Can anyone give me any input on a float hunt for caribou in Alaska.Would like to combine it with some fishing in late Aug early Sept.Some friends of mine floated the Kanektok and saw quite a few bou.Any other suggestions? Any info on the western artic herd???Thanks

actually I am planning or maybe planning a trip to that very area LOL! First off you need to find a raft. Raft size will depend on how many people and how many bou you intend on shooting. I personally own a 16ft cataraft. I need to get the trampoline floor for it instead of this plastic mesh crap. I have had 5 guys and all of our gear on there, Ya all of it LOL! That was pushing my luck but it worked fine. 2nd just because a river was good one year doesnt mean it will be equally good the next. My wife and I floated a river on the north side of the brooks and had a riot! Floated it again this year and didnt hardly see any caribou. The ones we did see were almost all little bulls cows and calves. As for the western arctic I plan on flying to Kotzebue and flying out from there. That or get picked up on the haul road from a Bettles air service and get flown over. Have to figure out costs. How did you friends go about it? and what where there costs to get to Kotz from Anch if they went that route? The western arctic is financially one of the more expensive herds to hunt due to its location!!! Also dont forget the shot at a moose depending on what river you end up hunting, there is a definate possiblity for doing a combo!

Lilhunter,Thanks for the reply.I'll send you an email.

right on...wouldnt mind talking to ya and sharing info. I have a ton of pilots numbers, now if I can dig them up is another story LOL! I do have a few links of pilots across the state. I will shoot them to you in an email. You can check out our float trip on my web page. Sorry for the typo's..haven't bothered to back and fix them LOL!

Dan
http://www.geocities.com/tradbow007/...dventures.html

Edited by - Lilhunter on 01/01/2002 19:54:01

sent ya a bunch of info/links. That should get ya started. I also have more but I will have to dig it up and type/scan it so give a few to get it all together so I dont end up emailing you a thousand emails LOL! Look forward to conversing and sharing notes.....

Dan

Anyone have any current advice on this subject?

This is the oldest thread I could dig up. It seems to be the fashionable thing to do.

My father and uncle did one of these about 10 years ago. They both said it was a lot of work. Dad took a nice bull but he worked for it.

I know a group of guys that did a guided float like this and had a good bit of trouble from "local fellows". They had a group come into their camp and cause trouble and had a bullet hole appear in one of the beached boats one afternoon. They said that the local fellows considered it their territory and did not like outsiders taking their game.

This happened about ten years ago. It was about a week long hunt, but I don't know what river they floated. They all got nice trophy game but they all said that they would not ever do it again.

Sam: Don't know much about your age, ability, conditioning, buddies, finances, etc., so it's hard to get too specific. At my age (60) I'd have to go guided, but perhaps it could be different for you.

There are several good books on the subject ("Float Hunting Alaska's Rivers" is one title, I believe), plus you could probably Google all sorts of info.

Whatever route you take, Good Luck! (And don't wait until you're 60 to give it a whirl!)