More alaskan ptarmigan hunting ver. 2.0

[Richard Flanders]

Someone asked for "more pictures"... big mistake asking me for that... I took the plane skis off yesterday and figured ski flying was done. Woke up this am and it was CAVU and calm so, not about to waste such a gorgeous day, I put them back on and had at the ptarmigan down in the Range for the day. It's only a 71 mile flite. Pics show what it looks like on the way in, then there's a pic of the final approach to "Ptarmigan International"-it's longer than it looks, around 1000ft or so. A shot of all the ptarmigan tracks on the hillside. A 'first blood' shot of the first bird bagged - this bird only had a couple of holes in it and would have made a great mount if I could have gotten it home in good condition, which I didn't. Got 4 of the 6 birds I saw; much better than last weekend. The males are getting dark heads already. I even got in a 30min nap on a fragrant and sunny bare patch of willow brush. What a luxury! My first sunburn of the year. Last couple of shots are of country heading north on the way back out of the mountains. It was a great day but really tough snowshoeing. It was 53deg down there! By 2:30 the snow had the consistency of wet concrete. Big fun regardless and as good as it gets for Easter entertainment in my book.... this bachelor life can be pretty okeydokey on days like this... I don't understand why the snow ever has to go away or the obsession with warm weather! I think I live too far south....

[Dean Romig]

What a grand and glorious Easter Day for you Rich. The worst sunburn I ever got was while fishing in Alaska.

[Dave Suponski]

Fantastic Rich, Thanks for the great picture's....sure is God's country...

[Tom Carter]

Richard, Is the last picture the Wood River? Tom

[Richard Flanders]

They're all of the Wood River Tom. In pic 2 you can see the airstrip for Lynn Castles Wood River Lodge, defunct but still intact since he passed away some years back. My little lake is about a mile past the lodge on the south side.

Dean: I believe it. The sun is more intense at the high latitudes at both ends of the earth. The sun in Antarctica can be downright dangerous during a bad ozone hole year.

[Tom Carter]

Hi Richard,

Thanks. That is such beautiful country. Sometimes I wish I was back there.

Tom

[Richard Flanders]

Only sometimes?????

[Tom Carter]

Not really. All the time. Tom

[Richard Flanders]

That's more like it... I have the account of your Alaskan activities that you sent me a few years back on my computer. You got to do some incredible things. No one could ever forget all that.

[Tom Carter]

Hi Richard, You're right. They'll never be forgotten. Tom

[King Brown]

Richard, does the bird have dark meat? Taste? I tagged along with some Inuit kids hunting ptarmigan with slings (David's kind, not slingshots) on Kendall Island in the Beaufort Sea nearly 50 years ago. They didn't get any so they're still a mystery to me.

(You have a beautiful aircraft. Nearly bought one. Completed last year experimental 180hp Lycoming, prop Mac 84/43, Bushmaster on new Eddy Peck 2250 floats.)

[chris dawe]

King, the ptarmigan is a dark meat,I find them much more paletable if they're cleaned (gutted )right off,the taste I would compare to snipe not as strong though but similar....I tell you what though ,when you hit one you know it ...the feather's are very loose as compared to grouse.

All the best

[charlie cleveland]

i sure would like to try that grouse hunting ....and richard those pictures are really good...makes me want to move to alaska...i started to in 1969 but my have the years have rolled by...but through yalls cameras eye and theeyes of you guys and your stories i have just about done it all... charlie

[jerrybucci]

very nice

[Richard Flanders]

As Chris says King, the meat is dark... very dark, and seems very bloody most of the time. They can taste pretty strong if you don't get as much of the blood out of the meat as possible. Best way is, if they're wounded, to step on their head and pull it off and hang on tight as their heart pumps all the blood out. That works well with spruce grouse also and makes a big difference in the taste. I had two of these for dinner the night I brought them home. Excellent.

RE the plane: it is a nice one... all it takes is money and enough of a lack of brain matter and common sense to want to spend it on the plane. I'm putting an Airglas belly pod on next that will be half cargo, half fuel. I'm tired of carrying cans in the back seat.

[calvin humburg]

Thanks for sharing the pictures Richard looks like a lot of fun!

[Gerry Addison]

Richard, you are making me jealous. I love to fly and love to shoot birds with doubles. You are doing both. I just sold my plane last year and this is the first time in 25 years I haven't had a plane. I miss it, but I don't miss all the bills that go with it. I've been to Alaska 4 times and never shot a Ptarmigan. How stupid am I! Gerry

[Dean Romig]

I'm tired of carrying cans in the back seat.

Yeah, they must really stink up the cabin.:whistle:

[Richard Flanders]

It's the constant thought of having an engine failure and having to 'put it in' somewhere not particularly "pretty" and having the cans want to join me in the front seat in the process. Somehow being mushed between cans of gas and a hot engine just doesn't seem healthy under the circumstances....

[Dean Romig]

It would seem to minimize one's chances of walking away from such a landing.