Wrangell resident succeeds with Zarembo Island's sole elk tag

Two thousand and ninety to one. Those were the odds of winning the only elk-hunting permit on Zarembo Island this year - the first time in nearly 20 years the state Board of Game has permitted elk hunting on Zarembo after they were urged to do so by the Wrangell Fish and Game Advisory Committee.

Quite literally against all odds, Wrangell resident Curtis Kautz won the lottery. His prize? A 31-day window to try and bag a creature Kautz described as smart, skittish and fast.

"They're hard to sneak up on," he said.

Elk are not native to Southeast. In 1987, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game transplanted them from Oregon to Etolin Island, where elk hunting has been permitted since 1997. The elk population naturally spread to Zarembo.

While there have been as many as 50 elk permits a year on Etolin, the state made just one available for hunters on Zarembo. Luckily for Curtis, his name was pulled from the pool of 2,090 applicants.

He realized he couldn't do it alone, but he wanted to keep his support crew within the family. His son, who lives in Juneau, flew down for five days and his brother in Wrangell also joined the hunt, rounding out the three-man party.

The men arrived on Zarembo on Sept. 30, a day before his hunting window opened. He wanted to set up trail cameras and scout out the island's herd population. He heard from deer hunters that the elk were mostly on the island's southern tip, so that's where the hunting party decided to make camp.

The first four days of the hunt were unfruitful, though not uneventful. The party was able to identify multiple elk in the area. There were two groupings, said Katz: one eight-elk herd, comprised of mostly cows, one calf and one bull; and another nearby couple- just one bull and one cow.

The Zarembo Island elk tag is only good for a bull, so the numbers weren't exactly in Curtis' favor. Yet again, neither were the numbers for the lottery that got him there in the first place.

Though the permit provided him with an entire month to tag a bull, his first bout with Zarembo's elk population was coming to a close by the time the sun rose on Oct. 5. The fifth of the month was a Saturday, and Curtis' son was scheduled to fly back to Juneau on Sunday. Additionally, the party was beginning to run low on rations.

"We were running out of groceries, beer and fuel," Curtis said.

That Saturday began just how the previous four had gone. The Kautz men woke with first light at 6:30 a.m. Breakfast was simple: bacon, eggs, some coffee to wash it all down. Curtis said the party realistically had two hunts left in them, so they had to be strategic about when they went out. In the end, they decided on an evening hunt on Saturday and a final hunt the following morning if necessary.

They only needed the one.

That evening, the trio cruised their skiff down the southern end of Zarembo Island. Staying 1,000 yards from the shore, the Kautzes located the eight-elk herd in a cove on the beach. This was their chance.

The team steered the skiff up against some rocks in a nearby cove, about a quarter-mile south of where they'd spotted the herd. Curtis hopped out, .30-06 in hand, and began to trek through the woods to intercept the herd.

Decked out in camouflage rain gear, Xtratuff boots and a trapper hat, the hunter crept through the saturated brush, hoping to get a glimpse at the elk. During a previous hunt, his sudden movements staved off the chance at a kill. But now, Curtis had learned his lesson.

As he moved through the trees that divided the neighboring coves, he spotted the elk. Better yet, they were walking right toward him. He couldn't believe his luck.

Quietly, he lied down prone, resting his rifle - "a great rifle" he's owned since the early '90s - on the water-logged log in front of him.

"I just waited for him to come within my rifle range," he said. "And then I popped him."

Curtis' first round struck the young bull in the throat.

"He just raised his head and was twisting his head back and forth. I didn't know if I hit him or not because he was just standing there."

When the shot went off, the rest of the herd scattered. Before Curtis's elk - a two-by-three-pointed elk with single eye guards points - turned to follow the rest into the woods, the experienced deer hunter unloaded a second round from 200 yards out. The bullet ripped through the animal's side and pierced the 500-pound elk in the lung.

It dropped.

"I got him," Curtis thought to himself.

The two other Kautzes met him on the shore, beached the skiff and began to gut the animal. After about an hour and a half, the elk was field dressed and loaded onto the boat. They skinned and quartered the kill after hoisting it up at the Reliance Float.

They let it hang for a week, then Curtis processed the meat.

"It's cut up into steaks, roasts and hamburger right now," he said.

Though he is ineligible to win the elk tag on Zarembo next year, Curtis is more than satisfied. Not only did he go home with over 250 pounds of meat that he shared with his family, but Curtis Kautz has got a damn good hunting story to serve on the side.