10 day solo Kodiak goat hunt

[AK Troutbum]

Greg were you using the Kuiu Chugach or Yukon?


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I took a set of the Tetons up into the mountains, and was very happy with how they performed, although they did eventually wet out. Then when I got back down to the lake I had a set of Chugach that I wore but, in a short period of time they were completely saturated as well. It was definitely not them failing, it was just the fact that everything got wet and I was having to put them on over the top of soaking wet clothes.


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[as.ks.ak]

Ah different storms, mine was late September. I read this whole thread, but maybe missed it...what did he measure? Awesome goat and awesome effort. You earned it!

I weathered that same storm you're referencing. It was the night of the 30, all day the 1, and finally tapered off the 2. For where we were anyways. I endured it at 4200', so it was mostly horrific winds for us. We woke up at 0200 restaking tents in boxers and boots. We thought we were more protected than we were...I'll never forget that night. I live with wind being from SE, and the winds our hillebergs weathered was the strongest I've ever sat through outside.

Kudos to troutbum for dealing with the running water through your tent. That sounds miserable. That's the kind of hunt that'll make you kiss your pilot when he finally shows up!! Sounds like we all feel the same about not seeing the walls of a tent for a few months.


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[kodiakfly]

I weathered that same storm you're referencing. It was the night of the 30, all day the 1, and finally tapered off the 2. For where we were anyways. I endured it at 4200', so it was mostly horrific winds for us. We woke up at 0200 restaking tents in boxers and boots. We thought we were more protected than we were...I'll never forget that night. I live with wind being from Skagway, and the winds our hillebergs weathered was the strongest I've ever sat through outside.

Kudos to troutbum for dealing with the running water through your tent. That sounds miserable. That's the kind of hunt that'll make you kiss your pilot when he finally shows up!! Sounds like we all feel the same about not seeing the walls of a tent for a few months.


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Nah, I was in from the 16-29th. "My" storm was the 19/20 I think. Delorme texting with my Wife, she was sending me wind reports from various locations around 480 (Old Harbor, Larson Bay) and it was winds 35-40 and the rain was pretty torrential. I knew the storm was coming, so I made sure to set camp with a mind towards drainage and wind protection. On the 30th, I was sleeping in my warm bed with my Wife watching Narcos on Netflix! But yeah, Hilleberg kept me dry as well.

 

[oenanthe]

Congratulations - nice work! Glad you were able to sort things out with the scope - might've been a lot tougher without the video.

Hey, get yourself some Leukotape for your next hunt and you'll never use duct tape again; your feet will thank you.

The goat pictures are great! Gotta love those fuzzy October goats. Are those pics video stills?

 

[AK Troutbum]

Congratulations - nice work! Glad you were able to sort things out with the scope - might've been a lot tougher without the video.

Hey, get yourself some Leukotape for your next hunt and you'll never use duct tape again; your feet will thank you.

The goat pictures are great! Gotta love those fuzzy October goats. Are those pics video stills?

A couple of the pictures, the one with the gray looking puffs behind the goat a d the next one where the goat is looking away towards where the gray puffs were, were both stills from video footage. I wish I could post up some video footage that I took with my iPhone. I have some really good stuff, but can't figure out how to share it.

I'll have to look into the Leukotape, thanks for the suggestion.


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[as.ks.ak]

A couple of the pictures, the one with the gray looking puffs behind the goat a d the next one where the goat is looking away towards where the gray puffs were, were both stills from video footage. I wish I could post up some video footage that I took with my iPhone. I have some really good stuff, but can't figure out how to share it.

I'll have to look into the Leukotape, thanks for the suggestion.


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That was great advice. The leukotape was life changing for me.


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[Daniel_M]

I've taped up several times this season. Given my boot size there's never a perfect fit but the tape helps a ton.

 

[AK Troutbum]

Great story again Greg! When you get a min can you do a run down on your gear and how it performed in the weather you were in. Thanks

Hey Mike. All the gear that I used performed well, as far as I'm concerned. It all pretty much failed at some point, but under the conditions and how I used it (right or wrong), I couldn't really expect better performance. If that makes sense at all. I was highly impressed with the MLD Solomid. Although I eventually got soaked while using this shelter (no fault of the shelter, by the way), this thing stood up to some unbelievable winds and I would not have been surprised had it got blown apart, but it came out 100% unscathed.
A little disappointed in both my bivy sacks (Ti goat Kestrel and Borah Gear UL bug bivy), both of which I expected a little more "waterproofness on the bottom material", than what I got. I wish that I would have bought/brought one on those light weight, low profile, cots that Thermarest makes, I think that would have been a potentially game changer. My EE waterproof down quilt got wetted out but, the second to the last day that I was there, it stopped raining for a couple hours and just continued to blow real hard. I pulled out the quilt, and was able to hold it in the wind for a while and dry it out enough to use it my last night. The fact that it dried out very quickly, and continued to wick moisture from my body/wet clothes, throughout the night, was very impressive.

