Prince of Wales Hunting

[mattnduke]

I'm looking for recommendations for outfitters for self guided fall black bear and deer hunts in POW. A quick online search pulls up Coffman Cove, Thorne Bay Lodge, Alaska Adventure/fishorhunt.com, etc. I'm sure there is a past thread or two on this topic, but I thought I'd get an updated opinion and recommendation on current outfitters. Please feel free to PM me or reply on here. And if you happen to work or own one of the aforementioned places, by all means give yourself a shameless plug! :-)

[BIG-D]

I've hunted there and have stayed at thorn bay and Alaska adventure/fishorhunt both where good. Out of the two I liked Alaska adventure. Jason the owner was great to deal with.


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[Amigo Will]

You need to draw a tag or hire a guide with tags.

[Hughiam]

You can call the Forest Service in Craig and ask for an outfitters list. But as has been mentioned above, you will need to draw a tag or get with a guide that has tags.

[AKDoug]

If you are just looking for a place to stay with a good vehicle to use, Coffman Cove Adventures is great. Mike (Gooch) cooks good meals, his cabins are clean and his vehicles are reliable. As said before, you will need to draw tags to hunt black bear.

[mattnduke]

Hey Guys. Well, two of our four drew bear tags. We're headed up to stay with Jason at Alaska Adventure. I've talked with his mom who runs the office quite a bit as well as Jason. It's been a great experience so far. Needless to say, we're stoked to get there to get after the bears, deer, and fish.

Since I posted this thread, I've gotten heavy in to Archery. I plan to bring my Marlin 45-70 for backup and hunt strictly with my Mathews bow. I killed a nice 6.5 foot blackie with it in May up on the Kenai. Hoping for the double up with a Kenai Peninsula spring toad and a fall POW hog in the same year with a bow! The Peninsula bear was fat as can be and was absolutely delicious. Hunted out of Homer one day and saw a ton of bear. Chased em all over, but couldnt seal the deal.

Any one have any suggestions for bow hunting both the blackies and deer in POW in mid September? We're planning on getting off the logging roads and beaten paths and hike to tributaries for spot and stalk blackies. We're spending time on Google Earth looking for muskeg and open areas to sit the edges and call and glass for deer. Are there any strategies that any of you can share that we're missing?

[AKDoug]

I'm no expert, but I think you're going to find the bucks way up high in September and the bears down low near the fish. I've never had any luck calling deer in September.

[hoonahtic]

I'm no expert, but I think you're going to find the bucks way up high in September and the bears down low near the fish. I've never had any luck calling deer in September.

Yep, there may be a few bears in the subalpine areas eating berries at that time too... I wouldn't fuss with the deer call... good luck, keep this thread updated when you finish up the hunt!

[muskeg]

Mid to late Sept can be a hard Deer hunt as the mt Bucks are leaving the alpine into the upper lush forest. They usually are not low down and are not where the Bear are. If Bear have moved up into the alpine berries the Deer drop down also. It has been my experience that the call scares the Bucks in Sept and into most of Oct.

Many large Boar have had plenty of salmon by mid Sept and have moved into the forest. If it continues to be low water and little rain the best fall Bear hunt could be in the uplands. The call can work on Bear. Sept flooding can make river / creek hunting a challenge also.

[Mt Al]

I've stayed with Jason twice. Excellent overall operation and would go back again anytime. Please post pictures when you get back!

[tboehm]

I can tell you that the guys at thorne bay lodge are great people and really pay attention to details. I used them once and had a fantastic time.