Kodiak - Raspberry Island - Getting to know the place

[seeth07]

We put the fence around our tent and then had the cooking area, fire, and food-hanging tree 100yds up the hill.

In discussion with others we are taking at least one fence. I bought everything today, only 175 all in. I do have extra tape wire to easily make a second setup. I think we are going to fence sleeping area and have food predominately downwind of us 200 yards plus away. If we get meat from a deer or elk we will switch the fence to the hung meat and sleep without the fence.

 

[cgasner1]

Do you know what the Raspberry Island elk herd is like? Like how on Oct 1st the entire herd of 300 animals is likely to be all together in one spot? And how their rut is typically 2nd and 3rd week of September a bit earlier than in western states?

Can’t kill what you can’t find. Why leave such a light weight tool at home that could make the difference. I’d bet they would at least respond to bugles still. Country is thick it’s easy to lose them a bucks could help keep track of them. If your considering a fence I’d check out that eagle safety in anchorage I bought mine from them last year it’s awesome super light runs like 3 days on 2 aa batteries and it worked lol

 

[Sask hunter]

Do you know what the Raspberry Island elk herd is like? Like how on Oct 1st the entire herd of 300 animals is likely to be all together in one spot? And how their rut is typically 2nd and 3rd week of September a bit earlier than in western states?

Not quite the same but I have called in Sask elk in September 30. Heard bulls bugling October 10-15 still

 

[seeth07]

I'm positive the bulls will still be bugling. Past tag holders and the biologist have all said its not hard to find the elk once the herd is in your general area. They roam around generally spending most of their time above 1000 feet where the habitat isn't nearly as thick. If you look on a topo map, there isn't a lot of area above 1000 feet.

The use of the bugle tube I don't think is going to be Utard style where you run down a Ridgeline and blast a bugle every 200 yards hoping to hear a response from somewhere down in a valley. The use I believe would be to possibly pull a smaller bull out of the herd to get a clear shot or to stop and/or get a bull to turn or move to a better shooting position. My original thought was I still have full cow calling ability and can still bugle without the tube.

 

[seeth07]

On another note, my wife and I have been talking bear safety a lot over the last two nights and so of course last night in my sleep I had two separate dreams about bear encounters. The one my gun failed and I woke up the moment his mighty paw lashed my face. The second was a small bear that wouldn't leave us alone and was friendly, could even pet the thing. He wanted to play like a dog does with his mouth though biting me too hard so I had to pepper spray him and it didn't bother him one bit and thought we were still playing.

 

[blueridge]

On another note, my wife and I have been talking bear safety a lot over the last two nights and so of course last night in my sleep I had two separate dreams about bear encounters. The one my gun failed and I woke up the moment his mighty paw lashed my face. The second was a small bear that wouldn't leave us alone and was friendly, could even pet the thing. He wanted to play like a dog does with his mouth though biting me too hard so I had to pepper spray him and it didn't bother him one bit and thought we were still playing.

The dream where my gun doesn’t work or can’t hit anything = every hunting/house robbery/war dream I have ever had. So frustrating waking up from those.

 

[seeth07]

@2rocky

My volt meter only goes to 7k and it's lite up to the max 7k at the end of the line with a double strand rough 60 x 30 enclosure

 

[seeth07]

Need to add one more 6.5 oz fiberglass fence post. So about 8lb for as large of a bear fence as i want (it's 650 feet of tape there)

 

[seeth07]

@Stocker what is the one for sure way to get an encounter with an amazing bull on a rare bull elk hunt tag?

 

[baker6019]

Crap, now I'm second guessing everything. I wasn't gonna bother packing my bugle tube. Oct 1st they should still be rutting a bit but this isn't your normal elk herd dynamic. It's not like it's archery season where I might need to challenge a bull in a bugle fest but maybe something draw a bulls attention and out of some cover. It's light, just bulky. Idk. Overthinking things now I know

Seeth I actually spoke to the biologist up there and he said to me "you may get one to respond but it is highly unlikely they will come to a call since it will be post rut" so we are debating on if we should bring one or not.

