Please tell me about your elk and deer hunting experiences and best areas for both.

Ann:
I'm only familiar with Afognak Island (N. of Kodiak) and it's been a number of years since my partner & I were there. The last time we were there occured the year that "Ding-Dong" & his girlfriend got eaten up by the bears over on the Ak. Peninsula. In fact, we were supposed to fly to Afognak the day that our pilot found them. That was an experience!! Anyway, elk on Afognak was (still is?) a drawing and there were 3, ten day hunts. We always applied for the 3rd, ten day period and had no problem drawing. The 1st time, we went to Afognak Lake since that was where my partner had hunted out of before and was successful. The 2nd time was out of Malina Lake (west side) and the last time was south of Blue Fox Bay (kinda NW?).
Our season ran from about Oct. 16 to the 26th, A.I.R. Large portions of Afognak are now controlled by the native corp. and to hunt their land, they charge a fee - outrageous in my book. Last I knew, roughly the western 1/3 of the island was open to public activity.
The elk herd is/was rather small, around 500 animals or so (I think) but I don't know the status now. Several years after our 1st trip there was severe snowfall and the deer herd had a die off. We saw quite a few deer on our 1st trip & I shot one for camp meat. After that, we saw few deer and didn't get a shot at any. Don't know about the deer situation now tho.
The terrain is, as you would expect heavy with timber but with some relatively open areas. Malina Lake area comes to mind here. We would climb high in the morning to get above timber and glass. On the hiking situation, there are game trails in the timbered areas and the ground is covered with moss - easy walking. The boots I used were rubber knee-highs with a felt inner sole and an arch support. Everything's wet here. As you climb, you then hit a barrier of alders, usually with no trail thru them. One person at a time to go thru them with the 1nd guy keeping an eye out. Once you get thru that, you are pretty much in the open but have to contend with what we call "pecker brush". A thick stemmed grass(?) that lays facing downhill due to the snowfall. This stuff is slippery and you have to be sure of your footing so you don't slip. I know I don't need to mention the furry footed carnivors infesting the island. Believe me, they are there and you ALWAYS have to keep your eyes open. We had too many run-ins with them to even mention here.
Jump off point for Afognak is in Kodiak and there are a number of good (they have to be) flying services. The last one we used was Andrew Air - top notch. As to gear. We always air freighted the majority of our supplies/equipment ahead of time - lots cheaper. In my book, some items that would be absolutely required, aside from the obvious, is several rolls of flourescent flagging, a GPS THAT WORKS w/ extra batteries, some kind of ELB such as a SPOT - WITH EXTRA BATTERIES. Also a top of the line, quality tent - for God's sake, don't go cheap here. Something like an Arctic Oven by Alaska Tent & Tarp. Also, don't forget emergency food should you get weathered in - it can happen. I don't think the weight of your gear is that important - you'd probably be going in on a beaver which can handle something like 1000 or so lbs. (more, I think). Use the flagging to mark your trail thru the timber when climbing up high. Oftentimes, fog will set in during late afternoon and you can't see reference points to navigate back to camp. Lottsa times, you can't see the top of the mountain you're walking next to.
Also, IMHO, you don't want to rent a cabin from the Feds. They're only good for 7 days at a time/group. In addition, with a cabin, you're stuck in one area for hunting. We always relied on the pilots to put us down as close as possible to the elk herds that they had previously seen and with our setup, we could do that. Guess this is some diatribe, and "no", we never got even a shot at an elk and only saw 1 band on the day we flew into Malina Lake - the day before our season opened.
I seriously doubt we'll go again, quite expensive even for a resident with little chance of success. It is tho, very beautiful country. If you decide to go, be extremely careful and on your toes all the time. The Alaskan wilderness can be very unforgivng. Hope this helped some.
Bear in Fairbanks

LOL "Ding-Dong" that one made me laugh a lot!

Peter

Thanks Bear, sure sounds like you have had some adventures!