I went to my first spill today at Milne Point. A tank of heavy oil (oil and sand slurry) gave way, exceeded the containment under the tank, and spilled onto the surrounding ice and snow pad. By the time we arrived, much of the oil had already been recovered. What was left was under a building that was raised off the ground about 8 feet. The oil under it was too thick and cold to pump off. So I assisted 2 others in putting up a wall of plastic around the spill. With the bottom of the building serving as the ceiling to this tent, the oil spill crew will put heat into the tent to heat up the oil and melt the snow. Then, apparently they’ll add water to the oil so the mixture can then be sucked up into a tanker. Remaining stained snow will be recovered and put into a special unit to separate the snow from the oil.

The weather was pretty nice for the winter – about 10 degrees. But the winds kicked up about 6 pm, and it was a bear getting the last third of the walls tacked up with battens and a screw gun

We saw several caribou today, as well as fox. The caribou are either solitary or in pairs. You see them pawing the snow away to get at the tundra below. The real troopers are the foxes – both arctic and red. I don’t know what they find to eat this time of year, but obviously something sustains them, as they are a common sight along the roads, and look to be in good health.

–
Mark Stopha
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
907-463-3115
www.GoodSalmon.com

Back up to Prudhoe Bay today. It was -25 degrees F. when I stepped off the plane about 11:15 am. We flew up from Anchorage, and it was clear most of the way. We had the sun at our tail for most of the way, and then it was gone – I guess right when we passed the Arctic Circle, as that’s part of the Circle’s definition.

When I got off the plane, the short walk to the airport somewhat took my breath away. By the time I’d walked the 30 yards, my jeans felt like they were freezing hard. I remember these characteristics from my days going to school at the U. of A. in Fairbanks.

Although there was no sun per se, it was light, and it looked like a sunset all day, with the moon also visible all day/night. Although it was -25, there was no wind, and after I got on some thermal underwear bottoms and a heavy coat and facemask, it was comfortable. So much so, I volunteered to shovel out a big snow drift in front of our shop door. My work partner reminded me we’d started our hitch on prime rib night, so I wanted to whet my appetite with some real work.

It’s been almost 3 months since I was here, and it felt good to be in what is becoming my home away from home. The north slope looks alot more populated in the winter. In the summer, there are no lights, since the sun never sets. In the winter, there are lights all the time, so a person can see every well-house pad, living quarters, etc., and it looks like industry all around.

It’s good to be back.

–
Mark Stopha
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
907-463-3115
www.GoodSalmon.com

Ron and I set out to our cabin on Friday. We awoke Saturday to new snow and sunny weather, and headed over to Admiralty to deer hunt. We went to one of our usual landings where the skiff would be safe from the wind. The tide times were perfect, as a “tided” boat at this time of year can be very uncomfortable – our skiff is not moved by only 2 people due to it’s weight, so if the boat goes dry, you have to wait till the tide comes in, and when the weather is 20ish, that means building a fire and getting lots of wood to keep it going.

Anyway, I was not far from the beach when I hit what I knew were fresh tracks from a sizeable deer. A series of beaver ponds cross from north to south along the point we were hunting, which juts out with sides from east to west. The tracks went to the first pond, and I decided to walk the water side of the ponds south, then cross the ponds at the other end and return on the hill side of the ponds.

The weather was sunny, and fresh powder. There were deer tracks everywhere. I worked along the relatively open alleyway (about 30 yards or so wide) between the ponds and the dense brush dowhill from the ponds. I can’t remember a better day in the woods. The walking was easy on the fresh snow, which was atop a hard crust of snow about 6 inches deep. I otter slides in several areas. The otters slide along the top of the snow, and it looks like someone dragged a bowling ball behind them. Every few feet in the trail, there are a pair of paw prints where the otter pushed itself to continuing gliding through the snow.

I worked my way down the side of the ponds, seeing fresh tracks which all seemed to lead down into the brush at some point. I didn’t follow those tracks, as I didn’t think I’d have much chance of seeing deer in the brush. I kept to the open area, where I could see out to the ponds, out to the brush, and ahead in the open area. I’m always surprised to see lots of tracks in the snow but no deer, but it keeps you interested to keep seeing tracks. I remember going out a few years ago in similar conditions, but with a longer sustained period of snow cover, and seeing no tracks because of the high deer mortality caused by the deep snow.

When I got to the far side of the point, I crossed the ponds to head back towards the boat on the uphill side of the ponds. I saw my first deer about half way across the ponds. It was a large deer that was either a big doe or buck that had shed its antlers. I tried calling it back with my homemade deer call, but the deer wouldn’t come. I couldn’t see exactly where it ran to, since there were multiple fresh tracks, so I went on to the other side and thought maybe I’d see it along the side of the ponds I was heading to.

