Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska White Privileged in Remote Alaska

So it's gotta be nice when you have the coin to buy one of Alaska's most premier remote commercial lodges just to turn it into you private playground.

This guy is located on Mikchalk Lake right in the middle of Wood TikChik Park, it's nice but a little hard to get to.
There are a 3 barely navigable rivers that few have the skills to run along with miles and miles of open lakes between him and any road system.

So when he wants to get a new snow machine in there and maybe a couple boards to nail up hows he go about it?......



I've always figured guys like this would be too challenged by the rapids and rollers in those rivers to even attempt a stab at running them...

But maybe they try, this is the first river between that nifty lodge and the road system and I see they have a method figured for scouting out the channel...




Who says money can't buy happiness?

The lodge they circle to the top of the Agulowak River is yet another commercial lodge turned private rich mans play ground.
Its owned by GCI, the two big log structures at the far end of the development use to be owned by Neil Burke (Mark Air) now GCI owns it all.

Golden Horn is miles up the lakes from there.

Bush Air Cargo‘s (Anchorage and Palmer, AK) pictured Douglas C-47B-DK (DC-3) N777YA (msn 25634) “Arctic Liner” made a hard landing at the Nixon Fork Mine in McGrath, Alaska.

According the the FAA initial report for the November 22, 2015 incident, the crew of N777YA “on landing struck a snow berm and the landing gear went through the wing at Nixon Fork Mine in McGrath, Alaska”.

There were no injuries to the two crew members on board but the fate of the “Arctic Liner” is probably not good.

This is the only DC-3 in Alaska that is certified to operate with skis and land on frozen lakes.

I get your point about large cash sequestering playgrounds, we all experience that, I don't get the white part, why bring racial content or privilege into the issue?

Cabin fever has set in on the Ak forum of the campfire.

When you find yourself at a loss of what to title a thread you default to "click bait", don't get your panties in a wad...

Green eyed monster.....

It really looks like some extravagant spending a black NBA player would blow their money on.

Never thought I'd see so many DC 3 hauling hunters and wheelers etc.. into an airstrip as I saw at Farewell this fall. Evidently money isn't limited to only a few... LOL

Those lodges likely get more than their share of "snow." I hear it is white...

Wtf homeboy got scotch taped to the wall? A turkey beard?

landing on snow like that in the blazing sunshine must be interesting

i like how that first cabin is situated in the second video

Yeah, I suppose it could be blinding.
The hard part for me would be putting my plane in the trust of the guys down on that lake telling me the ice was thick enough to land on.
I seen little Piper Cub's put a ski through the ice because the guy that called him in didn't know WTF he was doing.

The cabin on the lower river there is nice, he's got it all to himself.

I lived on that river for about 3 years, every day was quality time....
Water moves quick enough there that it don't freeze completely over in the winter.
I was up at the top of the river..

pretty common..i'll bet the crew is familiar with those on the ground and don't have to worry too much about the reliability of information they are getting

Iduuno why but I've never been able to feel completely all warm and fuzzy on the ice.
Never had no incidents or anything but just never been able to feel 100% confident..

Same and same. Especially moving water.

Like the stuff you get flushed under the moment after you break through?

And the stuff that might be perfectly safe in one spot, but just a skim toward the bank? And might change year to year as bars move and change? Or might have overflow on top? Or the water might have dropped out under it and left a big shelf to break through? Yeah, that stuff. Don't trust it.

Lots of places where is is perfectly safe, and I get that. I just tend to proceed with caution.

Now I gotta tell ice stories.......

These are from the years in the Tik Chiks
We'd had about 4ft of snow then it warmed and stared raining, typical coastal Alaskan crap..
I had this kid show up from Montana to visit for a while and he gotten there just as all that powder was turning to slush.

We'd been hold'ed for like ten days waiting for the now 2 ft of water on top the ice to cap over so we could get out.
Finally about 2 to 3 inches of ice developed and we headed out one morning..all was well, great day..

I had a Skandic at the time but I'd put him on the old trusty Tundra that should'a been dead years prior..but they just don't know when to quit.

On our way home, about a 1/2 mile out we had to cut across a large lake. It'd warmed considerably as the cold morning had now become a 40 degree afternoon.
The ice was still OK but it was slick as cat schit, no way you could even stand up on it.
I was about 100 yards from making the shore when my track broke though that skim of ice along the edge of the lake you mentioned.

I was probably doing 40 or so and my skis were keeping the front end on top the ice, I'd nailed it and made my way to shore blowing the ice up behind me all the way...
Under that few inches we'd been riding on there was still 2 foot of water on top of at least 3+ foot of good ice...
It didn't pose a real hazard to me but the kid on the Tundra that'd been faithfully following me all day dove straight into the 5 foot wide channel my track was blowing out of that skinny ice. It was so slick he could neither turn or stop before he just plopped right in.

I got shut down once on solid ground and hollered out to him asking him if he was OK as he sat there in the overflow on the swamped Tundra. Said other than being wet all he needed was to change his underwear.






I was caribou hunting above the TikChiks with some native guys, we'd left from Aleknagik and had traveled about 125 miles north searching for the herd.
This is early 90's, the Mulchatna herd was 200,000 strong back then, we'd typically get into 20 or 30,000 head at a time.

Being the token white boy, I always brought up the tail of the pack when we traveled.
These Native guys come outta the womb running snow machines, they are really experienced or what may appear to some as being quite insane.

We always traveled together but alone.....we'd all know our destination, and arrive at the same place but we might show up an hour or better apart from each other.
In other words, nobody was waiting around for you and they weren't gonna hold each others hands in a hard spot.

We'd been running hard for a couple of days and gotten into nothing for Caribou so these guys were getting a little edgy and really making time.

I could see a couple from my group a ways ahead of me milling around a river bank, they crossed and were gone before I caught up.
I get up to that spot and I'm looking at this busted to hell ice where they'd crossed. It'd been the only ice bridge in sight, the rest the river was open. All that was left for me to get across on was a triangle shaped shelf of ice about 10 inches thick sticking out from the far bank and hanging about 4 foot above the water, it was about 20 feet away.

I could see about a 1/4 mile ahead of me one of the Native dudes had stopped and was turned around watching me.
He knew they'd left me schit for a crossing......keep in mind, we're all hauling sleds full of gas and gear, we're not just hot-doggin around on high performance machines..

I was on a high bank, the point of the triangle was about 20 feet out there and below me, I'd have to jump for it. Bank to bank was around 50 feet, there was 20 feet of air and water between me and the ice and no doubt it was going to break as soon as I hit it.

I turned around and built up some speed as I headed back to the crossing, I launched off that high bank at about 45 or 50, the ice broke and fell as soon as the weight of my machine came down on it, now it was a ramp, I got air but landed safe and sound on top of the other bank...

It threw me forward pretty hard, just as my face was eating windshield I could see the Native dude go rippin' off.
I'm sure he was chuckling at my antics.....silly white boy...

We got our Caribou, we always did....

