kshunter

This hunt has always interested me. A DIY caribou that you can drive to, going to the Arctic of Alaska. But I have also read a lot of mixed reviews, with most of the negatives being hunters driving the road back and forth on the road, looking for an easy caribou crossing the road or next to the pipeline.

Here is my"initial" breif gameplan. My wife will be hunting with me. We will fly up to Fairbanks, and rent a vehicle to drive up north. I understand that many rentals will not allow you to drive on the Dalton Hwy, but I have found a few which will. With roughly a 14 hr drive, we should arrive to the general area of the caribou. I'll plan 7 days to hunt.

We haven't decided on whether we want to archery or rifle hunt(beyond 5 mile buffer). Our preference would be to archery hunt, but depending on what the pressure is by the road along with success rate vs going 5 miles in and rifle hunting, we may be using the rifle instead. We also plan on doing some fishing and making it a vacation bysoaking up the scenery.

I do have some questions though,

1. I'm looking into a July/August hunt...mainly for warmer weather and a chance of getting abull with velvet. Are there any week timeframes when you should see more caribou than other times?

2. Is the Caribou tag specific to the weapon, or could we bring a bow & rifle, and decide later on how we want to hunt? (We are both archery certified) And are the seasons the same?

3. Is it worth buying a wolf tag in the caribou areas? Think we'll have a chance at seeing one?

Has anyone been on this hunt? And if so, do you have any recommendations or experiences you could share? Thanks for the info!

Waterproof

The one thing about Archery in Alaska make sure you have an Alaska recognized Archery hunter's card.

AK Jeff

1) No. There is absolutely no predicting caribou movements. You may spend seven days up there and not see a thing, or you may see thousands every day. It's a total crapshoot. In July and August most of the 'bou will still be very far north in their calving grounds near the coast. The mature bulls are the first to head south, usually beginning in late July, but their movements are usually dictated by the weather.

2) No. The caribou tag isn't weapon specific, but the Dalton corridor is. There are different bag limits inside and outside of the corridor, so know the difference.

3) Probably not. Wolf season doesn't start until Aug. 10 and there aren't that many wolves up there. Remember inside the corridor it's archery only for everything including wolves, and small game (except under trapping regs, but trapping season doesn't start until much later). Do you think you can get within bow range of a wolf incompletely treeless terrain?

Some other food for thought...

Hiking across wet tundra is miserable. 5 miles to hike outside the corridor is comparable to hiking across 20 miles of the roughest terrain in Kansas...no joke. Then imagine hiking back with a caribou on your back. If you aren't in marathon running shape I would highly suggest you scrap the idea of hiking outside the corridor. If your wife isn't in marathon running shape I would suggest you don't take her on a North Slope death march lest she may decide to shoot, divorce, and/or castrate you for it.

In July and August the bugs on the North Slope are horrendous. When the wind dies down and the temps warm up they will come out in numbers like you can't imagine. Bring at least two headnets per person, and plenty of bug spray. I think I'd rather run out of food up there than run out of bug dope.

In July and early August the bulls antlers will be very porous and soft and absolutely full of blood. If you shoot a bull in that timeframe I'd strip the velvet immediately if you can't get it to a taxidermist to have it professionally preserved asap. Don't try the DIY antler preservatives because they simply don't work. Messing around with velvet that time of year will just leave you with a rotten rack...trust me, I've done it.

Don't expect to be alone in the wilds of Alaska up there. TheDalton is extremely crowded during 'bou season to the extent that it can be difficult to find a suitable camp site/parking spot anywhere near the road. Your competition will decrease dramatically the further you get from the road, but you still need to be able to find a place to park your rig (without blocking the pipeline access) to take off from. You can usually find some decent camp spots near the rivers where the gravelly soils aren't prone to saturation like the tundra is. If you do camp near a river be aware that they can flood extremely rapidly if it starts to rain. I've seen tiny streams up there turn into raging torrents in less than a day while it was raining heavily. Don't try and wade across the Sag...people have died trying that.

I hope that didn't entirely rain onyour parade. That's just the way it is. There are some real perks to a hunt up there, namely the affordability and easy access. Just remember that those two factorsmean that there are a ton of other people with the exact same idea.

If you have any other questions just shout.

AK Jeff

kshunter

Thanks for the info. It's much appreciated. What about a fly-in, from off the road? I've breifly heard that there are private individuals that will fly you in 10 miles off the road, for a resonable fee. Sounds like agoodidea, without the miserable hike, if I could find one willing to do it.

AK Jeff

I believe there's somebody that does fly-outs from Happy Valley, but don't quote me on it. I don't know what you've heard about "private individuals" that will fly you out, but to transport hunters for money in Alaska they are required to be a licensed transporter. You should be able to find a list of licensed transporters on the F&G website. There's an airboat transporter that runs people up the Ivishak, but he charges a pretty penny and I've heard reports of him stacking hunters up like cord wood. If you're going to try to book a fly-out do it fast because those guys book up quick and after Aug. 10 many of them get overwhelmed with flying sheep hunters into the Brooks Range.

Your best bet for value, experience, and success is to hike a mile or two off the road and find a good vantage point where you can see an area that isn't easily visible from the road. Taking a small inflatable is also a great idea as it gives you the ability to cross the Sag, or even float down the Sag and look for 'bou on the gravel bars. Any caribou that are visible from the road will more than likely be getting chased by numerous groups of people simultaneously. I've seen single herds getting chased by five or six different groups of hunters at the same time from different directions. If you can find a spot where you can see caribou that aren't visible to the guys that are road trolling you should have a much more enjoyable hunt without killing yourself with the five mile hike.

TROPHYHUNTER25

I WOULD DO A FLY IN TO GET TO SOME MORE REMOTE PLACES

KodiakArcher

But seriously, THAT'S NO B.S.!!!!!

AlaskaMagnum

Your best bet would be to drive up and fly in from a road pick up. I think Deltana Outfitter or something like that does it. That hunt is an absolute zoo. Hiking in the five miles is tough (have done it before), ONCE, won't do it again.


Bug dope AND head nets are a necessity. You will get eaten alive.

kshunter

Thanks for the info given. Just a few more questions

How large is the Sag? Would a pair of waders or knee boots be sufficient in crossing the river in some areas? Or is a raft basically needed? Also, whatare the general patterns of the caribou. Since their calving grounds are in the north, and they eventually go south, do they tend to go east/west much, or have a pattern of which direction they normally come from in relation to the Road?

Thanks again for the info!

AK Jeff

The Sag is pretty big, but it is extremely braided and in some spots it's rather shallow. Some people wade it, but like I said before people have died doing that. I believe it was two years ago that two guys waded it, shot a bou and while hauling it back they went in. One guy got out, but they found the other guy's body several miles downstream. That water is frigid cold and if you fall in you'll basically go into instant hypothermia. There's no 'bou in the world worth drowning over. You can rent a small inflatable in Fairbanks that'll get you across the Sag in one piece. Larry Bartlett's Pristine Ventures rents them out.

There is absolutely NO predicting which direction caribou are going to go. You can't even reliably predict which way they're going to go if you're looking at them. The only given is that they move and they move a lot. In the spring they generally move north and in the fall they generally move south, but they go every direction on the map while they migrate, and some don't really migrate at all. If you want an idea of how erratic their movements are just go to this link and look at the individual collared caribou from year to year. You can see how individual animals will go completely different directions and distances from year to year. They're called the wanderer of the north for a reason...

http://www.taiga.net/satellite/follow.html

AK Jeff