Kotzebue Caribou hunt

[BigHunterification]

I finally was able to put my Caribou hunt footage together and create a video. We used Golden Eagle Outfitters back in September of 2019. Not as many caribou as we hoped to see but was still an incredible trip. Enjoy the videos. It is a 2 part video. 3 if you watch the "Grizzly killing a caribou" video I made.

 

[Slugz]

Thanks for posting BH. We head up this fall and cant wait!!

 

[Slugz]

Aaaaaaaand now after watching your bear video I'm rethinking our bear defense planning.

 

[BigHunterification]

Aaaaaaaand now after watching your bear video I'm rethinking our bear defense planning.

We ran into bears every day. There were tons! They warned us about that prior to the hunt so we came prepared; bear spray and a .357. My friend had a sow and cub come into camp while I was quartering my caribou 3 miles away but other than that they never really bothered us.. physically. However, mentally they made us a little paranoid. LOL I'd do it again in a heartbeat and in the exact same place if I could.

 

[Ocnandmtns]

Thanks for posting. We are heading up for our first caribou hunt this Sept, also w GE. Watching your vid was helpful and added a few things to our prep lists... also moved bear fence from the maybe to the probably column!

 

[Kdecar7191]

Awesome videos, thanks for sharing.

 

[mcseal2]

We went with GE this year, never saw a bear. We went late September. We did see 2 sets of tracks, one made while we were there and one old.

 

[BigHunterification]

We went with GE this year, never saw a bear. We went late September. We did see 2 sets of tracks, one made while we were there and one old.

Seams like I came across your post earlier this year about your hunt. Did you post it up? If not, how did you guys do?

 

[mcseal2]

Yeah its posted as an article on the Rokslide Hunting Story page.
Link is under Justin’s post here

What I learned my first caribou hunt

Great write up Mcseal! Got me feeling pretty guilty I havent shared mine yet lol....

www.rokslide.com

 

[BigHunterification]

Yeah its posted as an article on the Rokslide Hunting Story page.
Link is under Justin’s post here

What I learned my first caribou hunt

Great write up Mcseal! Got me feeling pretty guilty I havent shared mine yet lol....

www.rokslide.com

That's right! That was a good write-up. I wish I would've come across something like that before our trip.

 

[rblosser]

For those of you that have hunted out of Kotz, would you recommend bringing a pack raft and or waders?

 

[Bubblehide]

Great job at filming your hunt! Thanks for sharing.

 

[BigHunterification]

For those of you that have hunted out of Kotz, would you recommend bringing a pack raft and or waders?

I would bring a raft. The raft you saw in the video was $20 and we had it shipped to the Hangar in Kotzebue. We ended up leaving it with some other guys but it worked great. We tied paracord to it, one of us would cross then the other would pull it back with the cord, then cross. The river was too deep to cross with chest waders so we were glad we had it.

 

[Razz]

Awesome, thanks! Starting planning for a hunt and this is great. Lots of notes just watching your video and comments you made. Again, many thanks for sharing it.

 

[archp625]

Very nice video. I want to go on a trip like this so bad.

 

[OLE1021]

For those of you that have hunted out of Kotz, would you recommend bringing a pack raft and or waders?

HIPS ARE ALL WE NEEDED

 

[j3butch]

I finally was able to put my Caribou hunt footage together and create a video. We used Golden Eagle Outfitters back in September of 2019. Not as many caribou as we hoped to see but was still an incredible trip. Enjoy the videos. It is a 2 part video. 3 if you watch the "Grizzly killing a caribou" video I made.

Sweet video! We’re hunting with RAM our of Kotz the first week of September. Wondering specifically what bear fence you used and how you powered it while you were there. Also, what goal zero did you use and how did it work out for you besides running out without sun LOL. Any regrets on the tent? We are thinking about bringing our Kifaru 8-man tipi with stove-just the two of us. Thanks!

 

[BigHunterification]

Funny you asked about our bear fence. It was a make-shift bear alarm that I put together... Lol, No more than stakes, cord and a bed-alarm that I ordered from Amazon. When it was tripped it would send out a high pitched alarm. The goal was to wake us up before we were eaten. That way we could enjoy it more rather than possibly sleeping through it. Lol. It worked well in the fact that it would sound an alarm when it was tripped. We never had any bears that came in at night or close enough to trip the cord. Mainly, it gave me peace of mind that I wouldn't wake up to something in my face but rather give me a warning. My heart did skip a beat one night when a fox tripped it and I could hear noise outside our camp but that was the only critter that tripped the alarm.

As for the Goal Zero I was pretty disappointed in it's performance. I charged the Goal Zero Sherpa bank prior to our departure and we were able to charge the garmin rhinos once and my video camera once. Luckily I brought an extra battery for my camera. We didn't use our radios much but they're old so the battery life wasn't great. 3rd to last day we were out of power minus the video camera. The goalzero never was recharged by the solar panel. I am not sure why but it seemed like garbage. Granted we only had 2 days of sunshine, the rest were overcast or stormy.

Our tents worked out great. The 8-man Kifaru is huge. Not sure you need something that big but that would be comfortable. Bring a compact chair. The chair was super comfortable and I am so glad I purchased one. I just bought a $30 one on Amazon. My buddy spent $120 on a branded one that was 6 oz lighter than mine.

We had an 80lb weight limit per person, Not sure what your weight limit will be but keep that in mind.

 

[Jackal7]

BH, thank you for sharing the videos and comments. That was a lot of fun to watch.

We hunted out of Kotz in September 2019. Same as you, we didn't see a ton of caribou but shot three for four and should have had the fourth.

We brought and used a UDAP 45X45 bear fence. Worked great. Had a lot of bears around and had one charge during the trip.

I finally got my mount back last week and convinced my better half to let me hang it in the family room yesterday. Here it is. Not a monster but I don't think there is anything called a "dink" when you work that hard in the tundra for a bull. I was in pain hearing you shot yours 2.7 miles from camp. Two us dropped bulls 2.0 miles down hill from camp at the same time. Nearly killed me packing them out in time for our flight home. Nice video and thank you for sharing.

 

[j3butch]

BH, thank you for sharing the videos and comments. That was a lot of fun to watch.

We hunted out of Kotz in September 2019. Same as you, we didn't see a ton of caribou but shot three for four and should have had the fourth.

We brought and used a UDAP 45X45 bear fence. Worked great. Had a lot of bears around and had one charge during the trip.

I finally got my mount back last week View attachment 255036and convinced my better half to let me hang it in the family room yesterday. Here it is. Not a monster but I don't think there is anything called a "dink" when you work that hard in the tundra for a bull. I was in pain hearing you shot yours 2.7 miles from camp. Two us dropped bulls 2.0 miles down hill from camp at the same time. Nearly killed me packing them out in time for our flight home. Nice video and thank you for sharing.

Beautiful