Avoiding the High and Dry

[Young Buck]

Headed to hunt black bear on Kupreanof Island in May. Will be staying at Calder Mtn Lodge. I will be hunting them by boat and by foot. This is my first time hunting tidal waters and my greatest concerns on this hunt are understanding how to anchor the boat and making sure it STAYS PUT when going ashore and being able to retrieve it when needed with the large tide swings in the area. Anyone have experience with this or can anyone point me to a resource in print or online to prepare myself?

My other concern is losing a lower unit on rocks. I do understand how to read a nautical chart and will obviously be going slow and especially slow in tidal areas. I will have navionics on my phone and will have a Lowrance GPS/depth finder in the boat. Any advice in this area would be much appreciated also!

Happy hunting!

 

[N_8]

Well a lot depends on your boat..or at least how heavy it is.

I generally run a separate line to base of a Danforth anchor and take it to shore. Then I play out the amount of anchor line I think I will need to have the boat anchored off correctly and cleat that of too the front of the boat. Lay the anchor on the rail and walk out as deep as I can (waders help) and push the boat off. When it gets off shore, I give the shore line a jerk and if all works well, the anchor falls off the rail and the boat is anchored off deep and still floating when the tide goes out. The shore line should pull against the direction the anchor sets when you pull the boat in. In practice it can be a messy process and sometimes won’t work if you have a strong onshore wind or just too much tide swing.

Rollers are your friend in a lund or smaller aluminum boat. I keep PVC rollers in my boat but even logs will help a lot if you must push.,

In terms of watching your lower unit the only advice I can give is pay a lot off attention at low tide for problem spots. Look for obstacle free spots to land and watch out for inviting looking beaches with a few big rocks just offshore.

I imagine if you are renting from a lodge they will have some direction for you, but both those issues loom large in the conscious of all SE Alaska boaters.

 

[Young Buck]

I will be renting an 18 ft aluminum boat with a larger outboard on it. I imagine they will give me some direction on how to avoid a SNAFU. I appreciate your input! Thanks!

 

[Salmonchaser]

25 foot tides can make that a challenge. Ive been high and dry more than once. PIA. Seen a bunch of guys lose their boat anchoring at low tide. Drag the anchor out 10 feet or so, and hike off. Tide comes in floats the boat and anchor.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

@Young Buck directions were given... we still managed to screw it up once.

 

[Gellar]

@Young Buck directions were given... we still managed to screw it up once.

View attachment 214262

I’m sure it wasn’t funny at the time, but all you can do is laugh and learn now!

 

[muskeg]

I've been high & dry a few times ...

 

[muskeg]

We were able to struggle the skiff to the water, and get a hunt on. That is a 16ft / 30hp. You won't move an 18ft boat, you will be stuck like Velcro.

Study the tide book for when you are going to be hunting. The best tides for hunting is low water and incoming. If it's low tide in the late afternoon and incoming, that's the best. The big old Boars tend to come out late around twilight. That means skinning in the dark. Boating in the dark unless you are prepared to spend the night on shore and boat when it gets light.

I like to have lots of bow line, like a couple hundred feet. Floating poly line has less chance on getting hung up on rocks. When you spot a bear and put a stalk on always tie your boat off to something as high on the beach as you can get. Or leave someone with the boat to keep a watch on it. If it's incoming your golden, unless there is wind blowing on shore. It can beat your boat against the rocks. If it's outgoing you must have some type of anchor system figured out. So you can shove your boat out into deep enough water and jerk the anchor off the bow, with enough scope and also have line to have to tie off up the beach. And to be able to retrieve the anchor from shore with out it getting hung up. If it's a flat bottom shallow bay it is hard to anchor. It's best to anchor off a small cliff or a steeper part of the bay with deeper water. You can calculate about what the water depth will be easy enough. But like Salmonchaser stated above the wind and a big tide swing can give you grief.

 

[Salmonchaser]

I had to swim for the boat once! Bouncing in and out of Alaska since I was three years old, she is unique and always will challenge you. if you aren’t already skookum on outboards, spend some time learning. Don’t tell them you’re studying up to work on their motors, we don’t like that, just find out what brand and do a little home work. A simple tool kit can solve any thing you are going to fix in the field. Most outfits renting boats do a good job of prepping them, stuff happens.

 

[Young Buck]

25 foot tides can make that a challenge. Ive been high and dry more than once. PIA. Seen a bunch of guys lose their boat anchoring at low tide. Drag the anchor out 10 feet or so, and hike off. Tide comes in floats the boat and anchor.

I have no doubt. I'm sure that sometimes you can still be high and dry even with doing everything right.

 

[Young Buck]

@Young Buck directions were given... we still managed to screw it up once.

View attachment 214262

Dang it! A lot easier to move that skiff that some rigs i bet!

 

[Young Buck]

We were able to struggle the skiff to the water, and get a hunt on. That is a 16ft / 30hp. You won't move an 18ft boat, you will be stuck like Velcro.

Study the tide book for when you are going to be hunting. The best tides for hunting is low water and incoming. If it's low tide in the late afternoon and incoming, that's the best. The big old Boars tend to come out late around twilight. That means skinning in the dark. Boating in the dark unless you are prepared to spend the night on shore and boat when it gets light.

