Over the weekend Stuey and I went hunting on Afognak with our friend Ryan. Right off the bat at dawn on the first day we found a herd of bucks and Stuey wanted to shoot the first one we saw. And we probably should have done so. But the buck was not very big and was at a bad shooting angle at the bottom of a steep slope. The next guys were not very big either. With so many deer around I wanted to get something big.
And then just as we were off after some big boys the fog came in and covered up everything below in a mantle of white. Only the very tops of the mountains stuck up above the clouds. And that was that - you can't hunt when you can't see the deer. And so we waited and waited, and took naps and hoped the fog would burn off.
The fog did not burn off until late in the afternoon. And by then it was very hot and all the deer had bedded down for the day. We looked and looked and just saw one doe. And then the next day we had more fog and the wind was blowing in the wrong direction. Despite getting up at dawn again we only saw one doe. Lesson learned - 'a buck in hand is worth a big one in the bush'. I actually should have learned this last year!
But the trip was not a bust. We got to camp and hike in some beautiful country. We did some exploring where I have never hiked before. If we had harvested the first deer we saw I would never have had the glorious nap in the sunshine, nor would we have done so much hiking.
Patrick
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| Nap time waiting for the fog to burn off |
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| Nap back at the beach - waiting for the ride home |
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