straps. The ends of the rifle stopped me from walking into trees and bushes. I literally was walking in my sleep through parts of the walk. To this day, I have no idea how my father found his way in the dark. Maybe he read the stars and was so used to doing it that he just took it for granted. We made one more stop. It was twilight dark, and he roasted a tasty morsel of meat. I didn’t know this at the time, but years later mom told me that whenever they went hunting, dad would always cook something over the fire for her before his return. I was asleep during the whole of his cookout. By the time we reached home, it was about 9 a.m. the next morning. All the women in town were ready to go up the mountain to get the meat. They had all their dogs and dog packs ready to go and were jovial. Dad told them where the meat was, and they happily set off to get that meat. I went to bed in a fever and got up later that evening, very sore but happy. October 1956: After freeze-up I went on my first winter hunt with Dad going north of Vashrąįį K’oo and to the east side of the valley. My older sister and brother had gone away to boarding school, my next older sister was not strong enough to go hunting with Dad, and my younger brothers and sister were too small. I didn’t wear snowshoes because I didn’t have a pair, and maybe dad carried his; I don’t remember this part. We went along a packed toboggan trail, called chuu luu. It was easy walking and a clear, cold day, maybe 10 below. A raven flew over and circled an area about three or four miles ahead of us. Calling. We could hear other ravens in the great WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 47
distance. We were crossing a lake along its western shore when Dad barely said, “Ha.” We froze in place, and I looked everywhere with my eyes trying to see what he saw. We walked forward at a brisk pace and then froze in place again. We did this all the way across that lake. Meanwhile that raven was up there circling around. At one stop, Dad directed my vision to a small ravine and directed me to look to my right (east) from there in a small opening between the spruce trees. Sure enough, there was a bull looking at us. We got all the way to the area just east of the ravine. He asked me to stay put until after I heard the shots. He waded off into the deep snow. This is where I don’t remember if he had his snowshoes, but he must have, I’m thinking, otherwise he couldn’t move with the speed he needed. We ended up getting four caribou that day, all in the ravine in deep snow. By this time, there were a few ravens, and they were so happy. They were pretty brave, swooping over the butchered caribou, looking for scraps and frozen blood. Dad left them a few pieces of meat and fat from just underneath the skin. My father did not say so at the time, but when ravens are hungry, they help hunters hunt for game. These were wild country ravens, not city ravens with a ready dump to feed from. It was a little bit cold, but Dad skinned those caribou, quartered them and piled them up the same way he had during the fall hunt. When he butchered in the field, he used only a knife. We cooked some meat, ate and headed home. Since it was early in the day, he or someone else came out and got the meat that day. -Adeline Doone-doone vagwandak
Steven A. Peter’s Story Ch’ihłan shii, ti’yaa haa Dachanlee naraazhrii. (Dachanlee t’ee Vazhraii K’oo khaneech’ii’ak ts’aii goo’aii) Shree zhat nee’aa ts’aii, k’aii nagwan ts’a’ gwanzhih tee yeendaa tr’ee’al. Gwintsal ninlaii ts’a’ k’aahjik haa ddhah kat k’iidaa nihts’ah neiinlaii, ts’a’ yeendaa hee tr’ahaa’aa ts’a’ gwindeetaa tr’ee’al, akwat dachan tsal gwanlii ts’a’ k’aii chan vakat niint’aii aii deetaa gwagwantrii tr’ee’al. Ninlaii gwats’a’ tr’ee’al gwiizhit ti’yaa, “Ha’” nyaa, aii t’ee khaihł’an nindhat nyaa t’inyaa. Ti’yaa ninlaii gwatł’an dachan tsal kat toh ootah haa nadhat, dachan dinjii k’it teeltsi’, ahotan zhyaa naadhat k’it t’inchy’aa. Aii ninlaii gwatł’an datoo ootah t’ee zhat nan veelii datthak vats’an nilii k’it t’inchy’aa ts’a’ toh ootah. Gwizhik shandee haa zhit gwa’an datthak gwaał’in. Niikhyuk gwahaadhat kwaa ts’a’ ch’arooghwan gwihtth’ak, ahkhai’ shih tthoo tr’ik choo nadhat (vigii neekwaii chan gwanlii), ninlaii duhts’aii 20 akwat 25 feet gahthee gwa’an oodak gwahtsan ts’a’ aakin danaa’ii. Zhat gwintsal nadhat ts’a’ ch’ooghwan tł’ee k’ii’an tr’ineetthaii niikhyit haatlak haa, aiitł’ee ti’yaa an tr’ineezhii, jii jyaa digwiizhik aii t’ee naraazhrii dai’ jyaa digwii’in t’oonch’yaa. One time, Dad and I were up Dachanlee (small range to east of Arctic Village, Alaska) hunting. We were on the west slope, walking among short willows and other vegetation about four feet high. Small streams and rivulets came down the mountain at intervals,
and we crossed those with big strides, or there were small timbers and willows laid across them, upon which we forded those streams. We were approaching such a stream, when Dad said, “Ha,” which meant to freeze in mid stride. My father was on a small log with his toh (walking staff ) right in the middle of the stream. Straight as a ramrod, frozen in place, just like a statue. It was as if his toh in the middle of the stream was his domain, his boundary. I was looking around with my eyes. Pretty soon I heard a grunt, and a sow brown bear stood up on its haunches about 20 or 25 feet across that stream, sniffing the air and looking at us. It stood there for a while, grunted and dropped to the ground, took a few strides, and stood up again. Then it skirted to the far downhill side and ambled off. She had two cubs who ran along after her. Then my dad continued walking as if that were an ordinary part of hunting in those parts. -Steven vagandak Editor’s Note: This story was compiled and edited by Adeline Peter Raboff, with Dinjii Zhuh K’yaa translations by Mary Rose Tritt Gamboa and Mildred Peter-Allen.
Glossary: Khaih: a large male caribou, often older, and often also called Vadziah choo (big caribou). Shih tthoo: literally “brown bear.” A grizzly bear. Shih tthoo tr’ik: female grizzly bear. Vazhraii K’oo: placename, “vazhraii,” another name for raven, referring to its mouth and throat, also a loess bank. “K’oo,” a slowmoving stream. Loess bank Stream. Dachanlee: p.n., treeline, Ridge. Kihtr’uu: p.n., shale rock, Mountain. Kiiviteiinlii: p.n., “stacked up rocks.” Mountain. Nitsih Dhaa: p.n., “big mountain.” Van Choo Vee: p.n., literally, “on the shores of the big lake.” Big lake being Van K’eedii, (one lake on top of another) presently known as Old John Lake. Khiinjik: p.n., “fall salmon river.” Also Sheenjik Gwichyaa Zheh also Zhee: p.n., “house on the flats.” Dinjii Zhuh name for Fort Yukon. Naa’in: a bush man, maybe mythical being. Njyaa: meal for the journey. Tł’il: babiche, a hide of caribou or moose cut up in strips. Toh: in this case, a walking stick. Too ozhrii: literally, “it calls the darkness.” The moon. Ini’tsu’: expression, akin to Gee, By golly, and I tell you. Dahjal: mountain drainage, which has no clear stream, covered in dwarf birch, willow, moss and grass hummocks. Water seeps through the growth to a mountain lake. Teełtin deek’it: a depression in the ground caused by melting and freezing of permafrost, which varies in size.
Photos courtesy Tyler Mann
WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 49
NO MATTER WHAT THE SEASON.
NO MATTER WHAT THE TERRAIN.