Not too happy with my Kimber Montana failing to feed ammo. I own 3 Kimber's, and this is the first time I've ever experienced one failing to feed (it failed to feed twice on this trip). As it turned out, it was for the best, the bear didn't get killed and I didn't get mauled, but as far as I'm concerned, that type of failure is huge and I would rather have killed the bear and the rifle not fail, than have it turn out the way it did. Anyway, right or wrong, that's just my honest feelings on it.

The Thermarest Xtherm 72" length was used as a life raft on a couple nights and, man, I sure am glad I had it. Love that pad!

All my Swaro optics (range finder bino's and spotter) performed flawlessly and I was able to get some super good footage when I combined my iPhone with the spotter for both video and stills.

If you have any other questions, just ask, I'm happy to give my honest opinion.


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[Yellowknife]

Within a couple days, the ground, around the only area that a person could pitch a tent, had become saturated and either had several inches of standing water or running water.......My main focus became trying to stay dry, which became impossible. Twice, I woke up in the middle of the night with several inch of water in my tent. I had broken out my Mountain Hardware 4 season tent and although it had never once failed me, in the almost 20 years that I've owned it now, it did eventually succumb to the rain. I guess that's why it's called a tent and not a boat.

I can relate to this. I used a old Trango 4 for base camp on my goat hunt last year.

First day, when the sky is sunny and optimism is running strong:



After Kodiak kicked our butts for a week:



Tent developed so many leaks it went straight in the dumpster at the seaplane basin. Only thing that saved our butts was having a coleman lantern along. Fire that thing up, and it kept the inside a pleasant 65 F, dried our soaked gear every day and kept the inner tent somewhat less soggy.

Kodiak is not a place to trifled with!

 

[realunlucky]

So awesome. Very thankful you shared this adventure with us. I hope to see kodiak some day although it'll only be for deer. Hope you get your rifle drama figured out soon. Guess your living right your bear encounter is not for the faint of heart

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[AKHUNTER]

Wow - I just read your story and must say that was quite an adventure! There were a lot of variables that could have turned that hunt into something very different, but your experience and preparedness prevailed. Nice going!

 

[Baby Huey]

Congratulations! Great hunt - thanks for the write up and photos!

 

[JP100]

Not too happy with my Kimber Montana failing to feed ammo. I own 3 Kimber's, and this is the first time I've ever experienced one failing to feed (it failed to feed twice on this trip). As it turned out, it was for the best, the bear didn't get killed and I didn't get mauled, but as far as I'm concerned, that type of failure is huge and I would rather have killed the bear and the rifle not fail, than have it turn out the way it did. Anyway, right or wrong, that's just my honest feelings on it.

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Congrats on the goat mate. Wikid skin on him!!!
I had a very similar experience with a Kimber of a clients last year with a bear in camp. Lucky it ended well as did yours but I have heard of other feeding issues with Kimbers. Ile never be buying one.

Did you say you git 5 feet or rain or 5 inches??

 

[Marshmstr]

Bad ass!! You Alaskans are f--n crazy! I wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing there are griz close by

Same here haha!


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[AK Troutbum]

Congrats on the goat mate. Wikid skin on him!!!
I had a very similar experience with a Kimber of a clients last year with a bear in camp. Lucky it ended well as did yours but I have heard of other feeding issues with Kimbers. Ile never be buying one.

Did you say you git 5 feet or rain or 5 inches??

5 inches. I think I'd probably be floating somewhere out in the North Pacific right now if we would've gotten 5 feet.


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[JP100]

5 inches. I think I'd probably be floating somewhere out in the North Pacific right now if we would've gotten 5 feet.


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Haha 5 inches is just a shower.
Record on the west coast for 24 hours is 30 inches haha

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[JFKinYK]

Great trip.

Curious AKTroutbum if you've thought about your Kimber feeding properly, firing a round at the grizz, and missing a foot high? And likely not knowing where it hit? Good times there!

 

[aklogan]

I have one a helinox cot and I think it's a much better way to go then a thermarest cot. I think weight they are pretty close but the helinox is super easy to use. If I ever go floorless I think I will be using the cot vs my xlite.

Helinox Cot Lite | Cots | BackcountryGear.com

 

[Nick Muche]

Nice work man! Solo goat hunting is some tough sh*t, way to go!

Leaving later on this week and that soggy ground Yellowknife posted looks very inviting

Weather looks to be great down there this week, maybe it'll just stay that way.

 

[AK Troutbum]

Great trip.

Curious AKTroutbum if you've thought about your Kimber feeding properly, firing a round at the grizz, and missing a foot high? And likely not knowing where it hit? Good times there!

I own 3 Kimber's (two Montana's and a Mountain Ascent), they are all extremely accurate and the reason that I was a foot high was because, on this particular rifle, it has a Leupold CDS scope and doesn't have a turret cap for the elevation turret. When the rifle was slid into the scabbard, for the plane ride out, the turret got spun around, taking it approximately a foot high from zero.

As far as the feeding issue, I'm going to mess around with it and see if I can get it to improperly feed again. If I can than I'll be contacting Kimber to have that addressed. I've never had a problem with any of my Kimber's feeding.


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