2022 drop hunt gear review/trip planning help

[AKBorn]

I keep hearing about the importance of a glassing tarp. I'll be after caribou for the first time and I'm curious, are caribou really active during rain storms or are guys just trying to maximize their limited time on a fly in hunt?

We typically don't hunt during rain "storms", as the visibility tends to be really poor due to fog in the hills and mountains where we hunt (Unit 20 for many years now). And, if you don't have a stove for your tent, once you are wet on a remote hunt, you may be wet for the duration of the hunt...

But, there are quite a few days in remote AK where it's not raining HARD, but enough to get you good and wet over time if you don't have a tarp or something to sit under. And, there are often days where a strong or persistent wind can make it really cold to sit and glass - a tarp is great for a windblock on those days.

We typically cut 8'x8' Tyvek sheets, soak them in the clothes washer for a few hours, and then run them through a wash cycle without any detergent. Makes them soft and quiet....then each guy carries one in his pack, can be used as the makeshift shelter from wind and rain, and then used to put the quarters and other meat on if you shoot a bou.

 

[AKBorn]

Are quality down puffies worth while or just going to get wet and useless?

I bought a less expensive down puffy off Sierra Trading Post some time back for abut $55. I use it as the outer layer on sunny days, or under my fleece hunting jacket on colder, cloudy, or rainy days.

I get warm quickly when hiking, so any jacket I have tends to sit in the backpack when I'm hiking. I would not leave camp with my puffy as the sole outer layer, as rain can come in quickly and without much notice on some days.

 

[coloyooper]

Are quality down puffies worth while or just going to get wet and useless?

Kifaru LPP worth every penny

 

[WeiserBucks]

Kifaru LPP worth every penny

That kinda circles back to the root of my question. I've got high quality down and Kifaru LP tops and bottoms. If the down is useless due to moisture I'll bring the LP, but I freeze my ass off every time in the LP and don't want to be cold and miserable for 10 days.

 

[coloyooper]

That kinda circles back to the root of my question. I've got high quality down and Kifaru LP tops and bottoms. If the down is useless due to moisture I'll bring the LP, but I freeze my ass off every time in the LP and don't want to be cold and miserable for 10 days.

I wore the LPP every day in Alaska with temps from single digits to low 20s and stayed warm. If you get cold in it then I’m not sure down is going to help you either.

 

[WeiserBucks]

I wore the LPP every day in Alaska with temps from single digits to low 20s and stayed warm. If you get cold in it then I’m not sure down is going to help you either.

My down gear keeps me plenty warm in dry/snow weather. Haven't used it in rain under my rain gear or ever got it wet, that's my concern. I don't understand how anyone thinks the LPP is warm, it's easily the worst insulation piece I own.

 

[ddavis_1313]

Bringing this thread back up bc it’s 12 days until we fly from houston to anchorage. Was wondering if anyone brought a small hatchet/axe with them. We may or may not have wood for a fire but something small like the gransfors bruk outdoor axe is what I was thinking. Wood will depend on if we are dropped in an area with trees or if we are still on the tundra. Considering the two big snow storms they have already gotten the caribou may be a bit further south. Wouldn’t be bad to crack ribs off a carcass too. But I am taking a Wyoming saw with me with a bone and wood blade.

 

[Kevin Dill]

Bringing this thread back up bc it’s 12 days until we fly from houston to anchorage. Was wondering if anyone brought a small hatchet/axe with them. We may or may not have wood for a fire but something small like the gransfors bruk outdoor axe is what I was thinking. Wood will depend on if we are dropped in an area with trees or if we are still on the tundra. Considering the two big snow storms they have already gotten the caribou may be a bit further south. Wouldn’t be bad to crack ribs off a carcass too. But I am taking a Wyoming saw with me with a bone and wood blade.

If you have the weight allotment for it, bring the small axe...IF you have a stove to burn wood. For campfires my advice is forget them in caribou country...not worth the energy of gathering sparse dry wood. The fact is, in all the years I've hunted moose and caribou (NWT, Yukon, AK, BC) I have never had a campfire period.

If you bring the Wyo saw you definitely don't need the redundancy of a small axe for removing the ribs.

 

[mooster]

For caribou we don’t use an axe as we only find brush to burn in tent stove, and a saw suffices.

In moose camp we do being a small axe for camp chores & camp fire wood to burn .

 

[ddavis_1313]

If you have the weight allotment for it, bring the small axe...IF you have a stove to burn wood. For campfires my advice is forget them in caribou country...not worth the energy of gathering sparse dry wood. The fact is, in all the years I've hunted moose and caribou (NWT, Yukon, AK, BC) I have never had a campfire period.

If you bring the Wyo saw you definitely don't need the redundancy of a small axe for removing the ribs.

Kinda what I was thinking. Axe seemed redundant. One less thing to pack. And I don’t have a wood burning stove.


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