Boating Around

Well after a nights rest in a real bed, I was up and moving around 9 in the morning. Dad and I unloaded the truck from our stellar hunting trip and then headed out on the sound. The small boat harbor was pretty quiet being a Monday and all. It really is fun to walk the docks and look at all the different boats.

We were quickly out on the water with only a couple of tasks on hand. We brought with us 10 cans of cat food and 5 shrimp pots. “Dropping shrimp pots” being the first thing on the list. We skimmed across the calm water with mountain in every direction.

We went about 9 miles out towards the narrows and dropped our shrimp pots in about 350 feet of water. We will be checking them tomorrow with high hopes of some tasty morsels.

Our other goal for the day was to make a meager attempt at catching a halibut. We tried a spot near where we dropped the shrimp pots knowing that the best halibut fishing is yet another two to four hours boat ride out of Valdez. So we knew were weren’t going to have much luck. We found a nice spot and pulled out the tools of the trade for catching halibut. Here is what the majority of the equipment looks like that most widely used for reeling in the titanic sized fish.

Notice the knife in there for a little perspective on the size of things. To these hooks one usually attaches a whole herring. Here is what it the whole rig looks like before you drop it overboard in about 150 feet of water.

So we drop the line to the bottom and jig until we have a bite. I had some nibbles, but none were confident enough to take the big bite. Tomorrow we plan to head out with a little more serious attitude on the whole halibut catching subject. I hope to have an update tomorrow with pictures of the big flounder.

While we were sitting there jigging our lines up and down the clouds started to linger around the edges of some of the mountains that drop into the ocean. It was a beautiful day to be out on the water.

After a little over an hour of letting our bait soak that the bottom of the ocean we decided to head back. On the way we passed one of the many oil tankers and its two escorts on their way out to the open ocean. The two tug boats follow the big guy out 80 miles through the narrows ensuring we won’t have another mishap like the exxon valdez in 89.

On a side note, there is another poll up on the right side of my blog.  So if you have a second let me know what you think.

Moose Hunting aka. Camping :(

Well once again my dad and I were skunked on yet another moose hunt.  I don’t think we were meant to go this year.  We probably should start this story from the beginning.

It all started last Wednesday evening.  I flew into Valdez at approximately 9:45 P.M.  My dad and I were scheduled to leave Valdez the next morning at approximately 10:30 A.M.  Well….  at 4:00 P.M. we were finally on the road hoping to leave the dreary clouds and chilling rain behind for a trip into the wilds of interior Alaska.  Our destination our old hunting grounds located just outside Northway, AK.  The 300 mile drive though started a bit late was going quite well until about 60 miles outside of Tok.  We were cruising down the road chatting about the hunt to come when our trusty truck started to make a terrible racket.  We pulled off to the side of the road to inspect this new melody ringing in our ears.  With a little inspection we noticed that our muffler had become disconnected from the exhaust pipe rendering it inoperable which in turn left our poor truck un-muffled.  We embarrassingly made our noisy way the rest of the way into Tok.   We stopped over at a friends place there in town and quickly borrowed a couple of “L brackets” a hose clamp and 4 rivets.  The plan to reattach the exhaust pipe to the muffler just enough to finish our trip.  Mind you this was all occurring around 10:00 P.M.  After about 15 minutes under the truck Dad had the two pieces attached to each other once again.  Not really in the correct position, but attached non the less.

We were back on the road a little after 11:45 P.M.  with merely an hour between us and our destination.  The rest of the drive was uneventful landing us at the “trail head” a little after 1:00 A.M.  We promptly reclined the seats pulled a blanket out of the back seat and fell fast asleep.

The next morning we were awaken by four 4-wheelers buzzing up to the truck.  One of the gentlemen stepped over to my window which I promptly rolled down.  The four men were appropriately dressed all in camo and wearing helmets.  Once he removed his helmet he informed us that he and his comrades were part of the US Military and were out to check on their seismograph equipment located in the area.  Now I’m not positive about this, but I believe the equipment is used to listen for possible Russian underground nuclear tests.  Their hops is to pick up the vibrations of the blasts.  The gentlemen asked us to please not shoot them when we headed back on our hunt.  You see there happen to be a few people out there that when hunting will shoot at any movement in the brush or noise that they hear without checking to see what it is first.  I assured him that we always make sure what we are shooting at is indeed a moose since that is all we really had a license to hunt anyway.  He’s just lucky that the season for men in camo hasn’t opened up yet.  😉  j/k.

Well that got us up and moving for the day.  We unloaded our two rigs off the trailer and loaded up all of our gear.  Dad had his 6-wheeler and I was borrowing Dan Eide’s 4-wheeler.  Once loaded up we were ready to hit the trail.

The trail was good at first.  We were working our way up a hill.  As we crested the top of the hill we knew we had some tough trail ahead of us.

There is an area that had some very large boulders embedded into the trail making the precise maneuvering of our machines a must.  I did take a second to snap this photo of the valley off to one side of the trail.

