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ALASKA

SPORTING JOURNAL Volume 5 • Issue 10

www.aksportingjournal.com PUBLISHER James R. Baker ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Dick Openshaw EXECUTIVE EDITOR Andy Walgamott EDITOR Chris Cocoles ASSOCIATE EDITOR Tom Reale WRITERS Paul D. Atkins, Selah Bauer, Christine Cunningham, Scott Haugen, Tiffany Haugen, Bixler McClure, Krystin McClure, Steve Meyer, Dennis Musgraves, Tom Reale SALES MANAGER Brian Lull ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Becca Ellingsworth, Mamie Griffin, Steve Joseph, Mike Smith, Paul Yarnold DESIGNERS Beth Harrison, Sonjia Kells, Sam Rockwell, Liz Weickum PRODUCTION MANAGER John Rusnak

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ON THE COVER Dallas Seavey won the 2012 iditarod as the youngest champion (age 25) and was the fastest winner in 2014. He goes for his third title in four years this month. (ALBERT LEWIS/SEESPOTRUN.COM) INSET UAF rifle coach Dan Jordan continues to hunt despite enduring paralysis to most of his lower body in a 1999 climbing accident. (DAN JORDAN)

MEDIA INDEX PUBLISHING GROUP WASHINGTON OFFICE 14240 Interurban Ave South • Suite 190 Tukwila, WA 98168 OREGON OFFICE 8116 SW Durham Rd • Tigard, OR 97224 (800) 332-1 736 • Fax (206) 382-9437 media@media-inc.com • www.media-inc.com

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CONTENTS

VOLUME 5 • ISSUE 10

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE 37

Alaska’s other sled race: the Kobuk 440 41 Dog sledding excursions for visitors 50 What it takes to become an Alaskan SWAT team member 85 Getting your gear in line for summer fishing trips 95 The fishing hotbed of Valdez 104 Hunting Brooks Range rams 137 Hooter hunting with “Buff”

COLUMNS

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147 No Sympathy, with Steve Meyer: A special dog’s final hunt.

149 Loose Ends, with Christine Cunningham: Electric reels push her buttons

STEELIES OF SOUTHEAST

Correspondent Dennis Musgraves may be based in North Pole, but every day is Christmas for this addicted angler who seeks out the best spots in Alaska to drop a line and see what’s biting. This month, Musgraves takes on the steelhead of the Situk River near Yakutat on the Alaska Panhandle. (DENNIS MUSGRAVES)

DEPARTMENTS 15

Editor’s Note

49

Protecting Wild Alaska: Proposal to increase ANWR wilderness land

49

Outdoor Calendar

FEATURES 18

DALLAS AND HIS DOGS Coming this month is the Iditarod, known in Alaska as “The Last Great Race on Earth.” We salute dog mushing with three stories, highlighted by two-time winner Dallas Seavey, who is the defending champ of the roughly 1,000-mile race from Fairbanks (where it will start this year) to Nome. Seavey also stars in the National Geographic Channel adventure show, Ultimate Survival Alaska.

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SEEKING CHAMPIONSHIP GLORY West Virginia University has won 16 national championships in the NCAA sport of men’s and women’s rifle.

Second on the all-time list is the University of Alaska.

The Nanooks of Fairbanks have won 10 titles, are No. 2 in the national poll and will host the NCAA Championships this month. Get to know the program and its head coach, who has his own remarkable story you need to read about.

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LAST CALL FOR ICE FISHING Don’t fret about spring’s pending arrival, ice fishing fanatics. Plenty of Alaskan lakes will remain frozen solid for the next month. Don’t believe us? Take the advice of our Field to Fire team of Scott and Tiffany Haugen, who have plenty of experience spending winters in The Last Frontier. Fish will be active and frisky feeders, so plenty of ice awaits your auger to catch some late-season fish. Tiffany prepares a delicious stuffed trout dish with pepper jelly.

125 MARCH MADNESS Steve Meyer throws down a slam dunk for March, when college basketball rules. To Meyer, March means heading out to Southcentral Alaska and taking advantage of that region’s best months for chasing ptarmigan. Days are a little longer as the darkness of winter slowly fades away. And with warmer temperatures in the forecast, hunting birds becomes the first signs of spring.

Alaska Sporting Journal is published monthly. Call Media Inc. Publishing Group for a current rate card. Discounts for frequency advertising. All submitted materials become the property of Media Inc. Publishing Group and will not be returned. Annual subscriptions are $29.95 (12 issues) or $39.95 (24 issues). Send check or money order to Media Inc. Publishing Group, 14240 Interurban Ave South, Suite 190, Tukwila, WA 98168 or call (206) 382-9220 with VISA or M/C. Back issues may be ordered at Media Inc. Publishing Group, subject to availability, at the cost of $5 plus shipping. Copyright © 2015 Media Inc. Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be copied by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording by any information storage or retrieval system, without the express written permission of the publisher. Printed in U.S.A.

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EDITOR’S NOTE Dallas Seavey is not only a two-time Iditarod winner but also one of the veteran participants on the mentally and physically grinding National Geographic Channel series, Ultimate Survival Alaska. (NA-

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ower 48ers might not know the name Dallas Seavey – and it’s a cool name on its own merit – but he’s royalty in his home state of Alaska. The subject of our cover story this month has won two of the last three Iditarod sled dog races, an event that’s officially known as the “Last Great Race on Earth,” and set to shove off from Fairbanks (a late change) on March 9.

I chatted with Seavey during some downtime as he prepares himself and his beloved dogs for the grueling 968-mile trek through vast stretches of emptiness in their Alaskan splendor.

I also got to know a little about Seavey’s run on the addictive National Geographic Channel series, Ultimate Survival Alaska, where four teams must use all of their physical strength, their mental fortitude, their creativity, and check their egos at the door, to traverse the state’s most remote areas.

Teams must rely on just their skills acquired through their adventure backgrounds – Seavey’s teammates on “Endurance” include mountaineer Ben Jones and heli-ski guide Lel Tone – but work together as problem solvers. Teams have to utilize the limited resources at their disposal to get from Point A to Point B faster than the competition. When you watch the participants, most of them seem confident, determined and intelligent. Compromising about strategies – when a mistake in judgement could cost them valuable time, or worse in real-life survival scenarios – is part of the fabric of who we are as stubborn individuals.

“That’s one of the bigger challenges, when you start being competitive and start racing, is making a decision quickly,” Seavey told me. “You’ll have two people and have two different ideas. It doesn’t matter – just pick one and let’s go, as long as they are well-thought-out plans. That does make it a challenge when you have a lot of people who are used to being in charge.”

What I loved about watching the show is how, with the clock ticking, for better or worse, you have to live with your decision.

It’s something we should all embrace more often. –Chris Cocoles

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UPDATE In February’s Alaska Sporting Journal, we ran a report on halibut fishing regulations and proper release techniques for releasing nonlegal fish. Our story stated the North Pacific Fishery Management Council met and reportedly proposed a reverse slot limit of less than 40 inches or more than 80 inches for charter boats in Southeast Alaska. After we’d gone to press, the International Pacific Halibut Commission met in late January and agreed on a reverse slot limit of less than 42 inches and more than 80 inches.

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At 25, Dallas Seavey was the youngest champion of the Iditarod sled dog race. He is also one of the stars of the National Geographic Channel series, Ultimate Survivor Alaska, where participants race against other teams through the Alaskan bush to predetermined destinations. (ULTIMATE SURVIVOR ALASKA) 18 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

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DALLAS’S STAR SHINES

TWO-TIME IDITAROD CHAMPION IS ALSO IN SURVIVAL MODE ON NAT GEO SERIES

BY CHRIS COCOLES

N

ot including Dallas Seavey’s “home” squad – with wife, Jennifer and daughter, Annie – he is a vital leader of two teams that are a huge part of his life.

Seavey, who turns 28 this month, is a veteran of the National Geographic Channel series Ultimate Survival Alaska (the season finale will air on March 22 at 10 p.m., 9 Central, with new shows on Sunday nights). He’s appeared on all three seasons, leading Team Endurance to the title in season two last year and welcomed two new teammates for season three, which wraps up this month.

“It was intriguing because we were traveling across Alaska, living out of a backpack and seeing some of the most unique and strange terrain that this state has to offer,” Seavey says. “And that always takes a level of creativity and ingenuity to work your way through that environment. And it was particularly intriguing to us because that’s what my family has grown up doing.”

And for essentially the entire year, particularly the 10 or so days of the Iditarod that define the sport starting on March 9 when the race will start from Fairbanks due to low snowfall, Seavey is carrying on his family’s distinguished tradition among Alaska’s sled dog-racing community. He’s mushed his dog teams to win the sport’s premier event, in both 2012 (when, at 25, he was the race’s youngest champion), and 2014 (when at 8 days, 13 hours, 4 minutes and 19 seconds, he won the race in record time; quite a contrast from inaugural winner Dick Wilmarth needing over 20 days to complete the course in 1973).

It’s quite the busy life, but it’s exactly the way Seavey prefers his days to go: raising and racing dogs throughout his home state, conquering mental and physical challenges in the Alaskan bush, and introducing Annie to dog mushing, which three generations of Seaveys have thrived on since the 1960s. The family has dominated the last three Iditarods, Dallas’ two titles sandwiched around his father Mitch becoming the – wait for it – oldest winner of the 1,000-mile, “Last Great Race on Earth” at age 53 in 2013, his second title. Dallas’ grandfather and Mitch’s dad Dan Sr. was one of the founding fathers of the Iditarod’s inaugural race in the early 1970s. With Seaveys winning the last three races, it’s a golden era for the family “There something to competing with your dad. And especially since my dad and I were very close,” Dallas Seavey says. “When I was with my dad in 2013 at (the White Mountain checkpoint), only 77 miles to go and him within striking distance of his second Iditarod win, it was a neat experience.”

It wasn’t the first time Seaveys had shared the stage.

WHAT’S A PRODUCER’S dream? Cast two brothers in a live-action series where contestants are thrown into the middle of nowhere and given a challenge to get to a destination faster than their opponents. At 26, Dallas was already a household name in Alaska based on his 2012 Iditarod win and, when approached

by National Geographic to do Ultimate Survival Alaska, convinced older brother Tyrell, then 28, to join him.

Surely, the siblings would provide compelling conversations and, maybe,

if the show was lucky, some epic arguments as they decided on a plan of attack for whatever rivers needed to be crossed or mountains needed to be climbed. Except it wasn’t quite a family feud.

“We’ve always worked together,” says Dallas of his and Tyrell’s jobs at their dad’s kennel. “And that’s a different relationship when you work with somebody rather than having to co-habitate in the same building. And a lot of siblings are, I suppose. They don’t force you to interact beyond a certain degree. But we were always solving problems and being forced to work together. So I think we hatched out most of our differences by the time we were 12.”

Dallas called it “silent communication,” when conversations about how to approach the tasks at hand would almost become telekinetic mojo between he and Tyrell. Dallas considered this as two battle-tested Alaskans who knew exactly what problems lay ahead in the area’s topography, potential weather issues that confront them or the odds of accomplishing the goals with the limited tools and supplies they were given.

So in sync with each other were the Seaveys, when they plotted their course, they were encouraged by the cameraman to interact a little more. But that “we may not be flashy, we are effective” technique fit well into the equation. Bring together a small group of alpha-type personalities who all feel like their way is the best way, and you’re sure to get disagreements.

“It’s the Seavey way to just get the job done; not a lot of flair, not a lot of extra conversations,” says Dallas, who came back the next season. As one of three members of Team Endurance, Dallas and his mates, Eddie Ahyakak and Sean Burch,

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Seavey (middle) is the veteran of Team Endurance with newcomers Ben Jones (left) and Lel Tone in the show’s third season. Seavey’s team won the previous season’s competition. (ULTIMATE SURVIVOR ALASKA)

beat out the other three-person teams to win the competition with complete strangers he’d never met before filming began. For season three, there’s another entirely new team in place – mountaineer Ben Jones and heli-ski guide Lel Tone. But for Seavey, the spirit of the show as far as he is concerned is intact.

While everyone has a background in some semblance of adventure sports to,

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in theory, handle the terrain – an earlier third-season episode saw the teams try to cross the swift currents of the Talkeetna River – it’s as much a mental as it is a physical grind. Seavey went so far as arguing the psychological effects can sink you more than having the fitness to traverse the Alaskan bush.

“Yes, you have to have the physical talent to do this stuff. And that’s not easy,

but we almost take that for granted. The people who are out there are outdoor, active people,” he says. “But the real game comes down to the mental side. One of the major factors that gets often overlooked in these group situations: Here we are, warm and well fed and watered. But now let’s try it when we’re cold and miserable, and probably haven’t slept properly in several weeks, and are severely malnourished. Hunger is one of the biggest attitude changers out there.”

All the factors combined provide a thinking player’s game that has brought Seavey back for more of his second career on Ultimate Survival Alaska on top of success as a professional dog musher.

“Creativity and challenges are what I thrive on. That’s what I do when racing the Iditarod. We try to recognize a problem, break it down to its most basic elements and solve it,” he says. “Whether it’s building a new racing sled or coming up with new strategies in the Iditarod, it’s problem solving. There’s definitely a mad -scientist aspect for when you come to a

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crossroads of a problem that you don’t have an answer for.”

DALLAS SEAVEY WAS at a crossroads once.

Though his promising wrestling career (see sidebar) was pinned by injuries, he knew the family business of rigging up dogs to a sled and traveling fast through the snow. Grandpa Dan did it; his father Mitch did it. It was what the names Andretti and Unser were to motorsports, Sutter to hockey, Williams to tennis and Manning to football. A Seavey is expected to successfully race dogs through the treacherous Alaskan wilderness.

“My granddad moved to Alaska in the 1960s to be an ‘Alaskan.’ When he helped start the Iditarod, it was as much fun to plan the race as it actually meant to go do it,” Dallas says of Iditarod Hall of Fame inductee Dan Sr., who as recently as 2012 competed in the race, at 74 years old. “They were trying to figure out if it was possible to run 1,000 miles across Alaska.”

The race has now gone internation-

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The challenges of Ultimate Survivor Alaska require contestants to be physically strong, such as swimming frigid waters. But Seavey says the mental aspect of the competition is arguably tougher to handle. (ULTIMATE SURVIVOR ALASKA)

al after its early years usually featured Alaskans only. Most of the members of the Seavey family, including Dallas’s wife Jennifer, have competed in at least one Iditarod. The Seavey kids were homeschooled, mostly so they could have access to the tasks of maintaining the Seward-based family business of raising and racing sled dogs (it’s now known as Seavey’s Ididaride Racing Team and Sled Dog Tours). Mitch cared for more than 100 dogs at his kennel, and oldest brothers Danny, Tyrell and Dallas – they also have a fourth brother, aspiring sing-

er Conway Seavey – were given various duties to make sure the dogs were fed and exercised.

Dallas made his Iditarod debut in 2005 at just 18 (the minimum age to compete) and was the youngest musher to finish the race, coming in 51st. But it wasn’t until 2009 that he was actually “competitively” racing in the event. He still seemed like a longshot to win the 2012 race, given that most previous winners were in their 30s, 40s or even 50s (Seavey said the average age of the previous 20 winners was 42). Conversely, his

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A Seavey selfie taken with his sled dogs.

Last year, he became the fastest Iditarod champion of all time, completing the route in just over eight days and 13 hours. “It’s an incredible feeling,” he says of carrying on the legacy of his family’s connections to the great race. (DALLAS SEAVEY)

kennel, made up of dogs he purchased from his dad and other fellow mushers, was just 3 years old at that point. So it wasn’t as if he was known for grooming championship dogs.

“I was competing with these teams that had been going for 20 or 30 years.

It’s a refining process, where you’re continually breeding from the best to the best of the best for the dogs. These dogs are just insane athletes. We were way behind the eight ball there,” Seavey says.

“It certainly seemed like from the outside, a 25-year-old racing in his fourth competitive Iditarod saying, ‘I’m going to win it and become the youngest winner ever,’ must have seemed either extremely arrogant or naïve; probably both. Maybe I was just naïve enough, just dumb enough, to believe that I could win the Iditarod. It doesn’t mean we have a lock on this race. But this was the first team I had that I knew had the potential to win – if we did everything right.”

