Hunting Alaska:

" Contrary to popular belief, most of Alaska does not have game "!!! It has been called a " northern desert "

That may be hard to believe but that is what is being said. Perhaps some of our Alaskan residents may wish to elaborate.

The game that does exist is found in specific locations and if those areas are hunted, and hunted effectively, it can be very rewarding.

Caribou:

The best hunting is the Mulchatna herd numbering 225,000. ( Alaska has about 1 million caribou in 39 herds. The herd migrates from GMY 17 to GMU 9 *{game management unit}. For non-residents the bag limit has beeen raised to 2 bulls.

Black bear.

There are great numbers of black bear. Best hunting is is southeast Alaska. They can be hunted in spring and fall. Bear densities in specific areas are exremely high.

Sitka Blacktail Deer:

Abundant is some areas. Non-resident bag limit is 4 bucks in all areas except Kodiak where it is 3 bucks.

Moose:

Big bulls with large racks live in difficult to access and very demanding wilderness areas. Bush planes and float trips are necessary. Good moose hunting exists in many areas.

I believe I am correct in saying that non-residents do not require a guide for hunting big game except brown and grizzly bear, mountain sheep and goats.

Have our Alaskan hunters used Rusts Flying Service?

Alaska Department of Fish and Game
P.0. Box 25526
Juneau, Alaska 99802

907-465-4112

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Tyler R.T.

Yes, that is an accurate asessment, we have alot of game, but we also have a large state, so the game is spread out. We also don't have many roads, which is a good thing, as it limits development, but it also makes accessing the game more difficult and exspensive.

I live outside of Anchorage, and since I don't have a boat, plain, or 4 wheeler, my options are limited. Sitka blacktails only live on islands, so I'd either have to do a flyout, Kodiak ~$1k to get to the island, then fly to where the dear are. The other option are the islands in Prince William Sound, but again, no boat.

If I want to hunt caribou, I don't have enough years in to draw around Tok, so that means I have to drive the hallroad, 2 day trip each way, and bow only within 5 miles of the road (they don't want bubbas shooting holes in the pipeline).

Moose can be hunted most anywhere, but to get to the good ones requires a bit of travel. Unless one were to be lucky and pop one off the road, you're in a world of hurt trying to pack the meat out on your back.

Black bears don't recieve much hunting pressure, and are probably the best opportunity for the resident hunter that doesn't have specialized meens of transportation.

I haven't flown with Rusts, so no comments.

Tibbe, IMO the info you have is correct there are some exceptions but you have the general idea. I have heard Alaska described as biological desert and after 15 years of living and hunting here I can see why. I love it up here dont get me wrong. Most of the game is few and far between. there isnt much of a road system and it gets hunted hard. I havent been hunting as much as I should be and have been using work as an excuse. I hope to change that in the upcoming seasons. I think with a little effort a guy could get a black bear a moose and with some walking a dall sheep most every year. with a long drive and a bow caribou could be added to that list also. most any other game will require a drawing permit and or a flyin hunt with at least a week hunting. I may get to look at few bears but for the moose and sheep I would probably have to shoot the first legal one I saw. I have used rusts for a couple of fishing trips they are very professional. sometimes when looking for a flyout service you may not know what your getting into I have always heard rusts to be one of the better outfits. before flying out I think a guy needs to do a bit of research not just on the air service but also on the area. One of the problems I here about the most is not finding game and moving to another spot. Extra trips almost always get charged. the trip ends up costing a lot more than expected. I have heard about guys being successful and then needing extra trips to get the meat out.Its ruins the mood to come back to town and find out your trip costs doubled. I believe guides for brown grizz sheep and goats is correct.

Yeah, most of this state is pretty empty of game. Put down in the wrong drainage, or climb the wrong mountain, and you won't see any game, or at least not any legal game. And you're not likely to see anything legal to shoot near the road system, barring a stroke of luck. Too many unsuccessful moose and sheep hunts over the past 20 years up here have proved this to me.

The best caribou hunting is where there are
caribou. Caribou can travel many miles in a day, and just because they were at your drop-off lake yesterday doesn't mean they'll be there tomorrow, when you can legally hunt (can't hunt the same day airborne). Always budget for extra flights, in case the 'bou have moved on.

Big moose are taken every year from certain areas, but mostly the real monsters seem to live five miles or more from any access point -- where only a masochistic lunatic would hunt them. We don't have any smiling villagers who come running at the sound of a shot to scoop up most of the meat. YOU have to salvage and haul out every scrap of edible meat on your back. If you plan to give some away to the Natives, they expect it to be delivered to their door.

It may be the most black bear live in Southeast, but I'd doubt that's the best place to hunt them. The forest there is so thick you can't see fifty feet in most places. Best to stick to bait stations. We have plenty of black bears here in Southcentral, and animal control has to kill a dozen or so every year right here in town. I could have shot one or more every year I've been up here, if I wished.

You are correct about current guide requirements. Rust's is one of the better air charter services in Anchorage. Not the cheapest, but I'd be willing to pay a bit more to go with them. There are some outfits to avoid like the plague, but I won't post their names here.

Jim

Thanks much.

So far - so good. Lets try some specifics. Hope we don't give away any natives secrets!

Caribou:

Jump off points for caribou may be; Iliamna, King Salmon, Dillingham, Lake Clark, Soldotna, Kenai??? Yes!

Black Bear:

Best hunting from Yakutat south. Petersburg, Juneau, Wrangell, Sitka, Prince William Sound. Cordoba on to the Kenai peninsula. You will want to hunt from a boat, moving slowly along coves and bays. Prince of Wales Island is a good spot. Yes?

Sitka Blacktail Deer:

Prince of Wales Island and Kodiak Island. Yes?

I think Musk Ox also requires a guide for non-residents. And what non- resident could organize a Polar Bear hunt alone?

From what I understand all meat must, by law, be removed before any antlers. And that could entail 11 of more back packs! In the meantime the brown bears may be homing in on the kill.

Are we still on target?
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Tyler R.T.

Rust's (and others) will fly you to the Mulchatna caribou herd right out of Anchorage. This has some advantages and disadvantages versus flying commercial to some of the towns you mentioned. Cost of flying right from Anchorage tends to be more, but it is more convenient than catching yet another airline flight, then a bush flight. The commercial lines won't fly stove fuel and other flammables, meaning you have to arrange to buy some at your destination. Also, the commercial airlines gouge pretty hard for the inevitable excess luggage.

Black bears? Would someone come all the way up here just to shoot a little old black bear? I suspect most are taken incidental to hunts targeting other species, and you're likely to find them in most areas.

Add Montague, Raspberry, and Afognak Islands to your list for deer. When deer are my primary target, I go to Kodiak. (Raspberry and Afognak have drawing permit hunts for elk.)

You can only shoot a polar bear up here if you're a Native (or in self-defense). And by the way, I am white so am not considered a Native. You are correct about the requirement for removing all meat before the antlers. I know a hunter who returned to the kill, after hauling out the meat, to find a grizzly sitting on a record-book caribou rack! And the hunter without a grizzly tag! But this requirement is strictly enforced.

Jim

Blacktails - if you want a trophy buck there is only one place to go and that is Kodiak. There are big bucks elsewhere, but not in the same numbers as Kodiak. Recent harsh winters (98-99) reduced deer population significantly, but after a few easy winters seeing 100 deer in a day is possible in the right places.

Caribou - probably best lace for a trophy caribou is the Mulchatna, though hunting pressure reduces the number of B&C animals. Other herd to go to is the Northwest herd in the Noatak, Kobuk drainages. Herd population is over 400,000. With that many caribou there are bound to be a few really big ones mixed in. If I were planning a hunt I would not fly from Anchorage, but a town closer to the herds.

Black Bear - southeast may have the biggest bears, but there are 7 foot plus bears in places in the Yukon and Kuskokwim drainages south into the Mulchatna area, then east to the Wrangells. The Kenai and Prince William Sound have large numbers of bears and a few large ones as well. Hunting pressure can thin the big ones out a little in these areas. Cordova south to yakutat is also good, but there are brown bears in the mix, so numbers aren't as high (although size may be larger for the blacks). Spot and stalk in the fall is best method. Look in the berry patches way up on the hillsides. In the spring baiting or cruising from a boat is best bet.

Not sure if guide is actually required for non-resident Musk Ox, but as a practical matter you have to arrange for a local person in the local village to take you because most animals are on private native corporation lands anyway.

About packing the antlers out: As I understand it, what you don't want to do is take the antlers before you have finished taking the meat out to the truck or wherever you are packing it to. It also means that you can take the antler and also the meat (all together).

