Prince of Wales Blacktail Hunt

[lost cajun]

First time blacktail hunter, in the process of planning a early September Blacktail hunt near POW island. I will be wrapping up the fishing season Aug 31 and want to get a hunt in before I head back to the lower 48. Experienced mountain hunter, but not so much on float / fly in style hunts. The logistics / tides / and rain seem to be the main considerations

I am planning to use my resources that I run across while I am on Mitkof Island, Petersburg. I have been in contact with a few Pilots who have recommended various lakes to fly into, with forest service cabins available. I will be solo, so I am considering just getting dropped off via boat and bush whacking into the alpine for a spike camp, praying for the weather window to stay open. I am looking for an alpine style spot and stalk hunt, but am worried that September may push the bucks into a transition zone from their August alpine area.

I hear this is the rainest season. a few gear questions - should i run rain boots or mountain style hunting boots? ditching goretex rain gear for rubber. are waders a silly option to hike to the alpine with?

any tips / advice appreciated. Excited to target a new species this fall!

 

[cullenz]

That is a really fun hunt. I hunted POW the first week of September in 2017. We really did luck out with weather, it was 50/50 on sunny days and rainy days. I would definitely recommend going with mountain gear (boots, gore-tex rain gear, etc). The area we hunted was pretty steep, and up in the Alpine was really steep and rocky. I would have been miserable in rain boots and/or rubber rain gear. If you are hiking from close to sea level, that is a legit mountain hunt. Just be prepared for slow traveling. When you are in the trees, you are lucky to go a mile per hour. There were sections we barely got 1/2 mile in an hour because it was so thick and difficult to find routes through it. I was not prepared for that, and got pretty frustrated because of it. I'm used to Colorado were you can keep a pace of a couple miles per hour getting into places.

I ran a pair of leather boots (Schnees Beartooths) on that hunt. I treated them before I left and I didn't have any issues with wet feet. I also took the KUIU Chugach Rain gear, and again had no issues staying dry. Gaiters do serve a good purpose there. Even when it wasn't raining, all the grass and ground shrubs are wet. That just helped keep the bottom of the pants dry and from seeping into the boots. I'm not sure I would want to pack waders up those mountains. I got a tip from another hunter and did bring a second pair of really light and cheap rain pants, solely for the hike in. There is a lot of devils club and it will tear your rain gear to shreds. It ended up being nice weather during the hike in (we packed in and stayed 4 nights) so I didn't have to wear them, but I didn't regret having them. I'm not too sure any of the Sitka/KUIU/First Lite/etc rain gear would hold up in the devils club if you got into it thick. I do wish I would have brought a pair of gloves to deal with the devils club. Maybe those thick rubber gloves for tile setting. I think those would hold up to their thorns. I wore a pair of basic leather Mechanics gloves, and I was picking those thorns out of my hands for weeks.

As for timing and where the bucks were. They were starting to make the transition into the trees when we were up there. I glassed up the buck I killed in the first level of trees in the sub alpine and shot him bedded down. The other two bucks we killed were in that same zone as well. All the bucks we shot, their antlers were rubbed off and colored. Probably hadn't had velvet for a week or two (I'm guessing). We were not seeing those bucks above the tree line. We did see a decent amount of good tracks in the trees when we were hiking up, so I'm assuming some bucks had already made their way down into the thick stuff. We spent a ton of time up on knobs and peaks glassing. I don't know if it is typical of not of that time of year after the velvet is off, but the group that my hunting partners killed the 2 bucks out of didn't move a whole lot. They spotted those bucks 3 days in a row (doubled up on last day of the hunt), and each day were seeing them in the same place. Those 2 bucks weren't big, so they were just trying to keep tabs on them while looking for others.

Good luck, I'm jealous!

 

[BzoneBryan]

I spent the summer of 1996 on POW doing silviculture work. I quickly came to the conclusion that I was going to come back to camp soaked regardless of the weather. It rained often enough that everything was wet, so walking through the forest alone got me wet, regardless of whether it rained that day. Besides, the ground was steep enough that i was going to get wet from sweat anyway.

I wore my leather hiking boots for a few days before taking everyone's advice to just wear extratuff boots (Sitka sneakers). A wool felt insole was the key for comfort with those.

Don't underestimate the white socks and noseeums. They are thick and relentless. Full strength deet was the only thing marginally effective (though it would melt your hard hat). If I were going back, I would bring a bug hood.

Good luck. I'm jealous. The time I spent there was one of my greatest outdoor experiences. Be sure to do some fishing while your there. There is no experience like Tongass fishing anywhere else.

 

[BzoneBryan]

Trout fishing, that is.

 

[chucko]

Ask around a little there have been some huge bucks taken on Mitkof island as you already know the Petersburg boys will be tight lipped but there is good hunting right out of town the densities are not as high but the quality is there

 

[Johnny Tyndall]

Also did silviculture on POW. Regarding gear, I strongly recommend rubber. Other stuff will wet out, it's really hard on expensive gear (just driving through underbrush), and rubber gear is super cheap - I liked Helly Hansen Impertech and you can get a full set for under $200. If you're going uphill a lot the trick we found was to bring a change of clothes - hump up the hill and sweat like crazy, then change out your shirt and fleece once you're done sweating. Do bring gloves (not leather!). The rain is no joke and wet feet are a drag, so get your footwear figured out. Tuffs are pretty good boots, but they have no ankle support it that's important. I rarely had a problem with bugs, especially in the alpine, but it is possible.

In any case, I always told my crews "you're not going to stay dry, but you can stay warm." Plan on being damp and it's a great place.

Edit: if you're fishing you'll already have the Tuffs and rubber. I'd just use that stuff. If you can pull off a cabin base camp it's really nice to dry out each night, but you may be hiking 1-2 thousand feet of vert each day to get up high. That's doable, but depends on your fitness and ability to move fast in that terrain.

Also, don't worry about weather windows (except maybe to fly/boat). It's just going to be raining and if it isn't it'll still be wet.

 

[BzoneBryan]

Also did silviculture on POW. Regarding gear, I strongly recommend rubber. Other stuff will wet out, it's really hard on expensive gear (just driving through underbrush), and rubber gear is super cheap - I liked Helly Hansen Impertech and you can get a full set for under $200. If you're going uphill a lot the trick we found was to bring a change of clothes - hump up the hill and sweat like crazy, then change out your shirt and fleece once you're done sweating. Do bring gloves (not leather!). The rain is no joke and wet feet are a drag, so get your footwear figured out. Tuffs are pretty good boots, but they have no ankle support it that's important. I rarely had a problem with bugs, especially in the alpine, but it is possible.

In any case, I always told my crews "you're not going to stay dry, but you can stay warm." Plan on being damp and it's a great place.

Edit: if you're fishing you'll already have the Tuffs and rubber. I'd just use that stuff. If you can pull off a cabin base camp it's really nice to dry out each night, but you may be hiking 1-2 thousand feet of vert each day to get up high. That's doable, but depends on your fitness and ability to move fast in that terrain.

Also, don't worry about weather windows (except maybe to fly/boat). It's just going to be raining and if it isn't it'll still be wet.

I agree with the rubber recommendation. Gore-tex was no advantage on POW. It just got thrashed.

 

[Dshore]

There are lots of BT in BC. We've done well on Vancouver island and Haida Gwaii.