2021 Alaska remote hunt: what worked, what didn't

[Gunnersdad49]

I just returned from a 12 day fly in trip to Alaska. We had some pieces of gear that worked really well, and some that failed completely. I thought I would share my experiences as they may help others with their purchases.

First off: Water filters. My partner and I each brought a filter, along with having the ability to boil water, or use purification tablets.

He bought the most recommended filtration pump the local sporting goods store had. It was the Katadyn Hiker Pro. It filters water quickly, and he "made water" for the two of us for the first two days out of the lake. The lake was weirdly colored from the tannins in the tundra that feeds the lake. The water was clear, but colored, so no big muddy water particles, etc. We made about 8 liters of water per day for drinking, coffee, and dehydrated meals. His pump worked great on day 1. On day 2, it got harder and harder to pump. We disassembled it, couldn't see any issues other than a coloration on the filter. By day 3 it was really hard to pump, and it broke where the filter housing threads onto the pump head. Catastrophic failure.

I used my Sawyer Squeeze for the rest of the trip with no issues, back flushing it twice. (no option or method for backflushing the Katadyn.

 

[Gunnersdad49]

Rangefinders: He used a Bushnell Bone Collector 850, I had a Sig Kilo 2200.

We both struggled to range caribou past 300 yards. I was able to range a moose at 690 yards, he couldn't get it to read on his until it was under 270 yards. We are both looking for a better alternative.

 

[Gunnersdad49]

Helinox Chairs: His was newer with teardrop shaped feet. Mine was older with the sort of larger cross shaped feet. Both of us struggled with the feet sinking down into the soft tundra. Mine lost 2 of the 4 feet deep into the tundra where I could not find them to put them back on. We each put a log under the legs (nestled into the V made by the front and back legs, running beyond the width of the chairs, which helped with not settling too far into the ground).

I ended up cutting discs of a pine tree, and carving a notch into them as a 3" Tundra Foot for my chair and duct taping them into place, which worked out ok.

I think the Helinox Ground Sheet or even Rocking Feet would be a good fix here.

 

[Gunnersdad49]

Sleeping pads: We both used the Exped Mega Mat pads and loved them. They are thick and warm with an R value of 9+. The downside is they are bulky when packed up. For the time we were there, we both thought they were a great choice.

 

[Gunnersdad49]

Shelter: We used a Seek Outside 8 man Tipi with liners and titanium box stove. This thing is awesome, and the stove really helps with cutting the morning chill, or preheating the tent at night. It held up to 40+ mph winds, rain, hail, snow, and frost. Absolutely recommend this type of setup for cold wet trips. The whole thing comes in around 15 pounds with the stove. We upgraded to the longer MSR Cyclone stakes for the tundra, and definitely recommend those for tundra, sand, etc.

We just set our cups of cold water on the stove in the morning, lit a little fire to warm us up, and by the time we were ready for it, we dumped in some instant coffee and had hot java to start the day without using any of our fuel for the isobutane stoves.

 

[Gunnersdad49]

Guns/optics/ammo: We both used Weatherby rifles in .340 Wby. I handloaded some Barnes 225 gr TTSX for them that shot well. Both rifles had great glass (NF and Swaro) that would have allowed for dialing if longer shots were needed. Broadside moose and quartering away caribou both had complete pass throughs with large exit wounds and immediate results. Happy with these choices, but the Weatherby rifles are a little longer and heavier than some folks like.

I also had a Slogan Outdoors rubber sling that I really liked. It didn't slip off of my shoulder or the pack shoulder strap like leather and neoprene ones have in the past.

 

[Gunnersdad49]

Food and Beverage: Peak Refuel meals won the taste/consistency tests over the other three brands we had with us. Variety is the spice of life, right? Other brands were Mountain House, Backpackers Pantry, and Readywise.
I used Black Rifle Coffee instant packets, he used Folgers packets. We aren't coffee snobs, but the BRCC tasted a little stronger which was nice.
I had the Wilderness Athlete Hydrate and Recover packets for adding to drinking water which helped with the taste, and encouraged me to keep hydrating. He brought Crystal Lite packets, and Nuun Tablets. He preferred the Nuun for flavor.

