DG 476 Kiliuda Bay suggestions

[AKmyles]

As the title suggests I drew DG 476. Ive read through the old threads about this hunt. Im going to be calling Seahawk Air and a Bio to pick their brains a bit. But I was hoping to gain a little insight from someone who's maybe done this hunt before, or has experience hunting goats on Kodiak. Only having the tag for a hanful of days now, this is where im starting my plannning. So far this is what I'm thinking:

-Last week Sept./First week Oct.
-10-14 day hunt
-3 hunters (I have the only goat tag)
-Fly-in to alpine lake

A couple of thoughts/concerns:

-Are there any lakes to fly into in this area? (Google maps didnt make it look like very many)
-Would these lakes be thawed still?
-Would we be better off getting dropped into salt, using an inflatable, and bushwhacking to alpine?
-Likelyhood of running into blacktails? (For partners' sanity)
-Bear problems in goat country?
-Amount of snow this time of year on Kodiak

Any experiences, or advice, what you would do/have done differently, I'll take anything. Ive done plenty of mountain hunting, just never for goat. So I'm excited to learn and hopefully earn my first billy roud:

 

[BRWNBR]

I've never hunted there but will touch on a few things you've asked about.
Lake should be open, usually later oct bfore it starts freezing up.
Deer should be around. Think it thru
Before shooting one. Goats and deer are heavy to carry around. A big buck will add a lot
To your pack weight, a big billy and life size hide will be around 130lbs give or take. That's bones out. So think before your buddies start piling up deer Halfway to the goats!!
The bio will be your best source of goat info!

 

[AKmyles]

I hear ya loud and clear. Im only pulling the trigger on a winter colored animal myself, and my buddies are pretty experienced hunters so killing too many animals wont be a problem. I appreciate the input BRWNBR! Thanks!

 

[duckslayer56]

I was in there hunting bear last year, we saw quite a few goats up high, and lots of deer down low. However all the deer were young ones, so if you're just looking for meat deer you'll be in luck. Not much for big bucks though. We decided to hold off on shooting does since the numbers took a big hit a couple years back. A lot of the does we saw with fawns had twins, so hopefully the population gets better and better.

 

[kodiakcombo]

Snow should be melted, plenty of bears in drainages eating silvers. Plenty of deer like duckslayer said, but still recovering. I had a bow hunter book a 476 goat trip and scored, he also took chrome kings from salt and ling cod. If you come this way in Oct bring a shotgun, just incase you get weather in while your waiting for your pickup, duck season opens Oct 8th, good luck.

 

[AKmyles]

duckslayer56 and kodiakcombo, thanks for the info! Much appreciated!

 

[Seinerman]

I was in there hunting bear last year, we saw quite a few goats up high, and lots of deer down low. However all the deer were young ones, so if you're just looking for meat deer you'll be in luck. Not much for big bucks though. We decided to hold off on shooting does since the numbers took a big hit a couple years back. A lot of the does we saw with fawns had twins, so hopefully the population gets better and better.

Good on you! Thanks for passing on the does. Everyone in my group passed on the yearlings and does, as well. Actually, we passed on all the deer we saw, only two nice bucks the entire time, but we were building a cabin. That area did take a beating a couple of years ago, and seems to be bouncing back. This winter should help. Good luck on your goat hunt!!

 

[BRWNBR]

Ive sat in that bay and watched a boat cruise the shore, unload three people onto the beach and 24 shots later they had three dead deer. One buck if I recal. Not sure if any were wounded and lost, but it took them almost three hours to find the deer they did get, all were over 300 yards. I was embarrassed to be watching it and call myself a resident.

 

[taildragger]

Give Roland at Seahawk Air a call and he will be able to tell you if there are high lakes that are workable. Fresh water and salt water are both doable but as you stated, salt water gives u more options but always includes the bushwhacking. If starting at salt think about being able to put everything on back to spike out for 2-3 days. Going up and down each day can burn up some great hunting hours. Also with the salt, good advice is if you are planning on making serval trips up and down take the first day and some good cutting tools and making your groomed trail helps you guys out tremendously. Living here the Bears are bears you might see them you might not. I've done a lot of goat hunts and never had issues if you have room a electric fence is good stuff. Good luck and should be fun. Goats are everywhere around here.

 

[Abel]

Ive sat in that bay and watched a boat cruise the shore, unload three people onto the beach and 24 shots later they had three dead deer. One buck if I recal. Not sure if any were wounded and lost, but it took them almost three hours to find the deer they did get, all were over 300 yards. I was embarrassed to be watching it and call myself a resident.

At least they got out of the boat. Most I know that are beach hunters brag about shooting from the boat....Ya, shooting a moving target from a moving platform....

 

[duckslayer56]

I'd definitely bring a fence. We had a bear try to get into the tent with us last year. I had a fence with me, but forgot to get the darn batteries at walmart in Kodiak. It's the last time I'll put off buying that kind of stuff until the last minute again. We saw quite a few sows with cubs, so be careful in there.

There is a lodge on the back end of Kiluida bay that will run you around if you want to explore more country, plus I think they have a freezer too if you kill a deer early. If you take the lodge route definitely bring a shotgun, that place holds a lot of ducks and geese, just be on the lookout for the flocks of emperor geese in there. They look like a blue phase snow goose, and are no no's for hunting. If I ever go back to that area to hunt again, I think I'm going to explore the lodge option. Kodiak is a very special place, the moment you leave you'll just want to go right back. I may have to buy some property on one of those bays and get a cabin built down there someday.

 

[AKmyles]

I cannot wait to get out there, just bummed I have to wait 6 more months! I've hunted plenty as a kid with my old man on Afognak for black tails, so I've flown into and over Kodiak many times, looking forward to finally getting to explore the island a bit. Ill look into that bear fence, I'm not too familiar with it. We never had any serious issues on Afognak in all the years, so Id like to keep that streak alive hah. Work has been crazy this week but I'm gonna get on the phone this weekend and hopefully narrow down my area.

 

[winkhink]

Check my story we did the hunt last year flew to Lake 2333. There were no deer up in the Alpine but plenty of goats and quite a few bears but they left us alone.