One marten and one mink. Again, another trap totally gone, and I did not find it this time. It was at a different spot than the earlier one. Lots of tracks on the beach with the new snow, so I know there’s fur around and exciting to see as I walked in to my sets. Saw two big deer between Pt. Young and Olivers on the beach. Could not put the sneak on. One looked nervous as I rode by. I pulled into the beach out of sight, and by the time I walked back to the spot they were gone. I tried calling up in the woods, but no luck. It was so crunchy I didn’t think I’d have much of a chance chasing them.
–
Mark Stopha
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
www.GoodSalmon.com

I looked at the weather forecast, and saw today was going to be good, so got permission from my boss to take off mid-day to check traps and see if Matt could find a deer along the way on the beach.

It was a beautiful sunrise and partly cloudy day, and the temperature about freezing. My traps were on Admiralty, so we first cruised the backside of Douglas before crossing to Admiralty, but saw no deer.

The first trap had a nice male marten in it in the 120 conibear that was set on a moss covered log. I pulled out the marten, reset the trap, and blew on the deer call a few times to see if any deer were around. They were not. The snow was patchy, but fairly deep in places, and I lumbered through, post holing at some spots.

The next trap was sprung, and it looked like maybe the bait was so close to the trap the animal might have swiped at it and sprung the trap. I reset it, and continued down the beaches, looking for deer, checking trap after trap. As we approached the beach at the last one, we could see the newspaper tube on the ground, and thought we had another animal. When I got up to the tube, the trap was not there. I looked around in the woods for awhile, with no luck. A boat was anchored off shore, and a punt on the beach that brought the hunters to shore. On the off chance that they took the animal and trap, I eased down through the woods, came out at their punt, and was relieved to see no marten. I headed back to our skiff, this time on the beach. I continued looking along the tideline when there it was – a nice large male mink in the 120. Still not sure what could have happened, since it look like it instantly killed him at the neck. Maybe an eagle
tried to carry it away or something. In any case, the mink was not molested in anyway I could see.

It was flat calm running home. I expected to be gone 2 hours, and it turned out to be more like 5 and a half, so I’ll have to make up the work hours later this week. But it was well worth it, with the calm water, snow clad mountains, and a good day on the water.
–
Mark Stopha
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
www.GoodSalmon.com

We beach hunted again today. Did not see one deer. A friend was also out and they saw just one small one. Rain and breeze might have kept the deer inside the woods. Ron and 3 of his friends were at a forest service cabin on Admiralty for 4 days. 4 grown men brought no propane for their cook stove, so we took them some propane. Ron had to wade and walk out about 100 yards to get to us as we arrived at low tide and there’s a big tide flat there. So, we did accomplish that for the day. They had 2 deer in camp from the day before, and Ron had heard 2 shots already that day.
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Mark Stopha
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
www.GoodSalmon.com

Bob Bang and I took the skiff around Douglas Island today beach hunting. We left one vehicle on north Douglas, launched the skiff on south Douglas. We headed down Gastineau Channel, across to Pt. Arden to Doty’s Cove, then hit the beach and headed north again. We were in the lee of the south wind along the beach, and it was glassy calm with a light rain and foggy.

The first deer we saw was spooky and headed to the woods before we could get to the beach, and we did not pursue it further. We then saw 2 deer – I thought does – on the beach near a creek mouth. There was an obstruction that we could get behind to shield us from the deer, so I got to that, and Bob go out to go up for a shot. Both deer went into the woods and Bob went in after them. Meanwhile, I tended the boat, which was almost grounded on the creek mouth delta. I got out, and pushed and pulled to get it to deeper water on the ebbing tide. Of course, here comes a buck chasing a doe down on the beach. I could not get to my gun in the boat, and I hollered to Bob that there were deer back on the beach. The doe went back up in the woods, with the buck on her tail. Bob said he saw them but could not get a shot. I had Bob hold the boat and I gave chase and blew the deer call, but no luck.

We boarded the boat and headed up the beach. Not far, on the other side of the creek mouth, was a nice buck feeding on the beach. I put Bob on the beach for a shot. I suggested he get a rest, as it was a pretty long shot, but he was kind of excited, and tried two off hand shots – both clean misses. I drew down as the deer went into the woods, but did not fire.

