# Back...From Alaska!



## GrizzlyHunter

Earlier I created a thread titled "Alaska...Here We Come!" which was a lead up to our trip. This thread will be more about how our trip went.

The reason for our trip was to rifle hunt for Sitka Blacktail Deer in Alaska. More specifically we would be hunting on the Southeast end of Kodiak Island. This hunt has been on my personal bucket list for over (20) years. For the few people that might not already know this...Kodiak Island is also home to the Kodiak Brown Bear which happens to be one of the largest bear species in the world.

Our hunt planning started right around January of this year. Because of my long time interest in this hunt it was easy for me to take the planning lead. After much planning, and a few meetings, we all finally agreed on when (leave 10/22/16 and return 10/31/16), where (Old Harbor, Kodiak Island), and how (a boat based hunt).

It appears that my bucket list hunt sounded fun to few other people too. Originally we had six hunters sign up, then it dropped to five, back up to six, and then settled at five. Which after being on a boat for the better part of a week we were all glad there wasn't six hunters. on board! LOL.

Day 1: Getting there was grueling. Get up at 3 AM Saturday, flew from Detroit to Chicago, Chicago to Anchorage, and then Anchorage to Kodiak which is on the North end of Kodiak Island. When flying to Anchorage you fly over some very rugged terrain which could have been a precursor of things to come.



















When in the Anchorage you can view a full body mount of an Alaskan Yukon moose right in the middle of the airport . They're huge...almost ten feet to the top of their antlers! It's refreshing to be in a community where they proudly display mounted animals without worrying about repercussions from the politically correct idiots of the world that have forgotten their roots.










We spent the night at the Kodiak Inn (Best Western). A great place that caters to hunters & fisherman. If you call them when you land they'll send a shuttle to pick you up, and your mountain of gear, and drive you back to their hotel. Then they'll deliver you and your gear to the airport the next day.


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## GrizzlyHunter

Later that night, after unpacking, we walked around Kodiak to sample some of the local cuisine and stunning liquids.




























Then back to the hotel for a good nights sleep.


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## GrizzlyHunter

Day 2: We had some time to kill before flying from Kodiak to Old Harbor. Big Ray's, a local sporting goods store in Kodiak, is a great store! They stock mostly high end rugged gear which is not surprising considering how much it'll get abused hunting/fishing in Alaska. Before leaving Michigan I called them, twice, to confirm their Sunday hours and that they could sell us non-resident hunting/fishing licenses and deer tags. (We didn't want to get to Kodiak to find out we couldn't buy our hunting tags anywhere. :banghead3 )

In Alaska you can either buy a hunting license ($85.00), or a hunting/fishing license ($135.00, I think), and then you purchase your deer tags ($150.00/each). The Game and Fish Dept annually adjusts the number of deer tags you can buy based on the deer herd numbers. Some years they will allow you to buy up to 4 deer tags per hunter. Alaska has had three consecutive very mild winters which has increased their deer herd. This year they would allow us to buy up to 3 tags per hunter. Most of us bought the hunting/fishing license and 2 deer tags. (On a side note, earlier this year the Game and Fish Dept announced they will roughly double the cost of their non-resident licenses/tags starting in 2017. It looks we got in just under the wire. )

They also have a full body mount of a Kodiak Brown Bear that made me pucker up a little bit.



















After seeing this I just can't imagine hunting one of these beasts with a bow and arrow...that's just plain crazy! :yikes:


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## M.Schmitz87

I was really looking forward to this thread! Thanks for sharing!


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## GrizzlyHunter

M.Schmitz87 said:


> I was really looking forward to this thread! Thanks for sharing!


You're very welcome. Sorry it took so long! It's a work in progress. (I own my own business and I've been working stupid hours since the day I got back.)


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## Air2resq

Grizz glad to see you made it to the local watering hole....


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## dlawrence1

Dang, where's the rest??


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## GrizzlyHunter

dlawrence1 said:


> Dang, where's the rest??


Sorry, I work during the day. I'll try to post more tonight.


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## 2PawsRiver

Just along for the ride


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## GrizzlyHunter

Later on Day 2:

After buying our license and tags, and some really nice gear we headed to the airport for our charter flight. During our planning Andrews Airways had been recommended by a few different people. They offer charter flights to the villages and other areas around Kodiak.

We ended up chartering two Saratoga's planes to fly us and our mountain of gear from Kodiak down to Old Harbor. They weighed all of our gear and each one of us individually to make sure we didn't exceed the 1,000 lbs per plane weight limit.










After weighing in we got ready for our flights.










I might have needed a little liquid courage for my flight.


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## GrizzlyHunter

We had an absolutely picture perfect day for our flight. Blue sky and calm. Our two pilots were a joy and took us on a few little sightseeing detours instead of flying straight to Old Harbor.



















Look out the window...










We flew three in one plane and two in the other.


