Have just returned to New Zealand after an awesome hunt with Gas and Time Outfitters, up there in Prince William Sound.
Have had several people asking how we got on so will write up the story. I have a mate who will post some photos for me. (I'm not yet up to speed with the photo thing.)
Anyway we were a party of four hunters boat based and left from Whittier.
We glassed goats from the boat and took two nice Billies. The goat hunting was very much like hunting Tahr in New Zealand, lots of steep climbing and weather changeable. The Goats themselves were not to wary. My mate Kevin shot his from 230 yards, I shot mine from 80 yards.
Hopefully a photo will appear in the next reply....

1. 2. 3. 4.

The goats stand out and are visable from 2-3 miles away. The usual technique is to hike in and set up a high camp, then hunt your goat from the camp. We chose to go hard, Kiwi style and hike, climb,hunt and pack out, all in one day.
You have to pack out all the meat, I reckon there was over 100 pound of meat, so along with the cape and horns, we had quite good loads on. (2 Guys)

The deer were spotted on a small island (Good swimmers)while we were looking for bears, so having bear tags unfilled, we opted for some venison. The venison was great grilled on the BBQ back of boat.
Not a bad little buck (5 pt) The Sitka Blacktail have a Black cap on their head and a line through the white patch under their chin. They are supposed to be smaller than Whitetail, but these ones looked about Whitetail size to me.
The Deer hunting reminded me of hunting Whitetail back here on the beaches of Stewart Island in New Zealand.

The bear print was about as close as I got to getting a bear. The last photo shows typical bear terrain in Prince William. Sub-Alpine meadows with small salmon streams and ponds. Great looking country.
The Salmon runs were done. Lots of Salmon bones everywhere, where the bears had been feasting.
We figured most of the bears had gone to ground (Hibernating)We were a week or two too late.
The few we saw were very high, and always late in the evening, with no chance for a shot. They were feeding on the last of the berrys up high. I did see three when I was hunting the Goat, but at that stage concerntrating on getting the goat. Should have taken the Bear, as the Goats were plentiful. No worries, now have an excuse to go back next year.

1. 2. 3. 4. Next time you are up that way shoot some Rough Grouse as they are very good eating.

In between times we did some Duck Hunting.
Harlequin Ducks
Golden Eye Ducks
Scooter Ducks
Geese (A bit like Canadas but smaller)

The Harlequins were the most sought after. Found out afterwards that they are quite rare, and are fast water torrent ducks, like our Blue Ducks in NZ. Glad we didn't shoot too many, but hey they taste quite good. All the males ended up at the Taxidermists.
The ducks were hanging out amongst the icebergs, big flocks and quite exciting ambushing them from small Islands.
No calls or decoys needed, there was constant flights of birds coming overhead.

I love to hunt SE Alaska, and your hunt was obviously a first-class experience any way you care to look at it! Plus you did it the right way, worked hard, and had the right "game face" on to get the absolute most out of it.

Congratulations!

How did you go about selecting your outfitter, and how about contact info? That's a hunt I'd love to do myself!

AD

Joe Romano. Registered Guide.
Gas and Time Alaskan Outfitters, LLC
http://www.gasandtime.com
Office (907)243-1484
Cell (907)242-6365

Specializing in Alaskan Big Game.
Brown Bear
Black Bear
Dall Sheep
Sitka blacktail
Mountain Goats
Halibut

Sounds & looks like you had a fantastic hunt. Your goat is magnificent as are your deer and ducks, thanks for all the pic's they are a treat. Too bad about your bear, guess you'll just have to come back!

-Ron

trackernz

sent you a pm

trackernz that is a very impressive trophy.

Does one have to draw a tag for the mountain goat??

Some areas of the Prince William Sound are drawing areas and some are open areas, meaning you do not need to draw a permit.

Heading back for more. Sept 2006.

It's all in the timing.
Back for a bear on opening 1st Sept.
Bears were everywhere, hard to beleive after last years experience.
A lot of fish in the rivers and the bears were feastin'
4 hunters on the boat got 4 bears in 2 days. We all got a good one.
Saw over 60 bears. Some real good ones.

[/IMG]

Fishing was damn good too:

[/IMG]

Photos won't show for some reason.



http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i113/trackersnz/20pou...fgoodeatinSalmon.jpg


http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i113/trackersnz/Black...iamSoundSept2006.jpg

Nice bear!

Glad your second time around was more successful.

Nice bear, looks like he's got a full coat too!!! Congrats!!

Was rapt with this Bear. Most likely will be the only Black Bear I ever shoot, so I'm very happy it was such a beautiful example. I'm having a rug made, but tempted to Full Body. I guess I will always have that option.

Verry nice Blackie I saw quite a few while fishing P.W.S. late July / Aug, health wont let me hunt this year but I will give it hell next

Tim
Hope you have gotten over the loss of the Crockhunter!(Im sure taking the nicest bear on the boat dulled the pain) Get that bear head mounted!
Hope we hunt togather again someday.
Take care
Dean

The real pain in the arse is every time ya switch your telly on, ya get replays and his missus in tears.
Lets hope they hang Saddam real soon or something else that's big, so the news can give us something else to look at.