Check. Seavey’s win was remarkable given the historical odds were so against him. This had been a sport where Father Time – like his dad – was an advantage over youthful enthusiasm. But here was the 25-year-old, a year before his father was dismissing the trend of mushers his age, winning the Last Great Race on Earth. He sat below Nome’s famed Burled Arch, sharing the stage with two 24 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

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WINNING ‘THE LAST GREAT RACE ON EARTH’ A look at the year-by-year champions of the Iditarod, with total time elapsed from start to finish: 2014 Dallas Seavey: 2013 Mitch Seavey: 2012 Dallas Seavey: 2011 John Baker: 2010 Lance Mackey: 2009 Lance Mackey: 2008 Lance Mackey: 2007 Lance Mackey: 2006 Jeff King: 2005 Robert Sorlie: 2004 Mitch Seavey: 2003 Robert Sorlie: 2002 Martin Buser: 2001 Doug Swingley: 2000 Doug Swingley: 1999 Doug Swingley: 1998 Jeff King: 1997 Martin Buser: 1996 Jeff King: 1995 Doug Swingley: 1994 Martin Buser:

8 days, 13 hours, 4 minutes, 19 seconds

9d 7h 39m 56s 9d 4h 29m 26s 8d 18h 46m 39s 8d 23h 59m 9s 9d 21h 38m 46s 9d 11h 46m 48s 9d 5h 8m 41s 9d 11h 11m 36s 9d 18h 39m 31s 9d 12h 20m 22s 9d 15h 47m 36s 8d 22h 46m 2s 9d 19h 55m 50s 9d 0h 58m 6s 9d 14h 31m 7s 9d 5h 52m 26s 9d 8h 30m 45s 9d 5h 43m 0s 9d 2h 42m 19s 10d 13h 2m 39s

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The most common Iditarod routes over the last 40 years.

(CALLIOPEJEN/WIKIMEDIA)

1993 Jeff King 1992 Martin Buser: 1991 Rick Swenson: 1990 Susan Butcher: 1989 Joe Runyan: 1988 Susan Butcher: 1987 Susan Butcher: 1986 Susan Butcher: 1985 Libby Riddles: 1984 Dean Osmar: 1983 Rick Mackey: 1982 Rick Swenson: 1981 Rick Swenson: 1980 Joe May: 1979 Rick Swenson: 1978 Dick Mackey: 1977 Rick Swenson: 1976 Jerry Riley: 1975 Emmitt Peters: 1974 Carl Huntington: 1973 Dick Wilmarth:

10d 15h 38m 15s 10d 19h 17m 15s 12d 16h 34m 39s 11d 1h 53m 23s 11d 5h 24m 34s 11d 11h 41m 40s 11d 2h 5m 13s 11d 15h m 0s 18d 0h 20m 17s 12d 15h 7m 33s 12d 14h 10m 44s 16d 4h 40m 10s 12d 8h 45m 2s 14d 7h 11m 51s 15d 10h 37m 47s 14d 7h 11m 51s 16d 16h 27m 13s 18d 22h 58m 17s 14d 14h 43m 15s 20d 15h 1m 7s 20d 0h 49m 41s

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of Seaveyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ďŹ ve lead dogs from the race, Diesel and Guinness. They were covered in yellow roses and showered with cheers from the crowd on Nomeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Front Street. Man and dogs were exhausted after such a grueling race (talk about ultimate Alaskan survival). He hugged both dogs, feeling as though winning the race was simply a bonus for appreciating what they accomplished.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what this race is all about and carrying on the familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s legacy as some of Alaskaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s storied sportsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; personalities. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an incredible feeling. For 355 days a year Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a dog musher, and to develop these dogs to their highest potential and to make each dog the best athlete that their genetic potential has allowed them and help them maximize that potential. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what a dog musher is, in my mind,â&#x20AC;? Seavey says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;For the other 10 days a year, give or take, we are focused on not necessarily winning the Iditarod, but running the best possible race. And if I run the team to the best of their ability, that is a goal met.â&#x20AC;? ASJ

FROM MATS TO SLEDS Dallas Seavey might be the hottest name in sled dog racing today, but before he found Iditarod glory, he was one of Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most promising wrestlers. In 2013 he was Alaskaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ďŹ rst USA Wrestling junior national champion in the Greco-Roman 125-pound class. He attended Northern Michigan University, which also hosts the Greco-Roman national team headquarters.

It wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t surprising that a Seavey excelled in sports. All three of his brothers have athletic genes, and Dallas says oldest brother Danny had a right arm powerful enough to be a quarterback or pitcher, if he chose that route. But Dallas had no doubts he would someday compete for an NCAA wrestling title and maybe even an Olympic champion. â&#x20AC;&#x153;As an athlete, that was the goal; an Olympic gold medal was what we

were going for,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But life takes certain twists and turns, and not all in our control.â&#x20AC;?

He was focused on taking the necessary steps to get there, and his junior success only raised expectations.

Seavey made the junior national team and wrestled meets in Lithuania and Bulgaria. For a sport where peak performance is mid-20s to late-30s, he was well ahead of schedule.

A series of concussions ďŹ nally did him in. But Seavey, the champion dog musher, has no regrets about how his life has turned out without his other sport. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Wrestling was a very educational experience for me. I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a large part about who I am now and in many ways the successes Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had in racing,â&#x20AC;?

Seavey says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sometimes we have to know when weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re ďŹ ghting an unwinnable (match).â&#x20AC;? -CC

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Dogs need a break too. The Kobuk 440 runs through six villages, and you will find checkpoints at each. There is also a mandatory 20-hour layover for each team. (LEW PAGEL)

SLEDDING THROUGH THE ARCTIC THE IDITAROD IS ALASKA’S SIGNATURE DOG SLED EVENT, BUT THE KOBUK 440 HAS ITS OWN NICHE AS A PREMIER RACE

BY PAUL D. ATKINS

I

had never been to a dog race before, so when the teams began to line up on the ice of Kotzebue Sound it was quite strange for me to be there.

All these dogs with harnesses and handlers and the mushers – all bright in their parkas – each with a big number

pinned to their chest. It was completely foreign to me. They were all standing on an imaginary line in the snow with orange flags at each end of the field.

It kind of reminded me of a NASCAR event back in the Lower 48, but I knew this was much more serious than that.

That was 20 years ago. Nowadays, I’ve come to realize the tra-

dition and culture that comes with mushing dogs in the far North is a treasured occurrence.

Everyone is pretty familiar with the Iditarod, the “Last Great Race on Earth” that happens each March, starting in Southcentral Alaska and stretching its way north along the Norton Sound before hitting the finish line in Nome.

It brings together some of the greatest mushers in the world for 1,000 miles of pure adventure, with all mushers and their dog teams hopefully finishing the grueling race.

It’s legendary, for sure, but here in Northwest Alaska there is another race – and while maybe not as long, it has served this region well.

THE OTHER GREAT RACE Billed as the toughest race above the Arctic Circle, the Kobuk 440 sled dog race started in 1985 and has been held every year since. A 440-mile event takes the dogs and their musher from Kotzebue to Noorvik, Kiana, Ambler, MARCH 2015

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Many locals get a firsthand glimpse as the mushers pass their cabins along the Kobuk River. It is also a joy for the team, especially if it’s a good trail. (LEW PAGEL)

be done. Having a bunch of dogs isn’t easy and they are expensive to have and take care of,” she told me.

It’s a lot of work, but if you were ever to meet Ruth, you would see she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Endurance, testing your skill and ability to maneuver a team and get them to do what you want them to while on the trail or off” is what she appreciates most about mushing. Ruth currently runs about 20 dogs, and on any given weekend you can find her either out around Kotzebue or at home tending to her canines.

A TRADITION OF SLEDDING Shungnak, Kobuk, Shungnak, Ambler, Selawik, Noorvik and then back to Kotzebue again.

It can be tough, considering weather usually plays a big role in the outcome.

Weather and trail conditions have always been factor when it comes the trials and tribulations of mushing dogs, but with this year’s prize package totaling close to $50,000, the weather and trail will have to be pretty bad to keep the mushers away.

Over the years the 440 has seen blizzards and white-outs where conditions were so bad that a few mushers were lost and had to hold up in cabins until it was safe to go outside again. Bitter cold has also been a factor, and in some years the weather was so warm break-up occurred, making traveling almost impossible. Only the toughest and most durable survive to the finish.

A WHO’S WHO OF MUSHERS In or around the first week of April at exactly 4:40 in the afternoon, mushers from all over the country push off to test their skill against the elements of bush Alaska. Many legendary mushers – household names in Alaska like Jeff King, Susan Butcher, Rick Swenson, Charles Boulding, Lance Mackey, Kotzebue’s own Ed Iten, John Baker, Roger Nordlum and Chuck Schaeffer, plus the great Louie Nelson Jr. – have competed at one time or another; all have won this incredible race.

Ed Iten, who has lived in the region 38 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

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With a mass start the action is fast and furious across Kotzebue Sound. At exactly 4:40 p.m., the Kobuk 440 begins in front of town where up to 20 mushers and their dog teams head across the snow and ice towards the next checkpoint. (PAUL D. ATKINS)

for many years, won the Kobuk 440 seven times, and the times that he didn’t you could always find him near the top of the leader board. Ed’s entire family is part of a long line of mushers and some have competed in not only this race, but the Iditarod as well. Ed’s best finish in the great race came in 2005, where he finished second overall. Ed’s wife Ruth is also a musher who still competes and runs her dogs as much as possible.

Ruth, who teaches second grade at the local elementary school, has been mushing for many years. She absolutely loves running dogs, and when you talk to her you can tell it immediately.

Ruth refers to her dog kennel as her farm, an “Arctic farm,” in her words.

“It’s a lot like taking care of farm animals. From feeding to housing to cleaning to vaccinating – it all has to

The Kotzebue Dog Mushers Association is a local organization that has been a longtime supporter of dog racing and local mushers like the Itens.

Originally started in the 1970s, the group provides the area with many activities: whether it’s junior racing, women’s events, distance running and sprints, all have a played a big part in the tradition of dog mushing in the Arctic.

Sled dogs can be found in most villages too, and pretty much throughout the Northwest Arctic. It’s a part of life for everyone, whether you are a musher or not. As I sit here typing this, I can hear my neighbor’s dogs across the street from my house. Those sounds are comforting to my ears and they make me feel good. I know how hard the loyal dogs work, and in a couple of weeks those same dogs will run somewhere on the Iditarod Trail, giving their best effort like they always do.

So if you happen to be in or near Kotzebue over the next few weekends, grab your parka and your bunny boots and head down to Front Street. The dogs will be brought in on sleds pulled by either snowmachines or four-wheelers, all eager and ready to go. Bring your camera too; it’s an event for everybody. ASJ Editor’s note: For more information about the Kobuk 440 sled dog race and other races above the Arctic Circle, please visit kobuk440.com or editen.com. You can also find them on Facebook.

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MUSHING FOR THE REST OF US YOU DON’T HAVE TO COMPETE IN THE IDITAROD TO EXPERIENCE ALASKA SLED DOGS

BY TOM REALE he official state sport of Alaska is dog mushing, and while many people think of it only during this month’s Iditarod, it’s much more than that. Competitive mushing takes place all winter in the state, from amateur sprint races to long-distance endurance racing.

However, recreational mushing is much more prevalent, and there are outfits all around the state that cater to individuals in search of that ultimate Alaska Experience, mushing a team of dogs through unspoiled wilderness.

it’s a short run, usually in the neighborhood of 30 to 60 minutes, and it’s pricey – helicopter and airplane time are expensive, so you can expect to spend $500 to 750 per person for the trip.

If your spirit of adventure prevails over your fear of the cold and you plan on a winter visit, your range of options expands considerably. Mushing outfits from Southeast to the Brooks Range offer everything from one-day introductory trips to fully outfitted multiday trips into real and remote wilderness, and almost anything else in between you can think of.

off the bus and onto the runners and into the wilderness, so if you want the true mushing experience, be prepared to spend some time, and, yes, some money too in order to fulfill your Iditarod fantasy.

The kennel tours and the sled rides can be done by just about anyone. If you can get to Alaska, you can walk around and pet dogs or ride in a sled basket while the real mushing is done by someone else. But if your true desire is to mush your own team, the bar is raised a bit as far as physical preparation and ability goes.

SUMMER OPTIONS

READ THE DETAILS

HANDLING THE RIDE

If you plan on visiting in summer via one of the cruise lines that ply the waters of Southeast or Southcentral Alaska, that doesn’t mean that you have to miss your chance at dog mushing. There are companies that’ll transport you up onto one of the nearby glaciers, where there’s always good mushing weather and give you a small glimpse of mushing adventure.

Typically, you’ll fly by helicopter or fixed-wing airplane onto a glacier, where you’ll be met by a musher and dog team. They’ll explain details about the dogs and the sleds, regale you with tales of the mushing lifestyle and take you on a short run either in the sled or standing on the runners, accompanied by the musher.

The big advantage of this approach is that for summer visitors, this is the only way you’ll get a chance at seeing sled dogs and either riding in or on a sled behind a team. Disadvantages are

When you’re looking for a mushing adventure, pay close attention to the wording of the tour description. There’s a big difference among the available options. Some outfits offer just a tour of a sled dog kennel and usually a talk and a Q-and-A with the operator. You get to see and pet the dogs, get some photo ops and maybe a souvenir or two from the gift shop.

Other companies offer rides in a sled.

These trips can last from one to three or four hours, usually through wooded areas or across the tundra. On these trips, you’re cargo in the sled basket and the guide does the real mushing.

For the ultimate experience, though, you’ll want to stand on the runners and mush the dogs yourself. Obviously an experience like this takes quite a bit more time, since there’s a training period involved under close supervision of a musher. Trained sled dogs are expensive, and nobody’s going to let you hop

While this doesn’t mean that you have to be four-time Iditarod winner Lance Mackey in order to mush a team, it does mean that there’s a lot more involved than standing on the runners and not falling off, although that’s pretty important too.

You have to be in good enough physical shape to hang onto the sled while negotiating bumps and turns, control the sled on downhills so you don’t run over your dogs, and get off and help push on steep uphill climbs. But it’s been done successfully by pre-teen kids, retirees and confirmed couch po-

T

Alaska’s state sport is dog mushing, and is revered there as basketball is to Indiana and hockey to Minnesota. Several outfitters in the state provide various excursions to those who want to experience the sport. (TOM REALE) MARCH 2015

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The author gets to know these working dogs that live for the the task of transporting Alaskans across the state. (TOM REALE)

tatoes, so as long as you’re relatively active, you too can mush a dog team.

If like most mushing first-timers you decide on a one-day trip, you’ll most likely spend the first half of the day getting schooled on the basics of managing a team of dogs. You’ll learn all the nomenclature of the team, the sled and the commands, and how to put on harnesses, hook the team up to the sled, and how to control the sled and the team under various conditions. You’ll ride in the basket for a while and get the feel of the relationship between musher and team. You’ll go through various situations you’re likely to encounter.

Then, usually after lunch, you’ll get you chance to get on the runners and run the team.

The first thing you notice when you’re new to dog mushing is that getting the team to go is not a problem.

Sled dogs have been bred through generations to run, and running is what they really, really want to do. Once they’re all in harness and ready to go, there’s a lot of barking and howling as they strain at the gangline, ready to launch you into the wilderness ASAP. However, as soon as you untie from the tree you’re attached to or lift the snowhook and they feel the release, you lurch forward as the dogs suddenly stop barking and start pulling. And, you’re off!

The sudden quieting of the dogs is instantly replaced by the hiss of the sled runners over the snow. You immediately get it – this is why people choose to run a team of dogs through the Alaska wil42 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

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derness. You’re cruising effortlessly at 7 or 8 mph, the dogs are loping along, doing their jobs seemingly without effort, and all is right with the world. If all goes well, you finish your run after a couple of hours, pet and thank your dogs, and head for home with a new appreciation for this uplifting experience.

PULL AN OVERNIGHTER If you’re looking for a more in-depth adventure, check out the multiday trips offered by a few outfits in Alaska. Several years ago, my wife and I decided we wanted to give a mushing trip a try.

We were visiting EarthSong Lodge near Healy and saw that they offered several multiday trips into Denali National Park.