For example, lets say that I load all the meat on an ATV and a "meat" trailer and I am ready to leave. I don't have to leave the antlers there and then come back for them, but instead I can take everything out in one trip. It may be a bad idea to let your partner take the antlers on another ATV, but that too you may be able to do, as long as you fill out the transportation form included in the F&G Hunting Regulations book. The form is very simple to complete, but you must not forget to accurately answer all the questions. Duplicate the information, give one form to the other person, and keep the other part with you.

I don't know how that would work for other than Alaska hunters, so you may want to check on that.

You do not need a guide for nonres muskox.

I will never ever use rusts flying service. My wife is in the..uh..hunting business (if you will) and you wouldnt believe some of the pissed off hunters that come in after using them. Some I automatically write off as sore losers beacause they didnt see that 80" moose (you guys know the type). but others like being left on site for a week longer because they forgot about them, they (the pilot) made one hunter split the antlers on what would have been a book bou, and dropping them off in the same spot for caribou as other hunters, even though the departing hunters said that the herd has already moved through. Plus the hidden costs involved. Honestly there arent to many flying services in anchorage that I would recommend for hunting. Usually I fly out of soldotna, last year I went out of Iliamna. I would recommend both areas to fly from.

Nowadays big moose are getting alot harder to find. If someone sees a 50+" moose they would be smart to shoot. There are some good ones, but its gonna usually cost to get to them, to me antlers arent worth the money for an expensive flyout.

there are some real nice black bears around PWS and kenai penninsula areas. The SE have some dandys but I wouldnt pass up a chance in other places. The area around talkeetna has some big blackies also.

Perhaps somewhat obscure and little discussed:

Roosevelt Elk:

Apparently located on Afognak and Raspberry Islands. Said to be difficult hunting, steep, heavily forested, difficult hunting conditions and bad weather. There were some die offs years ago. How are the elk faring presently and what is the take?

Bison:

Delta Junction, Chitinia River, Copper River, Farewell. Said to be " the most difficult of all Alaskan animals to stalk ". That comes as a surprise!

These two species are rarely heard about. Are they exclusively hunted, or little hunted or of little interest?
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Tyler R.T.

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!! finally, in a public forum. I have been saying it for years. Others here have hinted at it but I would like to take it a step further. There are lots of animals here to hunt...........but we are the biggest state in the Union, by far and the caribou, moose and bears do not run you over as soon as you get off of the plane. They are spread over a large (huge, it boggles the imagination) area. Animals in Alaska are difficult and expensive to harvest.... residents too. Without a plane it is very difficult. Non-res is at least twice as expensive depending on guide requirements (Brown Bear, Goat, Sheep) Muskox is a Native thing no guide required but basically you need a native to be able to hunt due to land ownership restictions.

I am from Montana origanaly, and have been here for 15 years. I love it. But my buddies from Montana do a lot more hunting down there than I could ever do here. It is basically an access problem. Plane required for quality hunting, period, and don't expect to get out of a plane and shoot a book animal the next day.... Rarely happens that way.

As far as flight services go. I you are planning on leaving from Anchorage and being dropped off for you hunt in a plane. I suggest you do a little more home work. Rusts has been singled out but any flight service off of Lake Hood in Anchorage is all in the same boat.

Got more to say but gotta go help the wife. Maybe later..

Pat

Pat: I only hunt moose, and so far I have killed one each year. I live near Fairbanks, and drive 40 to 60 miles out. I park my truck, and get to my hunting spot on an ATV. I stay out there until I kill a moose, and the longest it has taken me is 13 days. I have killed moose eight days later, two days later, eleven days later, and even the first day of the season shortly after getting out of my sleeping bag.

I see black bears all the time, and hear wolves nearby howling. I have had to run bear away from my tent, while other bears have eaten some of my food. One even ripped one of my tents apart. I see grizzly tracks on the trail after the rain, not too far from my tent.

I fill my F-150 tanks, and only use one tank round trip. I take enough food to last two weeks, but lots of times bring most of it back along moose meat on my truck's bed. The ATV is long paid for, as well as my rifle and scope. I don't spend much, but I work very hard for moose meat.

The moose population around Anchorage is very large, and bow hunting is allowed. Lots of people do the same around Fairbanks. The only problem I can see is not having the time to hunt because of work, and not hunting because you can't find a good hunting partner. I never hunt alone, and hunt with a couple of friends I share my moose meat with.

One of my friends killed a moose that had 65" antlers, while my biggest one has been 57." But...we are meat hunters, and any legal bull moose is very important to us regardless of size.

Noticed you mentioned black bears and Sitka. Just wanted to point out that there are no black bears on Baranof Is (where Sitka is), Admiralty Is., and Chichagof Is. These three islands are often refered to as the "ABC Islands" and only have Brown bear. Plus another little known island called Kruzof (smaller island west of Baranof) also only has brown bear.

Black bears are found almost everywhere else in S.E. Alaska, and share the mainland portions with Brown bears. Which is something, I don't believe, happens on any of the islands, except in rare cases.

There is a limited drawing for Elk in S.E. Alaska, on Etolin and Zarembo Islands. Rumor has it that Elk have been spotted on Kupreanof Island nearby. Also a few moose on Kupreanof, and they are a plain old registration tag.

Strangly enough, there are Blacktail deer here in Sitka too!

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Brian
The 416 Taylor WebPage!

As regards ABC, we hunted brown bear on Admiralty years ago. The guide had a large " yacht " that was used as living/sleeping quarters. Also went halibut and crab fishing. One of our party shot a brown that ran and his guide almost became hysterical with fear. He refused to follow up.

We're putting together a junket for the 2001 - 2002 season and going over some of the locations and bag limits. We see that Musk Ox in some GMU's are limited to residents only.

Regarding GMU 10, Adak Island in the Aleutians, we note that there is no bag limit on caribou and no closed season. Do you fellows have some information on Adak Island?

Generally the bag limits in many areas seem extraordinarily generous compared to other places.

GMU 5. The black bear season runs September 1 thru June 30 ( thats 10 months ). Some places are saying " no closed season ". We're curious - have any of you taken Blue Bears of Glacier bears. We're wondering if thats a significant trophy.

GMU 26 ( Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ) caribou - residents 5 caribou A DAY!!!!!!!!!!!! Non - residents total 5 caribou. NO CLOSED SEASON!!!!!!!!!!!! Looks as though the refuge isn't hurting for game! What is all of the fuss about re: drilling?

We're noting also the shooting of deer from airplanes - same day. Not interested but curious if anyone actually does that? And how do you recover the carcass?

We've seen that M&M Flying Services uses Super Cubs with a surplus weight limit of only 60 pounds. Can't see that such a restriction has much practical benefit.

Here we're spoiled. We own horses and pack out. Step them up in the bed of a 1/2 ton pickup truck and haul them to the hunting site, then home at the end of the day.

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Tyler R.T.

Ya'll forgettin something.
Airboat.
When I was stationed at Anchorage me and my buddies used an airboat to get into a good spot for moose. Took us five weekends to cache all the fuel along the route.
Andy shot a nice bull about 200yds from the river and we drove the boat right up to it.
Only problem was after we got it loaded the boat wouldn't move again. We had to pack it to the river and load it again.

Damn, those things are BIG!

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Ignorance is curable but stupidity is terminal.

William,

I assume your refering to the "same day airborne" rule, which applies to most big game in Alaska.

That rules, is not about shooting game from airplanes, which is illegal, but about hunting the same day you fly into your camp.

Basically, you must wait until 3:00AM in the morning, the day after you fly in, until you can shoot most big game. This does not apply to regularly scheduled commercial or commuter flights, only your chartered flight to your hunting area.

And no, you'll not convince ADF&G your charter flight was "regularly scheduled"!

This is to help prevent small planes from spotting game on the ground, and directing hunters to it.

If your travels bring you to the S.E. part of the State, let me know!

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Brian
The 416 Taylor WebPage!

Adak has some big bou, the hard part is getting there. Plus they have no natural predators.Now with the naval base closed and I believe one of the native corporations (dont quote me) has control of it, hopefully it will be more accessible.Right now, the cost it would take to get there and hunt isnt worth it for some caribou.

BW

Parts of the Regs are questionably ambiguous and very misleading. For example:

In some GMU's, it is stated:

Same-day-airborne hunting of deer allowed. That could lead to a gross error in judgement. One could misconstrue the statement as implying that hunting deer from airplanes is O.K.

However, in other parts of the regs it states that you must be 300 feet from the plane when shooting. Doesn't say horizontal or vertical so one could suppose that a sky diver could open fire on his way down!

We're a little confused about Musk Ox. The non-resident tag fee is $1,100 but the GMU's we checked are closed to non-residents. Must be one we haven't found yet.

