posted 01-13-2003 03:58 AM ET (US)        

A friend and I decided to go out hunting the other day. We were originally looking for deer but were unable to find any.(often you can spot them from the boat, beach and then shoot them). By the time we had cruised the beaches about 25 miles away from town it was getting to be about 1pm (in south east AK it gets dark at 330 this time of year) my friend spotted a seal (he is native so it was legal and yes I know they are cute) anyway he gets the seal and cleans it. Its about 2pm now and starting to get dark so we load up and start to head out, but alas trusty if not tired 1990 40hp Suzuki is unable to push my beloved if not a little soggy whaler loaded down with a pair of 250+ lb humans and a bout 200 lbs of seal up onto plain.

WOT is only getting me about 10 knots and doing a little in head calculating my remaining 6 gallons in my main and 5 in reserve will not get me back to town. We plugged along for a while in the waning twilight until it is decided to bone the carcass as the load is lightened I am finely able to plain by coming down the front side of the 4 foot high long rolling seas that are fortunately following us in. By the time we are about 1/3rd the way into town the sky is dark and a little rain is falling. (We would have stopped and camped but my friend was going to be flying out in the early morning and the weather was going to get much worse.) So we pulled out the spotlights and the Mag light. We went along like this using the spotlights and Mag light until within about 10 mints of each other the lights all went out. Using what night vision we could muster we picked our way through the many rocks and kelp beds (I had to clear kelp out of the prop once) until the flashing light of the airport could be seen we went in like this the rest of the way until we were finely able to see from the reflected lights of town. We stopped at a friend's house and dropped some of my gear and then went the rest of the way to town. About 50 feet from the dock my primary tank went dry.

Just a little reminder that the unexpected can and does happen out there, and even though we are piloting some of the safest boats out there it still takes good seamanship and common sense to make it in. Thinking about fuel consumption, speed, seas, load, and time of day at all times during your outings will save lives, egos, and keep you out of those close calls.

posted 01-13-2003 11:20 AM ET (US)            

Nice story logan.

posted 01-13-2003 02:15 PM ET (US)            

take it easy...this site is not about politics or personal beliefs...it's about Boston Whalers.

Logan already clarified that his friend is a native alaskan, and further, the post was relevant to the website's stated content, Boston Whalers. It's not like they were hunting the animal for sport, nor are they slaughtering them to use one part and waste the rest of the carcass. If there's one thing that we "immigrants" to America never learned, it's how to efficiently use what we kill.

These populations and their hunting techniques have very little impact on the environment and the species which they hunt(Seals included) It took Western man to accomplish that devastation.

No one said anything about manatee, spotted owl or dolphins here.

posted 01-13-2003 02:59 PM ET (US)            

It was a joke. An obvious one at that. Everyone knows that spotted owl tastes like chicken - not manatee.

posted 01-13-2003 03:54 PM ET (US)            

My apologies...I jumped to the wrong conclusion. Same apology to Tobasco, if applicable.

posted 01-13-2003 03:59 PM ET (US)            

In a failed effort to impress the waitresses, we skinned, breaded, and fried him in bacon fat. He tasted just like....

....bacon fat!

posted 01-14-2003 12:35 AM ET (US)            

Good judgement comes from learning experiences.

Learning experiences come from bad judgement.

I'm just glad you guys made it back -- you had like five strikes against you.

posted 01-15-2003 10:59 PM ET (US)            

Although it is hard to say if the current generation of "native" people retain the same belief system as their ancestors, most American Indian cultures looked on animals as peers. They considered that the animal was voluntarily submitting itself to be eaten. I know this is a simplistic characterization.

The seal is one of those animals with great public relations. People get quite upset with anyone who kills them. In Newfoundland they raised a huge PR campaign against killing seals, in part by paying the locals to kill them so they could be photographed doing it.

posted 01-16-2003 10:30 AM ET (US)            

Jimh you are totally correct.....bushy tailed rats that don't know enough not to run in front of every car they encounter. How can we be cited for killing animals when most just commit suicide on our national roadways?

posted 01-16-2003 01:04 PM ET (US)            

They also carry bubonic plague. It is just a matter of time until something bad happens.

posted 01-16-2003 01:50 PM ET (US)            

I'm all for less seals in some areas as well.Here you see seals every year way up the rivers,right into the salmon spawning grounds.On the Skeena they show up in Terrace,almost a hundred miles from the ocean.
There are few things more frustrating than spending hours trying to hook that elusive fish,while all around there are seals catching fish,with what appears to be relative ease.

I know they are cute but from what I hear they make an excellent pair of mukluks as well.

posted 01-16-2003 05:56 PM ET (US)            

Whatever happend to whale hunting. After all, its a Whaler. Nothing wrong with that. Whalers are probably the most strongest boat.

posted 01-16-2003 06:07 PM ET (US)            

My buddy was messing around with his digital camera during a trip we took in October and took some random shots and posted them on the web. Some of the pictures are of large groups of Sea Lyons and it kind of gives you an idea of the abundance of Sea Lyons we have.

posted 01-16-2003 07:15 PM ET (US)            

Unfortunately, there are not many places in Colorado right now that have enough water to float a boat.