I worked my way across the ponds, then up the hillside a ways. On the uphill side of the ponds, the ground gradually rises until it meets an abrupt incline of about 50 yards, which goes up to another brushy plateau that again gradually runs uphill. I worked my way along the base of this incline, where I could look downhill toward the ponds, and see any deer that tried going up the incline. Less than 30 minutes after the first deer, I saw a second deer sneaking up the incline. I didn’t see it’s head, and it looked like a small deer. I walked up it’s tracks on the incline to see if I could see it. It had continued up into the thick brush, and so I returned to the base of the incline and continued toward the boat.

Perhaps and 30 minutes later, as I was working along the incline, I looked down onto the flat area, and did a double take. Many times in a day I will see what looks like a deer head, a deer torso, or deer legs in the brush, only to look closer and see it’s just a snag or deadfall. This time it wasn’t. Sure enough, there was a medium-sized doe looking uphill at me. I could tell the deer wasn’t nervous, as I had been walking parallel to the deer, and so it assumed I’d just walk on by as I never walked towards it. I found a rest, and cranked the scope from 3 power up to 9 power. I then had to look away from the scope a couple time, find the deer, and then find it in the higher powered scope.

The deer was looking directly at me, and was slightly quartered away, behind a deadfall. I only had the upper shoulders, neck and head to shoot at, which was fine as neck shots are always best since they are drop-kill shots and ruin the least meat. I put the crosshairs on the neck a few inches under the chin, and fired. Then I looked up, the deer was not in sight and I assumed I’d hit it as I could not see it running anywhere.

I lined up where I was with where I shot, and walked down to the area. Of course there were tracks all around. I got to where I thought the deer was standing, and could not find it. I got to thinking maybe I missed cleanly and the deer ran off, and was just about ready to return to where I had shot to take another look, when I went just a little further, and there the deer lay in the fresh snow.

It’s always kind of weird to walk up and find a deer laying on the ground. After rarely seeing them, they almost look out of place, when of course, they aren’t. I field dressed the deer, put my dragging rope around it’s neck, and decided to try dragging the deer back to the boat in the new snow, rather than butchering it there and putting the meat in my pack. The deer dragged easily, like pulling a small kid on a sled through new snow. I was back to the boat in about half an hour, just as Ron was coming up from the boat to see if I needed a hand.

We returned to the cabin, and the wind was picking up. We’d planned on maybe hunting part of the next day, and then returning home. The next day, the wind was howling from the north, and it was so cold and windy that both of us decided we wouldn’t hunt that day. We returned to the cabin and read old Alaska Journal and Alaska Sportsman magazines. The next day the weather was worse, and even though the night before we had pledged to at least hunt the next day if we couldn’t get home, the boat was bobbing so heavily at it’s anchorage we knew it would be a chore to get the boat to shore, a chore to get it back off shore and started, a chore to get the boat anchored off again wherever we went, and a chore to get back on the boat after hunting. The wind was smoking, and I didn’t think the deer would be easy to find and likely not moving. So, it was an easy decision not to hunt again. We cut up some firewood, kept the cabin wood stove full, and did some
more reading.

We listened to the radio all day for these 2 days, and I was concerned to hear that Hamas and Israel were at war. My wife is in Cairo, and that concerned me with the battle going on over there. She was with our friends, though, and couldn’t have been in better hands as far as being with people who know what to do if things go wrong, as one of our friends is a seasoned Middle East radio reporter.

This morning, the winds were again smoking, but the forecast had caused for a slight shift from northerly towards the east. The northern most point of Admiralty Island is Pt. Retreat. On one side of Pt. Retreat is Chatham Strait, and the other is Stephens Passage. There is a weather guage there. The local weather reported the winds were 30 kts, with gusts to 50 there, so we thought for sure we were in for another day at the cabin. However, when we went out to check, we saw that the winds had shifted slightly. Whereas the past 2 days the winds were blowing down Stephens Passage, which we had to cross to get back to Douglas Island, they were now running down Chatham Strait.

We quickstepped it down to the boat, and took on the first task of removing all the kelp that had built up on the line that the boat was tied to off shore. We loaded up the boat, and were pleased when it started. Ron checked the gas can, and topped it up so we had a full tank for the crossing. As we headed out into the chop to cross Stephens Passage, I called our friend Terri to let her know we were starting to cross. The earlier day, I called her husband and asked him to check the house. I thought I had left the water running so the pipes wouldn’t freeze, but wanted him to check as the cold spell was on.

As we crossed SP, we were in the trough of the waves, which were moving from north to south. The spray immediately froze to the windshield on the canvas cover. Luckily, the steering station on the boat is on the downwind side, and left me just enough of a window to continue to see where we were going.

We crossed without incident, and called Terri when we got to the otherside. After going over my boot trying to get the boat on the trailer, we were on our way. When we arrived home, I noticed the snow cleared from the tiny door that accesses our crawl space, and realized perhaps our pipes had frozen – which they had. I had called Jeff and another friend and left messages for each to look at the house. When they found the pipes frozen, as luck would have it, Jeff’s son had done some work under our house when he was much younger, since it’s a very tight space. He knew where the water line was, and Jeff did exactly as what needed to be done, and put a little space heater inside that door next to where the water line emerges from the ground, and the pipe thawed in short order.

