My 2025 Alaska Caribou Hunt

[Silas_Norris]

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.

 

[Silas_Norris]

Day 2.
We woke up early! Around 5 am! Started glassing and saw a few caribou in the distance! It appeared there were several small groups (not really herds but rather groups of 3-6) caribou still moving through the area. It did not take long and we saw aa group of bulls coming over a rise behind camp! From the previous evening we believed we knew what area they would likely move through. We put on our gear as quickly as we could and did not even grab our packs! The group of bulls was only around .5 miles away and they were feeding/walking at a reasonable pace! We had to hurry if we wanted to get close enough for a shot. We did not spend a lot of time glassing these bulls from camp. As soon as I put the spotter on them I saw one or two bulls that I knew my buddy would shoot and that was enough to set our wheels in motion. I still did not know if these were great bulls or not as they were sideways to me the entire time I glassed them. I just saw some shovels and palmated tops and that was enough to know my buddy (with lower standards) would be happy with any of them!

The caribou did not exactly read the script and our wind was marginal at best. The cover proved to be thicker than it appeared from camp! On our stalk there were times the cover was head high (from camp it looked like 2ft tall grass). As annoying as this was, it was great for staying hidden from the bulls.

Once we made it up the hill we noticed the caribou had not spooked but were now headed on course to cross over the top of the hill/mountain and would likely be out if site within a matter of a couple of minutes. We grabbed our range finders and saw they were 275 yards away. Closer than I thought honestly.

There was no cover at all to get a good rest or to sit down for a shot. The cover was shoulder height at best. I told my buddy that if the goal was to shoot one he would have to free hand or shoot off of my shoulder. He decided my shoulder would work!

He asked me what bull to shoot but I did not have time to glass with his rifle now planted on my shoulder. I told him to take his time and find the one he liked best. He found the two larger bulls and said he would take the first one that gives him a broadside shot! Seconds later he had the first bull on the ground! The bull hit the ground so quickly that he was not even sure he hit one! He just saw the bulls running up the mountain! I was also not 100 percent sure so I grabbed my binos and starting scanning the area! A few seconds later I noticed some antler tips sticking up out of the grass (that once again was taller than it appeared to be).

We managed to snap these sky lined photos of the rest of the bulls as they walked over the top! Pretty awesome shot! My buddy asked me if I wanted to shoot the second one which also appeared to be a fine bull. I knew it was going to be warmer that day and I knew we had a lot of work to do considering we did not even have our packs with us! I told him the other bull is a great bull but I just did not want the 8 day hunt to end in the first hour of the first day, even if that meant I went home empty handed I just couldnt get myself to do it!

As we walked up to my buddies bull we quickly saw that it was a great bull! This would mark one of the largest bulls we would set our eyes on all week! Was super happy for him! He was not willing to hold out for a big one! He just wanted to get one! So, we were fortunate that this group of bulls was one of the first ones we saw! I actually enjoy hunting with him because his standard is more about having fun and taking home some meat more than finding the biggest animal in the woods! It usually means that we will be successful and then spend the rest of the time hunting for a good trophy for me to shoot! Its a good hunting partner to have in camp! He is always willing to get the skunk off our backs with a legal animal, then the pressure is off and we can work on finding a trophy! I was glad that he ended up shooting a nice bull! He deserved it for sure!

Here are some photos of the morning of day 1. Will post more about day 1 and following days tomorrow!

 

[JoeB]

Great writeup so far !

 

[Frost9]

Nice job on the write up, congrats.

 

[Adamsfj]

looking forward to hearing about the rest of the hunt. thanks for sharing

 

[RWT]

Tracking on this one

 

[mad_angler]

That is definitely a nice animal. Good job (and great story so far)

 

[Silas_Norris]

Here is the rest of the hunt story/report.

