2019 Succesful Brooks Range Caribou DIY

[AKBorn]

One suggestion for the future and for others if you have weight limits is to ask your transporter if he will be flying near your camp site before you get there. If so he can drop the pre shipped gear for you. Ours loved the idea. It makes his life easier too since those guys are so busy during hunting season. By the time we fly out to hunt we wont have much at all. That’ll allow us to buy fresh food in Fairbanks to take.

Take some gear for cold, if you're staying until Sept. 26 and flying out of Coldfoot, it can get cold up in the Brooks that late in September.

One caution on having you gear dropped early - will your shelter be with the pre-dropped gear? What will you do if a bear finds that gear and tears into it? Not a ton of extra food laying around, so grizzlies will get into whatever they can...

Good luck and please share your story when you return.

 

[Indian Summer]

Take some gear for cold, if you're staying until Sept. 26 and flying out of Coldfoot, it can get cold up in the Brooks that late in September.

One caution on having you gear dropped early - will your shelter be with the pre-dropped gear? What will you do if a bear finds that gear and tears into it? Not a ton of extra food laying around, so grizzlies will get into whatever they can...

Good luck and please share your story when you return.

We’re in a drop camp so shelter will not only be there but also set up. I wouldn’t send food in advance. When we fly in it’ll be food, weapons, and maybe a little bit of clothes. Thanks for the info on the weather. Furthest north I’ve hunted is over near Galena.

 

[AKBorn]

How did the floorless shelter work out with all the weather/wind? Did you use ground sheets? I'm going up to Kotzebue this year and was thinking about bringing a tipi. Thanks for sharing!!

I use a GoLite Shangri-La 5 tipi tent for the cook tent and gear tent (no food in the sleep tent). I cut a sheet of Tyvek a tad smaller than the outside footprint of the tipi and it makes a good, strong, inexpensive groundsheet. I soak it in my clothes washer for 3-4 hours and then run it through one wash/rinse cycle, and it comes out soft and quiet. I use 8'x8' Tyvek sheets conditioned the same way to lay meat on.

 

[Steve P]

Great write up, congrats on the bulls

 

[Dexter Grayson]

Great job on this. Still blows my mind that it would be $6,500 DIY per person. That would pay for a Trophy elk/deer combo wilderness hunt with guides, horses, and hot meals in the lower 48. Still worth it, sounds like

There is a ton that goes into that type of hunt. the bush flight alone is $3300. I had a buddy come up and do the exact same hunt, he said he spent close to $12k when he added up all the gear he purchased.

 

[steadytowingandshot]

Great job on this. Still blows my mind that it would be $6,500 DIY per person. That would pay for a Trophy elk/deer combo wilderness hunt with guides, horses, and hot meals in the lower 48. Still worth it, sounds like

Man, I know. It’s just the logistics of getting you and your shit there and back that is so expensive. If you start looking into guided hunts you see real quick why they charge what they do. And they don’t make much on the deal. The travel aspect is just really expensive since it is so remote. I still think its worth it if you can swing it.

 

[steadytowingandshot]

AWESOME write up, thanks for sharing! Great pics and that was a nice pack - 1/2 mile on relatively flat ground, take that one every time!

Just one question - did you get an extra tag or something, or a combo license? License cost could have been $810, $650 for the caribou tag and $160 for a non-res license.

Thanks! Yes, we got a wolf tag as well for I think 60 bucks? Wish we had a musk ox tag though, cause we saw two different TOADS on separate days within 200 yards

 

[steadytowingandshot]

There is a ton that goes into that type of hunt. the bush flight alone is $3300. I had a buddy come up and do the exact same hunt, he said he spent close to $12k when he added up all the gear he purchased.

Yeah that’s probably not far off the mark. Between the two of us we already owned at least 90 percent of the gear we took and a lot of it is expensive stuff. I definitely wouldnt go up there with Academy stuff

 

[steadytowingandshot]

AWESOME write up, thanks for sharing! Great pics and that was a nice pack - 1/2 mile on relatively flat ground, take that one every time!

Just one question - did you get an extra tag or something, or a combo license? License cost could have been $810, $650 for the caribou tag and $160 for a non-res license.

Forgot, we also got a fishing license

 

[steadytowingandshot]

Very nice write up! I like the way you just told about your hunt and followed up answering questions.


What size Action Packers did you use? Where did you get the 18 inch tundra stakes?

I agree the guy at Fairbanks Tannery is super nice. He has the waxed leakproof fish boxes available too for flying meat home. Much lighter and less bulky than coolers or totes.

