Arrowhead Northern Brooks with a bow?

[DoubleA]

Hey all -
I'm booked for a Northern Brooks trip with Arrowhead this coming August and was hoping to chat with someone who has attempted this trip (and hopefully been successful) with a bow.

Obviously from what I can gather the tundra flats on the north side aren't super conducive to getting into bow range undetected. I've been warned against it by one person, but was hoping to get some more opinions from others who may have done it or attempted it. Feel free to send me a DM or chime in here - thanks in advance!

AA

 

[thayerp81]

We spent a year practicing shooting to 100 yards, and we were both very comfortable with shots out to 80-ish yards. If you do this, it will give you a huge advantage. We found it easy to get inside of 100 yards and had multiple caribou withing 60-ish yards. Caribou are very curious and they're also very social (with other caribou) When you see them just walk normal/ slowly or stop and they will almost certainly run toward you and then circle you at under 100 yards. they want to see if you're another caribou, as long as you don't do things that look like a predator (crouching, crawling, running toward them, etc they'll get closer than you think to check you out. The biggest problem we had was all the people that were dropped so close to us. we saw more people every day than caribou and when you've got rifle hunters all around you your chances of you getting a shot before them is much lower... there are just so many outfitters and so many people all trying to squeeze into a (relatively) small area at the same time.

 

[Nontyp]

It’s a challenge but possible. About 80 yds seems to be about their comfort zone. I did not get one with my bow but had a few close calls. The further from the mountains the flatter the ground is. 2 bows and 1 e rifle

 

[Brad@Argali]

Hey all -
I'm booked for a Northern Brooks trip with Arrowhead this coming August and was hoping to chat with someone who has attempted this trip (and hopefully been successful) with a bow.

Obviously from what I can gather the tundra flats on the north side aren't super conducive to getting into bow range undetected. I've been warned against it by one person, but was hoping to get some more opinions from others who may have done it or attempted it. Feel free to send me a DM or chime in here - thanks in advance!

AA

You can absolutely do it with a bow at normal distances for that terrain (40-60) with decent sneaking skills. I've crawled to sub 40 yards multiple times on bedded tundra caribou. There is more subtle terrain and vegetation than you think out there, and caribou aren't the spookiest of animals. The tussocks on the tundra can be deep and help when crawling. IMO there is no need to plan on 80 or 100 yard shots. A small hill, a few bushes and you're in the chips. Best of luck.