Another Kodiak Hunt

[Elkwhisper]

Well with all the posts about hunting Kodiak lately, I figured I might as well post a few pics from my trip to the "Emerald Isle" this September.

Weather was iffy on our flyout day, but we managed to get in the air by midmorning and were settled into the cabin that we had rented on Deadman Bay by lunchtime. The sun came out and we were able to spot goats right from the cabin. We managed to put our glass on at least 50 goats that afternoon, though most were to high and to far to judge. We decided to hit the mountain hard the next morning, and took advantage of the nice weather to do a little fishing / bear watching.

The river near our cabin was choked with rotting pinks, and the silvers were for the most part, not in the river. Never the less, I was able to boat several coho.

Some bright-

 

[Elkwhisper]

Some not so bright.

 

[Elkwhisper]

Early the next morning we moored our skiff off shore, and began the long, steep hike to the top. Pictures can't do this terrain justice. Most of the climb was hand over hand, through nasty alders. What we thought would take us a couple of hours, turned into about a 5 hour jant.

This picture my brother (the in shape one) took from above as my Dad and I tried to catch up.

 

[Elkwhisper]

As is often the case the view was worth the climb.

Here is my dad overlooking Deadman Bay.

 

[Elkwhisper]

We made it up into goat country and had camp set up by about 4 pm. The plan was to find a vantage point and try to locate a couple of billies (at least we were hoping they were billies) that we had spotted from the bottom the night before, feeding in a high bowl.

Here is a pic of goat country from our vantage point.

 

[Elkwhisper]

We were able to find the goats bedded on a high ridge above the bowl we had seen them in the night before.

Here is a picture of the goats in their beds- and a closeup!

 

[Elkwhisper]

Well we settled in to wait them out, and see if they would again feed out into the same bowl. My brother, not being the type to sit still for long, decided he just had to see what was on the back side of the bowl we were watching. Since we figured the goats wouldn't make their move for another hour or so, we sent him to take a look. He had barely made it over the ridge, when the goats got up and started feeding our way as we had planned. I quickly moved down into position to intercept the oncoming pair of billies. To do so I had to drop behind a saddle and lost sight of them briefly. As I was slipping up into my ambush position, I looked above me and there staring down on me from directly up the ridge were two goats. I couldn't figure out how the two goats I was watching had made it there so fast, but I imediately dropped prone and got set up to shoot. A quick check with the rangefinder indicated they were still 450 yards away at a VERY steep angle. I was pretty sure I wanted them to get closer, and was trying to decided if I should try and make a move, or wait for them to make one. Just then all hell broke loose. My brother had come back over the ridge and bumped right into the pair of goats above me. He quckly shot the one closest to him, as I was watching through my scope. The goat hunched up and headed for some nasty cliffs. With the hit looking to be a little far back and the goat headed for a 200 foot drop, I decided to do what I could to get it knocked down. I emptied my gun at the previously ranged 450 yards, and we each were able to get another round into her. She dropped right at the edge. All looked good for a minute, but when she finally gave up the ghost, over she went.

Turns out the goats above me were not the ones I had originaly planned on ambushing. I was pretty surprised when the two big billies I was wating for stepped out at 150 yards and looked at me broadside while I sat there with an empty gun. Doh!


Here is a picture of the bowl where all of the action took place, as well as picture of my bros nanny after her fall.

 

[Elkwhisper]

Once all the shooting subsided, my two big billies wandered up the far side of the bowl, far out of range. Suprisingly they really were not all that spooked, but they weren't hanging arround. I climbed up to meet up with my brother, and as I got up to him we noticed that the Billy that was initially with the Nanny he shot, hadn't gone far. A quick sneak and I had him standing broadside at about 125 yards. He was standing on about a 5' x8' shelf on a VERY steep slope. I figured if I pounded one through his shoulders, I could drop him on that shelf. At the shot, he dropped as planned but managed to kick himself off the edge of the shelf. Once we made our way to where he had been standing, we noticed that the back side of the shelf was a 100 foot rocky cliff with a long grassy slope at the bottom. The goat had taken quite a fall and then he rolled, and rolled and rolled. My Leupold RX-IV Rangefinder read 432 yards from where he had been standing to where he lay at an angle of -42 degrees.

Here is a couple of pictures of my 9" Billy.

 

[Elkwhisper]

You might notice that my trophy shots have pretty good light for an late evening kill. We actually weren't able to get down to my goat before dark, and had to leave it overnight and return in the morning. When we found him in the morning, there was a big fox finishing up his front quarter. Worst part was he totally destroyed my cape. We did our best to creatively pose the goat and crop the photos to avoid the gore the fox left behind. We didn't really loose that much meat, but I sure wish I could have saved the cape......

So we were tagged out on the first night of hunting. It took us the entire second day to haul camp and goats off the mountain. I am sure my pack was all of 100lbs. Gravity did all the work, I was just along for the ride.

Just as we made it back to the boat, a big storm hit and we were stuck in the cabin for the rest of our trip. The winds blew 50+mph and it rained all day every day. The weather broke just long enough to get us out of there on our scheuduled pick up day.

This was a GREAT hunt, and we had a killer time. Now I have all winter to plan my next Alaska adventure. Have my fingers crossed for a TOK sheep tag

 

[Ithaca 37]

Great story and pictures! Thank you.

 

[Oak]

Nice goat, and great pics!

Sorry, but I'm likely going to draw your Tok tag this year.

 

[BigHornRam]

Killer pics and hunt Whisper! Thanks.

 

[IdahoBugler]

Awesome story and pics. Thanks for sharing.

 

[MarvB]

Nice Whisper! Was your dad just along with the boys or did he hunt at all on the trip?

 

[Moosie]

Love the goat hunting... Thats next on my list... Well, not exactly "next" but it's on my list

Nice story and walk through !!!

 

[csutton7]

great pics and congrats----chris

 

[TBinKodiak]

Congrats on a nice billy. I'll be filing away that picture of Deadman's just incase I ever make it down that way. Thanks

 

[mtmiller]

Nice goat elkwhisper. My Kodiak goat app will go out next week. With a little luck in the draw, I will get to play in up there next fall.

 

[LILIDAHO]

Cool story and pics!!! Looks like a fun time. LIL

 

[jkhunterid]

Great story and pictures, thanks.