Well, we're back from a fun, eventful, and very educational trip to Kodiak for blacktails. First lesson learned: don't go to Alaska on a tight schedule. There was a freezing drizzle when we arrived in Kodiak, but we were pumped to see blue skies when we woke up the next morning and did last minute preparations before being picked up by our air transporter. We get the call from them: weather hold due to high winds. Long story a little shorter, this was the situation for our first two "hunting" days, of five scheduled. We got to know Kodiak pretty well. I'd recommend Henry's if you're looking for good food next time you're there.
Finally, we're scheduled to leave early on the third morning. We get to the dock and a young kid is loading gear into the plane. Then he introduces himself as our pilot. He turned out to be a good guy and great pilot. He'd just turned 23 and has had his pilot's license since he was 17.
Loading up:
The flight out:
Alone at last, for three whole days
:
We had to shorten our original backpack route we'd planned in advance. We filled up our water bottles at the lake, and as I put on my pack I looked down the drainage and pointed: bear. That didn't take long! The first day we hunted away from the dropoff point and our eventual pickup point. We saw lots of good bucks the first day, including the best 4-5 bucks we saw the entire trip. We passed them all up looking for something a little better. The best buck passed was a small 4x4 with eye guards. In hindsight, maybe we should have shot him, but live and learn. We saw one other bear that day, and one caribou (reindeer if you're a local).
The country:
First night's camp:
The second morning we hunted back towards our dropoff point. Lots more deer were seen, but nothing as good as the first day. We kept our eye out for a particular buck we had passed the first day which seemed to have very heavy bases and extra eye guards. We spotted him around 1pm and Doug decided he was too good to pass. He turned out to have more character than we thought.
Doug's buck:
After caping and boning out Doug's deer, we decided to make some tracks towards our pickup location. The weather was turning, and by the time we found a camping spot it was beginning to blow and spit rain. An hour and a half after we went to bed, the rain fly just about got blown off the tent. We were getting pounded by 30-40mph gusts of wind and rain. This went on all night. The tent actually held up remarkably well after a couple forays outside in the middle of the night to rock down the stakes. By morning the wind had let up a little bit and it was just raining off and on. The deer were moving very little. This was our last day to hunt, and I was beginning to think I was going to go home emptyhanded. I had already decided I wasn't going to shoot any old forkhorn just to take something home.
Crummy weather:
As we got to the location we were going to drop off the ridge and down to the spot on the bay we were to be picked up the next morning, we classed the last drainage on the opposite side of the ridge. I spotted an average 3-point about 300 yards down the ridge from us and decided that with less than 4 hours left to hunt, he was good enough.
My buck:
Finally, we're scheduled to leave early on the third morning. We get to the dock and a young kid is loading gear into the plane. Then he introduces himself as our pilot. He turned out to be a good guy and great pilot. He'd just turned 23 and has had his pilot's license since he was 17.
Loading up:
The flight out:
Alone at last, for three whole days
:
We had to shorten our original backpack route we'd planned in advance. We filled up our water bottles at the lake, and as I put on my pack I looked down the drainage and pointed: bear. That didn't take long! The first day we hunted away from the dropoff point and our eventual pickup point. We saw lots of good bucks the first day, including the best 4-5 bucks we saw the entire trip. We passed them all up looking for something a little better. The best buck passed was a small 4x4 with eye guards. In hindsight, maybe we should have shot him, but live and learn. We saw one other bear that day, and one caribou (reindeer if you're a local).
The country:
First night's camp:
The second morning we hunted back towards our dropoff point. Lots more deer were seen, but nothing as good as the first day. We kept our eye out for a particular buck we had passed the first day which seemed to have very heavy bases and extra eye guards. We spotted him around 1pm and Doug decided he was too good to pass. He turned out to have more character than we thought.
Doug's buck:
After caping and boning out Doug's deer, we decided to make some tracks towards our pickup location. The weather was turning, and by the time we found a camping spot it was beginning to blow and spit rain. An hour and a half after we went to bed, the rain fly just about got blown off the tent. We were getting pounded by 30-40mph gusts of wind and rain. This went on all night. The tent actually held up remarkably well after a couple forays outside in the middle of the night to rock down the stakes. By morning the wind had let up a little bit and it was just raining off and on. The deer were moving very little. This was our last day to hunt, and I was beginning to think I was going to go home emptyhanded. I had already decided I wasn't going to shoot any old forkhorn just to take something home.
Crummy weather:
As we got to the location we were going to drop off the ridge and down to the spot on the bay we were to be picked up the next morning, we classed the last drainage on the opposite side of the ridge. I spotted an average 3-point about 300 yards down the ridge from us and decided that with less than 4 hours left to hunt, he was good enough.
My buck:
