Besides ptarmigan our group had excellent luck on rainbow trout.

While we were eating, Bill let Gander roam around nearby. Suddenly, the air was full of squawks as Gander flushed about a dozen ptarmigan from a nearby willow thicket. We quickly gulped down the rest of our lunches, got our guns loaded and headed out in pursuit of the ptarmigan.

Bill said that the ptarmigan were usually found higher up from the lake, but it was a fairly warm day and we felt that perhaps the birds had come down the lake's edge to get water or gravel from the bank. In any case, we stayed near the lakeshore and found several groups of ptarmigan. Gander did his part by putting the birds he found into the air and retrieving those that we shot.

The ptarmigan were not too difficult to bring down and generally stayed put where they fell. Most of our shots were less than 30 yards and the 20-gauge loads of No. 6 or 7 1/2 shot we all used seemed to do the trick.

It appeared that the ptarmigan were eating some of the small red and blue berries that grew in the area. When we approached ptarmigan that were feeding on these berries out in the open, they quickly moved into the willow thickets that surrounded the lake. It was here that Gander showed his stuff. Rushing into the thickets, he flushed the birds out to where we were waiting to take our shots.

This is where I think we were lucky to be hunting with a flushing dog. It was very difficult to walk into the willow thickets and once inside it was virtually impossible to shoot. A pointing dog would have pinned the ptarmigan in the thickets but one of us would have had go in to flush them out, which would have been tough. In addition, Bill cautioned us that bears were occasionally encountered in the thickets, and we had no desire to meet one of them while carrying only 20-gauge guns loaded with bird shot.

Gander the Lab searches for ptarmigan while hunters follow.

We slowly worked our way around the lake. When we'd encounter ptarmigan we'd spread out and work the singles much like quail singles after a covey flush. The big difference between working the ptarmigan and quail was walking on the tundra. I've hunted on lots of tough ground but the tundra has to be right up there near the top of the list. It has a very irregular surface and it made no difference if you tried to take small steps or large ones; your feet were always going up and down. Fortunately for us the tundra in this area was pretty firm, although we learned that in some areas it could be soggy as well.

We ended up with 10 birds before the tundra and heat took its toll on the hunters as well as Gander. We took a quick break on the shore before again donning our waders and reboarding the floatplane for the trip back to the lodge.

Tired but happy, the hunters and Gander show off their success on the plentiful ptarmigan.

The rest of our week followed the same pattern. Several members tried for ptarmigan again while others chased trout and silver salmon, which were making their usual August run. By the end of the week, we were tired but happy. We bid one another a fond farewell as we left to return to home, but all of us will never forget our "Cast and Blast" week at Bear Bay Lodge.

Editor's Note: Upland bird seasons in Alaska generally start in August; this is also the month when the silver salmon run. Hunting and fishing licenses are available at the lodge. For more information, contact Bear Bay Lodge, 22708 SE Naomi Dr. Boring, OR 97009, (866) 232-7229); e-mail the lodge at moreinfo@bearbaylodge.com, or visit the lodge Web site at www.bearbaylodge.com.