Turns out those were our chances. We didn’t see anymore deer, but what a great day hunting the Tongass in glassy water in the misty rain and fog.
–
Mark Stopha
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
www.GoodSalmon.com

We went to southern southeast Alaska to Sara’s family’s home for Thanksgiving. We left a day early, and after arriving in Ketchikan, learned and saw that further flying over to her sister’s home was iffy. Snow squalls were moving through. Our flight over was scheduled for 9:15 am, but we were delayed hour after hour waiting for weather. The desk person said it looked like we’d go over on the 115 pm flight with several others on that flight. Then the Alaska Air flight that many of those people were on was delayed, and so we waited for them as well. Finally, at 2 pm we took off. About 2/3 of the way over, we went through some thunder clouds – pretty rare up here. We hit one pocket of wind, and would all have been airborne from our seats without belts. We broke through the other side, and it was patches of blue sky and pockets of low clouds. I wasn’t sure if he’d be able to see the airport or not. We flew around the outside and finally made the
approach. We were coming in really hot in the single engine airplane, but the pilot greased the landing, and I barely felt the wheels touch. The snow was really coming down. It was the last flight in, and they put the airplane in the hangar while we waited for our ride. One lady in the airport learned her flight was canceled, and since there were no flights going out till the day after Thanksgiving, she was staying put for the duration. She took it in stride, and made calls to family and connecting flights to make cancellations and apologies.

The next day was a pretty nice day. Little wind, and little precipitation. We started cruising the beaches. With so much snow on the ground, the deer would be coming to the beach to find kelp or uncovered browse to eat. We soon started seeing deer, but the first 10 or so were all does and yearlings. It’s bucks only here, so we kept searching. We saw our first buck late in the morning. A fork horn. It looked like it was browsing on kelp, with a big piece hanging from it’s mouth as it ate. When we looked closer, we realized it was not kelp, the poor deer’s jaw. The lower jaw had been shot off, and was hanging from its mouth. It was an easy decision to make this a mercy killing. The deer ended up looking just fine when we butchered it, so the injury must have been recent since there was no way the deer could eat.

My brother in law’s friend and I were dropped off at an island where they kept some four wheelers, and he and I went up some logging roads while my brother in law pulled logs off the beach for firewood. He gave me directions on where to go, and he went in another direction. I saw some fresh tracks on the road, and as I rounded a bend, I looked down and saw a deer. I stopped the rig, walked back, and saw it was a doe. Or was it. I looked closer, and saw it barely had little knubs coming up – sort of a button buck. I drew down, clicked off the safety, but decided to let it go. It looked like we’d see other bigger deer. The higher I got up the island, the less the tracks. Nice muskegs up there which must be great early in the season, but the deer were in the timber, now.

I met back up with my hunting partner, who had a nice fork horn on his machine. He said he called from the road, and the buck came right down out of the timber and he shot it right near the road. We had another hour, so he sent me up another side road. I came to a place where there was all timber above, and a line of timber along a creek with a clear cut on either side of the line of timber. I found a spot near the road in on the side of the big timber, and called. Soon, a doe came down hill to me. I saw the flash of another deer that I thought might be a buck, but it was a small yearling, kicking its heels up playing in the snow behind its mother. I moved up the road a hundred yards and called in the line of timber on the creek. Another big doe came in, but no buck.

I returned to the landing, we put the weather covers back on the 4 wheelers, and my brother in law soon arrived in the boat. We continued scanning the beaches. High tide had passed, and the sun came out. As the tide ebbed, deer started hitting the beaches in earnest. We saw a nice buck on a beach, and as we approached, another bigger buck came out, and then we saw the doe they looked to be following. The first buck was limping, and we later found no wound, but theorized he and the larger buck had been sparring over the doe. We took both bucks, and as we dressed them, the doe did not want to leave. It just stayed there wondering where her suitors had gone. The bigger racked deer was a 4×4 with eye guards, and a very large bodied-deer.

