Chapter five,

The Hunt


In the morning the weather had cleared and it was one of those rare glorious days that make Southeast Alaska look like a picture postcard. The sun shone on the waters of the bay. The snow capped peaks glistened and the glaciers sparkled like diamonds. Salmon jumped making rings on the still water and sea lions made big swirls and they turned and rolled.

Old man Horton and Don Jose’ sat in the wheelhouse visiting while Jake and Carlos sat out on the foredeck in companionable silence. They neither one spoke the others language so they could not talk, but following the antics of the night before they had become friendly. Jake would point out things like a whale rolling in the distance or an eagle soaring above and Carlos would nod his head and smile.

This was more comfortable to Carlos than any other part of the trip had been, though the mountains, glaciers and timber were foreign to him the whales, porpoise and the movements of the water were the same as those in the Sea of Cortez at home. Carlos gazed in wonder as this strange land slid smoothly past the boat.

“Hey Jake” yelled the old man, “think you can rustle up some breakfast for us all or are you just gonna sit on your butt all day”? “Yeah sure thing, what would you like me to fix? We can do hotcakes, eggs, bacon, steak, just about whatever you want”. “How ‘bout some hotcakes, eggs and moose steak Jake, that ought to set us up good for the rest of the day. What do you say Mr. Ortega, that sound OK to you”?

“Please, no formalities Mr. Horton, Just call me Jose’, I would love to try some moose steak and I haven’t had hotcakes in many years and I always enjoy eating the food of the area when I am traveling”.

“Well that’s just fine, Jose’ it is then from now on. Most folk around here just call me Horton, not Mr., Not sir nor anything else. It’s been so long since I used my Christian name I don’t rightly even remember what it is. Jake, moose steak, hotcakes and fried eggs if you please and a good pile of it too”.

Jake got up and leaving Carlos to enjoy his sightseeing made his way down to the galley. This boat was set up just for the sort of work Horton was doing with it so it had a lot of space below decks. When you dropped down from the wheelhouse you entered into the galley and dining area, passing through there put you into the front staterooms, a big one on the port side and a small one along with the head on the starboard side. The very front was the rope locker. Aft of the galley were the guest quarters, two staterooms and another head with a shower.

Jake fired up the oil stove and set out the frying pan and griddle, then he got out the meat, eggs and hotcake mix. First he dumped Krusteaz into a bowl and added water stirring the mixture until it was about the consistency of heavy cream. This was set aside, next he unwrapped a package of choice moose meat. This was laid out on the cutting board and beaten with the edge of a heavy cup to tenderize it. That done he put some flour onto a plate, added salt and pepper then rolled the meat in the mix.

A little bacon grease added to the pan and the meat went in with a satisfying sizzle. By now the hotcake batter had thickened so Jake poured nice round cakes onto the griddle. Eggs cook fast so they went onto the griddle last while Jake whipped up some gravy in the meat pan. It was such a beautiful morning that Jake piled all the food onto a huge tray, along with plates, silverware and a fresh pot of coffee and took it all up to the wheelhouse.

“Come and get it ‘fore I throw it to the dogs”, Jake yelled out. Carlos turned heard him and didn’t need any translation at all. Carlos dished up and handed a plate of food to Don Jose’ and then one for Old Horton. Then he loaded one up for Jake and finally one for himself. Horton had re-filled his and Jose’s cups then poured fresh coffee for Jake and Carlos. The group of hunters set to with a will and soon had laid waste to a huge quantity of food.
“This is moose”? Jose’ asked holding up a small piece of meat. “it is truly excellent tasting and very tender”. “Yeah that’s off of a medium sized bull I got last year. Jake may not be worth a hoot for most things but he sure knows how to cook moose” Horton said with a grin. Carlos held up the one last hotcake left and doubtfully asked “tortilla?” Jose’ laughed and rattled off a string of Spanish telling him what a hotcake was. At the end of the long explanation Carlos shook the hotcake in Jose’s face and said “tortilla gordo, es muy bien. The fat tortilla is very good. This statement was met with laughter by Don Jose’ who explained it to Jake and Horton.

They cruised most of the day and eased into Freshwater bay in the early evening. It was too late to hunt that night and Old Horton had a long-standing rule that all clients had to shoot their rifle before they started the hunt. This allowed the hunter to check his sights and allowed Horton to check out the hunter’s skill.

“We’ll just set in here real nice and quiet this evening and watch the meadow until dark, see what might show up. Then we’ll back out of here and anchor in deeper water back down the channel a bit. Jake drop the hook right here and we’ll settle in.” After sitting quietly for forty minutes or so Jake spotted movement near the tree line.

“Look there, just past that big stump, I see a bear in the tall grass” whispered Jake. “Hell’s bells thought Horton, he spotted it before I did, he might make a bear guide after all” “I see it Jake”, he said then pointed it out to Don Jose’ and Carlos. “It is a sow I believe, watch close for cubs”. “She is beautiful” whispered Don Jose’, how big is she?” Carlos thought he had never seen such a magnificent beast in his entire life.

“Oh she’s just a small brownie Jose’, maybe six and a half foot and, oh six hundred pounds of so” said Horton. “She is sort of pretty though”.

“Carlos grabbed Jose’s arm and said “there Don Jose’, there on the other side of the stream. I see another bear and it is much bigger” “Yes, yes that’s a little better” said Old Horton. “He’s a nice dark colored boar. Fair size too, we’ll check out his tracks in the morning to get a better idea of size. Look at him close and make sure he doesn’t have any rubbed spots on his hide.”

After a bit longer Horton said “we better get out of here while I can still see and get anchored up. We stay here any longer and we’ll be hung up till the next high tide. Jake, pull the anchor and let’s git.” When they were settled into their night anchorage and the boat tidied up for the night they discussed plans for the next day.

“What I’d like to do is first thing in the morning go down the shoreline about a mile and do some target practice. If it’s calm like today we can just shoot from the boat and if not there’s a deep spot where we can just step ashore. After that we will go ashore at a couple of places and check the sandbars for tracks. Ain’t much point hunting a spot if there ain’t the bear we want feeding there. Jose’, you have a black bear tag as well as a brown bear tag so I suggest we shoot a blackie first. That will kind of give you a tune up and a practice run for the big boy.” “That sounds fine to me Horton, you’re the guide and I learned a long time ago that when I hire a guide it makes sense to pay attention to him and do as he suggests.”

“Well that’s just fine Jose’, let’s get to sleep and see what tomorrow brings”.