Raspberry Island elk

[AkReaper]

My brother and I drew DE706, any antlerless elk, first time hunting elk!!!! Gonna stay at the Lodge on the island, so we got 5 days. to hunt, we wont be going until mid November, only opening they had.
Couple questions;
Anyone have experience or advice for here?
Do we need to have or use any type of calls?
Even though we got the elk draw we are also taking deer tags, if we see deer first, should we try to knock em down or bypass for elk?

TIA

 

[timekiller13]

I hunted at the Lodge in 2019 for deer. Didn't have an elk tag, but we saw the elk, about 100 of them on the first day of the hunt. 2 other guys at the lodge had elk tags.

My advice is listen to what Birch has to say. One guy listened and he shot a cow on Day 1. The other guy didn't and he never even saw the elk.

As for deer, there are plenty of them around. I wouldn't bypass shooting one, though, unless you have seen the elk and are moving towards them, Those elk move a lot.

You will have a great time. Food and cabins are first class. Beautiful country. Personally, I preferred hunting across the bay on Afognak, but Raspberry is great as well.

 

[AkReaper]

I hunted at the Lodge in 2019 for deer. Didn't have an elk tag, but we saw the elk, about 100 of them on the first day of the hunt. 2 other guys at the lodge had elk tags.

My advice is listen to what Birch has to say. One guy listened and he shot a cow on Day 1. The other guy didn't and he never even saw the elk.

As for deer, there are plenty of them around. I wouldn't bypass shooting one, though, unless you have seen the elk and are moving towards them, Those elk move a lot.

You will have a great time. Food and cabins are first class. Beautiful country. Personally, I preferred hunting across the bay on Afognak, but Raspberry is great as well.

Awesome! Yeah we are gonna for sure listen to the advice Birch gives! So, what was the weather like then and the bear situation? Would it be worth renting a bear fence in Kodiak to take with us for hanging quarters while packing out?

 

[AkReaper]

Also, anyone gonna be there this timeframe?

 

[timekiller13]

Awesome! Yeah we are gonna for sure listen to the advice Birch gives! So, what was the weather like then and the bear situation? Would it be worth renting a bear fence in Kodiak to take with us for hanging quarters while packing out?

If you are elk hunting, you should absolutely rent a bear fence. The guy that shot the elk while we were there lost half of it to a bear. I, personally, had zero encounters with bears but the other 2 groups of hunters had encounters, including losing part of the elk. Plenty of bear sign. It was little sobering for a North Carolina boy like me, the first time I saw a Kodiak bear track on the beach. My boot fit inside of it!!!

We were there last week of October. Weather was all over the place. Anything from blue bird skies to monsoon conditions with hurricane force winds. Average temp was lows in the 30s and highs in the 50s. It was actually pretty comfortable hunting weather, when the wind wasn't blowing 50+!!

You will have a great time. It's a first class operation. I had actually put in for an elk tag (bull and cow) this year, just in hopes of giving me an excuse to go back.

 

[AkReaper]

Have another question for everyone. What size and how many game bags should I plan on taking for *fingers crossed* 1 cow elk and 3 deer. (Just trying to be positive and optimistic!!!!)