GO WHERE OTHERS CAN’T.™ WITH GET STARTED:
KORKERS.COM
50 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2024
STORIES IN THE SNOW
Photo: Adam Parkison
BY ADAM PARKISON After following tracks in the snow for hours, transfixed on the path in front of me, I was lulled by the consistency of the simple action: Step, step. Look down. Look forward. Step, step. I had been doing it for so long, weaving in and out of dark timber that I almost forgot what I was doing. When I finally saw the swollen-necked buck for the first time, it appeared like an enigma from the misty mountains – I almost didn’t believe it was real. The animal paused to look back at me across the only open ground he had stepped through all day – moments away from vanishing into the dark timber again. I had been waiting hours for the buck to make this mistake. Dropping to one knee, I held up the rifle and made a 200-yard snap-shot as the buck turned. I lost sight of the animal at the recoil but I heard the smack of the bullet. I knew the deer was down, but I forced myself to sit for a moment to reflect on what I had just accomplished.
Hunting in the mountains in deep snow looks way cooler in hunting clothing advertisements than it is in real life. Judging from
the few hunters I actually come across during these times, I know I’m not the only one who knows this. But those who abandon the hunt when the snow falls forfeit perhaps the greatest chance of success they might have all season. With a fresh canvas of white comes the opportunity to find fresh tracks. And fresh tracks always lead to the animals who left them. Whenever I can, I take a moment to advocate for the lost art of tracking. It’s not just as a novel strategy, but it’s a consistent method for finding success. I call it a “lost” art because not-so-long ago, many of our great-grandparents utilized this skill every fall – from the bigwoods whitetail country of New England to the elk mountains of the West. To them, tracking was simply a part of hunting. Make no mistake, tracking is difficult, and when it comes to learning how to track, there is no substitute for getting out and acquiring the skills through first-hand experience. I was fortunate to learn how to track early on in my hunting career, not because I wanted to learn, but because I had to.
Once upon a time, before I was even old enough to buy a beer, I found myself working as a professional hunter in central Africa. When hunting many of the species there, learning how to track was WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 51
an absolute necessity. And the local hunters who grew up tracking from the time they could walk, taught me a tracker’s master class. Equipped with little more than plastic flip-flops and homemade shotguns, my mentors set off into the vast Sub-Saharan wilderness for weeks at a time, coming home loaded with wild game meat. I watched them follow dainty antelope tracks over hard, volcanic rock, where only a few scuff marks indicated the animal’s passing. They could tell just at a glance roughly how long it would take to catch up to an animal, or whether it was even possible. But it wasn’t just the Africans’ ability to see tracks in difficult terrain that made them skilled, it was their ability to see and decipher all of the signs together. They watched the actions of the birds and monkeys in the trees to better interpret what was happening on the floor below. More than once the call of a honeyguide bird or an oxpecker was enough to lead us to a group of buffalo or eland. And always, they had a keen sense of the animal’s intentions, helping them predict when an animal would bed down, or whether a dangerous one was waiting in ambush. These hunters moved wordlessly together, as if they could read each other’s minds. Nothing escaped their notice. The African trackers read the story of the landscape as clearly as you are reading this text now. They were masters of their environment, and they 52 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2024
moved effortlessly across its harsh ground. Without high-powered rifles and all the other gadgets that modern American hunters use, these hunters relied only on their skills to find success. After witnessing the abilities of these men, I wanted nothing more than to absorb their skills myself. I became a fairly good tracker during the five years I lived in Africa, but my skills at tracking on dry ground were sub-par compared to the Africans. When I came home and began hunting out west, I found the snowy conditions in the mountains to be a considerably easier environment to track in. Because the snow presents a clean white canvas to better see the tracks, I recommend any beginner to start there.
Tracking is a skill that can only be learned by consistently practicing it. It is not something that can be taught in a quick hunting article, and so I won’t fool anyone by claiming to teach it here. The best way to learn how to track is exactly how the Africans taught me: by simply observing where an animal walks and examining the tracks it leaves on the ground. Because time, sunlight, temperature and wind can drastically alter the appearance of a track, it is best to
Photos: Adam Parkison
They were masters of their environment, and they moved effortlessly across its harsh ground. Without high-powered rifles and all the other gadgets the modern American hunters use, these hunters relied only on their skills to find success.
Photos: Adam Parkison
Fresh African lion tracks in the sandy floor of a dry river bed. The author learned how to track while working with Indigenous hunters in Central Africa.
return to the spot long after the animal has left and examine how conditions have altered the tracks in your absence. Some quick tips to remember when tracking: • •
•
Generally speaking, mature ungulate males will often drag their feet in the snow, leaving long drag marks; females often lift their feet straight up, leaving no drag marks. When animals bed down to rest, they will often mill about in an area for a long time, creating a confusing mess of tracks going in all directions. In order to decipher the direction in which the animals exited a bedding area, start by walking in small circles around the area, progressively growing the circles until you clearly see a consistent direction in which the tracks leave. Often, when leaving a bedding area, the animals will move in a straight, purposeful line. Do not just follow the tracks; observe the other signs. Animal droppings are perhaps the greatest indicator of how long ago an animal has passed. Warm droppings are very fresh sign, whereas cold, hard droppings are old sign. The conditions
54 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2024
•
of the plants that an animal eats or steps on might also be a good indication of how long ago an animal has passed. Watch how other creatures are behaving. Birds and small mammals like squirrels will often chatter at the appearance of a large animal like a deer or elk. But keep in mind, these animals might also give away your position as well.
Before I caught up to that deer on that lonely Colorado mountain in October, I thought my chances of filling a tag that year were gone. All archery season I had been dogged by bad luck chasing elk. And now, with only two days left for my rifle deer hunt, the odds of success were low. The day before had been hot, and there was no snow on the mountains. I had been faithfully glassing from early morning to late in the evening without turning up a single deer. To make matters worse, I had been bumping into hunters all day. I went to sleep in my tent that night feeling hopelessly discouraged. The next morning, to my shock, my tent had started to cave in from an unexpected snowstorm that had been piling on me all
The author drags a buck through the snow, taken on a previous hunt in Montana in November.
Photos: Adam Parkison
The track of a mature mule deer buck in the snow next to a .270 Winchester round, the author’s favorite big game cartridge.
night. Outside, the landscape that had been warm and dry the day before was now blanketed with a foot of white powder. I could hear the 4x4s of nearby hunters racing to get off the mountain, and for the rest of the day, I had the area completely to myself. I devised a plan to find tracks by cutting across all the deeper patches of timber I could find in the area. I knew the weather would have sent the bucks to the cover of the trees, and so I hoped to catch the tracks of a buck moving from his bedding area the night before. Since the snow was fresh, any track I found would inevitably be fresh too. It didn’t take long before I found the tracks of a small group of deer. I guessed there were a few does and one buck in the group, judging from the size of the tracks and the way the single track dragged in the snow. At one point, I confirmed that the larger track was a decent buck when I found antler marks slicing through snow that had built up on two tightly spaced trees where the buck passed between. Later, I came across a mess of exploding deer tracks and realized I had jumped the group I was following. As luck would have it, the buck separated from the does at this point, and I was able to hone in
The author’s mule deer, tracked after a fresh snow.
on the single track until I caught up to the animal a couple of hours later – just before dark. Walking up to where the fresh tracks ended at the fallen deer, it felt like I was closing the pages of a book that had kept me entranced all day. Unlike most other methods of hunting, I had felt engaged with the process of the pursuit the entire time. The buck had been writing a story in the snow all day – winding in and out of the dark timber, over hills and rock outcroppings – until finally leading me to the tale’s conclusion, where I somewhat reluctantly closed the book … until next season. BHA member Adam Parkison is a freelance photographer and writer based out of western Colorado. He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and media communication from Colorado State University.
