Alaska DIY Caribou Hunt - Arctic Air

[Otty0914]

Hello all, I stumbled upon another thread and didn't want to highjack it but I'm just looking for some advice.

I have booked a trip with Arctic Air for their DIY Caribou hunt 8/29-9/5/2020. I have never been to Alaska or hunted Caribou but have hunted and trapped the Adirondack Mountains and Tug Hill Plateau in Northern NY for many years. I will be bringing my girlfriend who has limited experience hunting but it's a bucket list trip for the both of us. We have butchered whitetails together, we are training together by rucking with our packs, going to the range to practice and we are both extremely excited but also very nervous about what we may encounter out there. Travel interruption, weather, whatever the case may be but a lot of that is out of our control. #1 the bears, I have never hunted the same turf as a grizzly bear and I have read every piece of material on bear safety and Sheila has told me in there 30+yrs of operation they have never had a problem with bears. Any of you who have hunted with them have any experiences you'd like to share?

The other thing is what would you say is the most overlooked information, item, preparation etc... that a new to Alaska hunter might miss?

I guess any tip, advice or lessons learned from your hunts I would just love to hear them.

 

[Buckblaster308]

I would love to do a hunt like this in Alaska some day. Hopefully some good info pops up on this thread. Do you have a link for the other thread you mentioned?

 

[Otty0914]

I would love to do a hunt like this in Alaska some day. Hopefully some good info pops up on this thread. Do you have a link for the other thread you mentioned?

Arctic Air Unguided Caribou Hunt

How was your hunt? Did Arctic Air provide the level of service you were looking for?My buddy and I used them in September of 2017 and we were camped along a river just south of a real big ridge running east/west. It was not far from a small town we flew over about an hour out of kotzebue. We...

www.rokslide.com

 

[Buckblaster308]

Thanks

 

[Ptownhunter]

My buddy and I flue with them three years ago and the flight service was excellent, the gear that we rented from them was mostly new and the food was Mountain House and lots of it. The only issue were no caribou and the promise to move us if we weren't seeing animals was never gotten around to getting to us. We had wolf tags but couldn't call them because a big beautiful grizzly bear was 507 yards from us every day and would have come to our call and I didn't want to be put into a position to where I had to kill it because it wouldn't stop coming in when I called. Grizzly bears are know to keep coming even when shots are fired at their feet.
I'm planning on going again next August/September but I'm not sure who or where I'm going to book for the DIY hunt. I want to be sure that whoever I have take me out that they don't set me down until I see some caribou in the area. Good luck.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

 

[Otty0914]

My buddy and I flue with them three years ago and the flight service was excellent, the gear that we rented from them was mostly new and the food was Mountain House and lots of it. The only issue were no caribou and the promise to move us if we weren't seeing animals was never gotten around to getting to us. We had wolf tags but couldn't call them because a big beautiful grizzly bear was 507 yards from us every day and would have come to our call and I didn't want to be put into a position to where I had to kill it because it wouldn't stop coming in when I called. Grizzly bears are know to keep coming even when shots are fired at their feet.
I'm planning on going again next August/September but I'm not sure who or where I'm going to book for the DIY hunt. I want to be sure that whoever I have take me out that they don't set me down until I see some caribou in the area. Good luck.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

That would have me a little ticked if that happened, I get it's hunting but if they said after x amount of days if you don't see anything we will move you and they didn't keep up on their end about it that's no Bueno.

 

[Gunnersdad49]

Plan on it being freezing cold, but also being shirt-sleeve weather. Plan on bugs, plan on rain and snow. If you get neither, consider yourself blessed. If it is 70 degrees one day and you are covered with skeeters, and the next day it is 33 degrees and raining, and the following day you get a foot of snow, consider that just how Alaska is sometimes.

You and your girlfriend will likely spend about 30% of your days weathered in inside your tent. That can test a relationship, especially if you are tired, wet, and cold.

Tons of people cook in their tents. It is a bad idea. Cache your food away from and down wind from your sleeping area. There is no reason to invite one of these cute critters into your sleeping bag.

Bring fishing gear if you are around any water.

 

[Otty0914]

Plan on it being freezing cold, but also being shirt-sleeve weather. Plan on bugs, plan on rain and snow. If you get neither, consider yourself blessed. If it is 70 degrees one day and you are covered with skeeters, and the next day it is 33 degrees and raining, and the following day you get a foot of snow, consider that just how Alaska is sometimes.

You and your girlfriend will likely spend about 30% of your days weathered in inside your tent. That can test a relationship, especially if you are tired, wet, and cold.

Tons of people cook in their tents. It is a bad idea. Cache your food away from and down wind from your sleeping area. There is no reason to invite one of these cute critters into your sleeping bag.

Bring fishing gear if you are around any water.

Those are some beautiful photos! When you cache your food away from camp is there any way to make sure animals won't get into it? doesn't look like there were to many trees to get it up into and i'm not sure if Arctic Air leaves a drum for you to secure your food in.

 

[Gunnersdad49]

I didn't go with Arctic Air, but was caribou hunting well above the Arctic Circle.

There were no trees other than alders where we went. We tried to keep scents down, and gut fish well away from camp. We got the food off of the ground, to keep the tiny critters out of it, and piled sticks over it to discourage / slow the birds, bears, wolves, foxes, etc.

More photos to get you excited below...

 

[Nick Muche]

Just keep your food in your tent.

 

[Gunnersdad49]

Just keep your food in your tent.

Nick has a lot more experience than I do, so I'm not going to argue with him. Just telling you what I do.

 

[Mudslinger]

We went with Arctic Air in 2018, just after labor day. The weather was warmer than usual, probably high 50's or so. We only saw frost one day but we still probably saw 400 caribou or so. With the warm weather the bigger bulls were stripped when we were there and the smaller ones still were carrying velvet.

Three of us shot bulls and we have no complaints, I wouldn't hesitate to go with them again. The equipment is pretty new. It was a bunch of mountain house and potatoes and onions.

The fishing was pretty good also. We didn't have a problem with bears, only saw two and chased one out of camp as it was trolling the shore line. We literally had caribou walking by the lake we were on and could have shot a lot of them with a bow from the tent. They were definitely moving more when it was colder.

Personally I would bring chest waders just in case if you are comfortable wearing them. I didn't walk more than a mile in them so it wasn't bad. We did get weathered in on the day out there and on the day back so just don't be surprised if you are weathered in. Alaska Airlines would be the best option for flying and the cheapest for taking meat back and changing flights as we found.

Good luck!

 

[chucko]

Time do not rush give yourself extra time for weather delays coming and going too many people plan the hunt of a lifetime only to try to do a 6 day hunt which turns into 3-4 due to unforeseen delays.As far as bears go bring a good camera and enjoy the experience.I am born and raised in southeast Alaska and we have them all around us we just do not usually see them.I have been hunting in the arctic for 20plus years I cook in my tent and I keep my meat close, stay vigilant and enjoy yourself.

 

[Otty0914]

Time do not rush give yourself extra time for weather delays coming and going too many people plan the hunt of a lifetime only to try to do a 6 day hunt which turns into 3-4 due to unforeseen delays.As far as bears go bring a good camera and enjoy the experience.I am born and raised in southeast Alaska and we have them all around us we just do not usually see them.I have been hunting in the arctic for 20plus years I cook in my tent and I keep my meat close, stay vigilant and enjoy yourself.

We are actually going to be spending 5 days in Anchorage prior to our hunt (8/23-8/28) flying into KOT the day before we fly into the field on 8/29. The day we wanted to be flown out will be a maintenance day for their planes so they are leaving us in for an extra day so our pick up date will be 9/5. I have one day after we are flown out for meat prep and packaging then flying out the following day on 9/7. I did get insurance on all of my flights so if something goes wrong I'lll recover some of the expense.

 

[Otty0914]

We went with Arctic Air in 2018, just after labor day. The weather was warmer than usual, probably high 50's or so. We only saw frost one day but we still probably saw 400 caribou or so. With the warm weather the bigger bulls were stripped when we were there and the smaller ones still were carrying velvet.

Three of us shot bulls and we have no complaints, I wouldn't hesitate to go with them again. The equipment is pretty new. It was a bunch of mountain house and potatoes and onions.

The fishing was pretty good also. We didn't have a problem with bears, only saw two and chased one out of camp as it was trolling the shore line. We literally had caribou walking by the lake we were on and could have shot a lot of them with a bow from the tent. They were definitely moving more when it was colder.

Personally I would bring chest waders just in case if you are comfortable wearing them. I didn't walk more than a mile in them so it wasn't bad. We did get weathered in on the day out there and on the day back so just don't be surprised if you are weathered in. Alaska Airlines would be the best option for flying and the cheapest for taking meat back and changing flights as we found.

Good luck!

Thanks for the info! Everything I hear the bears shouldn't be a problem but I didn't want to cause a problem either. I am worried about the meat getting back to MS with me. I was told Alaska Air and Delta have a baggage agreement and I can ticket all the way to Jackson MS from Kotz because I'm switching airlines in Anchorage. I guess if you ticket all the way through there will not be any additional baggage fee but we are leaving Kotz at 0835 on 9/7 and landing in Jackson at 0833 on 9/8.

