? about Alaska hunting

Lonnie

Lonnie

New member
My dream hunt is to go to Alaska and my wife told me last night that she wanted to give me a trip there for my 50th birthday, which is about a year from now but she says I can go this fall or next. I am thinking a moose hunt or caribou. Any advice from you Alaskans or guys/gals who have been up there would be appreciated. Anything from advice on outfitters to your opinions on where, when, etc. Thanks for any help. Lonnie
 
Man if you do some research you can easily cut your costs and do it yourself without the big payout for a guide! I'll pm you some good info...
 
I checked the website and Shockey is more expensive than this auto mechanic can afford. He starts at $14,500. I know a caribou hunt may be the cheapest way and may be all I can afford but wanted to see what experiences you all had. I'm thinking my budget is going to be around $5,000.
 
Talk to Mason Jarr here on PM he went last year and got a goat. He's also is going this year I think. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif GENE'O
 
hey i lived up there for 4 yrs. a doit yourself hunt is only recommended is u have someone such as my self go with u. FYI for a non res, certain game require a certified guide. 1st time AK hunt I would recommend a caribou drop off hunt, to the western arctic herd. U need to book now. Go on a drop off hunt. get a non res wolf tag also. Cost will ball park like this, 1500-2000$ for the drop off, some of these guys will outfit gear for u. It will cost 500-600 to get to AK. then taxidermy and transpo and hotels after the hunt. THere is a good outfit out of kotzebue Hit the western arctic herd, dont let someone talk u in to hunting a different herd in AK such as the mulchatna, i made that mistake. THe western arctic is the largest and growing. u will NOT come home empty handed. u willsee grizzly bears and different things. Black bear is also doable. opportune time is august or late JUly. SEP can be but weather starts getting squirrly. Once u been there u can upgrade next time. If u hunt dalls or griz or moose u can tack on another 5Gs easily for teh guide. I would do a drop hunt with a buddy the 1st time. if u want more info let me know.-tj
 
I lived in Alaska from 89-94. I fished more than hunted. Many times I used an air taxi from Merrill field in Anchorage. I would ask them where the fish were and they would fly me to them. The price was $150.00 round trip, a trip from a fishing charter was double the price. I would try to contact some airfields and ask current taxi prices.Look at Alaska fish and game web site, they have some good information. good luck with your hunt Q
 
Lonnie,
Be careful. Once you go to Alaska no place else can compare and you'll always want to go back. Here's some links that I think will be helpful:

forums.outdoorsdirectory.com (Find the Alaska hunting forum and look for a guy on there named Michael Strahan. He offers a trip planning service including equipment rentals for a reasonable fee)

pristineventures.com (Larry Bartlett's website and he also offers trip planning service and equipment rental)

northwestalaska.com (Guy's name is Walt. He concentrates on the area around Kotzebue, Alaska for caribou and moose. He offers planning service and equipment rental as well.)

I'd recommend you do some research with all three of these guys and I'm sure they can put you onto something within your budget. I don't know where these folks are coming up with airfares, but I'd like to know where you can fly to Alaska now for $400-600. I'm going to Kodiak in September and the fare from Idaho is more like $800-900. I would imagine it'll be even more for you to fly from OK to there...especially if you go to Kotzebue which is way out on the west coast of AK. Your air charter fees for a bush plane will run $250-400 an hour depending on what type of plane you use. I believe you can put together a good hunt within your budget though. Don't forget to factor in how much it'll cost to fly several hundred pounds of meat back to OK. Alaska has very strict laws on wanton waste. Some areas now require that the bones be left in the quarter so you can't bone out the meat until you're out of the field.
You've got a lot of research ahead of you and I honestly recommend you shoot for a hunt in 2009. Even though it's several months until September, you're probably already behind the power curve for planning a hunt for this year.
Let me know if you need anything else, but I think those three links I provided will be a great starting point.

Mike
 
Do you want to go guided or unguided? Thats the big question.

If you have some wilderness experience and good equipment, unguided can save you some serious dollars and be just as fun. Caribou would be my suggestion if you go unguided.

We hired an air service to fly us out and went unguided for caribou and everything went fine. It was lots of planning, but that was part of the fun. If you go unguided, do lots of research and back it up with references. I would also shoot for 2009 if your going unguided. We heard several horror stories talking with hunters who hired poor air service's that didn't hold up their end of the bargain. Get a good partner to share the pre-hunt research with and go for it.
 
I went twice on drop-camp (unguided) Caribou hunts when the Mulchatna herd was at its peak (it's severely depleted now). We saw 1000s of Caribou and shot some. We provided all of our own gear the first time -- rented tents, stove and lanterns the second time. At that time, the weight limit was 85 lbs per hunter (including rifle, gear and food). It took some planning. If you're a Type A person (like me) be prepared to be frustrated with the air carrier personnel. We used different ones both times - the first one was totally indifferent - the second one was a crook. We made the best of it and had good trips. Both times we hunted the third week of September. Our air carriers used Beaver and Otter float planes but if I was doing it today I'd use someone with Super Cubs and tundra tires which are much more flexible.

Good Luck!!
 
Good stuff Larry and sounds quite a bit like our caribou hunt, except our air service held up his end of the bargain for the most part. Like I said above though, we did hear horror stories from hunters using crooked air services. Ditto on the Super Cubs and tundra tires, I'd go that route if doing it again.
 
Thanks for all the help guys. Rogue Bow sent me some good info and I'll research some of the things you other guys have said also. I really appreciate all your help. I can't wait...Lonnie
 
The advise above is good. Yep 2009 probably would be better then this fall. Concentrate on one animal, either moose or caribou, and about where you want to go. This will atleast narrow it down a bit. A DIY or guided is your choice. But as mention a DIY is very doable with planning. If going after moose as the primary critter keep meat handling in mind especially on a DIY. A moose is big and once down the work begins. Keeping the meat cool especially if the weather is warm can be a problem if unplanned for. Anyway good luck.

I can't help you much with western AK as my area is eastern interior along the Yukon boarder. But we do have moose & bou around and combo hunts are possible.
 
we did a self guided hunt out of Kotzebou. Check out MAVRIKAIRE.COM , we did the whole hunt including air for under 3k. Start now and get in shape the tundra is hell. It is a great hunt. Good luck
 
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