PRO CAMCORDER
CINEMA CAMERA
CINEMA CAMERA
WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 57
RECURVE
Steeped in tradition, built to perform. With comfort, traction and durability that stand up to the hunt, the new Recurve boot is made for swift, confident movement through tough terrain. DANNER.COM/RECURVE
PACKABLE
Performance
Multi-piece trout rods that perform like one-piece rods, the new Trout Pack Series features handcrafted St. Croix quality and proven performance in two highly packable three-piece designs to support elevated off-grid angling adventures.
LEARN MORE AT STCROIXRODS.COM
THE GREAT SALT MARSH
A FAMILY CLAMMING TRADITION
Photos courtesy Pat Saunders
BY PAT SAUNDERS The sun has just started to peek over the horizon. Fog is starting to lift over the bay. Seagulls squawk overhead, and the loud hum of the outboard is forever present in the background. The boat is loaded – diggers, buckets, old onion bags and a few guys. We are headed to the mud flat on the far side of the bay to dig softshell clams, otherwise known as Ipswich clams. The memory is forever burned in my mind: the sunrise, the seals and fish rising, clammers yelling back and forth to each other, some making a living, some getting dinner and some just enjoying the beauty of the marsh on a spring day. I was a young boy at the time, with my grandfather, who like his grandfather, was a clam digger in our small Massachusetts town. The Great Salt Marsh is a long, continuous saltwater marsh running along the northern coast of Massachusetts to the southern coast of New Hampshire. It has rivers, mud flats, sand bars and hundreds of tidal creeks strewn across its landscape and is an important habitat for many species. On any given day you could run into seals and striped bass or whitetail deer and turkeys. This beautiful, diverse ecosystem is where the vast majority of my public land experiences have happened. This place has also sustained my family – economically and on the dinner table for generations. Our family has called this area home for hundreds of years, and the Great Salt Marsh has always been a part of that. I am a fifth generation clammer, and my son and daughter – ages 2 and 4 – are already on the mud flats weekly. I have photos of my great-greatgrandfather digging clams over a century ago on the same mud flats
where I take my kids today. My great-grandfather fed his family on eels that he would spear in the marsh during tough times. My family’s blood is mixed with the mud from generations of slices and cuts inflicted by clam shells. It’s no exaggeration to say that I would not be who I am without the Great Salt Marsh. My grandfather Jack served as clam commissioner in our town for years – an office that enforces shell-fishing laws in Massachusetts. I spent many days on patrol with him looking for poachers or unlicensed clammers. He was truly a man ahead of his time in his role as commissioner, and he knew how important the Great Salt Marsh was. When the flats production of clams was dropping, he and other passionate clammers put together a plan. He helped our town start a highly successful aquaculture program, modeled on programs elsewhere, to sustainably propagate soft shell clams. It was a simple idea. On an unproductive clam flat, we would place a mesh net, supported by floats hooked on the underside so the net would not sink into the mud. The clam larvae, who drift in their early stages of life, would settle under the net and grow. The net protected them from predators and gave them a place to land. The system worked beautifully. You would not believe the number of clams under these nets, which led to more larvae being put out and a general boost in clam populations everywhere. They also started closing mud flats to digging clams where too many small clams were present. In Massachusetts, a soft-shell clam needs to be two inches to keep. Some flats that had been dug out WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 59
Photos courtesy Pat Saunders
the marsh is where my “land ethic” was born. We have had problems over the years – over-harvesting, water quality, invasive green crabs and large-scale erosion in the marsh – and I am sure there will be problems in the future. Despite all of this, the soft-shell clam is still here. This small, insignificant-seeming bivalve still feeds my family. We eat the clams that we dig weekly. Two of my relatives own clam-shucking houses, and multiple family members dig commercially. This is all possible only because of the preservation of the marsh and mud flats as public land throughout the centuries. This amazing species, the public land that sustains it and the people who live here give me hope. I would like to think that a century from now, my great-great-grandchildren will still be able to hunt ducks, fish and eat clams from the same spot my greatgreat-grandfather did 100 years ago. years before, or were not as productive, would have a lot of smaller clams. My grandfather would close these flats for the whole season and give them a chance to come back before being dug again. It worked. After he instituted these measures (which were unpopular in some circles), the clams thrived. It was so successful that we started hosting and working with people from around the country who wanted to study the program and the ecosystem. We had Fulbright scholars, graduate students, professors from numerous universities and scientists out on the flats constantly to see the program and do research. To a young boy who loved the natural world and grew up hunting and fishing, watching this go on in my backyard shaped my perspective for the rest of my life. Out here in the mud and salt of 60 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2024
Pat Saunders is a BHA New England chapter board member and lives on the northern coast of Massachusetts. He’s a passionate and lifelong public land hunter, angler, shell fisherman, scuba diver and runner.
2.0
SUB-MOA SUB-MOA Mark V® rifles are guaranteed to shoot a 3-shot group of .99” or less at 100 yards (SUB-MOA) when used with Weatherby® factory or premium ammunition.
CARBON FIBER TENSIONED BARREL
22
Ti
TITANIUM ACTION
DEEP SPIRAL FLUTED BOLT CERAKOTE
THREADED BOLT KNOB
CARBON FIBER PEAK 44 STOCK
WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 61
APPROACH RAFT SERIES Lightweight and easy to transport, the new-for-2024 NRS Approach redefines the limits of where a boat can take you. Constructed with durable welded PVC, it can handle the abrasion of shallow streams and overgrown banks. A combination of 16-inch tubes and a thick drop-stitch insert floor enhances buoyancy, letting the Approach draft in skinny water, opening access to remote waters other boats can’t reach. Featuring an innovative slot-rail frame system, anglers can make on-the-fly adjustments to seat, oar and accessory placement. An integrated dry box seat platform provides convenient external trays and internal waterproof storage compartments keeping gear dry, organized, and eliminating tripping hazards. The Approach is designed to fit between the wheel wells of a full-size truck or ride on the roof of a Jeep or SUV. When you don’t need a trailer to haul it or a ramp to launch it, you can fish wherever the adventure takes you.
Scan to see all Approach packages and learn more.
