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ALASKA ALASKA

SPOR SPORTING ORTTI NG JJOURNAL OURNAL VOLUME 4 • ISSUE 12

A

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, Kristyn Bablinskas, Christine Cunningham, Scott Haugen,Tiffany Haugen, Steve Herschbach, Jeff Lund, Bixler McClure, Steve Meyer, Dennis Musgraves,Tom Reale SALES MANAGER

Brian Lull ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

Lee Balliet, Mamie Griffin,Karl Kukor, Mike Nelson, Mike Smith, Paul Yarnold DESIGNERS

Dawn Carlson, Beth Harrison, Christina Poisal PRODUCTION MANAGER

John Rusnak CIRCULATION MANAGER

Heidi Belew DISTRIBUTION

Tony Sorrentino, Gary Bickford OFFICE MANAGER / ACCOUNTS

Audra Higgins ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

Katie Sauro INFORMATION SERVICES MANAGER

Lois Sanborn ADVERTISING INQUIRIES

ads@nwsportsmanmag.com ON THE COVER

Larry Csonka and his partner, Audrey Bradshaw, spend about seven months out of the year in Alaska doing what they love best: fishing and hunting.

Csonka, a Pro Football Hall of Fame running back, hosted the outdoors show, North to Alaska, for 16 seasons. (LARRY CSONKA)

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) 332-1736 • Fax (206) 382-9437 media@media-inc.com • www.media-inc.com 8 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL MAY 2014

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ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL 9

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CONTENTS FEATURES 19

The Fugitive: Alaska style Correspondent Steve Meyer does a lot of hunting and fishing in retirement. His professional career was as a Special Emergency Response Team leader. Meyer shared a memorable crisis he and his group were called to, when two dangerous inmates escaped from the Spring Creek Correction Center in Seward.

VOLUME 4 • ISSUE 12

46

Life Is A Highway The Alaska Highway meanders its way from British Columbia through the Yukon Territory and eventually to its final destination in Delta Junction, Alaska, roughly 1,400 miles from its starting point in Dawson Creek, B.C. We start our three-part series with a leisurely drive through giant golf balls, an iconic Canadian donut empire and pristine mountain lakes in Canada.

70

Zonk Power Just the name, Larry Csonka, spelled F-O-O-T-B-A-L-L. And one of the most productive running backs of the 1970s proved that in a Pro Football Hall of Fame career.

As he was winning Super Bowls for the Miami Dolphins, Csonka dreamed of fishing and hunting in Alaska. He made that a second career, and now has a new home in The Last Frontier.

92

Valdez’s Plentiful Salmon Bounty Our fish-a-holic, Dennis Musgraves, took on the waters off Valdez with his crew from Alaskan Salmon Slayers. As Musgraves reports, the silvers were on a major bite an easy boat ride out of the Valdez harbor.

59

121 The Bear Hunt Sail Krystin Bablinskas and Bixler McClure were enjoying a leisurely trip on their sailboat, the Carpe Ventos, with friends off the Seward coast.

But it was also the spring bear hunting season. When something furry was spotted on the shoreline, Krystin and Bixler excused themselves, got into their dinghy, and headed ashore to chase a black bear.

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE 13 17 29 35

YUKON’S WILD ANIMAL VET A reality show about a veterinarian? Not exactly Jersey Shore-style drama in most places. But in the wilderness of the Yukon Territory and neighboring Alaska? Now, we’re talking. Meet Dr. Michelle Oakley, whose patients are far more than dogs and cats. A new National Geographic Channel show, Dr. Oakley, Yukon Vet, explores her stories of doing treatment on bald eagles, bears and an unruly muskox, among plenty of other species. And as our profile shows, Oakley’s patients include elephants, wolves and bison. (NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL)

82 103 113 137 147 156

The Editor’s Note The Dishonor Roll: Drone hunting banned Cabela’s comes to Anchorage The beginner's guide to gold panning Dry fly trout tales From Field to Fire: King salmon tactics Changes in halibut regulations Remembering a youngster’s first moose hunt Hunting out of a backpack Loose ends: Bathroom humor at sea

Alaska Sporting Journal is published monthly. Call Media Index Publishing Group for a current rate card. Discounts for frequency advertising. All submitted materials become the property of Media Index 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 Index Publishing Group, or call (206) 382-9220 with VISA or M/C. Back issues are available at Media Index Publishing Group offices at the cost of $5 plus tax. Copyright © 2014 Media Index 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.

10 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL MAY 2014

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EDITOR’S NOTE

I

knew I was in for a treat when Pro Football Hall of Famer and Alaska outdoors guru Larry Csonka called about 40 minutes after he was scheduled to and apologized for his tardiness, though he certainly didn’t have to.

“Coach (Don) Shula would chew out my ass for being so late,” Csonka said of his fellow Hall of Famer and boss during a stellar pro career, most of it with the NFL’s Shula-coached Miami Dolphins.

But that’s Larry Csonka in one sentence; he’s always seemed like a no-nonsense, whatyou-see-is-what-you-get type, a perfect allegory for the Alaska way: tough, resilient, no excuses. It was that way on the football field, where a hard-nosed kid from small-town Ohio – with a stop in upstate New York as part of the 1960s assembly line of elite college running backs produced at Syracuse University – became a beloved blue-collar star and two-time Super Bowl-champion in tony Larry Csonka spent the bulk of his south Florida.

Pro Football Hall of Fame career He splits his time with the Miami Dolphins.

(LARRY CSONKA/NFL) among a Lisbon, Ohio, farm, an Oak Hill, Fla., property (near Daytona Beach), and the home he and partner Audrey Bradshaw recently moved into around Wasilla, north of Anchorage.

Guess where Larry Csonka seems most at home?

“We spend seven months-plus in Alaska, so that tells you something,” he said in late March just before he and Audrey planned to head north. “We won’t be coming back (down to the Lower 48) until about middle or late October.”

If you like fun stories, you’ll enjoy our profile of Csonka in this issue. He relayed plenty of anecdotes in the time we chatted, and by the end I wish we had extra time to talk Alaska, filming 16 seasons of his outdoors TV show, North to Alaska (he wrapped a final season last year), more on the NFL days. We didn’t discuss his work with charities such as the Outdoor Dream Foundation, which provides children with life-threatening illnesses a chance to fulfil fishing or hunting adventures. I didn’t even get to ask him about his cameo role as a U.S. Navy commander in one of my favorite World War II movies, Midway, plus that stint as an analyst on the 1990s cult show, American Gladiators.

But Csonka provided plenty of great material. And we promise not to tell Don Shula about his delay in calling. —Chris Cocoles

MAY 2014

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ALASKA DREAM PROPERTIES FOR SALE

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Bear hunting season in the spring is done in style for hunters Bixler McClure and Krystin Bablinskas, whose sailboat, the Carpe Ventos, in many instances will spot bears on the shoreline around Seward during hunting season. (BIXLER MCCLURE)

ADFG WISELY BANS HUNTING WITH DRONES

BY CHRIS COCOLES he rise of the machines will no longer be in vogue for Alaskan hunters. The seven members of Alaska Board of Game met in Anchorage in mid-March and approved a measure that will ban the use of remote-controlled contraptions – the cool kids call these devices drones – for the use of hunting big game.

What took them so long? Isn’t the whole point of the idea of hunting: to find a moose, a Sitka blacktail or an upland bird like the ptarmigan, the old-fashioned way? Do you really want the thrill of a hunt with your son or dad or buddy enhanced by some sci-fi piece of technology?

Call it a return to the old school of hunting with just your own sense of vision to find game.

“Under hunting regulations, unless it specifically says that it’s illegal, you’re allowed to do it,” Alaska Wildlife Troopers captain Bernard Chastain told the Anchorage Daily News. “What happens a lot of times is technology gets way ahead of regulations, and the hunting regulations don’t get a chance to catch up for quite a while.”

Maybe it’s just me, but there’s something remotely unfair about not hunting au natural and relying on gimmicks to help make it easier to gun down whatever species you’re in search of. By July 1, such a new law prohibiting such tactics will become official in Alaska.

“Other people don’t have a fair opportunity to take game if somebody else is able to do that,” Chastain told the newspaper.

“On the biology side, if you make it too easy to take animals, then there’s not an opportunity for everybody else out there, because they can only allow so many animals to be taken.”

We have a winner. Hunting is called “sport” for a reason. There’s supposed to be a human element to the whole idea of hunting. Most major sports, with or without the instant replay and coach/ manager/player challenges that have become a part of hockey, baseball, basketball and tennis, still have actual flesh-and-blood men and women paid to call penalties, determine whether balls are deemed fair or foul, or if forehands land inside the service line.

A tip of the camouflage cap to the Board of Game; you had the common sense to leave the Alaska hunting to the man or woman with the weapon, not some distant cousin to Hal 9000. ASJ

T

CALENDAR OF EVENTS ALASKA FISHING AND HUNTING INFORMATION May 1-31: Big game draw permits available

ALASKA FISHING DERBIES May 15-Sept. 15: Homer Halibut Derby, Homer, homerhalibutderby.com May 17-Aug. 31: Halibut Derby, Valdez, valdezfishderbies.com May 24-26: Sitka Salmon Derby, Sitka, (970) 747-6790 June 13-June 22: Slam’n Salm’n Derby, Ship Creek, Anchorage, downtownsoupkitchen.org June 13-June 22: Halibut Hullaballoo, Valdez, valdezfishderbies.com July 19-Aug. 31: Silver Salmon Derby, Valdez, valdezfishderbies.com Aug. 8-10: Golden North Salmon Derby, Juneau, goldennorthsalmonderby.org Aug. 9: Women’s Silver Salmon Fish Derby, Valdez, valdezfishderbies.com Aug. 10-18: Silver Salmon Derby, Seward, sewardchamber.org If you have an upcoming event you’d like added to the calendar, contact editor Chris Cocoles at ccocoles@media-inc.com.

MAY 2014

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The fugitives: Loose in alaska THE HUNT FOR TWO ESCAPED PRISONERS

BY STEVE MEYER

T

he 10 p.m. beep of my Special Emergency Response Team pager brought a smile to my face and an immediate increase in heart rate. That little sound meant employment! Rural SERT teams, SWAT teams, or whatever else you want to call them, don’t receive as many callouts as their urban counterparts. So any noise from the pager is welcomed.

This particular call was for the specific reason our team was originally formed: because of escaped prisoners from the Spring Creek Correctional Center in Seward, Alaska. Spring Creek was built in the late 1980s specifically to house the many maximum security prisoners the state had been housing in federal penitentiaries for many years.

Spring Creek is surrounded by wilderness, with the only access to civilization a two-lane winding road that leads to the community of Seward some 5 miles away. Our team was originally named the “Tracking Team,” and formed to respond to an escape in whatever manner the situation required.

The surrounding terrain at Spring Creek is composed of steep mountain slopes, perhaps the only prison in the country where inmates can observe mountain goats and black bears from the prison yard. In fact, a correctional officer who was on the firing range at Spring Creek had shot a black bear crossing the range a number of years earlier. Our team was prepared to climb mountains, spend nights in severe weather and do whatever else it took to stay on the track of an escaped prisoner.

WE HEADED OUT the 90 miles from Soldotna to Seward some 20 minutes after the call, and the windshield was pelted by snowflakes the size of half dollars. The March squall made the usual 100 mph response speeds ill-advised. The police radio announced roadblocks had been set on the Seward and Sterling Highways, as well as immediately outside of Seward.

Derek DeGraff of the Alaska Bureau of Investigation, Anchorage District, leads a “stack” into the Fort Richardson shoothouse complex. Although Special Emergency Response Team members’ urban response tactics are similar to their military counterparts, SERT tactics are adapted for civil police operations. (ARCTIC WARRIOR TROOPERS)

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SERT responders in Alaska need to be prepared for all possible weather conditions. (ARCTIC WARRIOR TROOPERS)

When we arrived at the prison around 11:30 p.m., a briefing informed us that the two prisoners had little to lose. They were both doing life for murder, one a rather heinous stabbing of a family member, and, the other, a killing, dismembering, burning and stuffing in an ice hole in the Chena River in Fairbanks of an individual who was believed responsible for the rape of the escapee’s girlfriend. It left little doubt as to

the mindset of the pair.

The trail was cold by then. There was little in the way of information that led in any specific direction, so we were essentially and literally shooting in the dark. Going house-to-house, structure-to-structure, from the prison to the town of Seward, we were greeted primarily by sleepy-eyed folks who had no idea anything significant had happened in the community.

But one trailer home we came upon, with a front door ajar at 2:30 a.m. with fresh tracks in the snow on the porch, showed promise. There was no response from the trailer after a knock and announce, which, given the circumstances, demanded an entry be made.

In the world of special operation-type law enforcement teams, the entry is at the top of the list of reasons “operators” are willing to make the sacrifices team membership requires. Entering an area where there is a real possibility that another human being (or several) may be lying in wait to do you harm is right up there with great sex, hunting dangerous game and awesome wingshooting for those who choose this vocation.

Speaking solely for myself, I have often thought it comical when special team folks are referred to as heroes. When one is delighted at the prospect of going into harm’s way, it’s hard to think that person is being heroic. Addicted to adrenalin for sure; but not a hero by any stretch.

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XM177E2, an 11.5-inch barreled version of the M16, we stacked on the door. The squeeze on the back of my left leg told me everyone was ready and we burst into the trailer. But we found nothing.

We cleared the living room, kitchen, bathroom and one bedroom in seconds, and then we blew into the last room in the trailer and terrified the owner of the trailer, who had been blissfully sleeping through all the preceding events. The reason for our impromptu entry into his home was explained and apologies for his inconvenience were made. (But evidently the terror invoked was not easily forgotten as the individual later sued the State of Alaska Department of Public Safety for the suffering our invasion into his home had supposedly produced.)

The only information and lead that had circulated was a residential burglary in Seward, where the among the few items taken were an orange

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Mike Henry is a member of the Alaska Wildlife Troopers Special Emergency Response Team, which like the author did before retiring, is called into emergency situations when necessary.

(ARCTIC WARRIOR TROOPERS)

tent and some .22 rimfire cartridges.

A second SERT team from Palmer arrived to allow our team to get some sleep before pressing on into another night of searching for the two fugitives. It had been determined the two men had escaped the prison by cutting through the fence in a previously undetected blind spot that allowed them the time to do so.

The discovery of their absence and the subsequent roadblocks was believed to have eliminated their departure from Seward via the road system, likely leaving them still in the area. We had made arrangements to sleep at an empty apartment generously provided by a local citizen, and we were just getting ready for a nap when the call came in that an orange tent had been spotted on the slopes of Mount Marathon. Having ran the Mount Marathon race several times by then, I was very familiar with the terrain and remembered thinking, “What in the hell would two escaped

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The author says SERT team members most look forward to the adrenaline rush of entering an emergency situation. (ARCTIC WARRIORS TROOPERS)

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prisoners be doing on Marathon?”

Months later I got the answer.

By the time we had mobilized and reached the base some 1,800 vertical feet below the tent site, the helicopter pilot announced on the radio that two men had left the tent and were coming downhill directly towards our location. From there it was rather anticlimactic. The two escapees simply walked down the mountain and surrendered themselves. A trooper teammate and I took the two back to Spring Creek, and I was able to have a somewhat interesting conversation with the two very drunken convicts.

I asked: “So let me get this straight, you guys broke out of a maximum security prison to get drunk and go camping?” Their response was their getaway ride out of town didn’t show up, so they just wandered around and decided they would disappear on the mountain. They said when the helicopter spotted them they knew they were caught and figured they may as well drink the whiskey they had stolen from the residence where they got the tent.