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## GrizzlyHunter

Safely on the ground in Old Harbor.









Our pilot Jerry. Kind of a modern day hippie, a very gentle spirit who is extremely safety conscious.









Thanks Jerry!


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## josheupmi

Jerry's last name has to be O'Brien or O'Conner? Jk.....great story and pics


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## TVCJohn

Ref that pic at the Kodiak airport holding a beer. That mountain in the background is called Barometer Mt. There is a foot trail that goes to the top. Alot of folks climb that to look around and get pics.


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## GrizzlyHunter

TVCJohn said:


> Ref that pic at the Kodiak airport holding a beer. That mountain in the background is called Barometer Mt. There is a foot trail that goes to the top. Alot of folks climb that to look around and get pics.


I think I remember Pilot Jerry telling us that.


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## TVCJohn

There has been a few planes that have crashed into it.


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## beer and nuts

in.


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## Skibum

Dream hunt. Thanks for bringing us along GH.


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## bounty hunter

Awesome


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## GrizzlyHunter

When on the ground we were greeted by our big game transporter Al, and later his first mate Peter. He took us and our gear to Captain Al's commercial fishing boat. This would be our floating home for the next six days.


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## remcorebond

If know one killed anything the rest of the trip i still want to read about the rest of the trip. Great story and great writing about a incredible place that i bet was the hunt of a lifetime. I hope to hear more.


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## GrizzlyHunter

Sorry everybody! Life, work (and MI deer season ) has gotten in the way...dang it!

I'll try to post more this weekend. I struggle with writing so it takes me quite a while to put my memories and thoughts into words.

Thank you all for of your patience and kind words.


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## GrizzlyHunter

Day 4: Would we find my meat?

Last night before bed I took some Tylenol PM's to ease the pain of sore aching muscles and to help me sleep. I literally woke up screaming in the middle of the night with Charlie-horses in both my calves. I think my body was trying to tell me something. I massaged them out and quickly fell back asleep. I woke up after 11 hours of sleep. It's been years since I've been out for that long. I felt better than I thought I would. Thank you Tylenol PM!

That morning Captain Al politely asked me again if I could 'try' to recover my meat that we left on the mountain yesterday. I could see the concern in his eye about the Wanton Waste law. I was concerned about whether or not my body could take a 2nd day of this. We talked about BT going back up with help to locate it and bring it back down, but he wasn't sure if he could find it. And besides...it was my meat, not his. So I told Captain Al that we would try. BT agree to go with me, and so did MM. We felt that three would better than two to bring back meat. Later we would find out how right we were.


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## GrizzlyHunter

The three of us were dropped off at the same beach where we started yesterday. After a while we realized that we didn't take the same route back up the mountain. Today's path had even more jungle than yesterday.

We were anxious as to what meat we might find-if any. We were also concerned about running into Mr. Brown if he had claimed our meat. Late yesterday afternoon we had left the meat in an open area so that we should be able to see it from far away when approaching.

When we got close to where we left the meat we could see across a valley to where it was. We left the meat in white game bags, wrapped in white plastic garbage bags. From our vantage point we could see the white bags but couldn't tell if they had been chewed on by Mr. Brown. We waited and watched the white bags through our binocs while talking loudly for 10-15 minutes. After not seeing any sign of bear we decided to head down into the jungle choked valley and up the other side towards the meat. I went first. It was more than a little spooky. I couldn't see more than 10 yards until I popped out on the other side hill across the valley. All I kept thinking about was bear lying down in this valley protecting his newly found cache of meat.

Once I made it to the meat I was very happy to find that it was completely undisturbed! Nothing had touched it. And it was pretty frosted up also. Partially frozen from being left out on the mountain during a clear cold night the meat was just fine.


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## GrizzlyHunter

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## GrizzlyHunter

After discovering that my meat was fine we each took a bag and hiked it back down through the jungle choked valley and back up the other side. 

It was late morning and we all agreed that we had enough time to hunt for a while before starting our return to the boat.

So we placed the meat in a clearing that would allow us to see it from a over 100 yards away when returning on our trip back down to shore.


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## GrizzlyHunter

We went up over the ridge near where I had shot my buck the day before. And incredibly the carcass was still completely intact also. I guess Mr. Brown wasn't as high up the mountain as we were.

Again we tried the sneak and peak over the edge tactic that worked so well yesterday. We say a couple does and fawns decided to keep it up. The three of us snuck over a ridge and sat down to eat our bag lunch while watching over a huge valley about a mile wide and two miles across. We were there for close to a half hour and had seen a few more does, fawns and a small buck. The valley had many folds to it as well as numerous thickets. All of the deer just seemed to appear out of nowhere.

