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More Bush Pilot Tales From The Frozen North

After the oil crises of the late 1970s, oil exploration exploded in Alaska. The state government, fearing that native Alaskans would be pushed off their land by the oil companies passed a law granting each Alaskan citizen a title to a 160 acre homestead.

All they had to do was prove use by that citizen and define the location..... Simple enough..... Unfortunately, it was discovered that this was, at the time, impossible. Alaska only had been formally surveyed along a twenty or so mile band along the coast.

There was no way to define the legal location of any of the interior homesteads.

With frantic urgency, the BLM was charged with the task of doing a Cadastral (Large scale, township and range markers) Survey for 92% of the entire state of Alaska. They hired a small army of surveyors and several helicopter companies to provide transportation.

I was one of the pilots hired for the job.







It was a dream job because we were allowed to go everywhere in the state to set corners, and the large orange triangle markers that could be viewed from space.

As I'm sure the statute of limitations is long past, I tell you this story

One of my most unique adventures flying this contract happened just above the 69th parallel near the coast above Cape Lisburne in a small ridge of mountains North of the North Slope called the Amatusuk Foot Hills. The area is known for it's large number of Geothermal hot springs.

To my surprise, I discovered that there is a 50 mile radius restricted zone around these foothills. However, we had instructions to enter and establish the same township and range markers as on the rest of the State. The only requirement was that no cameras were allowed in the restricted zone.

On our second day in the area, we found a huge valley completely covered with a dense cloud. This cloud turned out to be steam. When I flew down into it, I was surprised to find the valley full of foliage. Small trees and bushes were everywhere. In fact it appeared that it never froze there.

I landed beside a small lake that was sending steaming wisps into the air. The surveyors started to work. Very soon they were removing their heavy coats due to the heat.

It usually took about an hour for the surveyors to set and record their marker, so I decided to look around.

I had only walked about a quarter mile along the edge of the lake when I noticed movement behind the bushes a few yards from the water's edge.
As I walked around a bush, I saw an animal feeding on the largest Bison I had ever seen. At first I thought that it was a bear, but the body wasn't right. It was longer than a bear's body. Also the colors were like nothing I had ever seen on an animal before. He was almost like a Brindle color pattern, except the colors were a much lighter browns and gold.

As I stood there watching, he raised head and sniffed the air.
I could see the tuft hair on his pointed ears. This was a BOBCAT!!!
I had no idea that they got so large.

I tried to slowly back away, but he had caught my scent. The cat wheeled around and roared. I was fascinated by the spectacle.
With the blood still dripping from his huge fangs, the large golden eyes seemed to narrow a bit. We stared at each other for a few seconds. Then, making a strange coughing sound, he bounded my way.

Naturally, I had my 44 Magnum in hand, but had hoped to escape without having to shoot.

No such luck....

When he got to within thirty or so yards, I started shooting. One of my rounds hit him in the shoulder. The big cat quickly started spinning around biting at the shoulder as if he thought he was being attacked by another animal. I managed to empty the gun into his chest as he was turning, rolling and kicking at his shoulder.

After a short while, he went limp. I waited another ten minutes or so, and went to investigate. This was the biggest cat I have ever seen.
I cut off the head and his tail and headed back to the helicopter.

On the way back, I started worrying......

"We are in a heavily restricted zone, I don't have a hunting license, and have killed a bobcat. Better lay low".

I hid the head and tail in my gear stored in the cargo compartment of the Hughes 500. At the end of the day while the others were eating, I retrieved the cat's head and hid it my tent.

The Amatusuk camp was our last of the season. The head and tail stayed hidden until we reached Anchorage. I put the head and tail into an additional plastic garbage bag, boxed it up and shipped it home. I called my wife from Anchorage and told her not to open the box until I got there.

When I finally returned home a week later, I set up our camp stove in the back yard and boiled the head for several hours (Really Stunk!!! The tail was so rotted that I had to throw it away). After it cooled, I stripped the flesh off the skull and then boiled it again. I then put it into a five gallon bucket filled with 50-50 water and bleach. It stayed in our garage for the entire winter in that sealed bucket. That spring, before returning to Alaska, I changed to just boiled water in the bucket.

Now my Alaskan Bobcat skull is displayed in my pool room.

Here are a couple pictures of my trophy.









April Fool,
Steve






Oh NO!! Not the Bobcat Story Again!!!

Got me......