Winter Bou on the Haul Rd

[Nick Muche]

Surely with all the Alaskans on here there has been someone crazy enough to try and hunt the Haul Rd in January? I am going to try it, if nothing else just to get out of town for 3-4 days and take a ride... Has anyone else done it in the winter? Besides being cold, what can I expect? Most of the "reports" that I have read say they won't be north of Atiguin pass and that it really is hit or miss... I am fine with that, but does anyone have experience with it?

Thanks!

 

[Yellowknife]

Nick,

I know of one person that did this hunt this December. He reported that the caribou were in the trees and very difficult to stalk. They stayed in a B&B and were able to get about 3 huntable hours of "daylight" each day. 3 people x 3 days = one caribou. They were lucky with weather.

That's all I know.

Yk

 

[luke moffat]

You might be able to twist my arm for a late March/early April trip with A LOT more daylight. But in Jan......I think I'd have to pass. It is cold but even more so DARK up there right now for so long it hardly makes it worth the effort for me atleast....granted you'd have 12 hours less driving involved to go give it a whirl.

 

[Nick Muche]

Had fun, no Bou. Seems we missed them by about a week as there was plenty of sign along the road. LOTS of windshield time, takes awhile to get anywhere going 35 mph. Beautiful country in the winter, that's for sure. Weather was great too!

 

[colonel00]

Did you get any pics? If I had better winter gear and equipment I would definitely give it a shot. Did you just use (plan to use) snowshoes or were you going to ski? I assume you had a sled?

 

[Nick Muche]

We used a Toyota Tacoma, hiking boots, and snow shoes

I don't think you can use a sled (assuming you meant snow machine) off the haul rd, could be wrong.

I will post some photos in a few minutes.

 

[colonel00]

Nah, I just meant a plastic sled. I have seen some people who pull them while cross country skiing or snowshoeing. Pulk is the proper term I guess. Just seems like a nice way to get gear and meat across the snow.

 

[Nick Muche]

I thought that might have been what you meant. No, we didn't use one of those. The country south of the pass, where we were told the caribou were at (which the were, only a week ago) would not have been ideal to use the sled, more mountainous than I thought it would have been. Up in the barren ground north of the pass it would have been perfect.

 

[colonel00]

Ah, ok. I guess I missed that you were south of the pass but that only makes sense this time of year. Yeah, I was more thinking about the open tundra on the north side covered in snow. How far north were you?

 

[Nick Muche]

We went up the pass, but didn't see anything up that way and the trooper told us that he hadn't seen any either.

We left Fairbanks early on Saturday morning, arriving in Coldfoot around 11am. We filled up with gas and then headed north to check out an area we were told held some caribou a few days prior.

No caribou spotted, plenty of moose though. I will add those pictures this evening as they are on my other camera. Nothing special, just moose laying around being moose.

This sign was a lie, there are two others just north of this one

Saturday evening we headed back to Coldfoot for some soup and a meal, then head to the truck to catch some sleep. Hard to go to sleep at 6pm, but with very little else to do, it was our only option. After a few chapters of this book, which is about the Porcupine herd and a few beers, we fell asleep. It was below 0, -11 when I woke up at 2am "hoping" it was time to wake up for the day. I used a Kifaru woobie and a WM Versalite (10 degree), plus my down jacket and first lite base layers. I was plenty warm, even had to shed the jacket around mid-night. Promptly put it back on about 30 minutes later

We hunted all of Sunday as well, nothing spotted even after hiking up and over a few hills to get a good vantage point of areas you cannot see from the road. If they would have been around, I think it would have been possible to sneak into bow range quite easily. The snow was quiet as can be and there were a good amount of trees in the area that was littered with sign.

We saw around a dozen moose, one wolverine (which we almost were able to get) and more semi's in the ditch than I can count. We were in a "traffic jam" for 3 hours while waiting for a front end loader to come and push a truck off the road. A truck driver came back to our truck and would update us on the situation and even gave us a few ice cream bars. Nice guy.

Fun time, can't wait to go back.

 

[bowuntr]

Cool... Ed F

 

[Nick Muche]

Round two, starting in a few hours. Much more daylight this time around and we have a pretty good idea where they might be.

 

[luke moffat]

Awesome Nick, best of luck to ya...bringing both bows and rifles in case you have the option to go the 5 miles out if need be?

 

[Yellowknife]

Good luck!

Suspect your odds will be a little better this time around.

Yk

 

[Nick Muche]

I hope you are right YK, longer days should make things a bit more enjoyable. No rifles Luke, not even sure how to shoot one any more

 

[luke moffat]

I hope you are right YK, longer days should make things a bit more enjoyable. No rifles Luke, not even sure how to shoot one any more

At least bring one to smoke a wolf....it'll do the caribou some good. 5 miles out of course!

 

[Nick Muche]

With a trappers license you can shoot furbearers (wolf, wolverine, etc) inside the corridor.

 

[luke moffat]

With a trappers license you can shoot furbearers (wolf, wolverine, etc) inside the corridor.

I know but didn't know if you had yours or not.

 

[Nick Muche]

For a measly $250, how could I turn that down!? haha

 

[gonhunting247]

Great pics I love it up on the haul road and over Atigun! Never been up there late like that,sounds like quite an adventure! Good Luck on your return trip!