Extreme Waterfowling: Hunting Alaska’s Mud Flats
| Firearms - Shotguns |
Three cabin boats loaded up with duck hunters at the city boat launch. Last in line was a 14 foot open air jet boat, and climbing aboard the boat was a man wearing an orange immersion survival suit. All four boats were heading over to the West Side of Alaska’s Cook Inlet for a duck and goose hunt. The smaller boat was necessary to traverse the many tidal guts to access the mud flats across the Inlet. Waterfowling in Alaska is not your usual field test. Instead of a pipe and an over/under shotgun, Alaskan hunters operate in remote areas requiring synthetic shotguns, duck shacks on pilings, 1000 gram Thinsulate chest waders and, in some cases, an orange immersion survival suit.The logistics of hunting in Alaska, even for locals, often requires travel by small plane or boat over large expanses of salt water. Since Anchorage is the most populated city in Alaska, travel to hunting and fishing areas creates a weekend exodus that, for most, resembles a plains-trains-and-automobiles travel sequence only, instead of planes and trains, Alaskans highways are filled with campers pulling boats and ATV’s.
On the back roads of my home town on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, all-terrain vehicles are a random collection of after-market parts, including lifts, snorkels and gun racks assembled in the vein of the Mad Max trilogy. Plastic gun racks are Gorilla-glued into the back windows of second generation pick-up trucks; drink holders are duct taped in enough places to host a party; fabricated metal windshield frames and roll bars are standard; and even arbitrary items, such as mouse pads, have been glued to the roof for a canoe rest or to the dash board to act as sticky mats for such objects as binoculars and spare magazines.
The joy of dirt roads, lake-size mud puddles and excellent early and late season duck and goose hunting led a fellow duck hunter to proudly announce, “I finally have a vehicle that can make the trip to the Chickaloon!” The Chickaloon River flats, located on a wildlife refuge, can be accessed by a vehicle-only three-hour tour down a marginally drivable back road, by use of an off road vehicle from the beach at low tide, or by flying in a small plane to one of the three landing strips on the flats. Even by vehicle, a trip to Chickaloon isn’t your drive to the super market, and motorists are advised to have four-wheel drive, spare tires, a come-along, survival gear and a shovel.
Depending on where the local duck and goose hunter ends up, especially if near a river with a salmon run, the presence of brown bears is another consideration unique to Alaska. If hunting a glacial lake, the wind can come up unexpectedly requiring an extra day’s stay on what would otherwise be a day trip. The waterfowler must know the regulations pursuant to the various land ownership, which, unlike most of the lower 48, is largely state, federal or native-owned. Each area has its own rules which can create an overlay of regulations resembling a set of architect’s plans. The area I hunt most is state land within a special management area located within city limits, thus, four sets of rules (counting the federal migratory bird rules). I can walk from a major road way out onto the river flats after work, but I need to hike a half a mile to out-distance the need for a GPS to figure out the exact area open to the use of shotguns.
Once a waterfowler has reached his or her destination on the various mud flats, hunting the tide change is a game of Russian Roulette. One eye must watch the air for birds and the other eye, the horizon. An incoming tide or fog can easily sneak up on a hunter. Mossy mud valleys can turn into river filled gorges in a matter of minutes, not hours, and, on one unfortunate venture, I chased a pair of ducks across one pond too many only to become lost in a fog so thick that nothing but the ground beneath me was visible. If I’d have had a pound of cocaine on me, the drug dog that was dispatched for my rescue, may have found me. Instead, I ran into a pair of hunters heading in and followed them back to where my hunting partner and several search and rescue vehicles awaited.
A trip to Alaska to hunt waterfowl can be the trip of a lifetime, but, it’s also one in which the usual considerations are just the beginning. The difference between the lower 48 and Alaska waterfowling can be summed up by the image of a North Dakota farm boy starting the day, not by discussing what areas have been scouted the night before but by scrutinizing the marine weather forecast and consulting the tide book.
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