After getting my buddies bull down we actually dropped back down to camp to grab our packs and hike back up to get the bull broken down. We ended up doing it in two loads as neither of us wanted to walk steeply down hill with 100lb or more packs.
It took a few hours to get the animal broken down and as we loaded and started down the mountain with our final load out we stopped for a quick breather. As we sat there getting our strength back I glassed the surrounding area and spotted 4 bulls that were bedded about a mile away. For a small amount of time I assumed this was the same group of bulls we had just shot my buddies bull from and that they must of walked around the other side of the mountain and ended up bedded in a creek bottom. As we glassed them for a few more minutes we saw that one bull was a pretty nice bull! They were around 1.5 miles away and we could only see their heads and antlers above the cover they were laying on. We decided that if we ran back down to camp and took care of the meat that we would try to gain some elevation and get eyes on them again. I assumed with certainty that these bulls would not be bedded for long. I have heard many people say that Caribou only bed for 30-60 minutes at a time and if you ever see one bedded you need to go quickly! It took us about 30 minutes to get the rest of the way back to camp and we kept glassing the bulls up as we walked back down to camp and to our surprise they remained bedded the whole time. Of course, they were still at least a hour stalk away once we set out for them but we decided we would not rush and we would get to higher ground as much as we could and try to make sure they remained bedded. In all honesty, we were already tired and if the bulls got up and walked any direction that was not right towards us, we were going to call it good and go back to camp! I was conflicted the whole time about shooting a second bull on the full first day we were allowed to hunt but I was also wrestling with the pilots words to us "They are here now, but the faucet might turn off at any moment". I decided to simplify my conflicted thoughts with the following. I will 100 percent shoot a bull today if
1. It's a solid mature bull
2. I have a solid gun rest (not going to shoot off my buddies shoulder at 300 yards).
3. While I can shoot out to 500 comfortably, I will not shoot today beyond 300 yards, so the shot needs to be inside what I would call a "chip shot" distance.
I decided that if an opportunity with the above criteria presented itself I will not hesitate or have regrets later in the hunt, however, if a opportunity with the above criteria like this did present itself early on in the hunt and I did not pursue it, I would certainly regret that later if the faucet turned off.

Anyways, the last time we put glass on the bulls was when we were about 500 yards away. They were still there, and still bedded. We then had to dip down into some lower ground and then walk up a side hill to get eyes back on them. This is where we made a silly mistake. The bulls antlers were skylined which made locating them easy but as we gained elevation on the side hill the skyline changed. We sort of just "lost" the bulls location. We continued to walk to where we "thought" the bulls were and as we got closer we both were clueless as to where they might have gone. If we did not have such a great view of our surroundings I would of guaranteed you they got up and moved off but we both could see a couple miles in every direction and considering these bulls were in lower ground there was no way that I could see them leaving without us seeing them walking up the side of one of the hills/mountains. I am not sure if I am explaining the situation in the best way I can, but, all I can say is that the caribou would likely not be able to leave without us at least seeing them leave.
So, we kept walking closer and closer to where we thought the caribou were. Again, somehow, they were gone. At this point I was standing on the side of a mountain with a great view. My buddy went up higher on the mountain a few hundred yards away from me to get a even bigger view. I could tell by him looking down at me that he was baffled and also could not locate the bulls.
Well, I was only a minute or two from saying lets go back to camp! They must of given us the slip somehow. So, I stood up and walked to the edge of the mountain (it was not a cliff but VERY steep area) and saw antlers just below us! So, somehow from a greater distance it was difficult to see exactly where these bulls were in relation to this cliff I was standing on, but, they were right below us. The bulls were literally in the ONLY spot we could not see once we got within 500 yards! It was pretty funny looking back on it when you realize that we could see for miles but the only little 50 yard area we could not see what where they all 4 were!
So, I motion to my buddy to come down the mountain (he was still hundreds of yards above me getting a larger field of view). I think he could tell with my excited hand motions that I had located the bulls to he came down to me about as fast as a man can without falling down!
Once he got to me we decided that we needed to get closer as the only bull we could see was the smaller bull. We needed to get closer to the edge of the mountain/cliff (not really a mountain cliff but not sure what else to call it) in order to get visual. So, we made a plan for him to crawl about 50 yards at a time and then call me up to him after he got visual. I had a great rest where I was so I told him I would prefer to stay locked and loaded where I was in case the bulls stood up but once we got down to a better spot he could hand motion me over and I would come set up. I was 90 percent sure that as he walked closer to try to get a visual of the larger bulls that they might all stand up and start walking out away from us and that would give me a shot as they walked out and away from the bottom area they were in. Well, somehow they did not see him or spook, until I started coming! Once I started following my buddies steps to get down to where he was the smaller caribou stood up and was not really spooked, but it knew were were there and something was not right. The other caribou stood up and I had to get set up and dialed the my scope pretty fast! The rest is history! I did have to shoot twice and only the second shot is on youtube for all to see! My buddy asked me which one I was going to shoot and I told him the middle one. He had the camera on the wrong middle one lol. My first shot was slightly quartering to me but mostly broadside. It was behind the shoulder and was a pretty goos shot, but he still stood there for about 20 seconds and I determined he needed a second shot to put him down. There is a chance because of the slight angle that I only got one lung with my first shot but I cannot say for sure. Either way, the second shot anchored him and he was on the ground! It was not even 1pm on the first day we could hunt and we had both of our caribou down! We were both super excited! Here are some images of my hunt along with a youtube link of the shot.