nrs.com Proud partner of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers
HUMOR
SIMMERING
Photo: istock.com/Creative_Outlet
BY JEFF MISHLER The power of the fire ring pulls mankind together. It brings forth soulful recollections, true confessions, prognostications, pontifications – and complete lies. Down in the fire ring, under the clinkers and dying flame, a bed of orange coals is a hypnotizer. Not unlike the hypnotist who, with a snap of the fingers, commands you to quack like a duck – because you do in fact believe you are a duck. We find ourselves staring at the glow, spinning deep into the abyss of tales spun for the sake of a laugh, entertainment, enlightenment or cleansing. The dying embers pull us in and hold us there for the night. If the role of our fathers makes it into the discourse, I am the one who has nothing to add. It is not my father whom I should blame for my loathsome avoidance of meaningful employment. My childhood was an open door to discovery unlocked by the outdoor magazines of the 1970s. I discovered in the folds of Outdoor Life, Sports Afield and Field & Stream a world as captivating then to a young boy as video games played today on a modern cell phone. And like my teenage son living vicariously through his fantasy baseball team, I could not put down the magazines; their fact and fiction creating fantasies of living the life of a self-reliant mountain man. Eventually, all I desired was a cabin in the woods, a dog, a rifle, a shotgun, some fishing rods and a means to write stories like those that filled my young brain. Not a bad life, I reasoned – living in the woods, writing about it, hunting and fishing when I pleased. When I received my first issue of Gray’s Sporting Journal in 1975, the processes I would employ to pursue this life came into focus. There was clearly a decent, respectful way to harvest your game. Hunting and fishing did not have to be a sloppy, half-assed effort fueled by alcohol. No, in fact, dove hunting was a perfect starting point for young hunters seeking a path toward larger game. However, my only means to access this imagined, more refined lifestyle was begging my father to take me with him. He did not fly fish, nor did he duck hunt or pheasant hunt. His manners and methods were crude by fine sporting standards. His hunting and fishing friends were loggers. Their language was a colorful dialect of Oregon-isms, Merle Haggard-esque misogyny and nicknamed female anatomical parts, fueled by 12 packs of Blitz Beer consumed like water. For his only son, my father ventured far out of his comfort zone, away from cured salmon eggs, level wind reels, high caliber deer rifles, caulk boots, Leupold rifle scopes and tins of chewing tobacco, to show me the version of the woodsman I wanted to become. Dove Season begins on the first of September every year. In my 12th year, I pestered him to take me. “I don’t know where to go.” “I heard that they are on the riverbanks picking up gravel. We just need to go to the river.” The fact that the river is lined with private farmlands posted with no trespassing signs didn’t affect my logic. Later that afternoon we
rolled the 1969 GMC pickup down a dirt road leading to a pump head at the back end of a farmer’s cornfield. My cautious father craned his head looking for the landowner. “What does a dove look like?” he asked. “I don’t know; I’ve never seen one.” I stepped from the parked truck and walked down the right of way cut into the grass for the pump sled. At the top of the riverbank, a powerline paralleled the cornfield. Small birds were flitting and buzzing about. Doves! I deduced. I pulled the hammer back on the Model 37 20 gauge and watched a dark shape dart overhead. Kaffrom!!! The recoil jolted me, and I lost track of the unscathed bird. “What are you shooting at?” A half-scold came from the truck. “Doves! They’re everywhere!” “I want to see.” My father walked down the dirt cut towards my stand at the powerline and stood next to me while I waited for another shot to present. “See them?” “Is that what you shot at?” “Yeah, here comes another.” “Those aren’t doves. Those are swallows.” “How do you know?” “I don’t know what a dove looks like, but I do know what a barn swallow looks like, and those are barn swallows. We need to get out of here.” My first adventure as a wingshooter of fine sporting birds turned into a tail-tucked, slow retreat into the abyss of a full-grown cornfield. With shotguns stashed beneath the bench seat, we slowly retraced our path along the narrow farm road so as to not raise the dust and draw attention to our presence. It was the first time I’d seen my father worry, anticipating an encounter with a landowner who had already called the sheriff to report a trespasser, and now had to answer for a kid who shot at protected songbirds while trespassing. This experience was not at all like hunting the vast clearcuts of the Oregon Cascades for deer and elk, where loggers, logging roads, big trucks and beer cans leave a thumbprint. This was close-quarters, sneaking around, poaching game kind of bullshit. And we never went “dove hunting” again. But to my father’s credit, he went out of his way for me every weekend, taking me with him to the mountains and rivers of Oregon until I found my own means, which by then involved a 1971 Jeep CJ5, a fiberglass fly rod, an 870 Wingmaster shotgun and a Ruger M77 .270. Back at the fire ring, while my companions dwell on their shortcomings at the hands of parents whose expectations conflicted with the nature of the child, revealing the most private personal discoveries on their respective journeys to repair the soul, I sip my whiskey, nod my head, stare at the coals and contemplate my next overly contrived zinger to steer the conversation toward lighter matters. I can relate to their struggles, but I do not blame my parents for my shortcomings. I own all that I am and simmer contently with the embers. BHA life member Jeff Mishler has also been published in Swing the Fly, The Drake and Gray’s Sporting Journal, to name a few. He’s the producer of the best selling fly fishing instructional Skagit Master DVD series and the host of the Fin and Fire podcast.
WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 63
64 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2024
GOING HOME CLEAN IS A WASTE OF THE DAY.
© 2022 MNA, Inc. All rights reserved.
WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 65
Explore our full line of products at www.BFGoodrichTires.com.
SHORTS
New Pants
BY MELISSA HENDRICKSON The 2021 holiday season was busy for my family; we were both wrapping up our current jobs – me quitting for good, and my husband Jamie changing employers. We were also doing all those last-minute things expectant parents procrastinate on around the house before the birth of a child. Our son was born on the day after Christmas, in the midst of the biggest snowstorm of the season. We finally managed to dig ourselves out, both literally and figuratively, during the week after New Year’s. This included a trip to the mailbox, 1.7 miles down our private road – chains and four-wheel drive required. Jamie’s mail included a priority letter, dated from before Christmas. He had won one of BHA’s fall giveaways! And we had almost missed the reply-by due date! The prize included a gift certificate to Sitka, which Jamie graciously gave to me as I was in desperate need of a couple new pairs of pants, including new rain pants that would actually keep me dry. I couldn’t order them just yet though, as I was still about 30 pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight and had no idea what size I would wear by fall. In July, I started to fit into my old hunting clothes again (phew!), and I tried to order pants, but the codes didn’t work online. Being an introvert, it took me about a month to pep talk myself into calling customer service. Only I managed to call after-hours. Another few weeks went by, and I finally succeeded in calling during business hours, talking to a very nice representative 66 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2024
and ordering pants. (One bonus of procrastinating for so long was a sale on the two pairs I’d been eyeing.) After Jamie’s win, the wheel of fortune swung in my direction again, and I drew my once-in-a-lifetime Idaho moose tag. Closely watching the mail tracking in the week leading up to moose opener, it appeared as though my pants shipment wasn’t going to make it in time. I’d procrastinated too long! But I didn’t shoot a moose in the first couple of days, and we had to come back to town for an obligation. Stopping by the mailbox, I was greeted with a Sitka package. We headed back out to camp, my new field pants and rain pants tucked in my duffle – tags still attached. The next morning, my husband spotted a moose in the clearcut we’d been watching. He came back to camp to wake me and the baby up. I pulled my new field pants out of my bag, cut the labels off and pulled them on. Two hours later I had filled my bull moose tag and was getting the first blood on the new pants. My controlled hunt drawing luck also extended to an extra antlerless doe tag. We are lucky enough to own some property, which lets us hunt this tag in our own backyard. As a new mom, this was a huge blessing as I was able to go out for evening hunts quickly and easily from our house. I was still close to the baby, but I got to clear my head, be outside and recharge my mental state with some alone time (again, introvert). It was a drizzly October evening made for sitting on the couch, but I hadn’t had a chance to wear my new rain pants yet. I mustered my go-get-em attitude, cut off the tags and headed down to our
Photos courtesy Melissa Hendrickson
blind. After almost two hours in the intermittent rain with no activity, there was still a little legal shooting time left, but it was quickly getting dark because of the overcast sky. So, I decided to head back up to the house. I texted Jamie, “No deer, on my way,” and started walking back. Near the end of our skid road, movement caught my eye, and a doe crossed in front of me. She was close enough for me to feel comfortable shooting in the waning light but crossed out of my sight before I could shoulder my gun. I remained still, in hopes there would be another doe following her. Sure enough, a second doe came out, paused in the road, and I was ready. She ran into the bushes and died about 10 yards away. I dragged her out to the skid road, then up the 100 feet to the road we share with our neighbors, where my husband and the baby came down to pick us up. Two new pairs of pants, two controlled hunt tags filled, two freezers filled with meat and some great hunting memories. Thank you, BHA and Sitka, for being part of a very memorable fall hunting season for one sleep-deprived new mom! Melissa Hendrickson is the secretary of the Idaho BHA chapter. She is a former public lands hydrologist and current outdoor coordinator for her son. They, along with her husband and enthusiastic bird dog, live in North Idaho. When she isn’t taking a toddler on hunting or fishing adventures, she enjoys writing and making videos about past exploits or planning future outings.
