Tim Bouchard
01-15-2006, 07:40 PM
This is a long one guys. I am splitting it up into a couple of posts just so it does not seem so bad. This is what a 9 hour layover in Seattle can do to a man. Give him too much time to write……
2005/2006 Hunting Journal Entries
DATE: November 30 – December 4, 2005
LOCATION: Valdez, Alaska
SUNRISE: 9:10 AM
WEATHER: Clear
TEMPERATURE: 5-10 degrees
WIND: 5-20 mph
EQUIPMENT USED: Avery® Floating Pit Bag, Avery® Floating Gun Case, Avery® Gauntlet Gloves, Avery® "Square-Bottom™" decoy bag, and Avery® Skull Caps.
HUNTERS: Brian Rhodes, Ryan Rhodes (The Swampers), Corey Stalker and Avery® Pro-Staffer Tim Bouchard
Day 1:
The Road Trip…. I don’t normally include the trip to the duck hunting spot in a entry, but in some cases it can be a great story. The Swampers from RI were coming to visit and shoot some footage for their next dvd. I was excited to host them and they were excited to be coming to Alaska for the first time, and the best reason, to shoot some sea ducks. They decided to fly into Fairbanks to enjoy the ride down, compared to fly directly into Valdez. The trips from Fairbanks to Valdez is about 350 miles and 6 hours of driving. I have done this trip where it was -40 when I left and +40 when I arrived at the other end. In this case we did not have the extreme, it would have been nice because it was only 5 when we arrived in Valdez. To hear the locals you would have thought the world had froze. On the trip we saw about 5,000 caribou and 25 moose. 16 of the moose were within a ˝ mile stretch of road. Including a couple of nice bulls. Our goal was to leave early in the morning to get to an area to chase some ptarmigan. Our rush was wasted on -20 weather keeping us close to the truck. Ptarmigan tracks every where, but cold hunters and guns did not flush a single bird.
Day 2:
First day on the salt…. The goal- barrow goldeneyes. Not that hard of a goal on a normal day, but when the temps dip to 5 degrees and the wind kicks up to 20mph it can become harder. We tucked ourselves up into a cove deployed 3 dozen goldeneye decoys and a dozen harlequins in a separate group just incase some blue birds wanted to stop by. I normally would put out a couple more dozen decoys, but with the wind coming in strong we figured better have an easier pick up then spend too much time with the seas getting rougher.
After we got setup things were slow. As with most sea ducks up here we see flights all at once and then slow then action and so on. It did not take too long, the first flight came about ˝ hour after setting up. We had a few groups of doubles to 5 goldeneyes bombing in to the decoys. Barrow’s just love to decoy. Most of the time it is hard to keep them out of the decoys. But on some days they just don’t want to stop. This day was a mix. After getting a few goldeneyes in we saw a new duck coming. A drake harly all alone. He turned and cupped into the decoys. Ryan made quick work of bagging his first harlequin ever. Although it took a few rounds : )
We had hoped in the afternoon we could move to a new location and target harlequins more, but with the wind still strong we decided to stay put until the next day. We end the day with a getting more barrow’s, buffleheads, and a couple common mergansers. The common mergansers were another first for Ryan & Brian. A real trophy : )
Day 1 Photos
http://www.nwtaxidermy.com/pictures/hunting_gallery/swampers/caribou.jpg
http://www.nwtaxidermy.com/pictures/hunting_gallery/swampers/caribou2.jpg
http://www.nwtaxidermy.com/pictures/hunting_gallery/swampers/mountains.jpg
2005/2006 Hunting Journal Entries
DATE: November 30 – December 4, 2005
LOCATION: Valdez, Alaska
SUNRISE: 9:10 AM
WEATHER: Clear
TEMPERATURE: 5-10 degrees
WIND: 5-20 mph
EQUIPMENT USED: Avery® Floating Pit Bag, Avery® Floating Gun Case, Avery® Gauntlet Gloves, Avery® "Square-Bottom™" decoy bag, and Avery® Skull Caps.
HUNTERS: Brian Rhodes, Ryan Rhodes (The Swampers), Corey Stalker and Avery® Pro-Staffer Tim Bouchard
Day 1:
The Road Trip…. I don’t normally include the trip to the duck hunting spot in a entry, but in some cases it can be a great story. The Swampers from RI were coming to visit and shoot some footage for their next dvd. I was excited to host them and they were excited to be coming to Alaska for the first time, and the best reason, to shoot some sea ducks. They decided to fly into Fairbanks to enjoy the ride down, compared to fly directly into Valdez. The trips from Fairbanks to Valdez is about 350 miles and 6 hours of driving. I have done this trip where it was -40 when I left and +40 when I arrived at the other end. In this case we did not have the extreme, it would have been nice because it was only 5 when we arrived in Valdez. To hear the locals you would have thought the world had froze. On the trip we saw about 5,000 caribou and 25 moose. 16 of the moose were within a ˝ mile stretch of road. Including a couple of nice bulls. Our goal was to leave early in the morning to get to an area to chase some ptarmigan. Our rush was wasted on -20 weather keeping us close to the truck. Ptarmigan tracks every where, but cold hunters and guns did not flush a single bird.
Day 2:
First day on the salt…. The goal- barrow goldeneyes. Not that hard of a goal on a normal day, but when the temps dip to 5 degrees and the wind kicks up to 20mph it can become harder. We tucked ourselves up into a cove deployed 3 dozen goldeneye decoys and a dozen harlequins in a separate group just incase some blue birds wanted to stop by. I normally would put out a couple more dozen decoys, but with the wind coming in strong we figured better have an easier pick up then spend too much time with the seas getting rougher.
After we got setup things were slow. As with most sea ducks up here we see flights all at once and then slow then action and so on. It did not take too long, the first flight came about ˝ hour after setting up. We had a few groups of doubles to 5 goldeneyes bombing in to the decoys. Barrow’s just love to decoy. Most of the time it is hard to keep them out of the decoys. But on some days they just don’t want to stop. This day was a mix. After getting a few goldeneyes in we saw a new duck coming. A drake harly all alone. He turned and cupped into the decoys. Ryan made quick work of bagging his first harlequin ever. Although it took a few rounds : )
We had hoped in the afternoon we could move to a new location and target harlequins more, but with the wind still strong we decided to stay put until the next day. We end the day with a getting more barrow’s, buffleheads, and a couple common mergansers. The common mergansers were another first for Ryan & Brian. A real trophy : )
Day 1 Photos
http://www.nwtaxidermy.com/pictures/hunting_gallery/swampers/caribou.jpg
http://www.nwtaxidermy.com/pictures/hunting_gallery/swampers/caribou2.jpg
http://www.nwtaxidermy.com/pictures/hunting_gallery/swampers/mountains.jpg