We looked into the details, and made a decision. At first my wife wanted to sign up for a five- or seven-day trip. I countered. “Look, we’re only going to do this once, let’s do the 10-day and be done with it,” was my reply. As it turned out the 10-day trip was a great

idea, but I was wrong about the whole “only doing it once” idea.

And to be honest, it’s kind of expensive; maintaining a kennel of 20 to 30 sled dogs isn’t cheap. They’re not like snowmachines that you can just put away for the summer. These modes of transport eat and require year-round care, and taking care of dogs is very labor-intensive. But we bit the bullet, convinced our friend Madelyn to come along with us and took the plunge for the 10-day trip.

The lodge is owned by Jon and Karin Nierenberg, and Jon has been mushing dogs and guiding trips for over 25 years.

It’s located on the Stampede Road, made (in)famous by Chris McCandless, who inspired author Jon Krakauer and director Sean Penn as the subject of the book and movie, Into the Wild, chronicling McCandless’ life and death in the Alaska bush.

In the summer, the Nierenbergs rent cabins and operate a coffeehouse, but in the winter it’s just mushing trips into Denali.

The first day of the trip, Jon taught us how to harness the dogs, hook them up in the proper order, load the sleds, etc.

We had a full day of training and Jon ran the lead team; each of us followed with our teams. We went over open tundra, through mixed spruce and birch forest, and up and down hills, learning how to maneuver, turn and stop.

Afterwards, we had a debriefing and went over our gear, making sure everyone had sufficient and acceptable stuff for the trip. In cases where our things weren’t quite up to a 10-day-trip-in sub-

After a day’s worth of mushing across snow-covered Alaska, the dogs look forward to replenishing all the calories they burned. (TOM REALE)

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tree just off the trail. While the dogs were trying to pull the sled forward, I was trying to pull it backward just a bit to disengage it from the tree. Meanwhile, everyone else was long gone and completely unaware of my plight.

Somehow I managed to horse it away from the tree and got back on track, but it was my first reminder that mushing dogs is a lot more than just riding on the back of a sled. A lot more.

You and your dog team may experience iconic sites like the abandoned bus where Chris McCandless of Into the Wild fame met his end. (TOM REALE)

zero-conditions-quality, Jon had some heavy-duty items we could use.

The next day we were up early, got everything loaded and our teams hooked up and we were off and running. I should point out here that at the time of our first trip, I was in my late 50s and definitely not an athlete. And Elaine and Madelyn were in the same age bracket, and while both are very active and in good physical shape, neither of them tipped the scales at more than

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110 pounds, so none of us were likely to qualify for the next Olympics. But we were all in reasonable shape, and Jon figured we’d probably all survive.

Jon led the way with his team of eight dogs, next came Elaine and Madelyn with their teams of five dogs each, and I rode drag with a six-dog team. We headed for Denali from the lodge; before too long I had my first disaster – I swung the sled too wide on a turn and got it wedged behind a small spruce

NOT A RIDE IN THE PARK In the days to come, there were many more lessons learned. Things like snow is soft and trees are hard. Every command you give to these dogs appears to mean, go like hell. Always hold onto the sled, no matter what. Once you lose your grasp on it, you’re gonna be walking for quite a while. When going uphill and all of the dogs are looking back at you over their shoulders, what they’re thinking is, “Hey fat boy, get off the runners and push. And maybe think about having a salad once in a while.”

Keep your eyes on any dogs, which are

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known chewers – they can bite through a gangline in no time flat and the next thing you know, your lead dogs are heading for the horizon. Good times.

Probably the biggest revelation of the trip, besides how blissful it can feel to cruise through Denali behind a team of well-trained dogs, was just how much time is consumed by all of the tasks necessary to support four people and 24 dogs in the Alaska backcountry.

At the end of each day, Jon sets up a series of cables anchored to trees where the dogs are to spend the night.

Each musher has to secure the sled, get each dog unhooked from the gangline, walk it over to the cable, take off the harness and hook up the dog. Repeat working from back to front of the team until done.

Then the camp stove is fired up, and if there’s no water source nearby, he melts enough snow and ice so the dogs will have drinks with their meal. The sleds are unpacked and camp is made – tents set up, gear stowed inside and others. Once the dogs are fed, Jon gets

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dinner for the humans going, and the tent is arranged for the night. Dinner is served in the dark, and there’s not a lot of time in the evening for socializing, as sleep is a very welcome treat after a long day of mushing, wrangling sleds, untangling dog teams, and hanging on for dear life.

After breakfast in the morning, Rigging up a sled takes time, but it’s an experience of a lifetime. (TOM REALE)

camp has to be struck and everything re-stowed in the sleds. The grounds are cleaned up where the dogs were tied out, and the teams re-harnessed and hooked up. Then once everybody’s ready, we take off one by one in an ear-shattering din of barking dogs and another day begins, with a repeat performance at the end of the night.

If this sounds like a good time to you, start making plans to save your money and get in shape for the trip. As I mentioned, you don’t have to be a trained athlete, but if you’re in better physical shape, the easier it’ll be when things go sideways on you. Also, some trips are more rigorous than others, and if you’re better prepared, more trip options will be available.

And after all the preparations, and the financial outlay, once you hit the trail and you’re skimming along over open tundra under a deep blue sky, it will all be worth it.

I’ve been back two more times after our original “once in a lifetime” trip, and I don’t think I’m done yet. ASJ

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Cooper Landing, AK • www.drifterslodge.com • 907.595.5555 48 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

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PROTECTING

WILD ALASKA

BY CHRIS COCOLES

Over 12 million acres of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would be designated as “wilderness” if Congress approves President Obama’s recommendations.

(STEVE HILLEBRAND/USFWS)

BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS

T

he 1964 Wilderness Act – 2014 marked its 50th anniversary – as explained by The Wilderness Society, “created a way for Americans to protect their most pristine wildlands for future generations.”

In January, President Obama’s administration recommended that a large portion of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Northeast Alaska earn “wilderness status,” which is the highest level of protected status. There are currently 7 million acres of the refuge already considered as wilderness.

Alaska’s spring brown bear season in Game Management Unit 1 (Southeast Mainland) begins on March 15. (LISA HUPP/USFWS)

The designation would cover the remaining 12.28 million acres of ANWR, including its coastal plain, and the USWFS also suggested National Wild and Scenic River status for Alaska’s Atigun, Hulahula, Kongakut, and Marsh Fork Canning Rivers.

“Designating vast areas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as wilderness reflects the significance this landscape holds for America and its wildlife,” said Sally Jewell, Secretary of the Interior.

“Just like Yosemite or the Grand Canyon, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is one of our nation’s crown jewels

and we have an obligation to preserve this spectacular place for generations to come.”

Sixty percent of ANWR currently does not hold wilderness designation, which maintains that the water and land are unimpaired. The president would be able to officially approach the plan to Congress by late February.

“The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge preserves a unique diversity of wildlife and habitat in a corner of America that is still wild and free,” said USWFS director Dan Ashe.

Of course, politics always create two sides of such an equation. That area of Northeast Alaska is rich in oil reserves.

Alaska’s senior U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R) spoke on NPR and said she’s opposed to the proposed plan.

“We are a state that has been providing oil to the country for decades now, and doing so in an environmentally sound and safe way,” Murkowski said. “But what the president is proposing has the potential to thwart any development there. All of a sudden, it’s a one, two, three kick to Alaska.

“There’s so much focus on the wildlife, on the polar bear and the critters and the birds. And they are important.

Don’t get me wrong. But equally important – more important – is the obligation that we have to the people who live there, who have been there for centuries, many of them. So let’s not lose sight of the human beings (who) are part of this discussion,” she said.

OUTDOOR CALENDAR March 9 Start of Iditarod, Fairbanks; iditarod.com March Opening of spring brown bear season in Game Management Unit (GMU) 1 March 20 Closing day for goat season in GMU 8 March 21 Winter King Salmon Tournament, Seward; homeralaska.org March 27-29 Mat-Su Outdoorsman Show, Curtis D. Menard Sports Center,

Wasilla; chinookshows.com March 31 End of wolf season in GMU 2 April 1 Opening of spring brown bear season in GMU 8 April 2-5 Great Alaska Sportsman Show, Sullivan and Ben Boeke Arenas, Anchorage; greatalaskasportsmanshow.com April 17-19 Fairbanks Outdoor Show, Carlson Center, Fairbanks; carlson-center.com/outdoorTravelShow

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WHAT IT TAKES

THE PHYSICAL AND MENTAL GRIND OF BEING ON SERT

BY STEVE MEYER

H

“

ow did you get on the SERT?” was a common question during my tenure with the Alaska State Troopers, “E” Detachment Special Emergency Response Team.

It is a common question, considering many would like to be a part of what is perceived to be an elite vocation. It’s

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somewhat of an anomaly because my full-time employment was with the Department of Corrections. The DOC is the bastard stepchild of the law enforcement arena. Considered to be knuckle-dragging buffoons by many if not most, DOC does not enjoy the fraternal respect common to most law enforcement agencies.

Of course, there are instances when that perception is true, but there are

many fine people working for DOC. While on SERT there are numerous opportunities to interact with other agencies, and each of them have their share of buffoons as well. But the question was out there, and even more of an anomaly was my position as the team leader in the field.

Several things brought attention that without, would never have landed me in the coveted role of a SERT operator.

Anchorage Police Department Special Weapons and Tactics Team officers train on the High-Angle Sniper Range at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. The author was known as an accomplished shooter as he rose through the Alaska State Troopers rankings. (JUSTIN CONNAHER/U.S. AIR FORCE)

Jamie Hammons of the Palmer Police Department demonstrates proper firing position during Alaska State Troopers SERT sharpshooter training. The author, a retired SERT officer, says he doesn’t miss some of the politics that came with his job, but what he misses is the camarederie with his colleagues. (ALASKA ARCTIC WARRIORS)

Shooting was an extremely important one. By the time my career in law enforcement started, my reputation as a shooter was established.

The ability to shoot was high on the list of desirable characteristics back then. Most law enforcement officers can’t shoot exceptionally well. Many don’t shoot for pleasure in their free time. The guns they are issued are only tools of the uniform and a necessary

evil for the majority.

Alaska is a bit different than the rest of the world in that the shooting programs taught to recruits with the Alaska State Troopers, the Anchorage Police Department, the Department of Corrections and many smaller municipal agencies were recognized as the best of the law enforcement world. In the late 1990s, before some relaxation of the standards came about, shootings

that involved officers in Alaska showed a hit factor (hits on target for shots fired) that were quadruple the national average.

The firearms program for Alaska law enforcement is a bit of history in itself.

This is thanks in part to some very dedicated men like Ted Smith (RIP), Steve Smith, Ed Marsters and Don Mann of the Anchorage Police Department; Jeff Hall of the Alaska State Troopers; and MARCH 2015

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Being in peak physical condition is a necessity for the demanding expectations for SERT officers. (ALASKA ARCTIC WARRIORS)

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Mike Addington of DOC. They believed in bringing the best possible skills to the gunfight and were relentless in selling their conviction to their respective administrations; we were the best.

Of course, there are too many additional instructors who dedicated their skills to furtherance of the program to mention here. By the early years after the turn of the century, there was some relaxation to the standards – thanks to administration – but the programs remain among the very best.

For some perspective, instructor classes were conducted annually by Anchorage PD, Alaska State Troopers, and DOC, and a typical class that started with 20 potential instructors would graduate four.

These teachers were well aware of the difficulties and were shooters, but the program was extremely difficult, not only in the physical aspects of shooting but also the academics of knowing the business. Graduating the instructor class remains a very

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fond memory for me and probably does for all who made it back then.

ONE OF MY fondest memories from SERT was a time many years ago when we were involved in a joint training exercise that included Alaska State Troopers SERT, Anchorage Police Department CIRT (Critical Incident Rsponse Team) and the FBI Hostage Rescue Team. The Alaska teams were on the range early (we all loved this stuff) and waited for a couple of hours for the FBI team to show up.

They pulled up in several black Chevy Suburbans that were flown to Alaska for the training and loaded to the gills with every kind of tactical gear one could ever want, including the best of the best in firearms. We were all envious and perhaps even a bit anxious about performing in front of this well-known group of experts.

Anxiety quickly turned to pride as we consistently shot as well or better

54 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

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than them and showed them some ways to improve their performance.

Shooting was a big deal for SERT guys.

Physical fitness was the second quality that one must bring to the table to be a SERT operator. Being a mountain hunter (most of the officers I served with were also hunters), my regimen of staying in shape included running mountain trails in the fair months and snowshoeing the mountains in the winter. Plus there were daily bouts of pushups, pullups, situps, splitting and hauling wood, packing meat, etc. Needless to say, I was in pretty good shape.

The first physical fitness test for SERT involved a 2-mile run that had to be completed in less than 16 minutes. My time was 12 minutes, 2 seconds, not world class by any stretch, but then again. I was a two-packs-aday smoker.

The thing with physical fitness for SERT wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t so much that you often, if ever, had to run 2 miles, it was being

able to do it if you needed to.

We used to throw 100-pound logs on our shoulder and run for 200 yards to the firing line, and then shoot a qualifying score with our pistols.

It was great fun and we rarely failed to make the cut. When things go bad, the ability to move very fast and climb or force your way through things was a critical element and a great source of pride when we would do timed-entry exercises; we could move!

Arguably the most important factor was mindset. Some would confuse being fearless with this factor.

Not so if you were going through a door with an armed and barricaded suspect on the other side; or if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re riding on the skids of a helicopter at 100 mph for an insertion. Of course there was fear.

It was being able to embrace the fear, the adrenaline dump that is so life-embracing, and turn it to positive action that was critical.

So often the people who do what

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we did were labeled “heroes.” The SERT operators I worked with never considered themselves heroes. We all were just incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to live life on the edge. We were like hunting dogs and we didn’t care what it was – just let us do it.

OF COURSE, THE mindset thing wasn’t left to chance. Most every law enforcement officer is subject to a psychological exam before ever being hired. For SERT we were required to take an additional psychological exam.

The entry-level exam is 1,600 questions, and the SERT exam featured 2,200 questions. I always figured that if you could sit in a little room and fill in 2,200 dots with a No. 2 pencil without strangling someone, you should pass.

After the written tests came the interview by the psychologist. It was a rather silly hour of questions from someone who didn’t know a damn thing about what we do, and it always made me question its value. But in fair-

ness, as new prospects would apply for SERT, I would speculate to myself if they would pass the exam or not and was right in every case, so I guess there was something to it.

Granted, I’m speaking of the early days of SERT, when operators bought a fair amount of their own gear, used personal firearms and didn’t get paid for a majority of the hours we spent working on the craft.

I used a personal ballistic vest for the first seven or eight years of SERT service. This vest had been shot twice before when I had a buddy shoot me while I wore it to see how it felt. It wasn’t anything like what is depicted in movies. You don’t go flying backwards or get knocked to your knees. It is more like a sharp hit with the round end of a ball peen hammer, certainly nothing that would interfere with one’s ability to return fire.

It was a time when you were there to solve a problem, not surround and call out, which is the common thread

of the day. These days, SERT teams even have armored vehicles to sit in while they call out for a suspect to surrender. And then there was the liability of even using a team. Evidently, once SERT is called, the potential for legal action escalates and is one reason why we were not allowed to perform a lot of the tasks that were exactly what we should have been doing. Not a good thing or a bad thing, I suppose – just a reality that in the end made my decision to retire from SERT after 14 years and long before my useful life was gone.

I don’t miss the administrative interference that prevented us from doing what should be done; I also don’t miss the incredible array of unnecessary gear we were eventually required to don for every mission. But I do miss the guys from the teams and the gun guys that made a difference.

Some of the best times of my life were spent with this group of dedicated professionals. ASJ

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ALASKA’S TITLE TOWN IS FAIRBANKS Alaska Nanooks rifle coach Dan Jordan hasn’t let paralysis over much of his lower body from a climbing accident take away his love of hunting. His teams have won three national titles and will shoot for another this month. (DAN JORDAN)

The University of Alaska Nanooks rifle team has won 10 NCAA championships and is ranked No. 2 this season as it prepares to host the national championships this month in Fairbanks.

(UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT)

COACH DOESN’T LET PARALYSIS SLOW HIM DOWN

UAF SEEKS 11TH NATIONAL TITLE

BY CHRIS COCOLES

I

n the college sports hierarchy, there are certain programs with a tradition of winning national championships that sell themselves to potential recruits: Kentucky in men’s basketball, USC in football, North Carolina in women’s soccer, Oklahoma State in wrestling, Connecticut in women’s basketball.

Capturing titles in bunches, as these programs traditionally have, is going to entice high school players when choosing their schools. So for a coach like Dan Jordan, his team’s 10 overall NCAA championships in men’s and women’s rifle would seem like a no-brainer pitch to prospective student-athletes, right?

Except when your school’s nickname is Nanooks and your average high temperature in January is 1 degree, the most hearty of Lower 48ers might look elsewhere than the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Compare that with recent national rifle champs from warmer climates like West Virginia, Texas Christian and Kentucky.

“A lot of people are searching you out, (but) not everyone does, obviously,” Jordan says of the challenges of convincing even the most gifted shooters to come to college in Fairbanks. “And this isn’t the place for everybody.”

So what does Jordan say to those who he’s recruiting for

BY CHRIS COCOLES

U

niversity of Alaska rifle team coach Dan Jordan says he really hadn’t been challenged much by the time he’d reached the summer after his sophomore year at the same school.

In May 1999, Jordan had just completed an All-America season on the Nanooks rifle team when he and a close friend and teammate, Amber Darland, went rock climbing north of Fairbanks.

“I was climbing and my safety pieces broke out, so I fell about 60 feet,” says Jordan. Asked by rescuers if was he allergic to anything, in a Denver Post story from a few years back, he recalled deadpanning an answer that would reflect on his ability to handle such a life-altering tragedy: “Rocks.”

He was paralyzed throughout his lower body.

JORDAN GREW UP in rural Franktown, Colo., not far from Colorado Springs. His family wasn’t into hunting or guns, but young Dan “was infatuated with hunting and shooting from the time I was a little kid.”

His parents put Jordan into the local 4-H club so he could learn gun safety from those who did know something about firearms He would spend endless hours shooting targets attached MARCH 2015

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Jaimie Barnes, a junior from Fairbanks, is one of several team members who take advantage of the state’s vast outdoor opportunities. (JAIMIE BARNES)

his team? Keep in mind that rifle is a mostly co-ed sport, and Divisions I, II (which most of Alaska’s sports teams play in) and III are melded into one division and have just over 30 schools that sponsor the sport. So opportunities – schools are allowed to spread around 3.6 scholarships –

60 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

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to hay bales in nearby cow pastures. He’d hunt with a fellow football player and his father, who was their high school coach.

Jordan referred to his coach as a “mountain man” who took the boys on an epic elk and deer hunt and slept in teepees; they wore buckskins and lived out a Grizzly Adams/Jeremiah Johnson experience.

“In the winter we shot in cow and chicken barns at the fairgrounds,” Jordan says. “When I went to the state fair and saw Olympic-style shooting, I was enthralled by it.”

Jordan went to Alaska for college and was an All-American in both smallbore and air rifle in 1998 and 1999. He didn’t have a care in the world – until May 23, 1999, the date of the accident.

“I’ve always looked at it as my life was very easy before that,” he says. “I was pretty athletic and school was always easy for me. I never had to work hard at anything. So I looked at it as I finally had a challenge in my life; it’s something I’m going to have to work at.”

THREE DAYS AFTER his fall, Jordan was flown closer to home in Colorado, but after surgery and spending almost two months rebabbing in a Denver hospital – “I got tired of being there,” he said – he told his parents he wanted to return to school in Fairbanks that August. Mom and Dad understandably wanted him to delay going back so soon and adjust to life in his wheelchair and skip a semester.

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aren’t as abundant as in football, basketball, baseball, softball, etc.

“People really have to want to be here. Alaska is an adventure and it’s an interesting place to live,” says Jordan, a Colorado native who was also a star shooter for the Nanooks. “It’s a long ways away and we have long, cold winters. The recruiting, while it’s easier, it definitely has its challenges still.”

Jordan has perspective when he talks to prospective recruits. When he took his visit to the school it was a pleasant 30 below zero.

“And I still decided to come here,” he says. “I try to bring people up in the middle of winter. I want them to see Alaska at its worst. I don’t want to bring them in August or September when it’s beautiful out. And then have them be here when January rolls around and they’re miserable.”

MORE THAN CHAMPIONSHIPS But there are advantages that go beyond just the opportunity to play for a program that is consistently among the best in the nation. While Jordan, an avid hunter and angler, admits that not everyone who participates in rifle is a sportsman or –woman, plenty of Nanooks enjoy fishing and hunting, and that’s clearly been a fringe benefit when living in Fairbanks or anywhere in the Last Frontier.

“Lots of them are,” Jordan says of those Alaska athletes

Amber Darland (left) was with Jordan when he fell 60 feet in his accident. After “10 years of chasing each other,” Dan and Amber are now happily married. (TODD PARIS/UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS)

“My kind of mentality was, I would rather come up in August or September and learn how to negotiate my way around, rather than come back up in January where everything was snowy and cold,” Jordan says.

“I came back somewhere around Aug. 26, got all settled in and told my parents I was leaving to go moose hunting. So one of my teammates took me and we went moose hunting and slept in the back of his Suburban. So I guess you can say I got Continued on page 66

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who are into the outdoors, specifically hunting. Of course, that’s helped sway some to a state where those activities are cherished.

“In August, people will come back to school early and get a few weeks in; they’ll go fishing and do everything else. Come hunting season, several will go out and go grouse hunting.

A couple of them have gone out on moose and caribou trips. There are those diehards who go out all the time. We had a good group that used to always go out and hunt ducks.”

The team’s geographic makeup is what you might expect from a sparsely populated state. There are three instate members of the 2014-15 roster – junior Jaimie Barnes, her younger sister Kasey Barnes, a freshman, and junior Lorelie Stanfield. All are locals from Fairbanks.

The rest of the squad comes from outside Alaska: Virginia, North Dakota, California, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts are represented.

There is also a Swede, senior Mats Eriksson, a three-time All-American last year who is part of a long line of Nanooks who came from Scandinavian nations Sweden and Norway.

And being so far away from the rest of your opponents provides a

subtle recruiting perk. Since the rifle season lasts through most of the unforgiving Alaskan winter, road trips to far-flung locations like this season’s matches in Texas (University of Texas El Paso and TCU) provide a chance to escape the cold. When not catching up on schoolwork, there are chances to have some fun.

“We’ll go play laser tag, go hiking in a state park or maybe visit an aquarium. One year (during a trip to play Louisiana State) we were able to go to the Ole Miss-LSU football game,” Jordan says. “Just fun stuff that they’re talking about for weeks after we get back.”

HOW RIFLE WORKS NCAA rifle matches are broken into two competition classes – smallbore and air rifle – with shooters aiming at ridiculously tiny targets (Jordan explained the size of a center target as “about the size of a period” for an ESPN.com story).

MARCH 2015

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In smallbore, athletes take 20 shots apiece from standing, prone and kneeling positions 50 feet from the target. Air rifle consists of 60 shots each from a distance of around 33 feet. It’s a test of hand-eye coordination personified.

Jordan compares the repetition of practice time and the mental affects to golfers who spend much of their time not playing 18 holes but consistently hitting at the range.

“Golf and shooting are identical sports. The mental game between the two is exactly the same,” the coach says. “When I was growing up I read countless golf books and I played golf in high school. You’re trying to do the same thing over and over again. The only thing that gets in the way is yourself.”

Ranked No. 2 behind rival West Virgina, the defending and 16-time champion (the Nanooks and Mountaineers split two matches in Fairbanks in February), an 11th title for Alaska would be magnified since the school is hosting the NCAA championships on March 13-14 in Fairbanks. The school also won the event when it hosted in 2007.

“Being named as the host site for an NCAA national championship is a tremendous honor for our rifle program and for our entire university,” athletic director Dr. Gary Gray said. “The national spotlight will be on our campus that entire week and I am confident we will exceed expectations to host an amazing event.”

While Alaska hasn’t claimed a national title since 2008, the Nanooks have been right in the mix every year since, narrowly finishing as runner-up to TCU in 2010 and West Virginia last season. Alaska has finished second five times, 15 Nanooks have Continued from page 62 medal in the smallbore three-position shoot.

The drive to regain the post-fall form and be accurate enough to compete in the Paralympics, let alone make it to a medal ceremony, became an obsession, much like every other obstacle he suddenly had to dodge.

“I never did it for anyone else,” he says. “I love shooting.”

And now he regularly hunts and fishes around Alaska from his wheelchair.

“One of the biggest things in life that makes me happy is just being outside,” he says. “Even when I was in the hospital days after surgery, my parents would get me in a wheelchair and just take me outside just to sit and see some sunshine.”

Steve Jordan would take his son fishing in the months after the fall, so you can imagine how emotional even a stoic Dan became on that first Alaskan moose hunt.

“Being able to come back and get back into hunting again, that’s what re-

“One of the biggest things in life that makes me happy is just being outside,” says Jordan, who went hunting in Alaska a few months after his fall. (DAN JORDAN)

right back into it.”

That included training for and competing in the Paralympic Games.

At the 2004 Athens Paralympics, Jordan left Greece with a silver 66 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

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won individual national titles and 57 have earned some type of All-American honors.

“Once you kind of get things rolling, you get a culture of excellence,” says Jordan, who could easily be making the same declaration as wildly successful coaches like Geno Auriemma, whose Connecticut women’s basketball teams have won nine NCAA titles.

“We’re very fortunate, because we have such a history of that, a lot more people want to come here.”

While the UConn Huskies have won all those trophies under the same coach, the Nanooks’ 10 team titles have come under the watch of four head coaches (Randy Pitney, Dave Johnson, Glenn Dubis and Jordan, who has coached three of the school’s championship teams). The program has become a powerhouse and doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon.

“It’s kind of exciting for the team to be shooting so well and having a chance to win this thing,” Jordan says. “To be able to host at home makes it a little more special, and I think that extra pressure on them (to win) is good. It’s going to push them a little harder.” ASJ Editor’s note: The NCAA Rifle Championships are scheduled for March 13-14 at the Patty Center on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus. For ticket information, call (907) 474-6665.

They can also be purchased on Ticketmaster.com.

68 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

MARCH 2015

charges my batteries.”

GET TO KNOW Dan Jordan and you hope you can come away thinking similarly to his attitude. To hell with the challenges his condition might have prevented. To hell with the “why me” reaction so many of us might have screamed out if something of this magnitude was inflicted upon us.

“I never had a depression phase; I never went through any kind of anything,” Jordan says. “After surgery when I woke up, nobody had to me that I was paralyzed. You knew it. It was just, ‘OK, now what?’”

It started with the friend who watched his fall in horror. Amber Darland and Dan Jordan were already close friends, and it was Dan who had been futilely “kind of chasing her at the time” before the accident.

“Then when I got hurt, she kind of started chasing me and I didn’t want anything to do with her,” says Jordan, who was a year ahead of her in school and moved back to Colorado after graduation. They were separated again for a time being, but eventually their paths crossed back in Fairbanks for good.

“It took about 10 years of chasing each other,” he says.

Now they’re married, and Jordan has happily accepted that his accident wouldn’t define who he is.

“Things may take a little bit longer and I may have to get creative with how I do some things,” he says. “And there are some things I just flat out can’t do. But that’s part of it. So be it.” ASJ

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This Situk River steelhead went for a black Conehead Leech. The Situk, near Yakatut, is one of Southeast Alaska’s premier steelhead fisheries.

(DENNIS MUSGRAVES)

STEELIES OF THE SITUK CUTTHROAT TROUT ALSO IN PLAY ON YAKUTAT TRIP

BY DENNIS MUSGRAVES

R

ain drops fell from the sky in bucket loads, and I was getting soaked.

Nonetheless, I pressed on, a cold,

wet and eager angler looking to find a suitable place along the river that would give me a decent back cast. It was my second day fishing the infamous Situk River near Yakutat, and I was still search-

ing for my first Alaska steelhead.

I decided to walk upriver from the lower landing, near the Situk’s mouth where it flows into the Gulf of Alaska. It seemed like a logical choice (and maybe less painful) after spending most of my first day arduously climbing up and over MARCH 2015

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Launching a drift boat is popular among anglers, and during the peak of the steelhead season, can make for a crowded Situk River. (DENNIS MUSGRAVES)

fallen timber, trudging through patches of knee-deep snow, and wading the icy-cold water of the upper river without locating a single fish. I was certainly purposeful in my effort to do more casting

and less walking on day two.

The path along the riverbank was worn from the hundreds of fishermen who had come before me. Walking the route, which cut through tall

IF YOU GO

WHERE Yakutat is a Southeast Alaska shoreline city of less than 700 full-time residents. The tiny coastal population is bordered on the western side by the Gulf of Alaska, a large bay directly to the north, and a towering skyline of mountains looking east. Ferry service and daily flights from Alaska Airlines keep the seemingly isolated community connected to other parts of the state.

The location is a popular place to visit with easy accessibility. Abundant wildlife, numerous hiking trails, scenic beaches and unique long, glassy ocean swells draw a variety of visitors throughout the year, including photographers, nature lovers, and, yes, even surfers. However, since sportfishing around Yakutat is world class, overwhelmingly that is the main attraction.

Fishing opportunities include prized halibut and lingcod, all five varieties of wild Pacific salmon, plus the largest run of steelhead found anywhere in the 49th state.

The Situk River is the main freshwater tributary near Yakutat, and hosts the load of returning steelhead. Several lodges and outfitters offer guided fishing trips, but the ease of access to the river by maintained dirt roads makes self-guided fishing trips very popular.

TACKLE BOX ESSENTIALS Conventional spinning or casting rods can be used targeting any fish species present in the rivers near Yakutat; however, most anglers will be using fly fishing rods for steelhead and 74 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

MARCH 2015

moss-covered spruce and thick alders, would eventually bring me to a promising spot less than a mile upstream from the ocean.

It was a long narrow gravel bar, perfect to cast from, and just downstream from a wide-arching bend in the river with a flat area that appeared to be an ideal stretch. The deeply cut curve in the river looked to provide a natural resting spot for holding fish.

I began casting anxiously, allowing my multi-colored Glo Bug to sink and drift with the flow of water, mending line to maintain an inviting presentation throughout the drift.

It was only my fourth cast – about midway through the drift – when I felt an unexpected jolting smack. The violent strike was startling and almost caused me to lose my grip from the fly rod’s cork handle. My reaction was more instinctive than deliberate, and a quick motion with my right hand raised the rod tip and put immediate tension on the line. I had something on the other end of my fish-

cutthroat trout.

I suggest using medium-heavy action rods or 8-weight fly rods, both in a minimum length of 9 feet for spunky metalheads and shorter 7- to 8-foot-long medium-light action. Try 6-weight or 4-weight fishing rods for smaller-sized trout.

There are plenty of choices in gear selections and preferences available for anglers fishing in Yakutat. I have conveniently listed below a few suggested sources that have made my Southeast Alaska steelhead trips very successful: Attractors/flies: Alaska Fly Fishing Goods has some great kit selections for both steelhead and trout that take the guess work out of productive patterns and offer a diverse balance of choice. Check out their entire selection at alaskaflyfishinggoods.com.

Fishing rods: Temple Forks Outfitters has a variety of rods in a price/performance range for every level of angler.

The Lefty Kreh Professional Series II 9-foot, 8-weight model is my personal stick choice (tforods.com).

Fishing line: P-Line 15- to 20-pound-test CXX-Xtra Strong in moss green is a perfect abrasion-resistant monofilament style of line. It can be spooled on conventional reels or as leader material for fly fishing (p-line.com).

Wading boot: I have hiked and waded many miles fishing the Situk. I stay comfortable and confident in traction-bearing Korkers boots. The Devil’s Canyon model with OmniTrax interchangeable soles and M2 Boa lacing system are this cat’s meow (korkers.com). -DM

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the third flight, the steelie stayed submerged, putting up fierce resistance, straining and doubling over my fly rod.

As the battle raged, my heart raced and emotions went into overdrive.

Somehow I was able to collect my busy thoughts, control my feelings, and manage to play the powerful fish to the bank.

