Can't wait for the rest of this. I'm hooked on all things Alaska. I watch every stupid Alaska show I can find.
Can't wait for the rest of this. I'm hooked on all things Alaska. I watch every stupid Alaska show I can find.
I'm very interest in following your story.. It's on the top 10 of my bucket list.
This is gonna be the highlight of my week, I can guarantee it. Can't wait to read on.
Thanks
"This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." John 15:12
"Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord." Hebrews 12:14
Awesome read Swipa. Looking forward to more....
Warning: The Surgeon General has determined that turkey hunting is an addictive activity that will disrupt normal sleep patterns!
Define solo hunt. You just referring to non-guided or you went all by your lonesome?
“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.”
-Samuel Adams
alone
I'll try to get some installments up today and tomorrow. Headed to Miami for Orange Bowl Wed so not sure what I can do later this week. There will be some good hunt stories in here but I want to get the details out that will help any of you do a similar hunt if you choose. This stuff is very much in reach for anyone that wants to do it.
"hunting should be a challenge and a passion not a way of making a living or a road to fame"
Rubberhead
“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.”
-Samuel Adams
I applaud and envy your sense of adventure. I don't think I have either the skills or the stones. I have planned several DIY turkey hunts in different states out west, and it is a very difficult thing to do. I can't even imagine it in days before the Internet.
The hardest thing for me to always try to prepare for and what I spend the most time on is the actual physical visual conditions I will encounter when I see the place for the first time. I think knowing exactly what the landscape will look like and being able to accurately visualize it before you are actually there gives me such a sense of confidence.
And that's hunting a dumb ass turkey. I can't imagine what it would be like with the stakes higher. Good on you for being willing to put yourself in these situations and be successful in not just surviving, but successfully harvesting animals.
I can't wait to read about this adventure.
Them that don't know him won't like him, and them that do sometimes won't know how to take him
He ain't wrong, he's just different, and his pride won't let him do things to make you think he's right
They don't put Championship rings on smooth hands
This is great. I plan on getting up there one day. My wife has a good friend that just moved up there with his wife for work. They have invited us but we haven't made the trip yet. I can't wait to read this story.
The unforgivable crime is soft hitting. Do not hit at all if it can be avoided; but never hit softly.
Theodore Roosevelt
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
― Theodore Roosevelt
Stripa, smart call on not soloing a moose hunt lol. One Elk pack out alone will damn near make a man not want to kill another animal over about 50 pounds ever again.
Now if one could set up camp at the kill site thats another story and the stuff dreams are made of..
Keep telling.
Genesis 9;2
No doubt the internet and satellite technology are two modern realities that make this kind of trip possible for someone that lives behind a desk on the east coast.
More gear thoughts:
Footwear is actually an issue that can be uniquely challenging in Alaska and I should have listed it as #5. Heading to the base of the Brooks Range raised the possibility of being dropped high in the hills and needing mountain climber footwear or being dropped out in the “swamps” which would require slogging through standing water, crossing streams etc. Jeff told me that the location of the caribou at drop time would dictate the terrain I’d be hunting and his recommendation was to bring good hunting boots and some Lacrosse hip waders. Well, I’ve spent time in rubber hip waders and I hate them. Like bear protection….there’s no consensus to be found on this issue either, but lots of preferences to sort through. I wanted to get some of the Cabela’s hib boots that are lace ups with roll down light weight hippers. They have been discontinued and I never found any on ebay like sites. I finally decided on my regular mountain hikers, gaiters, packable stocking foot waders and neoprene flats boats. That decision wound up being put to the test in a very real way.
"hunting should be a challenge and a passion not a way of making a living or a road to fame"
Rubberhead
This feels like watching a good show and getting left at a cliff hangar each episode. Going to wait until the whole season is finished and watch in one sitting.
Last edited by everlast; 12-28-2015 at 12:29 PM.
“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.”
-Samuel Adams
Yeah….this is going to be a piecemeal deal, unfortunately.
