Mike and Ray on the Go

 

You know it is a good time of the year when you have to rush to finish posting about the last hunt before you leave on the next one.  And tomorrow we leave on the twentieth annual Afognak elk hunt.  20 years!  Oh My God.  Anyway, more on the elk hunt later.  This post is last one about the deer and goat hunt to the South End.  This one features Ray and Mike traipsing about the gorgeous landscape draped in fall colors in search of deer and goats.

It's fun to hunt with Ray and Mike.  Very Relaxed.  Sometimes people hike together and chat quietly.  Sometimes we all split up a little and hike in our own little worlds.  In addition to admiring the scenery and focusing on scanning around for deer I do a lot of thinking while I hike.  I swear I often think up solutions to all the world's problems while I churn up a long mountainside.  

But mostly it is hike for a while and then stop and glass everywhere carefully for deer.  And then hike some more.  We eat on the fly and seldom stop for extended breaks unless we shoot something.  

Patrick

Spawning red salmon - we could hear from the tent the bears chasing them at night

Time to go home - loading the plane and getting out just before the winds really picked up