Kodiak Island Blacktail / duck combo

[Gunnersdad49]

Kodiak is my favorite place on Earth! Plan on being wet a lot. Helly Hanson rubber rain gear is pretty darn useful.

Be bear aware, those critters are no joke, especially when gutting and packing deer. Figure out a favorite song, and sing it. Seems foolish, but close encounters with big omnivores by headlamp will make you reconsider your priorities in a hurry!

Take lots of photos and share them here if you can. Have a great time!

 

[Nick Muche]

For the money, I believe it is the best adventure style hunt you can do these days. Few other hunts can come close to the experience hunting Kodiak can offer. Best of luck to everyone going, I'll be down there towards the end of October in hopes of finding a really big bear!

 

[Ironmerganser]

I can't wait for this adventure.....but I am glad we have a year to prepare with this be the first trip to AK to hunt for all of us.
Can anyone answer a few questions for me?

Do we need the spotting scopes or will 10x and 15x binos on tripods be good enough?
What do we use to fly antlers, meat, cape back to Omaha NE? Coolers? Totes?
Whatever we use, do we bring it with us to buy it there?
Hopefully we get lucky....if so.....do we skin skulls and spit them or leave whole with skin/cape on and freeze to fly home?

 

[TBossHSauce]

We used 10x binos and spotters on our trip.
As for totes, we brought all our hides and heads back in totes we bought at Walmart in Kodiak City. We left hide on just because we froze them solid at Jeff's place and didn't have time to cape and skin. IT would have been a lot easier to transport though had we done this though...

Jeff will have boxes to ship the frozen meat back in too. This worked great for ours (all the way back to Texas)

 

[weaver]

I would definitely take a spotting scope. I was the only person that had one on a hunt a few years ago and everyone wanted to go with me.
Finding deer isn't a problem....it's seeing if its a buck is worth climbing 1500 vertical feet for.

 

[Oregon]

On my first trip I took a spotting scope. Realized it wasn’t necessary for how I hunted Kodiak.
I just carry 10x42’s, find deer. Super easy to find from a distance. I just knew through binos if it was a buck I was interested in. You just know when you see a good Sitka.
Also, I’ve killed 10 bucks in my trips. Only one was close enough to beach to drag out gutted. Actually if it would of been high tide it would of floated. Every buck I boned out in place, caped the mounters, sawed the antlers off. All fills a backpack to capacity. No room for spotter after that.
Frozen meat/capes go in wax boxes, horns go in luggage or cooler if you go that route.

 

[Ironmerganser]

All great stuff....thanks everyone!!! Keep it coming. Any other pointers?

 

[TBossHSauce]

I would definitely take a spotting scope. I was the only person that had one on a hunt a few years ago and everyone wanted to go with me.
Finding deer isn't a problem....it's seeing if its a buck is worth climbing 1500 vertical feet for.

Exactamundo! Kodiak is an unforgiving ex-girlfriend who is holding your stuff hostage...do you really want to go get after it? The spotter is a must in my opinion.

 

[Nick Muche]

10x's and a Spotter for sure. As far as shipping meat back, get it frozen in the hotel preferably in a cooler. Then ship it or take it on the plane. I'd buy as much as you can before you come because sometimes the Walmart and other stores will be totally out of the items you are looking for. I've seen that happen several times.

 

[Ironmerganser]

So.....for example...... if I brought a Yeti 45 hard side and 2 Yeti Soft side hopper 30's...….can I fill them up and just check them on the plane?

 

[Nick Muche]

Those would be way to heavy and I wouldn't reccomend them. I am thinking cheap ass coleman coolers. We use totes, but that's pretty easy to do for just a 2-3 hour trip from Kodiak back to Fairbanks.

 

[AZWarts]

So.....for example...... if I brought a Yeti 45 hard side and 2 Yeti Soft side hopper 30's...….can I fill them up and just check them on the plane?

The key is getting the meat frozen solid prior to flying. I fly up to Alaska from Phoenix (not Anchorage but to various locations across the bush) every two weeks with my food for my hitch and fly salmon/caribou back. Usually i would take a cheap coleman cooler that is light enough to carry with the rest of your crap and throw a couple cold packs in with it. Check it in as freeze and it should be fine for up to 15 hours.

 

[weaver]

I haven't had a problem using totes flying meat from Kodiak to Ohio. As mentioned already, make sure you have enough time to get the meat frozen solid.
Cooler weight cuts into the amount of meat that you'll be able to bring home and blacktail venison is delicious!

 

[Ironmerganser]

10-4....sounds like light/cheap coolers or totes will work fine.
Thanks again everyone!!!