2015 Alaska Caribou Hunt

[MDHunter]

I was up in Alaska at the end of August for a flyout caribou hunt. It was considerably colder than typical late August temps in Alaska…as I was driving to Tok on the day before we flew out, we saw snow on mountains a little earlier than usual.

As we flew into the bush on Sunday August 30, there was quite a bit of snow on some of the high ridges. Guess we won’t be landing on these!

As we reached our hunting area, we located a ridge where the landing strip was free of snow. Here’s the second Super Cub coming in with my gear load.

After we got the tents set up and camp squared away, we went in search of a water source. As we were searching for the nearest water in a snow squall, we came on these big bulls, and watched them from about 100 yards away (you can’t hunt on the same day you fly in).

The cold weather really affected the caribou movement; it seemed like they left the country after our fly-in day. On the second hunting day, my hunt partner Jason connected with one of only two good bulls we saw. At the shot, the bull staggered over to the edge of the ridge and started tumbling down the side. Luckily for us, his antler caught in the loose rocks after 200 – 300 yards, or he would have tumbled another ¼ mile downhill.

Over the next two days, we saw a total of 4 caribou (it’s much more typical to see several dozen to a hundred in a day). I’m a meat hunter, and I told Jason I would try to harvest any bull we saw; just before dark on the 4th day, I shot this young one a couple hundred yards from the airstrip. It seemed like it took longer to confirm he was a male before shooting, than it did to field dress him! But, he would be good, tender meat for my family in Alaska to enjoy.

That night we had an amazing light show, as the northern lights stretched for several miles and came right over us – it seemed like we could touch them. This picture doesn’t do them justice, the actual display was much larger and more colorful, but my pocket camera wasn’t set up for night shots.

Pics of camp and the surrounding area.

As we flew back to Tok, the weather started to turn sour in the mountains, and I was reminded why I choose my bush pilots carefully – not a lot of second chances when flying in bad weather.

Finally we got through the low clouds, and made it safely back to Tok. Another Alaskan adventure in the books, and another great hunting partner for future Alaska hunts! Might have to chase moose next time…

 

[BigCity]

Awesome trip. I was in Alaska from Aug 3 to the 15th and it was pretty warm there, especially Denali. 80 degrees!

 

[engineerbrian]

Great post. Thanks for sharing!

 

[cpc1027]

Very cool! Thanks for daring the narrative and the pictures. One day I'd love to go to Alaska and fly fish for salmon, but I'd be up for a hunt too.

 

[Uncle Duke]

Man that's some beautiful country!

Great story and pics! Was a treat to see!

Congrats on your successful hunt!

 

[protegeV]

beautiful pics, awesome trip. Consider me jelly

 

[iH8DemLibz]

J-E-A-L-O-U-S

Thanks for sharing the pics.

 

[AV8OR]

Thanks!

 

[fidelity]

Great pics; thanks for sharing! I have friends that take an annual trip up there during late summer to fish, but what you're doing looks like more fun.

A couple of hunt-related questions ...

Where and how do you store your processed meat, especially if you've made your kill a day or two before pick up? I presume that the temp might be cool enough (to slow spoilage), but you need to keep away the processed meat from camp and secure from bears. There's too much to lash up a tree in a bear resistant container, so what do you guys do? Hibernation is probably still weeks away for grizzlies, right?

How much meat are you able to pack out on the bush planes?

 

[justsand]

Very cool I would love to go to Alaska one day

 

[Nanook]

Yup, picking pilots is key. Lots and lots of rock filled clouds.

 

[outrider58]

Beautiful! Great post and pics. Thanks sharing them with us.

 

[j_h_smith]

Congrats to both of you. Must be nice to have family that live in such a beautiful place.

Great story!

 

[MDHunter]

Great pics; thanks for sharing! I have friends that take an annual trip up there during late summer to fish, but what you're doing looks like more fun.

A couple of hunt-related questions ...

Where and how do you store your processed meat, especially if you've made your kill a day or two before pick up? I presume that the temp might be cool enough (to slow spoilage), but you need to keep away the processed meat from camp and secure from bears. There's too much to lash up a tree in a bear resistant container, so what do you guys do? Hibernation is probably still weeks away for grizzlies, right?