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It was rather comical when I said, “Being you guys were doing life it seems like you would have at least tried for some female companionship during your brief stint of freedom.“ One replied, “We don’t know anyone here, so that would have meant a rape and I am not a rapist!”

SERT MISSIONS ARE considered successful when there are no casualties beyond what the original event that precludes a callout, were incurred. No one was hurt and the two escaped murderers were back in custody less than 24 hours after their escape.

Several months after the escape, I had the opportunity to talk with one of the escapees while he was in Kenai standing trial. I had wondered about the .22 rimfire ammunition after it was not found on them, and there were no firearms found, so I asked if they had taken the .22 shells and if they had a gun they were planning to use. He told me they had taken the shells because they knew they were not going to get out of Seward undiscovered and thought they would build a fire at their camp. When the SERT team came to get them they would throw the shells in the fire and, of course, there would be return fire and they would “go out in a blaze of glory like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” Murderer or not, he got a point from me for that sentiment. ASJ Editor’s note: The author is now retired and is a regular contributor to Alaska Sporting Journal. Look for another story on his SERT experiences in a future issue.

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It’s not Alaska without one of the ubiquitous floatplanes needed for transportation in a state where many locals are as familiar with flying as they are driving to get around.

AN ALASKAN TOUCH,

e l y t s ’ s a l e b a C

WALRUS, SALMON, FLOATPLANE DECOR HIGHLIGHTS NEW STORE STORY AND PHOTOS BY TOM REALE ANCHORAGE—The first casino I ever entered was the Circus Circus in Las Vegas, and it was an overwhelming sensory experience – lights flashing, bells ringing, trapeze artists overhead swinging; in other words: the full catastrophe of chaos.

Going into the new Anchorage Cabela’s store wasn’t quite as stunning, but, in its own way, it’s just as impressive.

The store’s opening date was set at April 10, but a lucky few media types got a sneak preview a couple of weeks ahead

of time. Except for a very few spots, the place looked ready for primetime, with staff training and final prep taking place until the doors opened to the public.

For most sporting folks in the Lower 48, chancesarethere’s alreadya Cabela’swithin driving distance. For Alaskans, however, this is something completely new and unique.

While we have a couple of big box sporting goods stores up here already, there’s nothing to compare to seeing the full-on presentation that the Nebraska retailer presents.

For those few of you who haven’t ventured into a Cabela’s store, suffice it to

say that it’s an experience. The outside façade is dark wood with some exposed beams, natural-looking rock walls at the base, lots of glass and a dark green metal roof, the total effect resembling a highend hunting lodge.

Once inside the main entrance, you’ll encounter a pair of taxidermied bull moose locked in eternal battle, and if you look up, you’ll see a pair of beluga whales. These animals set the taxidermy tone for the first Alaska store in the chain – while there are a few “Outside” animals on display, the overall theme of the place is Alaska, MAY 2014

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Above: Prince William Sound’s various fish and bird species are represented with salmon, halibut, rockfish and even a salmon shark to give the store part of its uniquely Alaskan identity. Below: Lake Iliamna, near Bristol Bay, is one of many geographic locations featured in the new store.

A pair of beluga whales holding court over shoppers browsing through the store’s variety of apparel, gear and gadgets.

A majestic brown bear linked with a salmon that’s such a staple of the former’s diet out in the wild.

You get the feeling Cabela’s Sidney, Neb., headquarters hadn’t previously considered much of a need to have a walrus display in its other 51 stores across North America. But the walrus twins are a perfect fit in Anchorage.

Alaska, and more Alaska.

As you proceed down the main aisle towards the back of the store and the mountain replica on the back wall, up near the ceiling are dioramas of walrus, polar bears, Dall sheep, musk ox, and black and grizzly bears. On the back wall flanking the suspended 1946 J3 Cub are more Dall sheep, along with mountain goats, wolves and caribou. The aquarium underneath the mountain has local freshwater fish as well, although the northern pike were noticeably absent. Wonder why.

Elsewhere around the store, there are large exhibits on the walls showing underwater dioramas of the denizens of Prince William Sound, the Kenai and Kobuk Rivers, and Lake Iliamna. Above the shoe 30 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL MAY 2014

The store’s Gun Gallery collection is impressive.

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department is a clever display of brown bears, with one of them reaching down to grab a bright red sockeye salmon.

Other aerial displays show flights of ducks and geese setting their wings to land, and there are maps and photos of some of the crown jewels of the Alaska State Park system on the walls. The overall effect of the use of available wall and display space is very nicely done. No matter where you are in the store, there’s

Alaska’s first Cabela’s store opened in April in Anchorage, and it has a distinct, only-in-Alaska spin to it.

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something visually interesting to look at as you stand and ponder whether or not you should drop your entire PFD check on a boatload of shiny new gear.

The merchandise on the shelves and racks is pretty standard recreational gear – loads of fishing tackle, hunting and camping gear, clothing for all outdoor occasions, etc. However, the developers have made a real effort to Alaskanize the inventory as much as possible. They’ve used a variety of local vendors to supply as much Alaska essentials as possible, ranging from bear bait to moose calls to halibut gear obtained locally. In addition they’re serving up delicacies from Indian Valley Meats in the Flattop Café on site.

Their hiring practices are decidedly local as well. The store will employ approximately 275 people, and of that number, only two will have been brought up from the Lower 48. That’s an impressive local hire percentage for a major national chain.

One section of the store that’s sure to appeal to the Alaska hunting and fishing ethic is the area with food preparation gear. Up

here the primary reason most of us go afield is to put meat and fish on the table, and this store has enough on hand to supply whatever food prep and preservation techniques you can imagine. There are smokers and dehydrators and vacuum packers, meat slicers and canning supplies, and flavored wood chips and sauces. All told, it’s a truly impressive array of whatever it takes to convert fish and game into table fare.

If you’ve visited a Cabela’s store Outside, the Anchorage store will be at once familiar and unique. For Alaskans, the place will be a 100,000-square-foot playground to be visited time and again. Whether or not their success spells doom for the other big boxes or for the small specialty outdoors stores will be interesting to watch.

Either way, it will be a force to be reckoned with in the 49th state. ASJ Editor’s note: The new Anchorage Cabela’s store is located at the intersection of Minnesota Drive and C Street on the south side of town. For more information, call (800) 237-4444 or go to cabelas.com.

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STRIKE GOLD S

A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO GOLD PANNING

BY STEVE HERSCHBACH

trike it rich! Many people would like to find a little gold. To find gold, a beginner needs nothing more than a gold pan and some basic tools.

The best way to learn how to pan for gold is to first get the right kind of gold pan. The steel gold pans of old are still made, but most actual miners and prospectors these days use plastic gold pans. The colored plastic pans show the gold better than the shiny surface of a

A gold panner gets up close and personal in a stream hoping to strike it rich. Very few tools are needed to look for gold, but searching for the prized substance takes some patience and tedious steps. (STEVE HERSCHBACH)

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steel pan, and plastic pans can be molded with “cheater riffles” that make it easier to pan and still not lose the gold.

In general green is considered one of the best colors for a gold pan, as it contrasts well both with the gold and the sand from which the gold is being liberated. A 14-inch gold pan is about the right size for most adults, while most children would probably be better served with a 10-inch pan.

In good hands, the pan is one of the most efficient devices available for gold recovery. There is some skill involved in gold panning, however, and the big mistake most people make is in not learning how to pan before going out for the first time.

Find a tub large enough to move the pan around inside the tub. Obtain a few flakes of gold, or lacking gold, and use a small flattened lead shot. The gold or lead flakes should be about 1⁄16 inch in diameter or smaller. Fill the tub with water, and fill the pan level to about 1 inch short of the top with sand, gravel, and small rocks.

Some actual stream gravels are best.

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Carefully count out a number of lead or gold pieces and push them into the material in the pan. This is the key thing about this process. It is necessary to start with a known number of pieces in order to gauge how well the panning process is going. Ten flakes is a good number to use.

THERE ARE LOTS of ways to pan, but all that is important is getting rid of that sand and gravel while keeping those sample pieces. Submerge the pan just below the surface of the water, and allow the water to soak into the material. It may be necessary to stir the material up somewhat to wet all the material in to pan. Pick out any larger rocks at this time. Then shake the pan vigorously side to side and front to rear, all the while keeping it just under the water and basically level.

The goal is to get all the material in the pan moving vigorously and very soupy.

The gold or lead is much heavier than an equal size piece of sand, and so with all the material moving around the test samples will quickly sink to the bottom of the pan.

The next step involves taking the pan of material and tilting it forward, away from the panner, and scooping some water up out of the tub. The goal is to try and make a wave similar to that seen on a beach.

Scoop the pan into the water and then lift the pan while tossing the water away. The water should ride up the tilted pan, and then as the water flows back out of the pan it will carry some material out with it.

The secret is in keeping the material in the bottom of the pan stationary and letting the water wash off the top layer in the pan. Do not dump the material out of the pan; wash it out of the pan. Three or four of these “scoop and toss” washing actions take place. Then the pan goes back to the level/submerged position for another round of vigorous shaking. Then back up, tilt forward, and scoop/wash the material. Repeat this action until only a few spoonfuls of material remain in the pan. You can be vigorous at first, but get more careful the less material remaining in the pan.

Watch the material carefully while wash-

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GOLD PROSPECTING

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GOLD PROSPECTING

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A green-colored pan makes for a good choice since the gold contrasts well on the green, both with the sand and gold that is being panned from the ground.

(STEVE HERSCHBACH)

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ing for a glint of gold or lead. If a piece is seen, stop and shake it back down into the bottom of the pan. If the pieces are seen often, it means the shaking action has not been vigorous enough to sink the samples to the bottom of the pan.

More care must be used when washing as the last bit of material remains in the pan. One wrong move and everything in the pan will go in the tub! When only a spoonful of material remains, swirling the material around in the bottom of the pan with a small amount of water will reveal the pieces of gold (or lead).

A very handy tool at this point is the snuffer bottle, which is a plastic squeeze container with a tube inserted into in such a fashion that small items can be sucked into the bottle but can’t escape. This makes it easy to spot the flakes, and then suck them up while getting as little sand as possible. When all the pieces have been captured, dump material still in the pan into the tub. Then take the cap off the snuffer bottle and dump out the captured pieces back into the pan. It should now be

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easy to separate the test samples.

Now count them! All the original test pieces should be captured. If not, rinse everything out of the tub back into the pan and start all over. The first goal is to get to where all the test pieces are reliably recovered every time. When that point is reached, the next goal is to try and pan faster, to speed up the process. Beginning panners take incredible amounts of time on a single pan when they are learning, sometimes 15 to 20 minutes or more. But with practice it should take no more than a few minutes to work a pan of material. Gold-panning championships are measured in seconds, not minutes.

If this kind of practice does not take place before going out to do some actual gold panning, the chances for any kind of success are very minimal. The new prospector will have no idea if there was gold in the material they have chosen to pan. When nothing is found, they will be unsure if it is because of poor panning technique or just because there was no gold to start with. It is very important to

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have confidence so that when a particular spot is sampled with a pan a few times and nothing is found, the decision can be made to try panning somewhere else.

Other items handy for gold panning are rubber gloves for protection from cold water, rubber boots, a small shovel or large scoop, a small pry bar and, of course, a snuffer bottle. Be sure to have a bottle to put the gold in. Do not use glass, as it can be too easily dropped and broken. An optional item that can be a real aid is a 1â „2-inch screen. Screen the material into the pan while underwater, carefully washing, and then discarding the larger rocks. This speeds things considerably and makes panning easier. Dump the rocks next to you where you can spread them and look for a large nugget that did not go through the screen. Large nuggets are rare, but it could happen!

NEXT IS THE question of where to go gold panning. Always attempt to go where gold has already been found, as stumbling on an unknown gold deposit is

not likely to happen. Be sure that the area is open to the public, or that permission is obtained from whoever has jurisdiction over the property. For most visitors with limited time, it will be best to stick with public sites. These are found on online.

When panning, it usually will make more sense to spend extra time and effort filling the pan with quality material.

For example, splitting bedrock crevices and cleaning them thoroughly can take some time, but the material produced will usually have a better chance of producing a good showing of gold than simply filling the pan with a couple shovels full of bank material. Panning can produce substantial amounts of gold, but the material must be chosen carefully for good results.

Good luck, and good panning! ASJ Editor’s note: Steve Herschbach is a native Alaskan with a lifetime of experience as an expert in prospecting and metal detecting.

Check him out at detectorprospector.com.

Email: contact@detectorprospector.com.

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THE ROAD TO ALASKA DRIVING THE ALCAN HIGHWAY: FROM DAWSON CREEK, B.C. TO DELTA JUNCTION, ALASKA

Dawson Creek, British Columbia is your starting point to the Alaska Highway.

(YUFEI YUAN/WIKIPEDIA.ORG)

BY CHRIS COCOLES

T

he numbers say Americans drive a lot of cars a lot of miles. The Department of Transportation reports 74.4 million registered highway vehicles in 1960, with that number up to 153 million and change by 2011.

And while getting behind the wheel is usually a necessary evil – driving to work, to school, to the grocery store – it’s also a way to see the country for those who have the time and patience to drive long stretches of American roads.

And there are patches of pavement that are sacred in these parts: Route 66; Monterey’s 17-mile drive; the Las Vegas Strip.

46 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL MAY 2014

But what about the Alaska-Canadian Highway? The Alaska isn’t known for the aforementioned sites along the way: the iconic diners, the breathtaking scenery, the ability to fool drivers into thinking they’re speeding though Egypt, Camelot, New York City, the Roman Empire, Paris and that world superpower Steve Wynnistan.

But we’re curious about the 1,390 miles covering a sometimes quirky, sometimes lonely, always paved stretch from Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada to Milepost 1,390 in Delta Junction, Alaska.

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On this trip, you’ll be driving through some rugged yet spectacular scenery as you head for the Yukon Territory border with British Columbia. (ALBERT NORMANDIN/DESTINATION BC) MAY 2014

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The Peace River Bridge (2,130 feet) represents the longest span of road on the Alaska Highway. (OURBC.COM)

It really is a remarkable stretch of pavement with a lot of history that was really born with the outbreak of World War II. As early as 1930, a joint American-Canadian contingent began to study the feasibility and logistics of erecting a drivable road from British Columbia all the way to Alaska, but the Wall Street crash and ensuing Depression was the main reason why those plans seemed to fall through over the next very trying decade throughout North America.

But along came the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, when it became a priority to create a safe land route from the Lower 48 north to Alaska.

“An agreement was made: the U.S. would pay for the construction, with the sections on Canadian soil to be turned over to Canada six months after the end of the war,” wrote the fantastic Alaska Highway website, ouralaskahighway.com. “Canada, in turn, would provide the right-of-way, waive import duties and other taxes, offer 48 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL MAY 2014

special arrangements for incoming American workers and permit the free use of timber and gravel where required.”

Construction began in March 1942, the highway opened that November, and the U.S. Army completed work on the road by November of 1943. The Alaska Highway now connects Alaska from its Lower 48 brothers, with two Canadian provinces (British Columbia and the Yukon Territory) as the links.

This is not an I did this series, because I’ve never done it either. It’s a this is what a trip like this – broken up into three parts that will cover three issues of Alaska Sporting Journal – could be like if you choose to take on the Alaska , and we’re making suggestions we might attempt on a journey like this one. Maybe I’ll do it too.

Part I: Dawson Creek to the B.C./Yukon Territory border.

Now, for Lower 48ers who entered Canada through the Washington border,

remember it’s anywhere from 721 from 939 miles to Dawson from Blaine, Wash., right before entering the border. So make sure you get plenty of rest the night before you get started on the first leg of your journey.

