Alaska Caribou Hunt

[Stripa Swipa]

This one might take me a while but I know a few of you out there like adventure hunts like I do and this story might help make Alaska a reality for you. I think reading Norman Swarzkopf's book in college is what really lit the Alaska fire for me. He talked about his Alaska backcountry jaunts with an endearment that was hard not to notice from a guy that had seen the kind of adventure and places that he had as our top soldier. Over the last several years, I've gotten to know some folks that have done enough of these hunts to help me connect the dots for my own trip on my own terms. I definitely value experiences that can't be bought and when your pilot is flying off after dropping you and your gear into our last frontier, you definitely feel a sense of freedom that is hard to capture back home.

[Chuck the Duck Slayer]

Can't wait to read this.

[britton40]

Jealous

[cut em']

Bring on the stories


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[GobblerHntr]

Hell to the Mother Effing YES!!!!!!

[MC]

Let's get something straight here right off the bat. Posting up 1-2 pictures and 1-2 paragraphs every day or so isn't going to be tolerated nearly as well as it was on that elk hunt!

Just kidding, look forward to checking back frequently.

[Phone Man]

One day ill make that alaska hunt

[cshelleyc]

That sounds like a good read...

I went to Kenia two summers ago for the salmon run... I fell in love myself. Fished for halibut out of Homer. I hope to spend A LOT more time there one day. My friend has a cabin up there, and it stays empty all winter.

It's a different land up there, and the people are different to. Not so worried about their possessions and more worried about living.

[Stripa Swipa]

It's gonna have to be like that MC. Sorry, brother.

I think the biggest "issues" I had to deal with in the planning phases were
1. What do I want to hunt?
2. How do I pick a location?
3. Figuring out the logistics.
4. Grizz management.

I figured everything else was pretty much similar to my western elk and mule deer hunts.

1: As a non guided resident you can't hunt sheep and grizz. I would love to hunt sheep but the financial reality of that puts it out of my league for now. I could have opted for moose and I'd say a big moose is way up there on my list but I felt like that might be biting off more than I should try to chew on my first AK solo trip. Since I've butchered and packed a bull elk, I'm not naive about what's required beyond just getting one on the ground. I also wanted to have a good chance to be in animals. I usually do hunts where the odds aren't in may favor but I DO love the hunt. Caribou are tasty, have nice head gear and occupy places that you'd have no other reason to go to unless you were Santa Claus.

2. I did some basic interweb research on the "herds" in AK and knew a few folks that had hunted different areas. The 40 mile herd is popular but something about the Arctic and the North Slope of the Brooks Range has had my attention for years. A few friends and acquaintances have sheep hunted the Brooks and it just always sounded uniquely majestic. I finally started checking out some of the guys that fly hunters on the slope and finally found Jeff Kruse. A few things about Jeff that had me at hello. He was originally from Georgia, had been a duck guide in Arkansas and he hunted with traditional bows. It was comforting knowing this guy could relate to me and he was eager to answer all of my questions and do what he could to help me have the hunt that I was after.

3. Logistics in Alaska are intimidating to say the least. Very few roads exist. You've got to book flights with guys that want to be paid in cash and sound drunk on the phone when they tell you "I gotcha down" when you've called to "reserve" your flight. When I originally booked my hunt, or drop flights, with Jeff, he gave me the name of a guy that I would need to book a flight with from Prudhoe Bay to the camp he would be flying out of in Kavik River. That guy died in a plane crash in December just a year ago. That was a nice reminder of what I was really getting myself into.

4. I'm not particularly afraid of brown bears but trying to get a consensus on bear protection and management is close to impossible. I was leaning hard towards bear spray given everything I'd read but ultimately, you can't fly with a can and my last commercial stop would be Deadhorse. I realized there would not be place to purchase bear spray in Deadhorse so a weapon would have to suffice. Carrying a sidearm while you are bowhunting feels odd but I decided on a Glock 40 with 200 grain buffalo bore bullets. Got a little help from a Rabbit sheriff that use to go by quatro asterisk around here.

[Stripa Swipa]

4. continued....
Another pretty cool deal for bears is a packable electric fence that only weighs a few pounds. The plan was to put it around my tent for piece of mind and then if necessary, put it around a meat cache to keep from losing meat to bears. Google udap bear fence if you want to check it out.

[huntinghagen#12]

It's an awesome state, I didn't get to explore it near as much as I wanted too.

Looking forward to hearing about your time out there.

[LabLuvR]

Are you staying with that woman on the Alaska show who has a place in Kavik? I'm jealous as well.

[MC]

Thanks for taking the time to tell a good story the right way!

[Catdaddy]

4. continued....
Another pretty cool deal for bears is a packable electric fence that only weighs a few pounds. The plan was to put it around my tent for piece of mind and then if necessary, put it around a meat cache to keep from losing meat to bears. Google udap bear fence if you want to check it out.

How big of fence did it take to secure the rice from the bears?

[MC]

That's a good question Cat. A better question would be if the mysterious Rabbit Sheriff told him to file the front site off that Glock before he loaded it with Buffalo Bore. This would clearly define the quality of that friendship!

[nitro5x6's]

Small world. Me and Jeff Kruse go back a lot of years. He is an awesome guy.

Hope you thump a damn monster 'Bou!!!!

[mdb2]

Can't wait for the rest of this. I'm hooked on all things Alaska. I watch every stupid Alaska show I can find.

[Palmetto Pride]

SS-
What are the DOL laws on bears for non residents? Our mutual friend had an encounter that I re-tell often for both its dramatic affect and the reminder of how dangerous a hunt can be. He was with a guide though.

[lil 2 sleepy]

I'm very interest in following your story.. It's on the top 10 of my bucket list.

[Burney Mac]

That's a good question Cat. A better question would be if the mysterious Rabbit Sheriff told him to file the front site off that Glock before he loaded it with Buffalo Bore. This would clearly define the quality of that friendship!