My Last Remote Alaska Hunt

[MDHunter]

Wow. Cool story and pictures. Do you harvest all the meat and take it home?

Good idea taking the kevlar vest off the caribou before taking pic!

I have 2 sisters and lots of family in Anchorage...we dropped off about 350 pounds of meat and soup bones at my oldest sister's house. Within 2 days it had been cut up and divided among 7 different families, so I opted to leave it all with them this time, and didn't bring any home.

You lost me on the kevlar vest comment, could be I'm just slow today lol.

 

[mauser58]

Thanks for sharing your story and the pics. Congrats on a successful hunt also.

 

[Antarctica]

Great write up. Dream hunt for me. You are lucky to have had a hunting partner to plan and do things like this. When I've tried to get buddies to do this sort of thing, I always get some stupid response like "I'll just stay here and eat cow". At this point my life is in such a state of flux that its not likely to ever happen.

 

[rgramjet]

I'd love to hear about your first remote Alaska hunt. How old were you and who took you the first time.

A bucket list item for sure.

 

[MDHunter]

Great write up. Dream hunt for me. You are lucky to have had a hunting partner to plan and do things like this. When I've tried to get buddies to do this sort of thing, I always get some stupid response like "I'll just stay here and eat cow". At this point my life is in such a state of flux that its not likely to ever happen.

On several of my remote Alaska hunts, I went with guys that I found on various hunting forums (Rokslide, Hunttalk, Alaska Outdoors Directory). I would post a thread in October saying I am looking for a hunting partner for a remote Alaska hunt the following September. I would typically get 10 - 20 expressions of interest; when I would respond to them stating that the hunt would require about 12 days of time and cost 7 to 10 grand, that would separate the pretenders from the serious candidates pretty quickly. Then I would select a partner based on responses to a bunch of questions. I have been fortunate to have chosen great partners for each hunt.

 

[MDHunter]

I'd love to hear about your first remote Alaska hunt. How old were you and who took you the first time.

A bucket list item for sure.

I was 4 years old the first time, and my Dad took me for a week long hunt on the Denali Highway. My Mom stayed up each night thinking I might get homesick and want to come home to Anchorage. The only way my Dad talked me into going home 1 day early, was informing me that we were out of strawberry jam! So I said I guess since he had shot 3 caribou, and we were out of jam, we could go home on Saturday instead of Sunday lol.

 

[Derwood]

THANK YOU so much for sharing your hunt story this year and in year's past. I dream of taking my sons on a hunt like this once they are old enough. In fact, I'm hoping to do a couple "practice" hunts like this starting in 2026 or 2027 to prepare for when they're old enough, which will be around 2031 or so.

From your comment about finding hunting partners, it sounds like the cost approaches 10k all in not counting gear and airfare to Anchorage. Is that about right? Is there anything you do now that you wish you'd known to do 20 years ago when you first started doing these? Did you go with a guide or other experienced person your first few times? Have you ever sent meat home to Maryland? Thanks again for sharing!

 

[MDHunter]

THANK YOU so much for sharing your hunt story this year and in year's past. I dream of taking my sons on a hunt like this once they are old enough. In fact, I'm hoping to do a couple "practice" hunts like this starting in 2026 or 2027 to prepare for when they're old enough, which will be around 2031 or so.

From your comment about finding hunting partners, it sounds like the cost approaches 10k all in not counting gear and airfare to Anchorage. Is that about right? Is there anything you do now that you wish you'd known to do 20 years ago when you first started doing these? Did you go with a guide or other experienced person your first few times? Have you ever sent meat home to Maryland? Thanks again for sharing!

Per person, this recent hunt cost about $10k all in including airfare/gear to Anchorage, as well as hotel rooms in Anchorage and Tok before/after the hunt. I did go with a guide the first couple of times in the early 2000's, as I had a grizzly tag and was required by law to have a guide to hunt griz. As soon as I figured out that I was much more concerned with getting meat for my family in Alaska than I was in shooting a grizzly, I started going the do-it-yourself route and searched for hunt partners on the forums I mentioned.

Over the years, I continually refined my approach to include less extra clothes and more extra food; less stuff that seemed like a good idea, but wasn't used in reality; and focused on having quality gear where it mattered most (tents/backpacks/sleeping bags). I did bring some meat home a couple of times, but most years there were so may relatives who wanted some in Anchorage that I left it all up there.

In my mind the biggest decision people need to make when doing this kind of hunt is deciding what's most important to them about the experience. There are a lot of non-resident caribou hunters who fly out of Kotzebue, and many are successful in tagging out. But many of these are flown out and dropped within sight of other hunters/camps. When I fly to Alaska, the only people I want to see in the wilderness are my hunt partner and the pilots who fly us into the bush. Both types of hunts are available, up to each hunter to decide what's most important to them.

Drop me a private message as you start to look into this, would be happy to help share any info I can that might help you.