Grampa Mason

Kinzie

Uncle J

Uncle Dave

Alaska has surely provided some bounty for the Mason's this summer and fall. Earlier this summer my father, brother, nephews, and niece came to experience a bit of Alaska. Alaska is a big state with numerous different types of ecosystems located all over the state so, it is tough to experience them all in one trip. But, the Mason clan tried to fit in as many as possible for sure in a ten day period. We started in Denali National Park seeing the high country and tundra of interior Alaska. Traveled down the Parks Highway experiencing the road system and south central alaska all the way down to the Kenai peninsula. After fishing the Kenai river from the raft and catching lots of reds, we jumped over to Seward and went with Puffin Charters out on the ocean. After watching Grampa turn back numerous halibut we traveled back up the highway and flew out with Willow Air to Lake Creek to chase more fish and experience some Alaska bush flying.

Ryan

Erik

Cantwell Caribou

Pack Mules

After the Mason clan left, it was time to start hitting the Tundra around Cantwell to see if it would give up some of its bounty to me in the way of red meat. Once again, the wilderness did not disappoint and gave up a beautiful caribou for our freezer this winter. The caribou hunt took a little patience and luck to harvest. The first night that I saw him I was with my new hunting partner, Mike Santos, hunting moose and we saw this nice bull up on top of a high ridge. After watching the caribou for the evening and no luck with moose, I decided I would return the next evening to try my luck with the caribou. When I returned the following night with my wife Jeni and little girl Jaydyn, it didn't take me long to find the caribou up on top of the high tundra covered ridge staying away from the stubborn bugs that were still hanging on despite the morning frosts. The walk was a little longer than I thought and with storm clouds looming over head I figured I best take the 3 year old and my lovely wife off the mountain despite getting within 400 yards of the caribou. The next morning, I returned hoping that the caribou would be in the same area. I spotted the caribou in the same area first thing the next morning. Mike and I hiked approx. 1 mile up the hill.  While we were hiking up the ridge line that the caribou was on, he decided to get up out of his bed and started to head down the mountain right to us. He slowly just kept wandering aimlessly around but, generally moving in our direction. After we did a little belly crawling and playing peak-a-boo with the roll of hill, the bull presented a 50 yard broadside shot. The 300 mag barked and found its spot in the lungs of the bull resulting in a quick clean kill.

Hopefully, as this fall presses on, we can top off our freezers with another caribou or a quarter of a moose while sharing the remainder with friends and family. I will keep you all posted and will surely write more about the north country we are so lucky to live in.

With Love from Alaska

 Until next time, hunt on!


Justin