On the news the other day, they said that the mountains need 12 more feet of snow to bring us up to an average snow year. On bright side, the ski areas are getting a bunch of snow, so maybe things will be better next spring. If you have any extra water in California or the Pacific Northwest, send it this way.

posted 01-16-2003 11:24 PM ET (US)            

I too drempt about the type of things logan wrote about. We had a beautiful, though motorless, 13 foot BW in the driveway that was in many dreams. Now I live up here and have done things that were not in my wildest dreams.

posted 01-17-2003 10:32 AM ET (US)            

Just be glad it was only obscentities.

The cute little things have taken up residence in the eastern 1000 feet of the glider runway at the Boulder Airport. However, a family of bald eagles have just moved in, together with a flock of buzzards. A couple of Saturdays ago, I was on final approach for the airplane runway and found myself flying in formation with one of the buzzards that was on final for the glider runway. I'm hoping that the bird lovers will triumph over the praire dog lovers in this one. At least, the birds seem to understand the traffic pattern.

posted 01-17-2003 07:42 PM ET (US)            

Two remarks regarding your posts.

1. The "cute" animals do not actually carry the plague. It is the fleas on them that are the true carriers. Kill the fleas, no more plague.

2. Remind me not to fly with you if you want to land in the middle of a bird sanctuary. Ever hear of "bird strikes"?

posted 01-24-2003 08:31 PM ET (US)            

This has become a fun thread, partly because it has touched on a topic very near and dear to my heart - Public Relations.

I can't think of many other examples that better illustrate the power of PR (and for the sake of some of my colleagues, in this economy, I wish more CEO's would pay attention). It's perceptions versus reality. The reality is that perceptions ARE reality.

"Wild" Africa is acutally more urbanized than the "Industrialized" North America. (Africa is 28% wilderness, North America - 38% wilderness (thanks Canada!)).

According to the National Arbor Day Foundation (though you won't find it on their Web site) there are more trees in the United States today than there were when Columbus sailed the ocean blue (Thanks to all those trees in the front yards of homes across the country). *Disclaimer - most deforestation in this country has been replaced with so-called second-growth forests and is not a true replacement for "old-growth" forests that were depleted in the early part of the 19th century.

Canadian Geese are a protected species - however, anecdotal evidence (including a story today on CNN.com about a goose attacking a woman) indicates that this species is alive and kicking (and pooping) all across the country.

In each of these cases, powerful PR (organized campaigns in some cases) have forged perceptions to a degree that most people who read the above three paragraphs will question the validity, and probably ask for the references (available upon request, by the way).

The resulting reality? People object when you cut down a tree (many cities have programs available to replace a tree that was removed during construction projects) because the perception is that we NEED more of them. People pay big bucks to go on an African photo (or other) safari to see "true wilderness." (Though I doubt African nations put forth an organized PR effort.) And finally...In most communities, if you kill a goose, you can expect to go to jail, or at least face a stiff fine.

Perception is reality. It's the same reason people stare at your bristol whaler when you cruise by. The perception is there. The legend. The aura. It's a gentleman's boat. The perception is that the owner/driver knows what s/he is doing and knows boating. Etc. It's a perception that was carefully cultured by the company, and carried out by tradition, marketing, and pricing. And it's a perception that BW and Brunswick is cashing in on right now.

Yep, gotta love those perceptions.

posted 01-25-2003 10:31 AM ET (US)            

Unfortunately they are getting a reputation about as bad as European starlings. Not sure how many hunt them for meat.

posted 01-25-2003 01:00 PM ET (US)            

On salmon: Near the mouth of the Rogue River, a favorite salmon fishing spot of ours, the sea lions are stacked up like cord-wood. The salmon have to run the gauntlet through a very narrow gap into the bay while the seal/lions rip and tear through them.

Twenty-five years ago folks were not complaining much about all their salmon catch bearing "seal scars" - now such complaints are common. The overall impact of the seals on the salmon population may not be statistically significant, but it certainly appears devastating from the perspective of the sportsman.

The little buggers have changed the way we crab too. We used to be able to use salmon heads for bait in our crab rings - but the seals/lions started grabbing the rings and ripping off the bait. We've switched to bigger traps, bait containers, and less effective bait.

On genetic differences: The issue was litigated not long ago in Federal District Court here in Oregon. As I recall, after hearing from all the experts, Judge Hogan found that it was not possible to differentiate between the two fish populations - which seems like common sense, since the hatchery fish are annually derived from the genetic material provided by the trapped wild fish that year. They're then released as fry and required to survive the same competitive rigors as the "wild fish" they're swimming with. As you might expect, the "wild" look the same as the hatchery fish when you catch them too. Of course, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife regulations continue to differentiate between the "native" and hatchery fish...Go figure.

On geese: In eastern Oregon Canada geese are so abundant farmers can get "damage permits" to thin them out (because the geese are trashing the crops). Shooting a limit of Geese is pretty easy - and it's a lot of food if you can bear to eat it. Hooter, since you love to eat them, you should come up here and blast a few geese on you way to the northwest rendezvous ;-) (just kidding...they're not in season then - but you could come up and take a truckload home next fall or winter. Do you like to eat duck too? After my dad died we didn't have anybody left in the family who could bear to eat the stuff, and we're running out of folks to give it to, so we've had to cut back on the duck hunting we grew up loving.