Plan: Three buddies and I planned a week-long mountain caribou hunt in Alaska. We were in it for the meat and experience. Everybody agreed we'd share the work and split the meat, regardless of who pulled the trigger. Stay in a main camp, combo of day-hunting and spike camp, kill a many as we could carry.
Prep: continuing exercise program focusing on functional fitness to be mountain ready. 3-5 days a week of weights, cardio, etc. Summer spent hiking with kiddo on my back, the two months before the hunt included 2-3 nights a week of 3 mile timed walk through the neighborhood with 60 lb pack after the kids were asleep. I felt good, but just wished I could do more hiking on broken terrain. Shooting practice was a number of range sessions shooting prone, sitting with trekking poles, and standing freehand. I was 95% hits inside 8 inch circle at 300 yd sitting with sticks, 90% rate in same circle at 100 yd standing. Prone was fine as well. All of this was calm wind on a range. I wanted to shoot much more, especially in timed drills with an elevated heart rate...this will become a factor during the hunt.
Day 1: Fly in. We brought a mix of waxed boxes with liner and tupperwares. The totes are easier to pack, good for meat, and actually cheaper than boxes. Gun cases were easy to check at the airport, one set of keys on a lanyard around my neck, the spare set in my carry on. First loss of the trip: carry-on bag of groceries got flagged at security, peanut butter and Nutella counts as a liquid/gel...bummer. Get to destination, get camp settled, check zero, do a few hours scouting before dark.
Day 2: Out the door and walking before dawn. Winds 20-50 mph, cloudy, rain/sleet/snow/ice periodically, 30-35 deg. Synthetic base layers key since they dry 2-3 times faster than merino, light fleece mid layer top and bottoms, sitka 3 layer goretex jacket and pants were great. They kept me mostly dry, vented really well, dried fast, good hood and pockets; headlamp and inreach lived in the coat, buff and chapstick in hip pockets, couple small snacks in cargo pocket to keep warmish...not too bulky and easy to reach. REI merino/synthetic blend beanie light, warm enough, dried quickly, and didn't stink. Seal Skin gloves were light enough, worked with the phone, kept hands dry, grippy, and I could shoot with them. Leukotape is a superstar; I put it on my feet on a couple known problem areas day 1 and didn't take it off til our last day. I wore a synthetic liner sock under darn tough light cushion socks; dried nicely, no stink. My boots are crispy briksdal goretex with 200g insulation matched with outdoor research verglas gaiters. This worked really well; the insides stayed dry enough through multiple water crossings, rain, snow, mud, and miles. My feet mostly stayed warm, they were only cold one morning getting going in camp and another day during a long glassing sit. I have a basic bino bro binocular harness. I really liked it's light weight, quiet use, and how it kept moisture and crud off the glass, but I wish it had a stiffer opening for one-handed use. I kept high contrast ski goggles on my head the whole day...life saver. I used a mystery ranch metcalf without the lid for day hunting. I packed it with a bladder, since I drink more than with bottles. Range-finder stayed on the hip belt, trauma kit in a bottle pouch, z seat in the other bottle pouch made for easy access for a glassing sit pad. I used a sea to summit pack cover. Inside the pack, I had a puffy jacket and pants in a dry sack. I used a Montbell Alpine parka. Outside of semi-custom options, I cannot find a better fitting, lightweight puffy with 7+ oz of down. It fits under my rain shell and worked really well. My pants were montbell synthetic full-zips that fit over my rain shell. They do pretty well, but down would be better. Inside the pack was a seek outside DST, kill kit, first-aid kit, and the rest of my day food. We hiked 7-8 miles up and down hills and mountains, stopped for a few decent glassing spots. Very little, and old caribou sign. No caribou sightings. Practiced gunnery on birds on the way back to camp, rifle challenging if you want salvageable meat. Shotgun was the most successful.
Prep: continuing exercise program focusing on functional fitness to be mountain ready. 3-5 days a week of weights, cardio, etc. Summer spent hiking with kiddo on my back, the two months before the hunt included 2-3 nights a week of 3 mile timed walk through the neighborhood with 60 lb pack after the kids were asleep. I felt good, but just wished I could do more hiking on broken terrain. Shooting practice was a number of range sessions shooting prone, sitting with trekking poles, and standing freehand. I was 95% hits inside 8 inch circle at 300 yd sitting with sticks, 90% rate in same circle at 100 yd standing. Prone was fine as well. All of this was calm wind on a range. I wanted to shoot much more, especially in timed drills with an elevated heart rate...this will become a factor during the hunt.
Day 1: Fly in. We brought a mix of waxed boxes with liner and tupperwares. The totes are easier to pack, good for meat, and actually cheaper than boxes. Gun cases were easy to check at the airport, one set of keys on a lanyard around my neck, the spare set in my carry on. First loss of the trip: carry-on bag of groceries got flagged at security, peanut butter and Nutella counts as a liquid/gel...bummer. Get to destination, get camp settled, check zero, do a few hours scouting before dark.
Day 2: Out the door and walking before dawn. Winds 20-50 mph, cloudy, rain/sleet/snow/ice periodically, 30-35 deg. Synthetic base layers key since they dry 2-3 times faster than merino, light fleece mid layer top and bottoms, sitka 3 layer goretex jacket and pants were great. They kept me mostly dry, vented really well, dried fast, good hood and pockets; headlamp and inreach lived in the coat, buff and chapstick in hip pockets, couple small snacks in cargo pocket to keep warmish...not too bulky and easy to reach. REI merino/synthetic blend beanie light, warm enough, dried quickly, and didn't stink. Seal Skin gloves were light enough, worked with the phone, kept hands dry, grippy, and I could shoot with them. Leukotape is a superstar; I put it on my feet on a couple known problem areas day 1 and didn't take it off til our last day. I wore a synthetic liner sock under darn tough light cushion socks; dried nicely, no stink. My boots are crispy briksdal goretex with 200g insulation matched with outdoor research verglas gaiters. This worked really well; the insides stayed dry enough through multiple water crossings, rain, snow, mud, and miles. My feet mostly stayed warm, they were only cold one morning getting going in camp and another day during a long glassing sit. I have a basic bino bro binocular harness. I really liked it's light weight, quiet use, and how it kept moisture and crud off the glass, but I wish it had a stiffer opening for one-handed use. I kept high contrast ski goggles on my head the whole day...life saver. I used a mystery ranch metcalf without the lid for day hunting. I packed it with a bladder, since I drink more than with bottles. Range-finder stayed on the hip belt, trauma kit in a bottle pouch, z seat in the other bottle pouch made for easy access for a glassing sit pad. I used a sea to summit pack cover. Inside the pack, I had a puffy jacket and pants in a dry sack. I used a Montbell Alpine parka. Outside of semi-custom options, I cannot find a better fitting, lightweight puffy with 7+ oz of down. It fits under my rain shell and worked really well. My pants were montbell synthetic full-zips that fit over my rain shell. They do pretty well, but down would be better. Inside the pack was a seek outside DST, kill kit, first-aid kit, and the rest of my day food. We hiked 7-8 miles up and down hills and mountains, stopped for a few decent glassing spots. Very little, and old caribou sign. No caribou sightings. Practiced gunnery on birds on the way back to camp, rifle challenging if you want salvageable meat. Shotgun was the most successful.
