Want to hunt and camp in Alaska.

[iHunt20]

I plan on going next summer to camp on blm or other public lands, as well as hit every hunting season I can. Probably stay in Fairbanks when necessary.

I've never been to Alaska and it's always been a dream of mine. I'm from a northern state and am used to cold weather hunting and camping. I want as much out of the experience as possible. A moose is on the bucket list.

I'm trying to understand the laws and areas/lands open to both hunting and camping for as much of the year as possible. I think I'm looking at unit 25. Places like BLM lands that allow dispersed camping for 14+ days at a time, etc to keep a camp in a desired area.

I'm going alone as far as I know. If anybody local to there wants to meet for food and possibly hunting, shooting, or showing me around, that'd be great. Until I meet people there, I have a few questions.

1) are there public areas north of Fairbanks that allow dispersed camping and various hunting opportunities? Also open to other areas. Year round with no seasonal closure would be ideal.

2) what should I know as a nonresident hunter? If it's very restrictive I may look for a small piece of land and become a resident.

3) what kind of equipment regulations am I to know on various public hunting lands?

4) I don't want to pack too much so I want to take one gun for all game. Thinking AR-15 in 223 with 64gr speer gold dots. I can take a lot more ammo with me per lb and it's what I have stacked.. We've seen on this forum that the caliber is perfectly lethal on moose. But I could only then hunt in areas where the caliber is legal.

5) hunting advice? I've only ever hunted whitetail deer and prefer to still hunt. Never hunted moose, caribou, etc so could use some pointers.

6) Can you recommend ideal places? Any do's/don'ts? General advice about the state?

7) It's a lifelong dream. I could probably die satisfied after that. So please don't recommend another state or tell me it's a dumb idea.

 

[david_227]

Quite a bit to unpack here - not really sure where to start. But if you end up going I’d be sure to take some bug spray


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[Kevin_t]

Lots of land to camp on north of Fairbanks ( about 400 miles to dead horse )

Take bug spray , head net , bear spray

Personally I’d seek the advice of residents for most of it . I was just up there mostly fishing .

There is northern lower 48 and then northern Alaska . Certainly some similarities to places with boreal forest but also a lot of differences


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[AKBorn]

Not sure how many hunting seasons will be open if you are going in the summer, most seasons start in late August or September for non-residents.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game puts out the annual Hunting Regulations booklet about this time every year, it's pretty long and breaks out seasons and bag limits by Game management units and subunits. Learn that inside and out for the areas you plan on hunting.

If it were me I would take something larger than a .223, lots of grizzlies and black bear in Alaska.

 

[wildwilderness]

I plan on going next summer to camp on blm or other public lands, as well as hit every hunting season I can. Probably stay in Fairbanks when necessary.

I've never been to Alaska and it's always been a dream of mine. I'm from a northern state and am used to cold weather hunting and camping. I want as much out of the experience as possible. A moose is on the bucket list.

I'm trying to understand the laws and areas/lands open to both hunting and camping for as much of the year as possible. I think I'm looking at unit 25. Places like BLM lands that allow dispersed camping for 14+ days at a time, etc to keep a camp in a desired area.

I'm going alone as far as I know. If anybody local to there wants to meet for food and possibly hunting, shooting, or showing me around, that'd be great. Until I meet people there, I have a few questions.

1) are there public areas north of Fairbanks that allow dispersed camping and various hunting opportunities? Also open to other areas. Year round with no seasonal closure would be ideal.

2) what should I know as a nonresident hunter? If it's very restrictive I may look for a small piece of land and become a resident.

3) what kind of equipment regulations am I to know on various public hunting lands?

4) I don't want to pack too much so I want to take one gun for all game. Thinking AR-15 in 223 with 64gr speer gold dots. I can take a lot more ammo with me per lb and it's what I have stacked.. We've seen on this forum that the caliber is perfectly lethal on moose. But I could only then hunt in areas where the caliber is legal.

5) hunting advice? I've only ever hunted whitetail deer and prefer to still hunt. Never hunted moose, caribou, etc so could use some pointers.

