Dexter Grayson
WKR
When I moved to Alaska I had a list of hunts I wanted to do.
1. Sheep
2. Moose
3. Arctic
4. Float
5. Kodiak
Well this year we were on number 4. So we decided to float the charley river since it was a float that could give us the opportunity to harvest 6 different species. The charley river is 82 miles from 3 fingers charley to the Yukon river and from the mouth of the charley to circle was 70 miles. We planned for 12 days to float hunt 152 river miles.
Plans were made, Deposits were paid, research was done, videos were watched, raft and extra necessary gear was purchased.
A lot of friends from the lower 48 said that they wanted to come up and hunt with me in 2018 so once the trip was planned I went down the list and invited all of them. Everyone of them balked at the idea of doing a 12 day float hunt. So it was just going to be my core hunting group: myself, my wife, and my best bud BJ. Only problem was that I put a deposit down for 4 people, not really a problem just 4 people would save us some money.
May rolls around and a guy named Steve posted a video that he made of a previous hunting trip on the Alaska outdoor forum. The video is put together really well, so I connect with him via PM. We hit it off right away. So I ask him if he would be interested in going on a 12 day float hunt. He said possibly, so we made plans to meet up face to face in June. We had dinner with him and his wife and immediately knew that this guy would be an asset to our hunt.
After dinner I tell Steve that we would really like for him to go with us on the trip. He agreed, but little did I know that I wasn't the only one to invite Steve on a hunt this year. Turns out he already had 4 other trips planned for this fall, and was planning on hunting 50 days this fall. But as luck would have it he was free during the time of our float hunt. Game on!
My wife and I are beginners at rafting so we spent all summer doing trial runs down the Kenai river. My wife was super nervous about the floating aspect of this hunt and to be honest I was a little nervous myself.
Fast forward to August 28,
Day 1, we hit the road from Fairbanks to circle village at 0400 with an ETA of 0730 and a pick up time of 0800. We'll if you've ever hunted Alaska you've probably had weather delays, and this is exactly what happened to us. The wind was ripping at the strip, not flying today. So we drove the long 35 miles back to central, AK where they had a bar and a hotel. We grabbed a burger and a room for the night. A very nice family runs the corner bar and inn, highly recommend stopping in if you're ever in central.
Day 2, head back to Circle for pick up, weather was great and pilot was on time. But the pilot had some bad news, the caribou were way west of the charley river basin. Oh well, we're going. Two loads in the 185 and all 4 of us are sitting on the air strip at the head waters of the charley river. We inflated the rafts loaded them up and started dragging. The weather was 55 degrees and clear. After the mile drag we made it to the river.
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1. Sheep
2. Moose
3. Arctic
4. Float
5. Kodiak
Well this year we were on number 4. So we decided to float the charley river since it was a float that could give us the opportunity to harvest 6 different species. The charley river is 82 miles from 3 fingers charley to the Yukon river and from the mouth of the charley to circle was 70 miles. We planned for 12 days to float hunt 152 river miles.
Plans were made, Deposits were paid, research was done, videos were watched, raft and extra necessary gear was purchased.
A lot of friends from the lower 48 said that they wanted to come up and hunt with me in 2018 so once the trip was planned I went down the list and invited all of them. Everyone of them balked at the idea of doing a 12 day float hunt. So it was just going to be my core hunting group: myself, my wife, and my best bud BJ. Only problem was that I put a deposit down for 4 people, not really a problem just 4 people would save us some money.
May rolls around and a guy named Steve posted a video that he made of a previous hunting trip on the Alaska outdoor forum. The video is put together really well, so I connect with him via PM. We hit it off right away. So I ask him if he would be interested in going on a 12 day float hunt. He said possibly, so we made plans to meet up face to face in June. We had dinner with him and his wife and immediately knew that this guy would be an asset to our hunt.
After dinner I tell Steve that we would really like for him to go with us on the trip. He agreed, but little did I know that I wasn't the only one to invite Steve on a hunt this year. Turns out he already had 4 other trips planned for this fall, and was planning on hunting 50 days this fall. But as luck would have it he was free during the time of our float hunt. Game on!
My wife and I are beginners at rafting so we spent all summer doing trial runs down the Kenai river. My wife was super nervous about the floating aspect of this hunt and to be honest I was a little nervous myself.
Fast forward to August 28,
Day 1, we hit the road from Fairbanks to circle village at 0400 with an ETA of 0730 and a pick up time of 0800. We'll if you've ever hunted Alaska you've probably had weather delays, and this is exactly what happened to us. The wind was ripping at the strip, not flying today. So we drove the long 35 miles back to central, AK where they had a bar and a hotel. We grabbed a burger and a room for the night. A very nice family runs the corner bar and inn, highly recommend stopping in if you're ever in central.
Day 2, head back to Circle for pick up, weather was great and pilot was on time. But the pilot had some bad news, the caribou were way west of the charley river basin. Oh well, we're going. Two loads in the 185 and all 4 of us are sitting on the air strip at the head waters of the charley river. We inflated the rafts loaded them up and started dragging. The weather was 55 degrees and clear. After the mile drag we made it to the river.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
