AK BHA’s 2nd Annual Beer Dinner
Tickets Available Now!
Purchase tickets at: Forbidden Peak
Join the Alaska Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers for our 2nd Annual Beer Dinner on Saturday, February 28, hosted by Forbidden Peak Brewery and Red Spruce AK. This special evening brings together Alaska’s hunting, angling, and conservation community for great food, great beer, and a great cause.
The night will feature a locally sourced seafood dinner, paired with craft beer, along with storytelling, raffles, and community connection. Proceeds from the event support the Alaska Chapter's work to advance, stewardship, science-based, and publicly engaged management of Alaska’s wild public lands and waters, ensuring access and opportunity for future generations.
Thanks to our generous sponsors and partners, attendees can also expect exciting raffle items and support from businesses that share a commitment to Alaska’s outdoor heritage.
Whether you’re a longtime BHA member or new to the community, this is a chance to gather, celebrate Alaska, and support the mission of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers.
MENU:
Special Guest Storyteller: Paul Johnson
Paul Johnson is a lifelong Alaskan whose entire life has been shaped by the land and waters of Southeast Alaska. From an early age, Paul was immersed in the outdoors, learning to fish, guide, and navigate Alaska’s rugged coastline long before it became his profession. He started as a fish buyer in Elfin Cove, later to start Chichagof Charters, where he has spent decades welcoming guests and sharing not only world-class wilderness experiences, but also the stories, traditions, and values that define the Alaskan way of life. In addition to his time in the field, Paul has been actively involved in Alaska’s legislative conservation process, particularly as it relates to hunting management and wildlife policy, helping ensure that Alaska’s resources are protected through thoughtful stewardship. He is known for his deep knowledge of local waters, wildlife, and history, and for his lifelong commitment to preserving Alaska’s wild character for future generations.
Special Guest Storyteller: LaVern Beier
LaVern Beier is a retired Wildlife Research Technician with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Wildlife Conservation, whose career spanned more than four decades in the temperate rainforests of Southeast Alaska. From 1973 to 2016, LaVern worked alongside wildlife biologists and ecologists on some of the most challenging and remote landscapes in the state, building an unparalleled hands-on understanding of Alaska’s wildlife and ecosystems.
Throughout his career, LaVern participated in a wide range of wildlife research and management projects involving the safe live capture, immobilization, marking, radio-collaring, and tracking of numerous species. These included Sitka black-tailed deer, wolves, mountain goats, wolverines, elk, black bears, and brown bears. His work took him across major islands and mainland regions of Southeast Alaska, often to places few people had ever visited.
Beginning in 1981, LaVern’s work increasingly focused on brown bears, a species that would define much of his professional life. Over the next 35 years, he became a recognized expert, conducting capture, collaring, tracking, and population studies on Admiralty and Chichagof Islands and across the mainland from Misty Fiords National Monument north to the Yakutat and Malaspina Forelands within Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve. In 1981, LaVern fitted an Admiralty Island brown bear with the first VHF radio transmitter used on brown bears in Southeast Alaska. Two decades later, in 2001, he deployed the first GPS/VHF radio collar on any big game species in the region.
Over the course of his career, LaVern captured more than 1,000 bears and handled bear captures every year for four decades. Drawing on this extensive field experience, he sought improved methods for estimating brown bear populations in Southeast Alaska’s dense rainforest environments. In 2003, he invented a single-catch hair snare designed to collect DNA from individual bears, a technique that evolved into the primary method for conducting brown bear population estimates in riparian ecosystems throughout the region.
LaVern’s career was marked by significant personal risk and sacrifice. He survived a helicopter crash and endured five brown bear attacks, experiences that underscore both the dangers inherent in wildlife research and his deep commitment to the work. Beyond his technical expertise, LaVern also developed extensive knowledge of the historical relationship between Southeast Alaska’s fish and wildlife resources and the people who depend on them.
His early years included trapping along the Unuk River with legendary outdoorsman Bruce Johnstone—an association that ultimately opened the door to his career with Fish and Game. LaVern never formally interviewed for his position; his reputation and experience spoke for themselves. Even after retirement, his dedication to wildlife conservation continued. In 2018, he traveled pro bono to Mongolia’s Great Gobi Desert to assist an international team studying the critically endangered Gobi bear, one of the rarest bear populations on Earth.
Raffle Highlights:
TWO DUCK DECOYS:
Mallard (Hen) Hand-carved & painted by Matt Robus, circa 1992, repainted approx. 2022
Materials: Hollow body and head of Red Cedar, taxidermy glass eyes, poured lead weight in keel, painted with artist’s acrylic colors. This bird was one of about 20 Mallards carved for Matt’s puddle duck rig, used predominantly on the Mendenhall Wetlands in Juneau. It was repainted to these dark colors on the advice of the late David Hagerbaumer, famous sporting artist and lifetime waterfowl hunter.
Long-tailed Duck (Drake) Hand-carved and painted by Matt Robus, circa 1995, repainted in 2025
Materials: Body (hollow) - Western Red Cedar lumber
Eyes - Taxidermy glass eyes
Tail - piece from PVC pipe
Keel - Hardwood with internal poured lead weight
Paint - artist’s acrylic colors
One of a small group of Long-tails carved in the mid-’90s to add to Matt’s scoter rig, this decoy has been hunted over regularly during the intervening 30 years, but could serve in a decorative capacity too!
RIFLE:
Savage Arms - Savage 110 Apex Hunter XP Vortex 3-9x40 Black 270 Win 22in
SHOTGUN:
Savage Arms - Stevens 320 Field Grade Black 12Ga 3in 28in.
GIFT CERTIFICATES:
Petro Marine, Western Auto, Juneau Docks & Harbors 2026 Statter Harbor Launch Permit, Fishpond, Simms, Grundens, Benchmade, NAO, Western Auto Marine, Jerry's Meats, Taku Smokeries, Ace Outdoors, DIPAC (family pass)
BINOCULARS:
Vortex Crossfires, Harness from Alaska Guide Creations
GIFT COMBO BASKETS:
Barnacle Foods, Wildfish Cannery, Wild Rivers Coffee
KNIVES (4):
Alaska Bladeworks, Alaska Knifeworks
DEER CALL:
AKTIS
AND MORE!
Get Tickets Here