In 2006, myself and one other guy ran those rivers and paddled the lakes from Lake Kulik to the little town of Aleknagik in a 16' canoe. The only problem we had was on the Wind River just below Milkchalk Lake where there was a fisherman blocking the main water channel. We had to paddle into the chop to get around his boat. Our canoe was full of two guys and two backpacks. That was kind of thrilling.

I think a Zodiak with a jet-drive outboard (or any small boat with a jet drive outboard) would have no trouble negotiating the way to Golden Horn Lodge. He would have to take a lot of gas. But I don't know about anything big enough to carry a snow machine.

Not many get the opportunity, what inspired you to go there?
I used a 18 foot Lowe with a 40 jet..

Cabin at the top of the Wind River


Lake Beverly looking toward the bottom of the Peace River


I had to haul my lumber up those rivers a boat load at a time.

Jeff:

I went on my first AK trip in 1987, climbing MT. McKinley. I fell in love with AK and have returned on ten trips. A couple more climbing trips and some hunting trips.

We were after caribou on that canoe trip and came back empty handed. But we had a great adventure.

I would have moved to AK after I retired but my children and grandchildren live here and my wife won't leave. I love Alaska but I love my wife and family more.

Great photos. I wish I could say that I recognised the scenery but that was a long time ago and it was a long trip.

KC

I never saw many Caribou along the shores of those rivers and lakes but the jet outboards were so loud.
Moose were more common and the bears could be thick at times.

The Caribou were more likely to be found in the open tundra east of the lakes.

Tag

Solar Inflatable Jet Boats would be great for that country. My 470 will carry 2K and stay on step at 12 MPH with a quiet 50 HP 4strk burning 2.2 GPH.

Good video showing what they can do and affordable so you don't have to be White Privileged may ruffle some feathers running on there river though!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFCDQHvJcYA&feature=youtu.be

Great pics and stories thanks Jeff

Enjoying the stories, Jeff.

Great pics of white privilege in action.

Love the skandic shots too. I'm running a pair of V800 SWTs. I'll pass on making them fly, but they are haulin SOBs.

I drive my jet boat on the agulawok and agulapak river all the time up to this lakes. Not a big deal when you know the channel.

Exactly...but I doubt you have a whole lot of company once you get passed the top of the Agulowak.. It's been a few years for me but I doubt that's changed a lot. There are a few more guide services than there use to be and whatever traffic GCI's people create.....

I ran that river pretty much daily....year round.

Other than guiding there, I was building some of the structures at first lake lodge back in the early 90s before GCI bought it.
The lodge crew would leave at the end of season and I stayed there for 8 months alone until they'd return the following summer doing interior finish work and building furniture.

I had the whole lodge to myself and I kept a boat in the water all winter.
If I ran it every day, it seemed to help keep from freezing the water pump. After there would be enough light to see, I'd fire up the outboard and run to the bottom of the river, and back up to the lodge every day.

The true channel became well defined as the water level dropped through the winter months. It'd get so skinny in some spots you'd literally have a two to three foot wide channel that would be deep enough to accommodate the jet shoe and you'd better be onstep to keep the hull up outta the water.

Due to those low water level runs everyday of the winter, I deemed myself the "River Master", nobody knew that channel as well as I did...or at least I though...

It was about 1 in the morning in the late fall, I heard a boat coming down the lake.
A week prior, some locals I knew came rippin passed heading up the lakes camping, it was them coming back down, I recognized the sound of their boat, it was V8 inboard jet.

I figured they were going to stop, they must have a problem or something, no way they were going to run that river in the dark.

They shot right by full tilt and headed down the river. It bruised my ego, I'd never considered a night run.
I wasn't set up with the lights you'd need but neither were they.

It'd been a full moon, that must be it.....I let it grind on me, next full moon I'd be prepared and go run it.

A full cycle of the moon went by and I was ready, I headed into Dillingham later in the day than usual and bought some odds and ends then went back to Aleknagik and partied a little with some folks.

Long about midnight I fired up the boat and headed back up the lake, it's a 12-15 mile run to the bottom of the river.
The moon was up up pretty high and I could see a bit on the lake, at least enough to keep from hitting an island or anything.
The shore line was just flat black, no definition at all, just black.

I kept my eye on the ridge, I knew where the mountains sloped down would be the where the river spilled into the lake.
It wasn't as easy as I'd thought it'd be to just find the mouth of the river but I made my way and headed up.

The first couple of turns were easy, the moon lit things up fairly well out close to the lake and it was familiar to me anyway.
It didn't take long until it wasn't so cool..the moon was in the southern sky and so were the mountains next to me.

It started going from the moon creating a blinding silver streak up the middle of the river which was like a magnet wanting you to follow it, which sure as hell wasn't the channel, to rounding a corner to find it completely black dark due to the terrain blocking the moonlight.
My eyes couldn't adjust fast enough going from blinding bright to total black dark in just a flash like that.

It was starting to really suck, I had to keep my eyes squinted to avoid too much light and I was doing everything I could just to keep up with a close idea of exactly where I was at.
Having a "close idea" really isn't good enough when it comes to running that river, there were parts that were completely azz puckering..
I chilled and pretty much just followed the map in my head and made my way to the top of the river...without hitting...

I WOULD NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!

I was really butt hurt over the whole entire event, how was it those guys ran that river in the dark and I struggled so hard?

Next trip to town I went and saw the guy that owned the boat and ask him how they'd done it., He started laughing hard and told me "man we were so drunk that night I like to tore the bottom out of the boat a few times", said he couldn't even count the amount of times they'd hit....

My ego felt better but now I just felt stupid.......

Shhhhhhh....you'll give away the secret meaning of the thread title......



When traveling that country in late season those rivers and lakes could begin to open. We'd always make a last hellmary run up those lakes to get Whitefish and Caribou.
You had to be capable of skipping open water while pulling a sled, at least for a short distance or you'd die.

It just happened too often, you'd be ripping along and suddenly there would be open water in front of you.

We crossed a few completely open rivers by jumping off a high bank to cross a deep channel if you could land on a shallow gravel bar once you cleared the channel. You only have to do that if you can't get down on the level of the river and just skip across a deep spot. Drain plugs on the lower block are a dream when all the BS don't work out and your draining a couple gallons of river outta the cylinders. Pretty quick fix if you've done it a few times.< hint....

Thanks, I'm just bored. There are so many tales that could be told but I find it very difficult to paint a understandable picture while keeping it as short as possible...the attention span of the multitudes can be quite limiting, if you've been there, done that and understand the descriptions, you may enjoy every word.

Jeff:

I'm one who has not BTDT but I enjoy the stories anyway.

My brother and I floated past Golden Horn years ago, we had been dropped off at the top of Kulik by Freshwater Adventures. We totally missed the salmon but caught some nice dollies and my best-ever grayling, I think it was 21 inches long. We ran across Justin Johns on the river, interesting guy.

Saw a wolverine at the lower end of Kulik, and had moose eyeballing our camp the first morning.