PREPARED FOR ANYTHING When you step into the field, anything can happen. Weather rolls in and conditions change, the day gets shorter, and the trail feels longer. Set yourself up for a successful packout with the 15600OR Raghorn®—a performance-driven fixed blade for effortlessly skinning, field dressing, and breaking down your game. Benchmade.com
Get Yours
WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 67
STAY WARM IN A WHITEOUT B L I Z Z A R D A E R O L I T E PA R K A Stay focused through blinding snowstorms and bone-chilling temps with our warmest Big Game jacket. It’s equipped with a down-like synthetic insulation that keeps you warmer with less bulk and a GORE-TEX shell to shield you from relentless snow, helping you stay comfortable and mobile on late-season mountain hunts.
S I T K A G E A R . C OJOURNAL M 68 | BACKCOUNTRY WINTER 2024
Do You Believe?
Photo: Josh Salisbury
BY JOSH SALISBURY Many sports have traditions and superstitions that players believe in. Hockey goalies are perhaps the most paranoid of the lot, making sure that they stick to their pre-game traditions, and to not do so all but guarantees certain defeat. Not shaving all season, not cutting hair, etc., are commonplace. Similarly, many cultures also have beliefs about spirit forms that can help guide or protect a person on a journey, and they may even share or embody characteristics of people from the past. Our family’s own hunting tradition began with my dad and his mother-in-law a few years before I was born. The quasi-ritual started during a night of silliness. Theresa rubbed the bullet of my dad’s .308 for luck the night before opening day of deer season. It didn’t seem like much at the time, just a joke really. I mean, come on, it’s not like that kind of Hocus Pocus ever really works. The very next morning, opening day, my dad had his buck! So, every year thereafter the tradition was repeated with the same results. Sadly, a couple of years after I was born, my grandma Theresa passed away from cancer. However, the rubbing of the bullet for luck continued, via my mom and now my daughter, and this past year marked the 45th season of this lovely family tradition. The second part of this story has to do with spirits and spirit animals. My grandpa on my dad’s side was a great woodsman. He didn’t shoot a lot of deer, but that mattered not one wit to him. The best part of deer hunting to him was just being in the woods. He deplored stand hunting, unless there was a drive coming his way. He loved to explore, and he loved gazing upon the many old white pines that dotted the landscape he hunted in. Grandpa passed away a couple of years ago in December. And on his birthday, just four months after his passing, an unexplainable phenomenon occurred. As my dad tells the story: “It was a rather balmy spring morning. Most of the winter snow was melted off the back pasture, just to the west of the barn. I was out there enjoying the day and thinking how much I missed dad, being it was his birthday and all, when out of the corner of my eye I observed a bald eagle dropping into the pasture not 20 feet off the ground. As he passed me, he was
only 40 or so yards from me. When he finished his first lap, he repeated the maneuver. And when he finished with that flyby, he flew up to the white pine tree in the southwest corner of the pasture and lit on a branch only 15 feet off the ground. I walked up to him, talking to him all the while, and when I was at 25 feet or so away, I stopped and took a few pictures with my cell phone. And with that he left, just the way he came in. I have never had eagles in my pasture before and have never had any since.” There is no doubt in my mind that the visit of the eagle was my grandfather via the spirit world. It only makes sense: bald eagles love soaring over their domain much like Grandpa loved walking through iit, and both of God’s creatures – that bald eagle and my grandpa – loved tall, mature white pines. And so it was that the bald eagle became the spirit bird of my grandpa.
Opening weekend was quiet. The weather on Saturday was unusually warm for early November, and Sunday had practically tornadic winds. Dad had a little luck, shooting a nice doe around 10 in the morning on opening day. But after two days of hunting, he was the only one who had even seen a deer. The next weekend produced more of the same, a few sightings off a couple of deer drives, but given the miles covered, it was dreadfully slow. Sunday afternoon, after I completed the last drive, I sat on a log and waited for Mom and Dad to walk back out to the trail. Upon Mom’s approach, she could tell something was on my mind. “What’s wrong?” she asked. I looked up at her with a disgusted look on my face and stated, “Deer season so far has been like the rest of 2022 for me – it sucks!” Indeed, this past year had been no picnic. It seemed every time I turned around something was breaking or worse: My 50-horse, 4-stroke Merc need a major overhaul; my tractor went bust; I had to get new tires for the boat trailer; during a severe storm a huge maple fell on my garage; my truck broke down and on and on it went, turning into one very expensive summer. I was hoping that deer season would be the time to turn things around; so far, it was WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 69
70 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2024
Photo: Josh Salisbury
just another disappointment. To Mom’s credit, she tried a pep talk, claiming tomorrow was another day. There was snow in the forecast and colder weather. Even that news didn’t cheer me up much. But, as mothers are wont to do, she desired to make me feel better, so we made war plans at the truck for the next day’s hunt. I had taken Monday and Tuesday off, and Dad was unable to go, so it was just me and Mom. That night as I sat on the couch watching TV and thinking about tomorrow’s hunt, my daughter burst into the living room and proclaimed, “I know why you haven’t shot a deer yet!” Well, this should be interesting, I thought to myself. What could my 17-year-old know about why I hadn’t harvested a deer yet, that I didn’t already know? “And why would that be?” I asked with a hint of sarcasm in my voice. “Because I never rubbed your bullet,” she answered confidently. Now she had my attention. I sat upright on the couch. “What?! I gave you two bullets to rub the night before deer season. How could you not have put some luck on them?” “I don’t know, Dad,” she sheepishly answered. “I guess I just got busy and forgot to do it. But I will do it now.” I went and grabbed the two shells I had marked indicating that they were the lucky bullets and brought them to her. “You better put some amazing luck into these,” I said with a smile. A few minutes later she reappeared and said they were ready to go. Unbeknownst to me, that same night, before bed, my mom was having a little talk with her mother up in heaven. She said something to the effect of, “Mom, if you want this tradition of rubbing the bullet to continue down here, you might want to bring Josh some luck tomorrow. He could sure use it.” The weather forecast said we were due for about an inch or two of snow. But, by early morning several inches were already on the ground, and it was still coming down hard. We got to the trail that would take Mom to her stand, and I wished her good luck, and she did the same for me. It was a beautiful day to be deer hunting. Large snowflakes were falling in slow motion, with a virtually nonexistent wind and a temperature in the mid-20s. The snow continued, so hard at times that my jacket and hat were covered despite the protection of the Norway maple branches I had hung my stand on. I’m sure I looked like Frosty the Snowman, 12 feet off the ground. I closed the caps on my scope, thinking it wouldn’t be long before my lenses would be covered in snow too. Five minutes later my luck began to change. As I slowly turned my head to the north in the direction of the slough bordering my stand, I caught movement in a stretch of balsams. Deer alert! I couldn’t make out buck or doe, only that it had a good-sized body. I grabbed my gun and quietly popped back open my scope caps. When I looked up the deer was moving from my right to left broadside at about 100 yards. I shouldered my .270 short-mag and eased the crosshairs behind the shoulder. The whole scenario was textbook, and the deer dropped where he stood — a dandy forkhorn. The first thing I did was text my daughter that her “rubbing of the bullet” for good luck did the trick, and that I had just shot a buck. It was only 7:40 in the morning. Mom’s stand wasn’t too far away, and it didn’t take long before she was calling me to see what was
up. I told her of my success, and it was then that she told me of her chat with her mother in heaven. This was getting spooky, I thought. I told her it was early yet so she should stay put in her stand while I gutted the buck and that I would come get her when I was done. Having finished with the deer I headed for Mom’s stand. I couldn’t believe how much snow was blanketing the ground. Upon reaching her deer stand, I looked up and watched her gather her gear. As I started to tell her the story about my buck, a bald eagle came out of the snowy sky, flying directly over the top of the tree she had been sitting in, nearly touching the top of it. I quickly turned just in time to see the eagle disappear over the pines in the heavy snow. I knew right then and there it was Grandpa. I described to Mom what had just happened, and neither one of us could believe it. Between the “luck” of the bullet and the flyby that Grandpa just did, my day was turning out to be full of tradition and spirit. As we dragged the deer out, there sat the bald eagle watching our every move. The great bird never flinched the entire time until we had the buck loaded up. As he flew away, I quietly said, “See ya, Grandpa,” as tears formed in my eyes. The next day I shot a big, beautiful doe. It was taken with the other bullet my daughter had rubbed for luck. Coincidence? One thing I can tell you for sure: There will never be another day I go into the deer woods without carrying a lucky bullet and watching for spirit signs from above. Josh Salisbury is a BHA member from Grand Rapids, Minnesota, as well as the local chapter president of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association, where he has worked on several tag-team events with the local BHA chapter.