6) Can you recommend ideal places? Any do's/don'ts? General advice about the state?

7) It's a lifelong dream. I could probably die satisfied after that. So please don't recommend another state or tell me it's a dumb idea.

I feel this is a joke? One rifle for everything and it’s an AR 15 in 223? Good luck

 

[duchntr]

I plan on going next summer to camp on blm or other public lands, as well as hit every hunting season I can. Probably stay in Fairbanks when necessary.

I've never been to Alaska and it's always been a dream of mine. I'm from a northern state and am used to cold weather hunting and camping. I want as much out of the experience as possible. A moose is on the bucket list.

I'm trying to understand the laws and areas/lands open to both hunting and camping for as much of the year as possible. I think I'm looking at unit 25. Places like BLM lands that allow dispersed camping for 14+ days at a time, etc to keep a camp in a desired area.

I'm going alone as far as I know. If anybody local to there wants to meet for food and possibly hunting, shooting, or showing me around, that'd be great. Until I meet people there, I have a few questions.

1) are there public areas north of Fairbanks that allow dispersed camping and various hunting opportunities? Also open to other areas. Year round with no seasonal closure would be ideal.

2) what should I know as a nonresident hunter? If it's very restrictive I may look for a small piece of land and become a resident.

3) what kind of equipment regulations am I to know on various public hunting lands?

4) I don't want to pack too much so I want to take one gun for all game. Thinking AR-15 in 223 with 64gr speer gold dots. I can take a lot more ammo with me per lb and it's what I have stacked.. We've seen on this forum that the caliber is perfectly lethal on moose. But I could only then hunt in areas where the caliber is legal.

5) hunting advice? I've only ever hunted whitetail deer and prefer to still hunt. Never hunted moose, caribou, etc so could use some pointers.

6) Can you recommend ideal places? Any do's/don'ts? General advice about the state?

7) It's a lifelong dream. I could probably die satisfied after that. So please don't recommend another state or tell me it's a dumb idea.

https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/applications/web/nocache/regulations/wildliferegulations/pdfs/regulations_complete.pdf6C0913C7AA46DB5B637B59999FB87A3C/regulations_complete.pdf

Start reading.

 

[Reburn]

@fwafwow @Billy Goat

This will end up being alone guy 2

 

[fwafwow]

@fwafwow @Billy Goat

This will end up being alone guy 2

We can dream. +1 to watch

I’ve never been to Alaska, so I’m a mere keyboard hunter in this topic, but I think there may be bears there. If the only weapon is an AR in 223, then the second sentence of #7 may be more relevant than intended. When I’ve dreamt of AK, I was looking at larger calibers.

If the post is legit then I’m sure you will get much more practical input from people who actually know what they are doing (in contrast to me).

 

[AK Troutbum]

@fwafwow @Billy Goat

This will end up being alone guy 2

I was thinking more like “Into the Wild 2”.


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[fwafwow]

I was thinking more like “Into the Wild 2”.


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Great book! Sad story

 

[Jbehredt]

^^^^^ The “supertramp” and this fella share a lot of the naïveté.

 

[Bear_Hunter]

Not much translates from deer hunting in a northern state to moose hunting in Alaska. Some, but not a lot. So study up, and start with reading the hunting regs. And animal densities are way lower up here than deer in the L48, so don't expect to see critters every day, or even every week.

And as a non-res, it's not necessarily that restrictive, but definitely more expensive. And owning a small chunk of land doesn't make you a resident, physically living here for a full year with the intent to stay indefinitely then makes you eligible to be a resident hunter.

I couldn't think of a worse platform/caliber for an all around Alaska hunting gun than a .223 AR15. Get a 30 cal bolt rifle.

What's your means of transportation? Very limited roads up here. And you don't want to hike a moose out much more than a mile assuming the terrain is good. And why year round access? Surely you don't plan on winter camping for extended periods?? That's a whole other element of difficulty.

If you're mainly camping the whole summer/fall, what's your meat care plans if successful? Lots more questions than answers, but read up on the regs and that will help a lot.