Then BT saw a decent buck below us. He seemed to know we were there as he just kept angling away from us. MM was trying to stop the buck by blowing a deer call at him and it seemed to work. The buck stopped just before going over a ridge and out of our sight. BT was able to set up his shooting sticks and ranged him at 258 yards at a steep downhill angle. The buck was angling away when BT pulled the trigger. Both MM and I were watching the buck through our binocs when he shot. The deer was hit hard and was holding up his right rear leg and bending head down in a weird contorted stance. We told BT that he hit him and to fire again. On the next shot the deer bolted over the ridge and we weren't sure if he was hit again or not. The deer had been in the middle of a huge open valley and it was going to be difficult to locate him. I pulled out some orange tape and tied it to a bush to mark where BT had shot from. We then mentally marked a line from the orange tape, to the deer, to a landmark well past the deer. This way we could use the orange tape and the landmark to place us in line with where the buck was at when he BT first shot. The time was 1:00 PM.


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## GrizzlyHunter

We had to descend a long way down to get to where the buck had been. MM decided to go straight down the hill by sliding down it on his ass. He scared the hell out of us because if he started to fall or roll he wouldn't stop for at least 75 yards!

BT and I decided to try a sidehill route to get down. We were able to get down, but my ankles were screaming the whole way. All of the climbing yesterday was taking it's toll.

While coming down the hill we spooked some more deer including another buck. MM couldn't see him from his location, and neither BT or I wanted to take another buck at this point. Fortunately he wasn't that big either.

When we got down to where we thought the buck was when BT first shot we could not find any sign of him. After walking around for a while I decided to use my orange tape to line us up with where the buck should have been. Sure enough, we were nowhere near where the buck was shot.


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## Stubee

Enjoying the story!


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## Splitter

Great adventure so far!


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## GrizzlyHunter

After realizing we were looking in the wrong area I used my orange tape to get us closer to where the deer had been before the shot. Just past where the deer had been during the shot, and out of our sight, there was a game trail along a steep side hill. MM had walked it twice looking for sign of a wounded deer and didn't see anything. I walked very slowly looking very careful for any small sign.

I found a small tuft of hair with some blood on it! But I couldn't find any other sign on the game trail. I thought that if the deer had descending the steep hill crossing the game trail, instead of staying on it, maybe it was over the edge of the hill. Unfortunately this hill was really steep and I couldn't see down below from the game trail. So I walked to the edge of the hill and found some sign that a deer had ran in that direction and over the edge down a steep decline. When I got to the edge and looked over is I saw that it was very steep with an alder thicket about 30 yards below me. I saw BT's buck laying on it's back in the middle of the alder thicket.

I yelled to BT that I found his buck. Neither him of MM could see me as I was well down over the hill and out of sight. I think he was a little hesitant to believe me as he was yelling questions if I actually had the deer and if it was dead. I assured him it was dead.

It was 2:00 PM, one full hour after he shot.


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## GrizzlyHunter

Later we found our that BT's deer must have been on a dead run as it ran over this steep incline. It tumbled down the hill ending upside down on it's back in the alder thicket and suffered two broken legs doing so.

Here's a pic of where it ended up.


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## GrizzlyHunter

We couldn't dress or butcher it where it lay. So we tied a rope to the rack and BT and MM pulled from above 30'-40' feet up the hill while I lifted the head/rack up so it wouldn't dig into the ground. We finally got it up to over the hill and out of the thicket so we could field dress it. Time for a couple pics first.


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## GrizzlyHunter

As with any Sitka Blacktail field dressing on Kodiak Island somebody has to stand guard. Yesterday BT stood guard while I took care of the dressing and butchering. Today I would stand guard while BT & MM took care of business.









When butchering they found that Brian's shot had entering in the right rear 1/4 and traveled diagonally through the deer and the bullet was lodged under the hide on the front left 1/4. His bullet was retrieved and he was shooting a .300 Winnie.


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## GrizzlyHunter

Because we were so far from shore we would need to dress, butcher and bag all of the meat and then pack it out.

AND...we would have to stop and pick up the three 1/4's of my meat on the way back down to shore also. It was going to be another really, really long grueling day!

I'm way too old for this stuff!


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## GrizzlyHunter

I won't bore you with the painful details of the trip back down to shore. I will say that we were able to get all of the meat from BT's buck and the remaining meat from mine all in one trip! We had a few slip and falls with fully loaded backpacks on the way down, but fortunately no broken bones. Oh, and one of us had to take two prescription nitro-glycerin pills on the a back down. I'm serious!

We arrived just before dark at 6:30 PM.

Did I say that I'm too old for this stuff?


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## GrizzlyHunter

When we got back to the boat we learned that our other two hunter, CH and BR, had both scored on a double also.


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## GrizzlyHunter

BR's deer:


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## GrizzlyHunter

CH's deer:


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## GrizzlyHunter

Both of their deer were nice size.

They shot them together at quite a distance from shore and, at least a half mile. They dressed them and then drug them both back whole! I don't know how they did it.


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