We all got a chuckle about the reg: shooting a swimming caribou, with a 22 rim fire, from a boat, in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge is O.K.!

We also like the one about emergency hunting and shooting if you are hungry.
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Tyler R.T.

Regretably, I moved away from Alaska last summer. If you are looking for a high-quality drop hunt for Caribou or Moose, contact Lake Clark Air. Glen Allsworth is a real pro and his team really knows the Mulchatna area. His price for Caribou is higher than many, but he only uses Cubs w/tundra tires and can get you right into the herd. We saw over 5,000 'bou in three days. You get what you pay for!

Ray,Alaska

Sounds like you got quite the system worked out. I havn't spent much time hunting moose I must admit only one small bull over 10 years ago, I mix it up year to year and try something new each time and seem to find myself hunting primarily sheep and goats, but I have been fortunate, I come home with "something" every year. You hit the nail on the head when you said you work for your moose. I think that is the point I was trying to make. No matter how you do or what you are after up here it ain't easy. I do have several friends that do get their moose every year, but like you they work very hard and are very dedicated to it.

Used to live in Fairbanks in the late 80's. I kinda miss it, so crowded in Anchorage these days.

Pat: Yes, hunting moose is hard work. You have to be out there early in the morning until it gets too dark, watching, calling, etc.

I do have a good time when I return to my campsite, because we have lots of food, from steaks, to potatoes, and even a BBQ grill. I take dehydrated and other foods with me when I hunt, and also tea, water, sugar, matches, a propane stove, stainless steel cup, and anything else I may need for the day.

My hunting partners stop by every now and then, so I can join them for breakfast. We fry eggs, bacon, and make blueberry pancakes (there are blueberries around our campsite). As you may know, sometimes the weather is miserable: Rain, wind, snow, fog, etc., but sometimes we get the most beautiful weather one can think about. We use ATV's to move around, and that makes it easier.

If I lived in Moose country I would attempt to get one animal every year, Cow's included, just cause I love the meat so much.

That young NewFoundland moose I killed is soooooooo delicious, it had been feasting on blueberries for weeks prior to walking up on me. Ooooh-La-La, its good eating.

Ray what area in the world, especially on this side of it, consistantly produces the biggest BLK Bears ?

Where would you go if you wanted a real monster ?...........good shooting........10

10 Point: I avoid hunting black bears, since I only want moose. In the interior of Alaska, black bears should taste better than coastal areas, but the average coastal bear (black, or brown) is much larger than interior bears.

North American Hunter (NRA's magazine) had a nice article on this subject a few months ago. I remember reading it, but I don't have the magazine with me. They listed the locations, outfitters, etc., and according to the article, the hunters reached "bear" grounds with the use of boats.

[This message has been edited by Ray, Alaska (edited 07-03-2001).]

Here is some developing Alaskan Information:

Adak Island:

It is located in the Aleutian chain of volcanic islands 1,300 West South West of Anchorage. The island is 28 miles long. It was a restricted military base established during the cold war. In 1997 it closed leaving 2 billion dollars worth of facilities for 6,000 people in 72,000 acres. It has two ( 2 ) 7,800 foot runways, control tower and all of the accouterments for an international airport although not in service.. The base area has been converted to civilian use under a Navy " reuse " program. Presently Aleut Enterprises Corp. 4000 Old Seward Highway, Suite 301, Anchorage, Alaska 99503 ( Phone 907-562-5444 ) is developing/promoting the site. A Norwegian fisheries company has established and is processing black cod.

The southern half of the island is wilderness and administered by the Alaska Department of Fish & Game. The corporation intends to promote sport hunting.

There are abundant caribou. There is no limit and no season. It would be our opinion that a group of at least 18 hunters could consider chartering a suitable aircraft and hunt the island. They should take everything for a self sufficient camp out situation. Tents, sleeping bags, food.
Numerous details would have to bee worked out.

Access by boat would entail several days travel one way and rough seas with 30 foot plus waves. It is not a viable alternative.

Mulchatna Caribou Herd:

The herd is located west of Anchorage and numbers vary from 150,000 to 400,000. Actually there is more than 1 herd. There are two seasons, August and September. Limit was 2 bulls per hunter. The herds migration routes vary from year to year. Sometimes they pass close to lakes and sometimes not. Selecting the type of charter aircraft varies from pontoon plane to land on lakes to aircraft equipped with tundra tires to land on ridges. Limit is 2 caribou and hunter success ration has been 100%. As many as 6,000 head have been seen in one day. Some have passed within 70 yards of the tents.

Musk Ox.

These animals are leftovers from the ice age.
They are located in northern and western Alaska.

Nunivik Island - 500
Nelson Island - 220
Northern Alaska - 500
NW Alaska - 130
Seward Island - 700
Yukon Kuskokum Delta - 150.
Total; about 2,200

Moose:

There are about 175,000. Approximately 7,000 are killed annually. Although they are widely distributed, the Kenai peninsula has had the reputation, for many years, of harboring some big moose. In 1999 a 70 inch spread was taken. There have been several in the 65" category. Charter flights out of Soldotna are landing hunters in moose territory and in caribou country. Moose in September. Caribou in August and September. The average success ration over several years, for an unguided hunt, has been 50% with some years as high as 85%. The 2000 season was a "bust" one charter outfit reported only 2 of 13 hunters took moose. The bush pilot claims he saw one or more moose at each drop, the hunters were not able to locate them. One group had moose within 100 yards and could not see them. All moose were shot less than � mile from a lake.

Black Bear.

South eastern Alaska has an unusually high number of black bears, some really big. The season in some areas is 10 months long. Methods are baiting and " spot and stalk " - cruise the shoreline in a boat, spot a bear, and go on shore in an inflatable. Alternately, on some islands, drive the logging roads.

There are "blue bears" and " glacier bears" colorations of the black bear, which rarefy the trophy.

Baranoff Expeditions, Jim Boyce, Sitka Alaska, uses the 36 foot launch " Gunsmoke "

Alaska has a remarkable abundance of huntable wildlife in certain specific areas. The biggest, the most abundant and the best in the world of some species. Alaska has the most liberal hunting laws ( in some respects i.e. no closed season and no limit in some areas ) of any place in the world. Rim fire .22 caliber is approved for some species! Due to the very low population density, scarcity of hunters, inaccessibility of areas ( mountains, rivers, lakes, islands ) wilderness, habitat, remoteness, wildlife thrives and proliferates beyond any requirements of hunters. There are many animals of some species in some areas and too few hunters. There is something ( big game ) to hunt in Alaska almost any time of the year, someplace.

EQUIPMENT & SUPPLIES CHECKLIST:
Sleeping
__ Ground Pad
__ Sleeping Bag
__ Tent
Traveling
__ Compass
__ Maps (waterproofed)
__ Pack & cover
__ Climbing pole
Hunting
__ Alaska Hunting Regulations
__ Hunting license
__ Harvest tickets/permits/tags
__ Big game tags
__ Binoculars
__ Flagging tape
__ Game call
__ Knife & sharpener
__ Sturdy meat bags
__ Fly poison
__ Plastic bags
__ Rifle & cartridges
__ Bow & arrows
__ Sturdy pack
Comfort
__ Aspirin
__ Books for bad weather
__ Insect repellent
__ Head net
__ Candle
__ Lip balm
__ Personal hygiene items
__ Field notebook & pencil
__ Fire starting aids
__ Flashlight & extra batteries
__ Hand warmer & fuel
__ Bandanna
__ Small lantern & extra mantles
__ Waterproof matches
__ Lightweight stool
__ Sun screen
__ Toilet paper
__ Towel & washcloth
Eating & drinking
__ Cup
__ Cooking & eating utensils
__ Roll paper
__ Salt & pepper
__ Cooking pans
__ Dish soap
__ Extra light-weight food
__ Stove & extra fuel
__ Canteen
__ Water container
__ Water purification system
Clothes
__ Boots
__ Long sleeve shirts (no cotton)
__ Camp shoes
__ Cap with ear covers
__ Extra clothes
__ Gloves
__ Long underwear (not cotton)
__ Rain coat & rain pants
__ Sweater (not cotton)
__ Wind pants
__ Hunting coat
Safety
__ Life jackets
__ Rope
__ Signal mirror
__ First aid kit
__ Space Blanket
Miscellaneous
__ Band-Aids
__ Camera & extra film
__ Cord
__ Duct tape
__ Knife
__ Multi-purpose tool
__ Small saw
Other

Is there anything to add or subtract? What brands do you use of the various items?
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Tyler R.T.

No offense intended, but talke about the typical length Tibbe post.

