Helped Brian bait up hooks to put out a skate today.  We went out in the morning to set the skate. We’d checked shrimp pots on Christmas Eve, and on the way saw a buck still with his antlers and I thought it would be a piece of cake.  Brian let me off on the beach, around the point from the deer.  The buck was feeding on kelp between a junked boat and an old barge.  I was walking in soft sand with snow on it and made little sound.  As I walked toward the deer, I thought maybe I should take a longer shot so as not to spook him.  I peeked around the end of the boat to look at a shot from some logs that would give me a good rest, but could only see the hind quarters of the deer, which looked like it was still feeding.  I thought it would be simple to get to the old boat, get a rest, and have a short short.  Then I saw the deer bound up across the beach grass and into the woods.  When I got back on the boat, Brian said something startled the deer
away from where I was approaching, so not sure what made him bolt.  He only could have winded me, but could not have seen me.

So today on our way out to set the long line, we cruised the same beach again.  We saw another deer and Brian said it was a buck.    I got into the punt, and could not get my weight centered because I’d sprained my knee and could not get my leg to work properly to get it over the seat bench. I was tipping to the left and just kept on going.  Right into the drink.  With my gun slung over my back.  As I went under water, I saw the ocean come back together over my eyes.  I came up with the shock of the cold water, in my neoprene coat, which pretty much floated me.  After thrashing a bit, I rolled from on my back to get my legs under me to swim, and then stood up.  I was only in 4 feet of water.  I tried climbing back on the boat, short of breath from the cold water.  After what seemed like a long time, but was likely less than a minute, I realized the simplest thing to do was walk to shore, empty the punt, and regroup.  I’d given Brian my gun
when I tried to climb back on, so retrieved my gun from him, and walked in the water to the beach, chambered another shell, and went into the woods to look for the deer. As the deer headed for the woods, I shot the deer right at the edge of the woods, and it lurched and then trotted into the woods. I looked for hair or blood and saw none.  I took a few more steps into the woods and saw the deer could have gone one of two ways.  Then I saw the deer, just a few yards away, wounded, and so slowly went up behind it and finished it.  I dragged him back to the punt, and rowed to the boat.  I thought I was okay to go pull the long line, but Brian insisted we go back home, so I agreed, and he dropped me off, I went in and changed while Brian put the deer in the punt and put the punt on the shore.  I then pulled out the deer, covered the deer with the punt, and we called Ellen to dress the deer when she and Sara returned, as the sun was setting and we had
an hour or more of gear pulling still left to do.  We cruised the beaches on the way to the gear, and saw some more deer but no bucks.   We pulled the gear, and got a pile of dogfish and a few halibut and a cod.  By the time we got home, Ellen and Sara had dressed and skinned the deer, and we were off to another get together – the fourth night of these in a row, and the first one that was not held at Brian and Ellens.  I’ll need to butcher the deer in the morning and deal with fish and maybe head home to Juneau in the afternoon to finally get my traps out this weekend as the wind finally is abating back home.  Brian said he can’t get the sight of me going under out of his head, and continues laughing everytime he thinks about it.

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Mark Stopha
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK  99801
www.GoodSalmon.com 

Weather has been hampering our ability to get out deer hunting much, combined with me not going when I could have. I was going to set traps on Thrus, and decided to wait till we return from Christmas in case the weather came up and I couldn’t check them later this week. That turned out to be a good move, as it’s gales as far out as the forecast goes. I hunted behind the house Friday and today. Was stepping in fresh tracks both days but did not see a deer. You’d think sooner or later I’d stumble on one Snow melted way back with a bunch of rain, and now new snow today. That should be what the ski area ordered, however, as their base was too fluffy.
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Mark Stopha
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
www.GoodSalmon.com

Windy, clear, and a little cold here. Installed an inverter on the big boat yesterday and getting ready to go trapping. Tried a heater that screws in to a 20 lb propane bottle and that will heat the boat fine until I get the red dot heater my friend Ken picked up for off of Craigslist down near Seattle. Love Craigslist. Dyed my traps and put bait on a supply of bottles with holes drilled in them. Going to Craig to deer hunt on Sunday and should be ready to go trapping when I get home.
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Mark Stopha

