Silas_Norris
FNG
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2023
- Messages
- 46
Hello All,
Me and my buddy returned a couple of weeks ago from our Alaska Caribou Hunt. It was not my first time hunting Alaska, but, it was my first time hunting Caribou and it was my first time hunting in Alaska without a guide! Thanks for several guys from Rockslide that exchanged messages and phone calls with me as I researched and try to narrow down the area and the transporter I wanted to hire to take us in!
We used Zac from Tok Air Service out of Tok Alaska. I am not exactly sure how far north we had to fly but I would guess around 100 miles north of Tok. Zac knows the area as good as anyone and has a really good understanding of where the Caribou herd is (or where they might be heading).
Hunting migrating animals can really stress a man out! As many describe the herd like a "water faucet" that can turn on and off in a blink of a eye. We certainly experienced what that looks like! If you see a bull you may want to shoot, he won't be there tomorrow in most cases! We hunted the last week of August and into the first week of September. The Caribou were just starting to shed velvet! Some were hard horned, some in full velvet, and some had it hanging off their antlers. Most still had some velvet but that was changing by the day!
I chose the 40 mile herd for a few reasons (not sure these were good reasons but my research led me to believe a few things). 1. The fly in hunts for the 40 mile herd were very remote and there would not likely be hunters on every hill top. Not many transporters fly into this area so even if the caribou are grouped up, I do not think we would of been looking at other camps and competing with other hunters. If I am going to hunt Alaska, I do not want to be competing with other hunters. 2. The weather seemed more predictable and pleasant being that it was not along the coast. 3. The terrain looked more interesting than a Tundra hunt. I wanted to be able to walk and move around. Hunting in the Tundra south of the brooks range did not appeal to me like the hunts that took place in the 40 mile country. There is a good "MIX" of terrain in the area we hunted from bogs, to rocky and sandy creek bottoms, tundra, spruce trees, thick grasses and willows. Plenty of hilly trains and hills also which makes stalking a lot easier. Perhaps one other item that really helped us on this hunt was the fact that the wind blew consistently through our valley in the exact same direction all week long. I am not sure if this is normal or not, but it was very consistent wind. Usually when I go out west every year the wind changes every 10 minutes it seems! Not the case for us, the wind was consistent!
The weather was warmer than usual for the first few days of our hunt. We flew to find caribou on our way to a staging strip with a 206.. The plan was for us to wait there while the pilot would return with the super cub to get us into our final hunting spot. Due to the weather being warmer than usual, the caribou were up at a higher elevation than what is normal (according to our pilot). That made things mentally tricky for me as the weather reports suggested that after the first 2 days the weather was going to get much colder, and in my mind, that means the caribou would likely be moving on. Zac explained to us that he could sit us down where the carubou are right now, but the faucet can turn off any time! He said a second option is to put you where I think they might be headed, but, the caribou may not move that way at all. Zac thought the first option was best and we agreed. He also was not sure with the wind if the second option would even work so that could of meant we would spend the night at the staging strip waiting for the right wind to get into spot number 2.
One thing I learned after flying over a few small herds of caribou is that you cannot see them all from the sky (at least I cant). As we landed that first evening (August 25th), we saw approximately 100 caribou. We only saw a couple dozen from the air but after we landed and started glassing we saw caribou on every hillside around us. They all seemed to be moving in a western/southwestern direction but it took some glassing to really notice that trend. Some caribou were headed in different directions but after spending some time really watching they certainly seemed to be traveling in the same "general direction". As many of you know, you cannot shoot on the day you fly in in Alaska. I am even more thankful for that rule now as my buddies excitement was so high I believe we would of potentially tried to shoot a cow if I didnt hold him back! Antything he saw with antlers got him pretty excited!
We were only allowed 50lbs each and that did not include the clothes we were wearing nor did it include out rifles. I chose to bring my Seek Outside Redcliff with the hot stove. This was a great set up for us. Finding wood to burn was not always easy as much of it was wet or not dead and dry etc. We did end up finding plenty of wood to burn but had to dedicate a 30 minute walk every day just to get firewood.
Right before bed on night one we finally saw some respectable bulls. There was 3 of them about 3/4 to 1 mile away. These bulls would of easily made the cut on what we would shoot and I believe we easily could of intercepted their route but it was the first day we flew in so obviously we had to just watch them pass! We went to bed that first night full of excitement but I will admit that I was also a little anxious. I have heard many say that they went from seeing hundreds of caribou to 0 for the remaining of their trip. I just had a feeling with the colder weather coming that these caribou were not going to be here for very long.
