The birds are starting to arrive back in Nome, and I keep thinking of Psalm 34.  "Taste and see that the Lord is good."  We got our first duck a mallard yesterday, on a beautiful blue sky day with a temperature in the 50's.

After getting  late start because of a dental appointment for teeth cleaning, we finally got going about 10:30.  My friend, Sean and I got out to sight in our rifles, my .17 HMR with a new BSA Sweet 17 and Sean's .204 Ruger.  It took us about 9 shots each to verify zero at 100 yards.

It was just such  gorgeous day, and Sean had heard that friends had sighted geese, so we were anxious to see if we might be able to see any kind of waterfowl.

We didn't see any on Kogarok Road to above Dexter, we saw a cow moose and her two calves and noticed a few seagulls starting to sit on their nests, but no waterfowl, so we headed back to the coast to go and check the Council Highway. 

What a beautiful day, sunshine and clear as far as our eyes could see and a temperature of 50 degrees, we were sweating in our Underarmor and just a shirt and pants.

We drove out as far as the heavy equipment has gotten to just before Cape Nome and saw a few Ptarmagin, one was starting to change with a patch of brown feathers between it's white head and white boy feathers.

We turned around and as we neared Hastings Creek, we noted two none seagulls.  We checked them out and found them to be to puddle ducks, the first we had seen this year.

We harvested a Male Mallard, it will indeed be nice to "Taste and see that the Lord is good tonight."  Thank you Lord for this blessing of your provision and for loving us so much that this is the desire of your heart, to nurture us and to give us an expected end.

I pray God's provision, grace and love in your lives today.

Last week, me and my 11 year old son Bruce Junior went out one evening to look for a few Ptarmagin before all the snow goes away.

What a wonderful time in God's great outdoors as we left Nome and went over Banner Mountain getting a few birds there then continuing up Glacier Creek to Rock Creek.

We went against the rock face just north of Rock Creek mine and there were hundreds of Ptarmagin eating up last years blueberry and blackberry harvests.

What a beautiful sight, the nearly completely white birds with the purple around their beaks from their delightful respite after a long winter.

The Ptarmagin population in better this year than I have seen it in the past 11 winters in the "bush".

JR and I had a great time, and I followed Jr while we harvested one limit of Ptarmagin.  We could have easily gotten many more, but we did have a great time and shared our success with elders when we got home.

What a blessed time of teaching stewardship to my son and helping him to anchor his hunting heritage for his future and that of my decendents.

I pray you have God's great gift of provision as you head out soon.

Yesterday morning was clear and cold, ambiant air temperature at about -6 degrees with a 10-15 mph northeast wind predicted.  The Arctic and near Arctic have been below zero since the end of last year.  The subsistence Muskox hunt for Unit 22C started January 1st, when I was of course at Knottsberry Farm and Sea World, but more importantly visiting my Grandnephew, his wonderful mom and dad.  We got back to Nome, Alaska on the night of the 2nd and my schedule didn't allow for me to get out until the 8th.  I felt that the hunt would be done for the 34 Muskox prior to that, but as of the evening of the 7th only 26 had been harvested.

I went out with Todd Langley from Alabama and Bill Gordon from New Jersey, Todd a Travelling Paramedic/Nurse and Bill a dispatcher/Police Officer candidate for the Nome Police Department.

We left around daylight at about 11:00 am and headed West towards the Penny River, our hunting boundary.  The clear skies and wonderful sunlight on the snow made the ride quite enjoyable and we were all dressed for the weather.  As we crossed the Penny and started the assent following the Teller highway, I spotted whisps of smoke on a mountainside just inside of the Penny River.  I glassed the hillside but saw no animals or movement. 

Todd asked if he could ride up and see, so he did ride towards the mountain.  We watched his progress until he came to the first set of willows and could hear nothing after he entered them.  So after a couple of minutes, grabbing a rope I followed.  As we neared the willows, Todd emerged and signalled, we walked up and saw the situation, he was snowmachine nose against an open creek, surrounded by willows.  I turned my machine around and backed in, getting out the rope and hooking up and after several jerks and about an hour of work we were free again to continue the hunt.

We reattached our sleds and continued up the hill enjoying the sunlight and beauty that surrounded us.

At the top of the hill, I veered south and started to head southwest towards where I had been told there was a herd of about 40 Muskox from which at least 8 Muskox had been taken.  I looked south towards the peak I had observed the whisps and the valley before me and decided I needed to peak into the valley.  As I rode to a viewable position, I noticed movement across 5 valleys on the ridge of the same mountain that I had observed the whisps which was about 2-3 miles ahead of us.

I glassed and the movement was a band of about 12 or so Muskox.  I signalled Todd and we carefully made our way to the only real access point to the mountain.  As we approached the mountain I saw a lone snowmachiner ahead of me, so we continued on and took the gradual slope up to just below the peak of the mountain.  I looked up and saw what looked to be a big black rock which had noses sticking out of all sides of it with their breath whisping in the clear, cold air.

I got off my machine and grabbed my Eddystone, 300 Winchester Magnum from it's scabbard in my sled, took and hung it upside down over my neck and moved forward towards the Muskox on the hillside above.

I stopped and shut my machine off at 70 yards as the other individual worked down, my position held them from moving my way.  I sighted in on one bull but he was in the middle of the herd from my direction and I did not want to hit any other animal.  I swung to another male on the edge of the herd at which time I heard the man shoot from above.  At his shot the Muskox I was on took a couple of steps and cleared the herd and  I shot and dropped my Muskox with one lower spine shot behind the shoulder.  The man shot a second shot and his Muskox went down.

Elated we both approached our downed animals.  How beautiful these two Muskox were and what good food they would provide us and others in our community this cold winter.  I met Nick, the other hunter who had just shot his first Muskox.  Nick had been hunting this herd for the past three days and wore a frostbitten nose ridge to prove that he had put in the time in the bitterly cold weather.

Bill had only ever watched something like this on Television and this was his first actual hunting adventure.  Todd was blessed by our experience.

If Todd had not gotten stuck, we may not have seen the Muskox on the ridgeline or if we had Nick would not have gotten to harvest his beautiful animal.  The bible says "all things work together for good to those who love the Lord, who walk according to His ways".

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