So on our way we went, through the rocks and down the other side of the mountain.   On our decent into the valley we were to be hunting in I looked up and saw the lakes we were to be glassing over (looking at through binoculars) for the next few days.  In the edge of one of the lakes was….  You guessed it a moose!!  I hopped up on top of the 4-wheeler with my binoculars and took a closer look.  Well after further review it turned out to be a cow moose, which in case you didn’t know is not legal to hunt.  Bulls only in Alaska, but they are always good to have around because just like humans there are usually a few boys chasing the girls around.  So we continued on down into the valley.  We were about 8 miles back into the woods and a mere mile from camp when my 4-wheeler decided it didn’t want to run anymore.  After futile attempts to bring it back to life we decided we had better get it back out to the trailer.  We weren’t sure how easy it would be to get it back over those pesky rocks and back up over the mountain top.  So we hooked up some tow ropes and back we went.

The return trip went quite well and after we made it back safely to the truck agreed that we probably should have stayed in and continued the hunt.  Odds are though that if we had stayed in for the hunt we would have had a terrible time getting the machine out.  So we headed into Northway to refuel the 6-wheeler.  Our new plan was to head over to another easier trail known locally as “The Paradise Trail”.  This trail is about 20 miles from the Canadian border.  We loaded up all of our gear onto the 6-wheeler and with me on top of the load we headed back on attempt number two.  We weren’t 300 feet into the trail when we looked up and saw a beautiful rainbow ahead of us.

Dad snapped this photo of me on top of the 6-wheeler with the rainbow in the background.

So if you know what makes rainbows then you know what lied ahead of us.  We came upon the steady downpour only a short time later.  It was a good thing we had rain gear on and all of our gear either in dry bags or waterproof boxes cause it really came down.  On a brighter note on the ride we noticed fresh moose tracks in the mud headed in the same direction as us.  So we had high hopes of still achieving our goal.  We drove back in about two miles and set up camp on a side hill overlooking a valley with a few lakes interspersed throughout.

We set up camp, changed into some dry clothes, heated up some water for tea and apple cider and began glassing the flats.  We spent the afternoon hunkering under a tarp to avoid the occasional short bursts of rain and kept a weary eye out for the illustrious big game we were so hoping to find.  For dinner that evening we dined on freeze dried “Chilly Mac with Beef”, pilot bread crackers, and more tea and apple cider.  When it was no longer safe to be shooting a gun due to the lac of light we snuggled down into our sleeping bags resisting the urge to roll down hill.  You see our tent wasn’t exactly on a flat spot.  We were scouting from a side hill so thats where our tent ended up being set up at.

Now when moose hunting it is necessary to wake up wicked early to catch those moose our getting a drink or moving around.  They seem to like to do most of their moving in the morning or evening times.  Well the next morning (Saturday) we were NOT good moose hunters being that we drug ourselves out of bed at 9:00 AM.  We spent the next day glassing the flats and shooting the breeze.  Unfortunately that was the only shooting we’d be doing on this trip.   At about 2:00 in the afternoon I placed my binoculars in front of my eyes for yet another look across the flats.  I had scanned about half way across when at the very far end of the valley I catch a flash.   I look closer inspecting what caught my eye.  Something white.  Not just something white two somethings white side by side.  YES!!! It has to be the rack of a ginormous bull moose.  I say “Dad I see a moose”  he grabs his binoculars and after some telling him where in relation to some landmarks this huge moose is he locks onto the sight.  We continue to watch intently hoping to get a better idea of what we are looking at.  At this point all we can see is the huge rack.  Usually you can see the dark siloutte of the moose’s body along with the antlers.  All of a sudden the two white somethings separate.  Wait a minute…..  No moose can do that.  So now we are a bit confused.  Could it be two other hunters loading up their rig or cleaning a kill?  What is it.  We continue to watch for about a half an hour until I realize what we have been watching for such a long time.  What I thought was the white flash of the bone antlers of a moose was actually two swans swimming next to each other on a body of water obstructed from our view by the overgrowth of bushes at the waters edge.  Deflated we sink back into our chairs and go on shooting the breeze.  For lunch we had MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat) used prodominatly by the US military during times of war.  These are full meals in a pouch.  Everything from the main course down to desert and a few sides.  Well Dad was eating an older version.  Believe it or not they have come a long way over the years.  I had Beef teriyaki with rice and dad had a re hydrated pork patty.  Mine came with a little bottle of Tobasco and since dad’s didn’t look very appetizing I offered to flavor up his dinner a bit for him.  Well after removing the top and attempting to apply a couple of drops to a bit on his fork I wasn’t having any luck.  So I poked into the hole at the top of the bottle with my knife hopping to dislodge whatever was blocking the hole.  I tried to shake some on again without any luck.  So  I shook a bit harder and all of a sudden the dam broke loose and not one, not two, not three, but about 15 drops of Tobasco found its way onto the grayish piece of meat.  Here is what ensued after that.

[QUICKTIME http://bbryson.com/bill/files/2007/08/tobasco.mov 320 260]

Before we headed to bed this evening I snapped this picture of dusk over the flats.

And then this picture of a tree silhouetted against the skyline.

The next day I woke up early to catch those elusive moose out and about.  As I clambered out of the tent I looked across the valley to find the whole basin full of fog.  I wouldn’t be seeing any moose until the sun decided to peak over the mountain and burn off the dense condensation hovering over the ground like a thick blanket of white cotton candy.  So I went back to bed.  When we got back up the fog had melted away and revealed not one stinking moose.  The dew all about did highlight some smaller beauties though.

So a bit discouraged we packed up camp and headed back to Valdez to spend some quality time with my mom.  The weekend was fun.  It was nice to be out in the woods hanging out with my dad, but I wouldn’t call it a hunting trip.  It was more like a camping trip with high powered rifles.