All by Joe Byers
Braving the COVID storm, a thousand vendors descended upon Louisville, Kentucky for the 2022 Archery Trade Association Trade Show to display the nation’s newest and most innovative archery products. For hunting, shooting or just having fun, here’s the gear for you.
As we neared our hunting lease, the Great Plains sunrise was so magnificent that I asked my buddy to stop the truck so that I could capture the image. One step out of the door, a buck suddenly emerged from the road-side ditch 50 yards away.
African safaris aren’t a tax-deductible contribution to conservation, but they should be. African countries like Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, and others set aside huge chunks of real-estate specifically for hunting. People are not allowed to live there, because they will interfere with the natural ecosystems.
Our group of five landed in Anchorage at 11:00 am, rented a motorhome from GoNorth RV, bought groceries and supplies at a Walmart supercenter, and headed down Route 1 through the Kenai Peninsula.
The highlight of our one-week Alaskan Adventure was to be a halibut charter in the Cook Inlet out of Ninilchik. I had spoken with the captain several times on the phone and was optimistic about success. But Alaskan weather intervened as it often does and after rising early and meeting at the boat, the captain said the weather was just too rough to go out.
The Portage Glacier is just a few miles from Route 1, the main highway that transects the Kenai Peninsula. When I last visited the giant ice flow in 1986, a huge iceberg floated just off the parking lot, and the edge of the glacier was within plain view.
Alaska and animals are nearly synonymous. Visitors and tourists enjoy seeing a moose or a black bear as much as a glacier or majestic mountain. Luckily, the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center (AWCC) provides the opportunity to see many of Alaska’s iconic animals in a single location.
An Alaskan fishing trip can be the adventure of a lifetime and an experience you will never forget. “You never go all the way back” is a popular Alaskan expression, and you will want to repeat and share this unparalleled excitement with friends and family.
I have flown to Alaska from the East Coast a dozen times, and I have used Alaska Airlines exclusively. It makes economic sense, and Alaska offers services that other airlines do not.
The Last Frontier is still the land of grand adventure, spectacular landscape majestic animals and fishing beyond belief. Alaska changed my life. Without doubt 1963 was a boy-to-man summer thanks to the experiences encountered on a four-month 8,000-mile journey from the Mid-Atlantic States to the wilds of Alaska.
The approaching turkey pecked the ground several times and then raised its red head, causing a long, bristle-brush beard to swing like a pendulum. The sun hung on the horizon, and I mentally prayed this bird would continue its course and pass my disguised location.
What? A week’s fishing in Alaska for $1,000? Impossible… but here’s how. When I was a young man I camped with my grandfather for an entire summer in Alaska, and he taught me to be frugal. Often, he would stop along the highway to pick up a blown innertube or a small plank, prompting my question, “What in the world will you do with that?”
