Our Camps - Teepees on the landscape!

Camp one by the river on the sand - plenty of firewood

Just like we took a team picture at the start of every day, I took a picture of every camp.  I always enjoy taking pictures of camp.  Back at home I examine the camp views and see how the light changed while we were there.  I love seeing our little teepee in the midst of a vast landscape with a wisp of woodsmoke coming out the top.

While on the go the teepee is the focus of our world.  It represents shelter and warmth.  A protective cocoon.  And in a vast place like the Alaska Range it is the only man made thing in sight.  It brings perspective to the landscape.  It says, 'we were there' while at the same saying - 'look how vast a place it was - our teepee is so small and the landscape so big'.  Patrick

Camp 2 in the Alpine at around 3500 feet elevation

Camp 3 in the alpine on the other side of the pass - still plenty of wood at almost 4000 feet elevation

Reading in the late afternoon

Searching and Scouting

We could have kept things simple and just gone backpacking in the Alaska Range.  It's beautiful and the hiking is easy.  Plenty of wood for the wood stove.  As hunters we were loaded down with extra gear.  That rifle alone adds an extra 9 pounds!  Why not just go light and enjoy hiking in the sunshine?  BUT, I'd argue that because we were hunting we were far, far more keyed in on what was going on around us.

Hunting makes it real and since I am looking for animals to hunt I am much more in tune with what is going on around me.  I have my binoculars around my neck and I am constantly looking about and painstakingly glassing the slopes all around.  If I was just out for a hike I'd be soaking it all in, but not really examining anything too closely.  If we were just out for a hike I doubt we would have even seen the sheep.

When hunting I think about which slopes sheep might like.  Hunt related thoughts crowd my head.  What are the animals eating?  Where are the cliffs they might want for cover?  What plant is that - what animal eats it?  Are those marmot whistles alerting sheep that we are here?  I'd argue that hunting is active while hiking is passive - seeking out vs soaking in.

Hunting is a totally different experience from just hiking and well worth the extra weight!
Patrick

Five beginnings

Day one leaving the car

While on the sheep hunt last week we took a group picture at the start of every day.  We started out fresh faced and clean cut.  Then day by day , bit by bit, we get dirtier and rougher around the edges.  But one thing stays the same - we look happy in every picture!

Day 2 a hike into the mountains in the rain

Day 3 up over the pass and into sheep country

Day 4 - time to get our sheep!

Day 5 - Ready for the long haul back out to the car

Succesful Sheep Hunt

Lindsey and her sheep

For the past week I have been on the mainland (off island) helping out with a sheep hunt.  Generally I  stick close to home and only hunt on Kodiak so it was kind of nice to expand my horizons and explore a totally different place.  The interior of Alaska is beautiful!

We did a LOT of hiking and survived some seriously wet weather.  The wood stove sure came in handy!

On the sheep end of things, we scouted and explored and only saw 3 sheep.  But luckily enough the first one we saw was full curl and hence legal to harvest.  Lindsey and Brooks did a text book stalk and Lindsey made the shot.  We had our sheep!

And then came the hike out. .. ..

Patrick

Happy to be back in camp with sheep meat

Hiking up to the hunting area

Brooks tends the stove - we had some wet weather and the stove was a Godsend

Looking for sheep

Brooks and Lindsey on the prowl

Time to head home with full packs

Start of a 1500 foot climb on the way back to the car

A buck in the hand . ..

On Friday night I climbed up into the hills with my friends Peter and Brian to camp and hunt deer.  The first hunt of the season!  Brian usually comes to hunt much later in the fall and so I was excited to show him how awesome it is to hunt deer in Kodiak's alpine in August.  My favorite hunting of the year.

And it was stunning.  So green and dramatic.  We set up our teepee on a soft mat of bunchberries and there were gentians blooming by the center pole in the middle of the tent.  We could look right out the teepee door and see the sunlit ocean.

We got up in the dark and hiked up to the top of the mountain in the moonlight.  Once at our perch on top we settled in and started to glass for deer.  Then as the sun rose deer popped up everywhere.  There were some big bucks on a distant ridge, and we were about to start over toward them when 2 smaller bucks appeared close by.  My opening day criteria is a 3 point with eye guards - so there we had it.  And at 230 yards they were well within range too.  So we thought, 'big boys on a distant ridge or these ones right here'.  It was an easy decision.  'A buck in the hand is worth 2 in the bush!'

Then came the hard part - butchering the deer and carrying them home.  The black flies came out in force for the butchering part.  And then it was a long slog to the car.  But by 11:30 we were all happily ensconced in the car, cool wind blowing in through open windows, listening to oldies on the way home.  Patrick

The latest inhabitants of Buskin Lake

I had heard that crayfish had been introduced to Buskin Lake (click here for older post), but yesterday I got the chance to visit the lake and see just how many there are in the lake.  It was disheartening.  Practically every rock I flipped over had a crayfish under it.  With this many crayfish in the lake there will have to be some sort of impact on the lake ecosystem.  I just hope it does not negatively impact the salmon too badly.

I gather the recent warm winters when the lake did not freeze over might be part of the problem.  The warm winters seem to coincide with a dramatic jump in the crayfish population.  So perhaps a nice long and very cold winter will knock the numbers back down?  I certainly hope so. Patrick

Buskin Survey

From archaeological excavation to survey with nary a break in between!  The dig ended on Monday and on Tuesday, still sore all over from backfilling the excavation, I was traipsing around in the Buskin River corridor helping out on an archaeological survey.  There will be some clean up work along the Buskin River later this year and it is our job to survey the effected areas and discover if there is anything historically significant that could get damaged.  Mostly we were recording stuff that had been left behind from WWII.

Rather than spending the whole spot in one place digging, it was nice to get out and explore for a bit. And it was a beautiful sunny day.  Surveying in the rain is a drag.  Patrick

Old wall of rocks - WWII landscaping!

We recorded everything we found