As far as clothing, for most hunts, 2 pairs polypro long johns, one set of fleece top/bottom and goretex bibs and parka cover it pretty well, not to mention several pairs of socks and gloves. You will likely get wet, its just how you deel with it. The boots situation depends on where you hunt, where I hunt, I don't use boots, I use ankle fit hip waders, and on many hunts, they will see alot of use. For around camp I like Teva sandles, the downside is the skeeters get between your toes unless you doose your feet with bug dope.

Our family is keen on Progresso clam chowder for dinners and often lunch, warms you up on cold days, and sticks to the bones. A tip I gleened from JJ is to get some plastic backpacker tubes, like toothpaste tubes, and fill them with Peanut butter and Jelly, we find two tubes PB, and one tube jelly works well, take a loaf or two of bread, or bagels. Another comfort food is garlic or "everything" bagels 1/2'd and toasted with butter on the skillet.

Maps don't necesarily have to be water proofed, quads fold nicely and fit in gallon zip lock bags. Add the gallon zip lock bags to the list, good for keeping extra socks and polypro dry, and for keeping soiled clothes seperate.

For fire starting, one of the high zoot windproof piezeo start butane lighters is the trick. If you really need a fire, then you don't need to have to try to work a kid proof disposable with numb hands, or figure out what to do to a wet flint.

Other then that, I think you hit everything, don't have my pack handy to see what else lurks in there. Oh yeah, I have some cable ties and strapping tape for misc repairs, and a ~10' sq piece of visqueen for a light weight ground cloth/ or lean to.

Have you checked into the trophy quality of the Caribou out there? It's a small island, and there may be a problem with in-breeding. I recall there is a simular problem on St Paul Island (north of Adak) with their Caribou/Reindeer population.

In fact, I'm not completely sure, but aren't reindeer sometimes refered to as Caribou? They sure look alike, but the reindeer appear shorter. I was checking out some "Caribou" up in Nome a few years back, only to be told they were part of the old reindeer herd brought in by Sheldon Jackson to help feed the local Natives.

Anybody got the real info on this?

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Brian
The 416 Taylor WebPage!

That's a good question, BW!

According to my wife:"One of the two (reindeer or caribou) has longer front legs than the other." The problem is that she does not remember which one.

Also, the NRA's magazine is titled "American Hunter" (not North American Hunter). The July issue of American Hunter has an excellent article about hunting in Alaska that may be useful to out of State hunters. The article relates to caribou, bear, moose, and other hunting subjects, including locations, etc.

Tyler, RT,

That's quite the packing list! It would cover several different types of hunts. Naturally, with all that gear, you will need to be flown into a camp, or take a boat.

When it comes to your hat, I would suggest a Gore-Tex ballcap, like Cabelas sells. I still don't have one, and kick myself everytime I go hunting. My regular cotton ballcap always gets soaked, and now emits quite the funky odor everytime it gets wet!

I'd add a fleece balacalava or "watch cap" for sleeping at night. Plus a sleeping bag cover, or very light-weight bivy sack, can keep your sleeping bag dry, even when your dragging in water everytime you get into the tent, and adds some more insulation. Always make sure your sleeping bag is in a waterproof bivy, or stuff sack when you leave camp. Just in case a bear, or the wind, destroy your tent.

I put a Thermo-Rest chair kit on my full-length Thermo-Rest pad. It stays on the pad full time, helps protect it, and with the addition of the four short fiberglass poles, makes a nice chair. The chair, being close to the ground, helps you get into position for long term "glassing".

You mention a rain gear jacket, and a "hunting coat". I suggest a nice lightweight raincoat (like a North Face Mountain Guide Jacket) and a fleece liner/jacket. A thick rain soaked hunting jacket may take days to completely dry in a wet tent. The thin rain coat, and the fleece, will dry overnight. Plus the combo is smaller and lighter.

Substitute the flashlight for a headlamp. Take a candle lantern, like sold in Cabela's, or Campmor. One candle will last a couple nights easy, provide light enough to read, and convey a sense of warmth.

Sunscreen?

A thing of anti-bacterial "wet ones" will work as a wash-cloth and toilet paper (not at the same time, or else watch the order you use it! ). Sometimes, I feel I'm more "refreshed" in camp, than at home, because I use the "wet-ones" for "you-know-what".

My Whisper-Lite stove fits into my one and only cooking/eating pot, with lid (which can be a seperate dish.) One bottle of white gas last a long time, an extra would cover two weeks of cooking easy.

Camp shoes are an excellent idea!!

Well, that's it for now...

------------------
Brian
The 416 Taylor WebPage!

Gents:

Thanks very much for the excellent tips on camping gear and procedures.

Adak:

The Island has a lot of competition elsewhere. It is being evaluated.

Caribou:

Caribou and reindeer are of the same family similar to variations of dogs and horses. Except some look different. Rays wife is correnct, caribou stand about 4 feet at the shoulder while reindeer stand 4 1/2 feet.

Caribou (Rangifer tarandus) live in the arctic tundra, mountain tundra, and northern forests of North America, Russia, and Scandinavia. The world population is about 5 million. Caribou in Alaska are distributed in 32 herds (or populations)* ( some count 39 herds ). A herd uses a calving area that is separate from the calving areas of other herds, but different herds may mix together on winter ranges.

In Europe, caribou are called reindeer, but in Alaska and Canada only the domestic forms are called reindeer. All caribou and reindeer throughout the world are considered to be the same species, but there are 7 subspecies: barrenground (Rangifer tarandus granti), Svalbard (R.t platyrhynchus), European (R.t. tarandus), Finnish forest reindeer (R.t. fennicus), Greenland (R.t. groenlandicus), woodland (R.t. caribou) and Peary (R.t. pearyi). Alaska has only the barren-ground subspecies, but in Canada the barren-ground, woodland, and Peary subspecies are found.

Alaskans shoot about 22,000 caribou annually from herds numbering 950,000 to 1 million - 0.023%, whereas some regional whitetail deer kills in the lower 48 states are 25% annually.

Alaskan caribou herds are:

1. Adak - 1,500
2. Beaver Mountain - 125
3. Central Arctic - 27,000
4. Chleana - 350
5. Delta - 3,200
6. Denali - 1,800
7. Farewell-Big River -750
8. Forty Mile - 36,000
9. Fox River - 70
10. Galena Mountain - 400
11. Kenai Lowlands - 130
12. Kenai Mountains - 450
13. Kiley River - 530
14. Kilbuck 200
15. Macomb - 700
16. Mentasla - 450
17. Mulchatna - 150,000
18. Nelchina - 30,000
19. Northern AK peninsula - 1,500
20. Nushagak Peninsula - 1,500
21. Porcupine - 130,000
22. Ralny Pass - 1,800
23. Ray Mountain - 2,000
24. Southern AK Peninsula - 3,000
25. Sunshine Mountain - 100
26. Teehekpuk - 27,000
27. Tonzona - 700
28. Twin Lakes - 70
29. Unimak - 1,000
30. Western Arctic - 430,000
31. White Mountain - 700
32. Wolf Mountain - 600
33 thru 39 unspecified.
_______________________________________

Bears: Brown and Polar.

Some intresting tidbits about bears in the ANWR.

Polar bears are super-good swimmers. They feed on seals and travel the pack ice. Polar bears do not hibernate but the females migrate to land and dig snow dens to give birth.

Brown bears, on the other hand, in ANWR hibernate 8 to 9 months of the year.

Moose in ANWR

Where do the moose go?...

Solving a Moose Migration Mystery
For years, Refuge visitors and staff noticed that moose came into the mountain valleys in the eastern portion of the Arctic Refuge each fall, and disappeared again each spring. Where the moose spent the summer was a mystery. Meanwhile, the Vuntut Gwitchin Indians of Old Crow village in northern Canada had a mystery of their own. They knew that moose came to Old Crow Flats in late spring, but wondered where they disappeared to in the winters.

In March of 1995, Refuge staff began working with the Vuntut Gwitchin when a new wildlife migration was discovered between the Arctic Refuge in Alaska, and the Indians' land in the Old Crow Flats area.

After the melting of the continental ice sheet some 10,000 years ago, the Old Crow Flats area became a huge melt-water lake. Eventually, the lake broke open, carving the ramparts of the Porcupine River. The thick deposit of silt that had settled on the lake bottom now contributed to the formation of rich soils across the Flats. In the Brooks Range mountains of Alaska, glaciers also retreated, leaving deep, protected valleys in their wake.

A system of thaw-lakes and wetlands developed on the emptied lake bottom, and a rich diversity of tundra, shrub, and forest vegetation became established. Along with the plants came a great variety of wildlife (muskrats, beaver, ducks, geese, swans, loons, and many other birds, caribou, bears, wolves, wolverines, and moose).

At the same time, stands of willows began to grow in the empty valleys of the Brooks Range to the northwest.

