The One-Eyed Hillbilly & Steve Neff, On Kodiak Island, AK. Packed up and heading into the bush for caribou, mountain goat, and black-tail deer.
My wife LaDonna is an organizational planning guru when it comes to camping. She wants everything properly packed and planned out all the way down to the menu for each day. On the other hand according to her I am an organizational disaster in my approach to camping (spontaneous I call it). In the Ozarks when I get ready to go, I throw in some supplies and clothes and head out to the woods. If I forget something I simply improvise. It’s just not that big of a deal to forget something. If it turns out to be something we really can’t survive without then within a 30 mile drive the forgotten provisions can be purchased and brought back to camp. My way works fine in the Ozarks and most states in the lower 48. In Alaska however my wife’s organizational skills can be the difference between life and death. The ability to improvise is important when the need arises but careful planning when heading into the Alaska wilderness is the only way to safely and adequately outfit a trip over a hundred miles from the nearest roads, settlements, and/or communications.
Base Camp at the back of Grant's Lagoon facing the north ridge. Notice the bear proof food barrel and the caribou antlers in the frame.
Food, water, clothing, footwear, camping gear, maps, navigational equipment, firearms, ammunition, cutlery, and transportation arrangements are each vitally important aspects that require special attention. Any deficiency in any of these important pieces of the puzzle can spell disaster. There is no jumping in the truck and heading for town (you are over 100 miles from the nearest roads). There are no cell phones to call for help or ask your wife to bring out a forgotten item. For emergency purposes the only communications to the outside world is a satellite phone that is very expensive to rent and operate. Not only that but when you rent it you are given a schedule of the times to use it corresponding with the satellites orbiting overhead. So just because you need to call, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get through. You are truly at the mercy of Mother Nature and one with the wilderness. A remote hunt on Kodiak Island, Alaska is truly an adventure on the edge of the world.
Our two man spike camp two miles up the Ayakulik River valley from Grant's Lagoon.
Kodiak contains one of the densest populations of Kodiak brown bears in the world. Whether hunting bears or not you have to be on the look out for the ominous creatures as you operate within their domain. Food stores and harvested meat stores have to be located outside of your camp in order to prevent roaming bears from raiding your camp. Proper cleaning procedure dictates that you gut your harvest and then move the carcass several hundred yards, if possible, from the gut pile before skinning, quartering and de-boning any meat. During the processing chore it is always a good idea to have one person as a lookout. After the carcass processing is complete you must transport the meat back to the camp and store the cache away from the camp in containers so as to prevent bears from smelling it. But, if a bear finds your cache, it’s his to take and you can only watch and hope he likes it better than you!
Food and water are, of course, vital considerations on an extended-stay trip. Weight is a huge consideration when deciding what to pack. Freeze dried, pre-packaged food is by far the best choice. It is light weight, individual serving portioned, and compact for easy stowing. Each evening you simply add some hot water to the packaging and your dinner is served. Vitamins and individually packaged healthy snacks with good carbohydrate levels for energy are convenient and sensible choices for additional food stores. Also, it is necessary to contain all food stores in a bear proof sealable metal container. As for water a great piece of equipment that saves much weight is a good water purifier incorporated into a water bottle. If you have a good supply of fresh water in your hunting environment you can simply fill the bottle and pure drinking water comes out the end of the straw. When dropping in by bush plane into the Alaskan wilderness food and water are considerations of the utmost importance. If you’ve never been out there then talk to someone that has before you go. Waiting hungry and thirsty for a week before the bush plane shows up to pick you up is at the least very unpleasant and at the worst very dangerous.
Steve Neff cooking dinner on the micro stove. Notice the blue squeeze bottle water purifier - the only source for drinking water in camp.
The next consideration is clothing, footwear and camping gear. Weight, breathability and being water proof are the main considerations. On Kodiak it rains a lot. If your clothing gets wet there is a good chance it will stay wet. A big difference from hunting clothes in the lower 48 is that cotton is not your friend. When cotton gets wet it looses much of its insulating qualities and it is very hard to dry out. Kodiak is also mountainous and, in places, covered extensively with thick brush and muskeg swamps. You will sweat a lot and you will get rained on. Mountain boots, waterproof gaitors, and gore-tex clothing will be your best friends. So, your clothing, footwear, and camping gear need to all be up to the task because in Alaska it’s a whole different ball game.
Finally, adequate and detailed maps, navigational equipment, firearms, ammunition, cutlery, and transportation arrangements are a must. A GPS is a wonder of the modern age for the Alaskan wilderness hunter. Getting lost in the remote country is very dangerous at the least. Quality, functioning firearms and proper ammunition with which the hunter is familiar is a must. As my friend, hunting partner, and Kodiak resident, Steve Neff and I prepare to head into the bush, he will be packing a Remington model 700 chambered in .308 Winchester and topped with a Luepold 4x scope. I will be providing guard duty with a fast aiming Marlin Guide gun chambered in the heavy hitting .450 Marlin. The .308 is a great caliber for the caribou and deer of which we are in pursuit and the .450 is big medicine in case of trouble.
As you read this we will be in the remote southern portion of Kodiak Island at Grant’s Lagoon near Halibut Cove. Isolation and exhilaration as only the Alaskan mountain men of the 19th and 20th century understood is the goal on this hunting trip. We will truly be one with Nature. And, thanks to my wife’s example (and Steve’s) in properly planning and outfitting a camping trip, we are prepared even for the wildcard of extreme weather typical in Alaska in October. From the Emerald Island of Alaska, on the edge of the world, signing off for now - so says the One-Eyed Hillbilly.
Greg Stephens is a 35-year veteran & life-time student of the great outdoors. His column appears weekly in print & online publications. You can email him at gregstephens@one-eyedhillbilly.com. For more columns go to www.one-eyedhillbilly.blogspot.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment