Looks like I’m in for 2025

[ddavis_1313]

Unless anyone has a great reason I shouldn’t go I will be sending my deposit for my caribou hunt next year. Lol. Went in 2022 and had a blast with the wife. She got her bou and due to bears I opted not to shoot.

Looks like it’s my turn.

Not sure who I’m going with but I’ll at least have a spot! Would love for the wife to go but will have a 9 month old baby at that time…


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[JoeB]

Who did you book with? What outfitter? Any info you can share as I'm currently thinking about a caribou hunt very hard

 

[ddavis_1313]

Who did you book with? What outfitter? Any info you can share as I'm currently thinking about a caribou hunt very hard

Ram aviation. Will be my second trip with them. They fly out of kotzebue.


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[Dexter Grayson]

More info on the bears please?

 

[arctichunting]

Ram aviation. Will be my second trip with them. They fly out of kotzebue.


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Huh? GMU 23 is a draw tag for 2025? I guess maybe they plan to do 26 all season? Seems odd. I wouldn’t want to be flying into 26 much past mid August or everyone will be SOSing. You should probably put in for that 23 tag just so they have the option to do that if the bou end up on the minimal state land there in 23


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[ddavis_1313]

Huh? GMU 23 is a draw tag for 2025? I guess maybe they plan to do 26 all season? Seems odd. I wouldn’t want to be flying into 26 much past mid August or everyone will be SOSing. You should probably put in for that 23 tag just so they have the option to do that if the bou end up on the minimal state land there in 23


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Meh. Bomb my ass into 26 mid September. I’m good with it. They will make it back eventually to get me. As long as I kill a good caribou I’ll sit it out for an extra week. Makes for the adventure

We hunted 26/23 border last time in 2022.

I’m going to talk to them about the 23 tag but I’d hate to pull it and something come up and have to roll my date. As of now I’m booked for two but only me thus far. And I’m not too sure Ram will fly just me out solo. (Not cost effective for them)


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[ddavis_1313]

More info on the bears please?

What ya wanna know?


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[Geewhiz]

What ya wanna know?


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Why did you opt not to shoot "because of bears"?

 

[Nick Muche]

They’re scary.

 

[ddavis_1313]

Why did you opt not to shoot "because of bears"?

I didn’t shoot the first day bc it was after mid day and just started working on breaking down her caribou 1.6 miles from camp and down hill. The plan was to try and shoot one the next day. I could have killed a really nice caribou similar to my wife’s while quartering hers. But I passed.


Then it went to not shooting bc there was no way to get meat out without bears taking most of it. By the time we shoot, get it to camp, and then get a plane to come pick us up (even if it was the following day) we would lose most of the meat and what was left would be pretty much inedible. It literally happens with hers. We left with nothing. Just a hide and horns. In just over 48 hours they wiped us out.

By day 3 the caribou were several miles away and the numbers had dropped off drastically. That’s the same day we flew out.


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[Nick Muche]

What's the plan to secure meat for the next go around?

 

[chucko]

I sure hate hearing this I have hunted unit 23 since the late 90,s the last hunt being 2022 with a 10 year old girl and her dad.We always kept the meat within 25 ft of the front door to the tent .We saw multiple bears every trip but never had a problem .I think with putting too many hunters too close together all it takes is to educate one on stealing and that bear will do it for life.Maybe since I am a resident they know I can put holes in them but keep your meat close and with electric bear fences now being the norm get one. I have never used one but they do work .There is no reason 2 people cannot pack out a caribou in 1 load even a large arctic caribou will be 150 lbs max quartered .I used to carry 2 packboards when hunting solo that made shuttling much easier then I never left anything out of sight.Meat security should be a priority for every hunter otherwise you just training bears to do bad things

 

[Nick Muche]

Funnier than not having a plan for your meat, you spent all that money for three days in the field.

 

[ddavis_1313]

What's the plan to secure meat for the next go around?

Second bear fence. That’s the only option in barren ground territory. lol


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[ddavis_1313]

I sure hate hearing this I have hunted unit 23 since the late 90,s the last hunt being 2022 with a 10 year old girl and her dad.We always kept the meat within 25 ft of the front door to the tent .We saw multiple bears every trip but never had a problem .I think with putting too many hunters too close together all it takes is to educate one on stealing and that bear will do it for life.Maybe since I am a resident they know I can put holes in them but keep your meat close and with electric bear fences now being the norm get one. I have never used one but they do work .There is no reason 2 people cannot pack out a caribou in 1 load even a large arctic caribou will be 150 lbs max quartered .I used to carry 2 packboards when hunting solo that made shuttling much easier then I never left anything out of sight.Meat security should be a priority for every hunter otherwise you just training bears to do bad things

Yeah, well, I had my wife with me and she had full blown strep throat so we were going to shuttle meat back to camp giving us both a chance to catch our breath. Bears got on the first load an hour after we dropped it. Probably didn’t help that there were other hunters that were before us that had killed 4 caribou so there were fresh carcasses around. (One 400 yards from camp with a bear on it when we landed)


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[ddavis_1313]

Funnier than not having a plan for your meat, you spent all that money for three days in the field.

Funny, we didn’t expect to be dropped into shit ton of bears. Neither did the father and son hunting on the same ridge that got run off a kill by a bear….

Glad my misfortune could bring you some laughter.

Was still an epic trip with my wife. We still made memories. And she still has an amazing caribou hanging on the wall.


So in the end, I guess, I laugh the loudest.


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[kwackkillncrew]

Second bear fence. That’s the only option in barren ground territory. lol


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why a second? throw the meat inside your bear fence your tent is in....knock on wood havent had any issues yet, this year deer hunting we had 4 deer quartered inside our vestibule and only had 1 bear fence around the tent. Did the same thing a few years ago. id feel a bit guilty bringing back antlers without any meat.

you didnt know you would be dropped in with a bunch of bears is a pretty poor excuse, its alaska man, assume there are bears around.

 

[ddavis_1313]

why a second? throw the meat inside your bear fence your tent is in....knock on wood havent had any issues yet, this year deer hunting we had 4 deer quartered inside our vestibule and only had 1 bear fence around the tent. Did the same thing a few years ago. id feel a bit guilty bringing back antlers without any meat.

you didnt know you would be dropped in with a bunch of bears is a pretty poor excuse, its alaska man, assume there are bears around.

I did. That’s why I had a bear fence.

Two guys had the entire side of their tent ripped open 2 weeks prior and had to dispatch the bear. They didn’t have any meat and it was their first legal day of hunting. They spotted him from where they were glassing from. Then they got hit by a blizzard within the hour. Thankfully they had a tarp to cover the tent. One guy went with out sleeping bag for 3 days bc his was wet. After 4 days the visibility got good enough that the pilot was able to fly by and drop supplies out of his window bc they were low on food.

Sorry, no animal is worth the risk of losing shelter in that situation and environment with my wife who was also dealing with strep throat at the time. Is what it is. We did the best we could. Even moved the meat the second day in hopes of salvaging what was left. Below picture is next morning after moving the meat.

Everything always works and is fine until it isn’t. I won’t be taking unnecessary risks that far from help and in that environment. Not to mention having a $1200 tent and thousands of dollars worth of gear destroyed.

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[Nick Muche]

Maybe you shouldn’t be hunting up here.

 

[FAAFO]

Time to make it a law for NR to use a guide for caribou. Someone’s going to get killed.