I took Ron and the frozen deer to Ron’s house, as it would thaw in his heated garage so we could skin and butcher it. I returned home, and was relieved to find that Sara had sent an email and was, so far, just fine, although our reporter friend had to cancel a trip with Sara and his wife down the Nile to cover the war. I also was happy to see I had a start date for work on the north slope, as I’ve been anxious to get back to work – especially since deer season ends tomorrow.

–
Mark Stopha
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
907-463-3115
www.GoodSalmon.com

It finally warmed up into the 20’s, and we got a few inches of snow yesterday. I hunted behind the house today in the new snow. It was sunny and quiet. Someone else had been up there before me, but I saw no sign they took a deer. I cut at least 2 sets of tracks – and that’s not many. Deer numbers are likely still down from the past 2 heavy snow winters. This year hasn’t been too bad, and the snow depth was less than 12 inches in the woods. We hope to get over to our cabin this weekend for a few days of hunting and relaxation over there.

–
Mark Stopha
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
907-463-3115
www.GoodSalmon.com

Quite a day on my way out of Bolivar. First, I went to have coffee with my old friend from Fairbanks. I stayed with him when I first arrived in Alaska. He was born and raised in Bolivar, and took his wife and family up to Alaska in about 1968 to be a teacher. He also did some gold mining, worked on the pipeline, and worked for the teamsters. He was at his childhood friends home, who was also the town barber and a school bus driver. His daughter and my sister Julie remain close friends.

I returned to where I was staying, said my goodbyes, and then headed to Dempsey Pipe, where my close friend Pat, along with his brother Pete and wife Kate, run the pipe business his great grandfather started during the oil boom days. I try to wear their hat in any photo I take for publicity.

I saw a few baseballs sitting on the file drawer, and saw that one said “Babe Ruth 1929”. I took the bait: are these for real? Sure they are, replied Pete. Then I looked at the Willie Mays signature – only it was signed “Willy Mayes”. They then fessed up and said the balls were the work of their older brother Mike. When we were kids, I took a pool cue up to Dempseys table in their basement. When I returned a few weeks later, Mike informed me that “Any cue left on the premises became property of the ownership”.

I headed up to my sister’s in Geneseo, where they invited some friends over for dinner. One had a brother who was in the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone, years before I arrived. Next on to my sister in Pittsburgh, where I watched my niece and 3 nephews favorite show with them for at least 2 hours: Top Chef, of all shows. They knew all the rules, etc., and by the end of the show, I was captivated like they were. Final stop was at my brother’s. I watched half of the Buff State-Ball State Mac championship with my nephew, and headed to bed. Buff State took ’em.

On my way out, my brother handed me Tim Russert’s book “Me and Big Russ” – I think that’s the name. I read it all on the trip from DC to Seattle. What a book. It might have been written about my family in my town, except for the Catholic school part. My dad and grandparents were from Buffalo, like Russert, and I caught alot of what he experienced there.

–
Mark Stopha
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
907-463-3115
www.GoodSalmon.com

Steve (another classmate), Buzz (Pat’s dad) joined Pat and I deer hunting in the woods on the edge of town. Pat put us along the side of the hill, then went into the woods along the creek that runs adjacent to the school and athletic fields, as that’s where he said he knew the deer were. He didn’t take his gun or wear blaze orange, since hunting this close to the school would not be kosher nor probably legal. Pat guessed if he pushed any deer, they’d move, in broad daylight, up from the creek, across the road, between houses along the edge of the woods, and up into the woods, right by one or more of us.

I thought this was a longshot, but was out for the fun of it anyway. I went to my station, and waited. About an hour later, I saw Pat walking up the street back to where he’d left his truck. When I saw him drive back to the parking spot, I went down to meet him. He then walked over to where he’d stationed Steve, and I got warm in his truck.

Along came his dad, who, after five minutes or so of chatting, mentioned 5 deer had come by him. We saw when we later left, that, sure enough, the deer had come up out of the woods, crossed the street between the houses, and went right by Buzz. No bucks, but it sure is fun hunting with people who know practically every blade of grass on their land.

I got talking to Buzz, who is in his early 80s and like Pat, born and raised in Bolivar, about oil recovery. I asked if he thought they could economically recover more oil in the area with new technology. Our town was in the original oil boom area of the US in the late 1800’s, and where Rockefeller started his empire.

Buzz went to explain to me how they had used “water flooding” to extract the most oil. How he explained it, there were four wells drilled on the corners of a square plot, with the oil well (most about 1200 feet) in the center. Water was then pumped under pressure down the water wells, and this forced the oil up the center pipe. He said with all the water now in the formation from this, he doubted much more oil could be recovered economically.

We hunted later in the day, where I tried sitting for about 2 hours in the same spot, and nothing came by. I was happy to start walking again back down the hill to the truck, as I was near my limit for standing the cold.
–
Mark Stopha
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
907-463-3115
www.GoodSalmon.com