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|  "THIS IS MY ALASKA" is an action packed two hour color feature all filmed in the great Alaskan wilderness by Master Alaskan Guide Leroy (Buster) Shebal. It is a true story of a man and the land he loves. "THIS IS MY ALASKA" has a sense of continuity that will excite you as you follow Buster and his wife Vivian, through an actual year in their amazing lives around the time of Alaska statehood in 1959. The warm inviting scenes in the Shebals' Fairbanks home beckon you to come and sit by the fire to listen as Buster and Vivian introduce the audience to the winter, spring, summer, and fall hunting and fishing adventures. As you follow Buster and the sportsmen he guides, from the Arctic Ocean to Alaska's South Central Coasts, you are part of a powerful drama wrapped in the wild beauty of the Alaskan frontier.  As spring comes to the Arctic, it is still 25 to 40 below zero and only
a few hours of sunlight at Point Barrow, an Eskimo village at the northern
tip of mainland North America with a population of around 1700 people.
From Barrow you begin your search for the gigantic polar bear, flying over
the dangerous polar ice packs with pressure ridges of ice jutting up fifty
feet high. The polar bear has no natural enemies, so you often find him
hunting you as you hunt him. Since only the old mature male bears were taken as trophies the population
was not hurt. However the Federal Sea Mammal Act which was passed later
halted hunting as well as Alaska's intense research program. This research
program along with hunting of the ice bear, is a most unusual and informative
part of your trip with Buster through the Arctic. The polar bear seen taken
in "THIS IS MY ALASKA" is displayed life-size, in the Fairbanks Airport letting
people see what a tremendous animal they are. During territorial days the unspoiled fishing for salmon, giant trout
and arctic grayling is almost unbelievable by today's standards. In July
the ice starts clearing off the lakes and there is another adventure in
store for you. Buster takes you up to the very heart of the Brooks Range,
150 miles above the Arctic Circle for the most fantastic fishing you have
ever seen. As you watch a migration of 10,000 caribou parade by while we
fish for the big ones, thirty pound lake trout that fight like an Arctic
wind and are excellent eating. Then you leave the lakes and try fly rod
fishing in the fast running streams for the smaller rainbow trout, the
fighting grayling and the best sport of all, the sockeye salmon. The only
competition on the stream is about a dozen brown bear nearby showing off
their salmon catching skills. If there is a favorite time of year in Alaska
it would have to be the Fall season and its spectacular fall colors. It
is a busy time laying in the land's bounty for the coming long winter.
The first venture is to get a moose for the Shebal's freezer. Enroute a
stop is made at an Indian village on the Yukon River where a fish drying
rack is being loaded down with salmon. The next stop is at a lake in the
Yukon Valley where the U.S. Fish and Wildlife agents are engaged in banding
10,000 ducks in a single week. The moose hunt is conducted along a beautiful
clear creek in the Brooks Range. Things get real exciting as Buster carefully
calls the giant bull in close enough for Vivian to draw a bead and bag
him. Next Buster takes two hunters deep in the heart of the Brooks Range
to hunt for Dall Sheep, caribou and grizzly bear. Fine trophies are taken
in all three species. You will also witness a fall caribou migration and
a few anxious seconds as a grizzly that has just killed a caribou charges
us. The season of superb hunting and fishing ends down on the southern coast
in an area that is often referred to as the Switzerland of Alaska. Nowhere
in North America is the scenery more breathtaking. Here glaciers are still
breaking off into the sea and high up in the crags you will find the Rocky
Mountain Goat, considered to be one of the most challenging animals to
hunt in North America. While pursuing this wary "King" of the
mountains, you live off the sea by digging clams, catching crabs in a crab
pot and catching salmon. In the month of March as we take off in search of the Arctic wolf the
thermometer can reach as low as 65 degrees below zero. We spot a herd of
caribou. We land to make a closer inspection and find wolf tracks and a
freshly killed cow caribou and her half eaten unborn calf. It is easy to
see why Alaska paid a fifty dollar bounty for the killer wolf. Back in
the air the combat begins as the pack is sighted. As you watch the only
complete aerial wolf hunt ever filmed you can understand why some hunters
do not live to return for another hunt and why others refuse to attempt
it. This is the sportsman's dream, the perfect year, action that doesn't
stop and scenery unequaled. Every minute of "THIS IS MY ALASKA" is filled
with a refreshing combination of human interest and action that adds to
its true-to-life appeal. IT'S A FAMILY PICTURE with a G rating. Leroy "Buster" Shebal and his wife settled in Fairbanks in
1948, opening a gunsmithing and retail hunting equipment shop. In 1953,
Buster began flying into remote hunting areas and guiding hunters. At the
time of Statehood in 1959, Buster was a member of the Governor's Fish and
Game Advisory Committee. When a few of the more than 400 registered guides
were singled out for "Master" guide status, Buster was awarded
"Master" Guide License Number 17. In 1953, a movie camera became a constant companion. The winters of
the early sixties were spent showing film in the lower 48 states with incredible
success. Offers from major studios prompted the production of :"This
is My Alaska" in 1967. Several million people came to theaters from
1969 to 1971 to see the film. It received outstanding reviews across the
country including Box Office and Variety magazines. | ||