How old is that picture of the Otter it looks like GCIs That buzzed us all the time at the top of the river and the one Stevens died in.

You are correct.

That took longer than I thought...
Only reason I posted that shot was to get a response about it...

When I was working with the Lodge (Wood River) prior to GCI buying it that Otter was purchased.
If I recall it came from the India Air Force, sent it to Canada for restoration, that's where those monster Wipline amphibious floats were installed, then straight to the Float Plane Nationals in Minnesota where it took best of show.
From there, it was flown into the lodge.

First few years we used it at the lodge is wasn't turbo.
They did convert it prior to handing it over to GCI in the sale of the lodge.

I was all over the place in that plane before GCI used it to kill Stevens.
It really sucked, we have plenty of politicians to last us but we're running out of vintage DeHavilland Otters.



R.I.P.

That is a fact there is getting to be less beavers as well. They are a very cool plane before and after the turbine conversion

I've followed your posts about this boat...
I have one concern, the bears, for some reason, in that area love to chew on soft mushy stuff.

I never got by just one night of leaving my seat on my 4 wheeler without it getting eaten.
Put a put a piece of stuffed furniture or a cushioned lawn chair outside, eaten all but immediately.

I've been in plenty of other areas in Alaska with large populations of bears, even over around Katmai and that never happens.
I just don't get it.

Right now, I am in the preliminary stages of putting together another trip into the Tik Chiks.
There is a young guy I have been giving up all my outdoor hunting and fishing areas to.
Just want to pass things on before I get old and die.

We did five weeks in Montana this summer going over hunting and fishing locations and that was our second trip for the same reason.

I could use a boat such as this for the trip.
We both have some resources and don't mind spending a little money but damn if that thing were to get chewed up during our trip we'd be screwed....

We're going to go to Europe for a few months this summer so I'm thinking summer after next.
I may be able to revive some old resources in the area to produce something but that's not a given.

I'd like to borrow a hull from someone and fly in a new outboard but if that don't happen we've been talking inflatables.

If you flew up there prior to 2013 you may have been in their Widgeon, there is a story about that plane that may interest you. That bad boy is still on the bottom of Tikchik Lake.

It's always cool to get to see a Wolverine in the wild, it's not a common occurrence. I think they see a lot more of us than we see of them, they're pretty wiley.

I've seen a few and trapped a few.

I was going up the east side of the Agulapak River one morning and one came darting out from around that cabin by the top of the river. He ran down and started across lake Beverly, I couldn't believe it, what a fool.
I had my AR with me and was always on the prowl for predators, getting a good hide here and there helped with the fuel budget.
This sucker was mine, it's a long ways across that lake and his little short legs were going like crazy but he was no match for my snow machine, he was gonna die, he was all mine.

I decided to screw with him a little bit and got up behind him as he scampered across the ice. I don't know what I was trying to do but at some point I was going to have to stop and shoot him, it wasn't like he was going to just turn around and throw his hands in the air and give himself up to me.
I think he'd have kept running til he just ran himself out, no way he was making it to the other side of the lake.

We were moving along at about 25 or 30 mph and I closed the gap and had him between my skis..
He didn't like that and it wasn't long til that sucker made a right hand turn and I hit him with one ski, my snow machine went azz over teakettle, it was on it's side with my leg under it and hadn't a clue as to where my AR had landed.

I got to my feet pretty quick, shutting the machine off while looking for my AR and the now pizzed off Wolverine all at the same time.
Once I got my schit together and had the AR back in my hands I was spinning in circles looking for the damn Wolverine.
I never saw him again, Idunno how he got away so quickly as far out on the ice as we were but he was sure as hell gone.

He could have had me for dinner if he wanted to.

They say to never tease a Weasel, well don't tease Wolverines either, might as well add Wolves to the list, it's all those "W" animals...don't tease um.......

Yes, it was the same Widgeon we took up to Kulik. We were up there over 20 years ago, time gets away. Hate to hear about the crash, I have heard float and amphib pilots talk about how hard a glassy water landing can be. I remember well our young pilot taxiing on the lake for long minutes looking for the gravel bar to drop us off. Pretty soon I told him I believed the landing bar was about 3 feet under, and it actually was! Normal May water conditions. We stayed in the fisheries cabin above Mikchalk one night, with about 200 rats. spent a night on the raft across from GH Lodge, and finished out on Beverly Lake.

Good stuff keep going ! I have to add ...try running a air boat for a week then hop in a river boat (lite hull 150jetted) oh boy i can go there do that ! Lol 1st Wolverine i came across ..i didnt know what it was, and it didnt know what i was either we landed the canoe i hopped out a grabed a 24" beaver chew/ club ..it was right there like 6' away, i moved toward it it just stared at me then trotted off .me to, right behind close enough to darn near grab its tail , but not close enough to take a swing , this went on for like 50yrds after a few more stops abd stare downs ...i gave up ..the face /look .... it had enough and was going to kick my azz . I thougth the same ....lol

CWH2 and DaninAlaska need to tell their wolverine story next.

Having driven an airboat for so many years I can't remember, it took a LOT this summer to learn a jet. I"m always looking for the skinny and avoiding the deep and fast. LOL. Had to just remember to avoid the temptations for skinny and make dang sure I'm in the best water without boulders etc.... I can find. Totally reverse really.

No wolverine stories yet. Though one food box at moose camp was drug off a ways but not opened yet. Teeth sure looked about the right size to my eyes... sure wasn't a bear unless it was mini bear.

Awesome thread! Great stories JeffA, keep them coming. 👍 They make for very enjoyable and very relatable stories that helps alleviate cabin fever.

I’ve loved Alaska as a little boy and we’re building a place (slowly 😁) up there so that we can spend more time in my favorite place on earth.

Thanks, I'm just burning some extra time I happen to find myself having at the moment.

I'm doing a little research before I continue........

https://statelaws.findlaw.com/alaska-law/alaska-criminal-statute-of-limitations-laws.html

Ruh-roh! Tread lightly, eh?

Laffin!

Wintering at that lodge had it's benefits, I had it all to myself for 8 months of the year, and I took advantage of that.

I'd built a winter place for them there on the property and it's where I spent my time.


It was just me and the dog....


It was different, I was living in a silent world and I'd acquired a silent pet, fitting I guess.

I kicked her out one night when I woke up to an odd noise and it appeared she was chewing on one of my bunny boots.
I was pizzed, I picked her up and tossed her out, my AR stayed leaning against the wall beside the door, I grabbed it and emptied a clip sending rounds bouncing all around her as she ran for her life up the beach.

I went to check the damage on the boots and they were fine but I did find a mouse she'd apparently been working on killing right behind my boots. Oh well, it 'd just been my bushy side showing a little...

Took her three days to come home, she'd gotten over it and returned to her cozy nook behind the wood stove.


If I could have gotten her to drag firewood in it'd have been helpful, I had a Lab that'd do that..
She was a fine mouser and I guess that was all I was gonna get out of her.


