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Barrow's and Harlequin in Alaska

Posted By: Capt.JVH

Barrow's and Harlequin in Alaska - 11/11/21 12:21 AM

Just got back from a week with my good friend in Ketchikan. Although hunting rutting blacktail was the main goal, we found a few days to do a diver hunt and then a sea duck hunt on Sunday. The Barrows Goldeneye were all over around the islands we were deer hunting. We decoy hunted them one morning and had a blast. The days where I need to shoot a limit are long gone. I was enjoying decoying birds and picking out stud drakes. We could have filled 10 limits with drake goldeneye in two hours if we wanted to. They were truly everywhere. We also jump shot stream pockets at low tide. They were holding good numbers of cananda's and mallards. We shot enough to eat.

Sunday, was the best. Our original plan was to hunt the rocks outside of Ketchikan for scoters. The whitewings and Surfs were starting to show up. But...... on the way out we started seeing big numbers of harlequins. All fresh birds. Our plan quickly changed. We found a cove at low tide full of mussels. set up our string and had them in the decoys before we moved the boat. We took our time and picked out drakes for a few hours as the tide started rising. I got a huge whitewing scoter, a few buffleheads and some surfs. It was such a fun hunt. I love open water hunting. It was always my favorite when I lived in Corpus. Again, after a while we hung up the guns and broke out the camera.

I brought a few harli's home for the wall. And a few barrows for a dead mount to mimic a picture I took on the boat. I've got a barrows mounted already but 2 more couldn't hurt wink

Deer hunting is fun but hunting crazy rough water off the rocks for probably the prettiest duck in America really did it for me. The pics could have been better. It was raining, go figure.

John

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Posted By: texasdude28

Re: Barrow's and Harlequin in Alaska - 11/11/21 01:12 AM

Looks awesome!!
Posted By: kmon11

Re: Barrow's and Harlequin in Alaska - 11/11/21 01:16 AM

Looks like a fun time, both species are beautiful ducks.
Posted By: Capt.JVH

Re: Barrow's and Harlequin in Alaska - 11/11/21 02:58 AM

thanks guys! And for sure, both are gorgeous. I have a barrow's mounted from the last time I was up there. It's next to a common GE I shot in south Texas. It's cool to see them next to each other.
Posted By: 2flyfish4

Re: Barrow's and Harlequin in Alaska - 11/11/21 03:30 AM

Thats badass, alaska is a trip I really want to do someday soon
Posted By: jnd59

Re: Barrow's and Harlequin in Alaska - 11/11/21 05:45 AM

Cool. I need to do the big water thing once. What's the duck up there that your limited to one? King eider?
Posted By: Capt.JVH

Re: Barrow's and Harlequin in Alaska - 11/11/21 12:55 PM

Pretty sure it's a king but not 100% sure. They don't have those down where we were at, so it wasn't an issue. Kings are awesome. My buddy from Corpus is flying up this week to hunt them.
Posted By: goosebuster

Re: Barrow's and Harlequin in Alaska - 11/11/21 02:58 PM

Bravo! What a trip!
Posted By: Baldpate

Re: Barrow's and Harlequin in Alaska - 11/11/21 06:52 PM

What a "bucket List " hunt ! Alaska is such a land of outdoor opportunity. Haven't gotten a Harlequin, but had the chance to take Eider, Oldsquaw and Scoters off the coast of Maine many years ago. That "sea duck" hunting thing is a great adventure. They are hardy birds and the Harlequin is an absolute beauty!
Posted By: Streater

Re: Barrow's and Harlequin in Alaska - 11/11/21 08:16 PM

I love reading posts like this!
Posted By: wal1809

Re: Barrow's and Harlequin in Alaska - 11/11/21 10:54 PM

Very nice post!
Posted By: twdjr

Re: Barrow's and Harlequin in Alaska - 11/11/21 11:26 PM

up
Posted By: Capt.JVH

Re: Barrow's and Harlequin in Alaska - 11/11/21 11:50 PM

Thanks guys! Growing up shooting wood ducks and mallards I never imagined getting the chance to experience hunts like this. It blows me away when I hang out with my buddies that are lifelong Alaska residents. This is just a cool Sunday morning to them. Life is all about perspective I suppose. They breast out Harli's and eat them like we would a redhead on the coast. Same with the Barrows. They won't even pull the trigger on scoters. It blows my mind.
Posted By: Biscuit

Re: Barrow's and Harlequin in Alaska - 11/13/21 12:00 AM

Beautiful
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