2007 Hunting Trip--Official Report Part I

I last attended the annual Pitcher family deer hunt in 1981 when I was 12 years old. My dad convinced me to go that year, even though it meant missing the last opportunity of my life to trick-or-treat under the "no trick-or-treating after you reach middle school" rule at our house. We took a very long boat ride to Admiralty Island. The family had a successful hunt that year, killing a total of 11 or 12 deer. I spent the trip taking long walks with my dad through the woods. I have three lasting memories from the 1981 trip:

1) making a lengthy trek while carrying a deer head in one hand and a heart/liver combo stuck on a stick in the other hand;

2) steaming deer blood spilling onto a frosty muskeg when a deer's thoat was slit; and

3) Larry cooking orange duck, with a goose, after a successful and exciting goose hunt where several of us hid behind a large log on a beach while one person (Grandad?) snuck through the forest to the head of a bay and scared a bunch of geese out toward the hiding hunters. As best I can recall, the orange goose recipe involved putting the goose in a pan with frozen orange juice concentrate and baking it. It wasn't bad if you could get to some of the goose meat that hadn't been influenced by the orange tasting outer layer.

After participating in a couple of additional uneventful deer hunts with my dad in Oregon, I decided that I wasn't going to be a hunter. I'm still ambivalent about whether the costs of shooting a deer (cleaning, packing, butchering, having to eat lots of venison) outweigh the benefits (excitement, trophy, enhanced feeling of manliness).

With that background, Jay baited me into attending the 2007 deer hunt by telling me that they planned to hunt near the Karta River, known to be an outstanding steelhead river. I could fly fish while the rest of the family hunted. I was excited about the chance to make another trip on the boat with Grandad, Larry, Jay and Jim. I knew David was going to be in Portland the weekend before the hunt, so I convinced him to come and we planned the trip on short notice.

The trip began on Sunday evening with a first-rate family dinner at Granny and Grandad's. We had homemade ravioli with two kinds of sauce. It was an enjoyable evening, even with the 85 degree temperature in the apartment. After dinner, I went grocery shopping with David, Larry, and Jay. It was at the grocery store that Larry informed us of the tradition that each person be responsible for cooking dinner on one night of the trip. David quickly claimed responsibility for night one of the trip, when we would eat an already Granny-made casserole. Jay claimed steaks, Larry announced plans for chicken, and I decided on a catch-of-the-day fish fry--with salmon patties for a back-up plan. Our evening meals on the boat were great, although there never was any catch to produce a fish fry. In fact, it turned out there wasn't sufficient canned salmon on the boat for salmon patties. My main course turned out to be leftover steak and chicken. I tried to make up for this shortcoming by cooking two breakfasts, making guacamole, and serving, possibly for the first time ever aboard the Julie Ann, a pre-dinner fruit and cheese plate.

We departed Monday morning and arrived somewhere that was not the Karta River a few hours later. Everyone else began putting on their hunting gear, so I did too. Jay, Larry, and Jim made a hunting plan, with Larry and Jim each agreeing to supervise one of the rookie hunters. I went with Jim into some very thick woods where we began climbing a hill immediately after getting out of the skiff. Visibility in the woods was poor, and I never felt like I could see further than 50 feet. I was starting to think the hunt was futile when a deer jumped up about 40 feet away from me. I could instantly see it was a buck. I raised the rifle Larry had loaned me and realized that, for some reason, things were fuzzy when I looked through the scope. I could see the deer with my bare eyes, but I had trouble finding it when I looked through the scope. The deer stood still for a good amount of time while I attempted to find it in the scope. Jim eventually began providing commentary from my rear, "It's a buck. Go ahead and shoot it. Just shoot it!" Feeling a bit pressured and knowing that I was taking way too long to shoot, I squeezed off a shot before I was perfectly comfortable with my aim. Later forensic inspection would show that I had shot a clean hole through the buck's ear. This caused him to run. My instinct was to run after it, which I did. Jim blew his deer call, and the deer stopped. I came to a point where I could see the deer again, fumbled to noisily reload my gun, and blasted it in the rear end. This time I saw the deer stagger and it ran off with a limp. Jim helped me find the blood trail and track it. Jim then proceeded to clean my deer and turn it into a backpack. He also carried it most of the way back to the skiff, after my initial stumbling effort at carrying it the first 200 yards. Thank you, Jim.

We arrived at the Karta River on Monday evening after the first afternoon of hunting. I was very satisfied with my prior day's hunt and was looking forward to some fishing. In fact, I was thinking since I had already shot a deer I wouldn't need to hunt anymore for the rest of the trip. I was somewhat concerned about river conditions due to the amount of rain. So I took both gun and fly rod in the skiff for the Tuesday morning ride to the beach. The Karta River was only marginally fishable on Tuesday due to high water. And the water rose as the week continued. Turns out it rained a total of 32 inches in Ketchikan for the month of October.

I have lots more to tell, but it will have to wait until later. Possibly this weekend.

George