POW Blacktail gear question

[Coveyleader]

You will need good gloves for climbing. The devils club will eat you. It will eat you alive without good gloves.

 

[Bighorse]

I've hunted the rainforest.....This is my feelings based on the info you've shared.
Hollis is the start of the road system. What Cabin are you staying in and what elevation is it starting at?
I personally wouldn't plan on returning back to a cabin after the hard effort of gaining the elevation. A 2-3k vertical push in the rainforest will take you a few hours. That will leave you roaming the tops mid day which is a poor time to hunt in sunny conditions. That being said....I climb in minimal clothing and gloves. The grey palmed nitrile variety work well, but any kind work. I don't try for waterproof. Get soaked and get to work. Have your dry clothing in a drybag in your pack. When you reach the summit zone deploy your shelter and get into your dry alpine gear. Bring hiking poles and instep crampons. Stay the night because your more than likely shooting a buck right before dark or early in the morning.
What you wear doesn't really matter....work the wind and conceal your movements. Harvest all your meat and enjoy the rainforest.

 

[Glory]

That time of year is alpine. If it’s pouring, you are better off fishing than hunting as visibility will be next to nothing up high. Pray you get a few clear days. NW winds are your friend. Lots of hiking, camping, and glassing involved in late aug and early sept hunting. Bighorse pretty much nailed it. Occasionally you will do ok on a day hunt but 2-3 days up top and camping is what is needed unless you plan on shooting immature bucks.

A good puffy jacket is nice when glassing at first and last light and can be nice to sleep in. Gets cold up there.

 

[tgillespie]

The crazy thing about hunting that time of year is the first day of your hunt it might be 95 and by the end of your hunt it could be raining everyday. Also a chance of snow. Lots of layers and a good backpack.

 

[shanny28757]

Thanks, we are flying in to Ketchikan and taking a float plane over to Hollis I believe. What type of climbing/hiking have I signed myself up for? Also if not wearing rubber rain gear, what do you recommend? Thanks again.

Based on my one trip there I’d be surprised if you will be staying in a cabin and climbing up to and from the alpine every day. The areas we hunted would be impossible to go up and back in a day. And even if you could, you wouldn’t want to. Way too physically demanding and took too long to do every day.

Rain gear was a must. It rained every hour of our trip except on our ride back to the fair dock. Its tricky though because you want to be as light as possible, but the devils club may shred the high tech stuff if you hike in it. Rubber would be terrible to climb in because it’s not breathable. Guys with more experience than me can probably give better feedback here.

 

[Timbercruzer]

If you have the room bring a good set of hiking boots that are waterproof and a set of rubber boots. You will appreciate a set of gaiters also. As others have stated you will not want to make an alpine trip daily. Most of the hikes to the top are a four hour ordeal. You will get on top after the deer have bedded. Bring a tent that can handle the rain and a bevy sack for your sleeping bag. A good sleeping pad helps a lot because the ground is always wet. Plan to stay on top. I spent the first 30 years of my life in Ketchikan. The first part of September usually brings decent weather, but you could also see days where you get two plus inches of rain. If the cabin has electricity bring a Pete’s boot dryer. A couple sets of waterproof warm gloves and a set of leathers will be great. Also get a set of the slip on mini crampons. The vegetation in the alpine is extremely slick. Make sure whatever you choose as an outer layer is waterproof and breathable. Base layers need to wick moisture. You will want to have a head net also. If you do end up in the alpine playing the wind is very important. You can pretty much guarantee a low pressure system will have south/southeast winds and a high pressure system will bring north/northwest winds. Your chances of harvesting a mature buck that time of year are greater in the alpine. On hot clear days they will be bedding very early. Some guys do have great success glassing and picking apart clearcuts, that’s just not my type of hunting. Try to stay clear of them as you hike to the top. There is nothing more painstaking then crawling through the cuts, not to mention it will suck the energy out of you. You can guarantee finding water on top as long as there isn’t a dry spell, but I recommend bring a water filter. A couple rolls of flagging tape are crucial and a gps. I recommend to always come down the way you went up. It’s very easy to get cliffed out as you are coming down through the timber. Flagging tape is more reliable then the gps in the timber, but having both is very helpful. Enjoy the hunt.