Eventually, I secured the dime-bright fish by its tail with one hand; I snapped a couple photos and made a clean release of the fish.

The author battles a 38-inch steelhead on one of his go-to fly setups. Most anglers tend to fly fish the Situk, though casting spoons and spinners will also land fish.

(DENNIS MUSGRAVES)

CATCHING A SPIRITED and magnificent

ing line and accomplished a good hookset. It was a strong fish that tried very forcefully to shake the unwanted hook from its mouth.

Before my brain could completely

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steelhead for the first time remains at the apex of my Alaska angling achievements – an unforgettable moment. The experience has drawn me back several times to fish here.

Yakutat Borough in Southeast Alaska has several rivers which provide world-class fishing opportunities. The coastal rivers provide a year-round home for rainbow trout and Dolly Varden while hosting returning Chinook, pink, sockeye and coho salmon. There

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Chris Cox with an upper Situk steelie.

(DENNIS MUSGRAVES)

are also spring and fall runs of wild steelhead. The crown jewel of all these rivers is the Situk.

The Situk is a well-known destination among steelhead fishermen worldwide.

The river is popular because it supports the largest run of wild sea-run steelhead found anywhere in Alaska, with the spring run being the most robust.

Most visiting anglers access the river at Nine Mile Bridge, which is reached by traveling east along a logging road 9 miles from town. The area has several nearby tent pads for self-guided cam-

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pouts, and a launch for drift boats. The bridge also acts as a reference point, separating the upper and lower portions of the 22-mile-long river.

Sportfishing popularity is evident from the worn trails on both sides of the river. Anglers can hike and wade in either direction from the bridge. Expect to see and share the river with other anglers, especially during the peak of the steelhead run. Seclusion is rarely found fishing the upper Situk; however, I have normally found plenty of room with minimal effort.

Floating a drift boat from the bridge to the lower landing certainly has some advantages. The ease of traveling between fishing spots and being able to cover more water in less time is appealing. Still, it’s been my experience that boat traffic sometimes is not any better for catching fish than by approaching the river on foot.

Drift boats often get stacked up at certain productive narrow holes on the river, or you may have to pass up favor-

ites areas that are already occupied by a boat that got an earlier start than you.

The lower landing of the Situk is the only other point accessible by road to the river. The area serves as a takeout for drift boats and provides limited access for those permitted to use a power boat in the river. A well-used trail parallels the course of the waterway, and even the worst navigators won’t need to drop bread crumbs to find their way home.

Most anglers fly fish the river to catch metalheads, drifting or swinging bright-colored Glo Bugs, sculpin, flashy streamers, or large leggy terrestrial patterns. Choosing bright colors in overcast conditions and going subdued and buggy when the sun comes out is a general rule I use for targeting steelhead.

I have seen Situk steelies caught on everything from Pink Polar Shrimp to a large Prince Nymph. My go-to stuff is a “Jerry Garcia” or “Dennis Rodman” psychedelic, multi-colored and round Glo Bug. Pegging large beads is also an alternative I found that works really well.

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Conventional rods and reels are also effective tools, especially for slip-bobber jigging. I have seen on more than one occasion big bright steelhead caught from right under Nine Mile Bridge by anglers drifting a basic float and jig. Casting large spinners and spoons and working them across the current will also produce hookups. The important thing to have with lures or flies is a good assortment.

FISHING THE SITUK for steelhead is certainly the main focus when anglers visit Yakutat in the spring. However, they are not the only special species. Another less appreciated fish, found only in Southeast Alaska, is the coastal cutthroat, which is abundant in the vicinity of Yakutat and Tawah Creek.

Coastal cutthroats are significantly smaller in size than steelhead. Adult fish seldom grow longer than 18 inches. Their light-colored body, head and fins are covered with generous black spotting.

They display a distinct dramatic bright-

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red streak on their jaw bone (hence the name cutthroat).

Tawah Creek is a short distance of less than 2 miles from Yakutat Airport.

Access can be had by using the road system at three different points where bridges cross over the creek. The confluence where the creek flows into Lost River can also be reached with a short walk from the Lost River Bridge.

I am reluctant to admit this: It took me four trips to Yakutat before I finally decided to give the trout in Tawah Creek some attention. Longtime angling collaborator Chris Cox and I actually planned a specific day for the gems, bringing 5-weight fly rods with assorted flies in both dry and wet patterns.

Most of our day fishing Tawah was spent near the Canon Beach Bridge area.

We were able to catch several cutthroats on a mix of blue dunns and bead-headed Prince Nymphs within a short wading distance of the bridge.

Although the fish were nowhere near as powerful and lively as steelhead of the

Situk, the coastal trout provided plenty of entertainment. The day was certainly well spent and full of angling glory, since Chris and I managed to share a personal milestone, fishing together and each catching our first coastal cutthroat trout in Alaska.

It’s been seven years since I caught my first steelhead in Alaska. I don’t have the best recall for all the trips and numerous fish I have caught in the Great Land, but if you asked me about catching my first steelhead or coastal cutthroat, I can vividly recall those moments in Yakutat like it was yesterday.

My first fish moments tend to stick; for me they are the essence of an Alaska angling adventure, and serve as a constant in making return fishing trips to places like Yakutat. ASJ Editor’s note: For more on author Dennis Musgraves and his fellow Alaskan fishing fanatics, the Alaskan Salmon Slayers, check out chronicles of their adventures at alaskansalmonslayers.com.

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It’s probably a good idea to lay out your gear and make a checklist in your head as you prepare for an Alaskan fishing adventure. If you find yourself at a lake or on a boat miles away from a tackle shop, you better have what you need. (BIXLER MCCLURE)

Rockfish are among several summer species ocean anglers can target.

(BIXLER MCCLURE)

RIGGING UP FOR SEASON GEAR CHECK FOR FISHING TRIPS

BY KRYSTIN MCCLURE AND BIXLER MCCLURE

I

“

t is time!” Bixler said. It was the darkest part of January in the dead of winter. I could not help but wonder what was going through his head this time of year when the vast majority of Bixler’s thoughts somehow relate to fishing.

“Time for what?” I asked suspiciously.

“Time to prep the boat for fishing!”

Bixler exclaimed as he ran out the door.

When we prepare to fish aboard our sailboat, we assume will not be returning to the dock every afternoon. Some-

times, we are gone for over a month, hundreds of miles from the nearest store. Nothing is worse than losing your favorite leadhead jig when you are a 12hour boat ride from home in the wrong direction. This is the ultimate in backcountry fishing prep, and we are willing to share some of our secrets to preparing our gear for the perfect trip.

RODS AND REELS Many people just grab their fishing rods and go off on their adventure, only to be disappointed when something breaks.

Your rod and its reel are the workhorses of your fishing trip. They need to be

treated with care, especially if you anticipate a successful trip where they will be working overtime hauling in fish.

Before the fishing season, we visually inspect all of our rods. We have had issues in the past with cracks forming in the top guides that will fray and eventually snap the line under, say, a heavy halibut load. Reels also get a visual inspection, but require a little more love and care than the rods. Be sure to clean them and lube them, following the manufacturer’s instructions. Salt buildup from years of ocean fishing can make a reel stiff and cause internal components to break or seize. From our MARCH 2015

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A good set of cutlery like a fillet knife, cleaver and butcher knife will make it easy to prepare your catch for a cookout.

(BIXLER MCCLURE)

the new one in for a rebuild. For rods, redundancy is key. Our quiver consists of two jigging rods and two salmon rods, so if one type fails, there is always a backup. For your adventure, you could pack multiple rods if you have the space, or bring a true friend who is willing to let you use his or her gear.

LINE AND LEADERS

experience, reels can withstand a summer of abuse without a delicate freshwater rinse after each day of fishing, as long as you keep them oiled and clean them as much as you can. You know that little bottle of oil that often comes with a new reel? Use it.

Unfortunately, rods and reels do break under pressure of those giant halibut and feisty kings. When we lose a reel, we do not simply toss it into the

trash; it gets sent back to the manufacturer. Be sure to check the warranty policies before buying a reel, as some require you to save original receipts.

Many reel manufacturers will rebuild a broken reel at a fraction of the cost of the new one. To keep our fishing going in the short Alaskan summer, we will buy a new reel and keep the rebuilt one as a backup. When the new reel breaks, we swap it out for the backup and send

Fishing hardware like swivels and leaders are better off being set up ahead of time and done in bulk to have plenty of options.

(BIXLER MCCLURE)

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Stringing line and making leaders are two of the most valuable fishing skills that you must learn to do yourself. For years we paid the extra expense for premade leaders and waited around for hours while having our reels professionally restrung. Then we got into a situation where we ran out of leaders and lost all of our line. Now what?

For line and leaders, our advice is to buy in bulk and take the time to learn to do it yourself before your trip. There will be times when the fishing is hot and you need to add more line to a reel or make up a new set of leaders.

For us, at the start of the season we always buy bulk braided line for our jigging rods, bulk mono line for our salmon rods, and bulk leader line for our homemade leaders. We completely restring all of our active reels (reels that come in the mail after being repaired are usually restrung upon arrival) and sit down and make a handful of leaders.

Restringing a reel requires use of an arbor knot and a little bit of tension on the line while you reel. For spinning rods with mono line, you must make sure the line coming off the spool matches the direction of the reel. At home you can use the Internet for examples, but in the wilds of Alaska, the best way to check is to slacken the line and see how it behaves. If it is a nice, even spiral, you are fine; if it bunches, you need to start over and flip the spool.

Halfway through the season, if we find that we need to add line, we can go to our spools we keep on board our boat and use a knot like a blood knot to add line to reel. There are many excellent knot books and even smartphone and tablet apps out there to help with knot craft. Many stores sell smaller spools of line if space is an issue, but keeping ex-

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A heavy fish can break a fishing rod that is already cracked, so inspect your gear ahead of time.

(KRYSTIN MCCLURE)

tra line on board is a must!

Leader construction requires an initial investment that will save you money in the long run and allow for complete customization of leaders. Some hardware (like swivels), leader line (i.e., heavy-weight mono), and a crimping tool are all you need and should fit nicely into your tackle box. We add snap swivels to the ends of our leaders to allow for an easy removal from the line and for adding lures. We make bulk leaders at home and store them in a separate compartment in our tackle box. You will be surprised how many leaders you will go through in a weekend, especially if you are bottomfishing on pinnacles in a current.

JIGS AND LURES Variety is the spice of life and also the key to catching fish. Fishing is not just about throwing a line in the water with a lure on it. It requires a bit of knowledge on what the target species will be eating and the type of fishing you will be doing. This is why we have a varied

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and highly organized set of tackle boxes split into separate compartments for soaking, trolling, mooching, jigging, and snagging.

If you have an existing set of tackle, start sorting through it in the early season. We find that a summer’s worth of heavy fishing tends to disorganize our tackle boxes, leading to the mystery of where an essential jig or lure is 20 nautical miles from home. Spending the time to sort, discard, and replace gear will save you in the long run and ensure a successful fishing season.

Say you are new to fishing and want to build up the best tackle box for your trip. Do your research before you leave the house or talk to someone at a fishing store. The style of fishing depends on the species of fish you want to catch.

Many species, like halibut, can be caught with different styles of fishing, such as jigging or soaking. Our advice is to buy sets of lures that will work with both styles of fishing.

Oh, and buy at least two of everything. You may find a jig that works well

for yelloweye but snags the bottom, so be sure you always have a backup.

BAIT AND SCENTS There is a famous line in the ode to fly fishing movie A River Runs Through It that pokes fun at “bait fishermen.” As much fun as it is to try out artificial jigs and lures, sometimes bait works best.

Most people going out on a day trip splurge on those nice perfect little herring. If you are going out for an extended trip, those nice little herring rot without a freezer and make quite a stink.

We have a small freezer on board that we prefer to use for freezing freshcaught fish rather than bait. Instead, at the beginning of the season we buy the commercial longliner’s 20-pound box of frozen herring, and then chip it into manageable sizes that we vacuum seal, which keeps the stink in if we do not use that bag of bait. Many people will say that a fish will not strike a stinky herring, but from our experience, a fish does not care if you buy the bulk herring or the fancy herring (exception: trolling

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for kings and silvers, where the more lifelike the herring look, the better success, it seems).

Space limited or herring too unappealing? Try halibut scents like herring oil, Pro-Cure Butt Juice, or Kenai Cocktail. These fit in an average tackle box and work well in place of herring or other bait. If you own a fiberglass boat, you will find that this does stain the gel coat, but that has never stopped us before (and it cleans up after a while, anyways).

FISH-CLEANING OPTIONS When you are out fishing in remote Alaska, chances are a fish-cleaning station is nowhere nearby. We’ve mastered the cleaning-on-the-beach method and sometimes resort to cleaning on our boat.

If your boat is lucky enough to have a fillet table, use it. If not or you are shore fishing, we recommend constructing a fillet kit that will save you the headache of trying to clean fish on a gravely beach.

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REGULATIONS AND LICENSING

The authors trolled for these late-season salmon. Paying attention to the little details can enhance your trip and bring home a lot of fish.

(KRYSTIN MCCLURE)

Our kit consists of a cutting board, three types of knives (fillet, butcher, and cleaver), knife sharpener, Ziplocs, fillet glove, and a Sharpie. This kit is easily transportable, especially if you have some sewing skills to put it all together.

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Probably the most important and most highly stressed of all our preparations is proper licensure and knowledge of the fishing regulations. Having the licenses and stamps, and a copy of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Sport Fishing Regulations on hand is a must anywhere in Alaska. Licenses can be bought at any sportfishing shop or online, and copies of the regulations can be found virtually anywhere (or, for the tech-savvy, save the PDF to your phone or tablet).

Despite the grand scale of remote fishing areas, Alaska Wildlife Troopers may make an appearance since they do patrol by boat and by airplane. The last thing you want is to go on the perfect king salmon fishing trip only to realize you did not purchase a king stamp!

We recommend preparing your gear a few weeks in advance before heading out on an extended trip. This way you can use your gear if needed to work out any snags in the preparation process.

Unless you are really excited for the summer saltwater fishing possibilities,

January starts are not necessary.

LAST TIPS A final tip is this: While it is helpful to talk to other people about locations and gear recommendations, ultimately it is best to rely on your own experience and judgment. We tend to be more willing to experiment and not to “get fancy” with our gear than many people we know. And we often catch more fish than those who have hard-and-fast rules about what size and color of lure, type of rod, length of leader, etc.

One absolutely critical last tip is the more time you have your line in the water, the more chances of success you will have. Using swivels that are easy to change out lures with, we keep our knot-tying and rerigging downtime to a minimum, so we can spend more time fishing and, ultimately, catch more fish.

You can’t catch fish if your line isn’t in the water! ASJ Editor’s note: For more on the authors, check out their website, alaskagraphy.com.

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BY SELAH BAUER

V

aldez, Alaska, is one of the most beautiful places on earth. This small port town is surrounded by the Chugach National Forest (the second largest national forest in the U.S.) and Prince William Sound, home to various tidewater glaciers, including Columbia and Mears Glaciers. You can choose from a variety of tours and attractions to access glaciers and wildlife.

Valdez is a mecca for wildlife viewing of all sorts, including bears, mountain goats, whales, porpoise, puffins,

Lingcod are plentiful among bottomfish targets in Prince William Sound.

(JARED CHASE)

otters and numerous other animals on both land and sea. It is also a birder’s paradise. It’s a common occurrence to see eagles snacking on salmon or perched in a nearby tree. Ducks, kittiwakes, terns, ptarmigans and puffins also make Valdez and Prince William Sound their home at various times throughout the year.

The Solomon Gulch Hatchery is located on Dayville Road – just on the other side of the port of Valdez. This fish hatchery releases approximately 218 million pink salmon fry, and 1.75 million coho salmon smolt every year, according to valdezfisheries.org. Runs of these fish return to Valdez each year, making this town one of the greatest places to catch fish in Alaska. Wildlife of all sorts are also drawn to the fish hatchery to get their fill of fish. Be sure pay a visit to this unique place. You never know what you’ll see there.

