Now it was simply a waiting game. The bear had come back on the same trail last night. I was high in a tree 40 yards off the trail. It was 7 PM and I intended to stay until dark (midnight), hoping the bear would use this trail once more. As always, the mosquitoes were so thick that I wore a headnet, two layers of clothing, and rubber surgical gloves. Still-hunting is torture for me, so years ago I...  Read More

Though walking quietly, with the small amount of noise that I was making i knew that I had virtually no chance of stumbling on this bear in the timber. They say that bears have poor eyesight. This may be true, but I've been 'spotted' on more than one occasion at over 100 yards and had bears take off running away from me. Then, again, there have been a few occasions when they've been closer than 10...  Read More

I had my rifle but I wasn't expecting to see anything. I was on a trail that was a mixture of tundra, black spruce and birch, choked with willow brush. It was impossible to move quietly. When I came to a muddy spot, there was a huge grizzly track in the trail. It was fresh and moving the same direction as me. I only had two days to hunt.  I wondered if he would come back along this same trail. How...  Read More

My kids also grew up loving the snow. At some point every August they could see fresh snow on the distant mountaintops, and there would be a collective, "Yes!" This would be followed by my audible groan. You must understand that the snow doesn't melt away from our yard until early May. How could they be excited to see it coming in August? To me that still doesn't make sense. But then, over half of...  Read More

Winter has always been part of my life. When I say 'winter' I don't mean, "It's chilly outside. Let's grab a jacket."  I mean long periods of everything covered with snow. As strange as it may seem to you, I love winter. But that's because I'm not battling to survive. Because I know that my hardship is temporary, it is much easier to endure. In fact, one of my favorite things is to come into my ca...  Read More

There is something I love about being the first one to make tracks on a fresh blanket of snow. It isn't the trail I've left behind me, it's the untouched landscape before me. It somehow feels like the world in front of me has endless possibilities. It's true that a thousand different things that could trip me up are buried several feet beneath the snow, but I'm living above all of that. In the hig...  Read More

When I say that I've spent hundreds of days on long Alaskan snowshoes, I am not exaggerating. I wore out one pair and patched them up again and again with 550 cord and various lashings. Except for possibly my friend Roger Huntington, I don't know anyone who's spent more time or walked more miles. Snowmachines changed winter travel, didn't they? I love my snowmachine, but there is something beautif...  Read More

'Tuck-A-Duck-Away' (Tuck) was an exceptional bird dog. He loved the water, was utterly immune to cold, and often hunted at temperatures of −30°. After hours of working the willow brush for birds, plunging through deep snow, the only evidence that he was a normal dog was that even he could get tired. When we were between willow patches and traveling rather than hunting, I would break trail for him....  Read More

Every winter hundreds of Alaskans excitedly buy their first snowshoes. Then, they go up into the mountains, spend five minutes plunging through the snow to their crotch and trying to pull their snowshoe up out of the hole, go back to their cars and never go again. Why? Because those cute little and midsize snowshoes need dense snow- the kind you get in states with warm daytime temperatures- the ki...  Read More

After Laura and I got married, I began picking up one good piece of hunting equipment each year. The first year was a Hoyt bow, then a Bibler tent, Sequel raingear, and a Feathered Friends lightweight goose down sleeping bag. The better that I was equipped, the better I was able to endure Alaska's harsh conditions. Are you 'well equipped' for adversity? It isn't hard to get there. Attend a strong,...  Read More

One of the hard things about Alaska is that our hunting and fishing seasons are so short that you are forced to choose between good options. This is why I don't fish Coho (Silver) salmon or hunt ducks in September. Getting a moose or caribou has always been higher priority. But one year when my parents were visiting us in Copper River, I had all of my meat in the freezer early enough to fish. My d...  Read More

This was my first and only attempt to get a Dall sheep with my bow. As a young man I was an avid bow hunter, and had already taken elk, antelope, whitetail deer, black bear, moose and caribou with a bow. I knew what I was doing... but you can't plan the weather. It was August 10th, I was in the Brooks Range above the Arctic Circle, and it was snowing sideways. Everything was perfect except for the...  Read More