
Chilkoot barracks, Alaska, showing Mission Cove 
Soldier-Sportsmen 
A Peep into the Sporting Possibilities of Our “Farthest North” 
Territory As Seen By 
ROBERT C. WRIGHT, Captain, 7t2 Infantry 
Y first meal after arrival at 
M Chilkoot Barracks, on the Lynn 
Canal in southeastern Alaska, 
had for its piéce de resistance moose 
steaks from a bull killed on a small 
island in the Chilkat river about a 
thousand yards from the post rifle 
range. It must be admitted, however, 
that the presence of a moose so close 
to the military post was unusual, the 
animal having probably been driven by 
wolves from its normal ranges up the 
river. 
But if I have not dined sumptuously 
on moose meat since, I have seen whole 
companies of troops rationed repeatedly 
on game and fish procured by sending 
out parties of officers and enlisted men 
during the open season. Although each 
man is required to keep within the 
“bag limit” allowed by the Alaskan 
game laws, par- 
ties of from three 
to ten hunting 
goat, bear or ven- 
ison stock a lar- 
der even for a 
hungry outfit of 
soldiers, and then 
there is the con- 
stant supply of 
ducks and rabbits 
during the sea- 
son. In summer, 
not a day passes 
but someone 
brings in one or 
more halibut and 
bounteous catches 
of the Alaskan 
Sea Dass) anon. 
more properly 
called, rock-fish, a 
beautiful and gamy little chap, colored 
vivid green and gold, weighing from 
one-fourth to four pounds and one of 
the best pan fishes known. As these 
are preferred to salmon, for the aver- 
age soldier has unpleasant memories of 
the canned “goldfish” in France, the 
latter fish is left to the commercial fish- 
erman to catch and put in tins for the 
people of the “States,” not blessed with 
opportunities to catch the titan of food 
fishes, the halibut, or the iridescent sea- 
bass, whose glittering splendor sur- 
passes the fabled glory of King Solo- 
mon. 
ACH September, when the deer 
season opens, it is the long-stand- 
ing custom for the commanding officer 
oi Chilkoot Barracks to send parties of 
from ten to twenty men to Chicagoff 

Natives with dog teams 
and Admiralty Islands, some sixty 
miles south of the Post. The trip is 
made in the commodious steam harbor 
boat, and on arrival the party is broken 
up into smaller groups of from six to 
ten, scattered in camps twenty miles or 
so apart. 
F ARLY in the season the deer are 
on the natural parks above the tim- 
ber line, and to reach them, one fol- 
lows trails made by bear and deer 
through heavy undergrowth until the 
thousand foot level is reached, usually 
from a mile to four miles from the 
beach. 
Here the trees thin out to occasional 
_groups of gnarled and wind-wracked 
spruce nestling in depressions or cling- 
ing precariously to the steep slopes. 
Already the frost has browned the 
grass and moun- 
tain flowers and 
the slopes are 
slippery with 
frost in the early 
morning when, 
after bivouacing 
overnight near a 
mountain pool, 
one sets out to 
stalk the wary 
deer. 
Wary? They 
are, if alarmed 
by sudden move- 
ments; but they 
are also very 
much filled with 
curiosity. My 
first sight of deer 
was while three 
of us—one being 
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