SaltySailor
WKR
My son turned 12 years old last December and was wanting to take the next step hunting with Dad. He was tired of seeing big game animals die and not being the one who pulled the trigger. So he took some action and managed to get his hunters education certification completed and under his belt. Last November’s draw hunt entry got more expensive as I put him in for plenty of tags. I hadn’t won a tag myself in about four years and when the results came up in February I excitedly checked my son’s name’s first…..no dice for either. Bummed for them and without high hopes for myself, I checked my name. I won an interior caribou tag and a Kodiak mountain goat tag! I had won the same goat tag back in 2012 and was beyond excited to revisit the island. First thing first, when August came around – I was going to take my son on his first chance at a big game animal with just his uncle and I on wheelers to the back country and chase some caribou. Since he had hunter’s education and is my son, he is allowed to take animals on my behalf for draw tags I won. I was curious to see how he would like it.
Thank goodness I had a caribou draw tag that didn’t get shut down this year. We got into the hunt area and saw a decent amount of animals right away. We spotted a group a few miles away and managed to use the limited cover to get within 400 yards away from them feeding. But we were stuck behind a tundra hump without any cover to get closer without being seen. I set him up prone and calmed his breathing down, he was nervous! After a few minutes of regulated breathing and dry fires, he said he was ready and slowly squeezed one off. HIT! Down it went and he got to experience the tundra slog in rubber boots 1.75 miles back to get the wheelers. I kept reminding him, “At least you don’t have a pack of meat on your back!”
He had a blast the rest of the trip shooting ptarmigan and camping in the high caribou hills learning back country tricks of the trade. We cooked his caribou's heart over a fire. This made me start to think about him coming to Kodiak with me and shooting at a goat. I explained to him the terrain and tried to compare the ‘suck’ of Kodiak to some other trips we have done in the past, then asked him if he would like to come with and shoot my goat for me. He was all in! After school started he entered a comp basketball league and got his cardio and conditioning back, I wish I could say the same, but after moose season packing half a bull a mile out on my back I was feeling solid again and kept walking in my hiking boots until the trip in October.
We flew to Kodiak and proceeded to our hunting area, I’ll spare the details on all of that, but I brought along my longtime friend that helped me harvest my first goat on this exact tag a decade ago. I also brought my brother in law that went on the caribou hunt with us in August. It was a beautiful day when we started our ascent. With packs on, facing the base of the mountain from sea level, I pointed to a bowl at about 1000 ft. elevation where we would set up camp. I asked my son, “That doesn’t look too bad, does it?” He smirked and said, “Not at all!” I knew what he was in for though, and off the four of us charged. After about an hour of the long grass and brown sticks we hit the alders proper, then the alders mixed with ladder steep hillside/long grass/brown sticks. Lots of breaks, and I am sure lots of instant regret on his part. But he did not utter one complaint, just some groans here and there like the rest of us, lol.
Thank goodness I had a caribou draw tag that didn’t get shut down this year. We got into the hunt area and saw a decent amount of animals right away. We spotted a group a few miles away and managed to use the limited cover to get within 400 yards away from them feeding. But we were stuck behind a tundra hump without any cover to get closer without being seen. I set him up prone and calmed his breathing down, he was nervous! After a few minutes of regulated breathing and dry fires, he said he was ready and slowly squeezed one off. HIT! Down it went and he got to experience the tundra slog in rubber boots 1.75 miles back to get the wheelers. I kept reminding him, “At least you don’t have a pack of meat on your back!”
He had a blast the rest of the trip shooting ptarmigan and camping in the high caribou hills learning back country tricks of the trade. We cooked his caribou's heart over a fire. This made me start to think about him coming to Kodiak with me and shooting at a goat. I explained to him the terrain and tried to compare the ‘suck’ of Kodiak to some other trips we have done in the past, then asked him if he would like to come with and shoot my goat for me. He was all in! After school started he entered a comp basketball league and got his cardio and conditioning back, I wish I could say the same, but after moose season packing half a bull a mile out on my back I was feeling solid again and kept walking in my hiking boots until the trip in October.
We flew to Kodiak and proceeded to our hunting area, I’ll spare the details on all of that, but I brought along my longtime friend that helped me harvest my first goat on this exact tag a decade ago. I also brought my brother in law that went on the caribou hunt with us in August. It was a beautiful day when we started our ascent. With packs on, facing the base of the mountain from sea level, I pointed to a bowl at about 1000 ft. elevation where we would set up camp. I asked my son, “That doesn’t look too bad, does it?” He smirked and said, “Not at all!” I knew what he was in for though, and off the four of us charged. After about an hour of the long grass and brown sticks we hit the alders proper, then the alders mixed with ladder steep hillside/long grass/brown sticks. Lots of breaks, and I am sure lots of instant regret on his part. But he did not utter one complaint, just some groans here and there like the rest of us, lol.
