Last outing of the trip. Ptarmigan hunting in a different location than the last one; tundra on rolling hillsides vs. steep mountainside slopes.
2 parties of 4 hunters, 2 guides and 2 hunting dogs all piled into a bigger float plane to hunt an area about 120 miles west of the lodge. Once there the two parties would set off in different directions.
But first we had to actually get there. About 80% through our flight, after zipping through narrow mountain valleys and getting uncomfortably close to the mountains, littered with patchy clouds and fog, the pilot suddenly dropped down onto a small lake and landed. Turned out the actual destination was foggy and we had to wait for an an hour or so to continue our journey.
Once we arrived we started into bona fide tundra. Walking on the very spongy, wet ground was surprisingly strenuous. Our guide said the previous group didn't even get 1.5 miles from the plane before burning out but he thought we could do better.
Eventually, we got up a long hill where the ground was firmer and dryer. We started flushing 2 or 3 ptarmigan sporadically with our guide promising much bigger groups if we kept going. By early afternoon it paid off. We were flushing groups of 15 - 25 birds and then watching where they landed so we could pursue them later. Brian had one flush straight at him at full throttle and incredibly, he hit it just a few feet from his barrel.
As the shooting got more frequent the guide failed to keep one member of our party from repeatedly rushing ahead of us and shooting birds before we got in range. Often he'd get 1 or 2 birds for himself while a dozen more flew away depriving us from having our shots too. My shooting was chaotic as usual but I lucked into 2 birds crossing just as I pulled the trigger! The guy who had been hogging shots also shot at one those two birds and instant later. I could clearly see that I hit both birds and that he hit one of them too afterwards. Nobody saw my miraculous feat so it felt like it didn't count. I miss a lot of shots but I did NOT miss that one. Pity that it wasn't confirmed by others.
Brian was having a very tough time hitting his birds but was robbed of opportunities to make a comeback by the shot hog and by the dogs straying far away from us and then prematurely flushing birds. While Brian and I stayed in line with each other, one member of our party started lagging 100+ yards behind us and the guide consistently. So, between the shot hog who was running ahead and the other guy who was lagging behind, things were chaotic. The fact that the guide seemingly ignored all three of those factors put a sour taste in Brian's and his father's mouths.
Back at the lodge we had time to put things in perspective. Overall, it was a fantastic trip. Alaska threw plenty of challenges at us but none of our fly-outs were cancelled, a serious run of good fortune. It was the privilege of a lifetime to be able share these adventures with my son!
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