Kodiak

[BKhunter]

So I watch the series on discovery or history channel called The Hunt where they follow different hunters during their guided hunts on Alaska's Kodiak island. That island looks intense and like one of the most memorable hunts anyone could ever go on and would have to save for a lifetime to really afford. When googling prices these guides look like they are getting around 18-20 K a hunt.  Just curious if anyone here as ever done that trip or has plans to. Just curious how it was if someone did go there or knew someone that did.

[MACHINIST]

I wish!!!

[bkln]

$20k? no thank you, I will stick to Northeast heaven instead....

[BizCT]

So I watch the series on discovery or history channel called The Hunt where they follow different hunters during their guided hunts on Alaska's Kodiak island. That island looks intense and like one of the most memorable hunts anyone could ever go on and would have to save for a lifetime to really afford. When googling prices these guides look like they are getting around 18-20 K a hunt.  Just curious if anyone here as ever done that trip or has plans to. Just curious how it was if someone did go there or knew someone that did.

 

I've never been to Alaska, but know people who have and they all say its amazing.  Farthest west I have been hunting is British Columbia and that was really cool.

[Pygmy]

I never had the desire to shoot one of those hairy Volkswagons, unless it was to keep him from chewing on me !! Brown bear hunting is big bucks, whether done on Kodiak , the AK Peninsula, or anywhere else in Alaska.

However, Sitka blacktail hunts on Kodiak are still fairly reasonable. Last I knew you could get up to five tags, and success rates are very high. The deer don't have big racks ( a 100" buck is a real trophy) but they are, in my opinion, the most beautiful North American deer..The capes are gorgeous, and the venison is reputed to be the very best of any of the deer species.

Just stay alert while you are butchering your deer. Ol' Leroy has learned that rifle shots are the same as a dinner bell... It's a good idea to hunt with a partner. One guy butchers while his partner stands guard.

Many of the hunts involve sleeping on a boat ( away from the bears) and going ashore on a skiff to hunt each day. Often fishing, sea duck hunting, and putting out pots for crabs and shrimp are included in the hunt.

[Mr VJP]

Closest I've gotten so far, is purchasing my Kimber Talkeetna in .375 H&H!

 

[Borngeechee]

So I watch the series on discovery or history channel called The Hunt where they follow different hunters during their guided hunts on Alaska's Kodiak island. That island looks intense and like one of the most memorable hunts anyone could ever go on and would have to save for a lifetime to really afford. When googling prices these guides look like they are getting around 18-20 K a hunt. Just curious if anyone here as ever done that trip or has plans to. Just curious how it was if someone did go there or knew someone that did.

20k? Hell you can book an African safari for 3 plains game animals, flight, room and board and food for around 7k

[Mr VJP]

Yeah, but that's no fun.  

 

[Dinsdale]

Borngeechee, on 05 Sept 2014 - 6:30 PM, said:

20k? Hell you can book an African safari for 3 plains game animals, flight, room and board and food for around 7k

 

 

But its apples and oranges, the experience is not the same.

 

Frankly for having a good time for pulling the trigger a fair amount, accomodations,meals etc, many African plains game hunts are a bunch of fun.......have taken more than a few head of game there now.

 

But I can't compare that to say a Caribou hunt other than a price.....or any other hunt I have done.

 

You see a totally different enviroment/ecosystem for each one, different hunting styles....etc.

[Doc]

I have seen a few episodes of that program and realize that it is a hunt for a much younger man than myself. Actually at any age, you have to be in pretty good shape just to keep up.....lol. But for those that like the challenge of hunting something that hunts back, it would be a must-do hunt. Even under the protection of an armed guide, a full-on charge of one of those critters will certainly test your ability to snap-shoot a running animal intent on eating your face off. For me that's a bit too much pressure. Plus, I would have to build an addition in order to display the mount.....lol.

[BKhunter]

I have seen a few episodes of that program and realize that it is a hunt for a much younger man than myself. Actually at any age, you have to be in pretty good shape just to keep up.....lol. But for those that like the challenge of hunting something that hunts back, it would be a must-do hunt. Even under the protection of an armed guide, a full-on charge of one of those critters will certainly test your ability to snap-shoot a running animal intent on eating your face off. For me that's a bit too much pressure. Plus, I would have to build an addition in order to display the mount.....lol.

I think that's what kinda intrigues me. The fact that your being hunted as you hunt them makes it something special.... Call me sick

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Doc]

I think that's what kinda intrigues me. The fact that your being hunted as you hunt them makes it something special.... Call me sick

 

I have a disgusting picture of a human carcass that has been partially eaten that is way too graphic for posting. I mean it is almost guaranteed to turn the stomach of even the strongest gut. Whenever the subject of Kodiak hunting comes up, that is the picture that flashes through my mind and reminds me why it isn't really something for me. Also some of the descriptions that bear attack survivors come up with are pretty disgusting things to contemplate.

[Pygmy]

Alaska is a very unique place. It even has it's own smell.

I love it.

I have done 5 hunts there, all DIY/unguided.

It is indeed a young man's hunt. I hunted there over 20 years ago when I was younger and in much better shape, and it still kicked my ass ! It was worth every blister, though.

Alaska requires that you hire a guide to hunt grizzlies/brown bears, and I never was interested in shooting them and couldn't afford a guided hunt anyway. However, I saw my share of them while hunting moose and caribou. They are pretty impressive critters..They even LOOK like they have an attitude. Fortunately we never had any hostile encounters with them. Most of them that I saw ran like hell the moment they saw us or caught wind of us, just like our local black bears do.

[ATbuckhunter]

I don't think ill be paying 20k for a hunt at this moment, thank you very much. 

[Mr VJP]

One of the reasons a Kodiak hunt is so expensive is that Alaska requires a guide to hunt them.

 

That little fact causes the price to go up, because the hunter has no choice.  That messes with the free market and allows guides to charge whatever people are willing to pay.  If a DIY grizzly hunt was possible, the price for guided hunts would be less.  But a lot of DIY hunters would probably get mauled if they don't know what they're doing.

 

 

[Kujo48]

Its on my bucket list!!

[turkeyfeathers]

I'd only do it if Heidi Klum was my sleeping bag partner. Otherwise I'll pass.