input on caribou migration

[montee77]

Just curious on guys thoughts that have experience hunting the migration, we our hunting the the last few days in August and the first 5 days of September, through BRA, what should we expect as far as the migration at this point in the year. Thanks for any info.

 

[colonel00]

Not sure what you are asking. A lot will depend on where you are dropped but as I understand it, they will be moving south more or less. Your flight service should be able to give you info once the trip is closer as they should be seeing the migration and drop you ahead of it if possible. One thing about caribou is they go where they want and they can be there one day and gone the next...or vice versa.

 

[montee77]

I was just curious on what expect as far as seeing animals in large numbers or if they will not be herded up yet ,we are flying through brooks range aviation, out of bettles.

 

[Stid2677]

The North Slope herd will stay along the coast until the weather cools and the bugs dissipate, they start moving into the hills most years around the 3rd week of Aug and will slowly start moving more as the cold and snow sets in. Timing varies every year and is very much weather, wind, bug dependent.

That my friend is the challenge of hunting migratory game,,, they move,, a lot. The good news is you can go to bed and not see a hair and wake up the next day and they are as far as you can see,, or as it seems most hunts. You hike miles from camp to find one, kill it,, pack it to camp and then they start walking through camp everyday.

Good Luck!!!

 

[montee77]

Thanks for the info, hopefully with us being there the first week of September it will be good this is our first trip to Alaska, we can't wait.

 

[Ray]

Expect to see small groups of 5 to 20 mixed animals, and some even smaller groups/pairs or even singles of bulls. It is unlikely that you will see large herds of hundreds of critters until later in the fall. But you never know as they do what ever they want to do.

 

[montee77]

Thanks Ray, we are good ole boys from Missouri we only need 2 and we are not real picky, just looking forward to the experience.

 

[aggieland]

My Dad, Cousin and I are headed up from Texas for our first Alaskan hunt as well. Hunting August 12th-20th out of Tok. Hope we all have good luck!

 

[Stid2677]

My Dad, Cousin and I are headed up from Texas for our first Alaskan hunt as well. Hunting August 12th-20th out of Tok. Hope we all have good luck!

Totally different herd, those don't migrate as far and the air guys know where they travel, you should do well.

 

[aggieland]

Totally different herd, those don't migrate as far and the air guys know where they travel, you should do well.

Excellent!!

 

[Kevin Dill]

My wife and I will be driving the Richardson and Tok cut-off from Valdez on the 13th, then spending a night at Caribou Cabins in Tok. I'll salute the Texas boys with a brew at Fast Eddies. From there it's Fairbanks for 6 days and some fun. I'll be flying in the Fortymile area myself starting the 21st. As Steve indicates, these caribou don't migrate as far (south and east toward the Yukon) and as long as a pilot doesn't put you in a barren area, you should have no trouble getting into animals.

 

[aggieland]

Man, Just to see animals and have a few chances would be awesome.

 

[MWH]

Just curious on guys thoughts that have experience hunting the migration, we our hunting the the last few days in August and the first 5 days of September, through BRA, what should we expect as far as the migration at this point in the year. Thanks for any info.

Hi montee77,
Im heading out 9/7 for caribou as well with BRA and hopefully will get a weeks worth of hunting up there depending on the weather, they pull their hunters out around the 15th because of the lakes freezing up on them. Anyways I had hunted out of Kotzebue late September two years ago, after an earlier failed caribou trip in Quebec where the weather was very warm and the animals were 1/2hr flight north of us. I had decided to go as late as possible to avoid the bugs, have a better chance of the animals moving, and help with meat care. I also had the pilot decide on where to put us based on the caribous migration at that time. We saw thousands of caribou while flying and they were even crossing as we landed on the gravel bar. Well by the next morning there were only a cow and calf within a five mile radius of camp and and I never saw another caribou the whole week after that. That huge herd must have pulled all the smaller groups of animals in with it, you could easily see the 50 yard wide path though the tundra that they came in from the north and then from our camp headed east. Now after two trips without pulling the trigger Im heading out of Bettles. The cost of the flight to Bettles along with any gear over 40 pounds costing $1.80 a pound really seems to keep a lot of people form using this route compared to Kotzebue or Happy Valley. Judy told me they tend to drop their hunters off in the Howard pass area, and from everything I have read about Howard pass is that is an amazing natural funnel. Judy has been great at answering any email I have for her in a timely manner and Im sure you are excited and don't want to bother her with tons of questions but I never got the feeling from her that I was. From all the forums and things I have read about the central arctic heard, is that they don't migrate the same as the Western arctic herd does. Although the population is not as high either the fact that you will be in great spot should increase your success. Even though I didn't harvest an animal on my last Alaska hunt, it was one of the best trips I have been on. The flight back when I saw a wolf chasing a caribou on the open tundra, Grizzly bears fishing on the rivers, and groups of caribou up in the mountains made the trip worth it alone. Hunting caribou feels the same to me as going to the casino, there is definitely more luck involved with caribou than other big game species I have hunted because of them migrating. BRA has been flying hunters for a long time and safety is the most important aspect of a trip like this. I wouldn't worry how many animals you may or may not see, the country up there and Alaska in general is so beautiful you will want to come back as many times as you can afford to even if you don't kill an animal. Good luck and I hope you have a great trip

 

[montee77]

MWH, so this is your first hunt with BRA? judy has been great to deal with I have talked to her many of times, we are planning on arriving in bettles the 28th of august and spending 9 days in the bush, very excited thanks for your input.

 

[MWH]

I had wanted to go with BRA last trip but it was much cheaper to fly out of Kotzebue and pay by the hour. That being said Im choosing to fly out of Bettles because on my last trip we were flying out on a 206 we were limited on our landing spots on the river and flew over areas that had a handful of groups near better landing spots. When the river we were on rose overnight there went our landing spot for the pilot and when he did land, there were soft spots in the gravel from all the water and he ended up sinking the front tire in the gravel while trying to land and destroying the propeller. So hunting from a transporter who's plane has floats seems better unless the lakes freeze up early. We were going to hunt for a longer amount of time like you but now with the harvest being reduced to one animal a week seemed appropriate.

 

[montee77]

Mwh sent you pm

 

[Jeremy]

How'd you make out?

 

[AK Shane]

Stid pretty much nailed it, the migration varies every year. I flew out with BRA to the Howard Pass area a number of years ago. We hunted the first week of Sept. I had a buddy who hunted the week before us about 10-15 mile from where we were dropped. His group saw 200 or so caribou during their week. Our first day of hunting we saw around 50 bou, the next day 100, and the numbers just kept steadily increasing. We figured we saw 1,000-1,200 at varying distance during the five days we hunted. A couple days after we left the field the temperature rose a little and from the reports the migration absolutely stopped moving south.

I have no doubt you'll see caribou during your trip. The question is going to be how many, 100 or 1,000? Either way I should be an awesome trip. We saw a couple of bears and a wolverine as well. The dang wind was terrible each time the gizzly would pop up. Pretty much busted before we could even think about a stalk. Bettles is a few bucks more than flying from Kotz. but much more enjoyable of an experience.

Jay and Judy are great to work with. They have a kitchen with some big counters in the back of the hangar. We spent the night deboning our meat and boxing it up before we flew back to Fairbanks the following morning. They had a couple big chest freezers to get a good chill on everything as well.

I'm still kicking myself for the terrible approach we made on an absolute giant caribou. He still haunts me from time to time.