Brooks Range outfitters

[USMC2602]

Thnksno, Please post your experience, best of luck and be safe. I am planning a Caribou hunt in 2018 with my son in-law and two other buddies, so we are doing as much research as possible. You have to love the Rokslide Community

Same here, will be flying with them September 2017, so looking forward to any reports from this year.

 

[mtluckydan]

Did a hunt with BRA this year - they did everything they said they would. Good service. Tips I learned. If you are buying new gear, have Amazon ship it for you to BRA hanger. They don't charge extra. We flew with Wrights Air Service - very nice folks. You can take more than 40lbs, but it will cost you $1.80 per pound over 40 lbs and half that amount on the return flight. We flew with antlers that were not split - they charge $50 per set for that. If you are getting them scored you will go that route - otherwise you can saw them in half. It was nice knowing all my gear was where it was suppose to be. If you ship ahead - well who knows. They sell both canisters and white gas at BRA. Bring your wallet. There is nothing cheap in Bettles. They bring in supplies by ice road in the winter or it is flown in - not cheap. Make sure you know how to keep your meat cold. We sunk ours in a creek in garbage bags - worked great. One party shipped a vacuum sealer to BRA and processed the meat while at the hanger. Definitely would be a money saver as far as cost for flying. I put 70 lbs of meat in the freezer. We flew with 250 lbs of meat for two caribou boned out. Keeping meat cold in Bettles is sketchy at best. They do not have the ability to guarantee you can fit your meat in a freezer. There is no cooler. They have a shed that gets afternoon sun and won't keep the meat cold. The hardest part of meat care was in Bettles. Stayed in LaQuinta in Fairbanks which is near the airport and also has car rental next door. Fred Meyers just down the road where you can get supplies and licenses if necessary. LaQuinta is hunter friendly and has a couple of chest freezers for meat. It was a nice setup. Pro Taxidermy - RJ Simington met us and picked up antlers. He was awesome. He is processing one set with velvet and shipping both sets back. He was the only local that returned calls on Sunday which was great for us. Hope I covered everything. Saw quite a few animals, but I'm sure that varies depending on weather and timing Feel free to pm me with questions.

 

[Gznokes]

Hey mtluckydan, let's see some pics from your hunt.

 

[KurtR]

Same here, will be flying with them September 2017, so looking forward to any reports from this year.

I know all 4 in the group killed and said they had a great time. Seems that the outfitter delivered on all promise's.

 

[thnksno]

I haven't been able to post to this thread without an error message for some reason. As kurt said we killed 4 decent caribou bulls. The outfitter did what we paid them for, but a couple of the pilots were total dicks. There is all kinds of communication with Jay and Judy before the hunt, but once you get there they don't even recognize you are there. They had a lady named Christine that was basically running it and they should be glad to have her. She made everything role as smooth as she could. I would take as much gear as you could and leave what they wanted you to in their hanger. We hit the weight perfectly and had the bare minimum. We were then getting ready to leave and they stacked two other guys with all their gear and two of those black ice fishing sleds in with us. We were told we couldn't bring cases of water because of the weight and room. Don't believe any of that as there were people with cases of beer and pop etc. Some even had the big canvas wall tents.

All in all in was a good trip, but as unorganized as they were I could see if you roll the dice long enough you might end up with a bad ordeal. They just have way too many people there at one time. They were struggling every day to find planes and places for everyone to hunt. Once we killed and called them we were ready to go they brought 4 others into our camp. If they would have told us that we could have been ready and went out on that flight. Instead they came for us 2 days later because the pilot was a prick.

I would use them again and wouldn't change much up. The best advice I can give if you are going is just to get there when they say, but don't expect to get out or back on the days you have booked. We were lucky and got out the next day and returned on time. One day of bad weather puts them behind about 3 days flying and with all the people it creates a huge mess. I understand you cannot fly in the weather, but even when the weather turns nice it is hard to get everyone out and can turn bad on you fast. We had 4 guys so needed the otter plane. That plane is used for all pickups so it is flying all the time. If you come with 2 guys or 3 you can get out faster because you fly in the beaver. 4 guys they do their best, but with only the one otter it can throw a wrench into a few things.

later

 

[thnksno]

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[realunlucky]

Can't see your pictures but looking forward too thnksno

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[thnksno]

Im having all kinds of problems with this tread. I can post to all others, but this one. Ill try and get them back up after lunch. sorry about that

 

[Tod osier]

Thanks for the feedback, I'm looking to put something together for 2018 and your unvarnished description is appreciated.

Tod

 

[Kotaman]

I was there when thnksno was there. He is right, there was a ton of chaos due to the weather and number of people they fly. Christine is a complete gem and without her, this whole thing would've been a PR nightmare. Our group was not so lucky as we did not see a bull all week and the weather prevented us from being moved. Most guys killed great bulls, but like any caribou hunting, it is "luck of the draw"...

I too wouldn't be afraid to book with BRA again, but think I will look for a smaller transporter with a Super Cub next time.

