Hidden Alaska Guides & Outfitters

Hidden Alaska Guides & Outfitters Mike “Buck” Bowden, the owner of Hidden Alaska Guides and Outfitters Along the way he has been a trapper, a homesteader, a horse packer, and a river rafter.

Mike "Buck" Bowden started guiding in 1974, and worked his way up through the ranks to the status of Master Guide, where he holds license -80. He is a Commercial Instrument Multi-Engine pilot, and in his former career as an Alaska Fish and Wildlife Officer, became a certified commercial diver. He owns a lodge and several cabins and outbuildings, which he built with from logs he fell on a remote

parcel of land deep in the western Alaska Range. The lodge offers excellent bear hunting, while remote tent camps and float hunts offer great opportunities for moose, bear, sheep and caribou.

Enjoyed filming a tv show with one of Sweden’s most popular celebrities
01/14/2026

Enjoyed filming a tv show with one of Sweden’s most popular celebrities

Our third place winner from the bowl drawing. Congratulations Karsten
12/04/2025

Our third place winner from the bowl drawing. Congratulations Karsten

From my high school days in Nome, to my hunting, trapping and guiding days at Kicker Creek. To staking my homestead, to ...
11/24/2025

From my high school days in Nome, to my hunting, trapping and guiding days at Kicker Creek. To staking my homestead, to getting my commercial/instrument, multi engine and seaplane license, to building a lodge and a successful Guiding business to today’s retirement. I feel I’ve earned my rocking chair to sit on the porch and watch the Sun go down. It’s been a fun ride and, I’ve enjoyed sharing it with you in my book.

We’re nearly there. It’s my hope that those who have preordered one of these limited edition 1st printings, will enjoy...
11/08/2025

We’re nearly there.
It’s my hope that those who have preordered one of these limited edition 1st printings, will enjoy the journey within its pages as I have

After pulling Paul up onto the bank and making sure he had no injuries, we both stood there in the steady rain in silent...
10/17/2025

After pulling Paul up onto the bank and making sure he had no injuries, we both stood there in the steady rain in silent relief staring at the roiling gray water trying to digest what had just happened. Ten minutes ago we were jetting down the river looking forward to a steak dinner, then in the blink of an eye we found ourselves in a survival situation. I think he sense the weight of guilt I was carrying. I’ll never forget when he broke the silence saying to me, I thought the captain was supposed to go down with the ship. We both laughed and came back to, what next?

I told him that we would be doing ourselves a favor if we got away from the river corridor and all the sloughs, alders and willows and head to the base of the mountain where I knew there was a well traveled moose trail that would take us east to the Bear Paws about a mile up from where it ran into the river. From there we just had to ford the Bear Paws and hook up with the horse trail that lead to Kicker Creek. We had nothing but soaked clothes and whatever we had in our pockets. We had to keep moving to stay warm.
Needless to say it was a long walk and we didn’t make it to Kicker until about 2am. Fortunately getting to the horse trail made all the difference, I knew it well and was able to travel it in the dark. We were both so tired and thankful to be there I just started a fire and headed to our bunks.
We took the next day off. I had my old 45/70 there and with it we were able to continue his hunt and ended up getting a very nice Brown Bear on the mountain behind camp.
It was admirable how well he took the misadventure, and laughed it off as, it’s always the ones with a bit of a glitch that are the most memorable. Paul and I stayed great friends until his passing in the 90s
Late that Fall we took the horses up and tried salvaging what we could. The boat had filled about a third with gravel and was a joy to dig out. With the river so low I just lined it down to Kicker with no problem a few days later. After some searching we found the rack half buried in gravel. It was an amazing B&C rack and was so thankful for us shipping it him. #

I felt the stern settle deeper in the water as I opened the throttle and the jet tried to get traction to push us up aga...
10/14/2025

