Another Kodiak Buck Down.

Joined
Dec 28, 2015
Messages
365
Location
Wisconsin
Wow great buck! Congrats! I would really like to get back up for an early season velvet hunt

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Fowler530

WKR
Joined
Oct 31, 2019
Messages
1,523
Location
NorCal
Congrats on a great buck!! (y) C’mon, don’t leave us hanging, let’s hear the details of your harrowing journey!
 

FLAK

WKR
Joined
Jan 22, 2014
Messages
2,287
Location
Gulf Coast
Yeah, you cant just throw around the phrase "Harrowing Journey"
and leave people hanging.
Nice buck BTW.
 
OP
L

Looney

FNG
Joined
Oct 23, 2016
Messages
98
Location
Bend, OR
Ha I guess I underestimated people's interest! I'm not one for the long winded story, but I'll give a little.

I had scouted out the bowl that this buck was taken from via google earth, but I never anticipated how rough the hike in would be. We only had about 1200 feet of vertical bushwhacking before alpine, but that took us about 4 hours to push through. Once on top, we had our choice of the litter of little bucks scattered all throughout the bowl. I believe that we glassed up about ten bucks, but nothing that we were too excited about making a move on. Truth be told I did almost convince myself to take a very small 3 towards the end of the day so as to ensure I'd get some of the sweet alpine gold into my freezer. Glad that I didn't!

We had called it a day and were making our way down the ridge, approaching the sub-alpine scrub, and just about to drop off the edge when I caught a glimpse of red over my right shoulder. He was tucked among some alders, so it wasn't until I pulled out the spotter that I knew what I was looking at; a stud. I ranged him at 500 yards, but wasn't prepared to take a shot at that distance. I tucked behind a seam in the landscape and sprinted to the top of the ridge and out of sight of the buck. After running the ridge and incorrectly choosing the right finger ridge to drop down on three separate times, I finally made my way down the finger ridge that would eventually give me the shot. I didn't see the buck for some time and was certain he had moved on. I took a few more steps down the ridge and sure enough there he stood in his bed at 68 yards. I slipped a shot behind the front shoulder and he was down.

Didn't get the chance to take any photos of him prior to butchering as he was inches from the cliffs edge and a couple hundred foot drop. After he was quartered and in the pack, we started our journey home right as darkness was coming on the landscape. We pulled out our headlamps and started moving. It's worth noting that we ran out of water at the time of butchering, so that would add to the misery on the way out. That night was a hell fire of a storm. Solid 15-30 MPH winds with occasional gusts approaching 50. Luckily/unluckily we were over our heads in alders, salmon berries, and devils club, so that buffered a lot of wind and rain. We got off the mountain bruised, dehydrated, bloodied, yet victorious at a 4;15 AM; 7-8 hours of pure hell. With the wind and rain we slid down more than we walked and both of us completely shredded our rain gear from top to bottom.

Still deciding if it was worth it...
 

Oregon

WKR
Joined
May 15, 2018
Messages
784
Location
Oregon coast
Yes. Great buck.
Been 4 times to Kodiak for Sitka. Can’t wait to go back, my normal crew not excited as I am.
Going alone not an option
 
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