Opening Day Deer Hunt

Saturday was the opening day of deer season.  So on Friday night John and I climbed up into the mountains to camp so that we could wake up in deer hunting country.  John is new to Kodiak and while I hunted deer with him once last summer this was his first Kodiak alpine camp and hunt experience.  And this year we went to a place where I had never even been before - total terra incognita.  Generally when I go hunting it is to a place where I have done quite a bit of exploring beforehand and know the trails and routes etc.  But not this time.  So it was to be a shared learning experience.

We also used bikes to shorten our approach to the mountain and this was another first for me.  After the bike ride there was the 3 mile hike up through the forest with no trail to the alpine.  The mountain was totally socked in with fog and I was worried that come morning we would not be able to see enough to even hunt deer. We had to use a GPS to find our way up through the trees and to even know where we were on the mountain.  But eventually we got to the near alpine where we had planned on camping and set up camp.  John cut and split wood while I set up the tent, wood stove and camp kitchen.  Then it was red beans and rice and time by the roaring wood stove before bed.

At dawn we woke to clear skies and no fog.  So after a quick wood stove fueled breakfast we broke camp and rushed off to find deer.  And right away at the first bowl we saw deer and 2 bucks - one looked huge.  Then of course the fog socked back in.  Eventually we got to where we saw the 2 bucks but the big guy was gone and the other buck was just a fork and too small to harvest.  

We continued to hunt and explored all the bowls on the mountain.  There were deer everywhere but no big bucks.  By early afternoon we were getting ready to take a nap and planning on another night of camping when we saw a big buck well within range.  John shot him and so began the hard work.

After that it was all a slog.  After cutting up the deer we had to climb 500 vertical feet back up to the top of the mountain and then begin our 3 mile trip down to the bikes.  After adding the camping gear our packs were heavy, and there was plenty of devilsclub to make the hike interesting.  We reached the bikes 4 hours after leaving where we shot the deer.  And then the trailer we had rigged behind a bike to carry the meat broke under the load.  It was looking bad, but John fixed the trailer and it did not break again.  After another 2 hours of biking we finally made it back to our cars.  Hard hunt complete and successful!

Deer season begins!

Patrick