Kodiak Blacktail Hunt Questions

[dwils233]

(Before anybody tells me to do a search, I have been reading up extensively on older posts)

I'm trying to get an idea of what different options people have done for a kodiak hunt and how the costs shook out for them when it was all said and done. I'd like to do a blacktail hunt with my dad in the next year or two tops. I don't think an alpine hunt would be ideal for us, so I'm really interested in the lower hunts in the later fall. I'd also like to get some fishing in if we can. In general I'm trying to pack in as much as I can for a hunt for the two of us to have some memories and bring back a buck for the wall (or two) and some seafood as an added bon

This has me looking at a boat based hunt, but I know there are a few lodges that might be able to pull something similar off. If you've dove something similar, I'd really like to hear about your experiences and insights. I'd also love to get an idea on some total costs or what the edded costs might be that I'm not aware of. Please feel free to PM

Just to get ahead of any questions: I'd like to take on a neat hunt for my dad but thinks its best to avoid something too strenous or extreme, I'd like to be in animals and have some opportunity, but mostly I just want to give my dad a great experience. SO any other ideas I'm also up for hearing. Thanks guys!

[Sitka_Blacktail]

There are so many options on Kodiak that it would be hard to give you a cost estimate without knowing exactly where you want to hunt. Boat hunts are great in that you aren't limited to one spot. And you don't have to worry about bears getting into your harvest at night. But every year guys do fly out hunts without incident and others aren't so lucky.  Afognak is a good choice. You can either pay the Native Corp fee to hunt on their land or if you look at a land use map, there is public land and also Joint Venture land that is free to hunt.  Still fairly close to town is the Uganik Bay and Uganik Island area which is mostly part of the wildlife refuge on Kodiak.

You can also take one deer off the Kodiak road system if you haven't taken a deer any where else at the time you hunt. You will run into a lot of private land on the road system but again there are places you can hunt. Locals quad over to Saltery Creek from Middle Bay and once you cross Saltery Creek you are off the road system and can take more deer.  I believe to can pay the Natives to hunt their property on the road system too. It's been a while since I hunted there so I don't know what they are doing now. 

There is some great hunting at the south end of the island and a lot of it is more flat like you seem to be looking for, but it's much farther from town so transportation will cost you more. There are also some lodges scattered about the island such as the Zachar Bay Lodge, Afognak Lodge. A reputable transporter by boat is Kodiak Combos out of Old Harbor and they also specialize in salt water fishing for Kings, Halibut, and rockfish.  These outfits could give you a good idea of the cost. There are also commercial fishing vessels that supplement their income by taking out hunters.

Good luck

There used to be a good land use and ownership map online and if I can find it, I'll post it. I can probably find you some web sites too from some of the various businesses.

[dwils233]

If I remove the flight to ketchiKan (I'll be using AK air miles and companion prices for my dad) do you think I can get to the south end , hunt and fish and get back to WA with the added baggage from any take for 6k for the both of us or should I be planning on more? My wife has to ok the expense so I'm hoping to be price concious but bringing home some seafood would give me some more wiggle room. I saw Zachar lodge seems pretty affordable for a week but they require a 4 man booking for the cabins and that would push things up quite a bit, plus flight to the south end add about 1k and fishing adds about 800 a day...that pushes me closer to the boat option to maximize opportunity and fishing but also increases the cost quite a bit

Thanks Sitka Blacktail!

[Sitka_Blacktail]

This first lodge is owned by friends. I used to work for Wade and his dad.

https://olgacreek.com/about-us/

Here's another that is pretty popular.

http://www.zacharbaylodge.com/index.php

I have visited and had dinner with these folks.

https://afognaklodge.com/

and Kodiak Combos

https://www.kodiakcombos.com/