Elk 101 AK hunt

Joined
Nov 27, 2013
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Holy Jesus that had to be hell! Great filming, awesome adventure, that may be the best thing he’s ever produced.

Those SE AK elk are giants, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that bear was a god send. They definitely bit off more than they can chew with that one.
 

Spud82

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Mar 19, 2022
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Have not had time to watch it yet but you got me fired up to do so. Need to fit it in this crazy week.
 

wadegarrett

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Ontario
**spoiler**

I get these things are huge - but I was a bit surprised with the penetration on the first shot at that distance. Hit square on a rib, maybe?

What a wild spot to hunt!
 

Thomas11

WKR
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Feb 13, 2017
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That hunt got downright dangerous for them I thought but they sucked it up and remained strong. Very impressed w their fortitude
 
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That video should be an eye opener for anyone even considering that hunt. Those guys are some accomplished hunters and in great physical shape and still got their butts kicked.

I hunted Afognak for deer in 2019. I can’t imagine hauling an elk out of that place. You are talking 6-8 man trips with 70-80lbs per trip. In some of the nastiest, steepest bear infested terrain there is. Throw in some 60 mph winds, driving rain, hail storms and sub freezing temps. Also the alders and devils club is just awful.
 
OP
C
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Like I said, that bear was a god send as AK laws are strict as hell on meat. Lower 48, 4 quarters and BSs and you're good if that's all you want to take. Up there, rib meat, neck meat etc all has to come down. In short, if a raven flies over your stuff and makes a U-Turn, you left too much meat on the carcass.
 

WAB

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Amazing film all around!

Maybe I missed it, but it did not appear they were carrying bear spray or guns. And other bear precautions were not obvious. No grizzlies on this island?
 

HenDawg3

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I just finished watching it, I didn’t see any spray but I did see Corey had a pistol on his hip at one point.
 

Ridley

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Amazing film all around!

Maybe I missed it, but it did not appear they were carrying bear spray or guns. And other bear precautions were not obvious. No grizzlies on this island?
Cory had a pistol. Afognak is said to have some of the largest bears in the world. You should check out the two part podcast from meateater on Steve’s elk hunt on the island. I don’t remember the episode number but the title is Meat Tree. The second half of it is about their bear encounter.
 
OP
C
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Cory had a pistol. Afognak is said to have some of the largest bears in the world. You should check out the two part podcast from meateater on Steve’s elk hunt on the island. I don’t remember the episode number but the title is Meat Tree. The second half of it is about their bear encounter.

That was not afognak island.
 

SandyCreek

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Looks like a cool place to go. Couple take a ways from me.. you should never hike 7 hours from camp without some back up gear.. in case you have to spend a night on the mountain. Also tarp your meat. Gotta at least make an attempt to keep it dry.
 

7LRM

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Bartlett, TN
great!

can't wait to see your video about Elk hunting in South East Alaska and look forward to see the video soon.
 
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That was not afognak island.
The meat eater hunt was on Afognak. The episode is season 7 I believe. They don’t talk about the bear in the Netflix episode but they talk about it in the podcast.

The only way I would consider this hunt is if I drew a raspberry island tag and could stay at the raspberry island lodge. That’s where I deer hunted out of. One of the guys staying at the lodge when we were there shot a cow elk the first day. They had a bad brown bear encounter while breaking the elk down. Lost 50% of the meat. Bear followed them quite a ways while they were packing out. Partner of the guy who shot the elk injured his knee on the hike out and couldn’t hunt the rest of the trip.

I got to see the elk while hunting on Raspberry. Those things are enormous. A 600lb elk is huge to an eastern deer hunter like myself who is used to seeing 150lb deer. Those 1000+ lb elk looked like something prehistoric!!
 

TX_Diver

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I just finished watching it, I didn’t see any spray but I did see Corey had a pistol on his hip at one point.
There was spray in the side pocket of someone’s pack when they first land. Think Donnie?

Cool video. Would have been interested in total mileage and elevation change for the trip. Looked pretty brutal but they handled it fairly well I think.

Also shows how easy it is for experienced guys to get caught out there but they obviously dealt with it okay it and were prepared enough. It was surprising when they were Uncertain for a minute if anyone had a firestarter though.
 
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