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The Alaska Issue of Outdoor Life is available now
"In our first digital issue, we’re taking our readers to the wilderness of Alaska, which has captured the imagination of hunters and anglers for even longer than our magazine’s history. The issue is broken into three distinct chapters—past, present, and future—and it covers the full gamut of Alaskan hunting and fishing experiences. I hope that you start by looking back and then continue reading, well into the future.”
—Alex Robinson, Editor-in-Chief
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TRACKING THE WOLF MAN
Frank Glaser was a wolfer, adventurer, trapper, and Alaskan legend. To this day, the Alaskan wilderness can throttle you, but in his nonchalant way, Glaser was a master of this area. A century after Glaser arrived in Valdez, Alaskan and Outdoor Life contributor Tyler Freel retraced his steps for 371 miles through the wilderness to fill his own ram tag while chronicling some of Glaser’s wildest adventures. “The next two days were a marathon of brutality.” writes Freel. “We packed out the sheep close to 28 miles, and by about 10 the next evening, we were scraping the bottom of the barrel. We ducttaped the blisters on our feet, and our legs and backs were beyond sore.”
LOST IN THE GLOOM
The line between a dream hunt and heartbreak is as thin as a knife-edge ridge. Alex Robinson was reminded of first hand on his trek through the mountains outside of Juneau in the Tongass National Forest for blacktail deer and a mountain goat. Through a hard hunt and a treacherous—and at times hair-raising—climb, readers will experience every high and low of this adventure.
WATERS OF PLENTY
One of the many pleasures of Alaska is that even a seemingly unremarkable river can offer a fishing adventure. Contributor Christine Peterson traversed rapids with a motley crew of locals down Lake Creek for fat silver salmon, feisty rainbow trout, and rising grayling. It’s a watershed that has kept humans alive for millennia. And, in Alaska, it’s just another stream. “Most lower 48ers who dream about Alaska want to fish the most prestigious rivers. Think the Kongakut River in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or the Nushagak River where it dumps into Bristol Bay. But what about the rest of the state?” writes Peterson. “Turns out they’re just as wild as the Kongakut, only without the polar bears.”
THE END OF THE EARTH
Adak is a spectacular weather-beaten island that shelters sea ducks, a subspecies of ptarmigan, and the handful of people who call it home. Senior Deputy Editor Natalie Krebs braved snow-covered slopes and rocky beaches of the westernmost inhabited place on the planet for a fun-yet-punishing hunt for ptarmigan and ducks.
PLUS: Guns of the Last Frontier; The Gateway Hunt; The Devil’s Country; A Bucket-List River Hunt; A Rookie’s Fly-In Camp; more