Our 2011/12 Island x season is finished!! The last 3 days were hands down the worst weather we had to deal with the whole season. With temperatures dipping to 5 degrees and the winds averaging 40-45 with lots of wind around 60 it made a tough last few days as us guides, We never quit and we kept picking away at birds at desperation Cove, NE point and Sealion Point. Everyone went home with Kings and a couple guys even got there 4 this past week. Just a few pics from the past few days with me and the staff saying goodbye in Anchorage and heading south for a while. We only have a few openings left for 2012/13 so if anyone is interested please get ahold of me ASAP. We even saw a moose in Anchorage today and Russell took a couple pics.

Russ and Rex Show at NE

Week 5 went just as planned 3 hunted from the boat with me in the previous post and the other 4 hunters went with Capt Russ and Rex to one of our shore points up north. Mark,Mike Jeff and Bob had a great start with around 200 Kings flying by in the first hour along with several groups of trophy Harlequin,The birds gave the guys some great action to start there week off. As always many of the Kings were outside range of our shotguns, but this still keeps the action and adrenaline pumped up. Mike was the top gun at NE with 2 kings and 3 harlequin in am and another king and 2 WW in the after noon. Bob also broke his cherry with his first King and had some shooting at Harlequin, Overall 5 out of 7 hunters for the day ended with a total of 12 Kings along with a real nice mix bag of WW,Harlequin and Longtails. Russ had a great afternoon in the Bankes boat to finish the afternoon out strong for everyone.

World Champion Taxidermist and guides get it done

Week 5 with Capt Pat Haggerty Owner of Maine Seaduck guide Service good friend Joe Ruggeri and Jerry Froelich Owner of Flyway Taxidermy and current 2 time world champion Waterfowl Taxidermy champion along with many good friends Had the strongest start of any group this year, The winds let up this morning and we busted ice for 200 yds to get out of the harbor but we got there, Our new Decoy Spread was on fire with Kings landing in the decoys as soon as we got them set up. This was one of the top King Days we have ever had with Kings landing in the decoys, I was flagging hard and it worked perfect. With 3 very skilled shooters in the boat and a 2nd Pro Seaduck guide with me hunting and helping me with decoys and lines things went real good. And the pictures will tell the rest of the story. Just ask Capt Pat about Kings Decoying and he will tell you the rest. For about 10 minutes at first light I thought I was gonna have to give these guys some Zanax as they were jumpng out of there skin and heads swiveling around like a possessed demon. 3 type A people and kings flying every where is a recipe for King Fever. The initial King Fever settled down and things all worked out. Capt Pat Haggerty with his first Drake of the Day

Jerry Froelich and Capt Pat with the first 2 kings of the day

Joe Jerry and Pat with the first 3

30 minutes later this is where we were at

The final Outcome at 2pm for day 1 in the Bankes Boat with with me.

Week 5 starting

Team Delta just left tonight and on there way home should be back in anchorage around 930, Our last group with Jerry Froelich and Guest's along with Pat Haggerty of Maine Seaduck guides and friends are in camp and we are all getting excited for tomorrow. A big congrats goes to Pat as he got his first harlequin tonight at desperation cove along with Joe getting a trophy Longtail, Some nice bonus birds.

Wind, WInd and more Wind

Today was the last full day of hunting for Team Delta and GLW, We woke to 35mph NE winds with the forecast to blow to 40, And the weather service was dead on 40 is about the limit to hunt from the boat, We had a few shots at Kings on Sealion neck but the 15-20 ft waves were just too much with the gust's reaching 45. A couple of the guys hunted Desperation cove and shot a few Harlequin and then we went to the Lagoon for a few Longtails. Overall a tough day with the weather. We finished the day off with a great last meal of Surf & Turf Primerib and all the crab legs you can eat along with some dirty rice and Duck. Overall a great week and some memories that will never be forgotten and meeting some great new people that we will have see again in the near future. I want to Personally thank all the guys for coming and there understanding of what a real trophy hunt is and appreciating the raw power and Beauty of the Bering Sea and the bounty she gives up hard the might King Eider. Overall for the week we harvested 19 King EIders along with many HArlequin, Longtails 3 goldeneye and a couple WW scoters, considering the weather and wind We are all very happy. We were blessed to have some very talented people here this week and Singer Song Writer Shawn Philbrick who harvested his limit of kings wrote a very inspirational Song - Ballad about the Bering Sea named In Pursuit of the King. We will be releasing it shortly as it is great. Thank You very much I love it.

