Hell Hath No Fury Like the Bering Sea

The last day of the hunt and our scheduled day to leave the island to go back to Anchorage to prepare to go our respective homes; a winter storm from hell blows in! With snow and ice being pushed around with sustained winds of 45+ gusting to over 60 mph; needless to say our flight gets canceled. OK……no big deal. Earlier in the day we enjoyed our last hunt in which I got to spend on a lagoon outside of the harbor where the Harlequin and Oldsquaw like to loaf. As luck would have it with the cold and wind starting to blow before the big storm; the birds didn’t move accordingly. I sat and talked with Capt. Russ, another decoy carver and more advanced than I, and I ended up taking only the second Black (Common) Scoter during the season and a nice bull to boot!!! So…..the next scheduled flight off the island on day two is at midnight. With the wind still howling…….yep; flight canceled again!!! Hmmm….OK. As much fun as I was having; all of us had jobs, families and homes to go back to. Needless to say; most of us had everything packed and I think all of us shipped items back home so the airlines wouldn’t charge us the gouge rate with luggage. As is normal in life and humanity; a little bit of cabin fever set in with the crew of Week 4 in 2011. We were all ready to go and there were hunters sitting in Anchorage, Charlie’s last group of the year, which were ready to get to the island and hunt. Finally the fourth morning……PenAir calls and tells us things are shaping up and there are two planes coming to the island for departures back to Anchorage. Moods improved and we helped pack up the boat and gear as the other hunters decided they would roll over into next season. Once some of the native Aleuts knew we were stranded; we would be treated to home cooked meals by them which included deep fried Halibut one night and seal meat the next. They are the only people that can legally hunt them for food. I was honored that they would give us a little bit of their culture and cooking. We got to Anchorage and four us had flights departing later the next day as two got on redeye’s that night. We secured our birds in the freezer at the motel and after all of us got good nights sleep; the next day we enjoyed breakfast close the hotel and dinner at a real nice place in Anchorage. After we ate we looked through some upscale gift shops and outdoor clothing stores as well as toured the famous annual ice sculptures in downtown Anchorage. Later that night I was the first of the last four to leave for home so the journey had officially ended for me. After four flights from Saint Paul to Anchorage, Anchorage to Seattle, then 6 hours later Seattle to Chicago, then finally Chicago to Houston, I arrived home 24 hours later.

Although I was ready to head home, it didn’t take me long to miss Alaska. I absolutely love it and am already looking forward to planning my next Alaskan Adventure within the next two years hopefully. Saint Paul is a fascinating place and I intend to see it again……as I stated earlier; I have to.

This trip was just what the doctor ordered after the year I had last year. There is absolutely no place I’d rather be than Alaska to hunt, sleep, eat, explore and make new friends in the process. I still want to go back and hopefully read all my posts on my Facebook page as it was a way to stay in touch with my family and friends as well share my feelings of things I had gotten to see as well as pass on as each goal of my trip was reached. From what I understand by the some of comments I got and people I’ve talked to since I returned…..it was quite entertaining.

Farewell my friends……until my next flight leaves for the “Great Land” again hopefully someday sooner than I expect. Somewhere out there floating in the Bering Sea is a big, bull Pacific Eider drake with my name on it!!!!!!

Look at the top of the waves being blown backwards!

The Crab Fleet anchored behind the leeward side of the island avoiding the 60+ mph winds.

Hard to tell but these are probably 12-15 footers if not more!

Some kind of monument behind the duck camp; it's written in Russian.

One of the now famous “Deadliest Catch” Crab Boats……the F/V Time Bandit

After filling my limit on Kings and a hearty lunch prepared by Deb; I get ready to surf the internet as we had no cell phone service and the dish on the TV was damaged in storm so that was out upstairs where the hunters stay. No sooner than I sit down with a cold Alaskan Amber……Capt. Russ comes in and says get your jacket; the Time Bandit is in the harbor loading pots. My first thought……you’re kidding!!!! From Charlie’s camp you can see clearly see the harbor, cannery and any crab boat that comes in to offload. Sure enough……there she was at the end of the dock sporting the solid black paint job and famous skull and crossbones of the Hillstrand’s Time Bandit. We all hopped in the truck to see and hopefully meet the crew and at least get some pictures of her. No sooner than we had opened up the doors; one of the deck hands Travis invited us on board. They already had 75 pots soaking and bought some more that were stacked behind the docks from a previous boat. You all have no idea how excited I got when out of the wheelhouse door comes Captains Andy and Johnathon Hillstrand to say hello!!!!!! We toured the deck but could not stay long due to the fact they had the boom in the air swinging 700 lb. crab pots all over as they loaded them; but I did get my few minutes of a dream to work on a crab boat as it is a young man’s occupation and not for the aging and “portly”; but they obliged and I couldn’t have been happier. I got to move around three shots of line (33 feet long each and weigh about 80 lbs). All the deck hands couldn’t help but to laugh as they could see the determination and excitement on my face. After that we spent a good hour in the wheelhouse with Captains Andy and Johnathon. We heard fishing stories, jokes, saw how the new computerized system on board helped them with weather and tracks where they drop gear. Signs of the Discovery Channel were all over as cameras were strategically placed all over the boat. In ending……I had to tell the Hillstrands both how I much I appreciated and enjoyed the episodes in which they would go to where their mariner father was buried and honor him with seal bombs going off on deck. Johnathon grabbed a couple and set them off scaring the bejeesuz out of the crew on deck which would turn to laughter. I fricking the love these guys. If I would have known about this 20 years ago I would have loved to have given it a shot. It’s my personality to a tee!!!!!!