Mile Zero: “The Sign” in Dawson Creek, B.C. The Dawson Creek Tourism Office (tourismdawsoncreek.com) touts itself as “Start Your Alaska Highway Journey Here.” So you have to start out your trip at Dawson Creek’s famous sign.

Everyone loves to find a good photo op, and there figures to be plenty on a trip like this. So you may as well get one out of the way right away. The “Mile O Cairn” features flags of British Columbia, the Canadian Maple Leaf and the Stars and Stripes.

“Become part of the highway’s history, where over one million people have started their journey with a photograph at this iconic location,” the Dawson Creek

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2013 Visitor Guide says. “This is your Facebook moment.”

Since we’re already snapping selfies, let’s head across town and check out the Surveyor Statue, “a tribute to the tens of thousands of men who built the highway, the Iron Highway Surveyor Statue stands as a ghostly reminder of the building of the Alaska Highway.”

Mile 34: Peace River Bridge and “World’s Largest Golf Ball” If you’re a road tripper, you enjoy the novelties of where you’re traveling, whether it’s the biggest this or tallest that; there’s something about knowing you’re in the presence of greatness. OK, that may be a bit extreme. But shortly into your trip on the Alaska, you’ll cross the Peace River, which cuts across Northern British Columbia and into neighboring province Alberta before emptying into the Slave River, a tributary of the mighty MacKenzie.

According to the ouralaskahighway.com, the bridge was built in 1943 and spanned 2,130 feet, the longest of six

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The town of Taylor has a championship golf course (Lone Wolf Club) and also what is touted as the “World’s Largest Golf Ball.” (OURBC.COM)

major bridges spanning the Alaska.

However, nature, in the form of a landslide, proved to be an unbeatable force,” said a story on the website. “In 1957, 14 years after it opened, this magnificent structure collapsed – its north abutment falling over in the landslide, snapping its steel cabling, smashing the roadbed into pieces.”

The bridge was rebuilt in 1960, and is certainly worth a stop this time.

Just up the road in Taylor (Mile 35), don’t leave town without making a pilgrimage to another site Clark Griswold and Ty Webb (Chevy Chase characters in the Vacation movies and Caddyshack, respectively) would surely flock to. Taylor (Mile

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Wildlife is abundant throughout the remote stretches of the Alaska Highway. You may have to slow down and let some Stone’s sheep jaywalk across the road. But you’re not in a hurry or you probably wouldn’t be making a trip like this. (DESTINATION BC/ALBERT NORMANDIN)

36) is home to the “world’s largest golf ball.”

You may not have time to play 18 holes at Taylor’s Lone Wolf Golf Club (1-250-7893711; lonewolfgolf.ca), but check out the course’s former fuel tank shaped like a ball (this is screaming for partnership between the city of Taylor and golfing equipment maker TaylorMade).

According to britishcolumbia.com, the “ball” is 12.89 meters in diameter and weighs 37 tons.

Mile 47: Fort St. John When in Canada, right?

Now would be as a good time as any to do what any true Canadian does just about every day: make an appearance at a

Tim Horton’s (two locations in town; timhortons.ca), eh. The best donut north of Krispy Kreme, Tim Horton’s locations are ubiquitous once you cross the 49th Parallel. Named for late hockey star Tim

A moose cools off in the area around Summit Lake – the highest point on the highway, highway around 4,200 feet. (DESTINATION BC/ALBERT NORMANDIN)

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Horton (hey, this is Canada, where puckheads even rule the donut world), as someone who’s gotten his pastry on at Tim Horton’s locations in Vancouver, Edmonton and Toronto, get yourself a Canadian Maple donut and a cup of coffee to get energized for a lot of driving.

Miles 51 to 283 Frankly, there isn’t a lot happening for this long stretch of pavement.

There are a few blink-oryou’ll-miss-it stops for gas, food or lodging. Stops like Wonowon (Mile 101) and Pink Mountain (140) have basic services available to get some gas or a quick bite to eat.

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Campgrounds and RV parks also dot the highway heading up to the next major community, Fort Nelson.

Mile 283: Fort Nelson About 320 miles from the Yukon Terri-

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tory border, now might be a good place to pull over, find a hotel, then get yourself a nice dinner and a glass of wine (or stronger if your kids have gotten on your nerves). Fort Nelson (fortnelsonbc.com) has a population of about 6,100.

The most northern stoplight in British Columbia is said to pass through the highway as you enter the city.

Mile 373: Summit Lake You drive through far higher mountain

HAVE MOTORHOME WILL TRAVEL One of the most convenient ways to travel such an isolated stretch of road like the Alaska Highway’s 1,400 or so miles is via a motorhome. Yes, these vehicles will need a lot of gas stops, but they’ll provide you with a comfortable home away from home and a hotel on wheels that saves passengers from counting mileposts in search of a place to turn in for the night.

Throughout your voyage on the Alcan or any other road through British Columbia, the Yukon Territory or Alaska, this isn’t a bad option.

“While traveling by RV in other states may be a bit of a hassle, (driving) by RV in Alaska is surprisingly pleasant,” says the travel website alaskarvtrips.com. “Most of Alaska's roads are in top-notch shape, with a few of the highways in particular getting the best possible rating from government, as “All-American Roads. In other words, it

isn't your typical driving experience.”

As for choosing an RV rental for your trip, the same website says to find something the driver can handle, but without sacrificing comfort.

“If you're ordering over the phone, ask the company if they have floor plans and pictures posted online,” the website writes.

“That way, you can get a sense as to how big the RV will be.”

There are Lower 48 spots throughout the Pacific Northwest, in Northern California and the Rocky Mountains, with plenty of gorgeous places to see. But as alaskarvtrips.com writes, Alaska has its own mythical quality that makes it a perfect destination for RV travel.

“By far, Alaska’s major draw is the fantastic scenery. Traveling by plane, by boat, bus or train, you do get to see Alaska’s natural environment, but it is nothing com-

pared to being able to stop, get out of the RV and come face-to-face with nature,” the website proclaims.

Here are some RV dealers worth looking into if you plan a trip North: ABC Motorhome (800-421-7456; abcmotorhome.com) Alaskan Campers (360-748-6494; alaskancamper.com) Clippership (907-562-7051; clippershiprv.com) FuntimeRV (503-925-9620; funtimerv.com) Gibs RV Superstore (541-888-3424; gibsrvsuperstore.com) Lance Campers (661-949-3322; lancecamper.com) RV Marine and Supply by Cascade (360-659-7833; rvmarinesupply.com) U-Neek RV (360-748-6494; uneekrv.com) ASJ

There’s a long stretch of road between miles 47 and 283 with very few services. So assuming you stock up on snacks and drinks, your best bet might just be to pull off the side of the highway far enough away from passing traffic and enjoy the wilderness of British Columbia with some refreshments. (ALBERT NOMANDIN/DESTINATION BC) 54 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL MAY 2014

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Muncho Lake is one of the more beautiful sights you’ll encounter on the Alaska Highway.

(DESTINATION BC/ ALBERT NORMANDIN)

passes in the Rockies of Colorado or hitting the California Sierra Nevada peaks, but at no point on your Alaska Highway journey will you be at a higher elevation than the 4,250 feet of the Summit Pass.

Mile 436: Muncho Lake You’re almost through British Columbia.

But, like a lot of other places in this beautiful province, you can’t simply do a driveby shooting (with a camera) without getting out of the car and taking in the scene at this pristine mountain setting.

Camping around Muncho Lake (env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpg s/muncho_lk) is available at nearby Strawberry Flats or MacDonald campgrounds. If you feel the need to wet your line, the lake is full of lake trout, Arctic grayling, bull trout and whitefish.

Mile 603: The British Columbia/ Yukon Territory border So, you’ve surely broken up the trip thus far into two days, seeing historic bridges, giant Titleists, donuts to die for, and, if you’re lucky, some roadside wildlife. Join us next month as we continue our Alaska High trip planner. ASJ 56 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL MAY 2014

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Dr. Michelle Oakley examines a husky sled dog, one of many working dogs and animals she treats in isolated areas of the Yukon Territory and Alaska. Oakley’s practice is chronicled on a new National Geographic Channel reality series, Dr. Oakley, Yukon Vet. (NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL)

ALASKAN ANIMAL DOCTOR IS IN NEW NAT GEO SHOW CHRONICLES YUKON VET

BY CHRIS COCOLES

Y

ou chat up a veterinarian at a dinner party, sitting next to you at a baseball game or the dog park, and it’s only natural to ask the doctor about the animal patients she or he has worked on: maybe a sick golden retriever or Weimaraner that was bitten by another dog. If you’re lucky, the vet may have a great but rare story about saving the life of an “exotic” pet like a pot-bellied pig.

Then there’s Dr. Michelle Oakley, whose experiences over roughly the last 20 years in the business of mending sick animals would not be your everyday cocktail party conversation about her practice, which covers wilderness areas full of critters, both domestic and wild, in Canada’s Yukon Territory and neighboring Alaska.

“I’ve done projects here on wolves, bears, muskox, moose, caribou, martens, marmots, frogs, lynx; kind of all the Northern species you can list; snowy owls, eagles, great gray owls,” says Oakley.

It’s no wonder the National Geographic Channel and the doctor have teamed up for a new reality show: Dr. Oakley, Yukon Vet, which premiered on April 12. Oakley touts her clinic as helping “pretty much everything that moves,” which, as she explained, prepares this wife and mother of three well in unpredictable territory.

She grew up in Munster, Ind., across the Illinois border from Chicago, and did her undergrad studies at Michigan. So naturally, she ended up settling down in the hinterlands of the Yukon after meeting her future husband, Shane, while doing research work MAY 2014

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on ground squirrel ecology in the area.

That country is full of sled dogs, wildlife preserve species and even the usual family pets. A preview episode reflected this is no ordinary practice. Among Oakley’s cases: a husky that got into a scuffle with a porcupine and was in a dangerous condition of being stabbed with hundreds of quills; a pair of injured bald eagles in need of care with hopes of flying free again; a great gray owl named Aspen with an amputated wing. In another early episode in the series; an unruly muskox chases and rams a car Oakley is in hoping to sedate the animal and exam it. She’s been doing it for years, but, thanks to Nat Geo, she’ll get to let viewers in on her experiences.

“So many times I’d share pictures with friends over the years who would say, ‘Gosh, you should do a TV show.’ You kind of laughed about it, but to be asked to do that, youlovetoshareit,”shesays.“Peopleshould see this, and I’m honored to. There are so many tough people and tough animals, with some great conservationism going on.”

So needless to say, Oakley’s life is never dull, as her conversation with us reflected: Chris Cocoles I know you met Shane in the Yukon and decided to settle down there, but growing up in the Chicago suburbs of Indiana and going to a large college like Michigan at Ann Arbor is a lifetime away from where you are now.

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Reindeer are among the patients this veterinarian treats on a regular basis. Dr. Oakley has also worked with zoo animals like giraffes and big cats, and now travels to Sri Lanka twice a year to help examine elephants. (NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL)

Do you sometimes ask how in the world you ended up there?

Dr.MichelleOakley I think about that all the time, actually. When I first went up to the Yukon (in 1989), not being that good at geography, I honestly barely knew where it was. I wasn’t entirely sure it was part of Alaska, which is embarrassing to say. I had no idea what I was getting into. Now I think if it hadn’t happened, it’s a terrifying thought.

CC You’ve also lived in Alaska over the years, right?

Michelle Oakley grew up in Munster, Ind., just outside Chicago, and did her undergrad work at the University of Michigan. But she met a firefighter named Shane during a research project in the Yukon, got married, and has been treating both domestic pets and more wild animals like bears, wolves and moose at her practice for more than 20 years now. (NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL)

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MO We lived in Juneau for a while, and in North Pole; I’ve worked the North Slope, and I spend a lot of time now in Haines, Alaska, where I run a big part of my mobile clinics.

CC Was there an instant attraction, not just to your eventual husband, but the area itself?

MO The Southwest corner of the Yukon and Southeast Alaska, it’s just so gorgeous, with so many wide open spaces and so much freedom. I think it was a case where I definitely fell in love with the place, and my husband.

CC When you were young, did you always have a love and passion for wanting to help animals?

MO My parents and grandma were huge animal lovers. We always had pets around, and we lived in kind of a wooded area, so we were always rescuing baby rabbits and ducklings. We always kept them in our house, and always tried to help. My uncle had a dairy farm and I spent a lot of time there. I think it was developing a love for animals. When I was really young, about sixth grade, I started going to a vet clinic, where they let me come in for years. That shaped what I really wanted to do. And a huge part of it was watching National Geographic, as corny as that sounds. I was always watching people like Jane Goodall, strong women who worked with wildlife, even back then.

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CC I cringed when I saw the scene with the husky and the porcupine quills. That was brutal. But those are the kinds of crazy things that happen in Alaska and the Yukon, right?

MO It’s incredibly big country. There are still wolves that come into town and take dogs every year, and eagles that take cats. When you’re up here you’re part of the ecosystem, and you have to take care of your pets. I’ve seen a lot of porcupine quills and lots of bear attacks on dogs. So there are a lot of those intense situations.

CC How do you learn in school about caring for a bear? That’s not exactly commonplace in most areas.

MO At most vet schools you don’t. We had a small wildlife program, but it was in eastern Canada (Atlantic Veterinary College) and it wasn’t working on bears and moose.

But I did an internship at the Calgary Zoo (she’s a dual American and Canadian citizen) and through the University of Calgary, so I was working with different kinds of species and experts. When I was in vet school, during the summer I worked for the

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Yukon Department of Wildlife, so that helped too working as a technician. It was a little bit of trial by fire, with a ton of help from experienced wildlife vets. There were so many people who were so helpful. It’s a very small community of wildlife and zoo vets. And it’s amazing how they bend over backwards to help. We can’t know it all, and if we can help each other we do.

CC So what’s it like to care for a bear or wolf?

MO Uhhh (laughs), it’s hard to put words on it. You have to focus on what you’re doing, but, every now and then, you take a step back for a fraction of a second and think: ‘This is a grizzly bear I’m working on.’ You get that shiver and excitement.

And then you focus on your job and task at hand, especially if it’s an emergency.

There is no time to for gawking and being excited. But going out on some of the conversation projects and working on wolves and bears, it was intense. That type of work you really don’t enjoy until afterwards. When they’re stable it’s like ‘phew.’

I can enjoy that in retrospect.

CC And some of this care can be dangerous, right?

MO I had a lynx tooth through the tip of my index finger and a few close calls like that, where afterwards you think, ‘wow, that was close.’ But for the amount of wildlife work I do, it’s always thinking about what can go wrong? What’s your backup plan?

Because the first one rarely works. And then you’re thinking, ‘How do I get out of here? What’s my escape plan?’ Even when you’re trying to help them, they don’t know that, and they’re just going to defend themselves; they think you’re attacking them.

CC How hard has it been to travel on calls and to your remote clinics in the winter?

MO That’s just the way of life here; no matter what you’re doing you’re traveling.

Towns in the Yukon Territory and Alaska are so spread out. When I go to the clinic in Haines it’s a 2½-hour drive, and there’s nothing in between. It’s through a mountain pass, and sometimes I’ll pass just one car and no cars. In that pass, snow can be taller than my car with 8 or 10 feet of snow.

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Michelle Oakley gets up close and personal with a young black bear. One of her most dangerous encounters in Alaska and the Yukon, however, was being stuck in deep snow trying to climb a slippery tree with a charging bison heading her way. (NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL)

Getting to animals that are in need can be very difficult. But it’s part of living up here and being a real Alaskan or real Yukoner.

It’s not complaining about the elements, but embracing them. You prepare for them and take them on. It’s a great way of life.

CC As much as someone like me who loves my dog, where you live, some people have relied on their animals to get around like sled dogs. They’re a big part of their lives. Do you take lots of pride in caring for those animals?