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[MarcherLord]

I've hunted the rainforest.....This is my feelings based on the info you've shared.
Hollis is the start of the road system. What Cabin are you staying in and what elevation is it starting at?
I personally wouldn't plan on returning back to a cabin after the hard effort of gaining the elevation. A 2-3k vertical push in the rainforest will take you a few hours. That will leave you roaming the tops mid day which is a poor time to hunt in sunny conditions. That being said....I climb in minimal clothing and gloves. The grey palmed nitrile variety work well, but any kind work. I don't try for waterproof. Get soaked and get to work. Have your dry clothing in a drybag in your pack. When you reach the summit zone deploy your shelter and get into your dry alpine gear. Bring hiking poles and instep crampons. Stay the night because your more than likely shooting a buck right before dark or early in the morning.
What you wear doesn't really matter....work the wind and conceal your movements. Harvest all your meat and enjoy the rainforest.

Spot on. Minimal on way up, then throw on the dry stuff up top.

 

[TBurroughs]

We did this last year, and used first lite SEAK. It held up well to the bushwhacking. I’ll second Timbercruzer’s suggestion of a set of crampons. We intended to only spend one night at the cabin and hike up to the alpine and camp, but once it started raining, couldn’t get to the sections of alpine we wanted to safely without crampons. So we just stayed in the cabin and bushwhacked up to the alpine the couple days it didn’t rain. Ten day hunt wound up being only 4, as the float plane got us out before a planned 10 straight days of rain and high winds forecast. But we got 4 nice bucks before that, we just had to work a bit harder on the hunting days than we had planned. The deer were not active whatsoever when it was raining where we were anyway, at least not where we could see them, so we stayed in the cabin and tried to get our boots dried out the days it rained. I’m the guy in the green, my brother is the one with the first lite shirt.

I would also add that training with a heavily weighted pack might be the most important thing if you’re hiking back to a cabin each night. I trained for months, my much more fit brother did not, and he was absolutely dying on the packout, while I felt like it was no big deal. But good luck, it’s absolutely amazing up there, and I’m sure once you’ve been once, you’ll want to return!

 

[Troutnut]

I hunted a nearby island last year with my Kuiu Yukon raingear. It held up well.

I don't know what elevation the cabins are at on POW, and what kinds of trails you might have, but where I was, trying to day-trip to the alpine from the cabins would have been insane. Getting up and down with weight was too much work, 2000+ feet up a really steep mountain with no trails and lots of devil's club. We were extremely glad we packed spike camps to the top. Consider at least being prepared to do that unless you're absolutely certain it won't be necessary.

Like TBorroughs said, crampons are a really good idea. I bought some Kahtoola microspikes right after the trip. My friend had them and I was really envious of his traction on the steep, wet terrain.

 

[trapperJ]

Big horse and Glory nailed it. I climb up with a light base layer and rain gear. Once on top I put on dry clothes and cache the wet ones where my route down is.

If you don't know the mountain NEVER go down a different route than you came up.

I've killed plenty of deer on day hikes but I already knew the route up and I was usually starting my hike at 2am . Finding the right way up could take several attempts in the daylight. It is much more productive to go high and stay there for a day or two.

If you do decide to fish for a day or two due to fogged in mountains call Glory(Joel), he's one of the best. Hell I'd plan a day or two to fish the salt with Joel no matter what the weather!

 

[Buckybadger81]

Hello all, first time posting in this forum. I have a hunt planned for blacktail deer on POW from 8/29-9/8 and am trying to figure out what gear I will need. I've only hunted out of box blinds before and am super pumped for this trip. My question is, what type of clothing will I need for this type hunt. All lightweight type gear with good rain gear or will I need heavier stuff. We will be staying in a cabin and leaving everyday to go up to the alpine areas in search of deer. Thanks for any help you can provide.

