Update! I forgot to mention that I wasn't just any old hairy hippie back in 1970s Laguna Beach, but a balding, Harley-riding, bowhunting hippie! That's how I got the Queen of the Surfer Chicks to follow me first to MT, then to rural CO, where she quickly became the best elk scout and wild game cook in the West. I recommend the experience to all young men!
Seriously, AK is perhaps our toughest state for BHA goals, due to entrenched cultural and political biases. You gotta be tough to stand against those tough folks, and Mark and Dave fill the bill perfectly. In my latest trip up there a couple of years ago, a friend and I hunted with Mark and his son Keane for 11 days solid and hard ... and didn't even see a cow moose! The action of course picked up the day after we left, but I expect Murphy's Law to follow me everywhere. But the point is -- even though we didn't get a moose or even see one, we saw grizzly tracks and digs, a lone set of wolf tracks following moose tracks (lots of luck to that feller), spent an unexpected night bivouaced 2 miles from the Yukon border, while our sleeping bags and food were safe back at the little trapper's cabin we were using for base camp, 10 miles downriver. We caught grayling and built a big fire and it was one of the best nights, and hunts, of my life. We either crave true wildness and are willing to sacrifice for it, or we haven't taken our traditional hunting lives to their fullest realization. I'll see if I can figure out how to post a pic or two here. --Hippie dave