I took the weekend to do some scouting in a section of AK you can only get to by boat or plane. I don't get my resident license until next year so this year is dedicated to scouting hard. I spent 4 days in bear country and a couple evenings up high in the alpine country glassing sheep and goats. I brought a camera this time so I figured I would share some pictures. I hope you enjoy. Boy was my 10 year old dog tired after all those miles and skree scrambles. :-)
Sunset night 1. Around 11 pm. Hammock camping in 30 degree weather is actually pretty comfortable if you do it right.
Mid day a top a ridge. Lots of goat and sheep sign. Spotted some nice ones.
Morning glass on the bay.
Glassing for bears on day 2. Saw 9. Mostly sows with cubs. There are definitely a couple big boys around though.
The alpine Azaleas are blooming up at about 3,000 feet.
Spent some time fishing. Catch and release. Grayling.
Day 3 Hiking through some heavy bear sign hoping for a look at a few. shooting some arrows at stumps and squirrels. Picking out my peak for glassing for sheep and goats.
Getting up to the top of the peak involves about a 200 yard scramble over skree and some pretty technical bouldering/sketch climbing... Careful is the name of the game on this adventure. The view from the top is pretty stunning. I stayed up there for several hours just taking it in and glassing for goats and Dall Sheep.
Another shot from the same peak.
Back at camp. A 10 year old pup all tuckered out. He must have put on 50+ miles over the 4 days. Lots of food lots of water and long naps in the evenings.
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My favorite pocket knife.
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Much to my surprise I did not see any brownies. Nor did I see any sign of them. The amount of black bear sign I saw makes me hopeful for the upcoming season. I spotted some trophy moose. I will be putting in for the goat/sheep draw for this area as well next year. There are some good animals in these mountains!
Thanks for taking a walk with me.
Msturm