We’ll be hunting out of Coldfoot with a different transporter. Our main target is actually moose so we won’t start hunting until the 10th to be there during the rut. But we’re allowed to shoot caribou at no extra charge. Our cost doesn’t change by how long we hunt either so I’m not flying out until the 26th.... the day after moose season closes. I’m also figuring that by then the caribou will have been moving for sure.... as if anything up there is for sure right! Lol


One suggestion for the future and for others if you have weight limits is to ask your transporter if he will be flying near your camp site before you get there. If so he can drop the pre shipped gear for you. Ours loved the idea. It makes his life easier too since those guys are so busy during hunting season. By the time we fly out to hunt we wont have much at all. That’ll allow us to buy fresh food in Fairbanks to take.

Congratulations on a great hunt when the weather wasn’t helping! And thanks for sharing.

We had one 24 gallon and one 48 gallon a piece. You can fit a caribou in a 48

 

[Indian Summer]

We had one 24 gallon and one 48 gallon a piece. You can fit a caribou in a 48

You mean quarts not gallons right?

 

[steadytowingandshot]

Great write up, congrats on the bulls

You mean quarts not gallons right?

Gallons

Robot or human?

 

[Indian Summer]

Gallons

Robot or human?

Wow it must have cost a fortune to ship a 48 gallon container. Not much smaller than a 55 gallon drum!

 

[Santa]

Awesome write up and pics. Congrats on your success and thanks for sharing!

 

[Northwestalaska]

Thanks! Yes, we got a wolf tag as well for I think 60 bucks? Wish we had a musk ox tag though, cause we saw two different TOADS on separate days within 200 yards

Hi Guys!

When it comes to shipping meat back home don't bring up a empty tote. If you choose the action packers bring it up with all of your gear and after the hunt fill it with meat and what ever was in the action packer you can mail home for a fraction of what it cost to fly it home..Grab a Box from the local AC store tape it up and boom, mail it home. Another option is buy meat boxes when you get to your hub. Alaska Air sells them for around $20 or so. I ship a pallet load of flat meat boxes up every year and my clients take what they need and they send me $10 per box. My cost is $7.50 per box and with shipping I hope to break even. It is part of my service and I don't expect to make money on it and no I don't sell to no-clients! Its a benefit I provide to my guys...Part of working with a guy like me is local knowledge because I live here and the small things you don't even think about...Planning its all about planning..Walt

 

[NUGGET]

Hi Guys!

When it comes to shipping meat back home don't bring up a empty tote. If you choose the action packers bring it up with all of your gear and after the hunt fill it with meat and what ever was in the action packer you can mail home for a fraction of what it cost to fly it home..Grab a Box from the local AC store tape it up and boom, mail it home. Another option is buy meat boxes when you get to your hub. Alaska Air sells them for around $20 or so. I ship a pallet load of flat meat boxes up every year and my clients take what they need and they send me $10 per box. My cost is $7.50 per box and with shipping I hope to break even. It is part of my service and I don't expect to make money on it and no I don't sell to no-clients! Its a benefit I provide to my guys...Part of working with a guy like me is local knowledge because I live here and the small things you don't even think about...Planning its all about planning..Walt

Or better yet they can post there questions here for FREE and not pay additional $$$ for a “hunt planner”. Why limit yourself to one local? Post here for free and get the experience from a bunch of locals!

Good grief Walt Every one your your posts ends with an advertisement. Do you also sell triple A insurance?

 

[Badland]

Thanks for sharing and being so detailed, definitely a dream hunt for most.

 

[Northwestalaska]

Or better yet they can post there questions here for FREE and not pay additional $$$ for a “hunt planner”. Why limit yourself to one local? Post here for free and get the experience from a bunch of locals!

Good grief Walt Every one your your posts ends with an advertisement. Do you also sell triple A insurance?

Do we know each other ? Have I pissed n your coffee lately or are you just a all round happy guy.. Good luck man!

 

[Nick Muche]

Caribou, Lake Trout and Arctic Char, now that sounds like a hell of a trip. Congrats!

 

[NUGGET]

Do we know each other ? Have I pissed n your coffee lately or are you just a all round happy guy.. Good luck man!

No I don’t know you but I see you on enough forums trying to sucker people into using your services. I’ve yet to see anyone recommend your “business” on a hunting forum. In addition many of the forums you panhandle at already have an Alaskan hunting planning sponsor (like this site).

I do always get a chuckle out of the dead moose in water pic you’ve posted at least 578 times. Says a lot about ya.

Good day!