I'd sold my Bob Marshall based outfitting business down in Montana before I had decided to come hang out in Alaska, so I knew a lot of people that'd like to visit an Alaskan lodge but didn't want to pay the grand a day rates the lodge was getting.

After the lodge guys left for the season I'd invited quite a few "friends" to join me for some fishing, I had the whole lodge to myself so why not. That made for busy Falls, right up to freeze-up you could bang Rainbows, Grayling, Char and Pike in quality form.....with lot's of quality lodge gear.

The lodge owners had a vague idea I might be doing something like that..sorta..I told them I had a couple friends showing up anyway...

The owners were quite pleased with the work I'd get done in their absence, after my first winter it was pretty easy to convince them not to have their crew pull all the boats and winterize the lodge before they left. They were all tired from their summers work and they jumped right on the offer.
I'd take care of everything, all they had to was go. I'm just that kinda guy..all nice and everything.

They just didn't know there might be a time lapse before I'd get that done, the lodge was left 100% operational for the balance of my years there, they'd just take the planes and leave right after "their" last guests were gone....mine would be right around the corner.

I had all the freeze-up and break-up weeks to get things done around the lodge, it's then that I'd built stuff for them, doors, furniture with carved horn and ivory enhancements stuff like that..



That gave me 4 to 5 months in between for trapping and hunting, then it was back into break-up, those brutal times that you couldn't go anywhere.

It'd been a particularly long break-up one year, I'd been stuck there for weeks, we just weren't getting any wind to take the ice off the lakes..
The ice was as rotten as it gets, all that melted snow along with warm rain was slowly percolating it's way down through 3 to 4 feet of ice that just laid there.

Finally a small channel was opening between the shore and the ice, I could get a skiff through for a ways up the lake.


As the slight winds that we started having would blow the ice back and forth this channel was getting wider and longer every day. It was also building an ice berm along the shore where the wind would push the entire ice pack up onto the beach.
The image below I hijacked, the ice we had at that time more closely resembled "ice icicles" fused together from all that percolating water burning down through it and it was still thick. So the berm ice was more like crushed ice cubes piled up than slabs.


I woke one morning to see the winds had shifted and were coming out of the east, they were warm winds.
The channel along the shore had grown and it looked as if I could actually get some where.
I had been preparing for the reopening of the lodge and had put this boat in the water.


I took off blazing up that channel, it was wider in some spots than others but good enough, I needed to get out, I had to shake the cabin fever off.
I made my way two or three miles up the lake and things started changing, the winds had laid down some and the ice pack was closing my channel. The ice was too thick to bust through and options of open channels were becoming more limited moment by moment. I made my way to the shore and sat there for a bit, the ice was coming my way at a rate of maybe a couple inches every five minutes or so. At this rate the ice was going to start pushing me up on shore inside the next 15 minutes. I pointed the boat straight into the ice berm, hit the power trim and got that 65 Evinrude outta the water.

The boat getting pushed up on the ice berm wouldn't be all that bad, I could probably get it back in the water after the ice was gone, things could be worse, I could be on the other side of the lake without the option of walking back to the lodge.
I was in much better shape than Shackleton was with the Endurance but my memories of reading the book did come to mind.

Just before the ice pack was about to touch the boat I changed my mind and lowered the motor. I'd hate to set there and watch the ice build up under it and shear that kicker off the transom in slow motion...decisions, decisions what'da ya do....

Just as the ice hit the boat and started making some noise the winds picked back up, the ice immediately started moving the other way, I could also see from where I was at that about another mile up the lake there was open water.

There was a large berm piling up on the leading edge of the ice pack all the way across the lake, there were also visible waves crashing into it, it looked a little brutal out there but I had the right boat for that.

As the channel became passable I was in it and bookin' for the open water, didn't take too long and I was there.
I'd had to take an opening that took me away from the shore to get there, the waves were doable, I headed across the lake and made my way to a little Pikey slough that was protected from the open lake and winds.

I sat there for a bit and contemplated life...I might have smoked one to chill out a little too.....
About the time I'd achieved 100% mood adjustment I realized there was no wind, it'd laid back down and that meant my channel back on the other side of the lake would be closing. It was my only road home, I was now on the wrong side of the lake for the "walking back" option.
Even if I could get to the other side, I didn't want to leave the boat four miles from home....hell, I didn't really wanna have to walk four miles down that ice filled beach either, you know, there's rock outcrops and crappy spots, it'd suck.

I had to get outta there and fast, it was about a mile and half back to the other side of the lake from where I sat.

I cranked up and took off, as I rolled out of that slough and could see the lake, there was no ice in sight, none, notta single cube, there was no sign there had ever been ice on the lake...it was an eerie feeling.

The whole damn lake had gone off and I missed the event, I ran back down the middle of the lake onstep full speed.
I'd started out cautiously looking for slabs of ice but there was absolute none to be found, a mile and half by four mile chunk of ice had vanished in moments, It was surreal, I was awestruck.

I was also free from the ice that had kept me nailed down in one spot for the last 7 weeks, I could get out again and Spring Bear season was on.....

....more later...

Good stuff Jeff! Very entertaining, you have a good writing style, and the material is very interesting to this desert rat.

"It is the blessing of The Lord that taketh rich & he adds no sorrow to it."

+1.

And very interesting to a guy from the dirty south.

Best thread on the fire in awhile.....

Lets see... we were spring bear hunting, and pulled into the spot we usually anchor up for the night. There is a nice protected spot behind a house-sized island that is only about 50 yards from a rocky shore. Deepish water and the wind can't get you. So, we drop the hook, and as I come back around to the cabin, Dan says "there's something on the island". We gawk for a bit, and sure enough, its a wolverine. It makes a couple runs back and forth on the island, hops in, and starts swimming for shore. We had the raft tied to the boat, and Dan says "Chris, go kill it." So I jump in the raft, and get it untied, start the motor, and Dan hands me.... a [bleep] t-ball bat!

"Give me a gun!"

"Hurry up, its gettng away!"

So, like an idiot, I take off after it with my trusty bat, get about 1/2 way and the motor dies. I had forgotten to turn the gas valve back on, and it burned what was in the carb/line. The wolverine hit the shore, gave a shake, and he was gone. Probably for the best as he would have shredded that thing and I'd have been swimming with a wolverine.

Now I'm curious to hear Dan's version of the story.

That makes two of us!

Make it three!

I am burning down here, THANKS FOR THE POST! I could use some help.

Raft?, Club?, Wolverine? All the ingredients for a great event!

It's our follies, fu_ckups and rare events that can be more interesting to hear.

We've all had them, many here on the Fire are growing old, the wealth of experiences and events is potentially huge!

Come on, take a minute or three and share a little.....

Every Man Should Arrive To The Fire With A Story To Tell

I'd seen a really nice bear the previous Fall, it was one of only two true 10+ft Coastal Brown Bears I've ever seen outside of bears at Katmai Park.
He'd walked right through camp one night, it was late season, all but the dump bears had already gone under or at least it seemed.
The ground around the lodge was always just one huge collage of bear tracks, we had a resident herd, I mean hell, we had an open pit dump.
It wasn't as if these bears didn't already have all the Sockeye they could ever wish for right there in the river, we were feeding them Prime Rib and Spot Prawns, there was ample leftovers and scraps from the gourmet meals that were being prepared every night at the lodge all summer. Everything eventually ended up in that open pit dump.

