2026 Haul Road Hunt

[Kzimmy17]

Hi,

Myself and 3 friends are planing on hunting the Haul Road this year for the first time. The dates are the end of August through the first week of if September.

I have read many of the post regarding this hunt but wanted to get some insight on footwear. I was planning to wear my Crispi Nevadas with Gaiters and bring a pair of Muck Boots. I have seen quite a few posts on different options for waders or hip waders and wanted some input on whether or not it would be worth investing in some for the trip.

Second, we are looking at bringing a raft or two for access and meat packing. From the videos I’ve seen, the river conditions vary quite a bit and I understand it depends year. I was hoping to get some insight on what the conditions are usually like on the Antigun and the lower Sag during the end of August/ beginning of September. This will help us decide whether we bring 1 or 2 rafts.

Thanks

 

[Geewhiz]

Damn there are a lot of haul road hunt threads.

Last year around that time all the rivers on the slope were gushing to the point that they were impassible with any sort of raft regardless of your skill level.

 

[HuntInWild88]

Do you plan on rifle hunting or archery hunting? There's a big difference on what gear I take based on whether or not I'm hunting the road or hiking 5+ miles.

 

[Kzimmy17]

Geewhiz, thanks for the response. I will definitely consider that.

We will have both. The goal is to archery hunt from the road to the rifle corridor and then rifle hunt from there.

 

[Geewhiz]

If you plan on bringing archery equipment and rifle equipment and a few days worth of food and gear to the 5 mile line, and potentially making another round trip if successful, I just want you to understand how much work that is. It is doable, but a majority of the folks who head up there planning to do just that over estimate their ability and underestimate the difficulty of the task.

 

[Kzimmy17]

That is the plan. We are all aware of the difficulty and honestly it’s one of the main reasons we chose this hunt. I am just looking to learn as much as possible prior to the hunt.

 

[mb6355]

Did it last year, extremely wet and I second what Geewhiz said above. Hiking the 5 miles is tougher than most think. One, you will end up further than 5 more than likely. We ended updoing 60+ miles total by the time we finished shuttling all the meat out (kills were at 7 and 8 miles).

There are no easy steps once you step off the road. It is all tussocks, mud, muck, bogs, and water around all the drains and small creeks. Plan on only averaging about 1.5 mph light and 1 or less heavy. Leaking boots and persistent wet feet will kill your hunt. I would say an 8" boot like the Nevadas and gaiters is about the minimum. I used a 10" boot (Zamberlan 980s) and another guy did have one of the 8" Crispis and they did not leak. I think the Mucks or or other similar boots would probably tear up your feet going miles on the tundra.

I have done this twice now and it is one of the wettest environment I have been in. The humidity probably stayed above 90% both times so drying stuff out is almost impossible. It seems it is either snowing, raining, drizzling, sleeting, or some combination of these most every day. Other than boots, clothing that will keep you warm wet and somewhat dry out with your body heat while hiking will make it less than miserable.