John's Redemption

Day 3 of Team GLW was another great day despite the winds and weather, Our experience paid off again making the right calls for our guest's, Rex hunted Sealion neck with 3 of the guys and had a great morning as John got a trophy Pair with em, we got another 7 Kings total for the day so we are up to 19 kings for the week, along with a nice mixed bag of 2 Common goldeneye,4 Harlequin, 2 longtails. AIW keeps Rolling along consistently getting there kings everyday. Shawn and Dan hunted in the Boat this afternoon with me and ended up smashing the kings and Harlequin during our short hunt. Everyone has at least 2 kings for the week and most have 3 or 4. 1 more day and week 5 starts

GLW GETS IT DONE

Team GlW beat the weather and the king Eider gods again, 2 days in a row we have fought 25-40 mph winds, Rex and Russ went to Sea Lion Point and Killed a few nice Birds, And I took the bankes boat out again with team wookie. Here is the outcome, as of 2pm we had to come in as the 40mph east winds really got things riled up in the Washing machine. Darren got his Harlequin and completed his NA waterfowl slam, Congrats Darren Brookes. EVeryone had a good day again and now its time for another great dinner By Deb.

We beat the South Wind

The south wind blew hard today 30-40mph, as many of you know this is the worst wind for Island X due to the boat ramps and no protection from the wind, We decided to split up Rex& Russ took 1/2 the guys by snowmobile up north and I took 2 out in the Bankes Boat. Considering the wind and weather and 6-10 ft seas rolling outside , We did great, We got 2 drake kings , 1 harlequin and a ww scoter from the boat and Rex & Russ got a pair of kings and a Harlequin, 4out of the 5 hunters got kings on day 1 of one of the toughest weather days yet. A big congrats goes out to our Guest's from Ohio and the great Lakes waterfowl forum, Seems like a great bunch of guys and day 1 has already set a high standard.

Kunut , Kunut, Kunut finished strong

Last night was our World famous Surf & Turf dinner by Deb with a 14lb Primerib and Side of Fresh Crablegs, Today was all about Kevin K, We was the hot gun out in the Zodiak with a five bird finish in the last 1.5 hours this morning including Kings,Common Scoters and Harlequin. We had quite an adventure getting out to a remote point by snowmobile we ended up with 9 birds total for the last hunt closing the chapter on Wk 3. Still 100% on Eiders and lots of bonus birds going back to Illinois and PA. I want to thank Dave M from Pa, Dan & Jackie Martis, Ed and the 2 Kevins. We had a real tough week with the weather but they still managed to get allot of great Birds from there hard work and never quit attitude by everyone.





We broke out the secret weapon our new retriever Old Blue, This is so secret we had to test him out in the dark in the harbor last night. The survival drysuit with swim fins will be very important this week as the wind is blowing strong to hunt out of the boats for a couple days. for the boats.



More to Come on old Blue as many of you don't know Capt Russ was a competitive Whitewater Kayak Racer and feels real good in our new Dry suit being able to swim out and Retrieve birds when the wind isn't right for the points, Another first on Island X as Team Xtreme pulls out all the stops for our guest's to be able to retrieve downed birds.

More Crabs than a Mexican Hooker

Dan ,jackie and Ed chose to hunt Harlequin at Superman point and again we were not let down, as non stop birds flying for 3 hours into the decoys gave us lots of shooting and lots of Killing. We love these special little Blue Ducks, while hunting the Harlequin we also had some great longtail shooting. Dave got a real nice pair of kings in the Bankes boat before him and the 2 kevins went and shot some Longtails. Everyone had a big day with lots of shooting. The wind was dead calm this morning and the kings flew a little differant than the past 2 weeks, We ended up shooting about 150 shells in the boat with this as the outcome.



We took a tour of the trident plant this afternoon and everyone got a first hand look at how 25,000 lbs of crab per hour are processed. ANd when we finished we went and got 40lbs of fresh crab for an all you can eat fresh snow crab dinner for the guest's.

Dan,Dave and Ed didnt let me down we had a crab eat off to see who could actually eat the most fresh crab, Deb was cooking it as fast as we could eat it and boy it was finger lickin good. When the crab shells settled we punished around 30 lbs of crab legs along with some homemade Alfredo and wine to wash it down.



Dan & Jackie showing off there Harlequin for the day

A big congrats goes out to Dave from PA with his Great Pair of King Eiders





The final tally for the morning hunt