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....