Bear Visit

Now that Jolene has filled her moose tag, I thought I'd spend a day out in the woods trying to fill mine. I can only take a bull, and the 25th is the last day of the season. Since we haven't seen any bulls around the flats, I was pretty certain I wouldn't see any I could shoot at, but I had a charge left in my muzzleloader I needed to shoot off anyway, so I spent the day walking around the nearest state land looking for a bull. Just before dark, as I was on my way home, I decided to walk by the creek to see if any late run silver salmon were visible. Instead, I walked up on some medium-sized brown bear tracks. He had wandered up and down the creek - doing the same thing I was..looking for late run salmon. His tracks were anywhere from 1-2 days old based on the weather we had the day before. But he didn't seem to stay at the creek long, since there was no other sign of him there (scat, bedding, etc). I followed the tracks as far as I could (I carry my brown bear tag with me on my hunts in case I get a shot at one), but I lost the trail once he left the mud on the creek bank. Hopefully he stays away from the house. He could also be following the moose as they make their way out of the mountains with the latest snowfall up there, or he could be on the moose carcass we left last week down on the flats. The last two pictures are of the moose dressing - the carcass just prior to finishing taking the meat off, and one of Pappy holding the heart as we cleaned and sorted the burger before taking it for processing. I told him I'd title that picture "Pappy has the heart of a Moose". The tongue is also visible in the picture at the corner of the table. We didn't let anything go to waste, and grilled and ate the tenderloins the next night (tastes like prime rib!). The hide is at the tanner.

Tomorrow, we start our trek to the North Slope to chase caribou around the Arctic Tundra for the "Haul Road" bowhunt. It's about a 26 hour drive through some harsh terrain, and there is about a foot of snow on the ground up there already. Hopefully the polar bears haven't traveled off the ice cap yet...hopefully. Wouldn't want to try and defend myself against one of those with just an arrow! A native friend of mine says "if it can't be killed with a 30-06, you should hide!"

Alaska Girls Kick Butt

Well, as many of you know I acquired a cow tag for our locality and have spent the past couple of weeks roaming around the woods in search of moose. The funny thing is, with the extraordinary warm temperatures these large creatures seem to have disappeared. Layne and I had spotted a cow/calf pair on several occasions but never the opportunity to take aim. I have felt more like I have been stalking my husband with a loaded weapon. He can walk much faster than I can through the woods, partly because he is far more coordinated and has boots that fit!

I woke up this morning to "Get Dressed. I see a moose." After some conversation I realized the plan was to park me in the woods for a couple of hours until the moose decided to wander by me. Despite my pessimism the plan actually worked (and I accomplished reading about half of the novel I took with me). I looked up from my reading and turned to scan the 180 view around me and saw the moose. As I turned my body it continued to stare. I fidgeted trying to get the cover off the scope and then sight in the moose. I took aim and a half breath and shot, automatically filling the chamber for a second shot. The moose slowly ambled back into the woods. I looked back up and thought, I better get ready in case I missed and reloaded the weapon (only took one shot but loaded the weapon twice, ejecting live round out of the chamber). On the next glance up I realized there was a moose in a better position further away from the trees staring at me. I looked it over, saw no bullet holes but decided not to shoot. It just didn't look like the same moose. Turned out it wasn't. Layne came down to meet me and helped me locate the moose. He and Pappy are out doing the hard part now, cleaning the meat that will fill our freezer for the winter. I am still surprised that I shot it. Layne is tickled pink. Luckily, he doesn't have to work tomorrow.

Robin Hood

Landon used his day off to learn to shoot the bow. He did pretty good. Let's hope he doesn't try to shoot an apple off of Grayson's head anytime soon!

Fun in the Sun

Another beautiful day today....over 70 deg and not a cloud in the sky. Great weather for everything EXCEPT moose hunting (too hot for us AND the moose), so today is a good day to take a break and relax. Dino is over 30 lbs, and always looking for someone to play with. We went to the Fair last week (see previous post for pics), and are starting to plan for a couple more hunts before battening down the hatches for winter. The leaves have started to turn, but the weather is still summer-like. I expect that will start to change real soon. Also, included some pictures of Landn and Grayson getting a gift from a friend who is heading off to college - she gave Landon some neat arrow-heads wrapped in a rabbit hide, and Grayson a cat from Shrek. Later, we'll add some pics of the boys picking blue-berries last week up near Hatcher's Pass.

Fair and Misc

Went to the Alaska State Fair in neighboring town of Palmer this past week. The boys enjoyed riding the rides, palying the games, and ofcourse Grayson's favorite part was the porkchop on a stick and eating his first funnel cake with Pappy and Grammy. The bird in the picture is a spruce grouse that let us walk up within a couple of feet in the woods one day while hunting for moose. We've seen grouse, fox and a few moose, but no shots taken yet. The last picture is of my promotion to CDR at the office, holding a gag certificate for "fighter pilot extraordinaire" just to keep things light. I should be heading out next June to start re-training in Lemoore to get ready for the command tour - showing up as XO in VFA-41 in January '11.