In 1995, a study was initiated by Fran Mauer, a biologist with the Arctic Refuge, to try to find out where the moose in the eastern portion of the Refuge were going each summer.
valley.

In early May, many moose were moving to the south and east. Some had already arrived in Old Crow Flats. By the end of May, many moose had arrived in Old Crow Flats. Moose calves are born at about this time, so most young were born in Canada.
During this study, 75% of the moose in Alaska migrated to Old Crow Flats. Most moose remained in Old Crow Flats during the summer.

Old Crow Flats are ideal summer habitat for moose. There are many shallow lakes and ponds with aquatic vegetation (plants that grow in water), a common food item for moose during summer. In addition, there are several partially drained lake basins which have lots of aquatic vegetation as well as willows, another important food item for moose.

According to data collected during this study, moose begin moving out of the Old Crow Flats in fall, and the movement to Alaska is completed by early winter.
Up to 196 kilometers (120 miles) separate summer and winter areas for some of the marked moose. This is the farthest that any moose are known to migrate in Alaska.
The moose remain in the valleys of the Brooks Range throughout the winter.
Question: If Old Crow Flats is such good moose habitat, why don't they stay in the winter?
Answer: Although the exact cause is not know, preliminary data suggest one reason may be that snow is drifted into the willows on the Flats (average depths exceed 70 cm in 1997). In the Brooks Range valleys, the willows are protected from wind by the tall mountains, and the snow in the willows is not so deep (average depth was 50 cm in 1997). In other studies, snow depths greater than 70 cm have been found to significantly increase moose energy requirements.
Another possible cause of this unusually long seasonal migration may be the level of cold experienced on the Flats compared to that in the mountains. As air cools, the molecules slow down their movement, and become more closely packed together than they are in warmer air. This dense, cold air is therefore heavier, and sinks down to the lowest areas. Because of this, the coldest air slides down off the mountains, and pools in Old Crow Flats.

Moose in the highter mountain valleys of Alaska may thus experience warmer winter temperatures, as well as having easier access to their winter food (willows). These factors may help calves to survive the winter, and allow cows to give birth to healthy young the following spring.
=============================================

Tyler R.T.

Edited by Tyler

[This message has been edited by William E. Tibbe (edited 07-04-2001).]

Toilet paper? It won't work when it gets wet.

"Wet Ones" will work any time, and so "Brawny" paper towels. I never take toilet paper when moose hunting; it usually rains, and not even a 10-ply piece of toilet paper is going to help when wet, and the whole roll turns into a big ball of mush on you. However, paper towels such as the ones above work even better if wet. I fold a few pieces of paper towels and place them in my pocket, and it does not matter if I get them wet with rain or not. I also place a few in plastic bag inside my backpack.

I apologize for the "poopy" comments above, and hope these outdoors experiences of mine can save you some trouble when hunting in Alaska.

Comments in previous posts refered to caribou ( reindeer ) being "brought in" to Alaska.

Here is some history of " The People of ANWR ", ( The Arctic National Wildlife Reserve ).

Archeology has revealed that man has been an occupant of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for at least 11,000 years, but the history of modern man's existence there, dates to the early 1890's and 1900's. What is now the village of Kaktovik, the only village within ANWR, located on Barter island on the northern edge of the Coastal Plain, used to serve as an important stop for commercial whalers. The island was a key trading point and residents of the region came to rely on the ability to obtain trade goods there. In 1923, Tom Gordon established a fur trading post for the H.B. Liebes Company of San Francisco, which became the permanent settlement, the village of Kaktovik. Its people, the Inupiats, were a semi-nomadic people, moving from place to place depending on the availability of fish, fur, game and marine mammals. With the cessation of whaling for bowheads, in about 1910, the Inupiat experienced the first in a series of boom and bust cycles.

In the 1890's, semi-domesticated reindeer, the same species as caribou, were brought to western Alaska from Siberia in order to establish an industry that would provide a more stable economy and would insure against food shortages. In the early 1920's, under the auspices of the Alaska Reindeer Service Local superintendent at Barrow, several herds of reindeer were established in the ANWR area. Herders followed their reindeer from the foothills in the winter months to grazing lands near the Beaufort Sea coast during the summer, returning each fall to the foothills. Severe winters during 1936 and 1937 resulted in the loss of most of the deer to starvation. Others were killed by people for food and clothing. A Bureau of Indian Affairs survey taken during the spring of 1936 indicated that local residents were destitute and near starvation. In an effort to re-establish the reindeer herds and insure against further food shortages a herd of 3,000 reindeer was driven from Barrow to the Barter Island area in late 1937. As the herd approached Barter island, it turned back toward its home range in Barrow, taking most of the remaining local reindeer with it. The people were so discouraged that they killed the few animals that remained, ending the era of reindeer herding in ANWR.

Beginning in the 1920's, fur trapping was a good source of cash income, replacing caribou as a trade good. Unfortunately the price of fox fur dropped in the late 1930's, and trading posts along the coast closed one by one. The post at Barter Island closed following Gordon's death in 1938. By 1943 all of the trading posts in the region had been closed and people had to go to Canada to trade. Eventually, several families moved to Canada. Hard times continued in the region until 1945 when the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey began mapping the Beaufort Sea Coastline, bringing some employment to the region.

Although World War II had little effect on the region, the installation of the Distant Early Warning (DEW line) system on the island during the 1940's displaced many local residents. In 1947 the U.S. Air Force constructed a runway and hangar on the historic village site, forcing residents to relocate. In 1951, the entire area around Kaktovik was made a military reserve and some people were required to move again. The village was moved once more in 1964, but this time residents received title to their village site. Jobs resulting from government activities in the region and the subsequent establishment of a school caused the Barter island population to increase from less than 50 people in 1950 to approximately 150 in 1953 when several families returned from Canada.

Today, Kaktovik is home to 210 residents, most of whom are Inupiat Eskimos whose families have lived in the region for centuries. They live a partly subsistence lifestyle combined with the changes to their culture brought on by Western civilization in order to sustain a stable economy in the region.
=========================================

Tyler R.T.

The largest caribou horn I have ever seen came from Adak. It was a shed. A personal friend, now deceased picked it up in the late 80's. He also saw what he considered to be a world record head, and spent three days tryig to locate it again but never did. This man was an accomplished hunter in Alaska for almost 50 years, and had hunted sheep worldwide, so I believed his estimate of trophy size. The thing about Adak is that it has a mild climate. If the herd numbers don't put a strain on food supply, it can grow big animals.

Rob:

Thanks very much for the information.

I communicated with Sharon Guenther Lind, President, The Aleut Foundation who refered me to the Aleut Corp. which is housed in the same location but which is different in function. Waiting a reply from Adak.

The herd numbers 1,500 caribou. The island is 28 miles long and has 280 square miles of land. The military base occupies 72,000 acres or 112.5 square miles.

The wilderness area, administered by Alaska Department of Fish and Game is 167.5 square miles or 107,200 acres. That is one caribou for each 71 acres ( assuming they are all in the wilderness area which they may not be ). Otherwise the total herd on the total land mass is 179,200/1500 = one caribou per 119 acres.

Here are some other interesting statistics.

*-Adak is Alaskas southernmost city.
*-It is 1,300 miles from Anchorage.
*-It is a 3 hour flight.
*-Adak in Aleut means "father".
*-The highest point is Mt. Moffett a volcanic cone, 3,924 feet elevation. *( What a view - one man up there with a spotting scope directing traffic. Still 28 miles is a long pack!!)
*-The temperature varies 11 deg to 65 deg F.
*-Snowfall averages 41 inches.
*-Total precipitation 29 inches ( rain ).

Nevertheless the ADFG has permitted unlimited hunting ( no bag limit, no season ). It will be interesting to see what the Aleut Corp. has to say and what logistic support they may offer or know about.

Incidentally, I was taken aback by another statistic: The whole chain of islands, 1,200 miles long only has a population of less than 4,000 people. Since 1990 the population declined from almost 9,000 - by over 5,000 people. That must have been the military pull out in 1997.
==========================================

Tyler R.T.

getting to Adak is no longer a problem check this addy out http://www.adn.com/metro/story/0,2633,280066,00.html

Now getting around after you get there is the problem.

About musk oxen: I read an article pertaining to the musk oxen herds away from the coastline at ANWR. It seems that interior grizzly bears have learned how to kill musk oxen, and at times one bear can kill several animals.

You can find the article at the following site. Once you get there, look for "Heartland Magazine" (the article is under Heartland):

http://www.newsminer.com/

[This message has been edited by Ray, Alaska (edited 07-07-2001).]

