Jeff (Talusinaz) and I just got back from Kodiak where we did a little fishing and hunting. We really had one day to hunt due to weather and transportation. We made it a LONG day!





This is what I saw when I got back on the scope! Probably visible for a mile or two!

Good job guys!

We shot from here to the mountain in the distance. Both were one shot kills. Jeff shot first, his buck cartwheeled down the mountain to the bottom of a rock slide. Mine got hung up on a spruce tree until I liberated it. I couldn't hang on and it ended up at the bottom of the rock slide (about 100 feet). Boned and hiked to closest road. Arrived at 1:00 AM. Saw bears driving out!








We were quite a ways back in and the younger deer obviously didn't consider us a threat. This one and its partner walked up on us while were were hiking. We veered away and sat down to glass. They walked closer and bedded down 75 yards away. This one fell asleep. I got up and moved to a new spot about 100 yards away. I looked over and saw that she was standing up and very nervous. I whistled to her, waved to her and she laid back down- apparently satisfied that I was still a good guy! She was there for about an hour!

Nice! Going to go camp out tomorrow night on my first hunt of the year. You'll love eating them!

I intend to!!

Nice work!!

Congrats to you and Jeff!

Kodiak Blacktail is my favorite deer meat.

Ed

Great pictures and congrats!

I recognize the shop...

A wee bit different than hunting in Arizona I reckon. Need fish pics or it didn't happen.

Ditto,,
Those blacktails are fine eating for sure, I did most of my deer hunting on Afognak, even in the nasty weather you could hunt in the forest. I would climb high and hunt the ledges and catch them from above.

Sounds awesome,great shooting ,how was the fishin

Regarding blacktail meat, I've never seen an animal that dressed out with so much fat with two exceptions: domestic hog and one acorn-gorged black bear in late October.

There were sheets of fat on these bucks! And what a paunch! I don't think I could have gotten the paunch contents from one buck into a 5-gallon bucket. These critters are definately racing to put on fat before the snow.

After quite a few eastern whitetails and coues deer, this buck was the biggest bodied deer I have ever taken. What a pig!

We actually stalked these deer for 6 hours. After the shots, and climbing up the mountain, it had been a long day. I looked at the bucks and thought "Oh s76t!"!

The hindquarters (femur in), neck and rib meat, and filleted shoulder meat alone on my buck weighed 66 lbs.

It was interesting to note that these bucks were bedded on the same ledge as previous mountain goats. They absolutely could not be seen bedded from any angle except above, which is why we had to keep waiting and moving in until they finally began to feed again. When we shot them, they were standing just where we had first seen them 6 hours (and over a mile) earlier.

Will post some fish pics when I get finished unpacking ...

OK, here is my only decent fish picture.

That is a pig of a silver!

Very nice. Congrats!

Congratulations on a great adventure.

That's great,sure beats the hell out of workin,
That stream doesn't look big enough to hold slobs like that..

Great adventure. What rifles/calibers were you using?

donsm70

I took a Remington Mountain rifle that I rebarreled in 260 Ackley using 140 Sierra Game Kings. Leupold Vari-X 3 2.5-8 with B&C reticle.

Jeff used a Tikka in 30-06 with 168 TTSX and a 4.5-14 with M1 dials.

Range was 400 yards, both bullets performed perfectly. Mine took out the heart and exited the shoulder, Jeff's took out the aorta cluster and exited as well.

Some Kodiak images:





Words can't describe the brilliance of a perfect, fleeting, Kodiak day.

Beautiful setting, great shooting, and good eating. Don't get much better than that. Thanks for sharing.

In the alpine:



I know it looks staged, but we actually found the bucks from here, about 1.2 miles away.

As he lay:



Dolly Varden were going berserk feeding on salmon roe. This is a smaller one. Shortly after this pic the 5 WT rod was destroyed by a pig of a pink salmon.



This fellow and the dollies were caught and released:

T-shirt?

Certainly not Kodiak. Fess up now!

Congrats, fellas!

We had to run to the Marine Supply store to replenish tippet material.



And just in time:

Oh, and I caught a ling cod on a Sabiki rig! As well as the unidentified rock fish above. Good thing I had the 900# test line.

Well done, compadre's!!!

That line is hell to tie a nail knot with ...

GREAT thread !!!

Thanks fellas!

GTC

The unidentified rockfish is actually a female kelp greenling.

Looks like heaven! Congrats.

Cool beans Jeff and Dennis !

Thought about you a time or two while we were hunting. Good times on Kodiak aren't they, Doug!

Great job guys!

Dennis,

Well done man!