The world in front of me was almost entirely without color. Of course there was black and various shades of white and gray, but no blue sky, no green plants, no flowers, no sun. It was barren and lifeless. The Gulkana Glacier's moraine became more and more desolate as I continued to climb. Sometimes life feels that way, doesn't it? Our circumstances seem gray and dull- lifeless. But as I looked cl...  Read More

Friends of ours flew up from Florida, rented a car, drove far more than 1000 miles, took a bus through Denali National Park, and in all that time never saw a moose. After enjoying dinner at our house, we opened the door to let the dogs out and a bull moose was standing at the foot of our steps. That's Alaska. That's just life, isn't it? It's often said, "There are no guarantees." That is only part...  Read More

My bear was down- one of the biggest interior grizzlies I'd ever run across. Properly skinning a large bear without help is very difficult. It's impossible to hold up a heavy leg, run a knife, and peel hide at the same time. Add to this that I wanted to keep the meat clean. I've hunted by myself for many years and knew exactly what I needed to do. With strong parachute cord around a tree, I was ab...  Read More

It was one of those rare occasions when everything worked out perfectly. I only had one night to hunt. I had seen sign of a BIG bear in the vicinity... and I only had to wait an hour or two before I heard him coming. Unlike that of the bow hunters who 'pass' on many nice bucks- waiting for just the right one- much of Alaska is not 'game rich' country. I often hunt years at a time without seeing a ...  Read More

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