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Outdoor-Hunting Report July 2010
OPENING DAY DEER
By
Hank Pennington
Believe it or not, Kodiak’s deer season opens in just two weeks.
Most people haven’t caught their first pink salmon yet, and deer season is right around the corner.
In truth very few locals bother with the first couple of months of the season. That’s because the season lasts three months on the road system and extends to the end of the year on the remainder of the island.
While the opening day of deer season is a celebration in most states, it passes almost with notice on Kodiak.
Are we so indifferent to deer that we really don’t care?
Talk to any hunter and in fact they’re passionate about deer.
But August and September are so choked with vegetation, the luxury of a long season allows hunters to wail till late in the season when the vegetation abates.
Even so, there are very good reasons to do your deer hunting early.
For one thing, there are lots more deer early in the season, even as you almost never see another hunter. On top of that, August venison on Kodiak Island is one of the best meats in the world.
There’s a reason for the great quality. Spend a morning on a hillside with deer in sight and watch closely as they eat. The literally walk from plant to plant eating nothing but flowers!
As a result, the meat is especially sweet and the fat is mild. Kodiak venison is still mild late in the season, compared to other locales, but it’s off the scale in August.
Even with more deer and less hunters in August, the hunting is seldom easy due to the vegetation. It can be a challenge even to see the deer, much less distinguish bucks from does!
Set out from the road or beach anywhere on the northern half of the island and one thing hits you right in the face. Literally!
The grass can be head high and higher. Add in the salmonberries, alders and elderberries, and it gets tough to spot deer that are barely waist high.
And don’t even think about “sneaking” through that thick stuff.
But experience in Kodiak’s wild country will teach you some important lessons that are useful deer hunting.
For one thing, the higher you climb on the hills, the shorter the vegetation. By the time you climb to around 1300 feet elevation, you’re in tundra in many locations.
The grass is seldom knee-high, and over large areas there are more alpine plants and mosses than grasses.
The trick is finding the easiest ways to climb from the lowlands to the highlands. Some routes are tangles from end to end, while others feature comparatively easy walking.
In my long experience the most likely places to provide easy walking are the ridges leading up from the coast. You’ll know you are on the right track, because all the game trails will make the walking even easier.
But even as you climb one of these “easy” routes, stop half way up the mountain to learn another important lesson about hunting Kodiak’s grasslands.
Look back downhill.
Even as the grass is taller than the deer and taller than you, it’s easy to see down into the grass from a higher elevation. Deer you couldn’t see from ten feet away at your own elevation are visible from great distances once you are above them.
Obviously early season hunting can require longer shots if you aren’t skilled and dedicated about stalking closer. I happen to enjoy that challenge, but freely acknowledge that when I want to be sure of a deer, it’s time to take a rifle with longer range capabilities.
Frankly any caliber new or old capable of connecting with deer out to 300 yards or so is plenty. That includes anything in the 308/30-06 class in bore sizes ranging from 24 to 35 calibers. If you’ve got an old favorite or a new whiz kid in that power range, it will be a dandy.
Lots of hunters carry large caliber magnums on Kodiak anticipating the potential for bear troubles, but it’s a question of your own comfort rather than any real likelihood of bear troubles if you do your part to avoid the trouble.
Sighting is a challenge, but I hesitate to use scopes with powers extending above 9x if that means sacrificing at the lower end of the scale. In truth I prefer a 2x7 scope to a 3x9 simply because later in the season when hunting ranges are short, a 2x is more useful to me than a 3x.
And my favorite scope of all is a 1.5x5. A 5x scope is plenty for shots to 300 yards and more, while the really open field of view is an advantage in the really tight quarters typical of late season hunts.
Due to the tall vegetation and steep terrain, a bigger issue than sights is the fit of your rifle and your skill level in using it. You certainly need a benchrest of some sort for sight-ins, but don’t fool yourself into thinking that shots from a benchrest are “practice” for shooting deer on Kodiak.
A high percentage of your shots will be offhand, sitting or kneeling and rarely prone. Unless you are in the high country, even improvised rests can be hard to come by.
It falls on you and your skills shooting without a rest to connect with deer most of the time. The next time you’re at the range, step away from the benchrest and see just how far away you can hit a pie plate from different shooting positions.
You’ll know right away just how close you have to be for your shots once you venture into the tall grass.
Once you have a deer down in August, your challenges really start. For one thing, there can be a lot of miles and a lot of brush and grass between the deer at your feet and the road where you left your vehicle.
Many hunters opt to carry a full-scale backpack, then bone out their deer for transport back to their vehicle.
I’ll do that on a long hunt, but I tend to hunt closer to my vehicle simply because I prefer to bring out my deer in one piece for ease of hanging and butchering.
However you choose to bring out your deer, confront the fact and challenge of flies in August. They’re determined to lay their eggs and a dead deer is the perfect nesting ground.
Avoid cutting the throat of a deer and making really large openings to dress the deer. We make only about a 6-inch cut, then sew it closed before dragging out deer just to help avoid flies and “blow” with eggs.
And blowflies aren’t the only flies to concern yourself with on Kodiak. In August our nasty little white sox flies are intent on harvesting some of your blood. Good insect repellants or insect nets if you prefer are premium additions to your hunting pack.
And once you climb above the brush line you’ll discover another feature of Kodiak. There’s not much water up high. Even what’s there is likely unsafe to drink due to Giardia or beaver fever parasites.
Be sure to carry all the water you will need for a day, or at least a water purification pump so you can take advantage of the water sources you find.
Does all that sound like a lot of work and discomfort? You’re not alone in feeling that, as indicated by the low turnout for August deer hunts.
But once you’ve had a single bite of August venison, I think you’ll have all the reason you need to rethink waiting till October to start your deer hunts!
Hank Pennington is on our panel of expert outdoor advisors.
For more info on this or any other subject contact the store directly.
Thanks
Jesse Glamann |