I just want to pass along with having met a lot of fishermen from different boats and seeing the boats and everything that’s involved; that TV doesn’t do justice to what’s actually involved and how hard these guys work. These are some tough sonsabitches that work their asses off to feed their families. While we there; a deckhand came in and landed in the Saint Paul Medical Center with his tibia and fibula broken completely in two and flew from the island back to Anchorage with us with no pain killers or nothing; only his leg cast with a splint temporarily until he could get home to Seattle to have it set. These guys are cowboy type tough in my opinion……badasses!!!!! When we finally got to leave the island after the big storm passed; I met a retired fisherman/boat captain that was hired to be the skipper of what they call a “chase boat” for the Discovery Channel. These guys follow the all the boats on the show and film them from the sea to get that perspective. A super nice guy that I talked to a long time about a lot of things other than fishing and Deadliest Catch. We exchanged phone numbers and I intend to stay in touch with Mike……..

Please note: The Opilio crab in this series of pics were not taken off of the F/V Time Bandit. They were loading more crab pots to fish with while in the harbor.

I Believe in Fate and Destiny

Day three of this trip would turn what was golden into platinum. It was my crews turn to hit the land points again. With the Suburban being full, I rode out with a young Aleut native that helps Charlie during duck season. I believe in fate and destiny and only that could have prompted Dustin to have turned off early to another point of land famous for the Aleuts as they hunt sea lions and seals. We did this to have more room between both groups and me being the history buff; this was my chance to hunt with a native Alaskan and hopefully get him to talk about his people and their history here on the island. As we settled in; I found a somewhat flat rock and waited patiently for legal shooting hours. As is normal in most places in coastal Alaska and the Aleutians; the Harlequin started right on time by the hundreds!!!!! As Dustin I talked……you could see offshore on the horizon the King Eider in long strings of flocks by the thousands on the move. With another snow quall moving in; a flock approached probably within 30 yards……..boom!!!! Another big mature drake down!!! Dustin heads down to the water as the crashing surf pushes the big bird into shore and as soon as I look up there were flocks of Kings everywhere!! Flying over water, land, offshore…..just everywhere!!!! I pick out another nice drake……..boom!!!! I fill my annual four bird limit on Kings with what would end up the largest drake I would take on the trip. Dustin being a native has the right to subsistence hunt so I told him by all means I was finished and there were plenty of Kings to be had. I unloaded my shotgun and watched. Dustin shot a drake that ended up landing behind us on land. As he went to get it……..I had a flock of Kings fly within 15 yards of me head high. I could clearly see the eyes on the eider much less the lobes they were sporting. It was truly a magical moment. I would have never dreamed I would be close enough in my lifetime to see King Eider fly that close to me. Just incredible!!!!!!! After Dustin took a couple more drakes; I concentrated on keeping my eyes peeled for hopefully a nice White-winged Scoter drake. It’s all I lack to complete my Scoter slam having already taken a Surf and Black Scoter in Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay. We saw a couple of pair but too far to shoot at for a clean shot without winging one and taking the chance of losing it in the breaking surf. Still…….while waiting on the White-wings; it was an incredible thing to hear Dustin say as we scanned through the flocks…….”Don’t shoot; those are Kings”!!!!!! I seriously would have never dreamed that!!! With our hunt complete; I had Dustin drive me to a monument that marks the original Russian Orthodox Church that was on the island for a picture. By this time the sun was out after the snow squall and it was another day on this trip that I would remember until I quit breathing. It truly was a story book script……………