 

[AKBorn]

Thanks for the info! Everything I hear the bears shouldn't be a problem but I didn't want to cause a problem either. I am worried about the meat getting back to MS with me. I was told Alaska Air and Delta have a baggage agreement and I can ticket all the way to Jackson MS from Kotz because I'm switching airlines in Anchorage. I guess if you ticket all the way through there will not be any additional baggage fee but we are leaving Kotz at 0835 on 9/7 and landing in Jackson at 0833 on 9/8.

Is your meat going to be frozen when it's loaded on the plane in Kotz? 24 hours is a long time to transport meat that is not frozen, and there could be weather or flight delays that make the total time even longer. On the surface this would make me a bit nervous...

 

[HuntHarder]

I left Coldfoot with non frozen meat in a meat box( 65lbs). The meat was starting to freeze, but was not frozen solid. I had a day layover in Fairbanks and no access to a freezer. With the meat sealed inside the meat box, I left it outside with ice around the insulation enclosure until my flight left 24 hours after arriving in fairbanks. I got home in Phoenix, Az about 8 hours later and the meat was insanely cold. This was October 1st of this year. I was very impressed with those meat boxes. Basically 48 hours in a meat box

 

[AKBorn]

I think one of the biggest things to mentally prepare for is the remoteness of the country, and how this informs your mental preparation and hunting style. Northern NY has some rugged and beautiful country, but nowhere near as remote as you will be when flying a bush flight out of Kotz. That’s big, wild, country, far from the nearest road and far from modern medical facilities. I would recommend adopting a slightly more conservative hiking and hunting style than you might typically use in NY – if you were to sprain an ankle, break a leg, fall, or cut yourself while hunting caribou, you will likely have to administer any initial aid yourself, and (depending on weather and other factors) it could be a few days before a plane could come for you.

Knowing that, I would tend to be careful to skirt the riskier spots of ridges or rivers, knowing that a fall or other accident could ruin your hunt and put you in a tough spot. There’s no harm in hiking a little longer route if that allows you to use easier terrain, and take your time when field dressing an animal. Make sure you are both quite familiar with the workings of your satellite phone or other communications device, and make sure you have the numbers for Arctic Air and other emergency services that work that area.

The other thing is to thoroughly familiarize yourselves with the AK hunting regulations for that unit, the AK Regs can be as confusing as the tax code in some instances.

 

[Otty0914]

I think one of the biggest things to mentally prepare for is the remoteness of the country, and how this informs your mental preparation and hunting style. Northern NY has some rugged and beautiful country, but nowhere near as remote as you will be when flying a bush flight out of Kotz. That’s big, wild, country, far from the nearest road and far from modern medical facilities. I would recommend adopting a slightly more conservative hiking and hunting style than you might typically use in NY – if you were to sprain an ankle, break a leg, fall, or cut yourself while hunting caribou, you will likely have to administer any initial aid yourself, and (depending on weather and other factors) it could be a few days before a plane could come for you.

Knowing that, I would tend to be careful to skirt the riskier spots of ridges or rivers, knowing that a fall or other accident could ruin your hunt and put you in a tough spot. There’s no harm in hiking a little longer route if that allows you to use easier terrain, and take your time when field dressing an animal. Make sure you are both quite familiar with the workings of your satellite phone or other communications device, and make sure you have the numbers for Arctic Air and other emergency services that work that area.

The other thing is to thoroughly familiarize yourselves with the AK hunting regulations for that unit, the AK Regs can be as confusing as the tax code in some instances.

Solid advice, my girlfriend is a RN so I told her she is in charge of the first aid kit but we did have that conversation about being safe even doing minor stuff like field dressing and processing the animal to haul back to camp. I've seen a video where a guy describes getting dropped off and then the pilot flying away then realizing how quiet it got as the sound of the plane disappeared over a ridge. At that point he realized just how remote his hunt was and no one could get to him fast enough to help. This is one of those things we will be taking it slow while we are there.

Also agree about the regs, they seem very confusing. These are the big ones I've taken away.
#1 - Leave no trace of meat on the carcass and bring the ribs out whole. Horns and cape come out last.
#2 - No Hunting the day you fly in.
#3 - Be sure all of your paperwork is filled out correctly and animals are tagged
#4 - All meat stays on the bone unless being eaten in the field

I couldn't find anything on it but my girlfriend will be using a semi auto 270 and one of my buddies said to make sure those are legal to use so I have to follow up with Sheila on that.

 

[Otty0914]

Is your meat going to be frozen when it's loaded on the plane in Kotz? 24 hours is a long time to transport meat that is not frozen, and there could be weather or flight delays that make the total time even longer. On the surface this would make me a bit nervous...

In a perfect world I hope we have that extra day on the end to be able to freeze our meat before leaving. We are also gaining 3hrs due to the time change so hopefully the meat will be good by the time we land in Jackson.