THANK YOU, BHA SUPPORTERS NEW LIFE MEMBERS Tim Barry Cameron Clark Ryan Conway Melissa Hank Roger J. Mann Jason Kerkmans
Jeana Kettner Cullen Lloyd Eric Lomas Shawn Merrill William Miller Brian Montroy
James Nelson James Peltier Joseph Perkowitz Tony Porcarelli Cord Robertson Matthew Schultz
Osvaldo Villegas Kevin Williams Ryan Williams
PLATINUM Filson Gerber Gear HuntStand Irish Setter Boots Montana Mex Mystery Ranch NRS Savage Arms Seek Outside Sitka Skwala Fishing Weatherby Weston Supply Co. Yeti
GOLD Bedford Cameras Benchmade BFGoodrich Tires Danner G&H Decoys Korkers RepYourWater Sage Savage Sport DOG St. Croix Rods Stone Glacier TroutRoutes Work Sharp XOP Treestands
SILVER Big Agnes Black Coffee Roasting Company Dakota Angler FHF Gear FINEX USA Fishpond GRAYL HEST NEMO Equipment Timber to Table Wenonah Canoe
CORPORATE PARTNERS PLATINUM PLUS Costa Del Mar First Lite onX Vortex Walton’s
CHAPTER CORPORATE PARTNERS ARMED FORCES INITIATIVE Operation Phoenix Outdoors ALASKA Alaska Rod Co. FishHound Expeditions Forbidden Peak Brewery On the Fly Sportsman’s Photography PacBak Screaming Eagle Archery CALIFORNIA Lobo Products Inc. COLLEGIATE PROGRAM Agate Lake Resort Modern Carnivore North Carolina Natural Resources Commission Opportunity Outdoors COLORADO Bar-U-Eat Budges Wilderness Lodge Burris Optics Chopwood Mercantile Cimarron Wealth Management Gunnison Country Outfitters Gunnison River Fly Shop Harmels on the Taylor Hilleberg Hunters of Color Hyperlite I Bar Ranch Kate’s Real Food Kryptek Laggis Design & Construction Mayfly Project (Abel, Airflo, Ross Reels) Meyvn Creative Nikwax onX Savage Arms SAW Construction Seek Outside Sign Guys & Gal Uncharted Outdoorswomen Upslope Ursack Wright Angle Construction
IDAHO Anglers Fly Shop Chisel Custom Decor Guidesource Outdoors WorldCast Anglers ILLINOIS Hardcore Hammers INDIANA Flint Ridge Rifles Howe & Brown Hospitality Moving Waters Outfitters The Smoking Goose Two Forks Guide Service West Boggs Park KENTUCKY Lewis & Grant Auctions Wild Rivers Coffee Co. MICHIGAN Flint Ridge Rifles True North Trout MINNESOTA HjelleArc Spears Next Innovations Striker Brands Timberline Sports MISSOURI ALPS OutdoorZ MONTANA Bella’s Bones Cambie Taphouse + Coffee Edward Jones Financial Advisor Lucca Scariano Gastro Gnome Genuine Ice Cream Grizzly Liquor Hardside Hydration North Bridger Bison OnSite Energy Planetary Design RightOnTrek The Trail Head Timberline Ace Hardware Zink’s Big Sky Archery Targets
NEVADA Elite Drywall Legacy Lasers Pure Water Systems NEW ENGLAND Big Game Waterfowl Guide Service Bucktail Guide Service CJ’s Charters MTN Bird Media Off Coast Outfitters Ridgeline Athlete Western Mountains Fly Fishing NEW MEXICO Operation Phoenix Outdoors NEW YORK Tooher & Barone, LLP OHIO EnviroSciencee Siembida Custom Knives Sisu Sauna The O2 Podcast Western Reserve Land Conservancy Wild Rivers Coffee Co. UTAH Cowboy Cauldron WISCONSIN Striker Brands
WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 71
NO TERRAIN OFF LIMITS
72 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2024
IRISHSETTERBOOTS.COM
SEASON 12
COMING THIS FALL
SCAN THE QR CODE
AND BE THE FIRST TO KNOW WHEN THE SEASON IS LIVE. THEMEATEATER.COM
WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 75
Photo: Gage Herriman, 2022 Public Lands and Waters Photo Contest
BEYOND FAIR CHASE
The Emotional Vacuum
in the Hunting and Conservation Narrative BY JOHN ORGAN
non- and anti-hunters point out can be met by means other than hunting. For many years now, Shane Mahoney has told us about growing Library shelves are stacked deep with the works of authors, philosophers, scientists, hunters – and anti-hunters – explaining, de- global empathy toward animals. We saw this with Cecil the Lion. fending, criticizing, romanticizing and transmogrifying why people Philosophers and scholars have noted that empathy is a far more hunt. As Ernest Hemingway said, “There is much mystic nonsense compelling human emotion than truth as a determinant of behavior. written about hunting.” An ethical question, such as, “Why do you kill those animals you So what can be said that has not already been said? At the North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference 63 years ago, profess to love?” cannot be answered by a biological or scientific the great human ecologist Paul Shepard told us that existing ratio- response. Facts do not always create people’s viewpoints – the way nalizations for hunting deserved to be junked and a greater perspec- they are presented and by whom is often more important. Roger tive provided. Shepard’s words of wisdom have been heeded by too Pielke, Jr., in his book The Honest Broker, illustrates how science few, unfortunately, and we hear the same rationalizations for hunt- and facts have little effect on people’s views pertaining to emotioning that increasingly ring hollow in the ears of a society removed al issues such as abortion and climate change. People who have an farther from life’s fundamental realities. emotional response to an issue will tend to cherry-pick among facts, One fact is clear regarding public perceptions about hunting: gravitating towards those that support their perceptions. Public opinion varies dramatically when the motivations for huntIn most cases, personal narratives have a more powerful impact ing are considered. And it than pure presentation of We should not attempt to diminish the significance of killing facts. This is due, in part, to is public opinion that ultithe fact that personal narmately will determine what as part of the hunt or apologize for it. As Paul Shepard and role hunting will play in the America’s greatest mythologist Joseph Campbell have shown us, ratives can connect to the amygdala, the region of the future of wildlife conservait is fundamental to humanity. brain most engaged in emotion in North America. tional response, as opposed In spite of this, hunters have been generally unwilling, unable or ineffective in communicat- to the frontal cortices where reason and logic are triggered. Passion ing to non-hunters what their deep personal motivations for hunt- and drama move people, not reason and logic. How do opponents of hunting use media to influence people’s ing are. When the question is posed, typical responses from hunters revolve around desires to be outdoors, putting meat on the table attitudes? They show the kill – often staged and sesationalized – and contributing to conservation. These are end goals that many in a way that illustrates the vulnerability of the animal relative to
For many of us, we would rather talk about the animals we hunt. But for us to continue to be able to hunt these animals – and, indeed, for the continued existence of some of these animals – we must begin to talk about the humans who hunt.
