One Heck Of A Ride

42 More Antlered Game saw a total of ten bears. Fortunately, we had no up-close, face-to-face encounters. The same could not be said about the hunters in camps over the mountain from us. One was The hunters at Red Man Lake’s camp: (from left) Ron Aldredge, author, Mr. and Mrs. Day, “Chuck” and Bud Dyer Ten-room lodge built for Dole Plantation executives was author’s “camp.” of similar size. It was a great hunt and there was no shortage of deer. Everyone in camp saw up to twenty-five good bucks each day. We all were stuck in camp for an extra day because of the weather, and the lake started to freeze with three to four feet of ice piling up along the shoreline. When the planes arrived the next day to fly us out, we had to rush to get everything packed and loaded before the weather socked us in again. We literally stuffed the big cook tent into Ron’s plane before we boarded ours. We were airborne and on our way to Kodiak City when the gear in the other plane shifted, causing the pilot to make a forced landing on the lake. It damaged the plane, but the pilot was able to patch it enough to fly to King Salmon, where Ron and Chuck got a lift to Kodiak City. It had been a close call, and both of them were wide- eyed when they told us about the incident. It was not an easy hunt, though. Hunters had to be in good shape to do their own skinning and hauling — Alaskan law required us to pack out every edible part of the deer we shot. Then there was the weather — heavy wind, snow, rain and fog, we saw it all — and the bears. The six of us mauled badly and one was killed and eaten while we were there. When the search party arrived and shot the bear that had killed the hunter from Juneau, the bear had cached what remained of his body and was protecting it as bears do when defending any kill. Hawaii’s Sun, Sand and Axis Deer Most of us think of its beaches, swimming, golf, tennis and just plain relaxing when we think about Hawaii, but we need to think again. The island of Lanai is home for good numbers of the world’s most beautiful deer, the axis deer from India. Imported to the island some seventy years ago, this deer has flourished and spread over most parts of the small island a twenty-minute flight away from Maui. For years, Lanai has been where the Dole Food Company grows and processes pineapple. There was only one major hotel when I hunted there in 1989. It had 105 rooms and was next to a golf course. I stayed in a ten-room hotel that Dole originally had built for its executives and guests. The state of Hawaii’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife apparently realized there were too many deer on Lanai and had authorized permits to cut the herd from 6,000 to a manageable 3,000. My hunt was in mid-July after most of the hunting already