2023 AK Caribou Hunt prep, lessons learned, and gear

[jdinville3]

Fair point

You mentioned the ski goggles, but what's the benefit, you've got me curious!

 

[brolo]

You mentioned the ski goggles, but what's the benefit, you've got me curious!

For the wind. The place we were hunting has really nasty winds with rain and snow. The goggles help a ton.

 

[medvedyt]

You mentioned the ski goggles, but what's the benefit, you've got me curious!

also works great in a boat if you get bad wind and hail or snow sleet ...

 

[cKnob01]

Days 6-7: Day hunting, lots of sitting, lots of miles, new areas explored, no more caribou spotted. We were happy to come home with the two. The rest was uneventful, and getting home day 8 was fine. By day 7, I was also regretting not shooting more of those caribou. We could have stashed the meat and spent the remainder of the hunt doing meat runs instead of looking for more animals to shoot. Knowing caribou may be in small groups, we should have discussed shooting multiples. I bet the group would have been ok to trade fewer people shooting for more meat and some heavy pack days. I would have been ok with no trigger time and double the backstops.

Major lessons learned:
-Practice shooting waaaaaaay more
-The .308 with accubond left a golfball sized exit wound. It was plenty for big game. A lower recoiling cartridge would be sufficient, and there are probably more efficient bullets for tissue destruction. Both of us who shot lost the animals in the scope and definitely couldn't spot our impacts since we were zoomed in so much with higher recoiling rifles. We knew better but couldn't resist. Combined with not zooming all the way to 10x, I bet I would have been able to take quicker follow-ups against more animals with a smaller cartridge.
-I need to adjust how I carry the rifle. I want it to be quick in bear country, and unobtrusive at night with a head lamp
-I need a new glove system that works while moving and static in 20-40 deg weather with a bunch of wind and precipitation. It needs a durable/protective palm for rough and pokey things. Dries quick, waterproofish, warm, able to shoot with or take off quickly.

Awesome story. Thanks for sharing. Just got back from a caribou hunt myself and as far as gloves go Kuiu Northstar Glommit exactly fits what you’re looking for and I can tell you they are worth every dollar. Almost completely weatherproof and come off and on easily enough to take a shot. You can even wear a base layer glove under like the Kuiu Ultra Merino 210 to keep some warmth while you are taking your shot.

Carrying your rifle needs to be comfortable. Don’t worry about using your rifle for bear defense. You probably would want a sidearm or bear spray for that instead. If you’re trying to cut weight and want to use your rifle for defense I would use a pack rig that lets the rifle hang under your arm like the Kifaru gun bearer. This allows for a very quick draw.

Hope this helps