Year three of going to Alaska, and it keeps getting better. Ive done guided and self guided trips up there, and Wingshooter Safaris and Buck Brown have it figured out. To say we will be going back to this location is an understatement. The costs and quality of this location and operation make it #1 in my books.

Greg(dogs n decoys) and I Left Texas on Wed, got to anchorage on Thur where we met up with my dad and james, and onto ERA airlines out to the Homer.

I call this picture-"you in 9A-you'll be giving out peanuts and cokes"


Met a guy on this flight from Homer that wants to trade me a 60" plus moose for a texas whitetail......uuuuh....sweet.

Spent the night in Homer and decided to have a nightcap at the Otter bar.
In rolls the crew of the timebandit.


Up the next morning and onto Smokey Bay airlines.


We were like a bunch of kids at Christmas.


Had to do two and two on the flight .


Finally there after two days
[/QUOTE]



We were absolutely shocked with the lodge. Freshly renovated. We had brought bunch of stuff we didnt need.


Not a bad view out of the window.


She even had gumbo pots.

would like to be back here this summer catching kings.


fishing is life in this part of the world.


[QUOTE=brazosboyt;8965032]Time to hunt.

Day 1 -5 min in and James gets his first Harli-an absolutely beautiful bird.


5 min later, and gregs on the board with another great bird.



I got mine, and we moved spots for some goldeneye.


Got 1 nice bird and Buck said "time to go" winds were building and it was getting nasty quickly. This is what you pay a guide for up there. Buck has an awesome skiff that is very seaworthy.

The "salty stink eye." The look says it all.


Back into the harbor at low tide- and the kid in me comes out. Starfish, sea cucumbers, barnicles, clams, and all kinda other cool sealife out.

Day 2 and it Barrows time.

We rolled into a bay and it was holding a good number of barrows. Setup and started picking off drakes and they worked back in.


First Barrows for me and was just amazed at their size and beauty. Looked like cottom balls flying against the spruce timber.




Had a couple surf scoters come in everywhere we setup.







Day 3 and finally a wind less than 20. We got to "scoter island" and setup.

Buck set james and greg on one point and dad and I on another. View was absolutely unreal.

Snapped this pick when buck pulled up to check on us.


Dad and I noticed that the harlis were leary of decoying to us out on this open point so we built a quick spruce blind and it was on.


We shot 3 drake commons each, 4 harlis, 2 surfs, and saved our last couple seaducks incase some whitewings came in. The commons decoyed by the hundreds over the next hour.

Stopped on the way in and dropped a couple lines. Caught supper-2 cod and a halibut.


Wrapped the day up with some great birds.


[QUOTE=brazosboyt;8965037]Winds turned the right direction for Buck to get us into a couple of his floating "tacos".


Once again the view in the bay did not suck.


My dad got sick , so I ended up in a blind by myself. Turned out ok. Got these plus two drake old squaw.


James and greg got several whitewings, and surf and a couple barrows.
Including this "pig"


Day 5

Winds 50 gusting to 70 so opportunities were limited. We setup at "desperation island" and got one more harli each and called it a trip.

I had my hands full skinning birds for everyone so we would be able to get our birds back.




Had to train an apprentice to part feathers for me.

After everyone got the 2-3 of each species that they wanted and I brought a couple birds back for friends, I had skinned 52 birds.

Had a little time left for looking for some beach treasure. Found some great habitat materials that we sent back. Beachcoming at a -4 windchill is a very quick venture.



And eat......shane will like these pics more than pics of the birds....
Fried harli and goldeneye with gravy. Seared common scoter breasts. I had two people tell me that seared common scoter is better than fillet mignon. Im sold. Holy smokes, it better than sandhill or treeduck, and better than beef.







The total experience of this trip was just a trip of a lifetime. This was the first time my dad and I have gotten together on a trip. Long ways from the Sabine lake in SE Texas. Thanks Shane for the setup and Thanks buck for the awesome trip. See you again....

GREAT STORY AND AWESOME PICS!

Wow, looks like a trip of a lifetime.

Great photos, thank you for sharing!

WOW!

x2

"floating tacos"


Thanks for sharing. Awesome experience right there!

That is an awesome trip.

Man my taxi bill coming back that one would not be pretty...

Awesome pics!

Great pictures and story.

Amazing photos and trip!!!

Awesome trip!!!

That is so cool. Looks cold as all get out but what pretty birds and to be staring at that landscape between flights has got to be awesome.

That's why I started doing my own taxidermy about 10 years ago. Got serious a couple cyears ago and took a couple of classes.

AWESOME PICTURES, THANKS FOR SHARING!

That's amazing. Very cool.

new trip on the bucketlist

That looks incredible! Curious, how do you retrieve the birds when hunting out of the floating box blind? Did they have dogs or was it too cold?

Thats awesome! Great pics and story!

Agree great story and pictures

nice birds

Yea it was, thanks for sharing.