 

[seeth07]

Seeth I actually spoke to the biologist up there and he said to me "you may get one to respond but it is highly unlikely they will come to a call since it will be post rut" so we are debating on if we should bring one or not.

Welcome back, you've been gone awhile. What did you decide on for transport?

 

[baker6019]

Welcome back, you've been gone awhile. What did you decide on for transport?

Thank you, yeah has been a very crazy summer for us so have not had a lot of time. We ended up getting a charter boat to take us from Kodiak to onion where the cabin is that we are using as base camp. It is something we found through a friend of a friend of a friend thing so should make a good base camp. We are bringing a bear fence in case we decide to spike out after hopefully finding the elk.

 

[seeth07]

Thank you, yeah has been a very crazy summer for us so have not had a lot of time. We ended up getting a charter boat to take us from Kodiak to onion where the cabin is that we are using as base camp. It is something we found through a friend of a friend of a friend thing so should make a good base camp. We are bringing a bear fence in case we decide to spike out after hopefully finding the elk.

you should really work on getting a few more posts so we can just talk in a PM rather than on here

 

[baker6019]

you should really work on getting a few more posts so we can just talk in a PM rather than on here

I'm working on it. Haha

 

[Valley1320]

Thank you, yeah has been a very crazy summer for us so have not had a lot of time. We ended up getting a charter boat to take us from Kodiak to onion where the cabin is that we are using as base camp. It is something we found through a friend of a friend of a friend thing so should make a good base camp. We are bringing a bear fence in case we decide to spike out after hopefully finding the elk.

Hope you do a story on your hunt for us here on HT

 

[baker6019]

I know I will post something after the hunt on how it went and any info we gather that might help others in the future. I'm betting seeth will do the same. This will be our first elk hunt ever so it will be interesting. We applied for the tags more as a way to lock all of our group into commitment on doing an Alaska hunt this year. It is myself, my brother 3 cousins and a best friend who is like a brother to us. We never thought anyone would actually draw this elk tag and just figured we would be doing an OTC caribou or something so it was quite a surprise to actually draw the tag but we are all really excited for the challenge.

 

[seeth07]

I know I will post something after the hunt on how it went and any info we gather that might help others in the future. I'm betting seeth will do the same. This will be our first elk hunt ever so it will be interesting. We applied for the tags more as a way to lock all of our group into commitment on doing an Alaska hunt this year. It is myself, my brother 3 cousins and a best friend who is like a brother to us. We never thought anyone would actually draw this elk tag and just figured we would be doing an OTC caribou or something so it was quite a surprise to actually draw the tag but we are all really excited for the challenge.

You sure picked likely one of the hardest elk hunts to start with. Or at least that is how I'm treating my preparation for this one!

 

[rjthehunter]

I'll have to add this to my list of applications to do next year... This sounds like a fun hunt!

 

[seeth07]

I'll have to add this to my list of applications to do next year... This sounds like a fun hunt!

With the odds worse than most sheep hunts, you are probably better off saving your money unless you are applying in AK for something else. For example, my wife and I REALLY wanted to draw the POW black bear tag again (a tag that used to be 100% odds....) so we have been applying for that ever since that trip and its minimal cost to toss your name in the hat for the elk tag. I think the hunt I drew was 6 tags with 3500+ apps. Its like a 0.15% chance to draw.

 

[rjthehunter]

With the odds worse than most sheep hunts, you are probably better off saving your money unless you are applying in AK for something else. For example, my wife and I REALLY wanted to draw the POW black bear tag again (a tag that used to be 100% odds....) so we have been applying for that ever since that trip and its minimal cost to toss your name in the hat for the elk tag. I think the hunt I drew was 6 tags with 3500+ apps. Its like a 0.15% chance to draw.

I'm on the fence about going up next fall for a moose. With a moose hunt that popped up this fall, I might end up pushing my own moose hunt back a year. But it would make sense to apply that year if I already have the hunting license. A $5 application fee isn't so bad, but a $160 hunting license isn't as cool.