The Juneau Icefield, shown last summer, might be typical of the picture many people see in their minds when they think of Alaska.A few years ago, I signed on as your humble outdoors correspondent. You didn't ask me to, I just did it.
Some would say that takes a lot of nerve, or maybe a lot of conceit or overconfidence in your own abilities. I hope you don't think that of me. I was just a retired game warden who had an idea to try something new, so I started down this trail to see where it would take me.
Well, so far it has taken me to a lot of places I never thought I would see. The Texas coast at sunrise while sitting in an airboat; a gun club in Missouri, where I watched a guy I consider a shotgun-shooting piece of machinery set the world record for breaking clay targets; and following some squirrel dogs in an Alabama creek bottom. And that's just to name a few.
Now this trail will take me to a lifelong dream of seeing Alaska.
If you follow these wanderings, you may recall that last year I attended a tactical shotgun class at Gunsite Academy in Arizona. There I met Sam Naramore and struck up a friendship. Sam, you see, hails from Alaska and just happens to be involved in a lot of training with the agency he works for, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources.
Alaska is vast - probably bigger than most of us in the lower 48 states can envision: 586,412 square miles with more than three million lakes, 167,000 rivers and 34,000 miles of coastline. The Alaska DNR manages and co-manages hundreds of millions of acres in the use of the land, water, wildlife and minerals, as well as other issues.
It is a big state, and the DNR has a big job.
One of the concerns for the department is the safety and training of its people. These workers may be required to be in very remote areas for long periods of time. Alaska is known for having lots of wildlife, including bears, some of which are very large and at times are not that crazy about sharing the landscape with humans.
I claim to be no expert in all this, but Alaska has three types of bears: black bears (much the same as we have here in the lower 48); brown bears (including grizzlies and the coastal brown bears); and polar bears. Any of these animals are capable of attacking a human, depending on many circumstances, including how close a person comes to a bear, if it is a sow with cubs and if there is a food source close by, such as a fresh kill. In 2016, there were 64 incidents of bears shot in defense of life and property. This includes bears shot by the public and by DNR personnel.
The point is the Alaska DNR has a lot people doing many different jobs that have a good chance of coming into contact with some very large predators. Steve Nelson, a geologist with the United States Geological Survey, pioneered the training of field staff to be better prepared to protect themselves against bears and other large predators. (Alaska has had at least one fatality involving wolves.)
He has been working in the field and hunting in Alaska for more than 50 years. He has encountered hundreds of bears and has shot four in defense of life and property. So Nelson knows a thing or three about bear encounters.
One of the instructors for this program is my friend Sam Naramore, and here is where your humble outdoor scribe comes into the picture. I have been invited by those involved in this wildlife defense program to come and take part in their training and to observe, take pictures and write about the experience. Alaska, here we come!
For you gun nuts out there, the defense course will involve several firearms. Most of the training centers on shotguns using slugs, large-caliber rifles and some big-bore handguns. I have included a Ruger SuperRedhawk revolver in .454 Casull, a Taurus Raging Bull revolver in the same caliber, three Remington shotguns, two Winchester shotguns, a CZ-USA Safari Magnum rifle .375 H&H, a Ruger Guide Gun rifle and a Mossberg Patriot Rifle, both in .375 Ruger caliber. There is going to be some powder burned and some lead go downrange!
If you think I am a little excited about visiting Alaska, you are right. I want you readers to know I am sincere in wanting to bring some of the experience of seeing part of America's last frontier to you.
I hope you will come along for the ride.
North! To Alaska!
"The Trail Less Traveled" is written by Larry Case, who lives in Fayette County, W.Va. You can write to him at larryocase3@gmail.com.