Camp

On our alpine hunt we had cushy camp.  We had a big teepee with 2 doors to sleep in and a wood stove.  We brought some wood with us but we also found a grove of dead alders nearby that proved to be GREAT firewood.  For this kind of camping I love a tent with 2 doors.  Everyone has their own exit, and when it gets too warm inside you can open both doors and get a cross breeze going through the tent to cool things off.

Our campsite was a small little 'hole' on the hillside.  We put our camp where you would never expect to find a flat spot.  But it was perfectly flat and the ground soft and not wet.  Best of all when the wind did pick up our little hole provided shelter.  And we still had a great view.  It was the ideal campsite.  Patrick

Ray and Jonathan

On our recent alpine hunt I took a lot of pictures of Ray and Jonathan.  I've hunted with Ray for years, but this was the first time I had met Jonathan.  Like Ray he is a doctor from Anchorage.  He spent his childhood in England and at times has a slight British accent.  But he can also speak fluent French, and has spent a lot of time on Madagascar.  By the wood stove in the teepee at night he would regale us with Madagascar stories.  This of course would remind me of my South Africa and Mauritius stories.  Needless to say but we told a lot of stories.  I even tried to speak French.

Anyway, to go back to the pictures.  It seems that almost all of my pictures are of Ray and Jonathan posing with some sort of awesome backdrop.  Or hiking, or glassing for deer.  It is the Ray and Jonathan show.  But it is also my view of the hunt because whenever I looked around there were Jonathan and Ray.

This was Jonathan's first deer hunt, and first trip to Kodiak.  Ray and I got to show him how we do it on Kodiak.  He showed up with a borrowed Barney's frame pack and a bag.  Ray and I showed him how we lash our meat directly onto the frame and forego the bag entirely.  Ray even recounted how he saw our choice of backpacks as sort of an evolutionary 'ape to standing man' sort of thing.  We all started with the frame and bag.  Then took the bag off of it and added the dry bag.  Then came the Kifaru packs and the rifle holders.  And then finally after the Granite Gear 'Flatbed' we all seem to have Seek Outside packs.

Patrick

Our Deer

Last weekend the main reason we went on an alpine hunting/camping/hiking trip was to bring home meat.  And to do that we had to find and harvest deer.  We did have a hard time finding deer.  There just were not as many bucks on the landscape in comparison to years past.  On day 2 we hiked almost 5 hours without seeing a single male deer.  But we had no problems harvesting the bucks we did find.  We ended up bringing home the meat of 3 largish bucks and one small one.  After we were all done processing and packaging the deer we ended up with about 175 pounds of packaged meat.

Out of curiosity I weighed and compared the back quarters of the small buck versus one of the bigger guys.  The small quarter weighed 9 pounds and the big one 16.  So we probably got about twice as much meat off each of the bigger bucks than we did off of the spike.  When it comes to time spent butchering a deer, the size of the animal does not matter.  A small buck takes just as long to process as a big boy.  In fact, trimming the cuts of a big boy is actually easier because there is more to 'play with'.  For this reason it really does pay to try and shoot bigger bucks.

That said - you can't always find bigger bucks and sometimes it is best to simply harvest what is offered.
Patrick

Wildflowers

On our hunt the wildflowers were a little less bright than usual - a little more past their prime.  Maybe it was an early summer, and they finished blooming early?  Or could it be an early Fall, and they are dying off as a consequence?  It still seems way too warm for an early Fall!

Still all the flowers were beautiful, and the landscape while still green is starting to catch some fall color.  the Pushkin has turned yellow and I noticed some patches of red on the alpine tundra.  That said I do know that in a couple of weeks I will look back at these photos and think, 'oh it looks so GREEN!'  Patrick

Atmospheric

During our recent hunting trip we did not experience any clear, sunny days.  Nor did we endure any hard rain.  The weather was mostly broken clouds and weird fog layers.  I'd say it was best described as 'atmospheric'.  The clouds and 3D layering did make for some good visuals.  It was very beautiful.

On the last day we had high winds and yet down low you could still see the fog and what looked like flat calm conditions.  At pick up our pilot told us that it was 70 degrees and howling at 5000 feet and that the winds had been getting lower and lower in elevation all day.  He said it was the remains of a typhoon blowing out over Kodiak.  At pick up it did start to pour and yet was so warm that I felt like I was in the Bahamas.  The sun even came out while it was still pouring down rain.  Very weird weather.
Patrick

Garlic!

