| Hi,
Thank you very much for the details of your success!
I find it very interesting and useful to know about the type of
shot, caliber, bullet performance and effect etc.
What did the guides you were in contact carry and for what
purposes? I'm referring to firearms, knives, clothing, assorted gear -
whatever you may have noticed or found interesting.
Thanks Again,
Steve
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| Steve,
> What did the guides you were in contact carry and for what
> purposes? I'm referring to firearms, knives, clothing, assorted gear -
> whatever you may have noticed or found interesting.
No guides. We did a fly-in trophy drop camp with Ketchum Air out of Anchorage.
We were dropped off on a Friday and scheduled to be picked up the next Friday; a
meat check was scheduled for Tuesday - I got my Caribou Sunday morning and my
buddy got his Monday evening. So when they came in on Tuesday were ready to
go out.
We carried pack frames when hunting so a deboned Caribou is an easy two trip
proposition or a heavy 1 tripper. My buddy's caribou was a 1 tripper (only
about 250# on the hoof.)
We both used 270's and carried 44 magnums for close in protection. My buddy
used a Russel knife and I used my Buck knife.
Took 2 of everything (tents, lanterns, coleman 1 burner stoves, 2 gallons of
fuel) - just in case one breaks or a bear comes to visit. Ended up storing
gear/rifles in 1 tent and sleeping in the other. Both tents were 3 season
geodome - resealed (H2O) for this trip.
Store all food in dry bags away from your camping area. We took in freeze dried
food and found it quite palatable.
Pee around your camp area liberally - mark your territory for the bears.
Take muslin game bags to protect meat from flies and a few tarps to protect the
meat from the rain/sun. Rains about 1/4 the time and otherwise it is overcast.
14 hours of day light at this time of the years. Gets dark around 11:30 pm and
is light enough to hunt at about 6:20 am.
Cloths for the hunt:
Take 3 full changes of cloths.
Gortex hunting jackets with a polar fleece pull-over wear under the
jacket on cold days.
Polar fleece hunting pants - dry much faster than wool and they are much
lighter.
Mosquito/Fly headnets - a must.
Stocking foot waders and pair of hiking boots.
You are allowed 125#/person going in. We made the weight limit with a lot to
spare.
Allowed 6 bags of 70 or less under the plane going up to Anchorage. We had five
including the rifle case. Carried on pack frames. Coming back we had 6 (5
original and the horns strapped to the pack frames) plus 5 boxes of meat (4
caribou and 1 box of halibut). All boxes of meat stayed frozen on the way
back (14 hours dues to plane problems).
Leave yourself 5 days on the end of your stay to have your meat processed: We
checked around and ended up using Indian Valley Meats. Very satisfied
with their processing and they will work with you/unlike some of the other
places in Anchorage. Take a couple of days and go down to Seward and go
halibut fishing. Can recommend Salt H2O Safaris - limited both days.
Good bed and breakfast to stay at while in Anchorage is Arctic Pines.
Stay at the Barrett Best Western your last night there - they cater to hunters.
They have a huge walk-in freezer to store your meat in. Also, they have a
shuttle to the airport. It is located about 1 mile from airport.
You cannot catch a Caribou walking away from you. They feed @ 5 mph. Blue,
salmon, raspberries were in full fruit when we were up there. Cannot take a
step on the tundra without stepping on blueberry - bears were gorging on these.
Blood sucking flies were worse than the mosquitoes in the area we were in. No
flies/mosquitoes in Anchorage, Kenai or Seward to speak of; just in the bush.
Like I said above, we hunted on the tundra. The only trees up where we were
are stunted spruce and alder.
Hope this helps.
Mark
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| That Sounds Great Mark!
Always wondered why people "need" guides. I'm sure that guides are
very helpful and at times maybe necessary. Must be a symptom of the
mindset we see here at DEC, high tech seems to have made people feel
inadequate for many common tasks these days, like buying houses, riding
motorcycles, driving cars, walking down the street etc. The only way
to really learn how to do something is to pay a professional alot of
money to hold your hand for a while. It's good for the guides though
as there has never been more demand for professionally guided hunts as
there is right now. Demand outpaces supply two to one.
Are the stocks of your 270's wood? Seems like you encountered the
notorious Alaskan full time dampness that I've read so much about that
is said to spell trouble for blued guns and wood stocks. How did your
rifles hold up to it? Did your scopes stay clear?
Did the prospect of an after hours grizzly visit keep you awake at
all the first night? I imagine that I may have lost a few hours sleep
thinking about it.
How did you check your game with the authorities? Living in NE you
would think that it would be impossible to legally clear your kill
unless you dragged it out with a skidder and deposited the whole beast
on someones door step to record and tag.
I hope you don't mind me pounding you with questions. It's great
to hear things first hand like this. I don't know why but reading a
magazine is not the same.
Thanks again,
Steve
|
| Dan,
> How long were you in Alaska?
13 days including flight from and to Colo. Spgs.