SPORTFISHING PARADISE If you love fishing, Valdez is the place for you. Prince William Sound is home to five species of salmon, rockfish, lingcod and some of the most accessible halibut in Alaska. You can drop a line from shore, take your own boat or hire a charter to access deeper seas. Whichever way, you’re likely to catch enough to eat for dinner or fill up your freezer with a year’s worth of fish.

Valdez is home to the oldest fish derbies in Alaska and awards thousands of dollars in prize money each

A 203-pound halibut was caught off Valdez, a port with a rich tradition of fishing. (VALDEZ FISH DERBIES)

Prince William Sound is a fishing smorgasbord, with all of the major salmon species swimming the waters off Valdez. (GEORGE KEENEY)

year. Regardless of your age, gender or skill level, the thrill of reeling in a record-breaking fish will keep you coming back for more.

For a list of annual events and fish derby dates taking place in Valdez, go to valdezalaska.org/valdez-annual-events or call the Valdez Convention and Visitors Bureau at (907) 835-2984. ASJ MARCH 2015

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From

FIELD FIRE

SERVED WITH ICE

To

AS SPRING NEARS, ALASKA’S FROZEN LAKES STILL FISHABLE

Propane-powered augers make drilling holes in the ice fast and simple. If you don’t have the means to invest in an auger, head to populated ice fishing areas and you’ll likely be able to find a friendly angler who can help you drill a hole or two. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

BY SCOTT HAUGEN

W

ith March in Alaska comes the feeling and hope of spring. Not that we’re coming off a hard winter, but there’s no doubt that the joy of sunshine and increase in temperature warms the spirit.

It also marks one of the best times for anglers to hit the ice in search of multi-

ple fish species.

Ice fishing this time of year can be done in comfort and fish are starting to get more active. If new to ice fishing, there are some great resources out there to help get you started. The Alaska Department of Fish & Game is a good place to begin. In the Palmer and Wasilla areas, ADFG is involved with the stocking of many lakes, help-

ing to create productive days on the ice for anglers of all ages and experience levels.

Due to the depth, nature and number of prime lakes in the Palmer region, they’re ideal for holding high numbers of fish, and ADFG has capitalized on that.

A substantial number of ice anglers from the Anchorage area head to Palmer, as there are many fishing opportunities and lots of fish. ADFG personnel can not only point you in the right direction to catch fish, they can suggest gear to help you be safe and comfortable on the ice, and find success.

Another great resource is a husbandand-wife team that is eager to spread the word about Alaska’s ice fishing opportunities. Butch and Jehnifer Ehmann of Ehmann Outdoors have taught hundreds of anglers how to ice fish safely and effectively over the years. They organize big youth events and get families involved in a great sport. (To learn more about what they have going on, check out their website, ehmannoutdoors. com. You can also follow their adventures on Facebook.)

Other resources to help get you geared-up include local sporting goods stores. I recently spent time in multiple stores, checking out their gear selection, and Cabela’s seemed to be impressively stocked with gear. There’s a variety of ice fishing poles to safety equipment, ice augers to tents, heaters, fish decoys, spears, terminal gear and much more.

Without question you can outfit your entire ice fishing needs at this store.

WEATHER WATCH Though temperatures are warming up this time of year, cold snaps can occur and you want to be prepared when that happens. Invest in outerwear that cuts the wind and retains heat. Waterproof pants are a good idea for kneeling on the ice, as they can get wet from holes that have been drilled. Thick pants are MARCH 2015

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also nice for added padding when on your knees.

A stool or bucket with a padded lid is nice to sit on and, on cold days, a small, portable heater will help keep you warm. Hand warmers go a long way in offering comfort, and for your feet, try ThermaCELL’s new ProFLEX heated insoles. These aren’t cheap, but are one of the best gear investments you can make if cold feet keep you from venturing out. By turning the wireless remote off and on as needed, your feet will keep warm for hours. Being able to get your feet up to 110 degrees in a few minutes is very comfortable.

Heated clothes have also progressed tremendously, with gloves, pants, jackets and vests offering impressive warmth. I’ve used some of Cabela’s Butch Ehmann battles a hefty fish on a frozen lake near Palmer. Ice fishing is rapidly growing in popularity throughout the state, and once you experience it, you’ll understand why.

(SCOTT HAUGEN)

heated clothes throughout Alaska and love them.

WHAT TO CATCH As for fish, there are many species to target this time of year.

“Burbot are heading to the shallows to spawn, and they’re one of our favorite fish to get after,” shares Jehnifer Ehmann. “Using a decoy and spear to get these fish in a couple feet of water is something not a lot of people know you can do, and it’s a blast!”

Lake trout are also aggressive this time of year, as are rainbows, Dolly Varden and Arctic char in those bodies of water where they’re planted.

Landlocked salmon are also plentiful, and given their aggressive nature they are fun to catch and excellent eating.

“Landlocks” are trout-sized kings planted in many lakes to create great ice fishing opportunities all season long.

For adventure seekers, sheefish are on tap in parts of Southwest Alaska all the way up to the Arctic Circle. Pike are also plentiful in numerous fisheries around the state, and grayling can be taken through the ice. Regional ADFG

Landlocks (planted salmon) offer great opportunities for anglers and are some of the best eating fish out there this time of year. Contact Alaska Department of Fish and Game offices for details on which lakes to fish and what species to target this spring. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

offices can help direct you to safe, productive hot spots this time of year, so be sure to utilize their valued information.

From there, it’s simply a matter of getting what gear you need and hitting the ice. The great thing about ice fishing is, it’s relatively cost-effective. Once you have the basic gear, you’re set for years of fun fish-catching adventures.

The ice won’t be around much longer this spring, so get out and take advantage of this great fishing opportunity Alaskans are so fortunate to have. ASJ Editor’s note: Personally signed copies of Scott Haugen’s thrilling book, Hunting The Alaskan High Arctic, can be ordered by sending a check for $35 (free S&H) to Haugen Enterprises, P.O. Box Walterville, OR 97489, or order at scotthaugen.com.

Haugen is the new host of Alaska Outdoors TV. Watch for a new season, beginning in April, on the Outdoor Channel.

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From

FIELD NO PB, BUT JELLY FIRE MAKES TROUT TASTY To

of cream cheese served with crackers.

This appetizer also makes a great filling for pan-fried trout.

Easily adaptable if cooking one or 20 fish, just reduce or increase ingredients.

Also try with char, pink and red salmon.

For my pepper jelly recipe, visit my blog at tiffanyhaugen.com/blog. Another variation is to smoke the trout and serve along with pepper jelly and cream cheese on crackers.

PEPPER JELLY STUFFED TROUT Six to eight trout 1 8-ounce brick cream cheese, softened ½ cup pepper jelly (purchased or homemade) ⅓ cup cornmeal ⅓ cup whole wheat flour 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon onion powder 1 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 tablespoons butter

BY TIFFANY HAUGEN

W

ith a lengthy season, trout can be served throughout much of the year in Alaska.

Trout are great fresh, but also freeze well. Cleaned and placed in a sealable freezer bag, freeze them two, four or six fish in a bag. Trout makes an extremely healthy go-to, fast meal for the family or for a large gathering.

Grilled, fried, smoked or baked,

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stuffing the cavity of the trout with some kind of filling, dressing or seasoning adds flavor and interest to the fish. I can’t seem to help myself, as that space is just a natural fit for interesting things I have on hand.

This recipe utilizes jalapeno peppers.

After making several batches of salsa on spring, roasting and freezing the peppers, I decided to make a few batches of pepper jelly. One of our favorite easy appetizers is pepper jelly over a brick

Clean fish, removing heads and tails if desired. In a shallow dish or pie pan, mix cornmeal, flour and spices. Lightly salt the inside cavity of the trout.

Stuff each trout with 1 to 2 tablespoons cream cheese and 1 tablespoon pepper jelly. Close cavity and roll trout in cornmeal mixture.

Heat a griddle or large frying pan on medium-high heat. Melt butter and add olive oil to pan. Fry fish carefully for three to five minutes, turn heat to medium and turn fish over. Cook an additional three to five minutes or until fish tests done. ASJ Editor’s note: For signed copies of Tiffany and Scott Haugen’s popular book, Cooking Salmon & Steelhead, send a check for $24.95 (free S&H), to Haugen Enterprises, P.O. Box 275, Walterville, OR 97489, or visit tiffanyhaugen.com. This best-selling book features more than 130 delicious recipes.

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The bed and breakfast is surrounded on three sides by spectacular mountains and on the fourth by Womens Bay (part of the Gulf of Alaska).

The area, locally known as Bells Flats, is located 6 miles from the airport and 4 miles to the Coast Guard base south of the town of Kodiak. It is also close to ďŹ shing and hunting areas. We are a half block off the Chiniak Highway and walking distance to the ocean, Sergeant Creek, Russian River, and the Rendezvous Bar and Grill. We are approximately 100 yards from the AC store, a small rural convenience store for gas, liquor, and assorted food items you may have forgotten in town.

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Most rams in the Brooks Range aren’t quite as big as the sheep you will find further south in Alaska.

Average horn length is less than 40 inches and base measurement are much smaller. However, if you’re into hunting the extreme, looking for a remote adventure and like eating sheep meat, this will work just fine.

(PAUL ATKINS)

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IN THE DALL’S HOUSE TAKING ON A CHALLENGING HUNT IN THE BROOKS RANGE

BY PAUL D. ATKINS

A

s I peered through the spotting scope I could see the old ram. He had a full curl, with wide sweeping horns, zero brooming, and a huge body; he was definitely a shooter.

He looked close through the scope, but without it he was a quarter-mile away and looking straight at me. It would be a tough stalk, but the wind was in my favor and there was decent cover. The big boy would just have to forget I ever existed if I was going to get much closer. I was going for it.

I made the first of many trips to Northwest Alaska in the early 1990s.

The hunting was incredible and the country was unbelievable. I liked it so much that I pulled up my Midwest bowhunting roots and moved north.

That was 16 years ago.

I learned a lot in those early days, more wrong than right, and for many years I considered myself a novice.

First and foremost, I learned that hunting the fall versus the winter are two totally different experiences, especially when it comes to chasing critters above the Arctic Circle.

Winter hunting in the Arctic is hard to describe; it’s tough, both mentally and physically, and sometimes almost impossible due to the danger involved.

I guess maybe that’s why I like it so much. The cold temperatures coupled with the deep snow make it one of the most extreme hunting challenges you will ever experience, which can cause the best of us to break down.

My first experience in hunting Dall sheep was at a fly-in drop camp at the edge of the Brooks Range. Fall temperatures were mild, the bugs weren’t too bad and the guys in camp were great. We didn’t score, but it ended up being an adventure of a lifetime, something that I will never forget.

My second experience, however, was quite different.

THROUGHOUT THE YEARS I’ve had endless experiences in sheep country, MARCH 2015

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Sheep can get into spots that are pretty tough to get to. This big boy was hanging out on a steep incline full of rock and the occasional willow. Your best chance at rams is to hunt from above.

(CORY KITTLE)

more lost opportunities than grand ones, but all were special in their own kind of way. I’ve had sheep disappear into thin air, missed shots due to wind and distance, and simply been busted more times than I can count.

My first year I was determined to hunt only with a bow, but soon learned that a purist I was not. I began taking 106 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL

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both the rifle and the bow after that.

I’ve been lucky enough to head north and hunt sheep for many years.

With the help of good friends and great equipment I’ve had some great experiences during that time. I’ve taken sheep with both rifle and bow and am so thankful Alaska hunters have a choice when it comes to choosing a weapon.

Last year was a great hunt, and even though I went home empty-handed, the conditions were perfect. When we left home the temperature was in the

high 20s and it was snowing so hard you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.

The screen on the GPS was a familiar sight, the pointer marking the way point to a little creek where we would set up the Arctic Oven tent. I knew sheep were not far from there and my intention was to camp as close to the herd as possible. The ride across Northern Alaska is a long one and your thoughts sometimes wander; a hundred miles on a snow machine will do that to you.

I guess sheep were on the brain, and I kept thinking how close I’d come the previous year. On the last day, we’d made a long climb to the top of

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CHECKLIST FOR SHEEP HUNTERS

a ridge and spotted a big ram heading our way. As I sat back and waited for him to show I lost patience, deciding to peer over the ridge to see if he was still in route. He wasn’t; he’d simply vanished.

We proceeded forward and I was reminded of the heavy sled hitched to my snow machine. Loaded down with gas, gear and food it still seemed to glide through the freshly fallen snow, making the first 60 miles go by quickly. But we still had another 40 miles to go before we reached camp; I knew things would change.

When the smooth snow stopped, the deep rough tundra took over and smacked us like a minefield. It wasn’t fun and never is. The up-and-down ski-catching motion will haunt your dreams and make your body feel as if you’ve gone a few rounds with a UFC fighter.

Rivers change and so do crossings, but when we pulled into the little clump of spruce trees I knew we had made it. I’ve used this same spot on previous hunts and found it much like

Hunting in extreme conditions takes preparation. A hunter should make a list of needed gear long before they leave and double check each item to make sure they have it and it works. Certain items will make a hunt like this a lot more comfortable and, in most cases, could save your life. Items in my backpack include, but aren’t limited to: Satellite phone with extra battery GPS with extra batteries Butane lighters, waterproof matches and some type of fire-starting material. You never know when you might get wet and need to warm up.

it was last year – plenty of wood, and if you chop enough ice, you will find water. The best thing, though, was it blocked the wind.

Extra clothes, especially socks.

Never wear anything cotton – it’s a killer in the cold. Wool or a mixture of wool and nylon are best; anything that helps keeps moisture away.

Extra gloves that are warm and waterproof Sharp knife Multi tool Small saw Water hydration system Food such as energy bars, nuts, berries or raisins Binoculars with at least a 10X zoom and a spotting scope White camouflage and a white stocking cap Rangfinder – and use it! -PA

With camp up, machines refueled and plenty of wood split, it was time to relax with a hot cup of coffee and something to eat. With darkness, all

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we could do was keep the small wood stove stoked and wait for sunrise.

The next morning I went through my pack making sure everything unnecessary was left behind. I wanted to be light as possible for the uphill climb and knew that every ounce would count. Climbing steep inclines with a heavy pack and several layers of clothes on can be a very difficult and uncomfortable task.

After coffee and a delicious Power Bar we headed into the hills to look for a sheep, stopping to glass when needed. As I edged my way through the canyon I became very excited about the prospects of seeing Dall sheep. It’s like getting a fever when you spot one and, for most of us, it’s what hunting is all about. But like all hunts you have to be ever so careful not to be seen.

My plan was simple: get up the canyon and then glass the high ridges and mountaintops. I spotted the ram on my first glassing. My scope did a wonderful job, but I still knew he was a long

Travel can be tricky when traveling into sheep country. Choosing the right trail can sometimes be a guessing game. Choose the wrong and who knows what you might run into. Overflow, or water and slush on top of ice, can be a dangerous affair. (PAUL ATKINS)

ways off. I also knew he would score relatively low compared to some of the sheep I pursued in previous years, which increased our odds greatly.

I decided that I better try and climb the canyon wall, which was more like

the steep side of a hill. It was covered with snow and ice with an occasional patch of rock and dirt with a few willows for handrails. I wanted to get a better look and hopefully to make a stalk on the bedded ram.

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Base camp in the Arctic can be one of the greatest sights you will ever see.

Whether you’re finally arriving after a hard day of hunting or getting it set up after a long ride north, a good camp with all the necessities is a must in the far north. It can and will save your life. (PAUL ATKINS)

I started up the face, slipping and sliding all the while trying to be quiet.

It was tough at first, but got easier as I went. When I felt could get no further I peered over the crest to have a peek.

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He was still bedded down and looking in my direction. The wind was still in my face and my white camouflage seemed to blend with the surroundings.

I knew I wouldn’t have very long, as

the ram would probably get nervous and leave the country. I ranged him at 118 yards. I knew that I would have to close the distance 50 percent to even think about it with my bow.

With very little cover except for a couple of big rocks I made my move.

Not 10 steps into the stalk, the big ram stood up and swirled out of sight. I remember looking at those magnificent curls through my binoculars and thinking how great it was to get that close.

Feeling pretty good about seeing such a great ram so early in the hunt, I starting feeling like maybe this was the year and everything would come together. I also got to thinking that maybe the ram had just moved down the opposite side of the ridge from where I’d last seen him and into the flat tundra. I decided to continue onward and come in from behind where I could see.

