ABM - Thanks for the help with the pic. Yep, there aren' t any real " whoppers" in this day' s catch, but Paul' s been keeping his clients mighty happy with sizeable halibut. And according to my daughter, it sounds like a lot of the clients are booking return trips. (I' m sure that makes the owner of Kingfisher Charters happy!)

Hope your luck improves on the caribou!

Raining like cats and dogs out tonight, so what the heck, I' ll go hunting anyways.

It' s colder out, and the bou have started to scatter and head south a bit, so hopefully I can find something to stalk tonight.

Looks like they are working on the fish and game websight also for the drawing results. They updated it today and said it is temporarily unavailable until the spring drawings are entered.

Good luck for everyone that applied!

ABM - Its pretty soggy down here, too! They cancelled the Juneau fireworks for 24 hours because it was too sloppy to get the barge into position out in the Channel in front of town and too wet to get the stuff set up properly. It cleared up a little this evening, but it still isn' t very nice.

Hope you got in the right position and tip-toed up on some of the right kind of animals this evening. ' Course you' re handcapped out there with " just sticks and strings" , but I figure a few will walk right up to you one of these times! I have heard of the legendary clouds of insects on the Slope - how do you put up with them? Can you keep them at bay with the right kind of big dope? Good luck!

Phish, almost had us one last night! Had a great stalk going on an average bull, but when I got about 30 yards out, the hip waiders and rain coat started rubbing a little as I crouched down to close in a few more yards for the shot. The bull got curious and run up a cut bank to see what the squeeking was, and pegged me in the open from about 25 yards, but he was facing right at me. I had an arrow nocked and ready to draw back, but he never offered a shot. When he finally turned, he was heading off, so I never got a shot on him. I actually got on him again, but couldn' t close the gap to within 45 yards. So close!

The skeeters aren' t out right now, it' s cold out, with night time weather in the upper 30' s and 10 mph winds. We are lucky to hit 50 for our highs. The skeeters will start getting bad around late July, and the swarms can be rediculous! We weren' t bothered by the swarms too bad last year on our hunt, but we lathered up in bug dope and occasionally wore some bug gear. We went through the bug dope though, no doubt about that.

Hope the weather clears up for you guys. I' m hoping it stays cool and damp here for the hunting.

Also, the drawing permits are available on line at the fish and game websight. I made donations this year, just like every year in the past, but my brother drew cow moose in Fairbanks Management area for archery, and with all the moose running around his house, he should be able to get one. Notta for the rest of the family though.

Just checked the ADF&G site and I, as well, made donations again. Been nine years now, and I have yet to ever get a permit! Next year, though!

NO NEW PERMITS FOR ME BUT I HAVE MY SHEEP TAG TO KEEP ME BUSY.

PHISH-ON NICE FISH

Hot Damn! I just about fell out of my chair when I checked the ADF&G Draw Permit Result site and found I' d finally scored! Looks like I drew one of the DC608 (3-caribou) tags for 15B (East) that I have been putting in for for about 10 years now. I' m hoping my friend up in Kasilof still has his string of horses! I left him a message and haven' t heard back from him yet, but I have my fingers crossed. That was quite a surprize!

Congrats Phish! Guess you won' t be needing my caribou meat after all. I saw a few hundred last night, but they were unreachable without a boat. Only saw one that was stalkable, but it was a cow. Maybe tonight.

Good luck with the caribou, are you going on the August 10th opener?

bearhuntr, I keep saying the same thing year after year. We can only hope. I noticed one guy drew Delta Bison, Afognak Elk and two other permits this year. I wouldn' t doubt that a couple of those tags go to waste. [:' (] I wish they would put throw away permits back into the hat and pick new names.

PHISH-ON CONGRATS ON THE PERMITS, ANOTHER FRIEND THAT LIVES HERE ALSO DREW THAT TAG...AND HE HAS PACK HORSES IF YOUR FRIEND FALLS THROUGH HE MIGHT BE ABLE TO ASSIST......BUT HE IS GOT THREE TAGS AND HIS WIFE WILL REGISTER FOR 3 COW TAGS SO HE MIGHT BE MAXED OUT.

ABM - Thanks for the congrats. Don' t give up on the halibut trade idea, that is always a possibility. There are a lot of people in my family that love the taste of ' bou! I think my friend with the horses was off on a trip over this holiday weekend, and I haven' t heard back as yet, so I won' t know the date for when I would be going north for the hunt. In the past he said that they like to get in and out of the area before the weather begins to turn sour in September - so if I was to guess I' d say " early in their season" .

Nim - Depending on what I hear from my friend, I might shoot you an email for the number of that friend of your' s. From the sounds of it though, he will probably have his hands full with what they have planned! I will keep in touch - just in case my idea doesn' t work out.

Just because I still have my boat out of the water (doing some re-wiring for the " new" commercial-grade color video graph), I got to take a peek at about a 45-pound King salmon out at Tee Harbor this afternoon! Apparently the fish hit while they were getting the second pole baited and their gear stowed and situated.
I guess all Hell broke loose, and the fish made a run at the boat and went around the outdrive for good measure. It was a real pretty fish!