Hunting Report: Admiralty Island, Day 1

While dipnetting this past July with my college buddies Todd Laflamme and Mark Stopha, it was decided that this fall we were going to get together and hunt Sitka black tail deer where Mark lives.   Now, I'll admit right off the bat that hunting is not exactly in "my wheelhouse", but it was hard to pass up an opportunity to spend some time with friends and explore new parts of the state.

Todd and I flew to Juneau on Thursday night.  Mark picked us up at the airport and took us to his home on Douglas Island.    Not knowing any details of what we were going to do other than hunt I asked Mark what the game plan was.  He said we would leave Douglas Island mid morning on Friday and go to Admiralty Island to hunt. We would return on Monday.

After a good nights sleep and a hearty breakfast we loaded up and headed to the boat launch.

We weren't a 100 yards away from the boat launch and Mark asked if we wanted any dungeness crabs to eat. Heck ya! We pulled up a pot that would have impressed Sig and the boys on the Northwestern.

We were going to be out for three days so we only took what we needed.  This was a heck of way to start a hunt.

After a short boat ride we anchored up on Admiralty Island. Mark said we were going to hike up to a couple of muskegs (bogs) and hunt there.   After a 6.2 mile hike and not seeing any deer, we headed back to the boat to go to Mark's cabin on Horse Island.

What a great cabin.  Warm, dry, and comfortable.  What more could you ask for?  If you are interested in where we were take a look at the map at the the top of the page.  We were just west of Tongass National Forest where you'll see two small islands. The north island is Colt, the south island is Horse.  West of Horse Island is Admiralty Island (our hunting grounds).   The beauty of Mark's retreat is that it's only a 20 minute boat ride from his house.

Here I am getting ready to go out.  It was kind of weird having a gun over my shoulder and not a fishing rod in my hand.

The fittest of them all, Todd, looking fresh after a long hike.

Fearless leader and host, Mark, making his way through a muskeg.

Well, that was it for Day 1.   Crab, a boat ride, and a little bit of hunting.  Little did I know what kind of adventure would lie ahead on Day 2.