I’ll jump into the hunt a little and we can touch on some more equipment details later. I booked the dates with Jeff on the early end of things for a few reasons. I knew that the later you go to the Arctic, the crazier the weather could be. I also wanted to get back home by the time school starts for personal reasons. The challenges with going early are the bugs can be unreal and meat care can be more challenging. Jeff lives in Fairbanks but flies the North Slope in Aug mostly dropping sheep hunters into the Brooks. He has caribou hunters too, but probably a 2 to 1 sheep to caribou hunter ratio on the slope. In September, he flies hunters out of Atigun Pass to areas on the South Slope of the Brooks….both for caribou and moose. At the time I chose the Aug hunt for the reasons I just mentioned.
I flew to Anchorage on Aug 7th and then to Fairbanks and Deadhorse on Sat the 8th. Since Jeff was staged in Kavik River, I had to find a charter flight to get there. Like I mentioned earlier, the guy that Jeff had used in the previous season for this crashed his plane in Montana the previous Dec and didn’t survive. There is a small air service out of Deadhorse called 70North that I booked a flight with to Kavik. They were the only game in town for getting around on the slope and boy did it feel like it….very backed up and charging everybody through the nose.
It took most of the afternoon to get out of Deadhorse and was about an hour flight to Kavik. Like Leghumper said, Kavik River Camp is owned by a lady that is now on some reality TV show. She had actually flipped a snow machine and broken some bones before I got there, so she was down in Fairbanks getting operated on while I was there. Can’t say that hurt my feelings any. The original plan was that I might have to spend a night at Kavik River before Jeff would fly me out for a drop or maybe I’d get to go same day. Said we’d just have to see how things were going when I got there. The two hunters on my flight to Kavik were a father and son. The son was stationed in Fairbanks and since active military get resident hunting privileges, he and his Dad were hunting sheep for the cost of the bush flight.
Some pics from Deadhorse and flying out of Prudhoe Bay to Kavik River.
"hunting should be a challenge and a passion not a way of making a living or a road to fame"
Rubberhead
I wasn't necessarily hell bent on being alone but I am quite happy that way. When I decided I was doing this hunt, I made sure I was planning something that I was comfortable tackling solo and that's just how things shook out. This is a great hunt for 2 to or 3 guys, though.
"hunting should be a challenge and a passion not a way of making a living or a road to fame"
Rubberhead
When I met Jeff, I also noticed several other hunters looking pretty impatient as we got off the plane. Jeff said the weather had kept the flying backed up and now he had hunters that were out past their pick up dates. Some by several days that were running out of food and losing meat to bears. I felt kind of silly when I asked if I should pitch my tent since it sounded like I wouldn't be getting out this evening...but I did ask. I pitched my tent and got settled in. Ice started accumulating on it pretty quickly and I started to wonder if Murphy had made the trip, too.
Last edited by Stripa Swipa; 12-28-2015 at 08:24 PM.
"hunting should be a challenge and a passion not a way of making a living or a road to fame"
Rubberhead
This is Kavik River Camp from the ground. Jeff's got a Super Cub and a Beaver. The Beaver in the pic might be on skis, floats, or tundra tires depending on whatever. Jeff would often shuttle 3 to 4 hunters out to a river bottom, then fly back, get the Super Cub and shuttle the hunters one by one into the mountains dropping them on mountain tops.
"hunting should be a challenge and a passion not a way of making a living or a road to fame"
Rubberhead
Just straight up awesome.... Looking forward to seeing this primitive archery story unfold!
\"I never saw a wild thing feel sorry for itself. A small bird will drop dead frozen from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.\" <br />D.H. LAWRENCE
Jeff got some trips in the cub early on Sunday. He picked up a few hunters and some meat and horns on another trip. He told me to be ready and late that afternoon he told me he wanted to try and get me out and pick up another hunter on the way in. This guy's brother was already back in camp and they were already out of food. Jeff gave this guy a candy bar or sandwich or something when he'd picked up his brother. Well, we flew for about 10 minutes and met a fog bank and had to turn around and head back to Kavik River. The weather forecast predicted more of the bad stuff and things were starting to look bleak. I was anxious to get out there but realized other folk's safety was rightfully becoming a higher priority.
The next couple of days was really the same story. I passed the time glassing the surrounding area. Say grizz, wolf and caribou while glassing across the Kavik River when visibility was decent enough.
"hunting should be a challenge and a passion not a way of making a living or a road to fame"
Rubberhead
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