Kodiak island blacktail

[Alder_]

I'll second pods8 - I was under the impression that Kurt was still a lead designer for SG.
Ben, is that not the case?

Allegiance is someone marking on the map where they shot their UL ram.

 

[Ecampbell25]

Just came back from hunting Kodiak late season with my muzzleloader for mountain goats.

Rained everyday. Winds so bad I thought I was going to get blown off the mountain.

I was wearing SG M5. Pants ended up getting torn to shreds. Jacket worked fair.

I was camping in my hot tent and was able to dry out every night at base camp.

If I make it back next season I will bring H\H gear.

 

[Ben P]

Just came back from hunting Kodiak late season with my muzzleloader for mountain goats.

Rained everyday. Winds so bad I thought I was going to get blown off the mountain.

I was wearing SG M5. Pants ended up getting torn to shreds. Jacket worked fair.

I was camping in my hot tent and was able to dry out every night at base camp.

If I make it back next season I will bring H\H gear.

Ecampbell25, mind sharing what your hot tent setup at base camp entails? I like the idea of something more to dry out. Have been to Kodiak seven times and have avoided a fire in my tipi ( heard that smoke may attract bears? ) but considering alternative heat this next trip.

 

[kwackkillncrew]

of everything that can attract bears, i dont think smoke is very high up on that list. I would venture a guess it would be an artic oven. i dont think any tipi could withstand the possible nasty winds that you can get smoked with at kodiak. People might say the have been in 60-70 mph winds in a tipi but i find that very hard to believe. we used a cabelas guide instinct and that tent just about blew up in the winds. We just used a buddy heater inside and it was enough to dry all the clothes in a couple hours.

 

[Ecampbell25]

Ecampbell25, mind sharing what your hot tent setup at base camp entails? I like the idea of something more to dry out. Have been to Kodiak seven times and have avoided a fire in my tipi ( heard that smoke may attract bears? ) but considering alternative heat this next trip.

Hey Ben,

I have been using and arctic oven as base camp with a seek outside large stove.

It has worked out great. Took it over to POW to last fall.

I usually try and get a few boxes of Viking logs at the gas station on POW.

But on Kodiak I had to stop at Walmart and pick up some duraflame logs which were not my favorite but they did the trick.

 

[Ecampbell25]

of everything that can attract bears, i dont think smoke is very high up on that list. I would venture a guess it would be an artic oven. i dont think any tipi could withstand the possible nasty winds that you can get smoked with at kodiak. People might say the have been in 60-70 mph winds in a tipi but i find that very hard to believe. we used a cabelas guide instinct and that tent just about blew up in the winds. We just used a buddy heater inside and it was enough to dry all the clothes in a couple hours.

Yes the winds were terrible when I was there late January. But I’m sure they are pretty consistently bad because of how exposed it is.

 

[kwackkillncrew]

Yes the winds were terrible when I was there late January. But I’m sure they are pretty consistently bad because of how exposed it is.

i can verify this. my last 2 10 day hunts we had pretty terrible weather for 80% of the trip with at least 2 days of each hunt seeing winds upwards of 60 to 70 mph based on weather stations at the nearest village

 

[AK Troutbum]

It would blow the average hunter off the mountain but not Rokslide Randy. RR just laughs and says “back east they give these storms a name”. Then he punches a “I love you” message on his inreach to his hunting partner and keeps putting on the miles.

In Florida they call them hurricanes, in Iowa they call them tornados, in Alaska we call it wind.

 

[Falcon]

My early Nov hunt in 2023 off a boat on the south side. Missed 3 days due to weather issues.
Great experience.

 

[Elkman17]

It looks like there are a fair amount of guys commenting on this thread that have hunted Kodiak more than a few times. Have any of you had bad experiences with bears on that island?

 

[Mangata]

Easy answer, no I have not had any bear problems personally. Lots of bears encountered, some bears having our roles discussed with no aggression.

More difficult answer is that it is probably only a matter of time that I have to deal with a bear in camp or on the meat cache. Always take a bear fence & deterrent, and some times better deploying measures than others…

Be aware of your surroundings and audience!!

 

[AK Troutbum]

It looks like there are a fair amount of guys commenting on this thread that have hunted Kodiak more than a few times. Have any of you had bad experiences with bears on that island?

Yes.


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[Yellowknife]

Easy answer, no I have not had any bear problems personally. Lots of bears encountered, some bears having our roles discussed with no aggression.

More difficult answer is that it is probably only a matter of time that I have to deal with a bear in camp or on the meat cache. Always take a bear fence & deterrent, and some times better deploying measures than others…

Be aware of your surroundings and audience!!

Same here. No real bad interactions so far on either Kodiak or Afognak, but if you hang bloody meat near camp enough times it’s bound to happen. Had one posture and chase us away from a temp meat cache, but we recovered it the next day intact. I’ve stood down several others when meat wasn’t involved, and accidentally called in two with a blacktail call. That can get interesting, but with a lot of yelling they backed off.

 

[DougR67]

Yes.


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@AKTroutbum - Care to elaborate?

 

[Grizz208]

The good thing about a boat based camp is you don't have to worry about bears while your sleeping. Just once you shoot your deer get it cleaned and back to shore quickly. You'll be fine.

 

[AK Troutbum]

@AKTroutbum - Care to elaborate?

No not really, just because I’ve told the story too many times. I will say I’ve hunted Kodiak a fair amount over the last 30 some years and have only had one scary incident. We ended up killing two bears one night, after having the most intense/scariest night (the night prior), of my life.


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[kwackkillncrew]

I have hunted there twice. when we see the bears, we just kindly explain to them that we will shoot the deer and take the meat and they can have all the guts and bones, that way they dont have to try and chase it down. Last year we killed 4 deer within 200 yards of each other in 3 days. every day we went back to the spot the carcasses were gone. give it a try. I dont think i would ever do one of them boujee boat hunts, i like being in the wild and struggling to keep the tents up in 60 mph winds.

 

[Snowwolfe]

It looks like there are a fair amount of guys commenting on this thread that have hunted Kodiak more than a few times. Have any of you had bad experiences with bears on that island?

About 10 trips to Kodiak. Each lasting about a week and all were camping out in an Arctic Oven tent. No issues with bears.
I once shot a nice buck just after we left camp. Decided to gut it out and continue hunting. Later that day went to retrieve the buck and it was gone. Next day did some tracking (foolish) and discovered 3 bears were fighting over it. The deer disappeared and plenty of blood and bear hair every where.

Outside of this one buck, our policy was to bone out the deer as soon as we killed it. When we returned to camp the meat went into a game bang and was hung up in a tree 50 yards from the tent high enough a bear could not reach it.

 

[Rowsdower]

No not really, just because I’ve told the story too many times. I will say I’ve hunted Kodiak a fair amount over the last 30 some years and have only had one scary incident. We ended up killing two bears one night, after having the most intense/scariest night (the night prior), of my life.


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This happen around 2005-2006? If so, I flew in to the same spot after you were gone. I heard the story and saw how it played out at the campfire! If it wasn’t you, someone else had a really bad couple of nights!

 

[Rowsdower]

Will be trip number 14 this November. I’ve had my share of bear encounters. Least favorite was the super pissed bear that circled the tent in the middle of the night. Lost a deer when we were too tired to put up the bear fence for the night, the fence works great. Had one stick its head between the wires 2 years ago, and when it got shocked, it took off with the fence and wrapped it all up in logs. Never came back though!