My First Drake King Eider

I have to say on day two it was after lunch and I still had not gotten a King Eider…..a drake anyway. On day one I was in the boat with Tom and John. What started out to be a banner day weather and bird wise faded quickly with a snow squall that turned into a whiteout!! You couldn’t even the see the longline of decoys from the boat. During our setup you could clearly see what was going to take place had the weather not gotten the best of us. The way Kings fly offshore or for a more matter of fact is very early. I say early but like I mentioned; shooting time was roughly around 10:34 am or so every morning. From shooting time until around noon is your primetime shot at getting on the Kings. If they don’t like the first set up; Capt. Charlie will try it again somewhere else until it happens. On this morning I had anchor duty which is where you sit in the front of the boat obviously. I had the time of my life!!! Here I was in the famous Bering Sea in a well built 17ft. Bankes duck boat just getting bamboozled by occasional waves. Everything I had was soaked including my shell bag which I inadvertently left open and by the time I looked down had six inches of ice cold, salty Bering Sea water in it……along with my camera. I have a cool little 10 megapixel ruggedized camera that is supposed to be waterproof to a certain amount of footage, freeze proof for a certain amount of time, as well “ding” proof if it’s dropped. It’s traveled with me from Alaska and back in 09, to Maryland and all parts of Texas where I hunt and fish and worked like a champ!!! I promise you when I saw it laying in saltwater I thought it was doomed but it still kept clicking after I dried it off.

Speaking of salt……I’ve swam in the Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific and Atlantic oceans both, and tasted salt water. The water in the Bering Sea has to have the highest salt content of any ocean, gulf or sea water I’ve ever accidentally had the pleasure of tasting. Every time I licked my moustache it just tasted like I dumped the sea salt shaker at home directly on my tongue! One time I turned around to tell Capt. Charlie something and just as soon as looked back the other direction……bam!!!! Covered in Bering Sea glory again! All I could do is laugh as I had my open from talking and took it right in the grill!!!! It’s humorous now but I can still remember my eyes burning ferociously from the salt. Man it was awesome!!!! So on day one……Mother Nature and the old man of the sea got the best of us. I did take a hen that turned out to be a little younger than I wished for a mount but you make what you can of a day on the Bering Sea. The next day could end up being a blow out……you just never know?

Day two arrives and our group heads to one of the famous points to try our luck there. Wind is right for us for retrieving; kind of overcast and not to extremely cold. One problem though…..every flock of Kings flew from the 100 yard range out. Man it killed me to see so many King Eider flying out of range. You can’t dictate the movements of wildlife but my hunt was reaching the half way point with no big drake yet. Our group went back for lunch and shortly after we finished; the door to the hunter’s part of the camp opened with Charlie saying get your stuff and let’s go…….the boat is still in the water and we killed Kings this morning and they’re still moving. He only had to tell me once!! Although I was still excited to get out; the pessimist in me started to rear its ugly head. I just thought that maybe this wasn’t the year for me on my traveling duck and goose trips as it is historically so I mentally prepared myself for an Island X limit of “everything else”. We could still see flocks of Kings and everything else moving so we set out the decoys. All the bird movement was a little further offshore than he liked as far as taking the boat out more. So we dropped the decoys and would try a drift to see if we could get under a flock. We moved around for a while with no luck so we decided to head back to sit on the decoys for a little bit before we went in. Once we spotted the decoys; we turned the motor off to drift into place so I could throw the anchor. As I moved to the front of the boat; between swells about 100 yards out I see a monster King Eider drake that had swam out of our decoys. Dammit I couldn’t stand it!!! I told Charlie and grabbed my shotgun in anticipation that he would see the boat and take flight for me to be able to hopefully get a passing shot. He gets up and appears to be heading towards us in the air. OK….now I’m getting my sea legs into shooting legs and take a shot only to miss but I saw my shot string and knew he was in range. The big drake went left to right in front of the boat and as I turned to shoot; my wader boot gets hung up in the anchor that I was originally getting ready to throw out. This whole time I never take my eyes off the big drake and by the time I got to where I could shoot; my shot would be shooting a bird going away from me about 60 yards. Having patterned my shotguns in preparation for this trip with chokes to handle high density loads……I fired!!! In an instant the King flipped his head back landing in the water upside down. I looked at Charlie and he looked at me and promptly said what he told us on day one……………”Shoot him again”!!!!!!! He shot and I shot again to insure the hearty sea duck would not dive and pop up 200 yards from the boat. Looking back I can say the time and the money I spent on new chokes and high density loads paid off because I had just probably made the shot of my life when it counted most. You talk about elated!!!!!! I’m an excitable guy anyway but my emotions got the best of me as we slowly headed toward to my first drake King Eider. I can only imagine what the look on my face was as I picked him up out of the water……..

Other than the trips I’ve spent with my father……this was by far the greatest moment of my waterfowling career!!!! Finally……….and he was a mature specimen perfect for mounting!!!!!! Beautiful!!!!!!