"working" in AK...I am Living a Dream

berto · Sep 12, 2007

i was working up in ANWR the past week and returned to town last night.

Yesterday I was on a flight in a small fixed-wing careening across ANWR and spotted countless caribou sheds, but i was "on the clock" so no time to land and pick up some...i also saw at least 8 skulls with exceptional racks...

If you look hard you can see the sheds scattered around the ground in the pic.

snow geese gathering and getting ready to fly south...

white-fronted geese...

a sow polar bear with two cubs...

the locals harpooned (subsistence hunting) a bowhead whale...

and i feasted with them after the whale was butchered...

the polar bear activity at the whale bone pile every night...

this marked my last trip up there for this year. i will be traveling there again next summer. in the past week i have seen animals and places very few humans will ever see...i am very blessed.

couesbitten · Sep 12, 2007

Cool pics, do you know if they kiled that whale with a .50 cal machine gun? I didn't think so, they are "for real" up in AK and make the Makakahs in WA look like a joke.

Thanks for posting the pics, Scott

FamilyMan · Sep 14, 2007

Very cool.

Mark

D13er · Sep 14, 2007

......well the D8 that drug it ashore might not be totally traditional.

JB

Flatlandr · Sep 15, 2007

definitely living the dream there berto, thanks for sharing.

eelgrass · Sep 15, 2007

Nice photos berto! What an experience you're having.

I had a friend who was a State Trooper up in Wainwright, AK for about a year and a half, back in the 70s. He had plenty of stories for sure. One time some residents killed a troublesome sow Polarbear and delivered the cub to his house. Him and his wife kept it for several months until the authorities found out. I don't remember what happened to it.

He said most residents in town shot ducks from their front porch as they flew over. But the big event was the arrival of caribou. The whole town would head out on their snow machines and shoot caribou. Where ever the caribou dropped is where it stayed. Everything was frozen and stayed that way all winter. A pole was set into the ground with a certain colored flag to identify whos caribou it was. Anytime they wanted caribou meat they would ride out and cut some off. No bear problems in the winter, as they were out on the pack ice.

One big problem was stray dogs. The town was up in arms, so he decided to hire a local man as animal control officer. There was no budget for it so he paid the guy out of his own pocket. He was constantly working to get along with the people. Well, the guy went home, grabbed his 30-06, and started shooting every dog he saw not on a leash! I guess it took several town meetings before things settled down.

Keep the photos comming!

Eel

berto · Sep 17, 2007

eel,

i have yet to travel to wainwright, but several of my coworkers were there about two weeks ago for a project...pretty funny story about the trooper...thanks for sharing!

a couple more pics for you:

every village has at least one trooper, but no more than two. here is a pic of me and the local trooper in this village.

Ken had just received his new rig via the annual barge, so he was giving me a tour. during the tour i got the urge to try out the form-fitted (form-fitted for handcuffed miscreants) backseat

the polar bear sow and two cubs, but this time at night

dusk (without the usual fog) on the shore of the Arctic Ocean