MO A lot of the dogs are working dogs.

They are part of the family and super important to the people like a pet. But peoples’ lives depend on them. This hunter or trapper out in the bush, they couldn’t survive or it would be a lot more difficult without their dog there. The dogs seem to let you know way far ahead that you can avoid a very dangerous encounter. I see that over and over. We don’t want to bump into a bear and surprise anybody that doesn’t want to be surprised. We take our dog (a pug, Daisy May Lover Pants) everywhere. So there is

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an extra layer of attention.

CC Being an American-born citizen, it had to be special to care for bald eagles at the American Bald Eagle Foundation (907766-3094; baldeagles.org) in Haines.

MO There’s nothing more of conservationism and patriotism wrapped into one than the American Bald Eagle Foundation.

It’s such a cool organization. To have a bald eagle that I got to do surgery on and

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spect my daughter’s choice to not like (to hunt or fish). She can speak her mind and be like, ‘I’m not doing it.’

CC Do you want your daughters (Sierra, Maya and Willow) to follow in your footsteps of being a vet?

MO Deep down I hope they do. That would be awesome to have my kids be veterinarians, and maybe we can work together for a time. And I think it’s such a cool career. I

Dr. Michelle Oakley hopes her new show on the National Geographic Channel will inspire others who have always talked about becoming a veterinarian to pursue those dreams.

“There are so many people out there who think they want to do it,” she says. “If this is the time, do it!” (NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL)

help to get it to the point where a couple of months later it could be released. To be a part of that release was absolutely one of the highlights of my career. There was nothing made up about that. It was one of the best moments of my life.

CC You take the family fishing, and one of your daughters said she hated fishing!

Hunting and fishing are such a big part of the way of life where you are, and your job is to save animals. What’s the fine line between those two worlds like?

MO That’s hard for people to understand.

But when you live in Alaska, it’s a different way of life. That’s how it is. It’s a really practical way of life. That’s our culture and how we live our life. If I’m going to take care of an animal, I want the best for it. If my family is going to hunt animals for food, it’s going to be as humane and quick as possible. I re66 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL MAY 2014

feel so lucky about the profession. There are so many people out there who think they want to do it. If this is the time, do it!

CC I’ve always admired veterinarians, for me as a very attached dog owner, it seems like it’s so hard when there aren’t successful recoveries. How hard has it been at times from an emotional level, especially early on in your career?

MO There aren’t always happy stories or a perfect outcome. I think it’s being there for the family and for the animal, if it is an end of life situation or trauma.

You’re doing everything you can, supporting the family but keeping the animals as comfortable as possible. It’s the bittersweet part of my job that I can help and do the best I can. Sometimes it’s really emotional. It’s why I’m here; I’m here to help.

CC What else are you working on?

MO I have a new one now where I’m going to Sri Lanka twice a year. I was just there working with elephants and leopards. And I got to work with penguins. Penguins! They were just crazy, and I was so excited just to see one. At one zoo I was able to work on gorillas. You can’t possibly know it all with all those species, but as a veterinarian you’re trained in a lot of different animal systems.

And you’re also trained in how to keep up, because things are constantly changing and improving. And how to learn things quickly and advance your tools to different species; so I’m really thankful for that part of my training, because I use that every day.

CC You must have 18,000 of them, but can you share a wild story of an animal you worked on?

MO I do have a million of them. (Pauses).

We were capturing bison not too long ago from a helicopter. You always give them the reversal drug afterwards and they get up and run away. This last time we were there, the helicopter dropped us off. We worked on the animals and the helicopter needed to refuel and he said if it was OK to come back. We thought we’ll move hundreds of yards away from the animals. We told him they never come back after us because that’s not their behavior at all. We moved a long distance away, and, sure enough, the female stood up, looked around, sniffed the air and came toward us.

We were in waist-deep snow, so there was no getting away. So it was really scary. We were trying to swim through the snow to the trees, but she was already right on us. These were birch trees that were really slippery. One guy got partly up the tree, but I kept slipping on the branches. He tried to pull me up and I was literally breaking nails clawing my way and not having any luck. And all of a sudden, the bison was right there like a raging bull that was snorting. There’s no way I could get away from her. She took another step toward me and I just did this screaming and waving my hands, which I would never advise anyone to do. And she didn’t flinch, just turned and slowly walked away. I thought, ‘What was that?’

I’ve had a few close calls like that. ASJ

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Larry Csonka has won Super Bowls and been inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

But he’s happiest these days hunting moose in the Alaskan Interior. (LARRY CSONKA) 70 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL MAY 2014

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CSONKA’S SPIRIT OF ALASKA RUNS WILD FOOTBALL STAR FOUND OUTDOOR PASSION IN THE NORTH

BY CHRIS COCOLES

L

arry Csonka’s love affair with Alaska was squired thanks in part to a flight delay, a jalopy, outhouse and a prophetic sign.

Csonka, still going strong at 67, is part retired football star and outdoors television show host, part entrepreneur, part patron and part benefactor.

He’s also a full-time Alaska fishing and hunting fanatic, a passion he dreamed of as an Ohio farm kid. It became even more an obsession when the then young National Football League player visited there only due to a travel snafu. But it was obvious Csonka was an Alaskan at heart before he ever stepped foot there.

“The more I saw of Alaska, the more I was in Alaska, the more I fell in love with it,” he says. “It wasn’t a thing where because I liked donuts I ate four-dozen of them and never wanted to eat another donut. The more I drank in Alaska, the thirstier I got.”

Csonka’s first time in his favorite place was eventful, if by accident. After his rookie season as a Miami Dolphins run-

Csonka ran for over 8,000 yards in his NFL career as a running back, with his best years coming in the early 1970s when the Miami Dolphins won two Super Bowls. He was the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl VIIII, a 24-7 Miami victory over the Minnesota Vikings. (LARRY CSONKA/NFL)

ning back in 1968, Csonka was offered an invitation from the United Service Organization to visit the troops, smack dab on the lines in Vietnam with other NFL players. “Of course I will,” was Csonka’s patriotic response to the request.

The commercial flight made its first stop in Anchorage to change planes and continue onto Southeast Asia. The plane had mechanical problems, and Csonka was told he’d have a minimum six- or eight-hour layover. He walked outside Anchorage International Airport with every intention of killing time in a state he’d never visited but was fascinated with.

Just outside the terminal, a man in a gravel parking lot was renting something resembling cars; and don’t think Hertz or Avis-style luxury here. The vehicles reminded him of the rusty Farmall tractors he grew up riding in the Midwest.

“The sign said “Rent-A-Wreck,” and I rented one of his wrecks, and drove down towards the Kenai Peninsula, south of Anchorage,” he recalled.

Csonka was hungry and stumbled onto a MAY 2014

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A PICTURE OF PERFECTION During his eight-year NFL career (he also spent a season in the World Football League) Larry Csonka was part of a dynasty Miami Dolphins organization that put together a dominating stretch from 1970-74, when they won two Super Bowls (Csonka was the Most Valuable Player of a Super Bowl VIII victory over the Minnesota Vikings), lost in another and won 57 games in the regular season.

It was capped, of course, by Miami’s perfect 17-0, 1972 run that included 14 wins without a loss during the regular season, two playoff victories and a 14-7 triumph over the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

No other NFL team has made it through the year unbeaten and untied the league’s history.

Each year, whenever the last unbeaten team goes down, including the 2007 New England team that won its first 18 times before losing the Super Bowl, the media loves to report members of the ’72 Dolphins popping champagne corks to celebrate that perfect season being unmatched.

“I’m not much of a champagne guy.

I’m more apt to raise a beer. But that gets a little overdone,” says Csonka, who ran for 8,081 yards and 64 touchdowns during his NFL career, culminating with a 1987 induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. “Now, anytime you achieve something that nobody else has done, that makes it a little more special. Do I want to share that with anyone? Not particularly. But if someone does that, I’ll be the first to recognize it. We don’t ‘celebrate’ someone else’s defeat. It’s just the fact that we’re still the only one.”

Just know this: When then 18-0 New England, Miami’s longtime AFC Eastern Division rival, was playing the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII, it was self-explanatory who Csonka rooted for (spoiler alert: he also played three seasons with the Giants, whose head coach, Tom Coughlin, was his college halfback at Syracuse). New York won the game 17-14, and Csonka was happy, but didn’t break out the bubbly.

“If it happens, it happens,” Csonka says. “Every year when I go back south, I know I’ll probably get to a Dolphins game and see some of my old cronies.

I enjoy that, and it’s fun getting together.” CC

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Csonka has caught plenty of beautiful Togiak River king salmon. (LARRY CSONKA)

joint on the outskirts of Anchorage – “It’s still there” – and ate a sandwich and beer. When the soon-to-be pro football superstar asked the establishment’s patron to point him to the restroom, he was told it was “out back.”

“It was an outhouse, and I grew up with outhouses in Ohio,” he says. “When I came to the outhouse I looked off into the woods, and someone had hung a sign: ‘Now Leaving Anchorage City Limits.’ And right below that, someone had added in magic marker: ‘You Are Now Part of the Food Chain!!!’ with big exclamation points. Right then I said, ‘I need to see more of this place.’”

CSONKA WAS A Christmas Day (born Dec. 25, 1946) son of Ohio in Stow, an Akron suburb and small farming community, with plenty of room to roam around.

Young Larry would grab his dogs and a single-shot, 16-gauge shotgun to hunt the countryside far from glitzy south Florida, where he’d eventually be a sports celebrity.

In sometimes pouring Midwest rain, he’d walk 3 to 4 miles in search of upland birds like pheasants or rabbits, which

were “about all we had,” Csonka says. A good day was flushing a rabbit or two. An occasional deer in the woods was considered “big game” in those parts at that time in the 1950s. But the outdoors-loving boy heard about places with wide-open spaces and massive animals for hunters.

“When I was 10, my mother knew this, and one time she saw in the store a major outdoor magazine and bought it, which was a treat for me,” he says. “I went out to carry in the groceries out of the car and saw the magazine on top of the grocery bag. I took it out, and it had a picture of a Kodiak bear on the front. And I was just mesmerized by it.”

He forgot about the melting ice cream in the sack as he thumbed through the pages, reading every word of the story about the bear, and articles about the deer and the other fauna that made Alaska, just around the time it became our 49th state, so famous and revered by hunters and anglers. It was, for even 10-year-old Larry Csonka on the dairy farms of Stow, “the sportsman’s dream.”

Playing football, and doing it quite well,

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Csonka’s outdoor television show went on for 16 seasons, allowing the retired pro football player to live out his dreams of hunting and fishing in his beloved Alaska.

got in the way of packing up and flocking to The Last Frontier. It was a good decision for Csonka, who went onto follow in the footsteps of 1950s and ‘60s standout running backs at Syracuse University. He outgained the likes of Jim Brown, Ernie Davis, Jim Nance and Floyd Little, rushing for what was a school-record 2,934 yards from 1965-1967 and getting drafted in the first round by the then American Football League’s (shortly

74 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL MAY 2014

before the NFL merger) Dolphins.

Csonka went on to win two Super Bowls in Miami, starring on what remains the NFL’s only unbeaten and untied team (17-0 in 1972). He ran for more than 8,000 yards and scored 68 total touchdowns spanning a Pro Football Hall of Fame career.

He teamed with fellow running back Jim Kiick to be football’s version of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, their gun-

slinging, blue-collar, tough-guy persona earning them such a colorful mantra off the Paul Newman and Robert Redford hit movie.

Through all the world championships, the glory and the excitement, Csonka never punted away the memories of that outdoor sporting magazine featuring Alaska outdoor adventures.

“Football got in the way,” he says.

“When the big hunting season and most of the fishing season was at peak times in Alaska was also during the time that football was going on in college and the NFL. And I couldn’t get there because of that.”

He hung up his helmet and shoulder pads for good in 1980. That, he thought, was finally an opportunity to spend those peak fishing and hunting days in Alaska.

But he had to plead with the producers of an outdoors show he was co-hosting at the time to start filming fishing and hunting adventures in Alaska, an irony considering he had to convince the network to do any episodes there given how reality shows are being produced at staggering

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HAIL TO COAST GUARD TEAMMATES Larry Csonka’s fantastic NFL career included a 145-yard, two-touchdown MVP performance in the Miami Dolphins’ 24-7 Super Bowl VIII win over the Minnesota Vikings. He had plenty of help from his offensive guards, Pro Football Hall of Famer Larry Little, former All-Pro selection and six-time Pro Bowl participant Bob Kuechenberg, plus a Hall of Fame center, Jim Langer.

But another set of guards from the United States Coast Guard also once had a big assist to Csonka that saved his life. In September 2005, Csonka, his partner, Audrey Bradshaw, two members of his television crew on their show, North To Alaska, a hunting guide and a boat captain, were on the Bering Sea returning from a filmed hunt in the Aleutians. But the 28-foot vessel ran into severe weather, and the high seas and heavy winds made it difficult to navigate the boat, which drifted off course.

For about 17 hours, the crew was in a dire and potentially fatal situation, but the Coast Guard was able to rescue those aboard via helicopters that airlifted them one-by-one via a basket.

Later that fall, he told a Sports Illustrated reporter he had signed a football to one of his Coast Guard rescuers: THANKS FOR PULLING MY ASS OUT OF THE BERING SEA.LARRY CSONKA#39.

“When you’re in Alaska, particularly in the Aleutians, if you get out there, there’s no such thing as a current weather report; you have to play it by ear,” Csonka says. “Sometimes a slight error in calculation can cost you dearly. And we got into a life or death situation. And the Coast Guard pulled us out.”

Csonka, 58 at the time, remains grateful for the help.

“Right after that, I thought to myself ‘I’m never going to bitch about paying my taxes again.’ Because they pulled my butt out of the drink,” he says with a laugh. CC

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The best part about a moose hunt, Larry Csonka says, is the idea of calling in the animals and taking in the splendor of backcountry Alaska. (LARRY CSONKA)

rates in the state currently. Even then, he was only promised three shows initially.

“They were reluctant to go to Alaska because of the cost of taking camera guys and producers. You’re traveling with a full production crew, and the kind of money you’d spend on the budget would double or triple if you had to go to Alaska,” Csonka says. “So we did a three-show spread up in Kodiak. And we had a great time. I think those three shows had some of the highest ratings of that series.”

Still, the cost to maintain a fulltime crew promoted Csonka to go solo on the Alaska show he envisioned for himself. He pitched his idea to ESPN and delivered on promises to get some sponsors on board. He ultimately spawned North to Alaska, which would blossom into a hit on the NBC Sports

Network. The crew wrapped on its 16th and final season last year.

“That enabled me to live a dream,” he says. “I won’t insult your intelligence and tell you the show did really well and had great ratings because people wanted to watch me. People were tuning in to see Alaska.

We were very true to life on our show.”

He was no stranger to appearing on camera as a football player, a part-time actor who appeared in various movies and television shows, and as an analyst on the competition show American Gladiators.

Csonka cherishes the thought of traversing Alaska ground few others probably have. Granted, he says, someone probably had hunted moose in the same spots as him. But it’s reasonable enough to conclude you could count on one hand the number

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of previous visitors to some remote stretches of the Alaskan Interior. It’s the “Wild Alaska” feeling that can engulf those who live or simply spend a vacation there that makes them obsessed for more.

“How many places in the Lower 48, or for that matter, North or South America, can you go and say there have been damn few people there before you?” he asks.

And what is the perfect experience for a rugged Alaskan outdoorsman like Larry Csonka?Amoosehunt.It’scomingfullcircle for the football icon in Miami. Csonka endeared himself to Dolphins fans for his relentless motor on the field.

