My wife and I are looking for a seasonal (May through Christmas) vacation/retirement home, thinking of the Kenai Peninsula. I know the fishing is good, is there any hunting I can get to with a 4 wheel drive/ATV?

Thanks!

Hey Chuck,

Why not go a little further of road?

Frankly, I don't think the fishing is good on the Kenai. Competition is keen, access is limited, and recently the returning fish have been reduced. The Kenai is a suburb of Anchorage and during the fishing season has all the issues or problems that Anchorage brings.

Were you to consider a more remote location like the Gulf Coast, South East or South West you'd locate yourself in a lot better sportsmans habitat. My advise would be to look for a place in Cordova, Dillingham, King Salmon, Wrangell, Ketchikan, etc,...With a pickup and a smallish skiff in any of these locations you could hunt and fish like a crazy man, and then head south for the bitter months.

Also, I'd probably reconsider staying up here thru Christmas. October here can be ok, generally November and December suck. No snow, no light, No warmth. Why not go back to Colorado in mid October and hunt some geese? In my opinion Dillingham is the place to be from say April 15th or so thru October. Its nice in February and March, liveable in the last of January, but you can have Christmas in DLG. If I have any say in the matter I'll be spending next Christmas on the beach, flip flops and shorts installed.

I was told recently that it rains ten times as much in Cordova as it does here. Regardless, they have big fishing, good duck hunting, mountain goats, bears and moose. If you move to Kenai its a lot of draw hunts and of course every enterprising outdoorsman from Anchorage, (population 300k) is a short drive away from your door step. Odds are good they've got a bigger atv than you do and are happy to prove it.

Thanks Scott, I hunted brown bear out of Dillingham (Upper Togiak Lake) thanks to Mark Young, John Pete and Jason. I really liked it there for the few days I spent, but my wife is a studio potter so she's more apt to like it in Homer (kind of like Manitou Springs, hippies, witches and artists

I was once offered a teaching slot down at Yakutat, signed contract, fished The Situk, then when I got home; the wifey refused to go. I even found a nice big log cabin, made the ferry connections for relocation, and the Woman said no way; she wasn't moving to a village where the only way out was on a boat or ferry, ha ha. What was it Hank said about a Woman's lies make a life like mine, ha ha.

Anyway, Yakutat is a well kept secret; excellent fishing. Situk is biggest natural Steelhead run in North America; Have you ever fished for wild fish? Halibut, crab, prawns, most locals fish off their docks or by boat. It's unbelievable.

You could probably find somewhere to rent, but the German tourists have driven prices through the roof; expensive.

The Kenai is like suburbia, and it explodes with tourists half the year.

Chuck,

I couldn't agree more with Scott about the Kenai. It is a zoo in the summer but Dillingham is not the place for your wife's interests. Sitka although rainy is kind of a neat place and definitely artsy. Juneau is a bigger town and maybe another vialbe choice with more shopping than the other SE towns. Palmer or Wassilla just north of Anchorage might be worth looking at also.

Good luck in your search.

Mark

i like Juneau as a tourist but living there ..... but who i am just a Yukoner lol ....

Thanks Mark!

I'd rule out anything in south central AK for Retiree/ outdoor adventure.

All the salmon streams especially in the Mat/ Su Valley are combat fishing. When the kings are in on Montana creek north of Wasilla, its shoulder to shoulder, safety glasses required and the fishing time is heavily regulated, i.e., midnight Friday night thru sunday or some silly thing like that. People/ families/ friends spend multi tens of thousands of dollars on float planes, mud buggies, jet boats and atv's to access hunting locations. Float planes can be hired for more or less $800.00 per hour.

Marks right, Dillingham is about as artsy as a 570 Bearcat. I think he's also right about south east being a little more cultural. Look at a map of all those little towns down there. I bet you could easily find a little town with halibut in the deep water, salmon in the river, deer or moose up hill a little and ducks in the pond.

Thanks Scott, I'd hate to move out there and find it less relaxing than Colorado ...

Chuck,
A place you might want to look is around the Willow area.
From there north towards my place in Talkeetna things are very relaxing. Not that many people yet.
Fishing is super with all 5 species of Salmon coming through and the hunting is great as well.
You can travel everywhere on a 4 wheeler.
That is what I drive more times than the truck.

JM2CW

Thanks!

quote:

Originally posted by medved:
i like Juneau as a tourist but living there ..... but who i am just a Yukoner lol ....

Yup, Juno sucks!!!!! You may like Haines or Skag . Lots of liderals there. Sitka too. . Most of the coast is over run with liberals and gubmint types. . City money that just overruns the old locals. . Ya gotta find a place that almost no one else wants to be. There are plenty up here but when you find one ya gotta keep your mouth shut about how great it is or every Tom Dick and Harry will pull up in a motor home. Vote in a local government. Levy taxes on you. Hire employees to keep track of you. Pass laws to restrict your freedom. And then have the gall to tell you its for your own good. . My advice. Find some bug infested shit hole. Haul in 100,000 yards of gravel and rip rap then build a 3 story, 2'000 sq ft home. Put your kitchen, living room on the top floor so you can see over the trees. . Buy land in an unincorporated area . No Burroughs or towns. . If you like being in the mountains there are plenty of those. . Down on the Teikle River there are some land/ places for sale. . If you get off the highway you will really cut down on the city people invading your space. North of Fox is nice. . If you r on the coast I hope you LOVE RAIN AND THE COLOR DARK GREY !! Cause that's what u will have to live with!!!!

Also. If you want to hunt and fish a lot you might think about moving your home of record, become a resident. Check into if where you want to be is in a subsistence area. The cities really limit your ability to go hunt a lot of places. For a new comer it may not seem like much. But being able to go on a late season deer shoot and load the boat don't happen if you live in Ketchikan or Juneau. . Wrangle is pretty cool but your in a burrough . Anchorage and the Valley just totally suck. .
Zhurh's got it figured out. The Taylor closes with the snow.

Do you have an airplane?
That really opens up a lot of country.
A tracked 4 wheeler is a good thing to have. Or a Haagland. They are about the ultimate off highway vehicle.

Very honestly if I was retired I wouldn't live in Alaska, I'd figure out a way to live in the Yukon.

I spent 3 days driving through the Yukon with my eyes as wide as bowling balls seeing wildlife like Yellowstone on the side of the road.

I'd personally rather live in Sitka than Anchorage as a current resident of Anchorage and a Sitka resident in 2000.

The Kenai is a las anchorage infested zoo on the weekend.

Zhurh do my fellow Anchorage-dwellers make up to Eagle for caribou season in droves?

King Salmon is magical, that would be my choice. The Superintendant of Schools Ty ???? writes on here. He's a hell of a nice guy owns, a little gasthaus is King Salmon. King Salmon would be my pick, unless you want to live someplace with sheep or goats, then I would pick Glennallen or Kodiak.

The Yukon is a pretty awesome place !!

quote:

Originally posted by Cold Trigger Finger: Anchorage and the Valley just totally suck. .
Zhurh's got it figured out. The Taylor closes with the snow.

Ditto! I hadn't seen that before. Zhurh has it figured out and yes Anchorage Sucks!

But on the weekend I still live in Alaska, and I couldn't say that about another state.

If I had the bucks I would have a remote place on Chichagof Island and a real good boat. I would take every resident I could get to bear hunting as long as the season was open. But having to choose one place or the other I'll live in the Interior.