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07 HNTNHRD on Kodiak

Hntnhrd

Member
Joined
Dec 12, 2006
Messages
414
Location
Bitterroot Valley Montana
Ovis maybe this will help get some people interseted in going in 2008.
I don't travel much so I tooka pictures of our plane leaving Seattle. Apparently Jimmie Hendrix is the Official Mascot for Alaska Air. I thought this was a great shot with the space needle in the background!

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We meet my two buddies from New England in Anchorage and we all landed in Kodiak by 5:30 pm. WE were staying at the Best Western and kept trying to get their shuttle van to come pick us up. Well so were 12 other hunters. The Hotel clerk had been trying to call the driver but couldn;t find him. We were flying out on Servant air in the morning to since we had time to Kill we walked over to their office. The owner(?) said we could leave some gear there since we were flying out with them the next day. WE mentioned we were still waiting on the hotel shuttle as were the big crowd outside the terminal. He told us to throw the rest of our gear in their van and he drove us over to the hotel. Talk about great customer service.

After checking in we took TB's advice and walked over to Henry's for a beer and some freash seafood. Good call bud!!!!. The four of us polished of some smoked salmon, Four cups of halibut chowder and 4 Captains plates ( Halibut, prawns and scallops). We hit the rack by 10pm to be ready for a dawn flight to Larsen Bay.

We sat at Servant air for a while waiting for a group of four to show up and fly with us. Well they had cancelled and forgot to call the airline. So we sat there for an hour for no reason.

This small fly flight was worth the whole trip. Here are some shots from the plane. First is of the cockpit and the little plane we passed to get on the runway. Snooze ya Looze!!!!
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looking down the runway towards the ocean. Hope the flaps work!!!
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Some of the peaks we flew over. The wind was blowing pretty good and the plane was sliding around.
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Everybody needs a wing main. That Dark spot in the clouds is a float plane we passed.
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One of the bays we wound up hunting in!!!
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Here we go!!! coming in for a Landing in Larsen Bay. I thought the runway in Kodiak looked short!!!!
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We landed no problem. 10 minutes later all our gear was loaded in a beat up van and we on our way to the boat. We meet our catptain and immeaditely could tell he was a great guy. He told us right off what we could do and not to to screw with the Deckhand. Good times to be had!!.

We loaded onto the deck started up the engines and pulled out of the Harbor. We had our safety meeting, ( where the life vests are what to do incase of a fire, dead bodies float) you know all the important stuff. WE took care of Licenses and steamed over to our first hunting area. Within in two hours of getting on the boat we were anchored up and heading in for our first hunt. I was definitely ready for the steepness of the terrain and elevation but not for how THICK the vegetation is. WOW. the grass is over chest deep and the Berry bushes are brutal. The older guy that came with us just couldn;t do it. He had a Bull elk roll onto him in Idaho and tore ligaments in his knee. He made it about a quarter mile and that was it. So he stayed on a knoll and I kept climbing. There was sign everywhere. But with the thick alders and vegetation none were to be seen. I kept climbing higher and decided to take a break. Here is the veiw I lloked at for awhile.
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About 10 minutes after taking this picture I saw my first deer. A doe was walking in the scrub rose bushes just up hill from me. I followed her inand when I crested to ridge and started glasssing there was a large patch of brush about 400 yards away that looked great so I glassed that way. Well smack dab in the middle was a Huge Brown bear. The Rose bushes near me were over my waist high. The bears chin was over the tops just standing on all fours. Birds were flying around and it looked like it was feeding on something so I decided this was his mountain and after watching through the binos for awhile decided to back out of there and head back for the boat. I had heard a rifle shot soon after from the area my buddies from back east headed. When we got back on the boat we had the first buck hanging. Heavy 2x2 with eye guards. Prettty good since since our hunt didn't really start untill the next day.
 
SO day 2 dawn cold and cloudy. Since the deer seemed to be high and above the snow line we decided to hunt the othe side of the bay and hunt the north facing slopes. They were just as thick and steep but the snow line was a little lower. But all the deer were way up in the snow. We started seeing deer about 1500 feet up and tried to get above them. In knee deep snow we found no more tracks so we started side hilling. I though the Goat hunt in the bitterrots was going to be the tuffist hunt this year HAAHAAA.

After about 45 minutes and 15 confirmed does later we looked across a small creek drainage and saw a deer in the alders on the other side. We set up to glass and could see it was a buck. We snuck little closer and my friend from NH Scott gave him a dose of lead poisioning and buck number two was on the ground. I stayed put while he fought his way over. He was just about to the deer when I saw a really nice buck cross an opening anfew hundred yards beyond him. I hauled over there but never saw the buck again. We dressed the buck and headed for the beach. The deer rolled most of the way.