JoelS:

Thanks for the info. The $1,100 round trip airfare from Anchorage to Adak Island is less that the $1,380 that Rust and 4M flying services charge for a short local haul. But what would need to be ascertained would be the meat and antler haulout costs.

Indeed, after landing in Adak, it would be some chore to locate caribou scattered over an area 10 miles wide and 28 miles long. The Aleuts would have to be willing to assist in some way.

The record caribou that was seen in the 1980's, I fear, is no longer with us since a caribou's life span is about 10 years.

I received a brief E-mail from an Anchorage resident that said the last time he was in Adak all he saw was some black tail deer and wild cows! WILD COWS? I have an inquiry in to the GMU 10 biologist.

However, air charters are notorious for dropping hunters where there is no game, and they are not guides, nor may they assist hunters. It is the hunters responsibility to find game. So from that standpoint Adak would be very similar to a drop closer to Anchorage by Rust, 4M or B&B.

Ray in Alaska:

Thanks for the musk ox article. Heres another:

--------------------------------

Tourists hurry to visit ANWR 'before it's too late'

ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE--They journeyed above the Arctic Circle and beyond the Brooks Range, to a spot called Caribou Pass on the Kongakut River near its mouth at the Arctic Ocean. It was not easy, nor was it cheap. But for Dick and Marilyn Bates, the trek was a longtime dream, spurred to reality by President Bush's push to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.

"We felt we better hurry up here," explained Dick Bates, 68, a client of Fairbanks-based Arctic Treks, "and see this place before it's too late."

Bush may be having a hard time getting his Arctic oil proposal through Congress. But, exactly as his father did a decade ago, he has at least succeeded in fueling an ecotourism boom here, as the controversy over drilling puts this remote wilderness in the public eye.

Outdoors enthusiasts like the Bateses are lining up for the arduous treks and a chance to see the 130,000-strong Porcupine River Caribou Herd that masses on the Arctic coastal plain to give birth in June, or the prehistoric-looking musk oxen that live there. Tourists have pushed reservations up 80 percent above last year's levels and forced many of the trekking outfits to turn potential customers away.

"It is a bit ironic, but interest in Arctic wildlife seems to spike up whenever we've had a pro-oil Republican administration in the White House," said Macgill Adams, owner of Wilderness Alaska, one of the trekking services. "You talk about drilling for oil in a wildlife refuge, and that's a great way to make ecotourists out of people."

The highest number of guided trips and "air drops" of go-it-alone hiking groups in the refuge, 886, came in 1990, at the height of President George Bush's unsuccessful push to open the refuge's coastal plain to oil exploration, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees the refuge.

But now, with controversy raging again over his son's renewed push for drilling, which he and other proponents say will damage neither the ecology or the wilderness character of the area, that record is likely to be broken this summer.

The overall numbers of people seeking adventure here are still relatively small. More people visit a busy fast-food restaurant in a day than are likely to visit the 19-million-acre Arctic refuge in an entire year.

Getting here is certainly a laborious process. Dick and Marilyn Bates, for instance, who live in Guerneville, Calif., traveled by commercial jet from San Francisco to Fairbanks, with a stop in Seattle and a change of planes in Anchorage, followed by a flight in a small single-engine plane to Arctic Village, a tiny Athabascan Indian community south of the wildlife refuge.

Then came yet another flight via bush plane. This time fog over the Chandalar River pass in the Brooks Range forced the pilot to turn back, and the Bateses camped under the midnight sun at Arctic Village.

By the next morning, it was bright and clear, and after an 80-minute flight above the snow and blue ice, the plane landed on a short gravel bed along the Kongakut. And here, in one of the last truly wild places left on the continent, the Bateses and five fellow clients of Arctic Treks were soon marveling at the wildlife, including the plump ptarmigans nesting nearby and a pair of grizzly bears lumbering along a rocky ridge high in the distance.

While no one here seems to think human intrusion has significantly altered an ecosystem that the wildlife service describes as one of the most undisturbed on Earth, there is enough demand that trek operators here have taken to coordinating schedules.

"We're trying very hard not to end up on top of each other," said Carol Kasza, the co-owner of Arctic Treks and the leader of the trek in which the Bateses participated.

"It is a remarkable experience that none of us who do these tours want to see diminished," Kasza said. "Where else can you spend 10 days floating on a river and not see anyone at all? That's the quality we want to see maintained."

The handful of other trek operators here said much the same thing.

And far from expressing glee at a rush of new visitors, they have even asked the wildlife service to impose limits on the number of trips each can operate and on the number of visitors per trip, with many favoring a maximum of eight.

"People might think, isn't it great, more people are visiting the refuge, but I'm not seeing it that way," said Adams of Wilderness Alaska. "The whole character of these trips could be altered in a negative way."

Tour operators are also concerned about an invasion of journalists--in a few weeks, at least four environmental organizations are sponsoring media tours of the refuge--as well as a few expected tours for members of Congress.

But for those who do not travel here under such auspices, the treks typically cost $2,000 to $3,000, not including air travel to and from Fairbanks, the typical meeting point, and last a week or 10 days.

The Bateses' trip began here Sunday, when they arrived in Fairbanks and met Kasza and other members of their group. These included Mariko Nishikawa, a computer graphics designer and frequent adventure traveler from Tokyo; Ari Abrams, an auditor and photography enthusiast from Golden, Colo.; Lou Anne Maxwell, a mediator in Anchorage and nearly lifelong Alaska resident who said the oil proposal "galvanized me into making a trip I've been thinking about nearly all my life"; Subhankar Banerjee, a Calcutta-born physicist-turned-professional-photographer, now engaged in a project to photograph the Arctic wilderness; and his friend, Sanjeeban Chatterjee, a vice president at J.P. Morgan Investment Management in New York City.

Most of the group flew together in a nine-passenger single-engine plane to Arctic Village, then shuttled in groups of three in a smaller Cessna 185 plane operated by Kirk Sweetsir, the sole proprietor of Yukon Air, based in Fort Yukon.

As Sweetsir flew the Bateses up the Chandalar River, he pointed out groups of Dall sheep on some lower mountains, and at tracks across the snow of other animals.

"The wolf tracks are very straight, very deliberate," explained Sweetsir, an Alaska Native who holds a master's degree in polar studies from Cambridge University. "The polar bear tracks look more like a drunk man walking--they like to wander all over the place."

When the plane touched down at Caribou Pass, the Bateses, who have been married for 41 years and who have a taste for foreign adventures that have led them to walrus-watching in Greenland and sea-kayaking in Greece, set up their tent. But it was only a few moments later that Dick Bates was scanning the area with his binoculars.

He spotted the grizzly bears, and he ticked off the names of Arctic migratory birds as he saw them.

His eyes were good, he joked, because of all his years of straining to look at cells under a microscope for his job as a pathologist with the U.S. Public Health Service, from which he is now retired.

It is possible, of course, that some people could come here and conclude that the area, while magnificent, is so vast that it could withstand a bit of oil exploration. That is certainly what proponents say.

And some drilling advocates say that for much of the year, the refuge looks like a barren wilderness--just snow and ice.

But that is not the way it looks to Banerjee, 33, the photographer, even in the winter.

He spent six weeks here earlier this year, braving temperatures that reached 70 degrees below zero, to photograph the winter and early spring wildlife.

"It's full of life," said Banerjee, who left a job as an engineer at Boeing to pursue what he described as his dream of photographing the refuge in all its seasons. He listed the animals he saw in March and April and photographed just in those months: musk oxen, including some that were calving; caribou, wolves, moose, polar bears, Dall sheep, snowy owls, Arctic squirrels, foxes, golden eagles, snowy geese, ptarmigan and even a lone porcupine.

"It's actually rather mind-boggling what's out there," Banerjee said, "if you know where to look."
===========================================
*( Incidentally, if anyone is interested in Kaktovik, on Barter Island, there is a "hotel" - Waldo Arms, 907-640-6513, with 13 rooms. Contact Alaska Air or Frontier Flying Service.)

Tyler R.T.

Edited by Tyler

[This message has been edited by William E. Tibbe (edited 07-07-2001).]

I feel I simply must go to Alaska in the next few years ; Ive put that one off for to long.

I have a few hunting buddies down here I know good enough to go with, but neither one really has the means. I have to admit that, as much as I like them, they have one annoying habit that kind of drives me crazy after 5 days in camp.

They dont wash, in any way , in any order, for all I know they dont even wipe their ass's. Ive never even seen them brush their teeth, they are great guy's, and a lot of laugh's, but they seem to think that 7 days in a tent is a good exuse to get filthy.

I think it slow's down your hunting ability. Who can "feel good" & "Hunt Hard" while caked in filth ? Our last trip to Montana I comandeered one of the tents myself, and drove myself, to steer clear of the Barbarians.