I felt the stern settle deeper in the water as I opened the throttle and the jet tried to get traction to push us up against the current. Once up on step I spun the boat around headed downstream. The river was fast and high and we were heavy. If I was going keep control I had to stay on step, which meant full throttle. Split decisions were going to have to be made with no slowing down. Things were going along fine then I hit the braids. A channel would split then split again. I was sometimes in a channel no wider than the boat. It started funneling me over towards the bank of the river, which was the worst case scenario in the conditions were in as trees could be falling in and blocking a whole channel. But I had to go with the flow and where the water was. Sure enough it took me into a deep narrow channel with a blind corner. I was committed at this point and could do nothing but hope for the best, trying to stop would be disastrous. Came around a corner and there was a tree blocking the whole channel. I tried skooching around the top of the tree and blasted through the branches. Everything would’ve been fine but when I powered around to get back in the channel the engine stalled. I shouted to Paul to try and restart the engine and I scrambled to the bow to try and grab anything I could on shore to hold us fast. Too late the bow hit and the last I saw was the water coming over the stern and Paul and the boat went under. I jumped for the shore and went under. I was flailing around trying to grab anything to get my head above water. Grabbed some Alder branches and was able to pull myself up then onto the bank. It all happened so fast. I stood up and it was just silence and gray water. I started running down the bank the best I could to try and find Paul but was being hampered by thick Alders. About 20 yards down I finally stopped and just listened, I had been calling his. I was at that point that I thought he was gone and I was thinking of my next move when suddenly I heard a weak cry of Buck! Buck! Moving to the sound and coming from the water under alders it was Paul hanging on to some branches unable to pull himself up onto the bank. After helping him out we b

Picking up my friends Dirt Myth and Cal and the Meateaters crew at the airport. As is always the case when they roll int...
10/10/2025

Picking up my friends Dirt Myth and Cal and the Meateaters crew at the airport. As is always the case when they roll into town, the truck was overflowing with camera gear and the feeling of adventure. Was great to see them again, a great bunch of guys

I apologize for the length of this story, I’ll try and condense as much of it as possible from here on out. Having ...
09/19/2025

I apologize for the length of this story, I’ll try and condense as much of it as possible from here on out.
Having shed all my outer clothing I must have looked quite a sight standing there in longjohns and rolled down hip boots. I half pulled, pushed and drug it the best i could, with the water mid chest and fighting the muck on the bottom I was having to swim more than wade. As long as it was floating it actually moved freely, until the rack and legs began to drag bottom, then the real struggle began.Paul had been on the bank cheering me on but when I couldn’t move it any more he was able to wade out and help me get it as close to shore as possible. You just haven’t lived until you’ve tried caping out an 1100 # animal that is mostly submerged, but we did it. Starting on the high side I just started taking it apart one piece at a time. Once I was able to get the cape most of the way off on the high side I was able to get in there and by feel disconnect the head from the body. We were then able to pull it closer to the bank where I was able to take off the quarters, ribs, blackstrap, etc… was then able to flip it and get the rest. Every piece taken off got us higher onto the bank. Then all that was left was to wade back out and finish pulling the cape off the skull and dragging it and the rack onto the bank. But got every last piece of it. It took us 3 days to get it back to the camp and boat. It was a hard steady rain every day and the river was getting higher and higher. I took the time to go ahead and cut a rough trail over to the creek then just walked the middle of the creek down to the mouth. It was a real struggle. Fortunately was able to get a good fire going every night to help dry things out as we were soaked all day long. But the nightmare was just getting started, we were about to lose it all. I needed to get the meat down to Kicker and get it hung in the meat house, it was time to go. We loaded up the boat with the moose doing some creative placement to distribute the weight. I felt confident that with us going down river and the river being so high that we’d be fine as long as I could get it up on step. Finish up next post

We were in a misty drizzle with low visibility when we past the Bear Paws to about 3 miles above it. This stretch I knew...
09/14/2025

We were in a misty drizzle with low visibility when we past the Bear Paws to about 3 miles above it. This stretch I knew well. Then we hit the braided part where the main river would split into separate channels then split again and then come back together. It was a mess. Not a river boat friendly section. Although I’d been to Ruby creek and beyond with the horses many times this was only my third or fourth time with the river boat. While still on step I went into hover mode to read the river for the path of least resistance and try and make a mental note of land marks and channels for the trip back down when I’d have to be going much faster than the current and mistakes were not an option. Anyway, made it to Ruby, set up camp. By now it was a steady rain and would remain so for the next 4 days. We headed up Ruby to the mouth of the canyon, walking mostly in the creek to avoid the thick alders and willows. From the canyon we we climbed the mountain a couple of hundred yards and skooched across the face of it until we could look down onto a small creek that I had stumbled onto the year before and had a client take a Brown Bear that had been feeding on salmon. Sat there most of the day without seeing anything. We came down and cut cross country to some beaver ponds I wanted to do some calls at. We arrived at rooms and got set up. As soon as I started calling almost immediately the woods on the other side of the pond came alive. First one cow came out and ran to the middle of the pond followed by four others that were being herded by a Bull with a very impressive B&C rack. He did not look happy. I had my binoculars up and Paul was standing next to me. I heard him chamber a round and I quickly turned and said wait until he’s out of the water!! Too late. The moose fell and was mostly submerged. Everything was silent for a few minutes. The cows standing in disbelief right along with me. Paul said that he didn’t want to take the chance of losing him. Now we had a moose in the middle of the lake that I somehow had to get to shore. The water was about chest high to me when I waded out to him. I’m sorry they cut me off again, continued next post.