 

[SaltySailor]

Helinox Chairs: His was newer with teardrop shaped feet. Mine was older with the sort of larger cross shaped feet. Both of us struggled with the feet sinking down into the soft tundra. Mine lost 2 of the 4 feet deep into the tundra where I could not find them to put them back on. We each put a log under the legs (nestled into the V made by the front and back legs, running beyond the width of the chairs, which helped with not settling too far into the ground).

I ended up cutting discs of a pine tree, and carving a notch into them as a 3" Tundra Foot for my chair and duct taping them into place, which worked out ok.

I think the Helinox Ground Sheet or even Rocking Feet would be a good fix here.

I had 2 knock-off helinox chairs at moose camp this year and had the same problem, had to set em on a scrap piece of plywood just to be usable!

 

[UtahJimmy]

Rangefinders: He used a Bushnell Bone Collector 850, I had a Sig Kilo 2200.

We both struggled to range caribou past 300 yards. I was able to range a moose at 690 yards, he couldn't get it to read on his until it was under 270 yards. We are both looking for a better alternative.

I'd recommend Leica. I upgraded this year based on others recommendations here and could not be happier. I went with the 2400 and it consistently will range anything right up to 2400.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[TSAMP]

Nice write up! Sounds like you were successful, mind sharing a little about your game care setup and how that all worked out and how the weather was on your trip?

 

[crich]

Good feedback. I had a similar experience with a Sig 1800 on a caribou hunt. Just swapped it for a new Sig 5k and should be testing it for high alpine black bear the rest of this week. Glad your hunt went successfully

 

[grappling_hook]

Food and Beverage: Peak Refuel meals won the taste/consistency tests over the other three brands we had with us. Variety is the spice of life, right? Other brands were Mountain House, Backpackers Pantry, and Readywise.

Which Peak Refuel meals were at the top? I know Mountain House can vary widely depending on which meal you pick, so when you say Peak Refuel won, was every Peak Refuel better than every selection in the others? Also, did you happen to have the Backpacker's Pantry Pad Thai Chicken (their highest-rated meal) to compare to?

 

[Gunnersdad49]

Nice write up! Sounds like you were successful, mind sharing a little about your game care setup and how that all worked out and how the weather was on your trip?

I'll add more as it comes to me. We took a caribou early in the trip and a moose on the next to last day. Weather was low 50's as a high, and low 20's on the coldest nights. We had winds from 5-40 mph almost every day for most of the days, and rain showers most days for an hour or so at a time. Frost on the tent in the mornings, a couple of sprinkles of snow but nothing that stuck.

As far as game care, I used a Havalon with #70 blades for everything except some of the big meat cuts on the moose, I used an Esse #5 (5" blade fixed knife). We didn't save either of the capes, mainly due to the plane's weight restrictions and travel times/logistics. Planning on Euro mounting both critters.

This was a bone-in unit, so the only thing we used a saw for was ribs. Legs were all separated at the joints with the Havalon.

Tag Bags for the moose, Black Ovis elk sized bags for the caribou. The moose was right by the lake, so we bagged the meats and put them each on bushes to ensure good air flow around them. I didn't use citric acid or pepper for 2 reasons. 1 no bugs really at all, and 2, the bags kept them really well protected.

We hung the ribs and bags with quarters or other meat from a meat pole fashioned out of 3 pine trees. I then tarped over that with a 10x10' tarp that was guyed out to allow lots of air flow. The meat was always cold to the touch, out of the sun and rain, but plenty of wind kept it cooled all day.

The meat was flown out with my hunting partner, who rented a truck and took it to Santa's Smokehouse for processing. We kept the backstraps and tenderloins with us and froze them in the hotel in Fairbanks freezer in 50 lb insulated fish boxes. We took those as baggage on our flight home.

We did eat one set of the caribou ribs cooked over a fire, and one of the caribou tenderloins, along with some neck meat that I thought was the other tenderloin (great flavor but had to work through chewing it!). The ribs were good, but we cooked them too fast and they were pretty chewy too.