 

[Billy Goat]

This sounds like an epic expedition. I think you should make sure you document it.


Get your taco loaded and get to it.

 

[Antares]

Sounds like fun to me man. I like your enthusiasm. You're going to learn a lot.

The only thing that jumped out at me was your caliber choice. You may have a lot of it stacked, but that doesn't make it the best choice. If this is a bucket list trip, do it right. Something .30 cal shooting something 165-180 gr would be a better place to start.

 

[fwafwow]

This is 100%

 

[BBob]

7) It's a lifelong dream. I get caught up in dreamland often too I could probably die satisfied after that. Yep, you'll probably die. Pretty sure of it. So please don't recommend another state or tell me it's a dumb idea. Not dumb at all, we can't get enough of "Grizzly eats another...." stories around here.

Carry on, live the dream

 

[Fatcamp]

Can be a tough crowd, OP. Take it in stride and listen to the experienced. I'm jealous for sure and hope you see it through.

 

[Billy Goat]

Sounds like fun to me man. I like your enthusiasm. You're going to learn a lot.

The only thing that jumped out at me was your caliber choice. You may have a lot of it stacked, but that doesn't make it the best choice. If this is a bucket list trip, do it right. Something .30 cal shooting something 165-180 gr would be a better place to start.

Dude they shoot moose all the time up there with the 243 and 223. The Ruiskies kill everything with a 7.62x39. It ain't much over the 223 with worse bullet selection.

I'm ready for the tires to hit the road and he gets this thing going.

I'm feeling pretty certain this will be epic.

 

[fwafwow]

Joined today. Posted this (first) post 23 minutes later and hasn’t been on here since. Maybe this guy is smarter and is out scouting somewhere while I’m wasting time arguing and buying knives online.

 

[iHunt20]

Not much translates from deer hunting in a northern state to moose hunting in Alaska. Some, but not a lot. So study up, and start with reading the hunting regs. And animal densities are way lower up here than deer in the L48, so don't expect to see critters every day, or even every week.

And as a non-res, it's not necessarily that restrictive, but definitely more expensive. And owning a small chunk of land doesn't make you a resident, physically living here for a full year with the intent to stay indefinitely then makes you eligible to be a resident hunter.

I couldn't think of a worse platform/caliber for an all around Alaska hunting gun than a .223 AR15. Get a 30 cal bolt rifle.

What's your means of transportation? Very limited roads up here. And you don't want to hike a moose out much more than a mile assuming the terrain is good. And why year round access? Surely you don't plan on winter camping for extended periods?? That's a whole other element of difficulty.

If you're mainly camping the whole summer/fall, what's your meat care plans if successful? Lots more questions than answers, but read up on the regs and that will help a lot.

Caliber is probably the least important aspect of this trip. With an AR I wouldn't need the weight of a handgun and ammo either. A 308 bolt gun is an option, but trying to think as efficient as possible. Some areas are shotgun only, so that is a possibility. Also will probably take a bow to keep my options open. Bow and AR is light and covers anything. I don't want to pack a bunch of guns.

Meat care was something I'd hoped to get some advice on. My plan was to quarter a carcass, and take the straps, then process the quarters at camp. I could use some pointers on preserving the meat at this point away from predators. Not sure about carcass disposal after harvest either. Can it just become scraps for other animals at the place of expiration? Do they and all scraps have to be buried?

I'm thinking of late fall or early winter camping during the different game seasons and a rare motel stay etc if necessary. In the future if I buy a few acres to stay at and store stuff, I can stay at a more established camp, process carcasses in a makeshift shed much easier, store more things, etc. Still curious about carcass disposal. And how miners and old school hunters would have done things in camp.

I've been interested in moving there but would like to explore and find out where is best for me before buying, and this is the most fun and purposeful way I can think of.

I drive an older model Land cruiser. It's capable for a passenger suv. But I understand less than a buggy in some places isn't going anywhere. I'm trying to have realistic expectations, and learn as much as I can before I go.