Moose hunting is a 360-degree turn.

“The moose come to you, so you’ve got a chance to go out and bugle and call them, and sit on the river. Maybe you call every 20 minutes or so, and you know when they hear you, they’re eventually going to come to you. When you sit there, you see the leftover salmon, see the trout eating the salmon eggs. You see beavers and bears; you see everything and you’re a part of the middle of nowhere.”

78 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL MAY 2014

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Csonka then became a little sentimental about his Ohio days, where his trophies were hares or other small critters, but no less memorable. He still spends part of his year at a farm in Lisbon, Ohio with his partner, Audrey Bradshaw.

When it’s really cold in Alaska and Ohio, he flees to his old stomping grounds in Florida. But seven months out of the year he and Audrey live on their property in Wasilla.

“When you’re in the NFL and they hand you that football, you’re the show; everybody’s watching,” he says. “When you go Alaska and you’re sitting on a riverbank, the show is in front of you. You’re just a spectator, and I found a sport that I really like being a spectator in. And that’s Alaska.”

LARRY CSONKA’S 1968 flight-delayed stop in Anchorage wasn’t quite over yet when he visited the outhouse and sign proclaiming those who ventured away from the beer joint as new members of the food chain. His lemon of a car rental – “It ran terrible; I did have to work on it a couple times, but I rented that car for like $12,” – and sput-

tered away from the big city, traveling a bumpy road down toward the Kenai Peninsula. He was just another 20-something with time to kill in search of entertainment.

It was gorgeous country, some of the most majestic scenery Csonka had ever seen considering he spent much of his life to date in rural Ohio, upstate New York and Miami, all places about as far away from Alaska one could get.

“And I didn’t even make it to the Kenai. I got about two-thirds of the way down but had to go back. I was afraid of missing the plane and letting down the USO,” he says. “So I turned around and went back up. But I’ll never forget how impressed I was with the things that I saw on that drive. At that point, I promised myself I was going to make Alaska, if not a yearly thing, at least every other year. I started going back and I liked what I saw.”

Csonka is a motivational speaker throughout the year, so he encounters Lower 48ers all over the map. Many of those he interacts with have talked of their trip to Alaska, in many instances

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during cruises that usually dock for a few hours at a time in quaint Southeast ports like Ketchikan, Juneau or Sitka. However, he likes to explain his “spirit of Alaska.�

This is when Larry Csonka morphs into tour guide mode, selling the side of the

Page 80

state he relishes annually. “It’s back in the rivers and the mountains of the Interior; not the edge (of the state). Those all have their draw and they’re unique places with the fish, game and culture there. But when you go to the

Larry and his partner, Audrey Bradshaw, spend about seven months of the year on their property in Wasilla. (LARRY CSONKA)

Interior, particularly if you’re looking to find fur-bearing animals in the really wild part of Alaska, consider the Anvik River Lodge, Aleutian Adventures, Alaska Goldrush Adventures in Interior and North Slope areas. “These are some of the most remote places I’ve ever been to in Alaska.

If you’re looking for the spirit of Alaska and extreme remoteness, visit these places.�

He’s as much Alaska strong as he is Ohio tough, Syracuse Orange (his alma mater’s nickname) and Miami suntanned.

He once ran for the Dolphins in south Florida; now he waits for the salmon to run in Alaska.

It’s in that remote backcountry like his beloved Wood-Tikchik State Park, north of Dillingham, where Csonka is at peace.

He’ll travel by boat on one of the park’s large lakes and then hit the shoreline. “You just sit there and listen for an hour.

There is so much to see there: caribou, moose, and wolverines; they’ll walk past you, stop and look at you. Things that you just don’t normally see,� Csonka says. “I see that as the heart and soul of Alaska.� ASJ

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h Dry Flies WHEN EGGS JUST WON’T CUT IT

BY JEFF LUND

Fishing an unnamed, lazy Southeast Alaska stretch of river or stream means casting dry flies, not eggs or wet flies. (JEFF LUND)

I

n the thin braided water behind a rock that just breaks the water’s surface, tiny explosions add further disruption to the gin-clear creek. I strip out a couple extra feet of line and throw my fly in the direction of the frenzy. It’s a little left of the feeding lane, and the action goes unnoticed. Once my line tries to collect at my wading boots, I strip in, flick it behind me, guide it forward, and I’m fishing again. A small fish yet to grow into the eyeballs that dominate its head, takes my offering. It’s unable to get its mouth around the hook so it shakes off. I cast again.

This time my fly links me with a fish much bigger than I expect, and one of those battle words fail to do justice, and it’s on. I know it is a sick fish because, when I lift my 5-weight, it bends but the fish stays down. It moves on its own terms. It runs away from me, leaving the water twice before gliding up into the slow water above where the rock broke the tranquility of the creek. Outside of some ferocious shakes, it acts confused, as if it can’t decide what to do next. This lets me catch up to it. When it’s ready, I trust the 4x tippet and land it on a smooth gravel bar.

My day, my week, my month is made, thanks to a little dry fly and a big Alaskan trout.

In all honesty, though there are plenty of rainbows and Dolly Varden in the creek I won’t name, I was expecting some bright cutthroat trout in the 12- to 14-inch range.

And I was using a No. 18 elk hair caddis.

YOU DON’T HEAR a lot of stories like these because this is Alaska. When people think of Last Frontier trout, many see a bunch of fleshy and eggy patterns in a preassembled kit for $85 as the means to the heroic end, with a chrome-bright 2foot rainbow thrashing about and ready for its closeup, Mr. Demille, or, in this case, the snap of your camera.

When I think Alaska trout, I see dry flies, like the No. 18 elk hair caddis I used to bring in that efficiently built, gently tapered 20-inch rainbow. They aren’t the salmon-sized brutes in the famous rivers draining Alaska’s mainland. But a 20-inch MAY 2014

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This cutthroat trout swallowed a Griffith’s Gnat. Fly anglers in search of summer Alaska trout would be wise to stock up on stimulators, mosquitos and caddis flies. (JEFF LUND)

rainbow on a dry fly is what it is: a 20-inch rainbow on a dry fly; no more, no less.

And if it comes after a dozen footlong cutthroats, that day will stick in my mind as much as any other I’ve had. When I was a California resident who just came back to my home in Southeast Alaska seasonally, I’d fish for trout using the standard beads and egg patterns that were ubiquitous during the late summer salmon run. But between the spring steelhead and the first runs of summer sockeye salmon, I discovered just how fantastic trout fishing can be, and just how futile eggs can be.

It’s June; there’s nothing spawning in the river, so chucking eggs or flesh flies at fish that haven’t seen rotting salmon flesh, salmon eggs or even salmon isn’t exactly the way to go. With the late spring comes the hatching of the bugs Alaska is notorious for. This, of course, is 84 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL MAY 2014

the source of nutrition for the trout, and hours of fun for the well-prepared angler. I will admit I’ve been caught up in matching stereotypes, rather than the hatch.

A recommended starting point if you’re heading to Alaska and going to be less dependent on a guide, is to stock up on stimulators, mosquitos, caddis and Griffith’s Gnats. There are regional variances of these patterns, but even for grayling on the Chena River near Fairbanks, you’re looking at stimulators, gnats, caddis and some hi-vis Adams patterns.

You can use the stimulator as the indicator, or you can drop off smaller nymphs like a Prince, under a larger nymph in a more traditional indicator rig. I like fishing a Prince Nymph with a green or red hot spot just behind the bead.

HOWEVER, JUST BECAUSE Alaskan trout don’t get the pressure of some of

their Down South cousins, doesn’t necessarily mean the fish are pushovers. A guide I know who does float trips down California’s lower Sacramento River tells stories about he and other guides on a river which feeds Bristol Bay, spending hours painting beads with very specific nail polish the night before taking clients. That happens, but that’s not the only way. In fact, as mentioned, that’s probably not the way in June. June can be a lot more like fishing your home river than you might imagine. I’ve caught rainbow and brown trout on a No. 8 rubber legs on the upper Sacramento River, and I’ve caught big rainbow trout on a No. 8 rubber legs on rivers in Alaska. It’s the best of both worlds. If nothing else, it allows you to feel a little more in your element, as if you brought a little of home with you.

But why in the world would anyone go to Alaska when the salmon aren’t in the

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Best of Prince of Wales Island

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Rainbow trout aren’t as sexy in Alaska as trophy Chinook salmon , but fishing dry flies in smaller streams throughout Southeast Alaska is popular. (JEFF LUND)

rivers? Because some of the best ocean king salmon fishing happens in June.

Southeast Alaska starts seeing kings at the end of May. What makes this time of year especially great is that, though the season is getting started and the kings

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aren’t typically as big as they are later in July, ocean charter boats don’t have commercial fishermen to contend with, and the riverbanks are essentially empty.

Plus, since you’re going to have boxes packed with salmon, halibut and rockfish

to take home, you won’t be worried about cutthroats, rainbows and Dolly Varden making your trip worthwhile. You too can have a great story featuring a little fly, a lighter rod and a hefty, authentic Alaskan trout at the other end. ASJ

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Best of Prince of Wales Island

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Best of Prince of Wales Island

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Best of Prince of Wales Island

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SILVER MEDALS

AWARDED IN

VALDEZ A SHORT TRIP OUT OF PORT FOR COHO FRENZY

BY DENNIS MUSGRAVES

S

altwater fishing in Alaska is a “can’t miss” experience for my friends andI every summer.

One of my favorite destinations is the Port of Valdez. Not only is there magnificent scenery every direction you look, the coho (silver) salmon fishing is usually nothing short of phenomenal in August. So no one in the group needed their arm twisted to get on board.

Dates were planned to converge on the small city during mid-August for a selfguided fishing adventure. Our only concerns were the unforeseen; adverse weather conditions which may keep us ashore, and, of course, having the fish cooperate. Thankfully, those factors seldom spoil productive fishing in Valdez.

The city of Valdez is a small fishing community located at the end of the Richardson Highway. It is a premiere destination for both pink and coho salmon fishing. The city is known for hosting several popular fishing derbies over the summer months. Huge cash payouts and prizes (including a new fancy pickup) attract anglers every summer.

August through September is a prime time to fish for silvers. The fishing is spectacular thanks in part to the Solomon Gulch Hatchery. The hatchery’s efforts in enhancing wild coho stocks bring an average of over 170,000 returning silvers every year.

Anglers can find excellent fishing opportunities within short walking distance of the city’s small boat harbor. The best success can be found during the peak of returning salmon on an incoming high tide right off the city fishing dock. Allison Point is another popular spot for shoreline fishing and is located only a short drive from the city center.

92 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL MAY 2014

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Paul Ferreira with a chrome-bright coho (silver) salmon taken out of the waters of Galena Bay. When fishfinders detect a congregating school of fish, the action can be nonstop. (DENNIS MUSGRAVES)

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Although fishing from land can be very productive for salmon, a private or chartered sport fishing vessel is by far the best way to experience Valdez. Fishing from a boat will enable anglers to target multiple species, including bottomfish like halibut and rockfish. Sportfishing boats are normally booked solid and have limited space for a walk-on; planning well in advance is recommended.

Our plan for offshore fishing was not complicated. Pitch a tent at a local campground, pick up some frozen herring at the local bait shop, and pilot a 21-foot boat out each day near the vicinity of Galena Bay. The mouth of Galena Bay had been a proven location for us to catch silvers and rockfish in the past, and it’s a relatively short 16-mile trip from the harbor.

Drifting techniques with baited jigs and mooching rigs would be our choice of attack for silvers. The assembled misfit crew, including myself, on this trip included longtime friends and talented fishermen: Ron Ely, who coordinated a boat, Paul Ferreira, The small boat harbor in Valdez features plenty of charter and private boats that make the trips through the area’s inlets and fjords for some outstanding fishing for salmon. (DENNIS MUSGRAVES)

94 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL MAY 2014

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like most of the big push of fish was still out away from the port area, fairly normal for the middle of August).

The results from a dynamite day of fishing, thanks in part to the Solomon Gulch Fish Hatchery, which has established a wild coho fishery that produces an average of 170,000 silvers a year. (DENNIS MUSGRAVES)

and Chris Cox. We knew from fishing reports before arriving that silvers were starting to trickle in, and shore anglers were having some limited success (it sounded

OUR DAY STARTED out picture-perfect with a cloudless sky and the water surface smooth like glass. Ron was our pilot and plotted a course on the GPS for Galena Bay; he cleared the harbor and throttled up the boat. The selected route was most direct and easy to navigate.

The gateway between Valdez and Prince William Sound is surrounded by inspiring steep, snowcapped mountains and provides a stunning backdrop in every direction. In addition to the gorgeous landscape, wildlife thrive in the area and are encountered frequently. Several protected bays and fjords intermittently line the sides of a narrow passageway between Valdez and the vast open sound. Those areas create a natural element of defense against choppy seas and allow boaters relatively calm fishing conditions.

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Chris Cox shows off a beautiful coho taken while dropping weighted jigs tipped with cut herring. (DENNIS MUSGRAVES)

Marginal 1- to 2-foot swells picked up as we traveled further away from the harbor.

The boat ride took only about 40 minutes before we neared the mouth of Galena Bay. Ron slowed the speed down upon our approach so we could begin scanning sonar readings on the monitor. We were watch-

96 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL MAY 2014

ing carefully for depth changes and any fish marking in the water column. It was only a matter of a few minutes before large groups of fish started filling up the screen.

The salmon were approximately 60 feet below us. Ron quickly adjusted the throttle to an idle and allowed the boat to

dead drift. Chris and Paul simultaneously each had a rod on either side, and lowered weighted jigs tipped with cut herring. Their up-and-down jigging motions with the rods almost immediately enticed a bite.

It seemed too easy, but hey, it’s Valdez.

I quickly secured a landing net to scoop the fish Chris and Paul were reeling up as Ron continued to monitor the drift of the boat. Their rods were extremely bent, indicating some nice fish were on the way up. When the salmon finally breached the surface they did not disappoint anyone. The fish each performed a series of leaping pirouettes.

“Those are some hogs!” I said upon seeing the air show.

Paul’s fish was wrangled in the net first, brought on deck and dispatched quickly. It was an ocean-fresh fatty, complete with sea lice attached, and looked to weigh about 10 pounds. Without hesitation, Paul stabbed another piece of cut bait on his jig and lowered it over the side.

I had turned my attention to netting Chris’ salmon, successfully achieving the same

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results as I did with Paul’s.

After relishing a few seconds in his angling glory, Chris grabbed a tail section of cut herring, threading the chunk on his hook and cracked, “Tails never fail.” By the time he started to drop back in on some more silver, Paul had already hooked up again.

They continued to tag-team silvers until the bite slowed from the boat drifting in a direction away from the schools of fish.

Ron started the engine and maneuvered the boat back into position over the targetrich area of salmon for another drift.

Orchestrating the nonstop action was nothing short of controlled chaos. Ron and I rotated duties as boat captain and net boy with Chris and Paul. We became four rabid anglers on the sea, alternating turns between crazily hooking and then netting each other’s feisty silvers. Paul was also fortunate to hook up and reel in a decent size king salmon during the ruckus.

Horse Tail Falls, one of several that careen down the steep slopes of mountains around Valdez. (DENNIS MUSGRAVES) 98 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL MAY 2014

OUR TIME SPENT on the saltwater during the mid-August afternoon was simply glorious. There were plenty of arching fishing rods, acrobatic jumping salmon, and a blood-stained deck. I ogled the fish box overfilled with our limits of big and bright coho on our way back to the harbor. Mother Nature was kind to us and our efforts and timing had paid off. Eureka! We struck silver in Valdez.

