Well I've been thinking a lot about the possibilty of a sitka blacktail hunt. I've gathered a few pieces of info on my own. I'd like to do a DIY hunt with one possibly two others. Looks like, from what i've read, the best time to bowhunt will be mid-august to Sept. The costs are pretty straight forward. Non-res Permit Deer Tag(s) Airfare Boat ride to Island Flight into interior of island Camp and food supplies Am I missing anything? What im really looking for is info from anyone who has done it, with gun or bow. What are the steps from start to finish, what part of the island,and anything else you can think of. Thanks to anyone that can help!
My kid brother lives in Fairbanks, they hunt them every year. I'll give him a call later and ask some questions for you.
Kodiak is a huge island. You'll need to narrow it down. What kind of hunting do you want to do; stalking through timber, alpine backpacking, base camping from a cabin, spot and stalk in open country? This will help determine which part of the island you go to and when. What's your experience level dealing with bears? Some areas I doubt you'll see them, others I can guarantee you'll have them in your camp stealing your meat. Have you ever kept meat in the field for extended periods? If you're backpacking you'll have to bone it out and keep it dry for the length of your trip. The time of year you come will determine how long your stay is.
KodiakArcher, I would like to hunt some open country stuff, all spot and stalk. Lots of glassing. As far as bears go, I havent dealt with Alaskan Bears. I have done trapping for girzz in Northern Idaho with the fish and game a little bit. I'm fairly used to be around them. I would be taking either a guide gun in 45-70 or 12ga. as a back-up. I would like to go in Mid-August to Early Sept for about 7-10 days
Don't plan on coming until the third week of August at the earliest. Their racks are still developing until then. They start to shed velvet the last week of August and are all pretty much hard horned by Sept. 15 though you'll find a few hard horned bucks the 3rd week of August depending on the year and where you're hunting. If you want open country then you want the south end of the island. Plan on budgeting $800 - $1000 each r/t for a bush plane to get 2 - 3 of you there and back to Kodiak. Don't plan on taking more than 3 guys since that's about what a Beaver will carry with gear. Look up SeaHawk Aviation, Island Air Service and Andrew's Air. If you want a unique experience you can book a Widgeon with Harvey's Flying Service but that'd be more for a sal****er drop since he can't get in the places a Beaver can. (That's funny, "salt water" gets edited but Beaver doesn't!) TEmbry (Trevor) has a spot coming up on an outdoor show from his hunt last summer. He hasn't gotten me the details on when and what show it's going to air on but I'll pass it along when he does. Two of them took 6 P&Y deer in 9 days but I swore him to secrecy on the spot. If you PM me and promise to buy me a beer when you get here, name your first kid after me, and send me those TreeLimb mount bolts, I may hook you up. Here's the pics from our outing at the same time: (No bow kills for me since I was busy guiding my g/f on her first hunt but all the bucks were killed in bow range.) http://s252.photobucket.com/albums/hh22/robswanson/Kodiak 09/?albumview=slideshow
Thanks for all the info! Like I said, it's just a thought right now. Hopefully will happen in the next few years, however.
Sounds like you are getting it figured out. My brother takes a boat and sleeps on the boat. They have a 22 ft Islander. He warned me about the bear. Cory mentioned the velvet thing also. He said for me to pm you his number if you are serious about coming. So let me know.
I've also talked about doing this with a friend in 2011. I'm down for saving up for it and going all out, but convincing my friend to drop the cash is still about 50/50 right now.
