POW Identifying good alpine areas
Mule Deer
Going to POW with my son next month to hunt blacktail. We will be renting a truck in Thorne Bay then hunting diy.
I have been to the island once before, on a Nov rut hunt. That trip was one of the best trips I have been on. Lots of action and lots of fun. There was quite a bit of snow and we hunted pretty low, and had good success.
My main question is: is there anything to look for that would make one alpine area better than another for deer activity in Aug.? With topo maps and google earth it is easy enough to pick out some alpine areas, just not sure what else to be looking for.
Thanks,
Gene
Not really. Higher the better from my experience. Alpine areas are kind of limited in size, look for the largest you can find that are not road accessible. I wouldn't spend too much time in those areas that have logging roads to them. There are deer present but there will also be hunters present.
Yeah, I think Bob is right on......now getting to some of those areas can be a real adventure...my advice; thick rubber gloves
Anyone ever use a machete to get through the jungle?
Anyone ever identify an area where logging roads could be used to get through the worst of it to access an area where several miles of alpine could be traversed to get away from the pressure? They all kinda seem like islands...
Anyone ever tell you Residents have a month head start? Look for stuff farther away from towns that you can...
machete don't work ... you will spend all your time and energy chopping.
There is really not that many Alpine hunters. I wouldn't call it 'pressure' at all.
Hunters tag between 2500 and 3000 Deer all season in all of Unit #2.
The best gloves are White Ox ...
I use logging roads .. old and new .. to my advantage.
I wouldn't worry about other hunters in the alpine you choose to climb up to. Most POW Island residents are meat road hunters.
Zach took this buck last Aug just above a waterbared logging road in a low alpine.
Thank you for the information and advice so far.
I found one place where getting to alpine wasn't thru a jungle.It was still a 2 mile hike but not bad at all.Glassing the clear cuts works,and I found some low alpine that had deer just no bucks.I got my deer while glassing a thick clear cut.All locals I met were road hunting
When I was there I got the impression locals are more opportunists.....
My buddies were there last year and while driving around a corner came to a buck in the road....with a rifle hunter further down the road pointing his rifle right at them ready for the shot.
Does anybody know if there is a taxidermist in the Thorne Bay or Coffman Cove areas that would do a European mount?
Don't remember seeing any in those towns,which are VERY small.The biggest town,can't remember the name, probably has one.Think its hour drive from Thorne Bay.I think I'll be back next year to go again so I can't wait for your hunt recap when you return.Get your legs in good shape like an elk hunt
Yes, there's one in Coffman, I'll PM you...
Talk to Rosie at the Salt Shack in Thorne Bay, 907-828-3302, for a taxidermist. Plus he's a hell of a bowhunter. Also if all you are running into are locals road hunting sounds to me like you are not getting far enough off the road yourself. In 28 years of hunting here I've bumped into only one other hunter in the alpine. On the other hand most of my friends hunt the alpine. So yes the locals do get off of the road too.
I didn't mean to say that ALL local hunters are road hunting meat hunters.
But I would say the majority of the POW Island residents and Ketchikan hunters don't get very far from the road.
My many years of experience is like POWMAK's as per running into anyone ever in the alpine. There are a lot of mountain tops to choose from hiking in from the roaded areas on the Island.
With this being a very hot dry summer following a very mild, lite snow, winter ... the game plans might have to be changed up a little.
How bad are the bugs in mid August? Is there a need for a bug suit?
I would have a head net along.They were bad when I was there but not as bad in alpine
Bad as bad can be some years. 100% Deet and a head net.
Most Alaskan's view on bugs being bad is much different than people not in the North Country.
Must be a decent sized fire North of Fairbanks, my Wife's Dad is being dropped up there today about 200 miles north to head up fighting the blaze.
MatthewsMan,
There's been so much smoke on the coast that I've been stuck in Kotzebue for two days waiting on a flight to Point Hope.
We have just finished up a very good 4 month baseball season, and are in the final stages of preparing for the trip to POW. For only 10 years old my son has done a fair amount of hunting and killing critters, this will be his first back pack type hunt, we have done a few overnight trips locally to prepare. I'm looking forward to this adventure with him as much as any trip I have been on. I will be bowhunting hoping to get my first P&Y blacktail. Cody will be using his .243 looking to tag his first blacktail. I could care less what weapon he uses, as long as he is enjoying the experience.