How much meat are you able to pack out on the bush planes?

We typically camp on high ridges (like this year) when hunting caribou; daytime temps range from 30s – 50s, and nighttime temps range from teens to low 30s. When we harvest an animal, we leave the meat on the bone (hindquarters and frontquarters) the first day and night, to help the meat cool. The next morning, we call the bush pilots on our satellite phone for a meat pickup, and debone the hindquarters and front quarters before they arrive (typically they get there by midafternoon).

A SuperCub can carry about 300 pounds of meat and gear, and a large caribou will produce about 150-175 pounds of deboned meat. A meat haul with this transporter costs $700, but well worth it in my mind – the meat gets back to Tok within 24-36 hours of the time it was harvested, and its stored there in a boxcar chilled to 40 degrees until we return to town. It’s one reason (along with their emphasis on safety) that I use this air transporter, I really like this setup for handling meat.

Grizzlies are a constant where we hunt; this is the first year I didn’t see one, possibly due to the cold temps altering their movements. After harvesting an animal we place the meat on a few spruce limbs to keep it off the ground, and place a Tyvek tarp above it to keep any rain off the meat. We place it near the ridgetop where the planes land to pick it up, which is generally a few hundred yards to ¼ mile from where we set up camp. We don’t use bear resistant containers for camp food; I have two tents, one for sleeping and one for eating and gear. We don’t bring food into the sleep tent, and we set up a bear fence in some cases (we didn’t set it up this year, based on our camp location).

 

[fidelity]

Appreciate the insight, thanks! I've had a couple of extended backcountry trips in Alaska during the summer period (last was nearly 20 years ago), and there were always precautions due to bears (cooking away and downwind from camp, etc). Bears are obviously a bigger concern after big game kills, and the logistics of dealing with meat are more complex when flown in. This kind of trip might be something on my list for the future too, so was pretty curious. Great thread.

 

[MDHunter]

Appreciate the insight, thanks! I've had a couple of extended backcountry trips in Alaska during the summer period (last was nearly 20 years ago), and there were always precautions due to bears (cooking away and downwind from camp, etc). Bears are obviously a bigger concern after big game kills, and the logistics of dealing with meat are more complex when flown in. This kind of trip might be something on my list for the future too, so was pretty curious. Great thread.

Yea, about 2-3 years back hunters had some trouble with a persistent grizzly on the very ridge we camped on. A grizzly did carry off the carcass of Jason's caribou kill, but we never saw it - I'm sure it knew we were around, and took care not to let us see it.

We cook mostly Mountain House for dinner, so not too much food orders, altho we do have bacon and eggs 2-3 times during a hunt, and bears can smell that miles away.

Did you carry a firearm on your remote AK trips, or bear spray? You're a better man than me if you go out there with just some pepper spray.

 

[fidelity]

The trips weren't remote (so no flying by bush plane once in Alaska). One was backcountry camping in Denali park for a week where the bears are managed - they even have these folks called "bear technicians" which condition the over curious bears to fear humans. We only had spray (3 of us total). On another, a friend and I sea kayaked up the interior passage (starting near Juneau) camping on islands (known to have bear) along the way. Spectacular views. Only had bear spray - and in retrospect - a firearm would have been a good addition (e.g. at least a 12-gauge with slugs). In both trips, a lot of planning and mental play went into how to minimize the chance of bear encounters in setting up campsites, cook sites, food storage, etc.

Have also spent separate touristy time up there driving from Anchorage to explore Kenai and other places. Was a quick flight from Seattle, where I lived in the early 1990s, and great place to vacation in summer given the extremely lengthy days. Lots of mosquitoes though - puts Wisconsin and Minnesota to shame (where people joke that skeeters are the state bird - I grew up in Wisconsin).

 

[remrug]

I traded a guy at work some deer bologna for some caribou steaks he had.Even though I had to wash off leaves,blood and hair off the meat,it was some of the best meat I ever tasted.

 

[DC-W]

Stunning photos. Thank you very much for sharing.


That's living.

 

[BigSteve57]

Awesome! Just awesome. I'll do this some day.
Thanks for a great post.