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Looks like you can’t bone them out either. That stinks. 1 deer limit should greatly reduce the amount of people going up there that are on a tight budget.
The most likely reason to reduce the limit on Kodiak is that the deer herd is down. It's happened before and will happen again. Kodiak deer population fluctuates greatly with the biggest factor being bad snow years, not charter hunting. More deer die from starvation than get taken by hunters in a bad snow year. I have seen them extend the season a couple weeks to a month when they see they are going to have a bad winter kill. It's better to trim the herd early so the remaining deer aren't competing for available food with so many other deer. All areas in Alaska that have deer are subject to bad winter kill, but Kodiak especially has a problem in that there are few conifers and the the few conifers there are are mostly on the far north end of the island. Conifers create a canopy which helps keep snow off the ground, which makes it easier for deer to get around and to find food. One of the winter sources of food is Old Man's Beard, a lichen that grows on the local Spruce trees. I've watched deer pull it off of low hanging branches while feeding. Another important winter food is blueberry bushes. That might be their favorite when they can get at it, and there tends to be more blueberries where the spruce trees grow on Kodiak and especially Afognak and Shuyak Islands. The deer on those two islands generally survive a bad snow year better than on Kodiak itself. As the deer herd fluctuates, so do limits. I've seen the limit as high as 7 deer, either sex, down to two or three deer, bucks only. In 1981, my second year living in Kodiak, the limit was 7 and it wasn't uncommon to see a group of hunters come to town on a seiner or crabber with 40-50 deer hanging in the rigging or stacked on deck. But in the lean years following a die-off, Limits are cut and like most other States, non resident tags get cut more, to allow local hunters access to local meat. Those deer were planted on Kodiak and in Prince William Sound so the locals would have a local source of protein in a place where groceries are notoriously high. They don't mind sharing when times are good, but when hunting is lean, the locals are favored when setting limits. Understandably.
That was my 1st thought but it appears that's not the case. My understanding after reading the info today is that this had nothing to do with deer management, it was 100% people management, there were basically too many people (non residents), too many transporters and boats working the island. There was too much pressure and the easiest way to reduce the number of NR was to lower the tags available. I think it will work, I will go again, but less likely to make it a priority with only 1 tag in my pocket.
A lot of locals have been calling for this for awhile.
Quote from: Sundance on March 24, 2023, 07:08:17 AMA lot of locals have been calling for this for awhile.It's not going to do a thing about the Railbelt hunters coming down from Fairbanks, The Mat Valley and Anchorage though and that is where most off island hunters come from, not non residents.
At least we have strong blacktail numbers I guess.
This has been a hunt I have been thinking about doing. Definitely not worth it for 1 buck. Seems more and more hunting is trending towards local only. At least we have strong blacktail numbers I guess.
Let's face it. The juice isn't worth the squeeze even for 2 or 3 deer if you're spending thousands on the trip. The real reason we pay that kind of money is to have the experience. It's how I justify the money I spend to hunt in Idaho. I don't justify it by how much meat I get for what I spend. I justify it as being my vacation. Getting away from it all. Enjoying it with good friends. Some people like to go to Hawaii, others like casinos, still others like cruises. I like camping in my wall tent and spending time in the wilderness. Whatever I shoot is just a bonus.
Quote from: dilleytech on March 27, 2023, 09:08:40 AMThis has been a hunt I have been thinking about doing. Definitely not worth it for 1 buck. Seems more and more hunting is trending towards local only. At least we have strong blacktail numbers I guess.Curious why you think it's not worth it? Most years the average hunter takes 1 to 1.5 deer per season. And most of the guys who limit out are locals with boats who can hunt for 5 to 6 months. Not many non res come there to limit out because of the cost of tags and shipping meat. Doesn't make the price of the meat cost effective. Most not res who hunt Kodiak do it in conjunction with a goat hunt or a bear hunt or maybe an elk hunt. They want to take a nice Sitka trophy as part of their bucket list. But if taking more than one deer is your thing, Southeast is a better deal all the way around. I have never seen a 1 deer limit stop anyone from hunting non res in Idaho or Montana or Colorado or numerous other states.
Quote from: Sitka_Blacktail on March 27, 2023, 07:07:38 PMLet's face it. The juice isn't worth the squeeze even for 2 or 3 deer if you're spending thousands on the trip. The real reason we pay that kind of money is to have the experience. It's how I justify the money I spend to hunt in Idaho. I don't justify it by how much meat I get for what I spend. I justify it as being my vacation. Getting away from it all. Enjoying it with good friends. Some people like to go to Hawaii, others like casinos, still others like cruises. I like camping in my wall tent and spending time in the wilderness. Whatever I shoot is just a bonus.I mostly agree but the cool thing about Sitka deer is you can go ahead and shoot whatever then keep hunting and be more selective. Killing a small deer day 1 and sitting on a boat for a week doesn’t sound like fun.
Quote from: dilleytech on March 28, 2023, 08:27:21 AMQuote from: Sitka_Blacktail on March 27, 2023, 07:07:38 PMLet's face it. The juice isn't worth the squeeze even for 2 or 3 deer if you're spending thousands on the trip. The real reason we pay that kind of money is to have the experience. It's how I justify the money I spend to hunt in Idaho. I don't justify it by how much meat I get for what I spend. I justify it as being my vacation. Getting away from it all. Enjoying it with good friends. Some people like to go to Hawaii, others like casinos, still others like cruises. I like camping in my wall tent and spending time in the wilderness. Whatever I shoot is just a bonus.I mostly agree but the cool thing about Sitka deer is you can go ahead and shoot whatever then keep hunting and be more selective. Killing a small deer day 1 and sitting on a boat for a week doesn’t sound like fun.Trigger control..... You don't shoot the first small buck you see if you don't want to sit in the boat for a week. Or you help your buddy find one. Then at least you are still involved. Here's a couple of those tiny deer. I'm 250 lbs. so you tell me. The second one was all two of us could drag and that was mostly downhill. He was the largest bodied Sitka I ever shot in PWS
If you want to save money a DIY deer hunt on POW/Petersburg/Wrangell/Etolin can be done for better pricing. Milk run tickets are cheaper, more reliable with weather, better availability for USFS cabin rentals, and less winter kill then Kodiak.