 

[Silas_Norris]

To finish out the story.
We got the meat all back to camp and it was about as hard of a hunting day as I have ever had! The distance was not the issue but walking through thick willow thickets and uneven terrain and bogs made it feel like it was 4 times as far as it was! There was no straight line walking that could happen! We took our time and got all the meat taken care of back at camp! The next day we made meat poles and got the meat hung up and covered. I sprayed it with citric acid a couple of times and thankfully we had some colder nights and colder weather come in within 24 hours after our kills to help cool the meat.

Ended up being very thankful that we both shot our bulls on the first day. We saw hundreds of caribou between day 1 and 2 (day 2 being the first day we could legally hunt) and after that the caribou moved on with the colder weather. I think we saw around 6 to 7 caribou a day for the remainder of our week long trip. The faucet certainly did turn off. We did however see one more nice bull on our last day of hunting. I think we could of stalked within shooting range of him but he was pretty far away following some cows and I am not sure if we could of gotten to him in time if I am honest. We did manage to take some great pictures of him. They are attached.

We also saw a grizzly on day two or 3. There was grizzly sign near us but we did not see any close. We were camped within 100 yards of a creek and there were fresh grizzle tracks in the creek. There was also fresh grizzly sign in several areas surrounding camp but we only saw the one grizzly and he was focused on berried about 1 mile away. The first time we saw him we decided that we wanted him to get our scent. The wind was blowing right to him and I figured if we got a bit closer (within 700 yards or so) we could make sure he gets our wind. I would rather have a encounter with him now then have him come into camp while we are sleeping. I am not sure what the bears reaction means but once we got to around 700 yards the bear could clearly smell us. He turned towards us and turned around and faced us. He then put his nose in the air and waved it back and forth for a couple minutes. After that, he went back to eating berries and paid no attention to us. On one hand he didnt seem interested in us, but, he also didnt fear us! Was not sure if that was a good sign or not! Pics attached.

The stream appeared to be too small for fishing but we quickly learned that was far from the truth! The small creek was absolutely filled with Artic Grayling and we caught and ate our limit on a couple ocassions. I am super glad I brought a couple tenkara fishing rods (similar to a fly rod without the reel). They only weigh around 5 ounces. I also brought some fish seasoning which came in clutch! We could catch Artic Grayling on almost every single cast! It was so good it almost got boring after about an hour! It was like catching bluegill in a stocked pond! They hit immediately! The fishing was worth the trip on its own and I was really grateful that we sacrificed other gear to bring these rods along! Would of really regretted not having them!

We managed to kill one Ptarmagin and it was delicious! We also ate caribou in camp and that also taste great with a little steak seasoning.

We saw some wolf tracks but never saw a wolf.