WE hit the beach called the boat and snapped some pictures. Here is scott's First buck.
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We were joking how bad it would suck if a bear came out on the beach and stole our deer after hauling it all the way out. the boat showed up and we made it back to mother ship. WE hung up the deer and decided to duck hunt the rest of The capatain and I decided to jump shoot while the other guys sat on decoys. We both did well. We were crusing along the sure and sure enough on the beach we dragged the deer to 4 hours earlier there wasw about an 8 foot brown bear. We made it to about 100 yards before he took off. 2 days 2 bears. Well this is kodiak. We wound up with 13 ducks total for the 4 of us in the afernoon. Two guys stayed on the boat this day and landed one Halibut of about 40 pounds. Pretty good day.
Day three we decied to set out the crab pots. WE motored about two hours and set them out. That afternoon we deer hunted again. WE hiked to the ridge top again on the south side. After seeing a bunch of does we saw a buck about a mile away. We couldn't make it that far but started working along the ridge top. I looked over the ridge and saw a huge red fox working through the alders. I laid down and promptly missed the shot. I was shaking my head and looked ot my left and there was a deer standing 200 yards away. I was just lifting my rifle when a shot rang out and the deer dropped.
Oh well snooze you looze!!!. Mike had killed his second buck. Turned out to be a nice heavy 3x3 with eye guards. I was working my way over to his buck and saw a deer back on the ridge top. I looked through the binos and saw it was a buck. Since my buddies each had deer I wanted one too. So I took the shot and had My first blacktail.
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So an hour after dark we finally had both bucks on the Beach. Not to smart in bear country but we lived to tell the tale.



The next day I stayed on the boat and fished. Caought one 10 pound halibut and a bunch of cod. A few large Irish Lords also!!

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Scott's Second buck came aboard that day.

I decided to deer hunt the next day and went high to the snow line again. I went high enough that I had to drop down below a snow slide. I passed on a buck like the one I already shot and a small fork. I followed some fox tracks for awhile. I flushed a covey of ptarmigan that scared the daylights out of me. Man what pretty birds. NO fox and no more bucks. So I headed down to the beach.

I decided to sit there for awhile and just enjoy some time alone. I watched to sun set and tried to soak it all in.

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the picture above really doesn't do it justice.

Next day was Crab day. Should have been comedy centrals version of the Deadlist Catch!!!!. WE had three pots out. The first pot we pulled was half full of crabs and some falling off the outside. Unfortunately they were all king crabs. Alaska does not allow non residents to keep Kings. I had a tear running down my cheek as we threw them back into the ocean. We did take few pictures before turning them back though.

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The other 2 pots were in shallower water and had dungies and tanner crabs. We spent the rest of the afternoon fishing and eating crab untill 10 pm. Once again worth the whole trip!!!!!!!

We dredged up some of the weirdest things while fishing. The captain called this a sloth. Looks like a huge 20 legged starfish.

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I could keep goin on and on but finally tally was 7 bucks, 3 halibut over 30 pounds, a 55 gallon drum full of crabs and all the harleguins we were looking for. I am waiting for some more pictures to post as I forgot my camera on the boat the last couple days.

I can't say enough about Ninilchik Charters. We moved every day, caught fish, caught crabs, had a warm clean place to stay. Decent food, And a super great time. Worth every penny I spent and memories that will last forever with a bunch of friends. When the CD arrives from my buddies I will post the pictures of the other deer we took.
 
I was definitely ready for the steepness of the terrain and elevation but not for how THICK the vegetation is. WOW. the grass is over chest deep and the Berry bushes are brutal.

You should see it in August and early September when the leaves are still on... :eek:

Congrats on the deer and kings. Next time take me along and we can eat a few of them suckers. :cool:
 
Man, I gotta do that someday. Maybe when I pay off my student loans . . . no, that'll take too long. What was the damage on that hunt?
 
Awesome hunt and photos! What a great trip!

S.F., (my neighbor) was unloading last night. I have yet to talk with him to see how his hunt went, but knowing him, it was fun.

Shoot me an e-mail sometime,
Shortside
 
You should see it in August and early September when the leaves are still on...

I can't even imagine!!!!!.

Good plan on the crab. Next time you are on the List TB. We wound up with a open spot at the last minute and if we had known we would have dragged you along!!!

As far as price it really is a reasonable trip. Price through ninilichik was 2500.00 for Saturday to Saturday. Airline tickets from Missoula to Kodiak city were on sale and bought at the right time for 649.00. Kodiak to Larsen Bay was 105 in and 170 out ( extra weight, with meat boxes) two nights in Kodiak 120 total per person. 50 extra on alaska air for extra baggage. Tips to captain and deckahand, beer for the boat, Couple dinners at henry's and a stop at the Kodiak Brewing Company, some souvenires for the wife and daughter, etc.
Total was about 4,000.00 door to door. As far as hunting trips go I think it is probably the best value out there.

BHR I think it is the BUTTER!!!!!!!!
 
Man, that's beautiful country. Looks like you all had a great time. Congrats on the bucks.
 
Hntnhrd,
I just got home yesterday afternoon, glad you had a great trip. When I get life situated here at home I'll post a thread with pics and such. We didn't get to do any crabbing but the hunting was awesome, and the flights were worth the money spent for the whole trip.

Congrats,

--Bill
 
Great pics! I have never been but the posts in this section over the last year are really pushing me to make that my next hunt. I just don't want to get stuck on a boat for a week.
 
C'mon Browtine....being stuck on the boat for a week is all part of the experience.

Looks like you guys did it right. Little bit of everything on your trip. Thanks for all the pics.....love that stuff. Look forward to seeing some more if you got em'.
 

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