Moose season may have ended but there is still plenty to do on the Kenai Peninsula this winter!

Written by: Clay Vernon, Alaska Chapter Volunteer Board Stewardship Chair and Kenai Peninsula resident. 

 

The general season has wrapped up for big game, and I stand in front of my freezer appreciating the spoils of hard work. I ponder just how much fuller it would be if I didn't miss those opportunities, like those shots on the wing. Or maybe I should have peered into that next valley. But hey, that's hunting. We caught lots of fish, chased some big critters around some pretty special places. We had some success, and we learned a lot.

Now I see that ADF&G is sending that email for next year's draw permits. We look to the future!

 

 

In the meantime, we shift our focus to the ducks, to the crabs, to those elusive Spruce Grouse that everyone says are on “that one trail”. The thing we love most about the winter is the opportunity to hunt and fish species we may not put the majority of our focus on in the first half of the season. We start chasing sea ducks around the coast, hoping our chilly sits pay off. Maybe our friend with the crab pot invites us out for a set,  while trolling for winter King Salmon as the Tanner Crabs chew on the carcasses of previous catches. Or must begrudgingly walk the same trail over and over because everyone insists that it holds grouse, when you know it’s well past time to stomp those boots on a new patch of ground. 

 

 

Now that the season has come and gone for putting the bulk of our meat up, and the tourists have left our little slice of heaven for the year, it's time to enjoy some of the off-season delights our surrounding land and water have to offer. As we all know, sunlight is not our greatest winter commodity. But with the foliage gone and snow blanketing the ground, I’m lucky to see and explore one of my favorite landscapes through a completely different lens. 

 

 

Get outside, have fun, and do something new. Keep us posted!