The remaining days we spent in Valdez were just as successful as the first, landing plenty of silvers. We also attempted fishing other areas within a 30mile distance by targeting underwater pinnacles and deep flat depths for rockfish and halibut. Everyone had a good degree of success catching a variety of rockfish; Paul and I also managed a couple small-sized halibut. Chris somehow even caught a starfish while jigging for halibut; of course, it was released back into the ocean. We all made sure to give Chris some ribbing for his prize catch.

While returning from the last day of fishing, slowly entering the harbor, we noticed a bustle of activity near a gigantic halibut hung for display. The massive fish obviously weighed triple-digit numbers.

The lucky angler who caught the beast was more than eager to share an epic fish

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story with us. We learned from details about the catch that the boat had been fishing in an adjacent bay not far from where we spent the day. Go figure.

Listening to the fisherman’s story about catching the enormous fish put my thoughts in motion. I was already

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thinking about planning next year’s ocean fishing before I even left the dock.

Valdez will certainly do that to a fishing madman like myself.

The seemingly endless coho salmon action and potential for catching halibut the size of barn doors keep me, and others,

coming back to Valdez every season. ASJ Editor’s note: Author Dennis Musgraves spends over 100 days annually sportfishing all over Alaska. Chronicles of his year-round Alaskan fishing adventures can be found at alaskansalmonslayers.com.

Shore anglers get in on the action off Allison Point near the Port of Valdez. (DENNIS MUSGRAVES)

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FIELD

From Back-trolling, be it done with plugs or bait, is a highly efficient way to control a presentation, and consistently get on big kings. This king couldn’t resist a back-trolled Hot Shot. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

To

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IT’S GOOD TO BEAT THE KING BACK-BOUNCING, BACK-TROLLING METHODS

BY SCOTT HAUGEN

S

pring is here, and with it the kickoff of king salmon season. While there are many ways to go about catching kings in Alaska’s diverse river settings, two methods have proven most effective for me over the past 25 years.

Back-bouncing and back-trolling are slow, controlled presentations that allow precise placement of the terminal gear.

With the wide range of drift bobbers, baits (when and where legal) and yarn colors available today, the terminal gear combinations are many. Combine the any with the following presentation styles, and

your catch rates will rise.

BACK-BOUNCING While back-bouncing is normally confined to boats, it can be done from the bank in the right situations. Fortunately, many of Alaska’s streams feature cutbanks, which allow bank anglers to work the inside corners. This means presentations can be made down the inside seam of a current, and possibly down the middle of the main current. These are usually the deeper slots where moving kings travel through and sometimes hold in.

The beauty of back-bouncing is the controlled delivery. The setup itself is simple, typically nothing more than a dropper tied to a three-way swivel, a 30to 40-inch leader to the other eye. If looking to get the bait or plug further away from the sinker, the dropper can be made longer than the leader, so when it rests on the bottom, the bait is carried well downstream of where the sinker is hanging up.

In back-bouncing, when the pumping action begins, the bait will drop downstream every time the sinker is lifted and set back down. If the terminal gear is carMAY 2014

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Back-trolling is a controlled way to present baits and plugs, and is very effective when it comes to targeting big kings. Here, the author and friends back-troll their way down the Nushagak River. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

104 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL MAY 2014

ried downstream too swiftly, then add more weight. If it’s not moving downstream when you pump the rod, then decrease the amount of weight.

The beauty of back-bouncing is that it lays a distinct scent line as the presentation is carried downstream in a straight line. This enables salmon to follow their noses directly to the bait. In turbid water, a large drift bobber like a Spin-N-Glo helps further lift the bait off the bottom and doubles as a visual attractant.

If fishing from a boat, either backbounce from an anchored position or on the move. When fishing a slow-flowing, deep hole, anchoring will allow you to back-bounce a presentation through it all day long. This is ideal when awaiting the arrival of fish, be it from a tidal push or simply the normal migration of fish.

When back-bouncing on the move, there’s the luxury of covering a great deal of water, in a very controlled manner. By guiding the boat to precisely where you want it, you can back-bounce a specific

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The author, Mike Perusse (center) and Scott’s dad, Jerry Haugen (right), backed their way into this Alaska king salmon double. Backtrolling and back-bouncing are very effective ways to search for fish, cover water and keep bait in the strike zone. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

106 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL MAY 2014

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section of water.

BACK-TROLLING Back-trolling, be it with baits or plugs, allows anglers to control where the presentation is delivered and regulate its rate of travel. Back-trolled baits can be offered in a way that appeals to a salmon when nothing else seems to work. This is especially true in off-colored water.

Both baits and plugs can be backtrolled (check Alaska regulations as per bait-use restrictions). When and where legal, baits are hard to beat. Of all the baits, eggs, or cured roe, are tops when it comes to targeting kings.

Plugs such as a 5-inch Mag Lip and Kwikfish can be highly effective when backtrolled. They can be flatlined (tied directly to the mainline) or fished behind a diver.

When back-trolling, you can either cover the width of the river or travel straight downstream. Which approach to use depends on the type of water being fished, river levels, water clarity, holding

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THE HOMER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND VISITOR CENTER PRESENTS ITS PREMIER FISHING EVENT FOR SUMMER 2014

The Homer Jackpot Halibut Derby The Jackpot Halibut Derby is the longest-running halibut derby, with the biggest payout in total prizes, in the state of Alaska. The 2014 event will be its 28th year. Recent changes to the rules turned the focus away from the catching of large halibut and towards tagged fish prizes in an effort to promote conservation of the resource.

Back again in 2014 are the BIG tagged fish prizes: the GCI $50,000 Tagged Fish, the largest tagged fish cash prize ever offered in Alaska, and the Stanley Ford F-150 Tagged Fish. There’s also more than 100 tagged fish to catch worth $250, $500, and $1000.

Gene Jones of Bellevue, Iowa, won the 2013 derby with his 236.2-pound halibut, and took home $21,281 in total winnings.

Early in last year’s event, Monique Peters of Willow caught a little fish with a tag. The actual prize was kept a secret until Peters flew to Homer in September to learn what she’d won: her little dinker of a fish was the Stanley Ford F-150 prize, worth $30,000!

In August an angler on a North Country Charters boat brought a tagged halibut to derby headquarters. When we checked the ticket number against the prize, it was for the GCI $50,000 tagged fish. BUT HE DIDN’T HAVE A DERBY TICKET! So, the simple lesson learned? Buy your derby ticket! Even little fish can win big.

In 2014 the price for a day ticket in the derby remains $10. For the first time, a $100 season pass is offered for anglers who know they’ll be hunting for a winning fish on many days.

Come to Homer, the “End of The Road,” enjoy our hospitality and our wonderful fishing, and go home with great stories. www.homerhalibutderby.com

MAY 2014

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zones, fish travel routes and how well the water can be read.

Main currents and seams can be the best places to back-troll through. This is where a straight line is chosen and stuck with on each pass downstream. If you have a motor or can row upstream, then making multiple passes will allow you to cover more water.

This is a good way to learn where fish are traveling, or, perhaps, holding as the straight-line presentation targets a specific zone.

When it comes to back-trolling, don’t forget to spend time in shallow stretches and near the shore. It doesn’t take much water to hold a king salmon, and this is why back-trolling can be so effective.

This season, try slowing down your king salmon presentations. What you’ll discover is an increased knowledge as to where salmon travel and hold, and a rise in catch rates thanks to consistent scent lines being established. ASJ Editor’s note: For signed copies of Scott Haugen’s popular book, Bank Fishing For Steelhead & Salmon, send a check for $17 (free S&H) to Haugen Enterprises, P. O. Box 275, Walterville, OR 97489; or order online at scotthaugen.com.

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From

To

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CHIPOTLE SALMON ON CORNBREAD serving needs. Any creamy-style dressing or Asian marinade can be used in place of the Saucy Mama products.

Chipotle Salmon on Cornbread 4- to 6-ounce skinned salmon fillet ½ cup cornbread, crumbled ¼ cup onion, diced ¼ cup zucchini, diced ¼ cup corn 2 tablespoons Saucy Mama Creamy Chipotle Dressing, or alternative 1 teaspoon olive oil

T

here are a few occasions each year when I step out of my “recipe box” and enter a cooking contest. With hundreds to choose from, I have come to the realization the most important motivator is a great product to experiment with. A while back I enjoyed working with the folks at Barhyte, Inc., in Pendleton, Ore., in their Saucy Mama, Fab With 5 cooking contest. Only five ingredients could be used in a recipe, and salmon came to mind as a key element. What I like most about the Saucy Mama line of condiments is they come from natural, often local ingredients. If I can read a nutrition label without needing a dictionary to decipher what’s in the food, I’m more likely to use the product.

This recipe makes a complete, low-fat, nutrient-dense meal. It can be prepared 110 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL MAY 2014

ahead of time and baked in the oven or on the grill. Single-serving directions can be doubled, tripled or quadrupled to meet

Saute onion, zucchini and corn in olive oil until tender. Lightly grease baking sheet.Place cornbread on baking sheet in a small mound. Add vegetables, taking care to keep everything in a “stack.” Place salmon fillet on top and add dressing. Bake in a preheated, 350-degree oven, 10 to 13 minutes or until salmon reaches desired doneness.These stacks can also be put together and baked in parchment paper or in foil packets for the grill. ASJ Editor’s note: For signed copies of Tiffany Haugen’s popular cookbook, Cooking Salmon & Steelhead, send a check for $25.00 (free S&H) to Haugen Enterprises, P.O. Box 275, Walterville, OR 97489, or visit www.tiffanyhaugen.com. The book contains over 130 outstanding recipes.

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HALIBUT IFS, ANDS, BUTS Keep this halibut or try and take a better one? That is the question for Alaska anglers.

More changes to halibut regulations will be under the jurisdiction of the Catch Sharing Plan for the first time. (WILD RIVERS FISHING)

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW WITH 2014 REGULATIONS

BY TOM REALE

nce again, there are changes in the wind for the halibut fishing season. Although they’re not quite as drastic as some in the past, especially for Southeast Alaska, they’re still significant, and you need to factor these things in when making your plans for the year.

When looking over the reports and the numbers, it’s very easy to get way into the weeds – this is stuff that’s a combination of estimates of biomass by biologists, economic reports, meeting minutes, agenda items – as the list goes on and on.

Suffice it to say that we read this stuff so

O

you don’t have to, and hope that we don’t miss too many important tidbits.

For starters, halibut sportfishing limits in Alaska are coming under the jurisdiction of the Catch Sharing Plan for the first time this year. This plan is an attempt by both the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMS) and the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) to allocate segments of the total halibut catch between commercial and sport entities.

Basically, the Halibut Commission determines the total poundage of halibut that can be harvested in any one year, and the NPFMC figures out what percentage of that total amount to allot to the sport

industry, with the remainder going to commercial interests.

Each year the IPHC analyzes the data estimating the abundance of available halibut for harvest, and specifies a combined catch limit (CCL) for Area 2C (Southeast) and Area 3A (Southcentral). Based on those numbers, the NPFMS will apportion the total catch limits for each sector; for example, the 2014 CCL for Southeast is 4.16 million pounds, of which the sport sector is allotted an 18.3-percent share, with the remaining 81.7 percent going to the commercial boats. A similar ratio was set for Southcentral, although the total limit was much higher at 9.4 million pounds.

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In halibut-rich Southeast Alaska, anglers have a choice of keeping one fish that’s either under 45 inches long or more than 76 inches long. Halibut of that size are rarely landed., but the appeal of that fishing is catching a monster fish. (TOM REALE)

In Southeast this year the limit per day is still one fish, with a reverse slot limit, meaning you can keep one fish that’s either under 44 inches in length or over 76 inches. In the past, the size limit in Southeast has been changing almost year to year. In 2011 the limit was reduced from two fish to one, and that fish had to be less than 37 inches in length.

Then in 2012 and 2013, the reverse slot limit was instituted, and anglers could keep one fish that was either under 45 inches or over 68 inches. According to Heath Hilyard, executive director of the Southeast Alaska Guides Organization (SEAGO): “Allowing the upper size limit was meant to help out the guides in the Sitka and Petersburg areas, where big fish are more common. But in reality, that upper limit doesn’t mean much, since only 1.25 percent of the halibut caught by charter operators last year were over 68 inches long.”

In Southcentral, although the total

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The Guided Fish Program installed for this team allows charter boats to lease a portion of a commercial operator’s catch quota and apply it to those fishing with that captain. Such anglers in Southeast Alaska would then be able to keep two fish per day rather than the usual one-fish limit. (TOM REALE)

poundage allowed is relatively high, for the first time there will be a size limit imposed. Anglers can still keep two fish per day, but one of them must be less than 29 inches long, roughly an 8- to 10pound fish.

One wrinkle on the new limits proposed by the commission was named the Guided Angler Fish (GAF) program.

Under this program, a charter operator is allowed to lease a portion of a commercial operator’s catch quota and apply it to his clients, thus allowing an angler in Southeast to keep two fish per day, and anglers in Southcentral to keep two big fish. However, according to Hilyard, this option has not gone over well with guides.

“I only know of one guide in Southeast who has leased extra fish, and one guy in Southcentral. The problem is that since it’s the first year, nobody knows what to expect. If a guy leases too few pounds, he could wind up having to turn clients away at the end of the season, and if he leases

too many pounds, he’s wasted his money.” The guide would have to negotiate the price of the poundage with a commercial fisher, and then set prices for his clients based on that.

A proposed alternative is the Catch Ability Through Compensated Halibut (CATCH) plan. (Man, these acronyms are giving me a headache!) Under this proposal, an organization representing charter outfits could buy, rather than lease, a portion of the allotted commercial harvest and place it in a pool for its members to access. This is seen as a way to acquire more fish for guides while staying within the conservation goals set by the IPHC. Whether or not this plan will float will be determined in the coming years. But for now, we’re left with the current system and restrictions.

Also, be advised that there are separate limits set for guided and unguided anglers. If you’ve got a private boat to fish from, good for you; your limits are a bit

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less stringent than those imposed on charter operators.

But for the majority of us who go out after these big flatfish, we’re stuck with the limits imposed on guide operations. It saves us from the work and expense of owning a boat big enough to venture offshore, and the ability to keep one more halibut a day probably isn’t going to be cost-effective for most of us.

The limits and restrictions for 2014 are set, for now. However, in the future, be prepared for more change and, most likely, still more limitations on how many and how big our keepable fish will be. And given the ever-increasing price of boat fuel, the day is probably not far off when charter boat fishing for halibut will be a much smaller part of the recreational fishing picture. You can take this as a glass half-full, though, by telling yourself that “these are the good old days,” when we are still able to venture out to deep water and tangle with gigantic fish, and even bring them home and eat them. ASJ

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HEADING ASHORE FOR A FIRST BEAR HUNT CARPE DIEM ON THE CARPE VENTOS

BY KRYSTIN BABLINSKAS AND BIXLER MCCLURE ost people don’t think twice about eating a cow, but when presented with the opportunity to dine on spring black bear they wrinkle their noses and say, “What? You can’t eat black bear!”

Actually you can eat black bear. The meat of a spring black bear that has been feasting on greens and berries prior to the salmon run is peppery and delicious. Low in fat and high in protein, spring black bear from coastal Alaska is highly prized and akin to elk or buffalo.

Every year, as the snow melts and the days lengthen in late April, we rig up our sailboat for black bear hunting. Our 1979 Cal 34, named Carpe Ventos (Latin for “seize the winds”), is not your typical cocktails-andJimmy Buffet-crooning sailboat. She’s Alaska-tough from mast to keel and has helped us harvest three black bears along the coast of Southcentral Alaska. Carpe Ventos is the only sailboat we know of to enter Seward Harbor with a bear skin on the bow and meat bags tied to the railing along the stern.

