R
redrabbit
Guest
My first trip to Alaska was a vessel-based hunt originating in Kodiak for Sitka Blacktails . Five of us (Art, Troy, Jason, Mecen and myself) were on a Art's 36' UniFlyte with twin diesels, galley, head and bunks for 6. We were out for 7 days of comraderie, good food and hunting adventure.
Reflections in Kodiak Harbor.
Kodiak is on the northeast side of the island, and we motored for a day to the northwest side, past some scalloped shorelines.
We stopped above an underwater hump to catch some dinner- Yellow-eyed rockfish and quill backs which were served blackened and later in fish tacos. On the return trip we stopped again and caught some more yellow eyes and a couple flounder.
I spent a few mornings shotgunning some seaducks, primarily goldeneyes and the beautiful Harlequins.
We saw over 30 brown bears on the beaches and the slopes.
The Alaskan Vulture was ever-present, perched along the shorelines.
A Lion's Mane jellyfish was in shallow water.
Sunrises were quite colorful.
We were treated to several rainbows.
The hunting began on the beach with about a 1000' climb to glass for deer.
But this climb was made difficult by the 30*-45* slopes, having to bull upward through thick alder thickets, knee-to-chest high grass, and thorn-covered berry stalks and devils club that constantly tried to grab a boot, stop the legs from moving, or trip you :angry: . It was like trying to run in waist deep water wearing ankle weights. Being over-the-hill didn't help getting up the hill either .
We found the deer population to be severly lacking, possibly due to the long spring. Most of the bucks we saw were forkies. The first day we saw no deer. The second was wettened by a constant light rain. Troy and I saw a nice buck possily 4x4, but we judged him too far away to shoot and gave us the slip when we tried to close the distance. We passed on a few forkies that day.
The rain tuned to slnow that night. THis should have made the deer stand out, but the third day only shown a few does/fawns, and a couple of forkies. The wind howled up to 35-40 knots, making rough seas that forced us to hole up in a sheltered cove for four days, and kept the deer hunkered down in the thick alders.
On the next to last day, the weather became nice and we pulled up anchor and relocated around the point into the next arm back towards Kodiak. The last full day, we jumped a nice buck out of its bed on a open slope, but it made haste around the point. We decided to work back that way and located a forky and doe in a alder thicket below. We rounded the next point and Troy spotted three bucks on a open ridge below. Shots from the 300 WSM anchored two of the bucks at 431 yards. We were subsequently concerned since we had spotted a browm bear about 400 yards directly above on a rocky ridge, and another after the shots, bedded 340 yrds below the deer. After a photo session, a quick gutting, we dragged both deer down to the beach below, paying attention to the location and movement of the brownie directly below.
Doug~RR
Reflections in Kodiak Harbor.
Kodiak is on the northeast side of the island, and we motored for a day to the northwest side, past some scalloped shorelines.
We stopped above an underwater hump to catch some dinner- Yellow-eyed rockfish and quill backs which were served blackened and later in fish tacos. On the return trip we stopped again and caught some more yellow eyes and a couple flounder.
I spent a few mornings shotgunning some seaducks, primarily goldeneyes and the beautiful Harlequins.
We saw over 30 brown bears on the beaches and the slopes.
The Alaskan Vulture was ever-present, perched along the shorelines.
A Lion's Mane jellyfish was in shallow water.
Sunrises were quite colorful.
We were treated to several rainbows.
The hunting began on the beach with about a 1000' climb to glass for deer.
But this climb was made difficult by the 30*-45* slopes, having to bull upward through thick alder thickets, knee-to-chest high grass, and thorn-covered berry stalks and devils club that constantly tried to grab a boot, stop the legs from moving, or trip you :angry: . It was like trying to run in waist deep water wearing ankle weights. Being over-the-hill didn't help getting up the hill either .
We found the deer population to be severly lacking, possibly due to the long spring. Most of the bucks we saw were forkies. The first day we saw no deer. The second was wettened by a constant light rain. Troy and I saw a nice buck possily 4x4, but we judged him too far away to shoot and gave us the slip when we tried to close the distance. We passed on a few forkies that day.
The rain tuned to slnow that night. THis should have made the deer stand out, but the third day only shown a few does/fawns, and a couple of forkies. The wind howled up to 35-40 knots, making rough seas that forced us to hole up in a sheltered cove for four days, and kept the deer hunkered down in the thick alders.
On the next to last day, the weather became nice and we pulled up anchor and relocated around the point into the next arm back towards Kodiak. The last full day, we jumped a nice buck out of its bed on a open slope, but it made haste around the point. We decided to work back that way and located a forky and doe in a alder thicket below. We rounded the next point and Troy spotted three bucks on a open ridge below. Shots from the 300 WSM anchored two of the bucks at 431 yards. We were subsequently concerned since we had spotted a browm bear about 400 yards directly above on a rocky ridge, and another after the shots, bedded 340 yrds below the deer. After a photo session, a quick gutting, we dragged both deer down to the beach below, paying attention to the location and movement of the brownie directly below.
Doug~RR