 

[Gunnersdad49]

Speaking of saws, we had 2. My buddy had a Gerber Vital saw that worked ok on the caribou ribs, but the MVP was my 20 year old Uncle Mikes Hunters Saw. I don't know if they still make these, but if so, I'm buying a spare. Worked great on firewood and camp projects, did the moose ribs no problem, and we used it to cut antlers off of the skulls for transportation.

 

[Gunnersdad49]

Which Peak Refuel meals were at the top? I know Mountain House can vary widely depending on which meal you pick, so when you say Peak Refuel won, was every Peak Refuel better than every selection in the others? Also, did you happen to have the Backpacker's Pantry Pad Thai Chicken (their highest-rated meal) to compare to?

They were all good, I had a few of the chicken pesto ones that I really liked. My buddy had the Pad Thai and as a Thai food snob he said it tasted like Top Ramen to him. Edible, but he wouldn't buy it again.

 

[Gunnersdad49]

Good feedback. I had a similar experience with a Sig 1800 on a caribou hunt. Just swapped it for a new Sig 5k and should be testing it for high alpine black bear the rest of this week. Glad your hunt went successfully

He is getting a Leica. I have spent my hunting budget for the year, but maybe Santa will bring me one. (insert non-existant fingers-crossed emoji here)

 

[Gunnersdad49]

Battery Banks: The only rechargable stuff we brought was our InReach and our cell phones. The phones were used for maps, music around the campfire towards the end of the trip, and photos (maybe a little bit of Candy Crush when unwinding before bed).

I have had good luck with Anker power packs, and for a longer trip like this opted for a 20,000 MAH Anker with a single solar panel on the front of it. I also bought a red 10,000 one not to be used for anything but the InReach in a pinch if the big one failed. I had a Phone Skope adapter for the spotter and took a lot of photos and video.

For the weight, the Anker solar was worthless. It is twice the weight of the same size pack without the solar panel, and even a couple of days of great sunlight didn't bring the 4 dot power level indicator up a single dot.

My buddy brought one of these off of Amazon with the fold out solar panels. https://www.amazon.com/25000mAh-Hiluckey-Compatible-Smartphones-Waterproof/dp/B07FMFGGNR

The Amazon one did great.

 

[Gunnersdad49]

Phone Skope Adapter: This is a 2 part phone case, one part attaches to the eyepiece of the scope, the other is a case on your phone. Attaching the eyepiece part was a little tricky (Swarovski ATX) to get it seated flush. I had to keep taking it off to put the eyepiece cover back onto the scope. Phone Skope has a lens cover that mounts to the adapter so you can leave it on the scope. I ordered one of those when I got home so I can leave the adapter in place.

 

[22lr]

Battery Banks: The only rechargable stuff we brought was our InReach and our cell phones. The phones were used for maps, music around the campfire towards the end of the trip, and photos (maybe a little bit of Candy Crush when unwinding before bed).

I have had good luck with Anker power packs, and for a longer trip like this opted for a 20,000 MAH Anker with a single solar panel on the front of it. I also bought a red 10,000 one not to be used for anything but the InReach in a pinch if the big one failed. I had a Phone Skope adapter for the spotter and took a lot of photos and video.

For the weight, the Anker solar was worthless. It is twice the weight of the same size pack without the solar panel, and even a couple of days of great sunlight didn't bring the 4 dot power level indicator up a single dot.

My buddy brought one of these off of Amazon with the fold out solar panels. https://www.amazon.com/25000mAh-Hiluckey-Compatible-Smartphones-Waterproof/dp/B07FMFGGNR

The Amazon one did great.

I have a cheap 25k MAH solar pack from Amazon that works great! Ya, a full day of sun only gives me maybe 1/4th of a full recharge, but I found I never use that much power anyways. I have gotten in the habit of topping off all electronics in the evening as I get dinner ready, that way if I find a problem with my 1 pack, I can always go into super conserve mode.

 

[Vrybusy]

Great write up! Thanks for sharing.