This Bears track stood out in a big way, like twice the size of all the bears that were regulars.
We had snow, he was easy to follow, I jumped right on it, I had to get a glimpses of him, he'd walked right through my backyard.
He was easy to follow in the snow, you could see he was on a mission, he wasn't lingering or nosing around anything he just kept a steady pace as he headed down river.

It was about 2 1/2 miles from the lodge when he turned and headed right toward the river, the river was wide and shallow there, he knew his way around, that's where he crossed.

I headed back upriver to the lodge, I was thinking of taking a boat and going across to see if I could pick up his tracks again, I knew they were no more than a few hours old.

I was grabbing a few things to take with me when I saw him, he was walking across the face of a low ridge that swept up from the river and climbed toward the summit of the mountain he was on, the morning sun was really making his tracks stand out, they just lit up, he was leaving a hell'ov a trail in the snow.

I grabbed the spotting scope and got set up, It was him alright and he was pretty amazing, the snow on the northern face of that ridge was deep, he was lunging through it. It was a 65 power scope, I could see him pretty well.

He was angling up and heading into a huge draw that ran down the face of the mountain, maybe he was going to circle and come back, I wasn't sure what he might do but whatever it was I was going to be able to see from right where I was at if he didn't cross over the top of the ridge.

I'd wait and see what he decided to do before I'd set off to chase him, I had to know what direction he was going to go before I could make a plan. I got busy with other things but kept a watch on him the sun was still lighting up his trail, it was plain to see without the scope, he was making his way toward the top. After a while he just quit, his trail wasn't advancing I went back to the spotting scope to see what he was up to before I lost light. I really couldn't see him any longer his trail just ended like he'd just vanished.

The next morning it was all the same, the sun was lighting his trail up really well and you could see where he'd quit, he was quite a ways up there and right in the bottom of that northern exposed draw, I could see right into it.
It remained that way for days, that bear had den'ed up right there in that draw, now what'da do?

I could get there, it'd be a bitch, the snow was deep and it was way up there but I could do it.
I was thinking of just heading up there, knocking on his door, waking him up and battling it out with him right there in that draw. It was a true trophy, I know he'd crack 10 ft. it was tempting..

Final decision was, I'd hunt him in the Spring, I'd surly see the sign when he got up and made a move, his den was in plain view everyday when I walked out my door.

He was right there....

Once the ice was off the lake things started changing fast, I mean fast like in the following 24 hours.

A float plane landed the following morning he tied up and came walking over to see me.
It was a outfitter that had bear hunters booked, he had also managed to get a couple of his boats up Lake Aleknagik along the “shore channel”, same as I had the day before.

He'd been doing fly overs and knew the ice had gone off the lake yesterday.

He told me Lake Aleknagik was still frozen over, It's protected by mountains from the eastern winds we were experiencing, the lake I was on and most the upper lakes above me are exposed to the open tundra along their eastern shores.

He had stopped in to make me an offer, he needed his boats brought up the river. He had young guides that were new to the area and he didn't want to chance one of them screwing up a boat on the rocks in the river, we struck a deal. Once his boats were at the top of the river, his guides would have no problem navigating miles of lake above me.

I jumped in his plane and we flew down to the bottom of the river.

He'd left a couple of his guides sitting on a gravel bar there with the boats.
We did our introductions and I took charge, told these guys if one of the would just follow me in one boat and the other ride with me they might learn a little of the river.
The outfitter wouldn't hear of it, he wanted me to make two trips, he wasn't about to trust his guys....shheeez....I shoulda doubled my price right then and there, what a joke, it wasn't that treacherous.

I made the two trips and his guides quickly proceeded on their journey up the lakes. The outfitter hung out for a while....seems he had another problem.

It wasn't just the boats he needed help with, he was short a guide.
Seems he was better at booking than business management, we talked.
I figured it out pretty quick why he was so good a booking, he was one of those low ball in the door, $100 an inch, $1000 a foot guys.

For those that don't know that is, you pay a deeply discounted rate for your hunt, if you fail to kill a bear, you go home without breaking the bank.
If you do get your bear, you pay an additional fee of $100 per inch or $1000 a foot. It all hinges on you getting a 10 ft bear and paying 10K, which was the going rate at the time. Not a bad deal if you can get it really.

He was three days into an eight day with his current guests.
One of his guides had become injured and had to be flown out, that'd left him short handed...so he said...
We came to an understanding of how I might assist him in his dilemma.
I'd let his guests “hangout” at the lodge until he figured something else out.
Yeah, that's it.....

He was back with them before the sunset.

He'd brought food, if that's what you call a couple of boxes of canned chicken, a dozen cans of Spam and a host of other items I'd never use.
There was some fresh bread...that was OK...

My dog ate better than this and she wasn't even a real dog.....even our bears ate better than this.....

Is this the way all Alaskan outfitters feed their guests? Good grief!

I still had a freezer full of lodge meats left along with plenty of Moose, Caribou, Kings, Sockeye I even had frozen wild blueberries, cranberries and a few Salmon berries...

The guests were turning out to be better than the food.
It was two old timers, they were life time SCI guys, OMG did they have the stories to tell.
I outfitted for 16 years and these two men had been on more hunts and fishing trips than I'd ever ran.
They told me of 4 different guided hunts and 11 guided fishing trips they'd joined each other on in just the past year alone....

These guys had done it all, name the continent name any species, they'd BTDT.......

They made for interesting company even my dog listened to them talk.

We decided to take a little boat trip the next morning, just to go look around.
We took the field glasses and spotting scope along so we could see stuff.

We were just in the lake a short ways from the lodge when we decided to stop and take in our surroundings...

Looking over the ridge that was right behind the lodge I saw a little bear cutting across a snow field, I pointed it out. The two old timers started glassing away and talking amongst themselves, the one old guy looked at his watch and then me and said, 30 minutes, not too bad.

The old f'er was timing me on how long it took to see a bear!
I was waiting on him to whip out a log book and start jotting down notes, how long, how many, what size.... Yeah, their SCI guys all the way....

I went back to watching the bear, it was a big snow field, the bear which looked to be last years cub was about in the middle of it when another bear appeared on the edge of the ice field behind it. It looked like mom and she was after the cub...

I set up the spotting scope, got everything all adjusted and took another look.
It wasn't mom and it wasn't a cub, it was a big f'n bear and it was chasing a sow. I immediately looked back across the lake to where my den'ed up bear was at, there were tracks.
I spun the spotting scope to get a better look and sure as hell he was up, and he was back tracking his trail from last fall.

There wasn't just tracks, he'd triggered numerous small slides as he'd made his way off the face of that mountain.
With the events of the last two days I'd quit paying attention, surely I'd have seen the tracks yesterday when we were flying up and down the river moving boats, I think anyway..... too busy chatting with the outfitter/pilot guy maybe? Idunno....

