Pacific Black Brant
Hands down the largest concentration of Pacific Black Brant stage up in Izembek Lagoon starting mid September and by mid October the lagoon holds 95% the worlds population of between 150-160,00 Pacific Black Brant. They generally stay out over open water and congregate on the eelgrass beds feeding all day long. During low tides its not uncommon to watch 50-80,000 birds on the water feeding at any one time.
Where is the best Brant hunting
There is no doubt that Izembek Lagoon has more Black Brant than any other location in the World. During the winter of 2018/19 the biologist have reported that upto 40,000 Brant held over all winter near cold bay. This offers our brant hunters a great opportunity to add on trophy Seaducks to there week. AIW offers hunts on all state controlled water, submerged and tidelands inside Izembek State game refuge which is actually Izembek lagoon along with the adjoining Kinzarof lagoon off coldbay proper. These are all boat based hunts utilizing layout boats, Boat blinds on state controlled water and estuaries. We do not hunt Izembek Federal Wildlife Refuge lands, Only Alaska’s Izembek State game refuge inside the lagoon. If you are looking to hunt land based brant then we recommend hunting Kinzaroff lagoon off the sand bars . As at this time we are not conducting guided land based hunts on Izembek Wildlife Refuge as we offer diy self guided hunts starting at $2500pp per week.
What to expect Pacific Brant hunting
Pacific Brant are hunted on the incoming flood tide of coastal lagoons including Izembek, Cinder River and Pilot Point. As the water floods in the birds lift off to reposition to get better access to the food source of Eelgrass. We hunt with a #4 hevisteel or hevishot but any good quality ammo works for the brant as they will decoy in close and commit to landing. Our local guides utilize Shoreblinds and boat blinds along with layout boats for the low flying brant. They are a great decoying small goose and will come in close landing in the decoys. Its allot of action and fast paced calling as the brant approach your spread. The limits are 3 per day 9 in possession.
Hunt with Alaska’s Top waterfowl guides team X-Treme
