Kodiak Blacktail Hunt - maps

[badlander]

For those of you that have been to Kodiak, what maps did you carry, and what did you find useful?

I know we can get the paper Topo maps, and I subscribe to OnX so I could download the off-grid content on to my phone. Normally on a hunt i'll buy the GMU maps from TopoZone or similar to carry a paper copy with me because even GPS signal is not 100% and batteries dies. So far, other than paper USGS topos, I have not found another option for Kodiak so Im curious if there is anything else that others have used or if this pretty much covers the bases. We'll be in the S/SE Moser, deadman bay, Akhiok etc... area with a transporter if that makes a difference as well.

One month to go...

Thanks in advance!

 

[Wrathchild]

You can build and print/save maps from the ADFG website. I don’t know if they do unit specific info for Blacktail. But you can look up RG480 (deadman is part of the unit) then make a map off that hunt. Your best best is that or just get USGS quads for your planned area. Depending on where you’re going travel can be really slow, so navigating back to camp isn’t too terribly hard. Bring flagging tape or breadcrumb your GPS trail.

 

[Oregon]

Never carried a map. Transporter drops you off, save waypoint, head up and hunt. Only place besides whitetail hunting I felt like a map wouldn’t do me any good.

 

[badlander]

Thanks everyone. Maybe i'm reading a bit too much in to the transporter statements that they cant assist us on choosing where we will hunt. I recognize that weather, tides, and shoreline will all play a part in where they can take us ashore. Maybe there is less opportunity for selection than I have in my head.

Not so much worried about getting back to the pick up as most have said my GPS will do that for me. But, if i'm looking up that 1000' slope, id rather take a look at the map prior to plan out a course so I don't wind up dead ended just to have to drop and start over. That I guess is my bigger goal, finding draws, pockets, fingers etc... that maybe I cant see on the way up so I can plan my routes more efficiently. Again, maybe i'm overthinking that too but isn't that what planning and preparing for a trip is all about?!

 

[Ray]

"reading a bit too much in to the transporter statements that they cant assist us on choosing where we will hunt."

Its in the regulations for transporters vs guides. Often a customer asks a transporter if there are critters at this location and if the transporter thinks the customer will be able to take critters at the location. In some cases, such as boat based transporting, the transporter can not point out "there is a critter" on the shore for the customer to then go after. If the transporter wants to start answering these questions, and identifying critters for their customers, then they need to become a licensed guide.

If you know where you want to go, the transporter can tell you how close they can land to that spot and under what conditions.
Another way to put it is to ask the question " I want to hunt anywhere in this bay, where can you safely put me in and then get me back out with a load of meat?"

 

[Oregon]

One thing I learned on my first trip to Kodiak (I’ve done 4) isn’t terrain or steepness or valleys or bowls that plan anything.
It’s the damn alders which make you plan your route. Maps don’t show that.
Alder patches just plain suck.

 

[Brightwhite]

One thing I learned on my first trip to Kodiak (I’ve done 4) isn’t terrain or steepness or valleys or bowls that plan anything.
It’s the damn alders which make you plan your route. Maps don’t show that.
Alder patches just plain suck.

100000% agree with this. Spot on.

Others above nailed it, you will figure out how to talk to your transporter and they will most likely not let you make a wrong decision.

 

[BRWNBR]

Maps for Kodiak? No thanks. Google earth photos you can see alders and may help.

 

[Brightwhite]

One thing to add on the alders...

I found that if you are in a valley floor try to find the big trees (obviously much easier to see from above them when you get up high and out of the alders...), if you stay in the big trees they seem to choke out the alders, then you just have some deadfall to typically get over and around as a worst case. But, you may take a really wonky route zigging and zagging, but don't fight the alders, you will not get through them...hit a dead end, just back track out and find a new route, you won't win.

 

[Wrathchild]

One thing to add on the alders...

I found that if you are in a valley floor try to find the big trees (obviously much easier to see from above them when you get up high and out of the alders...), if you stay in the big trees they seem to choke out the alders, then you just have some deadfall to typically get over and around as a worst case. But, you may take a really wonky route zigging and zagging, but don't fight the alders, you will not get through them...hit a dead end, just back track out and find a new route, you won't win.

Yup, find the spruce line and follow that up. Creeks always cliff out, and generally a bad place to be as it gets dark. Always game/bear trails in the spruce that are well worn in.

 

[badlander]

Thanks for the mostly positive comments!

So what I'm hearing overall is stick to OnX or Google earth, download the aerial layers and call it a day. Easy enough to do.

 

[BRWNBR]

Most of the island doesn’t have spruce. A lot doesn’t even have trees. If you find a good game trail just follow it, typically around streams there’s lots of trails. Hmmmm lol. l busting brush is a bad idea down there. Unless you enjoy being sweaty frustrated and pissed off all at the same time.