What I learned my first Kodiak boat based hunt

[mcseal2]

I made it back to Alaska again this year, hunting Kodiak from a boat. I'll share what I learned once again to pay back those who answered all my questions along the way. Thanks again to you guys.

I need to start with my standard disclaimer: This is my second trip to Kodiak, my fourth trip to Alaska. I'll share what I learned, but there are many with far more knowledge and experience than I have. I do not claim to be an expert.

I submitted the story to Robby and Justin last night to hopefully make the website. I won't tell the story on this post, this is more the logistics and lessons behind the adventure. The story will have to wait for a bit.

A friend and avid hunter we rent a little alfalfa ground from invited me on this hunt several years ago. We were supposed to go last fall, but he had a knee injury that forced us to reschedule. Our transporter was good about working with us, this friend had hunted with him several times. As it turned out our group of 6 ended up being only 4 by the time we hunted. The friend who booked the hunt had 3 guys he planned to bring, and I had 3 other ones. One of his guys backed out and we were unable to find a replacement with only a few months to do so. The trip was just too big a financial hurdle for any of my friends on short notice. Then last minute the friend who booked the hunt had a work issue he could not get out of and had to miss the hunt for. He still paid more than his fair share and hated that it happened that way. I hope he can make it next time we go. Myself, Jeff W, and Steve, two of my friends from my last trip to Kodiak made the trip. Jeff J who we had never met before was our fourth. Jeff J turned out to be a great guy and we all became fast friends. We all plan to hunt together again in the future.

The process for this hunt was pretty straightforward. We flew out with Island Air to meet the boat on a Saturday and flew back with them the next Saturday. We were lucky and both our flights were able to go on schedule, but our flight home was close. I recommend adding a day on each end if possible and taking an early flight into, later flight out of Kodiak on the commercial plane. I give myself as big a window to hit as I can. Once we are on the ground and have our gear ready in Kodiak we contact Island Air and touch base. This is courteous and lets them know we're ready in case they need to change things around for some reason. It's probably more important for a camping hunt than the boat hunt, but I'll keep doing it anyway.

We hunted late November with Peninsula Saltwater. Ross the Captain treated us well and I am already in the process of booking with him again. I'm sure there are plenty of other good options as well, I just don't have personal experience with them.

Ross was strict on safety. He wanted all of us on the beach by 5pm that time of year. When we got dropped off each morning depended on weather and lighting, but it was somewhere between 8 and 9am, usually closer to 9. If we weren't going to be on the beach by 5 he sure wanted us to let him know why so he wasn't worrying. We made sure to meet that deadline each day, but Kodiak is Kodiak so plans don't always work out as expected.

He sent us out with a marine radio each day, but weather and terrain can have a big effect on the range of those. We had an in-reach for each group as well and had to use them to text at times. I very much recommend having that option.

Also on the safety side of things, we all had headlamps. We used them several times to signal the raft on hazy rainy days. We'd try to find a spot with decent depth to get the Zodiak to shore without damaging anything. We'd walk the beach looking for the best spot to help the boat get to us. I'll repeat it again, but all the little things we can do as hunters to help out the transporters just make everyone's experience better.

Much of the gear side of things is the same stuff I used on the hunt when we camped. We didn't need the camping stuff, and had the ability to dry gear on the boat much better than we did in camp. We didn't need as many layers due to this, but did need some other items. I'll list what I can think of below.

Clothing was similar to the last hunt. I mostly wore:

Bottom:
First Lite (FL) aerowool boxers
FL Wick bottoms
Darn Tough tall heavy socks
Kuiu Yukon rain pants
Kennetrek gaiters
Kennetrek Mountain Guide boots

Top:
FL Wick hoody
Kuiu Peloton 240 hoody OR FL Ridgeline QZ shirt (often in pack)
FL SEAK rain jacket

Other:
Kuiu summer mesh ball cap (mesh to dump heat hiking)
Kuiu fleece gloves

In my pack I had:
Kuiu Superdown Pro jacket
Kuiu Superdown Ultra pants
Kuiu Kutana insulated gloves
FL wool Tundra baclava
Wilderness Innovations XL poncho (emergency shelter, wind break, rain gear if it dumped, etc)

I like wearing a pair of boots I can hunt in to AK on the plane. I wore my Kennetrek hardscrabble hikers so I could hunt in them if a boot failed. I've never had that happen, but a friend did on our caribou hunt. He wore my spare boots most of the trip. Good waterproof boots are a necessity. Boots are not a place to go cheap for Kodiak in my opinion.

Clothes for lounging on the boat, I just had a couple pairs of fleece sweatpants, a couple Kuiu synthetic T shirts designed not to stink to fast, and a FL Kiln hoody. I also had crocs and an extra pair of warm socks. I slept in the Kuiu T shirts and Kuiu Kutana shorts I wear fishing in the summer. I'd get changed quick once we got to the boat so my hunting clothes could dry and air out below deck.

I had pretty normal stuff like I'd use at a hotel for hygiene. I had a microfiber towel from Amazon I used when I'd shower that dried pretty fast and packed small.

For sleeping I had a 30 degree REI Magma down quilt I used as a blanket with a footbox. It was great but plenty warm, a 45 degree might have been perfect. The times we moved the boat and the engine room generated more heat the sleeping rooms were warmer. I also had a synthetic sheet to lay on over the vinyl covered mattress. I wouldn't have needed that with a bag probably, but the quilt was easier to arrange to stay cool. If I take that quilt again I'll take a pair of my Darn tough Coolmax summer socks to sleep in. I used a inflatable Trekkology XL pillow and a small memory foam pillow that wads up about the size of a Nalgene also.

