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New Benelli MRl Is Varmint-Hunting Ready

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Alaska^^redator^i^^^mal^<br />

56 '•«>nt:n ; i;t;Mf Kiwtiail<br />

Scott Hau|i en<br />

ALASKAS<br />

PREDATORS<br />

BIG II SMALL<br />

STUNNING SUNSETS. CAPTIVATING TUNDRA. LUSH<br />

RAINFORESTS and snowcapped mountains will<br />

leave you speechless, and that's part of Alaska's<br />

allure. It's also about weather that can kill you,<br />

24 hours of darkness during the winter months,<br />

and temperatures so cold you<br />

wonder how people — let alone<br />

animals — survive.<br />

During the years I lived in<br />

Alaska's Arctic region — I lived<br />

there for much of the 1990s and<br />

traveled throughout the state— I<br />

got to see and experience more<br />

than I ever dreamed possible.<br />

The day I moved from Alaska,<br />

part of me stayed behind. It's<br />

one of those magical places that,<br />

once you visit, you're never the<br />

same, last fall, Alaska once again Ix'ckoned me,<br />

but this time instead of antlers I was in search of<br />

a range of predators.<br />

High Country Bears<br />

I've hunted black Ix-ars in many places, but<br />

never in the heart of Alaska where the conditions<br />

Alaska is a<br />

big-game hunter's<br />

Mecca, but as a<br />

predator-hunting<br />

destination it can<br />

be even better.<br />

resembled a Dall sheep hunt more than any bear<br />

hunt I'd experienced. Flying into spike camp in<br />

a Super Cub, the runway barely longer than my<br />

driveway, I was relieved we found flat ground,<br />

not only on which to set the plane, but also to<br />

pitch our tents.<br />

It was mid-August, and with<br />

daylight coming at 4 a.m. and<br />

lasting until nearly midnight,<br />

racking up the hunting hours<br />

wasn't a problem. Calling,<br />

however, was. I was intent on<br />

trying to call in one of these<br />

mountain-dwelling black bears<br />

with the use of predator calls,<br />

but I had a source of competition<br />

that proved too overbearing —<br />

blueberries.<br />

The locals warned me of the bumper-crop<br />

blueberry patches looming in the hills, and<br />

that it would be next to impossible to pull the<br />

bears off them. They were right; either that<br />

or my calling just wasn't convincing enough.<br />

With bears set on gorging themselves on wild<br />

blueberries, crowberries and cranberries, I knew<br />

Mumn'sn-wKcm- kiiki 2W 57

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