All I do is use one of those "Bowhunters Body wipedowns" every day and brush my teeth, its not that hard and you feel much better. I mean I can see going a day without cleaning your pkge, but 7 DAY'S ?, 10 when you include traveling.

I hope I can get together with one of the Alaska guy's from the forumn one day. I think we have some quality guy's from there on this forumn. Im easy to live with, have the JJHack stamp of approval when it comes to hunting "I think", will make you giggle for days on end, and best of all you'll have a professional level video of the experience.

But I have a problem with stinkers ; Whoo Boy, its another 7 days in Montana with the stink brother's this Oct. I dont know how I'll survive.

Maybe I'll just shove cow pie's up my nose ; It ought to smell better.........10

10 Point,

That's disgusting! Even on a hike in backpack hunt, there's no reason for bad personal hygiene.

BTW, what kind of hunt are you looking for? Drop me an e-mail, if I can help.

------------------
Brian
The 416 Taylor WebPage!

10 Point:

Your hunting buddies may know something. There are microorganism in Alaskan waters, that, if not killed by boiling or other means, will give you a tummy ache and several other long term, very undesirable symptoms. Your friends may try Slippery Soapy Smiths financing methods.

Soapy Smith:

Jefferson Randolph Smith originally ffrom Colorado got his name "Soapy" from using a trick in Colorado mining towns whereby he would convince the buyer that there was a $20 bill hidden in a bar of soap.

The lure of gold brought more than honest miners and foolish adventurers to the North. It also brought con men, thieves and opportunists who got rich by preying on gullible miners. Notorious among them was Jefferson "Soapy" Smith, whose gang of over 100 ruffians ruled Skagway in 1897 and 1898. He ran crooked gambling halls, freight companies that hauled nothing, telegraph offices that had no telegraph link, even an "army enlistment" tent where the victim's clothes and possessions were stolen while a "doctor" gave him a physical. His men met newcomers at the docks posing as clergymen, newspaper reporters, knowledgeable old-timers and freight company representatives. After sizing up a fellow with a fat wallet, they would direct him to one of Soapy's bogus businesses or mark him for a later robbery. Soapy met his end when he and his thugs fleeced a miner of $2,800 in gold. The miner, instead of slinking away beaten, fired up the citizens of Skagway who formed a vigilante committee headed by Frank Reid, a civil engineer. Reid stood up to Soapy and shot him in the heart, but was fatally wounded in the shootout.

============================================

The muskox odyssey: from Greenland to Alaska, through N.J.

Leaving cloven hoofprints from the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, more than 3,500 muskoxen live in Alaska. All of those shaggy, curly-horned beasts came from one group of muskoxen that survived a most remarkable journey in the 1930s.

In 1900, no muskoxen existed in Alaska. Though the stocky, weatherproof creatures have survived in the Arctic since the last ice age, the last reports of muskoxen in Alaska came from the late 1800s. As Peter Lent reported in his book Muskoxen and Their Hunters, a man named Henry Rapelle in 1895 visited a Native man living on the bank of the Yukon River who had the skull of a muskox. He told Rapelle he thought the muskox was "a bear with horns" when he shot it a year earlier on the Kandik River. That muskox was perhaps the last of the Alaska population.

In May 1930, the U.S. Congress gave the U.S. Biological Survey $40,000 "to acquire a herd of muskoxen for introduction into Alaska with a view to their domestication and utilization in the Territory." Then began the 8,000-mile adventure, the moving of 34 muskoxen from Greenland to the Alaska island of Nunivak. The journey-by boat, train and barge-lasted six months, including one month the musk oxen spent in New Jersey.

In the summer of 1930, Norwegian sailors captured 19 female and 15 male muskoxen from Greenland. The leader of the expedition kept a journal of the captures, during which his men shot adult bulls in order to rope calves and yearlings without being crushed.
"There is much violence in a flock of muskoxen," he wrote. By the end of August 1930, the muskoxen were in Norway. From there, handlers loaded them in crates on a steamship. The hairy caravan crossed the Atlantic and passed beneath the Statue of Liberty in New York on September 15, 1930.
The muskoxen were soon in Athenia, New Jersey, to wait out 33 days of quarantine.

In New Jersey's unbearable heat of 60 degrees Fahrenheit, the muskoxen panted heavily, drank plenty of water, and lapped at salt licks attendants placed in their crates. All 34 muskoxen survived the quarantine.

After crossing the continent by train from New Jersey to Seattle, the muskoxen took a seven-day voyage on a steamship to Seward, Alaska. To make the lower deck cooler for the muskoxen, the captain opened the hatches of the ship.

From Seward, the Alaska Railroad transported the muskoxen to Fairbanks in four days. On Nov. 5, 1930, all 34 arrived in good shape at the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines (now the University of Alaska). University workers released the muskoxen from the crates, and the beasts roamed a 40-acre clearing surrounded by boreal forest.

A few calves were born in Fairbanks, but the muskoxen-rearing experiment proved expensive, in part because of the cost of fencing, both to keep the muskoxen in and to keep black bears out. The leader of the experiment, L.J. Palmer, decided to move the muskoxen from Fairbanks to Nunivak Island, a 70-by-40 mile oasis of tundra in the Bering Sea just off the Yukon and Kuskokwim delta.

Charles Rouse was a biologist who accompanied 27 of the crated muskoxen to Nenana, where he and others loaded the muskoxen on a steamship. The load of ice-age mammals chugged down the Tanana and Yukon rivers to Marshall, Alaska. There, workers loaded the muskoxen onto a barge, which transported the muskoxen to St. Michael, at the mouth of the Yukon.

Then, it got hairy. The muskoxen and Rouse crossed 300 miles of open ocean in an aged barge towed by the Meteor, a motor boat. Midway through the trip, "the barge began to reveal its age," Rouse wrote. Waves battering the bow opened a seam in the barge through which water began to pour. Rouse and four others used hand pumps to keep the barge from sinking until the Meteor made it to Nunivak Island.

The muskoxen thrived in Nunivak. From the population of 31 planted there from Fairbanks in 1935 and 1936, the Nunivak herd expanded to its present size of about 620 animals. From that stock, biologists transplanted muskoxen to the mainland east of Nunivak Island in 1967 and 1968 (23 animals), to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in 1969 and 1970 (64 animals), to the Seward Peninsula (72 animals in 1970 and 1981), and northwest Alaska (70 animals in 1970 and 1977). Muskoxen have flourished at each site, showing the same pluck that allowed them to survive their incredible journey to Alaska in 1930.

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Killing of a Muskox, Ovibos moschatus, by Two Wolves, Canis lupus, and Subsequent Caching

"Encounters between wolves and muskoxen are rarely observed and seldom described in detail" The only complete description of Wolves (Canis lupus) killing an adult Muskox (Ovibos moschatus) involved a single Wolf; in addition, there are two partial accounts of two Wolves killing an adult, and descriptions of several Wolves killing calves. Here we describe two Wolves killing an adult, and we provide new information about caching of the kill remains.
The kill we observed took place on Ellesmere Island, Northwest Territories, Canada (80� N, 86�W) on 8 July 1998 when there is continuous daylight. The terrain is barren soil, gravel, rock outcrops and open tundra with no vegetation except widely scattered ground cover. The two Wolves involved were an adult male of unknown origin and a six-year-old female ("Explorer"), which the senior author had habituated to his close presence as a pup around a den in 1992 and studied in 1993 and 1994. In 1998, this animal lacked pups, as evidenced by her inconspicuous nipples and nomadic travels.
During the present observations, we used 4-wheeled All Terrain Vehicles to accompany this pair as they traveled and hunted (Mech 1994). We allowed the male to lead, and we paralleled him at distances of 50-100 m, while Explorer remained within a few meters of us; we continually watched ahead for any prey.

At about 0200 on 8 July 1998, the Wolves headed up some foothills along the side of a high escarpment and passed through a valley alongside the ridge. We spotted three Muskoxen about 500 m ahead in a valley at 0224 and immediately stopped and watched through 15X stabilized binoculars. The Wolves continued on toward the Muskoxen, and when about 100 m away, ran straight at them. The Muskoxen fled some 30 m and headed in a tight group up a steep slope, with the two largest animals (one a bull and the other presumably a bull) about half a body length ahead of the smallest, a cow.

As the Muskoxen were running about a third of the way up the slope at 0226, the male Wolf grabbed the last one (a cow) by the rump and hung on, and the female lunged toward the head. The cow wheeled around, and the male lost his grip. Both Wolves focused their attacks on the head and neck of the Muskox, biting at her nose and neck, sometimes hanging on and sometimes losing grip. The Muskox kept pushing up with her lowered head and horns but did not use her hooves. After about 30 seconds of the focused attack, one Wolf gained a solid grip on the cow's nose and the other immediately attacked the side of her neck, repeatedly grabbing a new purchase. The cow appeared to struggle little once the wolves had gained solid grips on her.

