Little White Buffalo

Score! I got the invite to accompany my boss (Jerry Ralston) and his friend Frank on a last day Mountain Goat hunt out of Seward. Jerry’s got an awesome boat appropriately named the Shiz-All. We left town at noon on Thursday, hit the docks, and made a wake for a cove for the night. Boyhood stories had me thinking of sleeping like pirates on the water. The toughest part of this hunt was trying to sleep with those guys ripping it up with their snoring all night. But I managed to tough it out and make it through.

We spotted one goat that first night and in the morning we motored around the point of the penninsula – goats where everywhere on the cliffs. And they’d chosen a good spot to hang out. It was impossible to shoot from the boat due to waves making you unsteady and there was no place to put the dingy ashore in order to shoot from the rocks. Those goats were safe, and there were some really nice billies scattered about. That was enough “road hunting” by boat so we headed back to get some feet on the ground and give it a real effort.

We’d seen one goat back up a side drainage when we first started so we pulled in to give him a better look. He seemed to be accessible and a decent enough of a lone billy, so Jerry and I went ashore to give it a whirl. We only had to hike 600-800 yrds for the stalk. It was lots of fun. We pushed through brush, crawled under spruce branches and worked our way to 300yrds from him. He was on top of a sheer cliff and in a spot that we determined that we could get to if Jerry could make a shot that crumpled him right there. I don’t know goats very well, and other than being confident he was a billy, I guessed he’d go 7 inches. Jerry gave him a look over in the spotting scope and said he’s a shooter. He then made the shot (left handed due to terrain and our place of set up) and flopped the goat over just perfect. Then it happened. I still can’t figure it out in watching the video, but that goat seemed to hit a spring board and flipped right back over…gave a couple rolls and slides, then went airborne. It wasn’t something we wanted to see happen but he fell a long, long ways. Ahhh nuts.

We recovered him completely and I was glad to do the majority of butchering and packed that whole goat back to the dingy. That felt like I got to give Jerry the complete effort of me being Sherpa boy since he’d let me play hooky from work for a couple days. We celebrated that night back in Pirate Cove over our last day, one day hunt for this beautiful mountain goat. Oh yeah, I’m pretty happy with my guesstimation of this goat…he taped out at 6.5 inches. The coat of an October 15th goat is amazing. They sure are pretty out there and have the resembling appearance and stature of a little white buffalo more than a typical farm style goat.

Bears on Berries

Every time we were up in this country looking at this bear, we figured he was too far back in there for a day trip hunt. I’ve watched this bear for the past month while he was up in some high mountain tops feeding on berries. We’d been in the area multiple times in the evenings or on an afternoon hunt and figured he was just too far to try and go get after. I actually blew a stalk on a smaller bear a couple weekend ago after he and I (unknown to each other) circled a rock while 12 yards apart. When he got down wind of me that was it.
So a week ago on Sunday (October 10th), a buddy (Matt Tobin) and I headed up early to see whether we could accomplish getting on this guy in one long day. It’s getting cold up high and there was plenty of snow back up some of the valleys setting up for a gorgeous backdrop to our adventure. Sure enough we found the bear right away and the funny thing is he’d been in the same 500yrd radius for several weeks. After spotting this bear from a couple miles away, Matt says, “I’m going to get you some 3x power binoculars so you can’t glass up animals that far away.”

It was too cold to sit around very long so midday found us climbing up the left side of the ridge the bear had worked over towards. Matt was good for several comments on this trip, another one being, “this mountain is so steep we’ve got to squirm our way up it on our bellies.” After making the ridge we soft stepped it along peaking over the edge and looking in the crags until we spotted him down below us. He was less than 150yrds and easy pickings with the rifle, but I wanted to make a try of it with the bow…so I picked out an approach. Before I knew it I had closed the distance to 50yrds and with the bear totally clueless of us being in the vicinity, I waved Matt to come closer and get a good view to run the video camera.
That bear was so intent on stuffing berries into his belly for his winter nap, that I felt like I could get as close as I wanted. At 20yrds I figured that was enough and stood up for the shot. When I let the arrow loose it sailed right over his back…sheesh, not sure what part about shooting straight down I didn’t recognize. That whole bend at the waist thing didn't registar at that moment. So, the bear was now on alert, but looking downhill where the arrow had buried itself in the ground. I readied another arrow and this time the arrow flew true.

It was a perfect shot, and the bear turned and ran right at me! This is where a guy with a stick and string feels really secure in his ability to defend himself. There was a brief moment of panic with the thought of “nuts, he’s charging me!” But I quickly calmed down knowing that the bear had no idea I was around and I kept myself on that rock ledge as he passed by at less than 10yrds. He went over the ridge and we found him shortly after at the base of a little cliff. He’s a really good bear – amazing hide, and a great noggin. The skull measured out at 18.5 inches so we'll see after the drying period....

Hiking out, we’d hoped to make the main trail by dark. That was hoped for but turned out to not be reality…we loaded up the packs and started the hike out at 8pm (just as it got dark). It was a late night…we made the trailhead at midnight, pushing us into the next day. So, yeah, that bear really was too far away for a one day trip. It would have been nice to camp out up there, but without a tent or sleeping bags that would have been chilly. Instead we’ve got another great story of making the most of a opportunity while hunting in Alaska. This was my first fall bear and I’m totally hooked. Stalking these bears with the bow in the high country is incredibly fun stuff. And there’s something special about the colors fading, the cold crisp air, and ice forming in the brook on a clear sunny day of October that makes me stop and join with the sigh of nature as it gets ready for a winters rest…saying good job God.

Thanks for Hope

The latter half of September was a no go for any other hunts. A tragedy struck on September 12 when a buddy of mine (along with three others on board) crashed his plane while taking off after a recent moose hunt. I got a phone call that Wes was pretty banged up and Liz and I made the hospital shortly before the doctors dumped a terrible verdict on everyone. A broken neck and immobile from the below the neck is not the sort of thing that happens to your close friends…it’s always random people in the news. Liz and I passed on her end of the season sheep hunt to spend that critical first week with everyone (friends and family) at the hospital. We figured the only regret we’d have had was not being there for them…that proved to be true. Thanks to miracles, doctor’s handiwork, and God’s amazing grace and inner workings, and doggoned determination by Wes, he is now in Colorado starting his rehab. It’s still looking like a long road to recovery and we’re hoping to be continually amazed at what God keeps doing with this situation. The lives He’s touched and changed through this has already been amazing. It’s been a wonderful thing to see folks come together and support Wes and his family and friends throughout this ordeal. It’s been a great example of the best in people, the love of God, and we were glad to have been able to give what little we could offer in being a blessing in whatever way we could.

Keep Wes Price, his wife Jocelyn, and baby Ty in your prayers as we’ll wait to see them in a few months time from now.

I’m reminded of this; To live without Jesus is to live without hope…and to live without hope – well, that’s no way to live.