Spent 4 of scheduled 7 days in the field. Flew in on a Friday, set up camp and
did some scouting. Hunted Saturday and passed on a couple of bulls. Got mine
10:30 Sunday morning and spent the rest of the day packing it out and getting
it bagged and hung up. Hunted Monday morning with my buddy and didn't see a
caribou where we were hunting. Spent some time glassing a hill about 2.5 miles
away and picked out 3 different bulls.
Hiked over after lunch and my buddy had his on the ground by 4:00 - within 200
yards of 4 grizzly bears (3 * 1 1/2 year old cubs @ ~ 500 lbs. each and a huge
sow that probably went 1100 lbs.) Backed off of kill after seeing that they
were working their way down toward us. My buddy fired a few shot off to try and
scare them away. They just ran down the hill into a bunch alders about 100
yards from the downed caribou. After 20 minutes he asked me to cover him while
he went and gutted the caribou. After he was finished I helped him drag it
another 100 yds. to an open area so we could debone it and see any approaching
bears easily.
Tuesday morning I saw 6 nice bulls while sitting in camp eating breakfast
(within 1/2 mile).
Mid-hunt meat pickup was schedule for Tuesday and when he flew in we had packed
about 1/2 of our camp. We could have stayed in until Friday if we wanted.
(Would have meant that we would have only had time to get the meat cut and
frozen. As it stands now I have caribouburger, hot dogs, summer sausage,
steaks, roasts, and jerky. Caribou is undoubtedly the best wild, red meat I
have ever eaten. Have eaten deer, moose, elk, and antelope.)
> How was all this arranged? In advance? By?
Got the fever at the Denver International Sportman's Expo. Talked to a number
of flying services and guides. Called Division of Wildlife in Alaska and talked
to biologist in charge of the Mulchatna area (150,000 + animals). Also talked
with people who have done this trip before - got some pointers from them.
I arranged the flights (Delta and Ketchum), B&B's, Guide/boat for fishing, hotel
for last night, car for days needed, and had 2 or 3 meat processing places to
talk to the day before we went out on the hunt.
Started calling around about the date on the base note. Finalized everything
in late March/early April and flew into Anchorage on the 23rd of August.
> What were the circumstances of the hunt? Did you stalk, still hunt or
> what?
I spotted a group of 7 bachelor bulls and knew that they were heading for
saddle I had scouted/hunted earlier. Got there before them and just let them
walk up to me. My buddy stalked his.
> The way you describe the Tundra it sounds pretty open and easy for
> all to see who's who and avoid each other?
When I say tundra, I mean like alpine tundra - still have mountains, valleys and
draws. All low areas have alder bushes growing in them. Caribou avoid alder
except when bedding down. You could come over a hill and have a caribou or a
grizzly standing in front of you. I stayed away from the alder as much a
possible to avoid running into Mr. Bear.
Steve,
> Always wondered why people "need" guides. I'm sure that guides are
> very helpful and at times maybe necessary. Must be a symptom of the
> mindset we see here at DEC, high tech seems to have made people feel
> inadequate for many common tasks these days, like buying houses, riding
> motorcycles, driving cars, walking down the street etc. The only way
> to really learn how to do something is to pay a professional alot of
> money to hold your hand for a while. It's good for the guides though
> as there has never been more demand for professionally guided hunts as
> there is right now. Demand outpaces supply two to one.
Ketchum will fly you into an area where the caribou are. We could have shot
bull caribou from camp (literally) on 3 separate occasions. One would really
have to try very hard not to get a caribou. A nice bull is easily attainable
for just about everyone. Bring your binoculars for looking over the animals.
> Are the stocks of your 270's wood? Seems like you encountered the
> notorious Alaskan full time dampness that I've read so much about that
> is said to spell trouble for blued guns and wood stocks. How did your
> rifles hold up to it? Did your scopes stay clear?
Yes, they are wood. I floated my barrel 10 or so years ago and I resealed the
bed for this trip. Gun shot right were I aimed. In the evening we would put
our rifles in the other tent and fire up a lantern in the vestibule to dry out
our clothes, rifles, and any thing else that needed to be dried. Kept it
well oiled also. Had scope covers for the scopes and a balloon to place over
the barrel opening.
My 44 magnum is stainless steel (Colt Anaconda) so I didn't worry about it much
plus it was usually covered by my gortex coat.
> Did the prospect of an after hours grizzly visit keep you awake at
> all the first night? I imagine that I may have lost a few hours sleep
> thinking about it.
Not really. Slept lightly the first couple of nights with 44 right by my head.
Tuesday morning I woke up and found bear droppings about 10 yds. from our tent.
But since we had no food in our camping area ...
We would soak and wash out all blood stained clothes before bringing them into
camp.
I have heard stories about camps having problems with bears but, it is usually
the meat the bears are after - not the people. As long as you are smart about
what you keep in/around camp you should have no problems. Your meat should be
stored/hung 100 yds. or so from camp.
> How did you check your game with the authorities? Living in NE you
> would think that it would be impossible to legally clear your kill
> unless you dragged it out with a skidder and deposited the whole beast
> on someones door step to record and tag.
If they don't seek you out you don't have to worry. No evidence of sex is
required. You must invalidate you tag by attaching it to the antler or a meat
bag.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Thanks,
Mark
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