With moose season in full swing I thought I’d share with you one of my first guided moose/brown bear hunts. A hunt that ...
09/12/2025

With moose season in full swing I thought I’d share with you one of my first guided moose/brown bear hunts. A hunt that if anything could go wrong it would and it did. It was mid 70s, I was twenty years old. We had gotten jet boat that summer and I was new to jet boats . It was an 18’ with a 50hp Mercury that you still had to mix the gas for. I had all summer to get acquainted with it and learn the ins and outs of it which I did pretty quickly. A jets claim to fame then was that you could scoot along in 6 to 8 inches of water, which is all good and true but it came with stipulations, you had to be up on plane with it and full speed ahead. When you started out you needed to be in deep water as the impeller pulled water straight up from the bottom of the unit with a lot of suction and also bring up any loose gravel with it if you weren’t in deep enough water. All it would take is just a small rock or two stuck in the grate of the foot and you would lose your suction and thus power and go dead in the water. I learned all of this quickly in many frustrating situations of having to scramble to shore and tilt the outboard pry out the rock and start all over again. Also you needed to be going faster than the current to have full control of the boat and stay on a plane to run shallow water. Going upstream no problem, you could actually just hover in a fast current to read the water ahead of you to pick your channel and path through rapids. Going down stream is whole new ballgame, you’re having to go much faster and think much faster to stay ahead of the game, no stopping. There we times when you could slide around and face upstream to look back and pick your way through as well, or even just back down problem areas by using power and drifting back and forth. Not recommended but doable. Anyway there’s a big learning curve in a fast moving river that I was just getting the hang of that’s all part of this story.
Paul and I left Kicker early in the morning to head upstream to Ruby creek about 10 miles distant to set up a camp and look for some moose in one of my favorite swamps. Of course the river was running high and fast, typical for mid September. Continues next post

Made a crib board out of a burl slab. Does anyone notice anything unusual about it? It took two of us brilliant engineer...
09/06/2025

Made a crib board out of a burl slab. Does anyone notice anything unusual about it? It took two of us brilliant engineers to make this ridiculous mistake. games

I wanted to share a few other books that I feel need special mention. I’ve read each one multiple times and if you have ...
09/01/2025

I wanted to share a few other books that I feel need special mention. I’ve read each one multiple times and if you have the opportunity to snag one you’ll find out why. There’s a few that hold special meaning to me beyond the read.
Sheldon’s book Wager With the Wind is about an incredible pilot. One of Dons last flights was out to Kicker Creek delivering a 185 packed to the ceiling with horse feed. Although he was going through his health struggles he kept at it until the last. He had a spirit that could not be crushed.
One Man’s Wilderness about Dick Proenneke was one of the first books I read when I was in high school in Nome and such an inspiration to me for the direction I wanted to go in life. In my upcoming book I speak of a pleasant afternoon visiting with him at Twin Lakes. I had just passed my float check ride and my first flight was to Twin Lakes to meet him.
The book Alaska /Yukon trophies won and lost is one of the most incredible true stories you’ll ever read about an outfitted hunt in the early 1920s better make some time, because you’re going to have a hard time putting it down.
The Float Hunting Alaskas Wild Rivers book was written by Michael Strahan who started guiding for me in the early 90s and proved to be one of my best guides and very good friend. The photo on the cover is one of my guided float hunts and many of my photos are scattered through the book. Sadly he passed away from COVID a few years ago and is greatly missed.
And the others are simply very good books that you just don’t want to end when nearing the end.
Whether you’re sitting on a log watching the rain dripping off the bill of your cap into your freeze dry meal or have a nice sunny day with the meat all hung, capes fleshed and salted and have a comfortable seat soaking up some rays enjoying the surroundings. There’s no good or bad day for a great book. Give some of these a try, you won’t be disappointed.
My thanks to Bristol for igniting the flurry of memories that seeing these again brought back for me.

Address

Eagle River, AK
99577

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 7pm
Tuesday 9am - 7pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 9am - 5pm
Sunday 9am - 5pm

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+19073782676

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