Saint Paul Island in Alaska’s Pribilofs

I always to try to research any area I go waterfowl hunting in whether it is historical regions, restaurants or famous places to have an adult beverage coinciding with the area. As I studied the makeup of the Pribilofs and read of the history of the two inhabited islands of the five; I became intrigued with the native Alaskans that lived there and their history. Called Aleuts; they actually derived centuries ago from the Unangan tribe of the Aleutian Islands. I was familiar with Saint Paul only for the reason I am a rabid “Deadliest Catch” fan. For those reading this unfamiliar with “Deadliest Catch”; it is a television show about the true life stories and saga of Alaska’s crab fishermen and Saint Paul Island has a cannery there that processes crab fresh off the vessels.

The population of year round residents living there is roughly in the low 500’s; but more importantly and more in numbers is the Northern Fur Seal. It is this species of seal that made Saint Paul Island famous. In the late 1800’s, the Russians discovered there was monetary value in the skins of these beautiful animals. They “hired” native Aleuts to round up and harvest these seals for their pelts only. Although later the United States bought Alaska from Russia; I was amazed to still see the Russian influence on the island. Almost all of the natives I met there had Russian last names and most if not all practice and worship in the Russian Orthodox Church. In my opinion it is the one piece of structure there other the cannery that defines Saint Paul and is iconic. A beautiful house of worship with a light green roof and golden globe adorning the top of it that makes it stand out.

My gunning crew for the week would consist of six being myself from Texas, Tom from Louisiana, Shawn and Brian from Kentucky and Craig and John from Maryland. We had made a contentious decision to arrive to the island two days early to make sure ourselves and our gear arrived in time for the full week of hunting. I still think that was one of the smartest things we did due to the severity of the weather and only one airline flying there. It gave us two days to explore the island on our own and time to get to know each other for better or worse. We had a nice place to stay, a vehicle to drive around in and much to do. One of the lasting memories of my trip and Saint Paul Island is that when we stepped off that plane onto the runway; it smelled of the sea and the sweet smelling odor of very fresh seafood…..Opilio crab to be exact. There were several crab boats in the harbor offloading their catch and they are promptly processed, cooked, frozen and packaged to travel all over the world for people to eat. On the menu you will always see the famous King crab but when you see the entrée Snow crab; it is actually Opilio. Since Capt. Charlie still had the previous weeks crew using the lodge for their last two days of hunting; we bought meal passes from the cannery galley and ate there two days. The cannery employs several hundred people easily and is a round the clock business. As most things on a remote island it was slightly expensive but it was buffet style and you got all you wanted to eat. We met and dined with people from all over the world who worked in that cannery. Needless to say it was quite an experience and one I relished. I just had no idea the quality of cooking we would eat there and more so at the duck camp.

Saint Paul is a privately owned island and run by the Aleut Tribal government and TDX; a corporation that is native owned as well. Almost everyone there is employed by the city, the tribe the cannery or TDX. They have one store, one hotel, no restaurants, one church, and believe it or not a baseball field. Last but not least; although they cannot sell hard liquor on the island, they do have a very nice establishment that sells wine and beer, has darts and pool and an occasional classic rock band. I was intrigued with Saint Paul……still am, and I will return one day. I have to. The Aleuts I hunted with and or met while I was there were very kind and gracious people. As one of the Aleut ladies I met there who works for the tribal government and has made award winning documentaries, Aquilina Lestkenof says about the island, “People come here and they say, that’s in the middle of nowhere. But in reality it’s in the middle of it all.” Not a truer statement that I agree with wholeheartedly!!

These are just a small sampling of pictures that were taken while I was there but it’s a good indicator of what the island is like. I loved it!!! There is a quick video within this link that has one of the native Aleuts describing Saint Paul Island:

http://www.alaskabirding.com/stpaul.html

The King Eider (Somateria spectabilis)

After my first trip to Alaska in 2009; I came to the conclusion that the Harlequin was by far the most handsome drake of any species of waterfowl I had held in hand. You may or may not believe this; but I still think that even after having the honor of harvesting big, beautiful King Eider drakes. Please do not misconstrue what I am saying…..the Harlequin, in my opinion only, still may be the most overall eye appeasing of waterfowl; but the King Eider falls into a whole different realm of beauty. It is the mystique of the bird itself that projects him to the ultimate status to pursue for the experienced waterfowler. I mean let’s face it…..any duck named the King has to be special to begin with. As I learned while carving my decoy and studying many, many photos, the body of the King Eider (coloring) is relatively simple mainly being black and white excluding the peach/cream colored chest. It is the magnificent baby blue color of the head that fades down into almost iridescent green that gives him his looks. Other than that and the most obvious……it is his lobe that separates him from all other waterfowl. On a mature bird, it is a large fleshy yellow or orange colored piece of fatty tissue outlined in black protruding from his skull just above the bill. A non-resident of Alaska is allowed four of these spectacular birds a season. We had a gunning group of six in which we killed one short of having a full six man limit of King Eider. That gave us a good number of birds to see the how the aging process takes hold on the drakes. First year drakes are drab like a hen with only the outline of the lobe, into this second year comes the magnificent coloring of the head and lobe. Almost everyone reading this who knows me knows I’ve taught myself of basic waterfowl biology, as well asked many a question to college educated waterfowl biologists practicing in the field so I could learn…….you can see the pin feathering and the smaller lobes in the 2-3 year old birds and then when they reach “bull” status; some of their lobes are almost grotesquely enormous! One thing that I definitely noticed with my untrained eye is that drakes that had yellow lobes had a yellow tint to their feet; this being the case and the majority of what we harvested……and birds that had the orange lobes were obviously larger, being in full plumage with few pin feathers and had an orange colored tint to their feet. I killed one behemoth that may fall into grandpa status as by the photo below:

As far as field identification and spotting Kings on the wing or water…….in flight it is easily the white wing patches that give them away. On water oddly enough to me the chest area which is dark cream/peach color is what I spotted most often. All the drakes I saw on the water were either resting with their heads tucked in or behind them sleeping and their unmistakable “sail-like” tersial feathers always aloft. Not to leave out the ladies I will say in hindsight that the hen King Eider in full plumage is stunning. Almost dark red/dark brown with those flowing black feathers curling down beside the body and her noticeable white on the wing definitely give them a “Queen” like quality. Beautiful!!!

Historically King Eider breed above the Arctic circle; during the winter they stay as far north as possible where ice-free seas permit them to. They are hearty birds and are right at home in the frigid Bering Sea. I feel proud and honored to be in what has to be a tiny minority of waterfowlers to have hunted and seen them in the wild, much less be able to take a limit of them.

The Rebel.............

As a waterfowler that has hunted for 40 seasons, across all four major flyways in North America, that lacks 4 of the 32 huntable species of ducks…….I have been blessed to have traveled and gunned with some world class, dedicated and elite members of the duck and goose hunting fraternity. I’ve seen the sunrise over decoys in some of the most famed and hallowed grounds in the lower 48 that are available to the traveling waterfowler; but this one my friends, may be one for the ages. My planning and travels would take me smack dab in the middle of the Bering Sea, to a volcano born island, still inhabited by a proud Unangan/Aleut (native Alaskans) people that is famous for its spring/summer birding and home to 70% of the world’s population of Northern Fur Seals as well as Stellar’s Sea Lions. It is the land of fierce winter storms with sometimes brutal, hurricane strength winds that forces temperatures to drop below freezing with a salty spray that burns when you get hit in the face with it. It is a hub for the fleet of Alaskan fisherman to offload their catch including the famed fleet of crab boats who brave the elements for Bering Sea gold that include Red King crab and Opilio (Snow crab). It is also the only place on the planet to hunt to the beautiful King Eider, a large sea duck that looks like unlike any other waterfowl on earth sporting it's large lobe and baby blue head. It is a bird that stirs the emotions of seasoned waterfowlers like no other in their quest to take one. It is deemed by my guide and outfitter as Island X, one of the pieces of rock that is part of the Pribilof chain of islands.

Unlike most of my duck and goose hunting stories……by the subject title, I have to start with the first third of Rebel. I’ve probably been called worse by some, but it is my strong, independent and opinionated nature that this title derives from. For you to understand what this hunt would and ultimately mean to me, if you’ll indulge me, I need to explain the type of year I had in 2010 for you to understand. To start with, Texas had a brutally hot summer last year. It was anywhere from 95+ degrees and 100% humidity for about six straight weeks and right in the middle of this the A/C craters in my pickup. First thing that has gone wrong with it!! Before I could even get it to the shop for a possible cost I knew would knee buckling by vehicle repair standards; everything Theresa and I owned seemed to break! I’m not gonna go down the list; some things broke twice, but it was starting to send me over the edge combined with dealing with the damn heat. I love my home state, but the older I get I absolutely abhor the summer heat in Texas! I was hot driving to work, hot at work and then even more hot driving home!! Everything set me off and I stayed pissed off because no matter how much overtime I worked; everything kept breaking and was costly! Then on a personal level, I’m a middle aged guy who when I was younger would make fun of friends and co-workers that spoke of the “middle aged” crazies. Maybe it was the combination of everything else I had going on but my naturally rebellious state kept rearing its ugly head in the summer of 2010. I wasn’t happy with a damn thing and stayed mad just because I could. I was automatically against everything everybody else was for and was proud to tell you!!! I was at a point in my life where I started to second guess everything I had done excluding a couple things and that will wear on a man after a while. The one constant I had in my life was my second pending trip to Alaska. I’d be hanging off poles in the easement just sweating head to toe and just kept saying to myself……the day will come soon I board that plane to the “Great Land” again. The only other time I could focus was while I was working. I love my job….it has hazards but by following our safety rules and having learned to work efficiently; I stay focused like a laser while I’m working. It’s when I wasn’t at work that I turned into an ass…..then again maybe not; I bet some of my co-workers and Foreman would probably say different!!! LOL!!!