I’ve never been to POW before but I have been to Kodiak 3 times now. It’s easy to over think the gear and it’s real easy to start dropping a bunch of money. I used the Kuiu Chugach and was just fine. I used my KUIU attack pants for the most of it and I’d It got rainy I’d slip into the pants. I went end of October beginning of November. You just have to be prepared to embrace the suck a little if and When you get wet. Should be noted that I had a place to dry my gear at the end of the day. If you do Not have that ability you will absolutely want to drop the money on durable and quality rain gear. My hunting partner used the Kuiu Yukon set and had it on almost the entire time and loved it.

 

[Lingling]

A few guys have nailled it here. It is no mistake that the first and arguably the best modern hunting gear is branded se alaska (sitka, kuiu). You can do the same principle cheaper. Moisture management. Layers. Fitness. It's been a wet la nina summer. Watch the randy newberg blacktail video. Watch the blacktail documentary referenced on another thread. Rethink again what you imagine rain to be. Most years those dates could be good but October and November are traditionally the wettest months and in a wet year you are not far from those expectations. I put balloons on my barrel, electrical tape is common as well and maybe better because sometimes the balloons pop off.

 

[Lingling]

Couple other thoughts come to mind especially for first timers and safety. If you are climbing have a rifle management system. You are not going to jump deer. If you are hunting the old growth go slower than slow and ready to go. For muskeg I use a kifaru gunbearer, trekking sticks, and binos not slower than slow but ssllooww.

 

[Confluentus]

If I have access to a cabin every night, I much prefer breathable rain gear. You will get wet busting wet brush, there’s no way around it, and breathable stuff will somewhat dry out once you hit the alpine and can hike without constantly rubbing up on brush. And will dry fast in the cabin at night. If you have any plan to spike out for a night or two, PVC rain gear does keep you drier (minus sweat) on the brush bust. Busting wet brush on steep uphills in PVC sucks though.

Crampons can be a real lifesaver when you get into soaking wet grass on steep slopes. You can seriously injure yourself on innocuous-looking grassy hillsides when everything is soaked. I used army surplus crampons for years, now I have Kahtoola K10’s and really like them.

Tape your barrel, you’ll get twigs in there.

Starting your hike at 0300 can sometimes be hugely advantageous, especially on clear, sunny days. You want to be in the alpine at shooting light. The bucks will often disappear from the alpine after the early morning and won’t come out again until just before dark. On foggy/rainy days with limited visibility, animals can be out all day long.... many people post up and wait it out, but I kinda like wandering the alpine meadows in the fog and jumping animals.


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[Lingling]

If you have the room bring a good set of hiking boots that are waterproof and a set of rubber boots. You will appreciate a set of gaiters also. As others have stated you will not want to make an alpine trip daily. Most of the hikes to the top are a four hour ordeal. You will get on top after the deer have bedded. Bring a tent that can handle the rain and a bevy sack for your sleeping bag. A good sleeping pad helps a lot because the ground is always wet. Plan to stay on top. I spent the first 30 years of my life in Ketchikan. The first part of September usually brings decent weather, but you could also see days where you get two plus inches of rain. If the cabin has electricity bring a Pete’s boot dryer. A couple sets of waterproof warm gloves and a set of leathers will be great. Also get a set of the slip on mini crampons. The vegetation in the alpine is extremely slick. Make sure whatever you choose as an outer layer is waterproof and breathable. Base layers need to wick moisture. You will want to have a head net also. If you do end up in the alpine playing the wind is very important. You can pretty much guarantee a low pressure system will have south/southeast winds and a high pressure system will bring north/northwest winds. Your chances of harvesting a mature buck that time of year are greater in the alpine. On hot clear days they will be bedding very early. Some guys do have great success glassing and picking apart clearcuts, that’s just not my type of hunting. Try to stay clear of them as you hike to the top. There is nothing more painstaking then crawling through the cuts, not to mention it will suck the energy out of you. You can guarantee finding water on top as long as there isn’t a dry spell, but I recommend bring a water filter. A couple rolls of flagging tape are crucial and a gps. I recommend to always come down the way you went up. It’s very easy to get cliffed out as you are coming down through the timber. Flagging tape is more reliable then the gps in the timber, but having both is very helpful. Enjoy the hunt.


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Good point on the cuts and flagging tape. If I find them in cuts I wont shoot unless I can get them on an edge. Just not worth it.