Ratdog68
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Sorry guys...the only pix I have from this one... 35mm prints from my cousin who went with me.
Sept. of '99, my cousin Joe and I flew to Kotzebue, AK from Seattle. A very close friend whom I worked with as a cop (there) gave us a place to bunk for the night. The next morning, we loaded our gear in a friend's boat, got him some barrels of gas, and we headed across Kotzebue Sound (for the mouth of the Noatak River). Mid-month was (then) usually best, the herds were migrating and should be passing through the area any day (which goes on for weeks).
It's about a 100 mile boat ride up the Noatak River to the village of Noatak. Once there, we were met by one of my cousins from dad's side of the family... and, we were granted the use of the kids' rooms... the kids got booted out to other family for our stay (poor kids... LOL). So, here we are, 100 miles north of the Arctic Circle... in a village of about 250 people, sleeping in a warm bed, in a house with a warm shower... and homemade sourdough hotcakes for breakfast in the morning !!!
We pile into the boat and head up river some more. Running a river in the fall... in the WILDS of interior Alaska ! Man... it DON'T get no "more gooder" than that !!! The air was cool, but "light jacket" and layers warm. No rain... and NO bugs !!
Being that my cousin Joe is non-Native, I'd gone ahead and made an appointment to meet the local authority (tribal) folks to get permission for Joe to hunt on our land (before we'd left Kotzebue). Fortunately for us... a cousin who shares the same name as me happened to be that person in charge ! And... since his family had come stayed with us in Seattle when they were young.. and family ties were good... Joe got the royal treatment. To the point that... we were given STRICT instruction that if we SAW a brown bear... KILL it and a tag would be supplied. Now, mind you... if you're NOT a resident, it's a $25K guided hunt to take a brown bear in Alaska. THIS was Native Lands we were hunting... so the State tags/licenses were a formality to be good stewards of the land. Well... we never did see a brown bear... so (thankfully) those offers were never "tested". LOL
Now, there's a few "unique" hunting practices that are legally done within this game management area. For example, it's legal to hunt caribou from a moving vehicle (snow mobile/sled), or boat. On this trip, we were going to try a "local" tactic that I'd never tried, nor had it really appealed much to me previously. But... "when in Rome...", so, we gave it a whirl... and, was it a HOOT !
You pick a known migration crossing point, go down river about 50 yds. and wait at the bank. When a herd swims across, you wait for them to get mid river and motor on up... pop 'em in the head with a pistol, grab hold of the antlers and hook 'em over the gunwhale of the boat... motor to shore to deposit your kill... and go back and do it all over again. When the herd is crossed over and gone... you go to work gutting/skinning your critters. Not having been 100% certain what the game plan was initially... rifles were brought along... but, my 4" S&W 686 in .357 got the nod for the kills we were doing.
We had one animal that was mortally wounded (carotid artery bleeds are VERY impressive), but showed great determination to get away... and made it up the bank and into the thicket of willows. As much as we wanted to track/finish/claim this fine bull... we were convinced to leave well enough alone, and to allow this one to feed the bears. Neither one of us was all too excited about this concept... but, we were guests and following THEIR ways.
Well... we filled our tags we'd bought... and helped to get some meat for some of those who couldn't get it for themselves... and had a safe boat ride back to Kotzebue. I left one of my knives as a gift to my cousin for putting us up, we'd bought 'em some groceries in town and brought to them... and made sure everyone had no regrets of having us there.
Back in Kotzebue, Joe laughed as I held up nekkid skeletons of caribou. Stripped so bare the ravens were crying. We boned it all out, wrapped/froze it, and prepped a couple of sets of antlers for the trip home.
I got home to Seattle to find dad's girlfriend at my place and they were cooking up a nice welcome home dinner... and she was sporting a diamond. The following New Years' Day... I was best man for my dad's wedding. And, we survived the arrival of the new millennium too.
Sept. of '99, my cousin Joe and I flew to Kotzebue, AK from Seattle. A very close friend whom I worked with as a cop (there) gave us a place to bunk for the night. The next morning, we loaded our gear in a friend's boat, got him some barrels of gas, and we headed across Kotzebue Sound (for the mouth of the Noatak River). Mid-month was (then) usually best, the herds were migrating and should be passing through the area any day (which goes on for weeks).
It's about a 100 mile boat ride up the Noatak River to the village of Noatak. Once there, we were met by one of my cousins from dad's side of the family... and, we were granted the use of the kids' rooms... the kids got booted out to other family for our stay (poor kids... LOL). So, here we are, 100 miles north of the Arctic Circle... in a village of about 250 people, sleeping in a warm bed, in a house with a warm shower... and homemade sourdough hotcakes for breakfast in the morning !!!
We pile into the boat and head up river some more. Running a river in the fall... in the WILDS of interior Alaska ! Man... it DON'T get no "more gooder" than that !!! The air was cool, but "light jacket" and layers warm. No rain... and NO bugs !!
Being that my cousin Joe is non-Native, I'd gone ahead and made an appointment to meet the local authority (tribal) folks to get permission for Joe to hunt on our land (before we'd left Kotzebue). Fortunately for us... a cousin who shares the same name as me happened to be that person in charge ! And... since his family had come stayed with us in Seattle when they were young.. and family ties were good... Joe got the royal treatment. To the point that... we were given STRICT instruction that if we SAW a brown bear... KILL it and a tag would be supplied. Now, mind you... if you're NOT a resident, it's a $25K guided hunt to take a brown bear in Alaska. THIS was Native Lands we were hunting... so the State tags/licenses were a formality to be good stewards of the land. Well... we never did see a brown bear... so (thankfully) those offers were never "tested". LOL
Now, there's a few "unique" hunting practices that are legally done within this game management area. For example, it's legal to hunt caribou from a moving vehicle (snow mobile/sled), or boat. On this trip, we were going to try a "local" tactic that I'd never tried, nor had it really appealed much to me previously. But... "when in Rome...", so, we gave it a whirl... and, was it a HOOT !
You pick a known migration crossing point, go down river about 50 yds. and wait at the bank. When a herd swims across, you wait for them to get mid river and motor on up... pop 'em in the head with a pistol, grab hold of the antlers and hook 'em over the gunwhale of the boat... motor to shore to deposit your kill... and go back and do it all over again. When the herd is crossed over and gone... you go to work gutting/skinning your critters. Not having been 100% certain what the game plan was initially... rifles were brought along... but, my 4" S&W 686 in .357 got the nod for the kills we were doing.
We had one animal that was mortally wounded (carotid artery bleeds are VERY impressive), but showed great determination to get away... and made it up the bank and into the thicket of willows. As much as we wanted to track/finish/claim this fine bull... we were convinced to leave well enough alone, and to allow this one to feed the bears. Neither one of us was all too excited about this concept... but, we were guests and following THEIR ways.
Well... we filled our tags we'd bought... and helped to get some meat for some of those who couldn't get it for themselves... and had a safe boat ride back to Kotzebue. I left one of my knives as a gift to my cousin for putting us up, we'd bought 'em some groceries in town and brought to them... and made sure everyone had no regrets of having us there.
Back in Kotzebue, Joe laughed as I held up nekkid skeletons of caribou. Stripped so bare the ravens were crying. We boned it all out, wrapped/froze it, and prepped a couple of sets of antlers for the trip home.
I got home to Seattle to find dad's girlfriend at my place and they were cooking up a nice welcome home dinner... and she was sporting a diamond. The following New Years' Day... I was best man for my dad's wedding. And, we survived the arrival of the new millennium too.
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