the hunter. They want people to perceive a lack of fairness and a demonstration of dominance of a heartless man or woman over a helpless beast. The hunting community has not been very successful at creating perceptions about hunting, while hunting opponents have done much better at it because they create perceptions that invoke empathy for the animal. The killing of animals is the fundamental departure point for those who hunt and those who oppose hunting. The average hunting opponent or agnostic can likely relate positively to virtually all aspects of a hunt, except the kill, which we often dismiss as a very minor part of the total hunting experience. Yet that is the part that troubles many non-hunters. For those of us who hunt and have killed animals, the taking of an animal’s life elicits emotions and introspection that are personal and do not lend themselves well to articulation. David Peterson, an extremely articulate hunter, has said, “I’ve never faced a more emotionally contentious challenge than substantiating and articulating the spirituality inherent to true hunting.” Killing as part of hunting has become, to paraphrase Hemingway from his masterpiece on bullfighting Death In The Afternoon, the sort of thing you should not admit, but it is because such things have never been admitted that hunting has never been explained. As Ortega y Gassett reasoned, many hunters do not hunt to kill; they kill to have hunted. Yet we should not attempt to diminish the significance of killing as part of the hunt or apologize for it. As Paul Shepard and America’s greatest mythologist Joseph Campbell have shown us, it is fundamental to humanity. Shepard told us that killing and eating the prey are the most important things that hunters do. I want to share a story that illustrates what I am expressing – a narrative about narratives if you will. Two students, a young man and a young woman, who had no prior experience with trapping and no connection or contact with trappers, were hired to do the laborious task of transcribing interviews with trappers as part of a sociocultural study in the 1990s. Indeed, their attitudes towards trapping were mostly negative or agnostic, having been influenced by oppositional groups’ media representations. During their work listening to and transcribing the narratives of trappers, their attitudes changed. Why? Because the heartfelt personal stories touched on their deep core values such as self-reliance and freedom of choice. The lifestyles of the trappers and their emotional connections to, and knowledge of, the animals they trapped were profound. These two students enrolled in a trapper education course with the intent of actually fur trapping because they discovered an emotional connection. Similarly, around this same time, I saw a presentation of interviews conducted with trappers. One in particular featured a trapper
from northern Canada who talked about a wolverine whose tracks he saw for two or three years on his trapline but could never capture. He described the relationship he had with that animal, the respect he had for it, and how he contemplated what the animal must have been thinking about him. He eventually caught the wolverine, and he expressed remorse – but not regret. His was a deeply personal human story, and I do not think anyone watching this interview could demonize the man, regardless of their opinions about trapping and trappers. Indeed, his story invoked empathy for both the wolverine and the trapper, bound in the circle of life and its paradoxes. For many of us, we would rather talk about the animals we hunt. But for us to continue to be able to hunt these animals – and, indeed, for the continued existence of some of these animals – we must begin to talk about the humans who hunt. To the extent we can, I believe we must encourage more personal narratives about hunting and a person’s emotional connection to the animals and nature. It is not enough to feature these in media directed at other hunters – this needs to get into the information stream that reaches those who do not hunt. And yes, hunters need to discuss their emotions and the personal philosophy they developed that allows them to kill the animals they love. In the same vein, to help our effort to increase public support and political capital to advance the conservation institution, we must capture the hearts and minds of those who are disconnected from nature for most of their day-to-day existence. It must be done in a manner that is deeply personal so that it connects to the deep core values we all share. Ideally the urbanite who has a 4’x8’ garden plot will see that the spiritual fulfillment she gets from gardening is no different than what you and I get from hunting. The worshipper will see that the solitude and reverence of the temple where he finds meaning in life is no different than the mountains, plains and sea – the temples where others find such meaning. What is the value of wild places and wild things to those – the majority of North Americans – who rarely tread beyond asphalt and concrete? We will truly achieve conservation when most people believe deep down in their psyche that the real value is in the future of humanity itself. BHA member John Organ serves on the Governor-appointed Massachusetts Fisheries and Wildlife Board. He is a wildlife biologist and previously served as chief of the USGS Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units and chief of the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program for the northeast region USFWS. He is an Orion board member, and past president of The Wildlife Society, which bestowed the Aldo Leopold Medal on him. He also received the George Bird Grinnell Award from the Wildlife Management Institute and the Meritorious Service Award from the Department of the Interior.
This department is brought to you by Orion - The Hunter’s Institute, a nonprofit and BHA partner dedicated to advancing hunting ethics and wildlife conservation.
WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 77
Comic: BHA member JJ Laberge is the creator of Clade & Genus, an online comic that focuses on the business of nature. His inspiration comes from spending time in the outdoors within Northern Ontario’s vast public lands pursuing whitetail deer, moose, ruffed grouse and woodcock. You can find Clade & Genus on Instagram @cladeandgenus or online at www.cladeandgenus.com
SUPPORT CONSERVATION, SUPPORT BHA ONE-TIME OR MONTHLY DONATIONS You can choose to make one donation at a time or become a sustaining donor and make monthly donations. All donations are fully tax-deductible and go toward securing the future of hunting and angling – ensuring that you have access to public lands and waters and healthy fish and wildlife habitat when you get there.
PROJECT ASPEN Our shared lands, our responsibility. We are working to diversify our funding sources to ensure that BHA will always be working on behalf of our wild public lands, waters and wildlife – for generations to come – by establishing a $1 million endowment. This investment will grow and become a perpetual funding stream that exists to support the future needs of our organization, regardless of any unpredictable challenges beyond our influence. Give today to form the root structure that will sustain BHA for many years to come.
LEGACY GIVING Including Backcountry Hunters & Anglers in your plans for the future will create a long-lasting impact for our wild public lands, waters and wildlife. Your commitment to BHA will allow the next generation of conservation leaders to continue our work as part of your legacy. Including BHA in your will, trust, retirement account or life insurance policy is one of the easiest and quickest ways to support the future.
GIVE WITH BING Support BHA every time you search online by using search engine Bing’s Give Mode.
DONATING VEHICLES Put your vehicle towards public lands and waters through Vehicles for Charity. Please contact admin@backcountryhunters.org or visit backcountryhunters.org/donate for more ways to support BHA. 78 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2024
FIELD TO TABLE Prep Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 3 hrs Yield: 4 servings
VENISON HEART GRAVY ON FRIES BY ADAM BERKELMANS
Instructions
You’ve never had heart like this! This is a super fun and delicious way to eat venison heart, or any heart really. Pork and lamb hearts tend to be the same size as venison hearts and can be used in this recipe as-is. If using an elk, moose or beef heart, you’ll likely only need half of it for this recipe (unless you double the rest of the ingredients and make more – not a bad idea!). I used frozen french fries for this dish, but you could obviously make your own from scratch or serve it on roasted or mashed potatoes.
1. 2.
3.
Ingredients
Photo: Adam Berkelmans
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
1 venison heart, trimmed of any fat and veins and cut into bite-sized cubes 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary 2 tablespoons cooking oil or lard 2 onions, chopped 4 shiitake or cremini mushrooms, cubed (optional) 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 tablespoon tomato paste (buy it in tubes – so handy!) 12 ounces beer (preferably a brown ale) 2 bay leaves 1 tablespoon brown sugar 1 teaspoon stone ground mustard 1 tablespoon cider or maple vinegar 1 cup water Kewpie or regular mayonnaise to garnish Fresh parsley, chopped, to garnish French fries or roasted potatoes to serve
4.
