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Alaska Spring Black Bear hunt June 2008-   Tyonek Lodge                 

A special thanks to Sportsman for fish and wildlife, during the month of June they covered half the cost of the bear hunt for every wounded soldier that could make the hunt. Thanks as well to my friend Gary Olson with the Alaska Moose Federation for introducing me to Tom Harris the CEO of the Tyonek Native Corp., they have worked very hard to make sure that our wounded soldiers and all others that visit have everything they need when visiting the lodge as far as accessibility and comfort.

This trip was designed as a way for us to visit the lodge to determine the overall accessibility in order to consider future hunts for our wounded Veterans. What we found was truly not what we expected from a somewhat Alaska Bush location, from bathrooms to door openings, bear bait blind and the ramp to the cabin, everything was fantastic. Plans now are to develop an annual hunt  and bring a number of wounded soldiers to hunt black bear every year.

 Aside from having dealt with most accessibility issues at the lodge the entire camp staff and all of Aaron's guides with Full Curl Alaska were fantastic and we had nothing short of a great time with all of them.

Spernak Airways at Merrill field in Anchorage is where we began this journey, surprisingly we had no difficulties transferring Joe into the plane for the scenic 30 minute flight to the lodge.

As can be seen here Joe had plenty of leg room for the flight. This was Joe and Joe Jr's first flight in a small plane let alone one that would land them on a gravel airstrip, they had a ball!

Much of the gear stowed for the flight

A scenic shot from 2,000ft above the Alaska wilderness. We are very close to the ocean here and much of what can be seen in the photo are tidal flats.

A much better view of the tidal flat area, a great place to hunt sea ducks during duck season.

Tyonek Lodge and cabins as seen from the lake

The ramp that was built just prior to our arrival in camp. The ramp was fantastic, had it not been there we would have had to lift Joe and his wheelchair up the stairs every time he needed into the cabin.

The roll in shower that officially made this a wheelchair friendly cabin

A bedroom shot from the common area in the cabin. Each bedroom has 2 beds and they are very comfortable with ample room for gear.

The dining hall and general hangout, this is where our chef Ben did all of his magic with every meal, a true culinary artist.

The wheelchair blind that Tyonek Native Corporation built for our wheelchair hunters as well as anyone else with mobility issues.