 

[mcseal2]

My med kit on Kodiak is beefed up a little from some places. There is just more risk of bad injury from falling on the slippery steep terrain, and there are a lot of bears. I don't get to worried but I want to be able to stop more bleeding from more places than I worry about on some trips. I have my normal kit listed on other posts plus extra compressed gauze, and a couple Israeli bandages. My survival, repair, and med kits are listed on my other posts and are pretty similar still today.

Optics we primarily used our binoculars. I think once or twice on the first day we evaluated a distant buck with my Swaro STC spotter, but the rest of the time the wind, rain, and haze made it not really worth carrying. I have a hard time not carrying my tripod though for shooting. I have a Slik 634 with an Outdoorsman's head and rifle rest I carry a lot and have shot most of my AK game from. Some of the other guys have shooting sticks that are lighter or trekking poles you can shoot from. None are as steady as the tripod, but it's heavier. I got Wizer precision Quick Sticks after this hunt to experiment with on my trekking poles. I'm still searching for the perfect thing, but I keep going back to the Slik/Outdoorsman's combo when I may need to shoot from standing or kneeling. We had 3 pairs of Leica rangefinding binos and one pair of Swaro EL's between us. Shots can happen fast and windows can close quickly on Kodiak especially on rutting deer so I prefer the rangefinding binos. The spotter is a tougher decision. I'll probably always take one along, but may not carry it every day. When we hunt in pairs we split the load, one guy carries a tarp and extra med kit gear, the other carries the spotter and tripod.

Trekking poles, Wiggy Waders, and Microspikes are things I'll always pack on Kodiak even if I don't always use them. We never used Wiggys this trip but used them several times last trip. I thought we'd need them a few times this trip but we always found a way across the streams. I didn't pack trekking poles each day but will in the future. My buddy Steve always had his so we each used one on pack-outs. Next time we'll each have two, but that needs to wait for the story. Microspikes are a game changer on Kodiak's steep, wet, slick terrain. I tried the lighter Ghost version this trip, but they will be spares in the future. I like the heavier original ones that have more and thicker rubber holding them on my boots. I recommend having a spare set for the group in case someone loses one.

We did not have bear issues. We all had handguns, and most of us carried one most of the time. We always had one if we were not packing our rifle. I took both my Sig 220 10mm and my little 3" 5 shot S&W 60 in 357. I carried my S&W a lot of the time just because it's so much lighter and I had a rifle that was Plan A. The 60 is a gun I carry a lot in the lower 48 scouting, fishing, or going along with buddies in places without grizzly. I took both because I wanted the 10mm if I did not have a rifle and was packing meat or helping a buddy hunt after I tagged out. I may get a S&W M&P Backpacker 10mm or something similar before I go back that is lighter than my 220. I love that 220, it shoots great and feeds everything, so we'll see. The most important thing is that you take something you can shoot well if you're going to carry one. We all had hardcast, Buffalo Bore monometal 190 grain dangerous game ammo, or Extreme Penetrators. Personally, I like hardcast if the gun will feed it but I've had 10mm's not like hardcast. In my limited experience none have had a feeding issue with the Buffalo Bore 190's, even ones that didn't like hardcast.

For rifles I had my Rifles Inc LW70 in 300 win mag with a 4-16x Huskemaw on it. I shoot 180 grain Nosler E tips from it at 2900fps. It's the same rifle I've used on all my Alaska hunts and it's served me well. The other guys had 7mm magnums, two Rem Mags and one PRC. All worked just fine. A shorter rifle would be handy in the brush but shots can stretch out and winds can be crazy on Kodiak so there is no perfect answer. My 270 or a 6.5prc would be ideal for deer but not if a bear issue arose. A folding chassis looks nice but I like my rifle to be easy to get in case of a bear. The perfect gun is a question for someone smarter and more experienced than me.

We took a lot of snacks we didn't need to. Ross had plenty of food on the boat. Next time I'll just take some jerky and a few Snickers and Payday bars. We donated plenty of snacks to the boat for the next hunters.

Game bags and good packs are important. I think Jeff J had a Kuiu pack and the rest of us had Exo K3 or K4 packs. The Exo packs were between 3600 and 4800 and were all plenty big. We used them as our carry on bags too with no issue flying Alaska Air.

Ross has a covered area to process game. We all had good knives, and I took my sharpening kit. I like having my old Gerber folding fillet knife for boning meat on the boat. A smaller blade or replaceable blade knife can be nice for skinning out the head on the boat. I still like my 4 3/4" custom 3V knife for field work, my Benchmade Altitude for the finer stuff or caping. We all took all the meat as is required and took pics of the skeleton after just in case we were asked. A piece of Tyvek is nice for setting meat on in the field if it can't go straight in a game bag or you want to pick off hair, etc. Some cordage for tying a leg etc to something on steep terrain can be nice.

I took my Leatherman Arc with the bit kit and we used it a few times on things while on the boat. It was worth having.

I always carry 5 or 6 sections of a Thermarest Z lite pad on my pack for sitting or kneeling on. In an emergency it can be used with my poncho as part of my shelter kit. It's nice when glassing in the cold, or kneeling on wet ground processing an animal. It's worth a few ounces to me.

We did a little duck hunting, but it's something I'm not very knowledgeable on. I'll answer questions as best I can, but others will know more.

Well supper is ready and I can't think of anything else at the moment. I'll add more later and please feel free to ask any questions. I'll answer as best I can.