something great happened....stay tuned!!
***SPOILER ALERT, THIS IS HUNTING STORY, not a Political, COVID, Vaccination story***
Way back in 1991, four redneck twenty something fishing guides from the Island came up with this hair brain idea to climb mountains and shoot a sheep. Three if us were somewhat experienced blacktail/Mule deer hunters and one was a complete newbie. We were sitting around the kitchen table that spring BS’ing about the usual stuff when one of us, not sure who, came up with the idea that we drive 26 hours, catch a plane and shoot some sheep.
After picking a bunch of peoples brains on the 5 W’s – Where – to go?, When – to go?, What – to bring, Who – to fly with and most importantly WHY??, we decided on a location, time, who to fly with and a big reason to go.
September 21, we loaded up two trucks and headed to the mainland and beyond…..
We drove all night and arrived in Fort Nelly the next afternoon. We saw the sign for cold beer and stripers, so we stopped. The Fort Nelson Hotel gave us two rooms, some entertainment and a view of the North that none of us had seen before. After the drive, we grabbed showers and headed for the entertainment. While we were drinking cold beer and waiting for burgers and fries, the “entertainment” came on stage. We all had our jaws hit the floor……She was one of the most beautiful we had (and have) ever seen.
Dinner arrived while the “entertainment” was wrapping up. Then something happened that none of us were aware of……If any one can remember back in those day, the FNH had a door that opened up to the side street, with a crosswalk,, the highway, with a crosswalk and most importantly, the Trappers Den (I think that was what it was caller…it was 30 years ago!!). After the show, the room emptied except for us. Everyone went over the Den for the next show there. 30 minutes at each place. While we were sitting there wonder what the hell was going on and enjoying our burgers, the “entertainment” came into the room, walked over and sat down….Holly Sh*t, all of us were tongue tied. Finally we stopped staring and got to talking. Long story short, she was a second-year nursing student that said she made way more money doing the northern tour than back on the Coast. She would do a couple weeks up North and then go back to school. She left us just as the crowd came back in. We watched one more show and headed off to bed, dreaming of either sheep or a the striper!
The next day, we found out we had to drive north of town to catch the plane, so we did a last minute check and headed out of town. We arrived at the lake and unloaded two trucks worth of stuff. Remember we had never done this before….so there was LOTS of stuff. Urs stared at all the stuff we had and shrugged his shoulders and said in his accented voice, lets try to see if it all fits. Well it almost all did. A few things stayed behind. Apparently, weight was not an issue!!!
Off we went and man was it a flight!! We saw gin clear rivers, mountains, old burns along with elk, moose and goats. Too soon we were at our lake. We unloaded all of our stuff while we BS’d with three hunters who were flying out. They had seen and shot nothing…. not good news. Soon the plane was off, and we were standing around going WTF do we do now!!!
We decide that two would head straight up and two if us would walk along the lake to the other end then head up. I drew the walk along the beach straw along with the newbie. Off we went!!
Along the way, we both realized that we had WAY TOO MUCH STUFF!!! So, when we made camp at the other end of the lake, we tore our packs apart. We created a yes, no and maybe pile and when we got up the next morning and left camp, there was two, yes two garbage bags of stuff left hanging in a tree. Remember, we were all newbies at this, so we packed for every possible scenario…including bring the kitchen sink.
Back then there was no SITKA, KUIU, Stone Glacier or all the other light weight back packing gear we have now! So, we were wearing Stanfields, wool pants, jeans, cotton shirts, HH heavy rubber rain gear and non gore text heavy leather boots made by Viberg. Our stoves were white gas Coleman Peak 1’s and our cooking gear was aluminum pots and pans. Packs were a mix of Camptrails and Gregory; sleeping was thermarests and 5-7 lbs sleeping bags. Food was boil in a bag, trail mix, itchiban soups and those just add water oatmeal just to name a few. We guessed our packs were 80 lbs+ when we set off, we figure we knocked it down to 50 when we left the first camp. Who needs underwear, socks and a pair of jeans!! We’re hunting!!
Cont.