Logistics Caribou haul road

[Nick Muche]

Have fun, shaping up to be a real circus up there this year from the sounds of it. Do your best not to interfere with others if they are stalking caribou, pull aside for semi's, be safe and have fun!

 

[Nick Muche]

Slim Picken's up there so far. Very few caribou around, I'd delay my trip a few weeks if coming from out of state.

 

[Haro450]

Slim Picken's up there so far. Very few caribou around, I'd delay my trip a few weeks if coming from out of state.

Don’t really have a choice flight leaves in a couple hours. Just have to see what we can do.

 

[mikenelson9091]

I would love to hear how the hunt goes! I have one scheduled in the Brooks Range leaving out 8/25 and cannot wait!

 

[Haro450]

Back in Fairbanks. We went 2 out of 4. Should have been 3. I don’t know a good year from a bad but we didn’t seem to have a problem finding animals. Seemed like you hike out over one ridge and there are small groups every where. Both bulls where killed a mile to a mile and a half of the road.
I shoulder shot a bull early in the trip and followed it for 12 hours before I lost it. Multiple stalks per day.

I will admitted we interrupted people stalks. But once we saw them we backed out. It was never our intention. I’ll post some more later.

 

[mooster]

Back in Fairbanks. We went 2 out of 4. Should have been 3. I don’t know a good year from a bad but we didn’t seem to have a problem finding animals. Seemed like you hike out over one ridge and there are small groups every where. Both bulls where killed a mile to a mile and a half of the road.
I shoulder shot a bull early in the trip and followed it for 12 hours before I lost it. Multiple stalks per day.

I will admitted we interrupted people stalks. But once we saw them we backed out. It was never our intention. I’ll post some more later.

Thanks for the update and congrats on your trip!

 

[Nick Muche]

Sweet!

 

[jonclairmiller]

Back in Fairbanks. We went 2 out of 4. Should have been 3. I don’t know a good year from a bad but we didn’t seem to have a problem finding animals. Seemed like you hike out over one ridge and there are small groups every where. Both bulls where killed a mile to a mile and a half of the road.
I shoulder shot a bull early in the trip and followed it for 12 hours before I lost it. Multiple stalks per day.

I will admitted we interrupted people stalks. But once we saw them we backed out. It was never our intention. I’ll post some more later.

Great report! We'll be up there on Monday for about 8 days, planning to hike in past 5 miles and float out on Alpacka Rafts. Trying to get a rough idea where the herd is, because once we get back in we are somewhat committed to that area. How far south were you seeing caribou? Was most of the action above pump station 3, or 2? Thanks man!

 

[Haro450]

We saw them all over really. The main thing is to stop and glass. Typically if we could glass up some animals say 3 miles out there where animals closer that we couldn't see from the road. We killed one at 1.5 miles and one 2 miles from the road. I personally wouldn't leave the road unless you glassed up or saw an animal. In the wrong spot I would imagine you could walk a long ways with out seeing anything.

I have only hunted this once though so my knowledge is limited. Given how far they animals travel in a day they could be anywhere by the time you get there. Rumor was there was suppose to be a large group around pump station 2 but we never saw them. A pack raft would be great because the Sag was a little deeper and swifter than we wanted to cross with hip waders.

 

[jonclairmiller]

Ok sweet, thanks for the tips. That will definitely be helpful. Were you able to find a somewhere to freeze your meat in fairbanks before flying out?

 

[Nick Muche]

Friends are up there now, sightings have been slim, but they are seeing some.

Keep in mind, there isn't a "herd" per say... they are usually in small groups and sometimes you'll catch a big group. They are spread out all over the place from the Ocean to south of Toolik. Have fun and be safe, not sure where you plan to put the raft in for a float, but at least one of the feeder creeks into the Sag has a nasty gorge you'd have to run and it'll eat your raft for lunch.

 

[jonclairmiller]

Thanks for the note, Nick! Yeah, I'm not picturing a "herd" in the traditional sense, just trying to get a read on if there are animals down in the pump station 3 area. If your friends have seen some south of Toolik then that for sure answers my question.

Yeah we'll scout the creeks on the way in and long-line out if necessary.

 

[Haro450]

Alaska interior meats helped us out. But they where out of space when we dropped ours off.
Fairbanks tannery took care of our horns and caps.
I have been told Alaska air cargo can ship unfrozen meat. They put it in there freezer before shipping. Might want to confirm that. Santas smoke shop/ interior fish processors may be able to help also but they where full when we checked.

 

[jonclairmiller]

Any more reports coming outta the north? We are flying into Fairbanks on Sunday!

 

[mooster]

I heard of a few taken south of happy valley, they were mostly moving N at the time.

 

[mikenelson9091]

Love reading all the posts! I am not trying to highjack the post since it is about the haul road but we are flying into Fairbanks on Tuesday and will be going out with BRA on Thursday, we cannot wait to get out!!

 

[Lrs183]

Keep the reports coming. They're great to read!

 

[jonclairmiller]

About to fly out! My buddy is flying from Denver and I'm bringing our dads lol

 

[mooster]

About to fly out! My buddy is flying from Denver and I'm bringing our dads lol

Good luck share some pics post hunt. Folks always ask questions here but usually go quiet post hunt.

 

[22lr]

Got a good bit of snow just North of the pass. The pass was very sloppy muddy going in on the 14th, but had dried out by the time we left on the 20th. Expect the road to have a good bit of muddy slop if it does get wet.

North side of the pass, on the 14th.



And on the 20th.