What I did know was my bear of a lifetime was again right in front of me and I was stuck with these two guys that wanted a bear...F-ME......

I told the guys the tale, I pointed out the trail on the other mountain where he'd den'ed at, they were intrigued, I was excited....

I was pointing out possible means of attack, where we could most easily get up on the ridge, hell I'd chainsawed out a trail through the alders last fall so I'd be able to get up there more easily. I was ready for this, sorta, just what I was ready for didn't include the company of these two men or anyone else for that matter.

These guys had taken to the spotting scope and were completely enthralled with watching this big boar chase the sow..For a bit there it looked like we might get to see him mount her. God I wanted to get up there really bad.

I was still spewing off a thousand miles a minute about things we could do and ways we could make this happen, we just had to get up there.

The one guy looked at me and said he and his friend had both shot numerous bears but they'd never watched one get laid. He went on to add that he knew what I was saying but neither of them were going to be capable of making it to that ridge, it was a beautiful sunny day, I should just sit down and enjoy it......

I though the top of my f'in head was gonna blow off.....

I bit my tongue, I sank into my seat, I was dying. These guys didn't give rats azz about hunting that bear, they were totally content just watching him.

My disappointment didn't go unnoticed....

They became apologetic , they told me as far as they were concerned this morning alone constituted a successful Alaskan bear hunt, they saw things they'd never seen, they were happy as two peas in a pod.
The bears mean while had disappeared into some trees, the guys wanted to go back to the lodge for some lunch, they started asking about the fishing in the river................................it was a disaster, how'd I gotten myself into this.

You know I've guided a lot of years, being a guide is much like being a prostitute. You sell yourself, soul and all to people who's path you'd never cross in life if they didn't have thousands of dollars to throw on the table for your services.
You kiss their azzes, be nice and tell them how good they are all in anticipation of a quality tip..
I've done this for the better part of two decades and if I had to count how many guys I've guided that I'd invite on a personal trip of my own on my fingers and toes, I might have to take both gloves off but I sure as hell could leave my boots on.

I'm a whore and I was paying the price for it right now.....

We got back to the lodge and put some lunch together, I was thinking of feeding these guys their flippin' spam..I didn't.

We weren't there long and I heard a boat coming up the river...

I went out to see who it was, there were two Lunds and they were loaded with people, a bunch of small kids and a handful of adults.

It was my hunting and trapping buds from Aleknagik, we hadn't see each other in near two months, they'd come to see if I was OK and they had brought their entire families along for the trip.

This would be spirit lifting and man was their timing spot on, I needed it.

Idunno if many of you guys have ever been around true Native types that actually lived a subsistence life in a traditional manner in a remote village.
When it comes to the trapper types, that actually spend their entire winters hunting and trapping there is one thing that shows.

Their kids have cool winter clothes..

As these guys pulled up to my place their boats looked like two loads of furs with tiny little faces peeking out.
The kids all wore traditional parkas with either Wolf or Wolverine ruffs most made completely of spotted seal. A few had fur mukluks as well.

I think it's a trappers pride to have his kids show off the skills of their trades.
The older types typically wear more conventional winter coats but always with a prime Wolf or Wolverine ruff added on and always a Beaver/Spotted Seal winter hat.
There were four men, three women and 10 kids all packed into those two Lunds.

I stepped out to the beach and greeted them, the kids jumped out of their boats and ran around stretching their legs after being all cooped up on the skiffs. They were having a blast playing with my dog who seemed equally excited to have the company, I think she was comparing furs with the kids.
Some of the kids were theirs, others were just friends of their children that wanted to get out of the village for the day. They were all 12 years old or less.

I had explained what I was up to and turned back to the cabin to see the two old men taking photos, I think they were seeing a site they'd never seen before again.

They weren't going to be able to stay long, it was a touch and go, they had to get home. They'd made their way up Lake Aleknagik via a small channel same as I'd done just a couple days before and for the same reasons, they just needed to get out. They'd brought me food, it was my share from our last venture up the lakes. There was some dried Caribou and Pike and a couple of Frozen Whitefish complete with a jar of Seal oil for dipping.

The kids stayed outside exploring the grounds at the lodge and the adults came in by my wood stove and we brought each other up to speed with current events and happening since we'd last been together. The two old men just sat back and listened.

They were soon gone, back in their Lunds and heading down river, I did a head count to be sure they didn't leave me a damn child to care for, I had enough on my hands to deal with.

The old men and I decided we'd do some late afternoon fishing, of course they'd both done it all before.
I talked of the Rainbows and Grayling as well as Char that were in the river, btdt, btdt then I mentioned Pike, they'd both caught one before but never on a fly...

OK, I got something for them, I whipped out a selection of Pike streamers (think Bass) and some Winston and Lamiglas fly rods and let them take their pick..

I begrudgingly took along the spotting scope and binoculars......

We made our way to one of my favorite Pikey sloughs, with the ice just going off the top water action should be good.

I set one rod up with a deer hair mouse pattern the other with a big flashy streamer with a long crystal chanel tail...

Both their first casts were nothing short of amazing, yeah they could cast fly rods but it was the Pike, it looked like a dozen torpedoes dive bombing those two flies, they hooked up immediately...game on..that kind of action continued for a couple of hours.

These two old “done everything” guys were like little kids catching their first fish, they were more than excited.
We were destroying flies, those Pike are viscous and these fish were hungry, they'd had nothing for top water feeding all winter..

We decided we'd had enough fun and headed back to the lodge for a late dinner, I like Piking, I was feeling better..

From a distance I could see my friends were back, both their Lunds were on my beach...
Sure enough, the ice on Lake Aleknagik had shifted and they were stuck, they'd be spending the night.

So that gave me a total of 19 guests at “my” lodge, I fired up the big generator, opened the main lodge along with our largest bunk house and lit that place up.
We had a radio telephone in the lodge, I got it up and running and the ladies called parents and friends to assure them all the kids were OK but they wouldn't be making it home, not tonight anyway.

The native guys got a good fire burning in the lodge fireplace as I showed the ladies around the kitchen and told them of the options of food we had to work with. They were happy to find all my frozen berries and a bucket of crisco Akutaq would be on the menu the kids would like that, hell I liked that, I think we'd all like that.

I told them to go for it use anything and everything the wanted, there was 20 mouths to feed, they prepared the feast of feasts.
I hadn't had anyone cook for me in a while and I found myself looking at a table filled with cooked Moose and Caribou along with Kings and Sockeye.

It was nothing short of fantastic, nobody went hungry that's for sure.
It was an interesting evening, I sat back and watched.

These two old men were heavily engaged with the Native trapper guys sharing their stories of hunting around the world while the native guys would tell of a few of their hair raising trapping events and different hunts.

The whole time the one old man had a 7 year old bilingual Yup'ik Eskimo kid on his knee that was teaching him how to spell and speak basic Yup'ik words.

