The King Eider's Lair By Matt Williams

February 2, 2018Bering Sea duck hunt sheds new light on big water waterfowling

Tim Boatman (right) and Andrew Boatman (center) recently traveled to the Bering Sea off the coast of Alaska to hunt King Eider, arguably the most sought after sea duck in the world. (Courtesy Photo)

Hunting ducks on any big water always packs a wealth of inherent challenges. To hear Tim and Andrew Boatman tell it, no other place in the world where they have played the game can compare with the unforgiving nature and inhospitable conditions dished out by the Bering Sea that flanks St. Paul Island.

Located 300 miles west of the Alaska mainland and nearly 800 miles from Anchorage, St. Paul is the largest of four Alaskan volcanic land masses known as the Pribilof Islands. It's at the watery epicenter of an unforgiving place where the weather can be brutal enough to make a really big guy feel incredibly small, and the maritime climate is so raw, wet and salty that it can chill you to the bone in minutes and rust a scattergun almost as fast.

And then there is the wind. It blows big on the Bering Sea. And just when you think it can't blow any harder, it does.

"The wind blew sustained at 50-80 m.p.h. for several days and it never got out of the 30s with snow, sleet and rain," Andrew Boatman said. "At times it blew so hard it would cut the tops off the waves and blow the water sideways. It looked like a solid white spray of disaster out there. There were times when dad and I just sat there on the shore watching as eight and 10 foot waves came crashing in one after another. It was worth the entire trip just to see the Bering Sea as angry as it was and to feel how foreboding it can be. The sheer hardness and roughness of that place makes you feel pretty insignificant. I've hunting lots of places and I've never seen anything like it."

If it sounds like a pretty hostile environment to hunt a duck, that's because it is. But  make no mistake. For trophy hunting junkies with deep pockets a serious taste for hardcore adventure, St. Paul Island and the icy waters that surround it epitomize duck hunting's version of the perfect storm.

A Trophy Mecca

Tim Boatman with a pair of colorful King Eiders. The big water ducks are extremely tough to kill and capable diving beyond 150 feet deep. (Courtesy Photo)Some of the most sought after sea ducks in the world spend the winters there, and it's the only place in North America where hunters have a legitimate shot at killing what many consider the sport's Holy Grail -- the King Eider.

Well known for its large, colorful head, the Eider drake is a strikingly handsome duck that gets the "King" part of its title because of the distinctive yellow, crown-like knob that protrudes from its bill and its multi-colored plumage that suggest robes of royalty.

Pretty as it is, the king's spectacular beauty is hardly the only thing that separates it from other waterfowl species. The King Eider is also one of the toughest birds on the planet in that it lives out its life in some of the most unwelcoming environments known to mankind.

Breeding in spring along the Arctic coasts of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Svalbard and Russia, the big sea birds winter in large numbers in the frigid waters of the Bering Sea, where a handful of outfitters have set up booking operations to accommodate adventuresome sportsmen who want to hunt them.

The Boatmans, of Nacogdoches, made the 4,000 mile journey to St. Paul Island in early January. They hunted with Alaska Eider Outfitters, a full service operation that provides lodging, meals, boats, decoys and, most importantly, knowledgeable guides who are savvy to the potentially treacherous conditions that King Eider hunters are almost certain to face.

When The Wind Blows
 
Of all the obstacles in the paths of King Eider hunters, the wind has to be their very worst enemy. That's because you have to venture far from shore in a 16-17 foot boat in near freezing water that is well over 100 feet deep to get to them.

"They live out there," Tim Boatman said. "You can kill harlequins and oldsquaws from the rocky shorelines, but to kill the King Eiders you've got to get out there in the big, open water." 

You can't do that with 50 m.p.h. winds churning up 8-10 foot swells. Consequently, the Boatmans and other AEO clients spent three of the four-day hunt grounded to shore, pass shooting and slipping up on other highly prized trophies.

According the two hunters, being forced into a waiting game not knowing if time was going to run out before they got the opportunity go after the birds they'd invested so much time, effort and money to hunt added a mentally exhausting twist to the trip that neither of them anticipated.

"We were both worried the whole time we weren't going to be able hunt the King Eider after coming all that way," Andrew Boatman said. "It was hard to stay focused and stay positive in that respect."

It's Showtime: The Final Hour

After enduring three days of blowing snow, sleet and rain, the hunters finally got the break in the weather they'd been hoping for when the winds died down well before daylight on the final morning of the hunt.

It's nearly lunchtime in Texas before legal shooting light rolls around on the Bering Sea. By 10 a.m., the hunters were set up in a specially designed duck boat with a string of colorful decoys in tow, probably 1-2 miles from the harbor.

"We never lost sight of land, but we were right out in the middle of the big water," Andrew Boatman said. "There isn't any calling or hiding with those ducks. You basically just drift in the wide open and wait for the birds to come to you. Those birds like decoys a lot. They'll definitely circle by close and give them a look, but we found out pretty quick they aren't easy to kill.

"The will to live and the tenacity of those sea ducks -- all of them - is incredible," Boatman added. "Once you shoot one down everybody in the group had better unload on it. They'll dive and get away from you if you don't."

Quick Limits and Snow Banks  

While their time on the water was limited, the father/son team made the most of their only venture to the King Eider's lair. Both collected their annual four-bird limit in less than two hours.

Frigid conditions loom as hunters prepare to board a plane from St. Paul island in Alaska for the 800-mile journey back to the U.S. mainland. (Courtesy Photo)It's a good thing, too. Their 800-mile flight from St. Paul back to Anchorage was scheduled to depart less than three hours after they got off the water.

"We didn't even have time to freeze our ducks before we got on the plane to get out of there," Tim Boatman said. "We had soft-sided coolers, but ice just isn't in very big demand in that country. We ended up shoving our ducks in a snow bank for a few hours at the Anchorage airport to cool them down before we headed back to Seattle."

Just call it a memorable ending to what turned out to be the duck hunting trip of a lifetime.

Matt Williams is a freelance writer based in Nacogdoches. He can be reached by e-mail, mattwillwrite4u@yahoo.com.