Alaska Wild Salmon Company

4455 N. Douglas Hwy

Juneau, AK 99801

www.GoodSalmon.com

Day 1 – Left on Chris McDowell’s siener “Marsons” Sat. morngin. Set a long line for black cod. Caught about a dozen each black cod and rockfish. Anchored in Hawk Inlet.
Day 2 – Hunted Hawk Inlet. Saw not even a track in fresh, falling snow. Tied up in Hoonah. Saw old friend Aldwin, who now lives in Hoonah.
Day 3 – Ran to Idaho Inlet. Skiffed the beach from Pt. Adolphus to Idaho and no deer on the beach. Delivered supplies to Idaho Inlet cabin and ran out to Takatz Harbor.
Day 4 – Hunted morning in Takatz Bay in the rain. Came to boat mid-day to warm up. Sun came out, and went to north side of Bay to a muskeg we could see from the boat. Called in a little buck, and missed. When looking for that, saw a big, big buck, and missed again. Chris and Blane got a nice buck and missed 2 or 3 other deer with the buck. Ran to Squid Bay due to forecast and anchored.
Day 5- Hunted muskegs south of Squid Bay in driving rain. Then moved to timber, called up a doe and (Bill) missed at 20 yards. Returned to boat, ran through to Lisanski because of forecast, and when we heard the updated forecast later, decided to run all the way to Juneau. Glad we did. Big winds predicted for a week. On our way from Squid B. to Lisianski, the tow rope to the skiff parted at the stern of the boat, but I’d tied on another line to a loop just ahead of where the line was tied to the stern, and tied a line to the loop with the other end of the line to the stern. The back up line saved the skiff. My skiff looked like a giant had taken the boat, turned it upside down, and shaken it. Even the forward hatch covers came off. But all seemed well after I bailed it out. Another boat traveling north from Salisbury reported losing an 18 foot Bayrunner and a 16 foot lund skiff they had in tow, so we felt lucky.

Saw some great country and a great group to travel with, even though no deer!
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Mark Stopha
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
www.GoodSalmon.com

sign from the beach fringe on up the side of the hill.  Kurt and I saw a deer near the base of the ridge, but could not get a shot.  A little later, I saw two – one went uphill, and the one following it went downhill.  I decided to follow the first one up the hill and have Kurt walk down about 75 yards parallell to my ascent so if I could get above the deer, it might run into Kurt.
 
When I got up a few hundred feet, I saw movement below.  Then a deer. All I could see was the back, and saw it was a big deer.  Could not see the head but sensed it was a buck.  I quickly tried 3 offhand shots with the 30-30, and the deer didn’t flinch.  I was in a hurry because I was worried the deer was going to go around a rock and out of sight, which it eventually did, and I never saw it again.  Of course I went down to that point and saw no sign of hitting the deer, and when I didn’t hear Kurt shoot, I knew we’d lost our chance.
 
Kurt and I got split up at this point, and we both headed down to the beach, hunting alone along the way down.  Didn’t see any more deer but lots of fresh scat.  I got to the beach first, and the wind had shifted and the tide was just flooding up under the boat and rocking it back and forth.  I thought I’d better get it off shore so it didn’t get beat up, so I pushed it out enough to start, then pulled up the anchor and untied the shoreline from the anchor.  I tacked back and forth for about 5 minutes when I saw Kurt coming down the beach.  The wind and surf were now too large to pick him up where we’d anchored, so I tried to get into a stream mouth to get out of the wind enough to pick him up.  It was too shallow in there, so we ended up waiting for the tide to rise under us enough to get out and finally did.  Lots of sealions in the shallows there like there were last week, and still mouthy, barking at us and not really wanting to get out of our
way.    Another good day in the woods.

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Mark Stopha
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
www.GoodSalmon.com