Name it newbie’s luck, or simply being in the correct place with the correct individuals. Both method, Chase Parker of Minnesota had one of the crucial thrilling opening days an elk hunter might ask for in October, when he traveled to Alaska to chase Roosevelt elk. Looking Afognak Island with a buddy and his uncle, Parker killed an enormous 6×6 bull on opening day that’s now the state’s pending No. 1 elk within the Boone & Crockett guide.
The three needed to work loads laborious for the bull, slogging 18 hours via unforgiving terrain and less-than-ideal climate, and avoiding the large brown bears that the Kodiak area is legendary for. However by the point their bush pilot landed to take them again to civilization, they knew they’d achieved one thing particular.
“We had all our gear on the seaside, and went and grabbed the cranium from the place we had it hiding the shade. And the very first thing [our pilot] did was he whipped off his sun shades and mentioned, ‘Holy shit,’” Parker laughs. “After which after we received again to Kodiak, Lucas had his truck there, and we had this massive rack protruding the again … and everybody’s strolling up asking, ‘Have you learnt how massive this factor is?’ And we’re like, ‘No, we’re just a few whitetail hunters from Minnesota.’”
The Flight In
Parker, who lives south of Duluth, had by no means hunted elk and even hunted a lot outdoors his house state when his buddy Isaiah Johnson reached out in February. Johnson had been involved along with his uncle, Lucas McLeod, who has an off-grid cabin on Kodiak Island. McLeod was recruiting family and friends to go on an elk hunt on close by Afognak Island, the place he’d hunted elk (unsuccessfully) after drawing a cow tag there in 2024. Parker was his tenth recruit, and the one one who drew an antlered tag via the state’s big-game lottery.
With the opposite seven bowed out, the group of three hunters began planning their October journey. McLeod coordinated the flights along with his neighbor, Willie Fulton, who runs an air taxi service out of Kodiak, whereas Parker and Johnson began e-scouting and binging YouTube. Parker additionally spent a great chunk of his summer season getting in form for the backcountry. He’d throw on his pack, toss in a 50-pound sandbag, and begin strolling the paths on his household’s searching property in Minnesota.
“After doing all that although, after which attending to Afognak, I don’t even know if I might have been ready for it,” he says.
Epic Alaska Roosevelt Elk Hunt – File Bull?!?
Their unique plan was to land on Afognak Island a number of days earlier than the Oct. 8 opener, however climate delays saved them grounded in Kodiak till noon on Oct. 7. It’d’ve been for the most effective. As a result of whereas flying over a mountain on their approach to the lake the place they camped, the group noticed a bunch of 5 elk from the floatplane. One was clearly an enormous bull. After touchdown and pitching camp, the three hunters hiked up the identical mountain to plan their route for the subsequent morning.
“We have been up at 6 a.m. and we hiked for about two hours at midnight,” says McLeod. “There was a number of wandering round within the woods at midnight, however we made some good headway, and we received to the identical spot we’d made it to the night time earlier than. It was proper after dawn, and we weren’t too removed from the place we wished to be.”
A Bear and a Bugle
The hunters spent the early morning glassing and sending out a number of cow calls. However rain and shifting winds compelled them to re-think their place, in order that they began mountaineering up and over the mountain to get the wind again of their face. They began to see elk tracks and different signal as they climbed, and McLeod took the lead as they crested one other rise on the mountainside. Wanting down and over the sting, he noticed “a really spherical” Kodiak bear.
“This factor, its stomach was touching the bottom,” says McLeod, who was carrying a 10mm sidearm, as have been his searching companions. “And the large boar simply form of meandered towards me, it hadn’t seen me but. So I simply stopped in my tracks.”
McLeod received the eye of the opposite two, who joined him to look at the bear till it lastly seen them and took off. Johnson climbed towards a greater vantage level, after which scurried again down twice as quick.
“He mentioned, ‘It’s circled round us! It’s on high!’” McLeod says. “And there it was, perched up on the cliff proper above us and watching our each transfer … Ultimately it wandered off and we went our separate methods. Nevertheless it was an anxious second there for a bit.”
Their minds again on elk, the three hunters made it to their subsequent glassing spot and began calling once more. The wind was nonetheless blowing, however throughout one second of stillness Parker thought he heard a response bugle from under. He referred to as once more and heard one other faint response, however it was laborious to see a lot within the thick timber under. In order that they slowly descended about 200 yards into the spruce forest. Parker bugled once more and heard one other response, and he figured it needed to be the identical bull they’d noticed from the airplane the day gone by.
After that it received quiet. Parker began to fret that possibly they’d spooked the bull. Johnson was additionally getting impatient, and he had a blacktail tag in his pocket. He informed the opposite two he was going again towards camp to search for deer, after which he headed that route whereas Parker and McLeod saved working deeper into the spruce forest.
Splitting Up
“So we cut up up, and there was somewhat sport path we have been strolling on,” Parker remembers. “It was in all probability two, possibly three minutes after splitting up from Isaiah after we bumped into the bull.”
Standing broadside simply 50 yards away, the elk was proper in the midst of the sport path. They may clearly see its physique, and so they might simply make out the ideas of its antlers up within the spruce limbs. Judging by the peak of the antlers, they knew it was massive. Parker unstrapped his rifle chambered in 7mm PRC and cranked down his scope. Then he squeezed off a shot earlier than the bull knew they have been there.
Parker heard the hit and so they watched the elk trot into some thick brush, the place it laid down. After 20 minutes of ready and shaking, he and McLeod walked over and noticed the bull arise from 10 yards. He chambered one other spherical because it received as much as stroll, and his subsequent spherical put the bull down in a mossy open space. After strolling up and admiring the animal, they began to get to work. However due to the terrain and the way in which it was mendacity, they realized fairly shortly they’d need assistance.
“We have been hungry, and doubtless dehydrated, and we’re making an attempt to maneuver this factor however we knew we couldn’t do it simply the 2 of us. So I informed Lucas I used to be gonna run again to camp and discover Isaiah,” Parker says. “I seemed down at my onX observe, and we’d hiked about 7 miles that day. However we ended up being solely a half-mile away from camp.”
After leaving McLeod and crossing a number of brushy ravines, Parker made it again to camp. Johnson had by no means heard the shot. He was stunned when his buddy crammed him in, and somewhat bummed that he wasn’t there to see it. However he helped Parker get some provides, and so they headed proper again to the place McLeod was nonetheless engaged on skinning the elk.
Hours later, after carrying again the meat they may and hoisting the remainder into the timber with paracord, they lastly headed again to camp. It was after midnight by the point they laid their heads down.
A Little R&R
The subsequent morning they made a last journey uphill and packed the remainder of the meat down, together with the large head. Then they spent a restful day close to the tents whereas ready for the climate to clear. The next afternoon their aircraft arrived to shuttle them out, and so they stopped briefly in Kodiak earlier than heading out to McLeod’s cabin. As soon as there, they have been in a position to absolutely unwind with cocktails, a swim within the ocean, and some lengthy sits in a sauna.
“It was form of good to have that stress off, and we simply loved Kodiak at somewhat extra relaxed tempo,” McLeod says.
Again in Minnesota, Parker was in a position to get his elk formally scored by B&C measurer Carey Ferell at 313⅝ inches. Based on Ferrell, the bull ought to simply change the present Alaska file, which scored 291⅝ and was taken in 2016. Parker says he ought to get the ultimate phrase from B&C in a number of weeks.
