Kodiak - Blacktail and Caribou - Best Month To Go

Joined
Aug 22, 2012
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3,060
A buddy and I are working on putting a hunt together on Kodiak for a blacktail and caribou (reindeer if you prefer) hunt. We have our transporter picked out and are just trying to decide on days. I have seen a fair bit on here about timing for blacktails but not much on a hunt where the focus is on both. A few questions:

- We are thinking late September, would we be likely to find blacktail in the same areas as the caribou or will the deer be higher elevation?
- Does the movement change for the caribou as the season gets into Oct/Nov?
- Assuming the caribou are low by the lakes, is there generally elevation that can be gained nearby to glass for deer?

Any other information as well would certainly be appreciated!
 
Joined
Mar 1, 2017
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Eagle River, AK
I have gone in August and hunted both with success. September should be good. basically you need to go where the caribou are since they are way less distributed than deer. Once you find the caribou, you can usually find deer nearby (we passed up multiple bucks getting on the caribou, and multiple after while packing out the caribou).

If you are looking for a "big" caribou I would go earlier than later because the bigger ones get killed first. however Kodiak is not known as a "trophy" caribou spot anyway. If this winter turns out mild there will be a lot of deer.
 
OP
P
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Aug 22, 2012
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Thanks Wildwilderness, I was hoping the deer would be encountered in the same areas as the caribou. We certainly dont have expectations of getting on "trophy" size caribou but none the less if going in August increases our chances of getting a larger caribou and not hindering deer we may look at that.
 

Dhosera

FNG
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Feb 23, 2018
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Michigan
Anyone know if the opportunity to hunt Velvet Blacktails and Caribou coincide with each-other? If you're talking August, its a possibility.
 
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Eagle River, AK
I shot a caribou there on Aug 8, and it was already stripping. About half the caribou I saw were in that stage. In my experience the bigger bucks are not done growing yet- soft tips and you will loose them if you try to save the velvet. I would wait at least til the Second week of Aug to shoot big bucks if you want to taxidermy them; by then most the caribou will be stripped...
 
OP
P
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Excellent, thanks guys. I think we will look to go between Aug 15th and September 1st given this information.
 
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Mar 21, 2012
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Alaska
I shot a caribou there on Aug 8, and it was already stripping. About half the caribou I saw were in that stage. In my experience the bigger bucks are not done growing yet- soft tips and you will loose them if you try to save the velvet. I would wait at least til the Second week of Aug to shoot big bucks if you want to taxidermy them; by then most the caribou will be stripped...

Good point on the caribou, I guess they are on a very different schedule down there compared to the caribou on the mainland.
 

bowuntr

WKR
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Mar 5, 2012
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Prescott, Az
Wildwilderness nailed it. I'll add that in the past 10 years the caribou option has been much more popular and the pressure has reduced the number of quality bulls. Ed F
 

GrabRack

FNG
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Nov 17, 2019
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Have been there 3 times now, this past September opted to hunt blacktails only as the reindeer herd is a bit diminished. We did see a few dozen, but nothing worth a shoulder mount. A fair percentage of blacktails in the vicinity of the reindeer herd are Jenner's as we call them (no balls) and remain in velvet year round. They can really put points and mass on and I have two on my wall from first two trips. They eat really well too as they don't really burn the fat off. And don't think you have to climb to find a trophy blacktail, often the flats where the reindeer reside hold good bucks. Conversely, sometimes the big bull reindeer will be up high where its cool, so don't limit your glassing on the flats either.
 
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