Alaska Caribou getting started Questions

[MNGaryB]

I was hoping for a August 2021 hunt, will be flying and rifle hunting.

From what I’ve found you will need to have deposits down 2 years prior to your hunt...to hunt with a reputable transporter. That being said, to hunt the 40 mile herd I’m guessing it will be 2 year minimum and a lot of luck getting in the rotation.

 

[Wapiti151]

OP, this thread is old now...but I am curious as to the decision you made for this hunt? I am moving to Alaska in a couple weeks, and just got penciled in with Golden Eagle Outfitters for a drop-off bou hunt out of Kotzebue. There will be 4 of us in our party, and since i will be a resident, i HOPE to take multiple bulls and will try and get a moose registration permit as well for the area.

 

[AKBorn]

OP, this thread is old now...but I am curious as to the decision you made for this hunt? I am moving to Alaska in a couple weeks, and just got penciled in with Golden Eagle Outfitters for a drop-off bou hunt out of Kotzebue. There will be 4 of us in our party, and since i will be a resident, i HOPE to take multiple bulls and will try and get a moose registration permit as well for the area.

Please check the regs that the AK Department of Fish and Game issues - you may need to be in AK longer than a few weeks before you qualify for a resident hunting license...

 

[Wapiti151]

Please check the regs that the AK Department of Fish and Game issues - you may need to be in AK longer than a few weeks before you qualify for a resident hunting license...

AKBorn, yes you are correct. I should have been more clear, this is a 2022 fall hunt I just booked…not 2021. I don’t think they would have been able to squeeze me in this year, even if I wanted to.

 

[Jackal7]

We hunted on the South Slope of the Brooks Range in September 2019. It was warm and caribou were scarce. So we did a lot of hiking around on the tundra. I was 54 yo at the time and in very good physical condition. So were my three buddies, and we trained for a year for the trip. The tundra there was very tough terrain. We shot our last two bulls 2.5 miles downhill from camp on the last afternoon before pickup the next day. That pack out with four of us was brutal.

Thus, if the 40 Mile herd (never been there) is terrain more conducive to your dad's physical abilities, try that. I loved the area north of Kotz and am going back in 2022, but that tundra is a motherclucker with a big load on your back.

 

[shinyboat]

I've hunted both the Denali highway herd and the haul road north slope herd. The Denali highway herd is hard to do out of state due to tags. I did the north slope hunt after I moved out of state. My buddy still lived there so we used his rig hunted archery. We ended up grabbing rifles and going on the 5 mile death march. It cost me about $2500 including flights. If we had to rent a van, it probably would have been $3500-4000/pp.