drh%sequent.uucp@RELAY.CS.NET (Dennis Halicki) (04/03/91)
I am starting to plan my Alaska hunt for 1992. I'll be hunting mainly for dall sheep and moose and possibly bears and goats if I can afford it. This is going to be a spendy trip, since a non resident must hire a guide to hunt sheep, bears and goats. I don't feel I need a guide, but the state obviously thinks I do. I killed a nice caribou last summer in Alaska, so I kind of know what to expect up there. I did this hunt without a guide. I plan on self guided moose hunt, but I'll hire a guide for the other hunts. I have a few questions for anyone who has hunted in Alaska: Where is the best hunting for these critters? Any recommendations for a good guide? Do inexpensive guides exist? Any ideas for saving money? Is a 25-06 sufficient for sheep and goats? (I have a 300 weatherby magnum for bear and moose) Thanks for your help! Dennis Halicki Sequent Computer Systems, Inc. Phone (503) 578-4182 Internet: drh@sequent.com UUCP: ...!sequent!drh
fsadl@acad3.alaska.edu (LOOMIS ANDREW D) (04/04/91)
In article <471@erb1.engr.wisc.edu>, drh%sequent.uucp@RELAY.CS.NET (Dennis Halicki) writes... > >I am starting to plan my Alaska hunt for 1992. I'll be hunting mainly >for dall sheep and moose and possibly bears and goats if I can afford it. >This is going to be a spendy trip, since a non resident must hire a guide >to hunt sheep, bears and goats. I don't feel I need a guide, but the state >obviously thinks I do. I killed a nice caribou last summer in Alaska, so >I kind of know what to expect up there. I did this hunt without a guide. I >plan on self guided moose hunt, but I'll hire a guide for the other hunts. > >I have a few questions for anyone who has hunted in Alaska: > >Where is the best hunting for these critters? For bears just about anywhere in the interior, for sheep and goats, in the mountains more than 10 miles from roads or rivers, the brooks range should be good, at least for sheep. > >Any recommendations for a good guide? I will spare you my opinions about Alaska's regulations concerning guides, except to say that the fish and game regs are written to benefit the guides. > >Do inexpensive guides exist? Probably, but you get what you pay for. > >Any ideas for saving money? Be a state resident or military stationed here. > >Is a 25-06 sufficient for sheep and goats? I would think so, a .22 is good for hseep or goat if you can get close enough. >(I have a 300 weatherby magnum for bear and moose) > >Thanks for your help! >Dennis Halicki Andrew Loomis Bitnet: FSADL@ALASKA Internet: FSADL@ACAD3.ALASKA.EDU Never have so many owed so much to so few. -Winston Churchill He must have been thinking of our liquor bills. -An unidentified RAF pilot
drh@sequent.com (Dennis Halicki) (04/17/91)
I received the following request after I posted an article: > To: drh@sequent.sequent.com > Subject: rec.hunting posting > Date: Tue, 09 Apr 91 12:53:16 MDT > > > Can you post any information about your self-guided caribou hunting > trip to Alaska ? I'd like to do something similar, and could use the > information. I'm sure others would also be interested in the details/story. > > -Darrell Johnsrud Five of us participated on this hunt. My good friend Paul and I are both from Portland, Or. Paul's dad, his brother, and another friend >from Boston also went. We were trying to save as much money as possible, so we did not hire a guide. Additionally we did not hire an outfitter to provide us with camping equipment. We brought our own with us. This was a hastle checking it in and out of airports, but it was well worth it. We had to keep the gear to a minimum, since you are restricted to 3 items each on the airplane, which could not weigh more than 70 pounds each. The meat, cape, and antlers all flew back via air cargo. We even had to bring our own food from Portland and Boston. There is no store in Illiamna where we were headed. We brought fairly heavy food items, like baggels, cheese, ham, etc. that would keep for a week without refrigeration. Be sure that a couple of your baggage items are back packs which can later be used to haul the meat back to the lake where the float plan will pick you up. There are also limitations on how much a float plane can carry. Be sure to ask the people you use what their weight restrictions are. This was a limiting factor on how much gear you can bring. Remember also that on the flight home you will have about 150 pounds of caribou. I shot a big bodied one that was 150 pounds of boned out meat, plus around 30 pounds of antlers and cape. We all flew to Anchorage and met at the hotel. From Anchorage, we flew via ERA aviation to Illiamna. From there we hired a float plane service to fly us out to the middle of nowhere, and pick us up 6 days later. Where we went may or may not be important, since I have heard that there are many great caribou hunting grounds in Alaska. I would pick a location that sounds appealing to you. Our trip was the 3rd week of September. The Caribou rub their velvet around the first of September, so we wanted to get them after they rubbed while they were rutting. As soon as we were dropped off a big storm hit. for the next day and a half we couldn't hunt, because of 80 or 90 MPH wind gusts. There is no way to shoot in this kind of wind, but we did see a lot of caribou. A couple of our tents blew down and broke the poles apart. It was a good thing I had a method for fixing my poles. When the weather cleared, it was fairly reasonable, partly to mostly sunny, occasional wind and rain. The caribou were everywhere. We saw hundreds of them every day. With this many caribou, I would be careful not to shoot the first one you see. I spent the first couple of days judging trophies, then shot the best one I saw. Bring a flat shooting rifle, since long shots were the rule. A bow hunter does have a chance of getting close out here. I got to withing 30 yards of a couple herds, but no big bulls were in those herds. It is real marshy in spots, so bring hip waders, or at least knee high boots. We all 5 shot nice caribou. We spent a lot of time boning out the meat and hauling it back to the lake, so don't wait till the last day to shoot. All in all this was a great hunt. I'll do it again some day. It's not that challenging to get a caribou, but getting a big one is the real challenge. The total cost was just under $2,000 each, so it's a much cheaper way to hunt Alaska. I think that guide services charge $3,000, then add about $1,500 more for tags, air fare, etc. Note also that you could hunt moose and other species this same way. Have fun, Dennis Halicki Sequent Computer Systems Inc. Beaverton, OR Internet: drh@sequent.com UUCP: ...!sequent!drh