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

Back in NY deer hunting. Our little town of Bolivar in Allegany county is surrounded by hardwood covered hills. A high school classmate, Pat, and his dad own the hill above the high school. Pat lives on one side of it, and his parents on the other. So, we start up one or the other side, and chase whitetail deer.

I saw 9 my first day. Pat showed me on a map where the deer would be. When I reached the very spot, there were about 5 of them righ where he said they’d be. I saw two other groups of 2, but no bucks. Perfect hunting conditions, with some snow on the ground, the leaves all off, and good temps (30’s) for hiking without over heating, and tolerable to stand or sit for awhile, too. Lots of black-capped chickadees and gray squirrels in the woods, and I saw a blue jay in the apple tree next to Pat’s house. Lots of apples this year, but little mast crop (acorns, etc.)

Such a pretty place here that I grew up. Not much has changed in my lifetime, and unless there’s another mini oil boom, not much will. If a guy can get a stable job with a decent wage, it’s a great place to live. Housing is cheap, food is cheap, and everyone knows everyone. Taxes are NY States’ achilles heel, but with land values so low here, I guess folks can afford it. Still lots of signs of the early oil industry here, with the wood oil holding tanks, well pipes sticking out of the ground, and the old pumps here and there.

I went to see my 88 year old aunt, who is in such great shape. She can’t always remember things that happened 30 minutes ago, but has a great recollection of what happened 30 years ago. I enjoy hearing all her stories, and prompt her for information all I can about our family. She had a photo album of old, old photos, some of which had my mom in them. She had me take all the photos with my mom, and as I was leaving after 4 hours of visiting, she said she enjoyed talking with me because she said it made her feel like she was talking with my mom, who she misses alot.

We talked about the election, and she said she voted for McCain because Obama was pro-choice. And when I brought up the irony of McCain being pro-life but wanting to continue the war and killing in Iraq, she said that it was such a hard choice choosing a president, and what are we doing over there anyway? It made me feel good that at least people are having a hard time choosing one over the other.

Last night, Pat and I sat at the country club bar for a few too many drinks (headache this morning) and good conversation with the manager and the bartender, whose sister was also a classmate of ours. I spent much of my youth at the country club area, fishing the stream, wading the stream for golf balls, working in the pro shop, then later on the grounds crew, and golfing there all I could from the time I was about 12 to 17. Of course, some of my close friends were a topic of discussion, and Pat and I were updated as to who was cheating on who, etc. It was good to see the bartender had managed to scratch out a life and stay here in Bolivar. He recently bought a spread south of town with some hunting acerage attached, and was excited that his son had just harvested and dressed his first deer, and that the kid wanted to be a welder. Also some interesting talk of sightings of a bobcat, and also cougars, although it seems no one has got a photo of one
yet. I’d think with all the cameras in the woods now that someone would have a photo of one.

Back to Juneau on Sat, with a grueling DC-LA-Seattle-Juneau flight. Will be good to see my wife for awhile. The slope job has been fantastic, but with all the hunting I did on my off weeks, I haven’t been home much and look forward to an extended stay there until Sara heads to Egypt to see our friends there over Christmas break.

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

Kurt and I went hunting for the day yesterday. It was not pouring rain for a change, and in the mid to upper 40’s. Winds were northly with a little lump on the skiff ride over to our spot, but nothing nasty.

We went to our usual spot, and unloaded the gear on the beach. The tide was flooding but the wind was going to push the boat up on the beach, so we took the anchor seaward, tied a line on the anchor flukes, and ran the line to the beach so we could retrieve the anchor at high tide.

We headed up the mountain, using a bleat call in likely spots as we moved. The terrain here is a gradual rise in elevation for about 3/4 of a mile, hen a steep rise to the ridge top, which is about 1800 feet. We didn’t see much deer sign. When we got to the big muskeg at the base of the ridge, we had to decide either to follow the muskegs along the base, or start climbing up the ridge. We decided to head up, as we figured perhpas the deer were in the higher country with the warm weather.

We got about half way up the ridge, and decided to have lunch. We were sitting about 75 yards from the base of a series of cliffs. Not likely deer habitat, but I have see deer come to the edge to a look over to a call.

Kurt sat down and broke out a sandwhich. I moved about 30 yards away on a spot overlooking different country than Kurt, then put a shell in the chamber of my .270, blew the deer call, and broke out my thermos of coffee.

I’d just about finished pouring my first cup when here comes a deer tearing down the hill. It stopped above us about 40 yards, and I shot. The deer took off again downhill, and when it came by again, I made a finishing shot. Kurt said he’d seen the deer coming from a lot longer way than when I first saw it. He said it came along the top of the cliff, found a path down, and then came tearing down the hill.

We decided I’d dress the deer, and Kurt would laterally along the hillside and look for more deer. I gutted the deer, then hung it by the back hocks, took the skin off, then quartered the deer, putting each piece into my pack. Kurt showed up just as I was finishing.

We hunted our way back down the hill. As we descended one area, we found an almost complete bear skeleton. The head was particularly intact. Kurt later found it had what looked like puncture holes in the head. It looked like perhaps it was a young bear that might have been eaten by a larger bear, but who knows. We rarely see bears, but this was a reminder they are around.

On the way back, I sent Kurt off to the south to try a spot that’s been good when there’s snow, and I headed to the boat. When I got to the boat, the end of the tag line from the anchor was under water. Normally, I wouldn’t worry too much, as I could just skiff over to our cabin, even in the dark, and go home the next day. But Kurt had to be to work on Monday, so I undressed to my boxers, left my socks on to protect my feet from the rocks, and waded out to try to find the line. Talk about cold. I couldn’t find the line, and the cold was now painful. I managed to make it back to dry land without falling, and redressed.

I saw a boat in the distance, and tried raising it on my handheld VHF. I got no reply, so thought the boat was anchored. However, I later saw a wake along the boat, and realized it might be moving slowly along the beach. I tried waving my arms, and thought maybe they would not see me in my camo coveralls, so I removed the top of the coveralls to let my blue turtleneck show. When I didn’t see them respond, I fired 2 shots from my gun, then waved my hands again, and tried the VHF again. This time, they responded. They came over after awhile, unloaded their raft, paddled to shore, and took me out to my boat.

By this time, Kurt hand returned, with a story that he’d been up to his waist in a bog. The canine teeth from the bear skull that he was carrying in his coat was poking on the underside of his chin as he tried to get out. We both thought that would have been interesting to hear the explanation of those who found his skeleton with the bear skeleton if he didn’t make it out.

We checked the crab pots on the way home, and found they’d been moved. There were no crab, so we pulled the pots for now. The ride home was over near flat calm water. At the house, I removed the deer meat from my pack, and hung it in my new home-made game bags in the garage. What a relief to get out of my wet clothes and into the shower.

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

Another nice day here. About 11 degrees and quite cold before sunrise with the wind, but calmed down and was up to 19 by 5 pm and partly cloudy. Very nice sunsets now, too. The sun was about 30 degrees above the horizon today. As we drove from our office site to our work site, I saw a polar bear out on the ice, headed for open ocean/ice. As required, we notify security so they can let others know a bear is in the area, in case he decides to change direction and come into the work areas.