I like to have lots of bow line, like a couple hundred feet. Floating poly line has less chance on getting hung up on rocks. When you spot a bear and put a stalk on always tie your boat off to something as high on the beach as you can get. Or leave someone with the boat to keep a watch on it. If it's incoming your golden, unless there is wind blowing on shore. It can beat your boat against the rocks. If it's outgoing you must have some type of anchor system figured out. So you can shove your boat out into deep enough water and jerk the anchor off the bow, with enough scope and also have line to have to tie off up the beach. And to be able to retrieve the anchor from shore with out it getting hung up. If it's a flat bottom shallow bay it is hard to anchor. It's best to anchor off a small cliff or a steeper part of the bay with deeper water. You can calculate about what the water depth will be easy enough. But like Salmonchaser stated above the wind and a big tide swing can give you grief

Muskeg,

This is the information I have been looking for! I will study the tide book til I'm sick of it. Your advice about big bors in twilight got me thinking about what I would need to stay warm and dry over night up there. Luckily, the nights are short that time of year! I think if I feel that we will get screwed with an onshore wind or weird tide stuff, my brother or I will stay with the boat. I would love to be my my brothers side when he gets his first bear but if missing it means we arent stranded or swimming...I'll make that trade.

 

[Young Buck]

I had to swim for the boat once! Bouncing in and out of Alaska since I was three years old, she is unique and always will challenge you. if you aren’t already skookum on outboards, spend some time learning. Don’t tell them you’re studying up to work on their motors, we don’t like that, just find out what brand and do a little home work. A simple tool kit can solve any thing you are going to fix in the field. Most outfits renting boats do a good job of prepping them, stuff happens.

That sounds frigid! This is excellent advice. I will look into this. I will be staying with Calder Mtn Lodge and from what I understand they take very good care of their boats and motors but I will certainly come prepared. Any advice on what to have in the kit?

 

[Salmonchaser]

small metric socket set 8 to 14 an extension and a plug socket, crescent wrench side cutters and a small set of channel locks should cover it.
Yes they have a good professional reputation. In 20 years of outfitting self guided and guided fishing we never had to go recover a boat that wouldn’t run that wasnt operator error. Most common problem was running the battery down with the dead man switch hanging from their jacket.

 

[rmyoung1]

@Young Buck I’ve hunted with Calder Mountain Lodge twice. The reality is that they take very good care of you. The Millers will have the ability to track your boat. Should you get into trouble, they’ll be able to find you. I always brought along a rented Sat phone so that I could call out to them in case of some emergency, as well. When you get back into the bays, slow way down and check your depth and start glassing for bears. The people that damage props are being careless. As for keeping your boat from being high & dry… just don’t leave it. I’m assuming you’re going with at least one hunting buddy. Make sure someone stays in the boat and keeps it in deep water. The tide moves fast and that’s the easiest way to keep yourself out of trouble.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

Dang it! A lot easier to move that skiff that some rigs i bet!

We cracked beers and waited for the tide.

 

[BrentD]

I hunted with Calder Mt last year. It was a lot of fun, but leaving the boat was an issue. There were just 2 of us, and one of us was ALWAYS in the boat. The tide moves way too fast for beaching for more than than a few minutes.

The boats are very heavy aluminum. You will not be sliding them anywhere once grounded. Do yourself a favor and get a boat with a partial cover. A few extra bucks but worth every penny. Otherwise, you will be wet regardless of the weather.

 

[AlaskaHunter]

My first trip to Alaska was 1980s out of Petersburg to a Forest Service cabin.
We had a 16 foot Lund and was high and dry the morning we needed to leave.
We used some small logs as rollers and were able to push the boat out to deep water.
I do like post#2 suggestion of PVC rollers in the the boat just in case.

 

[Young Buck]

small metric socket set 8 to 14 an extension and a plug socket, crescent wrench side cutters and a small set of channel locks should cover it.
Yes they have a good professional reputation. In 20 years of outfitting self guided and guided fishing we never had to go recover a boat that wouldn’t run that wasnt operator error. Most common problem was running the battery down with the dead man switch hanging from their jacket.

Copy that. Thank you! I will do my best to avoid the rookie mistakes.

 

[Young Buck]

@Young Buck I’ve hunted with Calder Mountain Lodge twice. The reality is that they take very good care of you. The Millers will have the ability to track your boat. Should you get into trouble, they’ll be able to find you. I always brought along a rented Sat phone so that I could call out to them in case of some emergency, as well. When you get back into the bays, slow way down and check your depth and start glassing for bears. The people that damage props are being careless. As for keeping your boat from being high & dry… just don’t leave it. I’m assuming you’re going with at least one hunting buddy. Make sure someone stays in the boat and keeps it in deep water. The tide moves fast and that’s the easiest way to keep yourself out of trouble.

I had the chance to have an awesome conversation with Bill this past weekend in Boise. Seems like an awesome guy. I appreciate your advice! I feel like not leaving the boat is the best choice. I will be hunting with my brother so one of us can stay with it.