5.
6.
Clean, trim and cube the heart. Mix the flour, salt, pepper and rosemary in a medium bowl. Toss the heart cubes in the flour mixture so that every piece is coated. Melt the oil or fat in a medium pot over medium-high heat. Add half of the heart cubes, and sear on all sides until very browned. Remove and add more oil or fat if necessary. Add the other half and repeat. Remove the heart, and set aside. Reduce heat to medium. Add the onions and mushrooms and cook until lightly browned, about 5-10 minutes. Add the garlic and tomato paste and cook for 2 more minutes. Add the beer, and scrape the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to deglaze. Add the heart back to the pot along with the bay leaves, brown sugar, mustard, vinegar and water. Stir. Bring to a gentle simmer, cover and cook for 2-3 hours, or until the heart is very tender (cooking time will depend on the age of the animal). Uncover the pot and bring it to a strong simmer while you cook your fries or potatoes. Cook until the liquid has reduced into a thick gravy, stirring often. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. To serve, pack french fries into bowls, then ladle the heart gravy over them. Drizzle with mayo, and sprinkle with chopped parsley. Enjoy!
BHA member Adam Berkelmans, also known as The Intrepid Eater, is a passionate ambassador for real food and a proponent of nose-totail eating. He spends his time between Hull, Quebec and a cozy lake house north of Kingston, Ontario. When not cooking, he can be found hunting, fishing, foraging, gardening, reading, travelling and discovering new ways to find and eat food. WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 79
Follow Us @MTNHOUSE On:
80 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2024
NEW FOR 2023
TRACKER OSMO™ • 4x Better Water Repellency • 3x Less Stretch When Wet • 20% Stronger • 100% Recycled Yarn • PFAS / FRC-Free Fabric
www.nemoequipment.com
Made In The USA
strength in numbers.
Photo by: Sam Averett / @samaverett
PROUD TO PARTNER WITH BHA’s ARMED FORCES INITIATIVE AND HONORED TO SUPPORT EVERYONE THEY SERVE.
DETAILS MAKE THE DIFFERENCE FINEXUSA.COM
FHFGEAR.com
WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 81
END OF THE LINE
BHA at 20
Photo: Zack Williams
BY BEN LONG They say the average marriage in modern America lasts only about eight years. So, at 20 years, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers is a proven winner. BHA’s success, I believe, hinges on the wedding of two crucial ideas: passion for public lands and commitment to grassroots membership. I believe that as long as BHA focuses on that formula, its best days are ahead. I was not at BHA’s founding campfire, which Mike Beagle organized in Oregon in 2004. I had a new baby that spring and couldn’t make the road trip. Mike was a former Army ranger working as a high school teacher in Eagle Point, Oregon. Mike had many leadership attributes, but one that mattered most – fire in the belly. Mike and I were on the phone almost daily in those days, trying to figure out how to bring his idea to life. His enthusiasm was contagious. Mike, Tony, Mark, Michelle and the rest of us initial board members all belonged to conservation groups of the day: Trout Unlimited and Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation chapters and local rod and gun clubs. We still belong to them. But we saw the need for something different. Instead of focusing on individual species – elk, trout, ducks or turkeys – we wanted to focus on the land. We wanted to unite the voice of hunters and anglers in support of wild public land and waters. In my gut, I felt this was a good idea. I knew there were hunters like me who cared deeply about public land, water and wildlife, because I grew up among them and hunted and fished with them. We were inspired by writers like Aldo Leopold, Richard K. Nelson and David Petersen. Meeting Mike and his friends from Oregon, I felt I had found my clan. We quickly went from a handful of members to hundreds. I heard a familiar refrain each time we signed up a new member: “Finally, the group I have always been looking for.” The next major confirmation came in 2007. Early board member Brian Maguire was advocating for public lands wilderness near his hunting ground in Oregon. In those days, Field & Stream magazine featured 35 sportsmen and sportswomen in conservation every year. It was a contest designed to pump some energy into conservation stories. At the end of the year, the editors at Field & Stream named Brian as the Conservation Hero of the Year. Backcountry Hunters & Anglers was suddenly in the national spotlight. Brian, for his Oregon conservation advocacy, was feted at a gala in New York City where Tucker Carlson awarded him brand-new Toyota pickup.
“Holy smokes,” I thought. “We are on to something here.” Amid those successes, BHA toddled along for more than a decade as a club. Mike’s kids stapled together the Backcountry Journal newsletter and licked stamps for every publication. Board meetings were campouts, sometimes timed to buck bales at Holly and Scott Endersby’s hayfield in Idaho. It was a hell of a lot of fun, and a ton of work, but also decidedly amateur. Members demanded a life-membership option, so we created one. Folks started leaving us sizable donations in their wills or as memorials. Businesses like Traditional Bowhunter magazine wanted to associate with us. Our modest bank account grew. Our membership hovered around 1,000, but the energy was palpable. Trouble was, we all had jobs. We were all stretched thin and every day we volunteered to BHA was one we didn’t go hunt or fish. We wanted to engage with our local land and wildlife managers, but also had to attend board meetings and raise money. One board meeting in Boise, we decided to bite the bullet and hire professional staff. It was a big leap of faith, like jumping across a spring-flood stream, believing you can make the distance but also knowing the opposite bank is steep, slippery and might dump you in the water. Long story short, we stuck the landing (and scrambled a bit to keep our footing). We ended up hiring our first director, Jim Atkinson, a master woodsman fresh from the River of No Return Wilderness. A couple years later, we hired Land Tawney as president/CEO. Under Tawney’s leadership, BHA skyrocketed in membership and influence. Soon the budget was measured in millions of dollars and the staff in dozens. Chapters blanketed the U.S. and Canada. That’s all good. But what is truly gratifying is knowing that BHA has changed the landscape in terms of advocating for public access to high quality habitat and the full theater of fish and wildlife that belong there. In thousands of small ways, we protected our freedoms to enjoy the land and made the land a bit better than we found it. There is no going back. Our members are where we get our energy and our credibility. And without those two things, any group is bankrupt, no matter how much money is in their account. BHA’s original vision of boots-on-the-ground has remained a solid foundation. To quote legendary conservationist Jim Posewitz: “Never, never, never stray from your grassroots constituents. Be one with them and among them and they will never fail you.” Ben Long was an original member of BHA’s national board. He is a life member. He served as secretary, vice chairman and co-chairman of the national board and was the first chairman of the Montana chapter. He was the founding editor of Backcountry Journal and BHA’s first T-shirt model (those shirts sold poorly, however, and he was quickly replaced). Editor’s Note: It’s an honor to have Backcountry Journal’s founding editor join us to commemorate 20 years of BHA and Backountry Journal in a special guest edition of The End of the Line. We’ll return to more of my incoherent rambling next issue. -Zack Williams, editor
WINTER 2024 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 83
INTRODUCING THE NEW TRACE HOT WEATHER SYSTEM Avid whitetailers in the humid Southeast have been asking us for a solution for truly hot, early-season hunts. We are proud to introduce the Trace System: a quarter zip top and pant purpose-built for hunts when humidity and temperature both crest 90. Constructed with porous yet durable KineticGrid™ fabric, this system offers maximum breathability in a silent, ultralight package. Whether you are hunting South Carolina’s August whitetail opener or baking in an archery blind waiting on an antelope, the Trace System will keep you cool and comfortable.
Learn more at www.firstlite.com/trace facebook.com/firstlite
youtube.com/FirstLiteHuntingApparel
@firstlitehunting / firstlite.com