AK Jeff

Here's some photos and brief recaps of some of the hunts I did last year in Alaska and Montana.

My fall season started out with a walk in hunt primarily for caribou, but with incidental grizzly on the agenda too. I hiked in about a dozen miles solo and setup a base camp in an area known to funnel caribou between drainages.

The scenery there is second to none. Caribou aren't overly abundant, but they are around. I had several opportunities on small bulls, including this one that was skylined right by my camp. But, with over ten miles to pack out I wasn't interested in breaking my back for a dink. I'll let those little guys have a chance to grow up.

AK Jeff

The caribou hunting didn't really pan out, but I did manage to put a stalk on a stout interior grizzly that was gorging on blueberries. The stalk took me down a spine of mountains for about three miles and then down a near vertical boulder field. I was able to see the bear most of the time, but by the time I made it all the way down into the valley the griz had moved into the alders and was as good as gone. You can barely make out the bear feeding in the open in the first picture. The second picture shows the terrain I had to hike out through. It was incredibly scenic, but basically torture. I didn't get back to my tent until almost 2AM and I was absolutely exhausted. Between the alder thickets and boulder fields my body was absolutely spent.

AK Jeff

I did manage to find some caribou sheds while trapsing about on that hunt. The two on the outside are a matched set that I found a couple miles apart.

On the hike out I saw quite a few moose, including this big boy. He was definitely a 60"+ bruiser and he was well aware of the fact that moose season didn't open for another few weeks.

AK Jeff

A couple of weeks later my buddy Matt and I decided to do a quick 'bou hunt north of home. Here's Matt with a couple of sheds we picked up on opening morning.

Matt had never taken a bull caribou so I gave him first crack at whatever we saw. Had I known that we were going to run into four bulls, including one absolute pig I probably would have made him flip a coin. His first bull is going to be a tough one to best.

AK Jeff

I can't complain at all though, because before Matt's bull was even down for the count I took a nice bull. I didn't even bother to size them up, I just took the first bull that cleared the group and he turned out to be a respectable bull. Two great trophies and meat in the freezer is nothing to complain about.

As we cleaned our bulls we had numerous other caribou cruise by including these three small bulls. Caribou are very curious animals and anything that looks like a caribou, including a couple of dead ones, will usually draw them in for a closer look.

AK Jeff

A few weeks later a couple of my college buddies and their Dad came up for a fly out moose and caribou hunt. I didn't actually go on this hunt, but I helped them out with logistics and loaned them my raft. They had a brutal hard hunt because the river they floated went nearly dry due to a lack of rain. They did manage to connect on two nice bulls in the low 50" range and a bull caribou.

I also helped them cut meat for several days when they got back. I think they thought I was exagerating when I told them how much work moose are to cut up. After chopping through well over 1,000 pounds of moose and caribou meat they knew I wasn't kidding. Moose are a ton of work, but when you're taking care of them with some great friends it really doesn't seem like work.

AK Jeff

In October Matt and I joined up with our friend Larry and flew to Alaska's emerald isle, Kodiak. Our target was mountain goats and incidental Sitka blacktail deer.

We flew out of Kodiak City with Sea Hawk Air. If you're ever going to fly in the Kodiak/Katmai area I highly recommend Sea Hawk. Roland is a top notch pilot and a great guy. He went above and beyond to take care of us as best he could.

Our home away from home in Kodiak was my Arctic Oven AO10 with a UDAP bear shock fence around the perimeter. Don't skimp on your tent and definitely take a bear fence if you ever go to Kodiak. The weather there is usually horrible and the bears are pretty much everywhere. We had brownies sniffing around our tent every night, but that fence thankfully kept them out of the tent.

AK Jeff

Hiking on Kodiak is about as much fun as being water-boarded (I assume), but it's a necessary evil for getting into the high country. Between the alders, devil's club, and snot grass covered rocks it can really beat a guy up.

AK Jeff

As we started to break into the alpine we spotted this brown bear about 500 yards away. As soon as he spotted us he came on a b-line to check us out. We ended up dropping our packs and scrambling up onto a small ledge. For a while I thought we were going to have to throw some warning lead his way, but thankfully he wised up and took off. He was a fat bear, but really not very long for Kodiak.

Shortly after making the ridgeline above our camp we spotted a lone goat directly below us. Because I had put together this hunt the other guys insisted that I have the first shot opportunity, even though I insisted we draw straws. The first goat sighting was exciting, but also nerve racking. Even though he was close he was right above a massive cliff on a near vertical grassy slope.

AK Jeff

We watched that billy for over an hour as he milled around less than 50 yards away. It was so tempting to drop the hammer on him, but I knew doing so could seriously jeopardize our well being. Almost every year at least one person falls to their death while mountain goat hunting in Alaska. I certainly didn't want myself or one of my friends to be one of those unfortunate statistics.

Patience paid off and the billy eventually worked his way up to the ridge we were on. We actually had to back up because he was headed straight for us. My hope was that he would come over the top and onto the grassy slope we were on. Unfortunately he stopped just one step short of the ridgeline and turned and looked at us. At a distance of just 6 yards I knew it was now or never so I put one right in the front shoulder in the hopes it would break him down. He spun at the shot and headed back down the other side. I quickly ran to where he had been standing and put another one through both lungs. We caught the whole sequence on video and the second shot likely did more harm than good. The impact knocked him off his feet and sent him rolling down the mountain. He rolled for close to 300 yards and then disappeared off a cliff face. Our only option was to hike around the end of the mountains and approach from below. We found the goat several hours later and amazingly he hadn't broken either of his horns in the dramatic fall.

Taking this mountain goat makes 8 of the Super 10 that I've taken, all fair chase, and all unguided.