How many of you guys are coming to Alaska?

[Sourdough]

There is a good article in the June edition of Fur-Fish-Game.  It's about a DIY hunting trip to Alaska.  Think about it, it can be done if you are careful and do your homework.  You are only required to have a guide for Dall Sheep, Rocky Mtn Goat, Grizzly/Brown Bear.  That means Moose, Caribou, Wolves, Black Bears, Grouse, and Ptarmigan, can be hunted on your own.  An Air Service can fly you in and drop you off at a stationary camp or for a float trip.  It's sure cheaper than using a guide.  Read the article then think about it.  Put it on your bucket list, then start hiking with a pack every day.

[Conan The Librarian]

I'm completely uninterested in Alaska. Nothing there I want to see or do.

[bulletstuffer]

I've been there 3 times    If I came back 100 more times it would not be enough!  One of the most beautiful states in our country.  The fishing is fantastic too    No sleeping in a tent in Grizzly country for me though!!!


Love your stories!


Bulletstuffer

[mechanic]

My boss and a friend are heading up later this summer for caribou and wolf.  Section 23 he told me.  I have no idea where that is, but they are bringing bows, and he's bringing a 45acp.  I advised him to get a real pistol for there....but then I've never been so what do I know?
 
Ben

[Ranger99]

when yall get more global warming
and it won't get below 30 F , please
drop me a note and i'll book a trip
to pop one of those mean long-legged
cows. a relative that spent quite a few
years up there said the bugs were really
bad, but they can't be any worse than
southeast texas or south louisiana.

[Sourdough]

Bugs are bugs.  Does not matter what swamp you are in the bugs are bad.  Unit 23 is the western end of the Brooks Range.

[kynardsj]

Have never seen Alaska in person but what I've seen in pictures is beautiful. Believe I'll pass on the hunting part up that way but wouldn't mind one of the cruises just to look at things. Seeing the northern lights is on my bucket list. Maybe I could cruise and see them too.

[bulletstuffer]

The cruise from Seattle to Skagway is gorgeous!  They go back into some places that you don't think a ship can get into!  When I was on one side of the ship it looked like the other side was going to scrape the mountain!  Saw lots of whales and the scenery was fantastic.  Lots of icebergs floating everywhere!    A definite bucket list item!


Good luck and hope you get there.


Bulletstuffer

[Ranger99]

now, i'll go to see the aurora,
bugs or no bugs or bears or
cold.
i want to get settled in a good bag
and lay down and watch that until
i can't stay awake. if i end up as
bear dung , well... it'll just have to
be that way. rather do that than be
 laying in the filthy street here bleeding
out because one of these scum needed
a baggie of meth.

[vabeachman]

I would like to go.  Probably will when brother retires.  Be fun to be at a spike camp hunting some critters. 

[Oldshooter]

uhhhhhh how far we taking about hiking with a pack? 
 
I sure wanna, but I aint no pack mule anymore. Lets talk

[yellowtail3]

I've been to Kodiak, and I was the coast on the way down to Ketchikan from the deck & bridge of a minesweeper. Long time ago. It rained in Ketchikan every day we were there...

[Sourdough]

There is five different geographic zones to Alaska.  South Eastern is where the cruise ships go.  We call it the Seattle Suburbs.  Those folks have more in common with Seattle than the rest of Alaska.  When they go shopping they go to Seattle.  Everything south of Cordova is South Eastern.

I live in the Interior, the coldest part of the state.  We are north of the Alaska Range.  And South of the Brooks Range.  Thge cold from both ranges settles down on us during the winter.  If you want to see the Aurora, you have to come during the winter.  Right now it does not get dark, so even if the Aurora is out you can not see it.  We are classified as arid, we get little rain fall.  Most of our moisture comes from all the snow that is locked up till spring.

Anchorage is in South Central, they get a lot of rain.  The winter temps are comparable to Chicago, just a bit longer.  Kodiak is part of South Central.

But most Hunters go to the area West of Anchorage, and across the Mountains of the Alaska Range where they turn South.  The weather there is unpredictable.  But the hunting is superb.  No roads there,  You have to fly in.  The Seward Penninsula.

[bobg]

    Always been one of my dreams to hunt Alaska. Waited to late in life to do it. Now i have problems walking the 20 feet from my door to my truck. Looks like it will remain a dream.     

[cooter74]

I am like you it was always a dream of mine, but now I am to old and have to many medical problems. Sure wish i could have made it!

[Anna]

I was always my dream to tag along with one of those bush pilots up there. Bobbing in and out
of those mountains and canyons with some of the most beautiful scenery in the world.
Landing on those lakes like they do, even if I couldn't hunt that would still be worth doing.
The photo op would be incredible by itself much less the fishing. I hear that's every bit as good as
the hunting Alaska has some real fish story's to tell.
I saw a photo of one of those lakes that was so clear blue and calm you couldn't tell where the
horizon touched the sky. If its big in Texas its huge in Alaska. Of course I'm still young enough the
cold wouldn't bother me so much but I hear it will still get your attention.

[Conan The Librarian]

If you haven't done it and want to do it, you better go do it now because you may not be able to later. I think more people have wanted to then couldn't for one reason or another. Time is not on your side. You do not have all the time in the world. Start on it now, do something today to make it happen. If you don't, give up on it and forget about it.
 