Talk about people who's lives would never cross paths......
They all found common ground though hunting, fishing and trapping......

The women finished cleaning up the fallout from our feast and put the kids to bed, I think it was around two in the morning before the story telling had subsided and I was able to shut down the generator and put Wood River lodge to bed.

My Yup'ik friends made their way home the following day, the old men never made it out of the lodge, they were beat from the late night.
The next couple days passed quickly, we did manage to get some more Pike on the fly rods though. I showed them how to tie those Pike flies and they even made a few to take home.

I think they had the Alaskan bear hunting trip they'd been searching for, just something they'd never done before.
I believe they were content and happy.
They left me enough of a tip that they could of paid for that 10 foot bear.

Jeff,

You should do a book. These stories are great!

[quote=BigDave39355]

Your writing is outstanding. I don’t have words to express how impressed I’m am. Your flow and pacing is outstanding.

You should write a book.

Boy that ice is no joke on Aleknagik. I flew in to Dillingham and went up to the ramp and got in a boat. I left all of my stuff in the van and was wearing tennis shoes and Levi. Ranger Johnny said it was open in the middle of the lake so we took off trying to get to Bear Bay and before it was over we ended up against the south west shore in a 20 foot Willie predator squashed against the bank by ice. Rather than crawl several miles through the brush I convinced my partner in crime to pull the boat up on the ice and drag it a half a mile to open water. I wasn’t running the boat but had the wits about myself to get us out of a bad spot. I had been awake for 20 hours and wanted to be dry warm and asleep. the ice when broke up was octagon shaped and a foot or two long and maybe 2 inches in diameter.

Jason and others,

Thank you! I'm glad you've enjoyed the little insight these writings might offer of what life in this area can be for some.
I doubt I'd ever pen a book, I'd have to sit in one spot for too long.

You say you can't find the words Jason? Well anyone who has been a member here for nearly 12 years and only made 33 posts and my ramblings draw them out to make their 34th speaks volumes in its self...




Things happen fast and when least expected at times. the following is from a news story I read a few years back..you'll see the relevance......

Two Aleknagik men were rescued by friends just in time last week after spending six harrowing hours out on Aleknagik Lake in the middle of a fierce storm.......................Click for full story

Bruce Ilutsik, 28, and brother Grant Ilutsik, 33, woke in the early hours of Feb. 7 to the sound of their boats banging around in the high velocity winds that affected the majority of southwest and south central Alaska last week. The two brothers rushed out of their home and down to the dock to secure their boats. When they got there, however, they saw that one of the boats had come loose from its fastening and was drifting away out into the lake. The two jumped into another boat and shoved off to go and retrieve the first boat, but the motor failed, leaving the Ilutsik brothers stranded in open water without a working motor. The wind at the time was gusting over 50 mph, and before long, both men were being pushed out toward the center of the lake by large, icy waves created by the strong wind gusts. Allen Ilutsik said they tried to row, but the wind was too strong. Around this time the Aleknagik VPSO Jason Creasey and another villager attempted to rescue the two men using the city's boat but was unsuccessful, as the thick ice and large waves that separated the Ilutsik brothers from their potential rescuers and almost capsized the VPSO's boat. The Alaska State Troopers, who had been notified of the situation, then contacted the U.S. Coast Guard, who subsequently launched a rescue helicopter out of Cold Bay.
Allen Ilutsik said when he and others heard the Coast Guard response was still several hours out, they organized a group to go and get his brothers. By that time, Bruce and Grant had been out in the cold with minimal outdoor gear on for six hours. Some members of the group were part of the community's first responder team and said despite the fact that authorities were suggesting they wait for the Coast Guard response, they needed to move quickly because of the danger of hypothermia.
"When we found out how long it was going to be, we decided they couldn't wait," Allen Ilutsik said. Ilutsik said several members of the group were longtime outdoorsmen and knew how to read the ice conditions on the lake. They drove around to the side of the lake closest to the boat and a group of eight — Ilutsik, Aaron Andrews, Randy Tinker, Ben Tinker, Patrick Aloysius Jr, Robert Christensen, Danny Togiak and Robin Chythlook began moving across the solid ice. Initially, they thought they could use some rescue equipment but the wind was too strong to throw a rope to the brothers. So Ben Tinker and Aloysius, Jr. got in a 10-foot skiff - the very skiff the brothers were trying to rescue initially, which had since been used by Creasey to get back to shore - and the group pushed it out over the ice to where the solid ice became broken. Then Ben Tinker and Aloysius, Jr. got in the small skiff and worked their way through the ice cakes until they got to the Ilutsik brothers. The stranded men got in the small skiff and the four of them slowly worked their way back to the solid ice edge, he said.

Ilutsik said his brothers had dashed out of the house in minimal gear - one had on tennis shoes and no socks, another rubber boots and no socks. Only one was wearing a winter jacket, and both were wet and cold and said they had been starting to get sleepy.
"It sounds like they were just going into the second stage of hypothermia," Ilutsik said.
Both were transported to the Dillingham Hospital for evaluation and treatment, but were amazingly fine even after spending some six hours in the chilling weather.
Ilutsik said the rescuers wish the community's rescue squad had been notified — it would have resulted in a quicker response if they had.
"The outdoorsmen up here are really knowledgeable about ice conditions and that sort of thing," he said.


Ben Tinker always led our winter journeys up the lakes...Don't surprise me at all to keep seeing his name pop up in instances like these over the years. This one is far from the only rescue he has been involved in around the area.

He knew how to pull a bright chrome Sockeye outta the lake in February too!




Before they got the Wood River bridge built just a few short years ago, a whole lot of death was going on every winter crossing on the ice.

Thanks Jeff, very enjoyable read and helps with the cabin fever......

I haven’t been to Dillingham for over 10 years as they finally build a bridge across the wood river wow. The picture doesn’t look like it’s that far up from the head of the Bay. I service the Jackie M In Naknek while they’re working as a tender. It’s such a small world to think that that boat came from Moody’s and now I’m on the other side of the bay and a boat shows up from the first place that I ever worked in Alaska

I use to set in for Rolly and Bev Moody so they could get out of Aleknagik for a little time off in the winters.
Who does the Jackie M tend for, AGS?

Jeff, as with others, thanks for the great reads.

AND IIRC RE book writing, I believe you can record and let others do the leg work....

There was an old post on Tman about a guy who somehow cornered a wolverine in the snow by digging a trench around the patch of snow it was holed up in. He ended up standing on top of the snow over the top of the wolverine. Pretty sure he ended up shooting it through the top of the head.

[quote=JeffA]I use to set in for Rolly and Bev Moody so they could get out of Aleknagik for a little time off in the winters.
Who does the Jackie M tend for, AGS?[/quote
They work for Copper River Seafoods I’ve had the boat for a couple of the last several years I had them and 15 and 16 and I didn’t go back in 17 and I had them in 19 good crew Vitus owns the boat and I see the sistership go by I believe the tender for AGS

Old guy I worked with long, long ago used to spear chrome reds through the ice in a big Su trib...

