POW mid November hunt

[AkReaper]

Well, I'm finally gonna get to go on this hunt! I been dreaming and trying to do it for like 4 years now. And it will be my first time hunting deer at all!!

Was able to get twelvemile cabin rented and got my plane tickets already! One question I have about my kill kit, I use TAG bags and I'm sure before the week is over we will have deboned the meat.

Does anyone have suggestion of the size of bags I should plan on using? Just to make it easier to put the meat in coolers for the trip home.

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Oregon]

A Sitka will have roughly 45-60# of meat.
I wouldn’t overthink too much. Not sure what TAG bags are, but I’ve always come back from AK with deboned meat in pillow cases. Wax boxes right at 49#s. I get to check 5 free bags with Alaska air, so I always bring home 150#s of groceries.

POW is a special place. Killed my first Sitka in 1988 on that island. Good luck!

 

[Becca]

Flying AK air within AK you’ll be able to check 3 50lb bags free, and it’s only $100 for an additional overweight bag up to 99lbs. I prefer not to debone the meat when possible, bc you end up wasting a lot more once you get home. The bones really don’t add that much weight to fly back, but I suppose it’s personal preference. You can get a whole Sitka into one caribou sized Tag bag (I think they are 24”x44”). Or use two so the meat can get better air circulation. We skip the coolers and use rubbermaid totes. Put chilled or frozen meat inside, and check as baggage. Nest them together for the trip down and put gear inside going down. A webbing strap and luggage scale are super handy for weighing your totes as you load them so you don’t have to shuffle meat around at the airport.

Are you taking a float plane or the ferry to POW from Ketchikan? Make sure you know what the logistics are...I was amazed the first time I realized i can fly to Mexico in less time than it takes to travel to POW from our house in Wasilla.

 

[AkReaper]

We are gonna take the ferry across, yeah I'm shocked on the whole day travel each way! Thanks for the size info! I figure since we will be there for 8 days we will end up deboning some of the meat eventually just for weight on the flight home. But who knows, I've never done it before. Its just awesome to be able to exerince this trip!

 

[AKDoc]

You've already gotten some useful information from others. I've done that hunt in November for the past five years...going to pass this year and do Kodiak again.

We've always gutted, removed the hide, and hung our bucks until the end of the hunting week. The day before leaving to come back we quartered (bone in) and bagged rib meat, neck meat and tenderloins and back-strap. We used garbage bags inside fish boxes, which worked just fine for us. Everything always made it back just fine to ANC...despite the long ferry ride and mail-run back north!

You might want to check on the status of WP 18-01...a proposal to restrict non-federally qualified residents from taking more than two bucks on POW.

 

[AkReaper]

Yeah I having trying to keep an eye on that situation. *fingers crossed* GPS don't fail me now!!! And to be honest, I love eating such phenomenal meat (Sitka Blacktail is my favorite next to elk), I would be so psyched just to get 1!!! Plus just to experience the hunt for the first time and camaraderie with the people I'm with is worth more to me than filling my freezer. And I got a Pt McKenzie antlerless moose tag to fill this year as well!
I'm hoping we decide to do Kodiak next year!

 

[CTobias]

I've done that hunt in November for the past five years...going to pass this year and do Kodiak again.

I have an Alaska Airlines ticket I have to use by November. I'm thinking Kodiak as well for some black tail.

 

[CTobias]

Flying AK air within AK you’ll be able to check 3 50lb bags free, and it’s only $100 for an additional overweight bag up to 99lbs.

Unless you're military. Then you get five bags free and last I heard they waved the overweight for military as well.

 

[AkReaper]

So since I am a major over-planner, what about taking .22 handgun? Would it be worth it for maybe ptarmigan or grouse?

 

[AKDoc]

POW is a great island for black tail hunting with a ton of old logging roads.

You might already know this, but just in case...some of the bucks down there, not all, rub their antlers on an alder that is specific to the island. The result is a very pronounced red coloration of their horns. It is really cool and unlike any black tail that I have taken on Kodiak or any of the PWS islands.

Moose meat is the favorite in my family...you're gonna love that cow permit at Pt. Mac!!

 

[AKDoc]

I never saw a ptarmie on POW. Saw a few (not many) spruce hens/grouse.

I have seen several MONSTER black bears down there!

 

[AkReaper]

We will keep an eye out for the blackies! I actually hope I have a chance at one, still haven't tagged one yet!

 

[AkReaper]

Update- just reserved the truck with HARentals!! just gotta get my ferry ticket and I will be ready!!!!

 

[AkReaper]

Here's a question for anyone who's stay at the twelvemile cabin; is there a place to hang meet there like a little shed or a pole between trees or something like that? just thought of where we will hang the meat.

 

[Gunnersdad49]

Found this thread while researching for 2019 or 2020. Posting to find it again. Good luck, please share your report when you get back.

 

[AkReaper]

Defintly will

 

[AkReaper]

again, does anyone know of a meat storage place or just hang the meat by the cabin? just trying to make my final preps for 8 days of hunting here. TIA

 

[Oregon]

again, does anyone know of a meat storage place or just hang the meat by the cabin? just trying to make my final preps for 8 days of hunting here. TIA

I don’t know of any. I do know i’ve hung meat high in trees on POW just to find little furred critters (martin/fishers??) climbed down on quarters and chewing on them. Lost an entire stack of mallards I’d left on the front porch in an evening.
We started placing all meat in coolers

 

[AkReaper]

I don’t know of any. I do know i’ve hung meat high in trees on POW just to find little furred critters (martin/fishers??) climbed down on quarters and chewing on them. Lost an entire stack of mallards I’d left on the front porch in an evening.
We started placing all meat in coolers

I was thinking about that to, just keep in the coolers

 

[AkReaper]

Getting so close! Looks like the last of the other 3 is not going to back out so it'll just be the 2 of us going. So, I was wondering if anyone knows if a blackie would be possible during this time frame if we tag out on the deer.