# Brant Bash and Cackler Crackdown



## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

Had a great trip out to Cold Bay, Alaska last week chasing brant and cacklers in the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. We had great dog work out of the three pups we took with us and just had an amazing time. I am definitely going to be headed back there again (and again...and again). That place is flat out incredible. We ended up dropping 30 brant, 36 cacklers, 6 ducks (gadwall and bluebill), and I popped a fox that chose to commit suicide. We also saw 27 brown bears and a wolf, not bad for 3.5 days.


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

We ended up shipping home over 275lbs of dressed bird carcasses. Not too shabby.


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

I was wondering when you were going to start taking this Alaska stuff seriously...


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## Kwalk3 (Jun 21, 2012)

Every time you post about another hunt I wonder why I still live where I do.

Curious how the Brant taste. I kinda always lumped them in with Sea Ducks in my mind, but upon some very limited wikipedia research, it appears that they are mostly vegetarian.

I'm sure you have some masterful culinary plans for that haul of meat.


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## gander311 (Dec 23, 2008)

E-P-I-C!

I've travelled lots of places chasing waterfowl, but Brant in Alaska is still on my bucket list, and right near the top of said list. 

Thanks for sharing.


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

Kwalk3 said:


> Every time you post about another hunt I wonder why I still live where I do.
> 
> Curious how the Brant taste. I kinda always lumped them in with Sea Ducks in my mind, but upon some very limited wikipedia research, it appears that they are mostly vegetarian.
> 
> I'm sure you have some masterful culinary plans for that haul of meat.


I haven't eaten any of it yet, but I've got some plans. I did a full carcass pluck on a fat adult drake brant that I'm excited about. From talking to people that have eaten them, brant are downright tasty. They pretty much only eat eel grass, so we'll see.

I figure this winter I've got a few goose pastrami to make, some gumbo and maybe some bratwursts. Then sometime I'll do up a big ole batch of confit with the legs.


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## CPAjeff (Dec 20, 2014)

Yep, I live in the wrong state!

Great job JC!


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## MWScott72 (May 23, 2011)

Looks like a blast JC. Try this recipe if u haven't.

Pound out the breast flat, then spread some softened cream cheese on the breast. In the meantime split and seed jalapenos and roast them on the grill. Put roasted jalapeno slabs on the cream cheese and then roll up and pin with toothpick. Now, wrap all that with bacon, toothpick it then grill until the bacon is done and yank it. Some **** good waterfowl with this method!

You can marinate the breasts too if u want, but I find they're great even without the marinading.


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## shaner (Nov 30, 2007)

JC, 
Amazing hunt and awesome state but you are doing to Alaska what we all did to Utah years ago.
In hindsight we all should have never shared a single pic or story about good ole’ Utah.
We all ruined our our wintering areas, low traffic, and cheap land/housing.
Very soon southern Utah is going to be as crowded as northern Utah, even the areas you would never think would get trashed by population growth.
While there are some good things that come from growth, they do not outweigh the crappy stuff that comes with it.
Just my two cents but you should learn from our mistakes.
Looks like a great shoot!


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## Airborne (May 29, 2009)

Nice pics Johhny! Looks like another cool adventure in the great white north!


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

Shaner, cool story brah. Alaska is no secret. Alaska has a massive attrition and turnover rate in its population. Plain and simple, it isn't for everybody and most just can't cut it. 

And even for those that can, time and time again I prove to myself that most Alaska hunters are soft and lazy. There were a couple dozen other hunters out in Cold Bay at the same time as us, and we way outperformed them all in terms of bodies on the ground for one simple reason: we weren't afraid to walk +2miles across the tundra tussocks and bogs carrying gear etc to get set up where the birds were. Can't tell you how many people we passed that were set up just a few hundred yards off the road. Did it suck carrying 20lbs of gear plus +40lbs of birds back across the tundra to the truck? In the best possible way, you bet it did! Did the other guys seeing our success from literally day 1 try to join us out there? Not a frickin' chance.


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## shaner (Nov 30, 2007)

Sounds like work but that is what makes success taste so sweet.
I just finished fishing the headwaters of the Fremont, way low water and crystal clear water.
Extremely spooky fish.
Leaves and moss on the hook almost every cast but the 20 or so little browns I caught made
the evening priceless.
I hope Alaska stays the way you like it and you get many more fantastic adventures out of her.


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## paddler (Jul 17, 2009)

Nice photos. Camera or phone?


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

paddler said:


> Nice photos. Camera or phone?


Just phones


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## dubob (Sep 8, 2007)

*My trip for brant*

I didn't make it that far; I settled for Humbolt Bay, Kalifornia. We limited on brant each day and got a couple with leg bands. I had one with double bands mounted and put in a glass case. Fantastic memories every time I look at it. Here's what it looks like:










PS: They are excellent eating birds.


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

That is a gorgeous brant dubob. Lots of white on that bird on top of the double bands. Very cool!


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## dubob (Sep 8, 2007)

*Band Report*

Here's some additional information on that bird. I called the person whose name appeared on the Band Certificate. That person was the team chief for that banding in Alaska and happened to be a professor at UN Reno. He offered up the name of the person that actually attached the bands to my bird and I called him. He offered up a complete record of all of the subsequent sightings of that bird and egg counts from it's nest each year. They found that bird every year but one in the banding/nesting area for that flock of brant in Alaska and it was paired with the same mate (from band numbers) each year. Kind of neat to get that kind of history on the bird.

It was banded in 1998 and was hatched in 1996 or earlier and shot on Nov 15, 2007, so the report covered 9 years of a bird at least 11 years old. A second banded bird hatched in 1989 or earlier and banded in 1991 was also shot by me on that same day in 2007 - at least 18 years old. Both birds were male.


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## Dave Adamson (Sep 13, 2007)

Wow,what a great time. I'm going up to Cold Bay the week of Thanksgiving this year for sea ducks and geese your photos and story are going to make the next 5 weeks drag on forever.


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

Nice! Where are you staying?


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## Dave Adamson (Sep 13, 2007)

Aluetion Bay Outfitters/ Charlie Summerville


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## king eider (Aug 20, 2009)

Cold bay is a magical place. Congrats on your hunt. Looks like being a tundra Wookie paid off. Had some amazing hunts after walking miles and miles. Then carrying full straps back those long miles. Although the fastest brant hunt I ever had was just off Grant Point. Walked about 300 yards and the group had our limits (3 birds each) in less than 5 minutes. Did you find any glass float balls on your long walks?

Dave enjoy your trip up! Charlie will put you on birds. The big prize of that Pacific Eider is one stud of a bird.


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

We didn't hike along the beaches much. We'd hit trails across the tundra and then cut to water or the beach. The brant limit is only 2 right now so that usually didn't take too long. Brant decoy so beautifully that one day we dropped our 5 limits in the same flock. The 11th bird was so confused it kept trying to land in the decoys and dogs even while we were all out there scrambling as the weather turned nasty as soon as the first bird hit the water. My dog did 6 back to back retrieves in 2' white caps with the last one being +250 yards out. I was a very impressed /proud handler that evening, and Ava got some extra dinner and a dessert!


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