On the gear side of things here are a couple notes:
1. Not sure how guys manage without a hot tent. You can cook on it, keeps you warm at night, dry boots and clothes out quickly. Boosts moral and gives you something to do. Not sure how guys go without this style of tent. Its such a no brainer to me! We did have some 40 MPH winds and some crazy snow and rain and the seek outside redlcliff did great. We did put rocks down onto the stakes and made sure to bring a few larger stakes for the main stake out points (MSR Cyclones).
2. We brought a couple DST tarps. These are a great lightweight option and I would not go without a couple extra tarps. We used them to keep gear dry and to keep out meat dry. The pilot actually also gave us a tarp to use which is ultiamtely the one we used for the meat. He said many guys forget to bring one so he gives one to all of his hunters. It was not necessary but we did put the 3rd tarp to use.
3. Fishing gear - pilot said he thought we would be to high and too far north for good fishing. He also said there would likely not be any wood to burn. He was being honeest, but I will say that I am glad we did not listen to either of these things. The fishing was good and we managed to find plenty of wood to burn but admit we did have to walk aa ways to find some.
3. Brought the Garmin in reach but the sattelite messaging worked just perfect on our phones. Not sure you really need the Garmin anymore but to each their own.
4. We used a solar panel to charge battery banks. This is a no brainer as we managed to have aa few hours of sun on most days and that is all it takes to charge up a phone and a couple battery banks,. I uploaded several movies onto my phone and we looked forward to watching a movie every night as we fell asleep! I brought some playing cards as well but just having a few shows/movies downloaded is really all we needed for entertainment. I think having some entertainment is nice as we had 30 hours of bad weather where we were stuck in the tent. It was nice to have some movies and shows to keep us entertained.
5. I used the zenbivy sleep system (10 degree). I am a big believer in this. I actually wake up sometimes and am confused as to where I am because I feel like im in my bed!
6. For food I mostly ate peak refuel meals but I also brought plenty of kind bars to snack on during the day. I also do not usually care too much about nutrition on a hunting trip (just want calories). For cheap calories I often bring the following: I put a can of pringles in a bag and squash them up to crumbs. Still taste great! I brought some cinnamin toast crunch in a ziplok bag (lightweight and tasty treat). I also brought some hot chocolate mix, coffee, and some gushers!
7. I brought my 45/70 with some bear defense rounds I casted and loaded myself. I also brought some long distance rounds (hornady 250 grain) bullets to use if we had a issue with my buddies 7 mag and had to revert to some longer shots with my 45/70. The goal was to both use my buddies 7 mag as we both literally have the same gun and scope set up (seekins PH2 with leupold scope etc). He brought his 9mm with hard cast rounds for bear defense. I think if I could do it all again I would find a way to bring my 10mm or at least some bear spray). Carrying around the 45/70 was not easy when we were going in to pack out our bulls. It could of come in VERY handy but I think having the sidearm makes more sense. I also noticed while fishing I would normally set it down and as I walked down the stream the 45/70 was no longer even near me! Having a better gun in the fight is great, if you have it on you! So, I think if I did it again I would try to find a way to make weight and bring the 10mm.
8. Helinox chair 0 - I brought one and this is a game changer. My buddy did not have one and i actually bought him one right before the trip as it was going to be his birthday on the hunting trip! He said several times that this might be the best birthday gift ever! Sitting in a chair with a back rest is really nice!
9. Instead of a tripod we brought a adapter that allows you to convert your trekking poles into a tripod. I think this is the way to go for weight savings and it works fine.
10. Mostly wore layers of sitka gear. Having some good puffy gear is wise as the weather changes often.
11. Steak seasoning, olive oil packets, and fish seasoning came in clutch. My buddy is still thanking me for bringing that stuff!
12. Cooked on MSR stove and took the hot tent stove outside and cooked right on that! Worked great.

If you have any other gear questions I am happy to send anyone my spreadsheet with weights if helpful!

Pilot was very impressed when we weighed in and actually made weight. He said that rarely happens. I put together a detailed spreadsheet with every single item we brought along with the actual weights of everything (I weighed everything out myself to get real weights on everything).

 

[Silas_Norris]

A few more images. Thanks all!