I gotta lot of Wolverine stories, they are fun catch.
I have abbreviated the crap outta these tales just to keep them from being boring.
It's not like I let that Wolverine get by with wrecking my snow machine you know.

He was living under that cabin, until I went back and evicted his azz....



I could tell a Wolverine tale or two............

I knew I recognized that name but couldn't put my finger on it.
You're at Baywatch, that's first stop on the river you don't have to go very far up the Naknek to deliver.

I did some contract work in that area for a while, like every season between 98 and 2018.
Every time I buzz by that place on my way out to the point they seem busy keeping that freezer plant humming.

Yeah, small world.....

I could see that happening.
We would chum those holes with roe, if the sun was right when you'd peered down into them it was like fish TV.

I suppose we should be calling them Kokanee.
Thanks to a few timely and strategically placed beaver dams some of those ponds out across the tundra can hold sweet surprises.

Nothing like having fresh Red's in the winter....

What a great read Jeff, thanks for taking the time

I'm more concerned about the fate of the Gooney Bird....

That is correct Jeff. We are small potatoes compared to the others but we stay hopping.

Not kokanee... full-size fish with sea lice scars in moving water of the main stem of a fairly large river. I doubt the fish in your picture is a kokanee, too.

It never flew again....the indecent at Nixon Fork Mine was the end of it's life. It died from a broken wing..

Hummm, you're right, they are too big.

The beaver dams that basically land-locked the lake waters we were fishing in might keep the smolt from getting out but they'd offer little challenge to the spawners that chose to jump them to get in....never thought about that..interesting.

Small world indeed. I guided for Justin Johns during the heyday of the Mulchanta herd, early 90’s to 2001

When looking at the map Jeff provided of Wood-Tikchik state park, Justin has Fishing bear lodge on Beverley just before you run up the Peace river. It’s not huge like the other lodges, but for my money Golden Horn and Silver horn are some of the prettiest RE on the planet.

I hadn’t seen or talked to Justin for 17 years until a few days ago. Was on the big Island of Hawaii and went and saw him at his estate in Hawi. He’d invited me to go fishing with he and his son Connor early that a.m. on their boat, but I declined as it was my wife’s last day on the islands.

At Golden horn lodge I saw the prettiest set of Moose antlers I’ve ever beheld. Only 66 or 67 inches, but almost a mirror of one side to the other. Iirc Tikchik ranger Dan killed the moose and left the antlers in the field and the caretaker from Golden Horn lodge retrieved them.


So many stories of those days, but I’m sure enjoying reading others particularly Jeff’s


Great thread Jeff, thanks

Ranger Dan? Justins camp?
I'll give that a little thought, Maybe something will come to mind.....

Jeff did you know the caretaker of Golden Horn ? Can’t recall his name 🤦🏼‍♂️ Had his girlfriend with him that year.

I put a client on a 59 inch moose across from Golden Horn lodge one of those years and the caretaker was good enough to cut it up while I hauled loads to the river. Justin knew I wouldn’t get it all done so he planned to help me finish the next day..

He was pretty tickled we’d gotten it all back to camp. Wouldn’t have happened without that caretakers help for certain

I'm tryin' hard to recall but it's not coming to me.
His younger brother actually care took Wood River lodge one year, I sold him a shotgun.

That guy was at Golden Horn way too long, he got real bushy.
He was an obsessed trapper and got real possessive of the areas he claimed.

He started trying to run the Native guys out of the areas he was trapping.
What he didn't realize was that some of it was owned by these guys, it was their allotments.

The Natives rotated the areas they trapped so they could let it rest after a few years of trapping it hard.
Well four or five years go by and they head back to their allotment and find that he was running traps on their land.
He confronted them and told them he'd been running lines there for the last 3 years so he felt it was his.

He was pretty aggressive about it so they just backed down and let him have it, they just aren't that possessive of real estate.
They all just deemed him as another crazy white guy that'd gone bushy and stayed clear of him and so did I.

There was plenty of good country to be had.

You can't tell me you don't recognize those last photos I posted?
That's Ranger Dan's custom Wooldridge and I'm thinking Justins cabin. He had the nice cedar stack-a-shack didn't he?
I stayed there all the time at the bottom of the Peace.
He had the letter nailed to the wall inside that read "use what you need and leave what you can but be sure to leave firewood" his phone number was on it..

Those other T-1-11 cabins got all ate up by the Quill pigs.

As soon as you guys would get outta there after your Moose hunts I'd roll in.
We overlapped one time, I came up and you guys were still there so I just went up to the top of the Wind.
You were gone inside two days, hell when I got in there the bunks were still warm...lol...

You'd gotten at least one Moose, I saw the carcass up on the south shore of Gloden Horn arm...

Went back up that way for the late season and got this one..

There are a number of winter red runs lacking official documentation...

More wolverine pics please...

Oh for Pete's sake, here is one more...and it's not in the TikChiks...



I'm very hesitant to post trapping photos.
In the past, my stuff has been hijacked by greenies and used in anti-trapping efforts.

Regret selling this one. Wolverine on the stretcher was the one above.

Jeff I recognized Dans boat & thought that might be Justin’s cabin. But he’s made major changes to the place even in the 90s. They now have 5 guest cabins plus the main dining cabin.

Fishing bear was a place I didn’t hang out at much. Once or twice a season if that. Justin didn’t want my grocery gulpin azz anywhere near Darlene’s cooking for very long. I was always up at nishlik or floating the tikchik trying to find animals for the clients


Speaking of the outfitter supplying spam I was gonna say that sounded like Justin & then recalled he wouldn’t be buying high priced spam. “ if you’re hungry go kill something “ 🙄😂

I want to add a video to this thread just so it's included with these stories. I recently posted it in another thread which most of you probably all ready viewed: https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/14465677/1
The thread is about some other mis-adventures in Alaska.

The two men in the video are pretty tough guys, they have a blog that offers more details of their adventures.
In the closing of the video he takes a moment to bust our balls for the winter trail not being recently used after they were told by the winter watchman at Tik Chik Narrows lodge it'd be their best route as they traveled through the area to find broken trail.



This video may also become relevant if I continue writing in this thread.
Life calls and I have some things that are going to keep me busy for a little while right now.

But I have been wrapping my head around composing a story based on a winter trip we went on that was a little different.
There was some good hunting and fishing involved as well as a few interesting characters. We had gone far above the Tikchiks for some end of the season Caribou, things got interesting. We got our fish and Caribou and also found the fastest possible route from Kogrukluk River, north of the Shotgun Hills (refer to map) to Harborview Medical Trauma Center in Seattle. Don't assume anything, you'd never guess what took place.

What a great thread this turned out to be. A thread of awesome stories and interaction with no typical campfire BS thanks for starting it Jeff. Tim

Thanks for the thread guys. I'm too old and all the family within five miles of me except for one grand and great grand 79 miles away. I just don't want to live that far away. It would cost me a wife as well. I won't intentionally do that. Be Well and keep writing. Rustyzipper.