Kodiak Brown Bear Tag soup

[ericthered]

In studying bear units on the island, I’m surprised how many tags are issued and not filled. This is especially true at the north end. Does anyone familiar with Kodiak understand what drives these “empty tags”.

 

[Oregon]

Road system over the counter tags maybe??

 

[Kotaman]

Archery maybe...Brown Bear with a bow is not a slam dunk. I have three buddies that went this year guided archery and did not kill.

 

[AK Troutbum]

In studying bear units on the island, I’m surprised how many tags are issued and not filled. This is especially true at the north end. Does anyone familiar with Kodiak understand what drives these “empty tags”.

Typically on any given draw tag up here, only approximately 50% are actually hunted. This number obviously varies, but if you’re looking at the actual numbers of tags given out for a particular hunt compared to the actual numbers of animals harvested on that hunt, make sure you take that into consideration.
If the numbers of bears harvested is low compared to the numbers of people that actually hunted, there could be many reasons for this. Besides the obvious reasons like just not being physically up to the task, or blown stalks, etc., it could also be because the individual doesn’t have an opportunity for the particular bear they were hoping to harvest. I’ve known several folks who have gone down to Kodiak bear hunting, and came back empty-handed simply because they didn’t have an opportunity on anything approaching 10’. They had killed other brown bears before and were hoping to go to Kodiak to break their personal record, but couldn’t find him. I have never hunted bears on Kodiak, but I have been down there many times hunting, and I can only think of one hunt that I didn’t see bears, but I can think of many hunts that I didn’t see big bears.


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[AK Troutbum]

For the 2017 year, including both resident and non-resident, spring and fall, brown bear draw tags in unit 8, to include Kodiak, Raspberry, and Afognak Islands, there were a total of 492 tags available/drawn, 339 tag holders hunted, and 167 bears were harvested. So, of the tags that were awarded, 69% were actually used (19% above the average norm), and 49% of the hunters were successful. So, approx. one out of every two people that hunted, were successful. Not too bad of a success rate I would say.

 

[cavu]

AK Troutbum is spot on. When I was in Kodiak this spring, there were 2 hunters ( with our outfitters) who were only interested in eclipsing their previous best.....Accordingly, only 10+ were of interest.

Also, i did the same as you...looking through the ADFG website for Kodiak to see the number of hunters versus harvested and average skull size for the various hunting areas. The average skull size can be misleading, as well Unless you are experienced, judging bear size can be challenging. We saw some locals harvest a young adult male....maybe a 8.5 ' It would be great if the harvest data could be across multiple variables including locals versus professional hunts. My guess is success rates and size would be statistically different between the 2 groups.

 

[Scottf270]

Above info is spot on. The harvest statistics don't allow you to break down residents vs guided non residents. A better way is to go to the hunt number which is specific to the guide and area. Even then to be fair, you must take into account bow vs gun, hunter abilities, weather, hunters goals, etc.
Having said all that, it can be eye opening to see the low success rates of even some of the better known guides. Every one kills some big bears but a handful of guides seem to lead both in success and size. This is where "boots on the ground" research such as calling references and the guides themselves comes into play.

 

[Sourdough]

In studying bear units on the island, I’m surprised how many tags are issued and not filled. This is especially true at the north end. Does anyone familiar with Kodiak understand what drives these “empty tags”.

I have hunted and guided on Kodiak and Afognak for more then 40 years. What would be interesting to me is the success rate of those who hunted from a good size ocean going type boat vs. everything else. I would hunt Unit #10 if I wanted a high probability of a 9.5+ bear and success probability.

Weather is a huge factor in Unit #8 you can spent the entire hunt in 70 to 110 MPH wind and torrential rain.........everyday praying your still alive tomorrow.

I have guided hunts in Unit #8 and hunted hard and only see one or none bears in 10 days or 14 days of fairly good weather.

Guided hunts and lived in Unit #9 and some places you can see 15 to 20 different bears a day, believe it or not sometimes even well over 20 different bears a day.

The most overlooked area is the Lower Kenai Peninsula.

The problem with Unit #8 is that without a good size boat, your just hunting a very small part of the draw area you are allowed. I have never hunted off a good size boat, but that has to be a massive advantage over even a inflatable boat.

 

[AK Troutbum]

Weather is a huge factor in Unit #8 you can spent the entire hunt in 70 to 110 MPH wind and torrential rain.........everyday praying your still alive tomorrow.

I think I may have experienced that...once or twice.



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[Huntmaster]

Size and hair quality were part of the equation for me this spring on Kodiak. We saw ample numbers of bears, but all the big ones were either rubbed bad or we couldn't get in range.

I was archery hunting and the one big bear we chased probably would've succumbed if we would've approached it with a rifle kill in mind. We played it safe knowing we had to get much closer and never really got close at all.

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[Gunnersdad49]

I ate my one and only Kodiak bear tag. I spotted "my" bear on day one (same day airborne, so couldn't hunt that day). He was a beautiful chocolate boar with a blonde collar. I found him again on day 2 and 3, but couldn't seal the deal with him in and out of the alders. We had 3 days of hard driving rain and no visibility, and never saw him again. This was a DIY hunt, and I was pretty inexperienced.

I still picture that exact bear any time someone mentions Kodiak bears. Sometimes it just doesn't pan out.