I will post more as I have time. Here is a few images from day 1.
Me and my buddy returned a couple of weeks ago from our Alaska Caribou Hunt. It was not my first time hunting Alaska, but, it was my first time hunting Caribou and it was my first time hunting in Alaska without a guide! Thanks for several guys from Rockslide that exchanged messages and phone calls with me as I researched and try to narrow down the area and the transporter I wanted to hire to take us in!
We used Zac from Tok Air Service out of Tok Alaska. I am not exactly sure how far north we had to fly but I would guess around 100 miles north of Tok. Zac knows the area as good as anyone and has a really good understanding of where the Caribou herd is (or where they might be heading).
Hunting migrating animals can really stress a man out! As many describe the herd like a "water faucet" that can turn on and off in a blink of a eye. We certainly experienced what that looks like! If you see a bull you may want to shoot, he won't be there tomorrow in most cases! We hunted the last week of August and into the first week of September. The Caribou were just starting to shed velvet! Some were hard horned, some in full velvet, and some had it hanging off their antlers. Most still had some velvet but that was changing by the day!
I chose the 40 mile herd for a few reasons (not sure these were good reasons but my research led me to believe a few things). 1. The fly in hunts for the 40 mile herd were very remote and there would not likely be hunters on every hill top. Not many transporters fly into this area so even if the caribou are grouped up, I do not think we would of been looking at other camps and competing with other hunters. If I am going to hunt Alaska, I do not want to be competing with other hunters. 2. The weather seemed more predictable and pleasant being that it was not along the coast. 3. The terrain looked more interesting than a Tundra hunt. I wanted to be able to walk and move around. Hunting in the Tundra south of the brooks range did not appeal to me like the hunts that took place in the 40 mile country. There is a good "MIX" of terrain in the area we hunted from bogs, to rocky and sandy creek bottoms, tundra, spruce trees, thick grasses and willows. Plenty of hilly trains and hills also which makes stalking a lot easier. Perhaps one other item that really helped us on this hunt was the fact that the wind blew consistently through our valley in the exact same direction all week long. I am not sure if this is normal or not, but it was very consistent wind. Usually when I go out west every year the wind changes every 10 minutes it seems! Not the case for us, the wind was consistent!
The weather was warmer than usual for the first few days of our hunt. We flew to find caribou on our way to a staging strip with a 206.. The plan was for us to wait there while the pilot would return with the super cub to get us into our final hunting spot. Due to the weather being warmer than usual, the caribou were up at a higher elevation than what is normal (according to our pilot). That made things mentally tricky for me as the weather reports suggested that after the first 2 days the weather was going to get much colder, and in my mind, that means the caribou would likely be moving on. Zac explained to us that he could sit us down where the carubou are right now, but the faucet can turn off any time! He said a second option is to put you where I think they might be headed, but, the caribou may not move that way at all. Zac thought the first option was best and we agreed. He also was not sure with the wind if the second option would even work so that could of meant we would spend the night at the staging strip waiting for the right wind to get into spot number 2.
One thing I learned after flying over a few small herds of caribou is that you cannot see them all from the sky (at least I cant). As we landed that first evening (August 25th), we saw approximately 100 caribou. We only saw a couple dozen from the air but after we landed and started glassing we saw caribou on every hillside around us. They all seemed to be moving in a western/southwestern direction but it took some glassing to really notice that trend. Some caribou were headed in different directions but after spending some time really watching they certainly seemed to be traveling in the same "general direction". As many of you know, you cannot shoot on the day you fly in in Alaska. I am even more thankful for that rule now as my buddies excitement was so high I believe we would of potentially tried to shoot a cow if I didnt hold him back! Antything he saw with antlers got him pretty excited!
We were only allowed 50lbs each and that did not include the clothes we were wearing nor did it include out rifles. I chose to bring my Seek Outside Redcliff with the hot stove. This was a great set up for us. Finding wood to burn was not always easy as much of it was wet or not dead and dry etc. We did end up finding plenty of wood to burn but had to dedicate a 30 minute walk every day just to get firewood.
Right before bed on night one we finally saw some respectable bulls. There was 3 of them about 3/4 to 1 mile away. These bulls would of easily made the cut on what we would shoot and I believe we easily could of intercepted their route but it was the first day we flew in so obviously we had to just watch them pass! We went to bed that first night full of excitement but I will admit that I was also a little anxious. I have heard many say that they went from seeing hundreds of caribou to 0 for the remaining of their trip. I just had a feeling with the colder weather coming that these caribou were not going to be here for very long.
I will post more as I have time. Here is a few images from day 1.