 
 
 

[wolverine_1]

Spent 6+ years in Alaska in Interior, SE, and the Alaskan Pensula.  Was a lot younger then; now at almost 70, I just think about those adventures, but also know I don't plan to experience -55 deg cold again, nor those skeeters we accidently refuled. Enjoy it while you are young enough.

[Sourdough]

Hay, I'm 64 guys, and still crawling around the hills.  Floating rivers is easy, unless you shoot something.  Last float I got up at 4 AM to throw rocks at the Moose to drive them away before my partner woke up.  Afraid he's shoot one.  I was there for the floating and fishing.  Got drawn for Caribou this fall.  Sky is going in with me to do the lifting, I'm doing good to just get me up the hill.

[wolverine_1]

I under stand, but not as enticing when you have to get reclimatized after 40+ years absence.  Of course, it is the wife's fault, likes being close to her family and the kids. Nuff said, probably won't happen.

[TribReady]

we're all sitting at our computers, then leaning back and imagining a trip up there.  Someday, maybe.  Good trip for my son and I when he gets a bit older--of course, with 2 girls eyeing college, I'll be lucky to have the $ to buy a local hunting license 
 
for now, Sourdough, just keep us posted on your day to day adventures.  Your stories keep us saying "that's awesome, I'd love to be there for that"  and "holy smokes, not in a million years would I want to endure that" all in the same sentence 
 
it's good advice, though, to do it now, if you can.  You never know what tomorrow will bring

[Oldshooter]

Well said TribReady!

[cooter74]

Sourdough, enjoy it while you can! At 64 I was doing any thing I wanted, at 74 not so much any more!

[Anna]

Sourdough, enjoy it while you can! At 64 I was doing any thing I wanted, at 74 not so much any more!

They say it really hits you at 50. Its like some clock inside you says its time to get old now.
I feel better in my 40s than I ever have in my life. I guess in your 40s your still young enough to do
things but smart enough to know when to stop.

[Old Fart]

Sourdough, enjoy it while you can! At 64 I was doing any thing I wanted, at 74 not so much any more!

They say it really hits you at 50. Its like some clock inside you says its time to get old now.
I feel better in my 40s than I ever have in my life. I guess in your 40s your still young enough to do
things but smart enough to know when to stop.

I remember putting that feeling on snooze. 

[Sourdough]

In the fifty's it hit, but I just shook it off and kept going.  At 60 it started coming back, but I ignored it.  At 64 I think it's here to stay, I just can't do the things I used to do.  It's five miles to the grocery store.  Have been riding my bike (bicycle) there almost every day for the last 10 years come spring.  Yesterday thought it was going to kill me when I got about half way.  Coming back I cheated.  Little dog wanted out of the trailer to run.  Next thing I knew he was running faster than I could peddle.  He towed me half the way home.

Norm and I are getting ready to put out our Black Bear Bait.  I refused to register the bait station up above the Yukon.  The trail is just too steep.  I know this year it would be too much to climb back out,  Registered a new one, one I can ride my 4-wheeler to.  Also thinking og putting one in across a lake.  That way we can canoe right to the bait station.  This hauling 50 lbs of bait on your back and walking half a mile, is just getting to be too much.

[blind ear]

Sourdough, Are you going to stay in Alaska? ear

[Sourdough]

Till the wife can find a job in the lower 48.  With Sequestration going on that may not happen for quite a while.  I've been here 40 years, and the cold is beginning to get to me.  Plus I'v4 done everything up here that I want to do.  Leaving all that fun stuff to my son.  He is going on a white water rafting trip next Monday.  Class 4 and 5 water.  If I did not have a heart attack, my back would kill me going on something like that.  I like class 1, and 2, nothing more.

The outdoor editor for the local paper came out with 20 things to do this summer.  Oh, we have so many things to do here in Alaska.  But climbing a mountain on foot, not me, not anymore.  If I can't ride my 4-wheeler up there I don't want to go.

Was going to go shoot a marauding Grizzly, but the State Parks closed the trail to motorized vehicles this spring.  OK, Let it eat a few tourist. 

Tuesday a friend and I were coming back from Denali.  There was a Tour Buss pulled off the road on the right hand side.  Flashers on.  We had been having a trucker riding our tail for the last 10 miles or so.  There just was no where to pass, and brush was close to the road so we were not going to go any faster than we were for safety's sake.  Don't want to hit a Moose.  As we neared the Tour Buss we saw people outside taking photos.  My friend driving slowed down, and moved to the left side of the road, the trucker did likewise.  We could not see what the people were taking photos of.  They had thrown small cakes and things to eat out on the road.  We were watching to make sure no one stepped out in front of us.  Suddenly, a Coyote ran out of the Woods from the left side.  Blip, Blip, end of Coyote.  The people started screaming about us running over the poor Wolf.  They had been taking photos of a Coyote thinking it was a Wolf.  Then the Semi Truck hit it.  Five big Blips, We kept going, so did the truck.  If we had of stopped those folks would have turned into a Lynch Mob.  Tour Bus driver should have known the difference between a Coyote and a Wolf.

Taike care, busy day.  Bought a new AR-15 A DPMS in 5.56/.223.  Mounted scope this morning now got to sight it in.  Going to the range.  See Ya.