Fired up for shoot

As you read this, I should be at the Upper Susitna Shooters Association (USSA) shooting range, located at Mile 94, Parks Highway. The Alaska State Territorial Matches began yesterday for muzzleloading and black powder cartridge shooters from all over Alaska, and will continue through Sunday.

The USSA range provides excellent facilities for this type of shoot and has been hosting the Alaska Territorial match for several years now. The relatively central location of the range makes it accessible for shooters from Anchorage, the Kenai Peninsula, the Mat-Su, Fairbanks and the Interior. Most shooters come from Anchorage and the Mat-Su because of the location, but there is usually a contingent of Interior shooters who come and try to show the rest of us how to shoot.

The quality of shooting skills among the participants ranks with the best anywhere in the country. A couple of the guys are regular participants at National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association (NMLRA) regional and national matches held in the Lower 48. Several others have periodically attended these same shoots. These guys win matches Outside in both pistol and rifle competition and, only a couple of years ago, the NMLRA National Junior Champion, who lives in the Valley, was a competitor at the Territorial.

While I don’t expect to beat these guys in competition, other folks can, and occasionally do, at these matches. I go to have fun shooting and to work on my shooting skills. I also enjoy learning how to work with the different types of firearms available. I grew up shooting a percussion, side-lock rifle and that’s still my preferred muzzleloader. However, I’ve been learning how to make a flintlock go “bang” in a timely manner every time the trigger is pulled. I’ve also been doing a little more shooting with muzzleloading handguns.

I also enjoy working with black powder cartridge rifles. I’ve been lazy this year and haven’t cast any lead bullets yet, so I won’t be bringing any of my own rifles to shoot. However, I do plan to watch and pick the brains of some of the guys who will have black powder cartridge rifles at the match to learn how they do things.

A new twist I will pursue this year involves having a rifle built. Several of the shooters are also accomplished gunsmith/builders. I was recently given a barrel and partially inletted stock, two of the main ingredients to make a muzzleloading firearm. You’ve heard the phrase “lock, stock and barrel?” I plan to bring those items to the match and talk with some folks about the possibility of getting a finished rifle out of the parts and how much it might cost.

The competition is fun, but the comradeship with other shooters is the main reason I enjoy these matches. I can always find a reason to chat with folks at a black powder match. I began black powder shooting when I was a teenager and my lifetime experience from shooting in the Midwest, the Southeast and here in Alaska is that muzzleloaders are some of the nicest folks you will ever meet. Many great friendships have developed as a result of meeting folks while shooting black powder. If you get a chance, stop by the range and watch for a while. These types of shoots can be fun to watch for spectators too.

Tomorrow, the 2013 king salmon sports fishing season closes here in the Northern District except at the Eklutna Tailrace, which is open through the end of the year. I hope the silvers show better than the kings have.

I haven’t spoken with any of the sport fish biologists, but looking at the weir counts for the two sites in the Northern District with data, I’m not impressed. The Deshka counts have climbed to the low side of midrange for the escapement range of 13,000 to 28,000 fish. That’s great and I’m happy to see that level of return given the current situation.

The Little Susitna, on the other hand, was still below 1,800 fish as of July 8. If memory serves, the minimum number of fish necessary to maintain a healthy king salmon population in the Little Susitna, as counted through the river Mile 32 weir location, was the mid-2,000s. I want to say 2,400 to 2,600, but I’m not sure. The most recent counts for both weirs show a dwindling daily return. Assuming my memory isn’t too far off, I would be surprised to see the Little Susitna make even minimum escapement this year.

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. You can leave him a message by emailing sports@frontiersman.com.