 

[bowuntr]

This thread scares me.... Guys post all their struggles and disappointment and then they say they would book with them again. Not me, I wouldn't take that chance. There are too many other outfits that don't have these kind of problems. Do your homework... like read this thread thoroughly and move on. This isn't one disgruntled customer... Ed F

 

[rayporter]

as to thinksno's post--- it appears that nothing has changed in the 5 years since i flew with them.

 

[Tod osier]

This thread scares me.... Guys post all their struggles and disappointment and then they say they would book with them again. Not me, I wouldn't take that chance. There are too many other outfits that don't have these kind of problems. Do your homework... like read this thread thoroughly and move on. This isn't one disgruntled customer... Ed F

I would like to know what other outfits that serve that area that don't have problems. I've flown with one other one that generally gets high praise, but the year I was there they had all kinds of problems. Given the area, problems seem to come with the territory.

If anyone has a suggestion of better transporters serving the area, I'd love to hear it.

 

[bowuntr]

No, I don't have any experience with any outfits that serve that area. I'm not bashing this particular transporter but this is not the only thread with negative reviews. I've done 10 DIY trips to hunt Alaska and three were successful caribou hunts with zero complaints... nothing but praise. I'm confident that the success and praise is directly related to the research I did. I'm not OK with consistent "problems"... Ed F

 

[Ray]

Tod, It depends on what you are wanting to get out of the trip. I am assuming that you are coming back for more caribou with the boy. Are you wanting to float again?

You can look into flying with Wright Air out of Fairbanks all the way into the same area that BRA serves. It knocks one leg of commercial flight out of the logistics, but you are still flying nearly the same amount of time. With Wright's flying a Helio (you've been in one before) you have more options with where you are dropped off on gravel bars or hard grassy benches.

In Bettles there is an airplane "war" starting up between the new owners of the Bettles Lodge and BRA. Avgas prices, and plane rides for tourists are going back and forth these days. The Bettles Lodge now has a Beaver on Floats out at the pond, and a 180(185?) on wheels on the runway. I never asked if they were providing hunting transport services or just tourist sight seeing and rafting. Last July it looked like just tourists. Nothing stands out in the Transporter licensing listings.

 

[Kotaman]

Tod, It depends on what you are wanting to get out of the trip. I am assuming that you are coming back for more caribou with the boy. Are you wanting to float again?

You can look into flying with Wright Air out of Fairbanks all the way into the same area that BRA serves. It knocks one leg of commercial flight out of the logistics, but you are still flying nearly the same amount of time. With Wright's flying a Helio (you've been in one before) you have more options with where you are dropped off on gravel bars or hard grassy benches.

In Bettles there is an airplane "war" starting up between the new owners of the Bettles Lodge and BRA. Avgas prices, and plane rides for tourists are going back and forth these days. The Bettles Lodge now has a Beaver on Floats out at the pond, and a 180(185?) on wheels on the runway. I never asked if they were providing hunting transport services or just tourist sight seeing and rafting. Last July it looked like just tourists. Nothing stands out in the Transporter licensing listings.

The week we were there the Bettles Lodge had a TRAIN WRECK going on. Two groups of hunters left the lodge and walked over to have BRA fly them out. Between those two, the Lodge would not even be a consideration based on what I saw.

 

[Nick Muche]

Unless there are specific reasons on why you'd want to hunt caribou on the north slope, I'd say there are much better places in AK to hunt caribou. Like a fly in to the 40 mile herd.

 

[Huntinfamily]

What was the cost for BRA for the hunt? Looked on there website and didn't see one. Thank you


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[Tod osier]

Tod, It depends on what you are wanting to get out of the trip. I am assuming that you are coming back for more caribou with the boy. Are you wanting to float again?

You can look into flying with Wright Air out of Fairbanks all the way into the same area that BRA serves. It knocks one leg of commercial flight out of the logistics, but you are still flying nearly the same amount of time. With Wright's flying a Helio (you've been in one before) you have more options with where you are dropped off on gravel bars or hard grassy benches.

In Bettles there is an airplane "war" starting up between the new owners of the Bettles Lodge and BRA. Avgas prices, and plane rides for tourists are going back and forth these days. The Bettles Lodge now has a Beaver on Floats out at the pond, and a 180(185?) on wheels on the runway. I never asked if they were providing hunting transport services or just tourist sight seeing and rafting. Last July it looked like just tourists. Nothing stands out in the Transporter licensing listings.

Absolutely, Ray, would love to get Gus a caribou (and me a bigger one). I don't know about a float or just drop - either has its plusses. I would like to do another trip on the North Slope and a longer one - maybe a couple weeks. I'm just in the early stage now, but I'm watching closely for info on transporters (and all the other caribou-related issues that have come up lately).

 

[Tod osier]

Unless there are specific reasons on why you'd want to hunt caribou on the north slope, I'd say there are much better places in AK to hunt caribou. Like a fly in to the 40 mile herd.

Just that the north slope is a special place. Seems like you find plenty of caribou there! I've thought about the forty mile herd and it is an option.