Yesterday I harvested half my garlic.  I never quite know when to harvest garlic. I harvested some a couple of weeks ago and it lacked skins around the cloves - but was still very tasty.  I have this second batch hanging in the shed to cure and hope it is ready.  I think I will leave the rest in the ground for another week or so.  I do know that when I re plant the garlic I want to use the over-mature garlic heads where the cloves are loose and the skins well-developed. The skins helps protect the seed cloves from the elements.  Whereas most of the garlic that I eat does not seem to need such protection - it gets consumed pronto!  Patrick

Searching for Mr Deer

This year where we were hunting there were fewer bucks than usual up in the alpine.  In year's past at the same locality big bucks were everywhere.  But this year we saw lots of does and fawns but very few mature bucks.  It seems during the harsh winter 2 years ago that there might have been a localized winter-kill event that depleted the numbers.  Either that or the cloudy weather simply kept the bucks better hidden.

However this was not such a bad thing - we got to do lots more hiking and exploring.  In year's past it seemed we never got very far before we harvested a deer and had to return to camp. This year we had to cover a lot more ground before finding a suitable buck to harvest.  As a consequence, we explored new areas and enjoyed new vistas.  And in the end we did find our deer.  Patrick

Alpine Hunting/Hiking Trip

Sunday I got back from a quick alpine hunting/camping/hiking trip.  Friends Ray, Jonathon and I chartered a plane and flew into an alpine lake.  The beauty of flying into a lake is that you do not have to bust up through the brush getting up there on your own.  Hence you have more energy to hike around on the alpine tundra.

Our primary goal was to bring back deer meat but we certainly enjoyed the hiking and camping too.  It is gorgeous up in the mountains, and while we did not get any sunny clear days, we did enjoy some atmospheric conditions.  The clouds were VERY dramatic.

Also we got our deer!

Patrick

Pyramid with the Doggies

Tuesday I climbed up Pyramid with the doggies for the first time in a long time.  In the spring and early summer I climbed up there practically every day, but I have not been back since the snow melted and I stopped skiing.  And I have not taken the dogs up since December!

I told Nora about my hike and right away she asked, 'is there still any snow up there?'  No Nora, sadly there is absolutely no snow on Pyramid.  But the grass is starting to turn brown and all the Pushki has died back, and the fireweed is no longer blooming.  Winter is on the way and there ought to be snow relatively soon!  Patrick

The Pack Out

Leaving camp - 15 miles to go!

We got the sheep early in the morning and once back at camp, and the meat in a cave in the cool rocks, we enjoyed a glorious day of rest.  And then came the brutal part - carrying everything out to the road.

We started the hike in the cool of the morning (8AM) and did not get to the road until late afternoon (4PM).  In between we hiked 15 miles with some serious climbs and descents along the way.

At first it really was not all that bad, and we did seem to be making rapid progress.  By noon we had left the alpine and were hiking along a well-developed trail in the spruce forest.  It seemed we'd be back at the car by 1 or 2 in the afternoon.  BUT I had forgotten how far we had hiked in on the first day.  I had forgotten the 6 miles or so of flat country between the base of the mountains and the road. And this section was BRUTAL.  It went on and on and there was often soft sand.  My pack started to chafe on every contact point.  I was in pain.

Finally we made it to the car, and then we drove to Fairbanks and found an extended stay hotel with a big fridge to cool all the meat.  We found a room with a fridge big enough to fit everything into.  The front desk asked if just one bed was adequate for our needs - all we cared about was the size of the refrigerator.  I ended up sleeping under a table on the floor.

Next step was cutting up and packaging the meat.  Then we froze it before I took it all back to Kodiak.  Hunt complete and all the meat safely taken care of!  Success!

Patrick

Near the end of the first 1500 foot climb - still fresh

Nasty descent

The alpine hiking is spectacular

We are out of the alpine but still have to hike to those fields in the far distance!

This is where it starts to get UGLY

This was the worst part of the whole hike out - the flat section that went on and on until we finally reached the road

Car in sight!

Car contents at check in to hotel

Hotel room refrigerator - meat getting chilled!