We came to another beach, and first saw a spike with large single antlers. I then saw another deer coming down the beach with the naked eye, the sun shining on it’s hide and easy to see against the black sand on the beach. It was a little larger than the spike, so we took that deer, and the spike went into the woods. It’s hard to stop hunting on days like this, when the deer are easy to come by, but we did and headed home, as being late for Thanksgiving dinner would not go over well.

We came to house in the boat. I jumped off, and the other two backed off. One by one, they tied a line around a deer’s head, threw me the line, and I pulled the boat to the beach. This really worked well to sluice the deer and clean out the body cavity. I then threw the line back, and we continued until all the deer were to shore. Then, Sara’s sister brought down the skid steer to the beach, and I loaded the deer into the bucket. She took the deer up to the hanging shed, and I hung the 5 deer among the 3 already hanging.

The next day was butcher day. My BIL and I tried skinning the deer with the skid steer by tying the head to the back of his dump truck by the head, and pulling the hide off with the skid steer. It didn’t work to well. Only one deer hide came off easily. I think the problem is we hit all the deer in the neck – it’s how we do it here to limit meat damage – and this made this system of skinning not work too well. I saw on an internet description of it that this could be the case.

We skinned deer and started butchering. Our hunting partner came by and took one deer and skinned another for us. Sara and her sister wrapped, while my BIL and I butchered. It took us some 14 hours to do all the deer, and it was nearly 11 pm before we finished with 7 or more deer. We butchered the 4 from yesterday, plus the 3 in the shed, plus some that were hanging in bags. THAT was a long day, but we’re set for meat for awhile. We gave away quite a bit this fall to our friends and family, and I also hunt for an 80 year old friend in Petersburg. Even though the freezer was looking a bit bare, I wasn’t worried. Seems we can give away most of whatever we have and when things get low, I get lucky and score a pile of fish or deer or grouse or whatever. I think it’s called Karma.
–
Mark Stopha
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
www.GoodSalmon.com

Matt and I went hunting over the long weekend. The first day was very promising. We got one deer that came to the call. Matt shot first, and missed. The deer ran a few yards, stopped and looked back at us quartering away. I aimed and shot with the 30-30, dropping the young buck with a shot to the neck.

We dressed the deer, marked the location on the GPS, hung the deer and continued hunting. We called in another deer further up the hill, but neither of us got a shot. I saw the deer as it came up the hill next to me. It suddenly stopped, but never looked my way. I thought it would keep coming, so held off shooting. That was a mistake. The deer turned and trotted away. I think it saw Matt looking down at it from directly uphill of where it was headed.

We left there and worked our way back to where we left the deer hanging. I tied it on my Bull Pac frame, and we started down the hill back to the beach, calling at good looking places on the way back. I called up a deer to Matt, and he was not able to get off a shot before the deer left. Three deer called in in one day – a banner day for us.

We headed over to our cabin from there, and left the deer in the boat under cover to let it continue to cool.

On day 2 we hunted Admiralty. We saw plenty of sign and buck rubs, but never saw a deer. When we got out to the beach, the boat was gone! The bow line had come untied at the anchor chain. Miraculously, the wind blew the boat onto a beach in a cove about 1/4 mile away, and it beached itself on the tide. If it hadn’t, it might still be bobbing on it’s way to Petersburg.

Matt and I emptied the boat to reduce the weight, and collected beach logs for rollers. We muscled the boat up onto the logs, and after a lot of work, we were able to roll the boat down the logs and back into the water. We reloaded the boat, and I noticed the drain bung area was leaking.

When we got back to the beach of the island where our cabin is, we let the boat go dry on the ebbing tide. I had epoxy just for this circumstance. I mixed it in my hands, and put it all around the bung inside and out. We left it dry, and returned at high tide about 10:20 pm, and found the epoxy had set up well.

The next day was pouring rain and windy. We both were tired from all the problems the day before, and decided to have a cabin day listening to football.

On Sunday, we went back to the area we hunted day 1, but did not see a deer. We lucked out on the weather as the forecast was calling for 30kt winds, but they did not materialize, where we were, anyway. We made it home without further incidence, wet and cold and glad to get 3 good days of exercise in the Tongass rainforest.
–
Mark Stopha
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
www.GoodSalmon.com