We’ve become quite the experts at “sail-hunting.”

We rig up the jib (the sail in the front) and coast quietly along the shoreline scanning for bears feasting in avalanche slides. Our cranky diesel engine sends the

M

The Carpe Ventos, anchored in Seward Harbor, provides an excellent vantage point to scout out bears roaming the shoreline.

The hunters gathered their equipment and used their dinghy to reach the beach and commence the hunt. (BIXLER MCCLURE) MAY 2014

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bears running, but under sail we can get within anchoring distance to drop anchor and run up the hill after them. Of course, our first bear hunting experience was nothing like it is now, and it was almost bad enough to put me off sail-hunting forever.

Finding bear tracks on the beach. The bear the hunters spotted was followed up the beach and into the thick alders and spruce just up from the shore. (BIXLER MCLURE)

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IT WAS A beautiful May weekend, and we set out on Carpe Ventos with a few friends to spend the weekend exploring the bays around Seward. We dropped anchor in a quiet cove with the intention to eat dinner, have a few drinks, and treat our friends to the quiet sailing lifestyle. After dinner the sun was still high in the sky as Bixler stepped on deck to take in the view.

As he looked towards a particular valley, he noticed a jet-black dot moving slowly along the hillside. Interrupting our quiet evening, he grabbed his binoculars and eagerly scanned the hillside.

“That’s a black bear,” he said. “We should go after it.” He jumped back into the cabin and started grabbing our Ruger .30-06, knives, and frame pack, which we keep aboard the boat just in case we see something black and furry on the beach.

“Are you sure?” I asked hesitantly. “It is getting late, and we have guests.” Our friends mentioned that they didn’t care since they were used to our adventuring antics. I grabbed my hunting gear as Bixler packed up the dinghy. I gave our friends a quick overview of how to use the marine VHF and we took the handheld radio. (Though it is illegal to communicate via radio for the aid of hunting in Alaska, hunters can carry radios for emergencies and we would notify them if anything went wrong.)

Bixler and I jumped in the dinghy and sped towards the beach. We dragged the dinghy up high above the tideline and tied it off to a tree. Bixler grabbed the frame pack and gun and took off running through the thick alders and spruce.

I carefully made my way through the alder thicket until I reached the spruce. The spruce trees climbed the steep hillside and I could tell by the fresh tracks that Bixler had put his mountain running skills to the test. I am not a mountain runner, so I slowly climbed the mountain staircase until I reached the edge of the treeline.

“Bixler,” I called quietly. “Come this way,” he responded. I followed his voice

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The author marches through grassy fields on the search for bears. Steep hillsides in the area make for a challenging hunt, especially with the inexperience of taking a bear. But there are plenty black bears in the area. (BIXLER MCCLURE)

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through still-dormant grasses and alders flattened by the winter snow. I met him at the edge of an avalanche chute still fresh with snow. He bolted ahead across the slide with ease while I fell on the first step. As I stood up and placed my hand on the slide, I realized the steepness of the hillside.

Standing at full height I could extend my arm out and touch the mountain. Slowly and carefully I walked across the snow, knowing that a misstep could send me straight to the bottom.

I climbed up the other side of the slide and began to see signs of the bear. Piles of grassy scat with munched down skunk cabbage made an even contour across the hillside. In the distance I could see the jet-black ball moving slowly towards the forest.

Bixler signaled me to stop moving. He crouched down behind an alder bush and perched the .30-06 on a branch. Finding his Zen moment, he paused and waited, and as the bear turned broadside to him, he squeezed the trigger. With a single shot to the heart, the bear fell.

With screams of joy, Bixler bolted to-

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Bixler McClure with the black bear they stalked and harvested. McClure and the author were a little unsure the bear was down before confirming it. Then came the challenge of skinning and quartering the animal. (KRYSTIN BABLINSKAS)

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wards the bear. I followed as quickly as my stubborn legs could carry me and joined him. The bear lay slumped over an alder bush, mid-dinner.

“Go over there and poke it,” Bixler said, unsure of the bear’s status.

“No way,” I replied.

We carefully approached the animal as Bixler chambered a second round into the .30-06. Sure that he had shot it, we rolled it over and the escaping gasses from the lungs caused us to jump out of our skin.

“WELL, I GUESS we should skin and quarter it,” Bixler said, fumbling through the bag looking for our bear-skinning guide from Knight’s Taxidermy.

“Right here?” I asked, noting the steepness of the hillside. Bixler, coming down from his adrenaline rush, gave me the look of, “Do you have a better idea?”

Slowly, we positioned the bear on its back on the tarp. It slumped down on started to slide down the hillside. We grabbed it by its paws and dragged it above an alder to brace it.

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TRY THIS SPICY BEAR CHILI Black bear, like pork, needs to be cooked thoroughly and is best consumed in ground form versus roasts or steaks. Ground bear can be used in place of ground beef in any dish, such as burgers, meatloaf, or meatballs. If those in your party are a bit leery about eating, say, black bear burgers, try this spicy chili recipe. The number and type of peppers can be modified to control the spiciness, but we recommend it nice and spicy and paired with a fine red wine.

INGREDIENTS: A pound or two of ground black bear meat 2 cups chopped onion A couple of diced peppers (jalapeño, Anaheim, and habanero is what we used) 4 cloves minced garlic 2, 15-ounce cans of beans (we used kidney and pinto), rinsed and drained 2 14½-ounce cans undrained diced tomatoes 1 15-ounce can tomato sauce 1 cup water

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3 tablespoons chili powder 1 tablespoon chipotle chili pepper (dried) 2 teaspoons dried basil 1 teaspoon black pepper In a Dutch oven cook bear meat, peppers, onions, and garlic until meat is browned

and onion is tender. Stir in beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce, water, and seasonings. Bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer covered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve with grated cheddar, sour cream, and cheesy Alaskan sourdough bread. Bear skull not required! —KB

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Fresh bear meat hanging off the Carpe Ventos was the reward for these hunters who made something, at times frustrating, but ultimately exciting, out of a leisurely dinner cruise with friends. (KRYSTIN BABLINSKAS)

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Bixler grabbed our brand new knife set while I started thumbing through the skinning guide. The largest animal we had skinned before this first bear was a grouse. I slowly walked him through the steps and we started skinning the bear with hopes of making the skin into a rug.

The first few cuts and peeling back the skin was easy. Then we reached the head and paws, which needed to be removed and kept on the hide. That was easier said than done.

Our new knife set hardly cut through the tendons and through a string of expletives I nearly cut off Bixler’s thumb.

After arguing and regrouping after a moment of marital silence, we proceeded to remove the entire skin. The field dressing that followed was easy.

Carefully, we packed the quarters and other meat in the meat bags. We laid out all four quarters and the hide with skull and paws attached. Then we opened up the frame pack. The pack was simply a frame with a support on the bottom and series of straps. I thought to myself it would work, so

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I simply piled three of the quarters and hide on the pack and strapped it down. I jimmied theframeinplaceonBixler’sbackandhelped him get up. He groaned and complained about the weight. I offered to help, but his testosteronetookoverandhestartedtowalk backtowardstheboat.Igrabbedtheremainingquarter,thegun,theknifeset,andthetarp and started to follow Bixler.

I found Bixler sitting on the avalanche slide murmuring something like, “this is never going to work,” and cursing at the weight. I suggested we slide down the avalanche and follow the stream back to the beach. Bixler didn’t question, but simply sat down and slid down the hill. During the process, our poor packing job caught up to us, and the various bear parts exploded out of the frame pack down the slide.

Screaming and cursing, we chased the quarters down and stopped to repack the pack. Bixler yelled at me for doing a poor packing job and I responded by shooting back, “Do it yourself next time!” We paused for another moment of marital silence before continuing down the stream.

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The stream walking was difficult as I was now carrying two quarters, gun, knives, and tarp in my hands. Bixler kept falling. As we rounded the corner, he cursed. We were standing at the top of a double-decker waterfall. We had violated the unwritten code of “always take the same trail down as you came up.” Bixler, dehydrated and angry, ripped the pack off and dunked his head in a pool at the top of the waterfall. Again, marital silence and again, we regrouped and found a trail out through the thick woods.

Finally, around midnight as the sun dipped well below the horizon, we climbed over our last pile of alders to reach the beach. Exhausted, we slumped the meat bags and hide into the dinghy and returned to the boat.

OUR FRIENDS GREETED us in a cold, dark boat. I realized quickly that I had not instructed them on how to use the electrical switch panel or the heater. My bad feelings were quickly erased by the excitement of Bixler’s bear. We admired the paws, the

teeth, the hide, and the rich color of the meat. And the next day when we returned to the harbor with the hide sprawled across the bow, it was a sight. We butchered the bear and said bye to our friends.

After the ordeal we made some changes to our hunting strategy. We purchased two backpacks with an expandable mesh compartmentinsteadofaframesowecouldsplit the animal evenly between us. We started to mentally mark landmarks for good up-anddown trails. We improved our skinning skills by using less force on the animal and letting the knife do the work. We split the butchering jobs evenly based on our strengths.

Since then we’ve successfully harvested two more black bears, a mountain goat, and a caribou – all from following the “learn-by-doing” philosophy.

We eventually reunited with our friends over bear burgers during the winter. Though we had left them and had a horrid time hunting the bear, the consensus among the four of us regarding the bear burgers was the same: “Those are the best burgers we’ve ever had!” ASJ

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This is a good cross reference of the bullets we offer. We have about 144 set of molds with new molds coming. Sixteen employees working 10 hr. a day shifts 4 days a week with 9 casters, 6 auto lubers, and 12 star lubers gas checking every day. We have bullets made with five different alloys that we order in 40,000 - 60,000 lbs at a time a mixed per our set alloys. By the time you read this ad we should be in our new state of the art 10 thousand square foot facility. Prices subject to change without notice.

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THE MOOSE THAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF

MEMORIES OF A YOUNGSTER’S HUNT

BY STEVE MEYER

A

The author was just a young boy in 1972, when he did a solo hunt for a moose he obsessed over, but fate intervened just as he was hoping to fulfill his dream hunt. (STEVE MEYER)

s I watched the evening sun setting over the peaks of the western Alaska Range, it caught the glint of the silvertip as he came out of the brush line near a small creek bed at the valley floor below, 2,000 feet above sea level.

From my vantage point above the valley on a ridge to the south, he dominated the landscape. Watching with nervous anticipation I estimated his range at 400 yards and he seemed to have no particular destination as he paused and raised his head sniffing the air. The wind coming straight from him to my position allowed me to move from scrub willow to scrub willow, getting closer and closer and more excited with each step.

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A giant bull moose of a young hunter’s dreams was constantly viewed from the bush plane that transported the author and his uncle. Finding that moose for a shot became an obsession for the boy that has never left his thoughts as an adult. (STEVE MEYER)

THIS WAS MANY HUNTS ago: Aug.19, 1972; that brown bear season wouldn’t open until late September had no bearing whatsoever on my decision to close the distance. When you are 12 years old, find yourself alone on a remote Alaska mountain slope, with a long night ahead waiting for the opening of moose season, you get a bit anxious.

My eagerness had started in July when my uncle and I were flying in his Super Cub that we had painstakingly spent the previous winter rebuilding. We stitched the wings, applied the finish to the fabric and replaced various aluminum components. On an early morning flight from our home in North Kenai we flew over this mountain valley with its small trickle of water in the streambed below and saw a bull moose in the 60-inch class meander138 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL MAY 2014

ing about; the Lord of the valley if you will.

As the summer turned to early fall in Alaska, and after several visits to his valley, we determined he was, in fact, home.

We would fly over in the morning and, like clockwork, the old bull would come out of the willows and move down to the creek.

He never varied more than a few hundred yards in any direction. He was that coveted 60-inch class of moose that dreams are made of and, for a North Dakota farm boy in love with hunting and who had been in Alaska a bit over a year, it seemed my prayers had been answered.

On the morning of the August 19 – the day before the season opened – we loaded the plane and headed out to check on the old guy. He was still there. We landed on the alpine tundra about a mile from the valley and decided I could spend

the night alone on the ridge above the valley. The next morning my uncle and my dad, who was on an oil platform and wouldn’t come home until that night, would show up to help me finish skinning and start packing the bull to the “strip.”

It wasn’t as if I hadn’t hunted before, I had shot at ducks, geese, pheasants and deer since I was 6 years old. I had taken a black bear earlier in the year with my .300 Winchester at a touch under 400 yards.

We gathered up a sleeping bag, a jug of water and my beloved Winchester Model 70 and headed to the valley the old bull called home. The ridge above the valley to the south provided a magnificent view, as well as a good position due to the prevailing north wind. My uncle bid me a good night and hiked back to the plane. When he took off and wagged his wings as he flew over

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my “camp,” I felt like the luckiest kid alive.

MY FAMILY MOVED to Alaska in the spring of 1971, after my dad had gone on a moose hunt with my uncle, who was already in Alaska. Two weeks was all that was required to convince him that we needed to live there. I was elated. As a young fellow, I became entranced with the hunt and spent every spare minute I had in the country surrounding my home, learning the habits of every creature congregating there.

I became a veracious reader of outdoor literature. By the time I was 10 I had a fairly decent vocabulary of Swahili and was convinced there were two places on the planet that could accommodate the likes of me: Africa or Alaska. My dad and I were the only two members of the family (the only two who loved hunting) who were excited about the move, and the crying and gnashing of teeth by other family members over the next few months seemed unseemly to me.

But we made the trip, and the first year was spent mostly fishing; nonresident big game tags were just too expensive to afford

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for me as well as my dad. It was a tough year to wait, but it was also a great learning year. My uncle and I had stalked and shot a nice meat bull, and I learned the necessity of a strong back for moose hunting.

Later, my dad took a huge-bodied moose with 53-inch antlers. He had to return to work the next day, so my uncle and I packed the bull out on snowshoes. We weighed the hindquarters when we came in, and they were 173 pounds and 167 pounds. I don’t know who had the heavier one, and I doubt it made much difference.

Those first packing experiences of large moose etched the certainty in my mind that one did not hunt big game in Alaska unless you were ready to work hard for it.

So there I was, some 75 air miles from the nearest town; I had no satellite phone, no radio, no communication of any sort with anyone. It was a feeling of elation combined with a bit of terror. I was a tough kid, my rifle earned as a result of cutting septic tank logs and firewood during that first summer in Alaska.

I was raised that the way you learned

things was to do them, and it was in that spirit that I first took off from our home with my backpack and camped alone near a lake. I hoped to take a black bear early in the year. There was no bear on that trip, but I knew I could go it alone and enjoy it.

BY THE TIME I inched my way closer to the silvertip I was feeling pretty cocky, like I had all of this figured out and I could do damn near anything. As I got closer and took a look through my rifle scope (I had no binoculars), I was instantly deflated as the grizzly of my imagination turned into a porcupine waddling down to the crick.

I was so glad no one was there to witness the great hunter in his element. But it was funny and broke the tension as I trudged back to my sleeping bag. It was getting close to sundown and I was in my sleeping bag hoping to get some rest that night. I daydreamed about the big bull that I would take in the morning, but my dream was interrupted by the sound of an airplane. I sat up as it came closer and then swept by close enough to read the tail-

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feathers of N2791P, the same plane that brought me there.

What none of us hunters had considered in all of this was the reaction a mother might have in discovering that her 12-year-old son was left alone on a mountain in some of the most wild country remaining on the planet. Suffice to say it was not good, and my mother became somewhat demanding in her insistence that my dad and my uncle get back in the plane to fly and spend the night with me. Thanks to my mother’s caring so much, my dream of a 60-inch moose appeared shattered.