When I got to the top I sat and glassed for a long time. I’ve learned that quality optics and a lot of glass-

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ing are keys to finding and killing trophy-quality animals. Whether it’s 30 below or 115 above, it’s still the same – good optics and being able to see are the keys to success.

AFTER GLASSING FOR a while I moved and immediately spotted sheep. They were directly in front of and below me.

I decided I would ease along straight towards them and use rocks as cover.

I knew if I spooked them they would head straight up and beyond reach.

My hope was to get a better look and see if my ram was in the bunch. I finally found a spot and saw there were five in the herd – four rams and an ewe. I crept closer and could tell the sheep were getting nervous, but they weren’t sure what was making them nervous.

When I got to within 50 yards I knew I was in range. As I began to draw my bow, something spooked them. What it was, I don’t know, but they were ready to leave; I let down the bow and watched the sheep disappear over a

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cliff edge and out of sight.

I grabbed my gear and ran towards the rocks as fast as possible. If you’ve ever traversed across deep tundra, you know it’s more like hopping and not running. If you’re not careful it can be a break-your-leg experience. When I arrived at the rock ledge I looked down, expecting to see sheep below me. To my sorry surprise there weren’t any.

I could see tracks in the snow where they had skidded and slid down over the edge. It looked like they were going left into an open flat, but there were no sheep to be seen anywhere. As I stood there wondering where they went, my thoughts drifted back to last year’s ram and the hat trick he pulled.

Sheep are smart – they have to be, especially when outsmarting wolves and bears is an everyday occurrence for survival. I knew they couldn’t have vanished and had to be somewhere on the side of that mountain.

With the wind in my face and no sheep in sight I walked down to the bot-

tom of the cliff. I knew I wouldn’t see anything, but had to check regardless.

The sheep would have had to circle downwind and go to the right, something I knew would never happen. So I found a spot to sit where my view was good and could see everything in front and to the sides of me.

As I sat there glassing, I started thinking how hard it is to hunt this country in the winter. Here I was, sitting in the middle of the open tundra with a bow, yet hardly any cover and the wind not favorable. The sheep that I had so close were now gone. I probably wouldn’t see another sheep for the rest of the trip.

Sitting there daydreaming I just happened to look to my left. At the top of a rather steep hill a white shape appeared. After close inspection, I could see it was a lone ewe just standing there, looking in my direction.

About that same time I caught movement to my right. Out from behind the rock cliff that had previously

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swallowed my sheep came five white objects walking right at me. They were the very sheep that had eluded me!

They did what I thought they would never do – they unintentionally circled downwind and got behind me, but the wind was now in my favor.

They were 100 yards out and coming right at me. They had no idea I was there, and I knew they would be 30 yards below and in front of me in a few seconds. It seems more like a dream now and I don’t really know what I did first. I could see the sheep as plain as day, and I could tell the big ram in the back. I concentrated on him, but things were happening so fast, it felt like an automatic reflex.

As the last ram started up the incline past me, I drew my bow and placed the pin behind his shoulder. He saw movement and started to bolt. At this point, I wished I had used my range finder and found the distances.

I don’t know if it was because I got lazy, forgot or was overcome with the feeling of seeing such a big ram. All I know is, I settled my 30-yard pin on the target and released the arrow, only to see it go skidding underneath him.

I couldn’t believe it at first. A sick feeling came over me and I felt like I was going to puke. My last glimpse of the big ram is still etched in my mind: running and bounding up the side of the nearest mountain peak, never to be approached again. A great opportunity lost – but an experience for the ages.

As a sheep hunter, all you can ask for is an opportunity. There’s something mystical about hunting these bighorned brutes, and whether you do it with a bow or a rifle, being in the mountains during the winter is something special. It’s extreme for sure, but can be the ultimate challenge when trying to take a trophy of a lifetime. ASJ Editor’s note: The author is an outdoors writer and a contributing writer for Alaska Sporting Journal. He has written hundreds of articles on hunting big game throughout North America and Africa.

You can find him on Facebook. Paul lives in Kotzebue, Alaska.

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The author with his first sheep, taken a few years ago.

It was great year for travel; the snow was deep and access was pretty easy. The weather changed after his kill and he decided to bring him down the mountain. It was the second best ram he’s taken in that country, but by far the best eating. (PAUL ATKINS)

PREPARING TO HUNT In the Arctic, we have a special subsistence hunt that’s open only to residents. Snowmachines are used to get to base camp, and from there we use spot-and-stalk and ambush techniques on the low-lying mountains and hills. It was my first true test in subzero temperatures and wanted more than anything to get a ram.

It wasn’t to be, and the only thing I got out of it was frostbite and the experience only a rookie can get. We did have a cabin to stay in and I did see sheep, but they were up high in the ice, preventing us from reaching them.

Hunting during the winter is rough, especially on equipment.

Bows and rifles need to acclimate, snowmachines have to be greased and your survival gear has to be ready and in tip-top shape. If you don’t prepare, you won’t last long; you’ll most likely end up spending a

lot of time at camp.

Each of my sheep hunts has seen different weather – mild temperatures but with tons of snow on the ground; at other times bone-chilling cold with mostly ice. All conditions were tough.

Harvesting a sheep successfully in the winter is challenging, regardless of the weather. Good camouflage and finding adequate cover in order to make a stalk are a must.

I’m usually decked out in a white suit or one of the new camouflage snowsuits. Sheep can see well, but become a little less edgy if they think the hunter is just another sheep.

Cover is probably the toughest thing, and being able to cover open ground without anything to hide behind can be tough. Luckily, the area I hunt has huge outcroppings of rocks and boulders that a person can use to set up stalks and make the move on unsuspecting sheep. -PA

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BIDE IDES WITH BIRDS AS THE DAYS GET LONGER, PTARMIGAN HUNTING AMPS UP THIS MONTH

Most Alaskan ptarmigan seasons run between Aug. 10 and March 31, but with daylight hours longer and temperatures creeping up, March is a prime opportunity to work the still-snowy slopes in search of upland birds. (STEVE MEYER)

BY STEVE MEYER

T

he Ides of March corresponds to March 15 on the Roman calendar.

It was best remembered for the day in 44 B.C., when Julius Caesar was prolifically stabbed to death by his detractors; it also marked a period of transition for the Roman Empire.

Thus, today the term is used for that period of the year when everything is essentially in flux.

Our beloved American outdoor writers, Robert Ruark and Patrick

McManus, spoke frequently of the miseries associated with March in their respective parts of the country: rain, flooding streams, mud-choked roads â&#x20AC;&#x201C; no fishing or hunting seasons open, even if one could get around all the rest of what March brought. Of course, neither one lived in Alaska.

THE OTHER MARCH MADNESS The dawn of March in Interior and Southcentral Alaska marks the commencement of what is quite possibly the finest month of mountain upland

bird hunting on the face of the planet.

Our state is blessed with millions of acres of ptarmigan habitat that is virtually untouched in terms of hunting. Alaskans enjoy a season that runs from Aug. 10 to March 31, and, in some parts of the Interior, all the way to April 30.

December and January are plagued with short days that do not allow enough hours of daylight to mount a real snowshoe hunt into mountainous regions (some Interior locations being the exception). February allows forays MARCH 2015

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Winchester the English setter stretches his legs out and traverses the deep snow during a ptarmigan hunt. (STEVE MEYER)

into the mountains with some really nice days, but March is special.

Climb to the south and face snow-covered alpine country and enjoy real warmth – shirt-sleeve warmth – and a sun that will brown the skin as surely as any hot summer day. Start the day in the low light of dawn and climb up while temperatures are cold and keep the sweat at bay. When you reach the alpine country as the sun breaks above the horizon, it provides a heat source, creating a memorable day that is pure heaven on earth.

March in Alaska seems to have a disproportionate number of days that bring sunshine with light mountain breezes; they’re the same conditions that delight snowmachiners and backcountry skiers.

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will gladly migrate to lower elevations as the snow cover builds. They can be found almost anywhere in suitable habitat at elevations from 1,200 feet to 2,200 feet, an easy climb on the firm March snow.

Look for alder and willow cover sticking up out of the snow. They spend nights – when there is soft and deep snow cover – under the snow, where they are protected from wind and insulated by the snow. While feeding during the daylight hours they walk amongst the alder and willow patches.

If the snow is fresh, they leave readily discernible signs of their presence.

Ptarmigan have very high metabolic rates that require a rather intense amount of feeding each day. While they do defecate during the day, their system reserves the bulk of that duty for the night-time roost. Thus, hunting in their territory will reveal their sleeping quarters by the neat piles they produce. It is claimed that they

will defecate up to 80 times during the night. I’ve never bothered to count the pellets in one of these roosts, but there can be a lot them.

Finding tracks or roosts means you have found a place they at least use in their never-ending route of travel. Here today, gone tomorrow and no note saying when or if they may return, best describes the life of the ptarmigan. They move often and seemingly for no reason, although it probably has more to do with keeping predatory birds from locking onto locations and picking them off than anything else.

Seeing a clump of willow stripped completely of buds that would suggest they moved because they ran out of feed simply does not happen.

The solace one can derive from finding ptarmigan tracks without a bird in them is that you are at least in the ballpark; keep moving in that elevation zone and in similar habitat, and

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you will find birds.

Willow and rock ptarmigan are found in large flocks of 20 or more birds, but just as often, particularly in areas that one can actually access on foot in a day, they may be alone or in small flocks. Being cyclic like their ruffed and spruce grouse cousins, there are down years when it can be tough to find them.

CHASING WHITETAILS Whitetail ptarmigan are another story.

In winter these pure-white birds – the only color on them being the black in their eyes and the small red eye comb in males – are mountain dwellers. August through October they are typically found up high where Dall sheep live.

When the snow pack mounds up and covers their food sources, they do move down to scratch out a living on the willow buds jutting out of the deep snow; but they don’t drop below the tree line.

Their winter environment is harsh, and is tough to get to for the snow-

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IT’S ALL ABOUT THE SHOES A word on snowshoes is in order.

Mountain slopes, particularly those in whitetail country, can be hard packed and wind polished to the texture of an ice skating rink – on a steep slope. But there are still spots where the snow is deep without a decent crust. Having tried about all of the types of snowshoes out there, a few years ago we found what at least, to date, is the best for this type of hunting: the MSR Lightning Ascent.

These are aluminum-framed shoes that have sharp cutting edges all

shoe hunter. But the climb up is so incredibly beautiful, no matter if birds are found or not, that it’s absolutely worth the price of admission.

With the vast amount of suitable habitat and the rather low density of birds to hunt, a lot of ground must be covered to be consistently successful.

around the outside of the shoe and a good claw that rotates with your foot.

They are very light for their size, they have a step that can be lifted up under the rear of your foot that really assists in climbing, and while they don’t float in deep stuff as well as a traditional trail shoe, they do well enough.

Crossing slick hardpack slopes is a piece of cake with these, and simply not possible with most other snowshoes. They offer several different sizes for your body weight, plus they offer a women’s version as well. -SM

These birds will hold very tight, they rely heavily on their natural camouflage, and birds of prey have taught them that flight often equates to death.

It is easy to walk past a large flock of ptarmigan without knowing they were there. The showshoe hunter simply can’t cover every likely clump

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of willow or alder patches. A good dog, even a close working dog, improves the odds dramatically. A big and fast pointing dog, one that can cover mile after mile operating on the edge of nowhere and will hold point as long as it takes for the hunter to get there, improves the odds of success immeasurably.

MEMORABLE MORNING The morning sun highlighted the snow clouds in Winchester’s wake as he ascended the hopelessly barren mountain slope.

“What the hell can live here?” one might have asked as the dog spun around and locked into a solid point.

At 700 yards and some 500 or so vertical feet away, his partners smiled and began the snowshoe trek across the hard crust covered in a fresh blanket of dazzling white powder.

Winchester, our best English setter, ran the ragged edge of possibility all morning. With the wind at his back,

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Christine Cunningham and Winchester with the reward for a challenging hike through hilly terrain and snow. A good pair of snowshoes is essential for getting around.

(STEVE MEYER)

a common occurrence when climbing into the mountains, he worked overtime trying to get ahead of the scent that would reward his efforts – back

and forth across the valley, up the ragged gorges that host small trickles of water, tiny scrubs of willow, and whitetails, he was relentless.

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Winchester and Eric Einerson with a whitetail ptarmigan they took together during a winter hunt. These trips are less about securing bag limits and more about the chance to begin putting the long winter behind you and enjoying Alaska’s outdoors. (STEVE MEYER)

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The “feathers” on Winchester’s tail and legs in the wind would catch the sun as his big stride ate up ground, mesmerizing his partners. No matter if he found birds or not, his love for his craft and his incredible physical gifts provided his partners with the best seat in the house for – apologies to Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus – the greatest show on earth. But find them he did, and his point never waivered while the others slowly made their way into range.

We climbed for 15 minutes to get to where Winchester held the bird; they don’t always hold that long. Seeing them in this environment is always a stark reminder of how tough these smallest of the grouse family are. My hunting partner hadn’t experienced shooting over a pointing dog before. He had taken one willow ptarmigan over Winchester on the climb up and now moved in for the flush of this whitetail. Unlike their willow and rock cousins, whitetails nearly always fly uphill on the flush; this one stuck to his heritage and dropped at the shot.

Ptarmigan hunting during the Ides of March is not so much about killing a lot of birds. It is a time to relax and enjoy the magnificence of the backcountry. Alaska, its birds and the dog work, combine to make the shooting a pleasant bonus in a day of wonder.

One can certainly take lots of birds, but, for us, it is sort of a sacred time that we are awfully fortunate to have, and we don’t want to stomp on it by being in a killing frenzy.

If there is a better way to sooth the nerves and escape the tensions of life below and just enjoy life I have yet to find it. I hope you find that same peace when you go. ASJ

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HAUNTED BY HOOTERS

A DOG AND YOUNGSTER BOND CHASING SPRING GROUSE

BY BJORN DIHLE

I

grew up in northern Southeast Alaska, cut off from the civilized world by a 1,500-square-mile ice field and the Pacific Ocean. Bordering my hometown of Juneau, a city of 30,000, is one of the largest and wildest expanses of temperate rainforest, mountains and glaciers on the planet.

Each summer, millions of salmon migrate to rivers and streams to spawn.

Their flesh sustain the densest concentrations of bald eagles and brown bears in the world; the latter haunt our imaginations and added an edge each time we ventured into the forest.

Autumn brings rain, blusters and a loss of daylight that contribute to a widespread melancholy, even depression in locals. The darkness and storms of winter inspire many animals, people included, to migrate south or hibernate. Solace comes in the spring when days grow longer and ridges and mountain-

sides come alive with the hooting of sooty grouse.

“Hooters,” the colloquial term for male sooty grouse, haunted much of my adolescence. So much so that I’d often wake at night in a cold sweat, my bedroom echoing with the sound of their mating calls. At 13 my dad cut me loose with a bow and I set off to become a hunter.

WITH MY PAL, Thad, I thrashed through alders, devil’s club – a very thorny and prolific member of the ginseng family – and hung off mountainsides trying to pinpoint the source of hooting.

It seemed impossible to find a grouse high up in the thick tangle of branches, so we convinced ourselves it was as likely they lived in dens on the ground.

We investigated quite a few – one of which that had recently vacated by a bear. We never did spot a grouse, but nonetheless, Thad tried to convince me we had become men for our efforts.

That summer, fall and winter I was haunted all the worse by hooters.

I set about training one of our family’s dogs, Buff, a young male Labrador retriever with a big head and deep chest, to retrieve birds. Buff and I – with my bow – stalked several chickens I was raising. It is something my brothers still love to tease me about. While they frequently dispute who has shot bigger deer, they’re always quick to give me credit for killing the the biggest chicken.

