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!"