I watched as the plane circled a couple of times, its flaps came down and it settled into a spot much closer than where we had originally landed. I sat on my ridge and waited for them to come to me, thinking there was no point in spreading more human scent

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The author is now retired and spending much of his free time hunting and fishing.

But he still longs for that giant moose that eluded him years ago. (STEVE MEYER)

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than necessary. At the time, I had no idea that my hunt was already over before it really got started. As the minutes ticked by and the sun disappeared behind the Western Alaska Range, there was no mistaking the sudden appearance of a brilliant bright orange fireball piercing the twilight. I knew a rescue flare when I saw it and my first thought was, “Oh crap.”

I gathered up my rifle and headed north across the valley toward what I now expected to be wreckage of what had been a perfectly good Super Cub, and who knew what else? I heard some crashing in the brush and stopped to determine its origin when my dad appeared with the stoic look on his face said it all. He smiled as I approached and said, “Sorry, everyone is OK but we won’t be hunting in the morning.”

As we worked our way back to the plane, he explained my

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mother’s interference and their scramble to get back before dark. They had circled the area and spotted what appeared to be a suitable landing area for the tundra-tire equipped Super Cub. Everything was going great until a crosswind took the plane sideways into a hassock and nosed it over into the tundra. The only injury was damaged ego; the plane would not be flying without a new prop and new gear on one side.

As my dad and I approached the plane, a light appeared in the sky to the north, and soon we were able to make out the unmistakable thump, thump, thump of a helicopter. The big Sikorsky landed 20 yards away. and, like that, we were “rescued.”

PROTOCOL DICTATED WE could not be taken to Kenai and instead found ourselves in Anchorage at 11 p.m. with hunting gear and looking for a way home. Back in those days pilots knew other pilots, and before long my uncle had made arrangements with Kenai Aviation to pick us up at the airport in Anchorage. A taxi ride took

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us to the Anchorage International Airport.

Imagine two men and a young fellow walking into any airport in the country with big game rifles slung over their shoulders.

How long do you suppose it would take before you found yourself looking down the muzzles of MP5s or M16s, whichever the SWAT team happened to be using? When we walked through what is now known as Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport at midnight, there were plenty of people awaiting night flights out of town. We barely got a second glance.

Many years would pass before I completely appreciated the significance of that moment. It began to occur to me how fortunate I was to have grown up in a world where men took care of themselves and their families. Eating meant something else had to die, and there was no shame in participating in the life cycle. Very young men could be trusted to perform in less than perfect times and were allowed to rise to their God-given abilities. A 12-yearold boy, perfectly capable of fending for himself, could be left to do just that with-

out parental fear of prosecution.

The mother intervention didn’t completely ruin my hunting season. Three weeks later, on an evening hunt to a swampy area near my home after school, I took my first moose. He was a paddlehorned bull, nothing like the old monarch in the mountains. I had set up in the treeline of the edge of this swamp, surrounded by timber knowing from my wanderings that moose routinely came out at dusk in the area. He came out and stood facing me at about 100 yards, and I took the shot square above the brisket.

In 42 years of hunting in Alaska I have taken my share of moose, none of them in the 60-inch class. The moose I didn’t take is a vision that flits through my mind daily.

I imagine him living his life out with no one else ever knowing he was there, and I always hope his last years were good ones.

And I hope that as I go out to pasture, I’ll have one more opportunity to take a big old bull that, like me, has lived a good life and is ready for the next generation to carry the torch. ASJ

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BE THE LEADER OF THE PACK PREPARING FOR YOUR ALASKAN BACKPACK HUNT unting out of a backpack is one of the most gratifying, and, at the same time, most challenging hunts you will ever do.

It’s not for the timid or the weak, but for those who want true adventure; old school, if you will. Where success depends on the want to achieve and getting from point A to point B, it’s all about drive and the anticipation of what lies ahead. Hunting big game this way creates a feeling of accomplishment and that anything is possible.

Success can be limitless, but so can the danger. Backpack hunts are not for everybody. They’re tough, demanding and, if you’re not prepared, you will come out of it in hurry wondering why you weren’t. All

H

BY PAUL D. ATKINS

the luxuries of life are left at home and only the bare essentials will do. Things that we take for granted are long gone, and that ancestral “gut” instinct will take over.

Hunters increase their odds when choosing this method. They’re able to go longer and further than most, discovering new areas that hold more game, which increases their chances at a trophy of a lifetime. If this is something that you’re longing for, then here are a few ideas and suggestions that will help get you on your way to one of the most exciting ways to hunt.

In Alaska backpack hunting is a way of life. There are no roads, and every mountain creates its own challenge, not to mention every species that you decide to pursue has

its own set of circumstances. Your pack and gear should reflect those circumstances.

GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME First and foremost you have to have the right mindset. Backpack hunting is a serious undertaking. The longer and further you plan to hunt the more you will have to prepare. It’s a mental game as much as a physical one, and both have to be in sync to be successful.

Hunting alone in Alaska is quite different, especially when you’re isolated from everything on the outside and have nothing but the bare essentials to get you through the week, or, in some cases, two. The first few days of any backpack hunt will be an

Traversing across open flats of tundra with a pack and a rifle can be a challenge all its own. Getting in shape with an exercise regimen long before your hunt begins is recommended. (PAUL ATKINS)

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adjustment, and there will times when you want to turn around and go home. But don’t fret; ride it out and make it work. Once you get in a groove and get the system down things will get easier, and, in most cases, you will start to enjoy the solitude and the realization that you can do this and the hunt belongs to you.

You will learn to accept the fact that you smell, the mosquitoes aren’t that bad, and, if you step just right, the tussocks and rocks won’t break your ankles. After this, you will transform and become the hunter you always wanted to be, a natural predator in his or her natural environment.

Along with your bow, the necessities in your pack need to be as light as possible.

Most sheep hunters are gear junkies, and are always in search of gear that will lighten the load. (PAUL ATKINS)

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LET’S GET PHYSICAL Second, you will have to get in shape. This is probably one of the toughest aspects of any backpacking adventure. I know for me it is. Getting in “sheep” or “goat” shape starts long before the hunt begins; probably months and not weeks before. I’ve learned to start slow. Simple hiking and walking without your pack is a great way to begin, building up each week, as the

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Deer packs like this one used on Kodiak Island can sometimes require a lot of gear. But keeping your pack as light as possible, and your back less stressed with a heavy load, can make for a better hunt. (PAUL ATKINS)

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hunt gets closer. However, you should create a workout regime of some kind. Treadmills, stair climbers and weights are a great way to build stamina. Remember, you don’t have to be a fitness zealot to hunt Alaska. Backpack hunts aren’t strictly limited to mountains as most people think.

Traversing across vast fields of tundra or walking the willow flats along endless rivers is part of the package as well. Being in shape and able to go when you need to go are just as important as being able to climb. Climbing, however, can be a big part of the adventure, especially if you’re trying to find sheep or goats, so orchestrate your workout according to what you plan to do.

Getting to base camp in game-filled country is what it’s all about. Once you arrive, hopefully game will be abundant, meaning no more long hikes or long walks.

Yes, it will hurt getting there, but the reward will be great. Several years ago I backpacked in for sheep in the western Brooks Range. I was transported to a gravel bar on a nearby river and hiked the 5 miles to the base of the mountain where

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I made camp for the evening.

It was not far by most standards, but it was through the deep tundra along a bearinfested creek. The next morning, with my BowTech strapped to my back, I looked at what lay ahead me. It was straight up through the loose rocks, but I found a route and began the climb.

It was tough, but I immediately could tell the six months of training was paying off. Once I reached the top, I started to glass and found myself hitting paydirt, with sheep in all directions. The area was relatively flat and I knew the hard work was over. Luckily, I arrowed a nice ram the same day, and once up was enough.

GEAR 101 Choosing gear is another thing to seriously think about when you decide to hunt out of a backpack. This part you absolutely can’t skip or skimp on. You should always buy the best equipment you can afford, even if you think you can’t. Buying the cheap stuff won’t work and will fail, even if you think it’s a great deal. You don’t want to have an equipment failure, especially after putting so much time and effort into a hunt of this magnitude.

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Most hunters who buy the cheap stuff end up buying better gear down the road anyway. So start off right with top-notch gear from people or companies that specialize in backpack hunts.

There are many companies that sell gear that works for the backpack hunter. Remember, when you’re filling your pack or dressing yourself, or choosing a bow, for that matter, you need to stay light as possible.

Purchasing and using lightweight quality gear means you will have less on your back, allowing you to go further and longer. With so many great companies out there producing top-notch gear, you can’t go wrong.

Personally, I’ve chosen gear that works for me here in Alaska. Sitka gear is at the top of my list when it comes to what I will wear. The cold front tops and bibs are the best I’ve worn. They can handle any weather condition, and are tough as nails when you are climbing through sharp rocks and terrain that is demanding. Kenetrek boots are also my choice of footwear, with wool socks. I also wear a silk foot liner to eliminate any blistering.

No matter the boot you choose, make sure you adequately break them in. When I

first bought my mountain hikers I wore them for a year; I also used them on all my workouts. This allowed a break-in time, and they were like gold on the mountainside or any hunt for that matter. Backpacks themselves are a personal choice. There are many great ones out there, all designed for a specific function, and all have their pros and cons. I personally use Kifaru packs, specifically the Timber Line II. Coming in at 9 pounds, the pack is tough and user-friendly. It has many options, and the harness system fits securely on your hip and back the way a good pack should. It also holds a lot of weight, especially when you’re coming down a mountain with a goat or sheep on your back.

Choosing the right backpack, clothes and boots are essential for success and will make or break your hunt in most cases, but so will your archery or rifle setup. Bows seem to get better and better every year.

Short axel-to-axel bows that are lightweight, fast and accurate are the norm these days, which is ideal for the backpacker. I personally shoot the BowTech line and am anxious to try the Carbon Overdrive on an upcoming goat hunt. It’s incredibly light, easy to handle and, at a short 30 inches, will

Tyler Freel of Fairbanks is an avid backpack hunter, and, like the author, is meticulous when choosing his backpack and other gear to make the most of these challenging of hunts. (PAUL ATKINS)

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strap easily to my pack, adding little weight as I climb even the tallest and steepest inclines.

As far as rifles, you want something light if possible. Synthetic stocks, fluted barrels and lightweight powerful scopes are nice. They maneuver easily, and most packs have built-in rifle carriers. However, don’t give up accuracy just to save on weight. Choose a rifle that you are familiar with and can shoot well.

PREPARING THE GROUND Thinking ahead calls for intense preparation time. Everything you stuff into your pack should be a must-have item, if not it stays at home. I’ve hunted with a lot of mountain guides, and one thing they always do before any hunt is to go through my pack. At first it was embarrassing, especially when they start throwing things in a pile, repeating over and over that “You don’t need that!” But time has seasoned me, and the stuff they remove now is minimal. It was great way to learn and helped me with my own hunts here in the far North.

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The author has really stepped up his preparation process in learning how to hunt with a backpack and come home with plenty of big game. (PAUL ATKINS)

Water is a must, and, unlike some of the more desolate and dryer country in the Lower 48, Alaska is full of water. I usually take a filter and sometimes tablets. Tablets are small, light and take up very little room. If you choose to use them do your research.

For food, careful consideration must be given long before you decide to backpack in. High-calorie food in small quantities is the way to go. Most experts say you should

have a minimum of 100 calories per 1 ounce of food. Things like raisins and nuts, along with energy bars and candy bars, work great and fill you up. Peanut butter is also a great source of energy (and protein). Eating right will make your backpack hunt a lot more enjoyable and enable you to go the distance when needed.

Going solo on a backcountry hunt or even a fellow backpacker will make for some memorable hunting adventures.

It will take time to adjust at first, but after a week or 10 days you will feel like an old pro.

Hopefully you score and find the animal you’re after, but if you don’t you will have accomplished something that most won’t even try. Discovering the mystery of what lies on top or just ahead with nothing but your pack is very rewarding, and, after a time or two, it will become second nature. ASJ Editor’s note: Paul Atkins is an outdoor writer from Kotzebue, Alaska. He’s written hundreds of articles on big game hunting throughout North America and Africa. You can find him at pauldatkins.com.

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CUNNINGHAM

BY CHRISTINE

BATHROOM HUMOR ON THE HIGH SEAS T

he captain scuffed around deck like many sportfishing guides in Alaska who’d slept all winter and were waking up from hibernation with the bears. There were three of us who’d tagged along with him for his first trip of the season. As he checked hoses and re-accounted the deficiencies of last year’s deck hand for our amusement, he stopped suddenly in the door way of the cabin.

“I don’t know if the toilet is going to work,” he said.

“You never know if anything’s going to work the first time out,” he added.

“We can go over the edge like they used to,” my fishing partner said. He often referred to the way things used to be done, but I could never determine when or where people ever did most of the things the way he described. It was a world before the existence of plumbing, before clocks, before traffic or the discovery of fire, and yet it was a world that had invented the Zippo lighter, Winchester rifle, and duct tape.

I had to use the restroom, and I’d better do it before we left the harbor or else endure the stigma of being one of those people who actually uses a marine toilet.

“One time,” the captain said, “I was waiting in line at the launch. The boat is still on the trailer. And this 400-pound guy uses the boat toilet!” The three of us all shook our heads. “The public restrooms were only 100 feet away!”

Westartedtolaughwhenthecaptaindid.

“They are heated restrooms!” We were all laughing. “The guy comes out and says, ‘I think I broke your toilet,’” tears were starting to come out of the captain’s eyes. “We had156 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL MAY 2014

n’t even left the dock!”

I’m never using the toilet, I thought.

The captain headed back into the cabin with three tool boxes as we waited on deck. “Captains sure seem funny about their toilets,” I said.

“I’ve never used a marine toilet in 50 years,” the captain’s friend said. The other two men seemed impressed and nodded in agreement. I figured I would wait until the subject changed to head for the heated restroom facilities ashore. Everything about boating seemed written in a secret code. When someone said they were “Going down for a beer,” they meant they were going to be using the restroom, but when they said “The water is calling,” they were only referring to fishing.

I’d once read a sign on a boat that said, “Nothing Should Go in the Toilet that Has Not Gone through a Person.” But did that mean not to use toilet paper at all or that you had to eat the toilet paper first if you wanted to use it? Another sign said, “No Butts in Head.” I figured that meant both, “Don’t place cigarette butts in the toilet,” as well as being a personality prerequisite for use of the head.

“Only the person who maintains the marine toilet should use it,” the mechanic among us noted.

Years ago, a girlfriend had recommended this exact charter boat to me, not for the potential success of the charter or the demeanor of the captain, but for the enclosed toilet. That the boat contained an enclosed rest-

room was an advertised feature. Never once did it occur to me that it was merely ornamental for those not qualified to clean and replace parts, lest they be specifically referenced for the rest of their lives.

The captain emerged from the cabin and continued his account of last spring’s preparations for the mechanic’s consideration. We were all losing interest in the prelaunch festivities as other boats departed the harbor when the captain stopped middeck. He remembered another toilet story.

This time it was a woman who had completely clogged the toilet. “She didn’t say a word!” the captain said. “She never even mentioned it!” I sort of understood her reluctance. The poor woman probably changed her name and moved to Costa Rica. “I didn’t find out until the next time we took the boat out!” Everyone was laughing so hard they looked like they were going to pee their pants.

I wasn’t going to get a chance to use the restroom before fog poured out of the motors and the captain flashed a smile that I had never seen in all my midseason trips. After months of guiding, sometimes two trips in one day, the smile grew weary and only appeared when the fishing was excellent. This was the first time I’d seen the captain pause to smile without a single hope of fish. It was just a shake-out trip, after all.

“The toilet’s not working,” he announced.

I was never so happy to pee in a bucket in my life. ASJ

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