By the end of my chicken-hunting period Buff was retrieving pretty well, and I felt good about

Southeast Alaska’s landscape – steep forested bluffs – make for an ideal habitat for male sooty grouse, affectionately known as hooters. (BJORN DIHLE)

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Sooties are the largest grouse in Alaska, the males checking in at around 3½ pounds. Hens are closer to a chestnut color rather than the males’ blue-gray appearance, and are about a third the size of their male counterparts. (BJORN DIHLE)

my chicken hunting skills. Dad helped me pick out a .22 rifle and I figured it wouldn’t be too big of step to become a successful sooty grouse hunter. While I was preparing for another season of thrashing through the woods and climbing into bear dens hoping to find a bird, I lucked out and befriended Tim, a seasoned grouse hunter old enough to have his driver’s license. I told him about my inability to find any grouse the previous season, despite investigating hundreds of likely-looking holes in the earth, and he shook his head in disgust.

“They’re up high in trees!” he said and, in a moment of compassion that would change my life forever, offered to take me along on a hunt.

The following weekend, Tim, Buff and I climbed a steep hill above a giant fjord. We plowed through brush and devil’s club, clung to roots poking out from cliffs and sunk into the decaying forest’s floor. We clambered around a mossy cliff and came down on the sound of a booming grouse. For the next long while I stared up at the dark

TIPS FOR GROUSE HUNTERS For those who enjoy climbing rugged hills, spending hours in the rain and thrashing through devil’s club and alders, sooty grouse hunting can become one of life’s greatest passions.

The season opens August 1 and stretches to May 15, but males generally don‘t begin their courting until the beginning of April. This marks the true beginning of hooter hunting. The males generally prefer large old-growth spruce trees to hoot from, though some seasons I’ll find quite a few in western hemlocks. They are usually in the upper section of these 200-foot-tall trees, somewhat camouflaged in tangles of brush and branches.

If it’s your first season and you’re hunting on your own, even finding the tree a bird is perched in can be a maddening experience at first. The challenge is also the fun. Sooty grouse hunting in late summer and fall is be best summed up as hiking and gathering, as birds spend most of the time on the forest floor and are easy to kill. I leave them be that time of the year, unless I’m looking for a tasty dinner while out deer or goat hunting.

When it’s windy, or if eagles are in the vicinity, hooters will be close to the base of the tree and often in clumps of brush. Look for movement, a bobbing head or flexing

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tail feathers, when one is hooting. It’s best to move from one vantage to the next; looking from one place is a good way to get cold and assure that your frying pan is going to have a lonely night. I prefer a .22 rifle to a shotgun unless I’m hunting an area with brown bears; and if that’s the case I bring some goose loads as some shots can be upwards of 60 yards. A good dog is priceless for recovering birds. Lacking a pooch, a buddy situated beneath the base of the hooter’s tree when you shoot, will make a recovery easier.

Sooties are the largest grouse in Alaska, with males weighing around 3½ pounds. Hens, chestnut in color, rather than the blue-gray plumage of males, are onethird smaller. During the spring, hens are often on the ground. Personally, I choose not to shoot them to increase the odds of more birds next year.

Sooty grouse are primarily a coastal upland bird and are plentiful throughout most of Southeast Alaska.

There do not appear to be any on Baranof Island and populations seem scarce on portions of Chichagof Island. A blue grouse hunt is a coastal mountain range affair, so be prepared for steep climbs to 1,500 feet through dense and wet forest. -BD

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Luke Dihle, the author’s older brother, with a blue grouse. Luke and the author rekindled an old tradition and returned to the mountainous forests around their Juneau home. (BJORN DIHLE)

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canopy of branches. Tim walked and scanned every nook and cranny in the maze of conifers.

“There he is!” he hollered. I rushed over but saw only branches and brush as Tim sighed impatiently. Finally, as the grouse boomed its mating call, I saw a dark small chicken-sized bird bobbing its head in a web of branches.

Tim offered me the shot, but I declined on the principle I wouldn’t pull the trigger until I spotted a bird myself. He shook his head and muttered something about the unlikeness of that happening anytime soon. At the crack of the shot the bird plummeted and Buff plunged down the steep slope and disappeared into the brush. A short while later he huffed his way back to us with the grouse held softly in his mouth. I examined its bluish-gray feathers, appreciating the patterns of its plumage as Buff rested a paw on me. Tim gave us a curious look, no doubt impressed with my dog even if he thought I was a fool. The three of us went hunting a lot that spring. I didn’t

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spot a single hooter, but Buff retrieved every grouse we knocked out of trees.

THE WOODS BECAME my refuge and Buff my constant companion. While other kids my age were dating, partying and suffering from teen anxieties, I spent all my extra time hunting and exploring, mostly alone with my dog. We encountered wolves – one scrawny and appar-

The author’s beloved Lab Buff, who became his constant hunting partner until age and arthirits finally caught up late in its life. (BJORN DIHLE)

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ently hungry loner tried its best to lure Buff away from my side. We ran into pissed-off bears that huffed and clicked their teeth at us as we backed away.

Buff was a loveable fool and baby at home, but he became a different animal when he saw me get out my .22 or shotgun-proud, focused and riveted to my side.

We learned to hunt waterfowl; when

I made a lousy shot Buff would dive underwater to catch wounded ducks or swim hundreds of yards, despite my yelling, into choppy seas after a crippled bird. He’d return with a grouse even if it glided halfway down the mountain, and work clumps of brush to jump grouse and ptarmigan in the early fall.

My obsession with sooty grouse hunting got so bad during my last two years of high school that I could think of little else once late winter came around. While my peers were at senior prom, Buff and I explored new territory loaded with hooters north of town. We bivouacked beneath a giant spruce, our shivering bodies pressed together, trying to fend off the cold, rain and thoughts of brown bears during the night.

After high school I ventured beyond Juneau and my shotgun and .22 collected dust in my parent’s closet.

While I tried to navigate college, work and travel, I felt remorseful for leaving behind Buff, our hunts and explorations.

He became horribly arthritic, some-

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thing I blamed myself for – maybe I had worked him too hard in the mountains?

When I visited home, I could tell the strength of our bond had weakened and I cringed when he yelped climbing the stairs. A few springs later, my little brother Reid and I took him grouse hunting. He gimped up the hill, but happily retrieved the birds we shot. Afterward he could barely walk for days – his sooty grouse days were over.

Two falls later he could barely walk on flat ground. Reid would sometimes carry him to a duck blind. While they waited for a flock to fly overhead, he massaged Buff’s atrophied and shivering hips. When a duck plummeted from the slate-gray sky, for a moment Buff forgot how crippled he was and plunged into the water, proudly retrieving the bird. That winter, while I was halfway around the world calling my family from a dilapidated payphone, my dad told me he’d put Buff down.

NEARLY A DECADE later, on the night be-

The author’s younger brother, Reid, celebrates a family ritual of grouse hunting. (BJORN DIHLE)

fore my 30th birthday, my older brother Luke called me.

“Come on, let’s go hooter hunting tomorrow,” he said. My .22 had disappeared and it had been years since I thrashed through the woods after sooty grouse.

There were errands and other things I needed to do, but I agreed to meet Luke at a trailhead at six in the morning.

The hooting of the first grouse of the day brought back a flood of memories – adolescent longings, Buff, Thad; Tim and I sitting in class daydreaming about hooter hunting while popping out thousands of devil’s club thorns from my flesh. Luke and I hiked through wet brush as the dark forest dripped, softly swooshed and creaked in the breeze.

“Got him,” I said when I spotted a grouse high up, perched on a branch of a spruce tree. Luke, acting as a retriever, got under the tree the bird was in. I used his .22 and the grouse fell, its wings beating wildly to the earth. We took turns shooting and retrieving until the early afternoon. Even though there were other grouse hooting nearby, we had four in the bag, more than enough for a birthday feast. Hiking down through dark forested country, I listened to the hills and ridges alive with the hooting of grouse and thought of a friendship.

I didn’t fully appreciate that relationship until now – hunting grouse with a dog named Buff. ASJ

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NO SYMPATHY REMEMBERING RUBY’S LAST RETRIEVES

BY STEVE MEYER

T

he thump, t h u m p , thump of a hunting dog’s tail seems to always calm frazzled nerves and brighten an otherwise dreary day.

Having just flown from Anchorage to Denver for some January goose hunting, the indignity of commercial airline travel had me, shall we say, in a less than pleasant mood. Gunner and Cheyenne, our two chocolate Labs, had to sit out this hunt due to the logistics that would include a trip to the SHOT Show in Las Vegas midhunt.

If the travel wasn’t enough to foul the mood, the absence of one’s fourlegged hunting partners makes it a mortal certainty of grumpiness.

Another hunting buddy who had driven to Colorado from Washington arrived to whisk us off to the state’s northeastern countryside. When I opened the door of my friend’s truck, his dog Ruby lifted her head and looked at me like I might be something that was scraped off someone’s boot.

No matter, the sight of a hunting dog immediately lifted sagging spirits.

Ruby grudgingly moved over to allow me a spot to sit in the back seat of the truck. The truck had been her home since puppyhood, when she had traveled from one hunting destination to another with her hunting partner.

So who could blame her for being a bit put out? But in typical Labrador fashion she was soon thumping her tail and found my lap was a comfortable spot to lie her head as we rode to and from the hunting grounds each day.

Her eyes, full of life and a muzzle free of gray stubble, gave no suggestion of her condition.

It wasn’t until her hunting partner helped her out of the truck and she

gingerly made her way to the pit blind that she would nestle into and softly whine awaiting the coming of birds, that her 11 years of tough hunting revealed the stiffness in her joints that prohibited her from running or jumping.

Ruby and her partner had covered a lot of miles in her 11 years. She was a veteran of hundreds of retrieves in typical waterfowling conditions: cold, wet, long retrieves in hard currents and relentless pursuit of the game her and her partner love to hunt. All those years and tough seasons had taken their toll.

When Ruby curled next to her hunting partner on the straw floor of the blind, she would raise her head and cock her ear to the sounds of the geese announcing their presence. The frenzy of sliding blind lids and shotgun fire as the first flight of geese cupped into the decoys brought the old girl to life. Despite the struggles to gain her feet, yet she begged to go. Her lifelong partner lovingly lifted her out of the blind, and Ruby gingerly made her way across the corn stubble to the closest downed bird.

Nearby, a younger German wirehaired pointer charged about the field to clean up the remaining carnage. But our eyes were fixated on old Ruby.

Many of the geese taken on the trip were the greater Western variety of the Canada goose, large birds that weigh 10 to 12 pounds. Ruby would struggle to bring one of these monsters in, having to stop and take a break on her return to the blind.

As she made her way more geese would descend on the field and flare as her presence revealed the subterfuge of the decoys. We gunners in the blind barely noticed the geese as we watched the old girl do what she lived for.

Ruby’s tail wagged, displaying her love for her work. Everyone encouraged her, knowing the privilege of sharing what everyone knew was her last season, a sentimental and special time. She wanted no

At 11, Ruby’s slowing down guaranteed pending retirement, but her fighting spirit to retrieve birds caused the toughest of hunters to choke up. (STEVE MEYER)

sympathy, just the chance to do what she had done and loved all of her life.

The dog men in the blind didn’t look at each other; none of us wanted to display to the others the lumps in our throats and the twinkle of tears in our eyes.

The four days spent in Colorado featured limits of ducks and geese every day. Waterfowling was normally reserved for the daydreams of hunters, but we remained in the shadow of Ruby, a wonderful hunter with unrivaled passion.

Watching her fighting spirit is why hunters do what we do. ASJ MARCH 2015

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BUTTONS PUSH HER BUTTON

BY CHRISTINE CUNNINGHAM

T

here’s a fine line when it comes to technology and the outdoors. When someone first told me about an electric reel for fishing, my first thought was to scoff. My mental scoffing makes a “sha” sound that was learned from either being a Generation X outdoors woman or watching Wayne’s World too many times (or both).

I would never use an electric fishing reel, I mentally postured. Real men, like me, want to exercise their manly strength. Even though I’m not a man and my strength is not too manly besides, it’s strength, gall darnit. As long as it’s possible for me to seriously injure my shoulders, I want to do it. Because it honors the fish. They want to die knowing someone seriously injured her shoulders to eat flakey white meat.

Then came the day I saw my first electric reel on a halibut trip. A friend pulled this dinosaur-looking contraption out of the cabin, along with a battery pack powerful enough to start a bush plane. Sha, I thought. He’s not a man like me.

For some reason, when I’m feeling manly, my shoulders come up and my chest puffs out. My voice deepens and I imagine that I sound like John Wayne when I say, “Well, that’s some reel you got there, partner.” Back in my day we rode horses and, well, I don’t know how John Wayne would have caught a halibut, but he would never have used an electric reel. And if The Duke wouldn’t,

then neither would I. “It’s great,” my friend said. “You just push this button and it reels up the fish.”

“Hmm,” I said. Then I waited for someone else on the boat to ridicule the reel. Ridicule likes company.

“Those are great,” my other friend said. “I want one.”

I looked around. Where have all the cowboys gone? Certainly someone would join me in some form of machismo. Certainly I wasn’t fishing with a bunch of button pushers. We needed to really exhaust ourselves to feel alive. We needed to feel like we spent 10 rounds in the boxing ring to bring in a fish. We needed some gut-wrenching back pain and exchange some punches to the groin. Instead, we were one step away from ordering our halibut from a catalog while seated on the toilet.

“I don’t know,” I said. I couldn’t go so far as to say I enjoyed reeling in a big halibut, but I had so much fake testosterone pumping through my veins, my thoughts were not exactly lucid.

After about 20 minutes, a cod took

my bait. The electric-reel man next to me also had a cod on his line. He pushed the button, and I started to reel. We were 260 feet on the bottom with 3 pounds of weight. “One hundred feet,” he said. “See, the little screen tells me how many feet.” He was leaning back on a giant fish cooler, watching me stab the end of the rod into my hip bone. “That’s nice,” I said as I was running out of breath. “But it doesn’t tell you what kind of fish it is.” When you can’t think up a good ridicule, the next best thing is to find flaws. “It’s not like it has a screen that shows you what the fish is doing.”

His cod popped up on the surface while I struggled to reel mine up. His line was back down on the bottom before mine was still an estimated – and by no means certain – 75 feet down. After we got into some dogfish and had to reel up two each, I had to wipe a bead of sweat off my brow to see him drinking tea from his thermos.

He looked positively relaxed. “I guess an electric reel makes sense for bait checks and reeling up small fish,” I said. Then, not being able to suppress myself, I thought, “If you’re not strong like me.” Then I laughed to myself. Possibly, I was going insane with envy.

The dogfish had descended upon us like a pack of hungry wolves. Their jeweled eyes seemed to mock me. The commercial fisherman seated next to me was still sipping tea and enjoying the views. I was the underpaid servant rowing a hundred miles at sea with slavish thoughts of freedom. It wasn’t that I couldn’t afford an electric reel. If MARCH 2015

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and Ammunition Pistol Bullets and

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a robot descended from the sky with one in a pretty little box, I might have fallen on my knees and yelled thank you to the cameras in the sky. But I couldn’t buy one. Not 40 miles out of the harbor. Not with a “sha” lodged in my chest that was once puffed.

I took a break from reeling to become seasick after eating third-party sausage. I probably would have gotten seasick anyway, but the next time I’m offered sausage from a friend of a friend, I will want a proper chain of custody. Eating meat that was part of a freezer burn exchange is a possibility that must be duly considered. The fact that everyone else was eating it and not objecting to electric reels made me wonder about my manliness.

Would John Wayne be laying in the bow of the boat? No, because he was in big fake movies. In the real world of real reeling, being on a seasick break was kind of nice.

My fishing partner reeled in two skate while I came to terms with my spiritual and moral loneliness. There were now four halibut in the box, and I had to fish. Must fish, I thought. I grabbed my lowly hand-reel and took position at the gunnel. Within moments, a halibut was on my bait. I reeled, expertly, I imagined. I reeled like John Wayne would have a body double ride a horse trained to do tricks in a rodeo across a Western movie set. My technologically advanced friend was getting a bite, and I watched him out of one eye. He wasn’t reeling.

“Button!” my friend called out as a reminder. “Button!” He was saying “button” instead of “reel.” What, I thought, has the world come to?! The button was pushed and the halibut came off the bait. Ha ha, I thought as I also lost my halibut. Ha ha, indeed.

No matter what, fishing is not always about catching fish. It’s about good company, great scenery, and time in the outdoors. It’s about puffing out your chest and then having it deflated.

As John Wayne would say, “Man ought to do what he thinks is best.”

Sometimes, I’m glad I’m not a man! ASJ

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