AK black bear or sitka deer hunt - advice needed

Dear All,

I am not sure where I should post this enquire so I start here and if it has to be moved I will do that.
Two of my friends and I would like to do a hunt in AK next autumn. We are thinking about a black bear or sitka deer hunt. I heard good things about boat based hunts around Kodiak. Others spoke high about lodge based experiences also on Kodiak. I would welcome any suggestions and personal experiences on these hunts. What is the general cost on these?
Alternatively, a caribou hunt may also be considered if anyone has any lead on that. Again, I understand I am casting a wide net here, but maybe I will be able to find some lead that eventually results in a hunting trip. Thank you for all your input, good and bad, Ferenc

I would do the hunt on Kodiak, but for black bears you may do better going to SE AK for that. As far as caribou, our herds are in a serious decline. It's due to some hard winters and ADFG mismanagement. One herd we used to hunt, they are saying 20-30 years before it's able to hunted again. The 40 mile herd a lot of people hunt, has had the quota taken down to under 600 total. Just a couple years ago, it was 2 bulls per hunter.

following. side note feel free to come to WV to hunt black bears. We have wayyyyy to many.

Just so you know, the deer limit on Kodiak was reduced last year to one deer per non-resident. Used to be you could take several.

HutchWV said:

following. side note feel free to come to WV to hunt black bears. We have wayyyyy to many.

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Shush! There are no black bears in WV. He is pulling your leg.

Seriously though, there are a lot of BB in WV. Some good public land hunting available for them as well.

Thank you for all the insight so far. To be absolutely honest, it is not so much the quarry more like the adventure whatI am looking for. So one deer would be more than enough. As for BB in WV. Is it over the counter tag? Without providing GPS coordinates, what part of the state should I be looking into. Would it be stand hunting or spot and stalk?
Thank you all, Ferenc

The boats have had some recent limits put on them recently but it was to little to late. Areas they transit have been hit hard with both much increased pressure and the recent winters. Wandering around the island so far, numbers are clearly down. It all goes in cycles and they are resilient critters, while anecdotal they aren't thick like they used to be.

Black bears would be pws.... and those appear to be everywhere. We did a recent loop outta the sound and we saw oodles.

If going on a trip like that to AK. I would go for the Sitka or Caribou or a species that you can not get in the lower 48.
Other than that I have no helpful info as I have no experience with AK but also would love to hunt it.

Just my 2 cents, Caribou has been the absolute best tasting wild game I have ever had! I don't have a good current lead for it anymore, the outfit we used closed up shop and I am not sure you can hunt the herd we were sent to anymore. I'll try to attach a picture of some bulls that showed up after we had all tagged out. Sadly, my bull was not that great. But he tasted excellent!

Pick the path of least resistance and go. It'll be addicting and you'll find yourself saving penny's to go back. Best adventures I've been on. Hunting deer on Kodiak and fishing for salmon to chasing bb in the SE. just amazing

Ftothfadd said:

Thank you for all the insight so far. To be absolutely honest, it is not so much the quarry more like the adventure whatI am looking for. So one deer would be more than enough. As for BB in WV. Is it over the counter tag? Without providing GPS coordinates, what part of the state should I be looking into. Would it be stand hunting or spot and stalk?
Thank you all, Ferenc

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Southern most counties have a lot. Central has a lot. The tag is good for the entire state though. Most people here that actually hunt them use dogs. Most of the time they just tree the bears and don't actually shoot them. They're not opposed to people shooting them they just enjoy working the dogs. You could easily get hooked up with some folks if you were interested in that. They'd let you shoot one for your tag. Archery Spot and stalk would seem nearly impossible in to me as we don't have much open land unless you got permission or a lease on an old strip job somewhere. Could do it with a rifle though. Getting on a lease for bear hunting is really inexpensive. For instance a lease I'm on for deer hunting leases out spots to bear hunters for like 25% of the deer lease fee to keep costs affordable for the deer hunters. The amount of bears is downright annoying. If you're intrested in doing a lease for bear for a year, PM me and I can put you in contact with someone. If I had to guess youd be under 500 bucks for license and lease.