We have some very good looking alpine areas picked out, from Google, bowsiters, and based on our past trip there.
This is a picture of him that was in the local paper from allstar season...not that it has anything to do with hunting but, just because I am proud of him.
Thanks for the posted and pm advice.
Gene
Gene best of luck get some fishing in also! your a good dad!
I took my son to POW for his first big game hunt. It was a 12 hour hike to get to the alpine were we hunted. He killed a nice 3x3 with a gun. He had his bow but when he would draw it. he could not aim it over the ledge were the deer were bedded he thought if he shot the bow would pull him over the cliff. My buddy Blacktail Bob now hunts my old spot. Good luck to you. We had to wait till baseball season was over so he could go.
Dan how u found that spot is insane !!
Its a good spot the first time we came in from the north The next spring I came in from the south 2 1/2 hours and not 12.
The weather has been less than ideal lately. There have only been a few hours in the last week that there wasn't fog in the uplands.
Tough hunting conditions going on.
Are there any streams or lakes in the alpine that would hold fish?
no .... fish are in the bottom lands, mostly.
There are a few alpine lakes that have been planted years ago.
cant wait to go back next year.I'm definitely going as soon as season for nr opens.I'll be just camping in a rental truck.The alpine scenery is just awesome.You will have a great trip.And definitely plan for some fishing in the ocean and streams.Never saw salmon so thick in my life Looking forward to your hunt recap and pictures
we saw a lot of salmon but mostly pinks mid august
Hey Johnnie, looking forward to seeing you in a few weeks. What kind of temperatures are we looking at?
50's or even 60's and wet .... we had a wet weather pattern in July.
Up to 5 inches of rain possibly between now and Thurs. If the forecast is worth anything, it looks like some better weather coming after Thurs....hopefully.
I love my Cabelas space rain, very packable and fairly quiet and Impermeable to rain. But the Devils club shreds it like lettuce. Going to get an old-fashioned cheap plastic suit to get me up to the Alpine and then switch over to the space rain once we are hunting if that sounds like a good plan to you Johnnie. Good luck Gene.
when are you leaving??When does it open for NR this year?The rain can really mess up your flight plans if your going over by float plane wish I was going
Hunting the first week of Sept. Taking ferry from Ketchikan to POW.
We are driving to PHIL tomorrow night, flying early Fri. Weather looks good to fly to POW, Sat morning. Will be there for Aug 16 opener.
Good Luck Chris, huntinelk, and everybody else hunting POW this year. Reading this thread has me already getting excited about my Nov hunt with Johnnie. But first I will be spending the first week of Sept trying to improve on my Coues deer in Ariz. I will be following this thread closely. Stay safe and have fun. Ron
Good luck you guys! POW is amazing!
huntinelk, how did your hunt go????
We had a very good trip, very glad I was able to expose my son to such an adventure at a young age. However, we didn't kill any deer. We saw 100+ doe and fawns, from the edges of the road to high alpine. We only saw a couple bucks and couldnt quite get on them. They were already hard horned on Aug 16. Not sure if I'm correct, but my uneducated opinion, is that they lost velvet early this year and were into Sept pattern by mid Aug. We saw a total of 7 other hunters that were also covering alot of ground and had similar results as we did. I bought plane tickets yesterday, and will be back to POW in Nov. Unfortunately, due to school my son won't be able to join me this time.
Here is a picture on the float plane
I am involved in the logging industry here in PA. It was interesting to see the similarities and differences in how its done on POW
Thanks for update. Cool to spend time with your son!! Hope November pays off for ya
Was just thinking about checking in on your status. Glad you guys had a safe trip and sure you'll get it done in November without having to climb so high. I'm leaving shortly, any tips?
Good Luck Chris. Save me a good one. I will be there in November. Gene - may be I will see you there in November.
Chris,
I would consider a pair of Kahtoola micro spikes, there is a lot of slippery stuff on the ground. I will have mine when I go back. I believe the locals , use cork boots. I think the micro spikes would do the job without investing in a special pair of boots.
Tom,
When are you going to be there?
Gene: I will get back to you with the specific dates. I think it is the neighborhood of 11/14-11/23.