The two bulls had stopped about 15 m farther up the hill, and one of them suddenly charged down at the Wolves that were attacking the cow, sending one of the Wolves tumbling about 10 m down the hill. (We could not see whether contact was made, for the bull charged on the opposite side of the cow from us.) The bull hooked repeatedly at the remaining Wolf which eventually released its grip on the cow's nose. By now, the third Muskox had joined the other two, and they headed back up the hill with the cow tightly wedged between the 2 bulls. The Wolves quickly dashed back after the Muskox. Again one of the Wolves grabbed the rump of the cow, which wheeled to meet the wolf head on. The female then grabbed the cow by the nose, and the male by the side of the neck. The wolves kept their grips on the cow for about 30 seconds, and at 0231 the cow fell on a flat area of the hillside about 2/3 toward the top and stopped struggling. The Wolves continued to tear at her head and neck, but the Muskox did not move.

Explorer fed on the Muskox, but the male climbed to the top of the ridge, possibly still wary of us even though we remained about 0.5 km away, and at 0243 he lay down about 20 m above the carcass. Explorer fed on the kill until 0324. She then immediately headed downhill intently searching around as if to begin caching, and went out of sight. At 0340, she passed by us, and we began accompanying her. At 0345, when about 1.5 km from the kill, Explorer dug a hole, regurgitated into it, and covered it. About 50 m away she repeated the behavior. She continued on out of sight at 0349, but the terrain prevented us from following.
At 0413, we saw Explorer about 0.8 km beyond the two caches, returning toward the kill, which she reached at 0441. She then slept near the carcass. Thus she was gone from the carcass for 77 minutes and had traveled at least as far as 2.3 km away from the carcass. From where and when we saw her disappear and reappear, we estimated that she had probably traveled as far as 5 km from the carcass, presumably continuing to cache throughout her trip.

We dug up the two caches and found that their contents of well-chewed, walnut-sized chunks of muscle meat weighed 0.65 and 0.66 kg. A Wolf's stomach can hold 10 kg of meat (Mech unpublished), so if Explorer ate and cached maximally, she could have made about 16 caches of the size we found. Her time and behavior away from the carcass suggests that she did make many caches, but her sleeping and lack of feeding immediately after returning to the carcass suggests that she may have retained at least some of what she had eaten.

We did not observe the Wolves from 0605 to 2150 on 8 July. From 2325 on 8 July to 0003 on 9 July, Explorer again fed on the carcass. Afterwards she alternately slept near the carcass and chased off an Arctic Fox (Alopex lagopus).

From 0251 to 0336, 9 July 1998, Explorer fed once more from the carcass. She then pulled off a front leg and shoulder and carried it off while zig-zagging and looking around as if searching for a place to cache it. She brought the leg to us, and paraded around us a bit. Her abdomen was noticeably distended. After a couple of minutes, she continued on another 600 m to a rocky stream wash and buried the leg in gravel at 0415; only the hoof and ankle were exposed. She continued on in the same direction as when on her previous caching trip, and we lost sight of her again. We did not see her until she arrived back at the carcass at 0541. Her sides were no longer bulging, so apparently she had continued to cache. When we returned to our lookout at 0445, the male was feeding and he continued to do so until 0537, alternately chasing the Fox. Explorer fed again from 0543 to 0559 and lay down about 30 m away from the carcass. We left at 0645.
When we returned at 2130, the Wolves were gone. We then determined that the Muskox was a cow with well-worn teeth and an estimated 25% fat in her femur marrow. This poor condition may explain why the Wolves so readily attacked the cow and killed her so quickly, for often Wolf attacks on Muskoxen are far more prolonged (Gray 1970, 1983, 1987; Mech 1988 and unpublished). We each independently estimated that the amount eaten and cached from the carcass was about 90 kg, which was about all the readily available flesh.

Most Wolf food consumption estimates are made by calculating the weight of edible material taken from a carcass and dividing that by the number of Wolves and days. In this case, the estimate would have been about 22.5 kg/Wolf/day. However, after two of the four feedings we observed, the Wolf cached unknown amounts. If the amount cached were about equal to that digested, then the actual consumption rate would have been only about half the estimate.

How often Wolves cache after killing large animals is unknown, but such caching is not uncommon. However, because most observations of Wolf predation are made from aircraft circling around a kill site for short periods, detailed observations such as we relate here are not usually made. Therefore, we suggest that previous food consumption estimates derived as described above may have to be qualified to account for possible caching that went undetected. In particular, conclusions derived from observations over intervals of a few days could be greatly inflated. We also suggest that future research emphasize attempting to determine how commonly Wolves cache after killing large animals, and under what circumstances.

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Tyler R.T.

Here are some E-mails I received pertaining to Adak Island.

Dick Sellers, ADF&G biologist GMU 10:

E-mail #1.

Dear Mr. Tibbe:

Our previous management objective was to keep the Adak herd at about 300
animals, but after the base closed it was recognized that a reduced interest
in hunting would not be able to hold this herd at that population level -
thus the extremely liberal hunting regulations. In fact, we, in cooperation
with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which owns most of the island, looked
into the feasibility of removing all the caribou to prevent over population
and subsequent habitat damage. This idea didn't fly politically, so we have
the current situation. The public can hunt on the publicly owned land, but
all logistical services (transportation from the air filed, housing etc.)
are supplied by the Aleut Enterprise Corp. That's about all the information
I can supply. Good luck with putting together a hunt.

Dick Sellers
Wildlife Biologist

E-mail #2.

"Mr. Tibbe, I'd certainly take whatever the gentleman who talked about deer
and wild cows on Adak with more than a grain of salt. Neither deer nor
cattle exist on Adak, but the caribou do tend to run large. Or at least
they did when the numbers were closer to 300 than 1500. I really can tell
you anything definitive about how big they are these days. I think you
might be right about the odds of success, expenses, logistics being better
on the mainland. I wouldn't think mounting a major expedition with lots of
hunters would improve your chances of collecting a book caribou, although it
MIGHT(??) cut the individual costs down a bit. Sorry I can't provide any
more specific information for you. Good luck,"

Dick Sellers
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
James Sullivan, former Adak Island resident:

" I was there about 10 years ago for the Navy. That's all there is out there. The Navy Base is a self contained little city. After the U.S. became friendly with the Russians we no longer had to listen to and track their Subs., so they closed the base and turned it over to the Natives. I wouldn't consider it for a hunt at all.
Some guy from Texas tried to start a cattle ranch out there and gave up and left the cattle. The cows are still there after 50 years and a little hard to catch. The same thing happened on Kodiak Island and several of the surrounding Islands, wild cows every where. The Bears love it. The climate is mild in those areas compared to the rest of Alaska and is perfect for cattle but the market is to far away to be profitable. It was just some bored guy's crazy dream.
A good source of information that you are looking for would be Craig Ketchum. He has Ketchum's Air Service in Anchorage. He has float planes and fly's people where-ever they want to go. He is going to be booked this summer but he will know some one that can help you out.
Than there is Old Man Moe. He is 71 years old and has been hunting that area for over 50 years. He is a mountain of information. Last summer he was skinning out a deer on Kodiak and was attacked by a grizzle bear. He killed the bear with a pocket knife. He's one tuff old muther. I have met him but I don't know his first name or his phone number. He is a contractor in Anchorage. There can't be very many people named Moe in the Anchorage phone book.
Well, good luck with your hunt. It will be something to remember. And don't do like I did, I went there for a 2 week vacation and stayed for 33 years. I live back in Arkansas now but I still go to Alaska every morning on the internet. Some how it just ain't the same. But now I don't have to shovel snow every morning. "
Sincerely,
James
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Tony Monzingo, ADF&G hunter coordinator

" Hopefully you will hear from the biologist who will have the best and most
current info. I have no information that would be really helpful. If you
don't get a response e-mail me again and I'll see if I can get someone to
contact you.

Tony

____________________________________________________________________________

Sharon Gunther Lind, President The Aleut Foundation

William, * ( Tyler sent the message )

I have re-sent your questions and concerns to the Aleut Enterprise
Corporation. Their President/CEO is Sandra Moller. Someone from their
office should be contacting you. If not, please let me know.

Sharon Guenther Lind
President
The Aleut Foundation
4000 Old Seward Highway, Suite 300Anchorage, AK 99503
907-561-4300 Phone
907-563-4328 Fax

______________________________________________________________________________

So, to summarize, to date no-one can furnish any reliable data about the caribou.

Aleut Enterprises hasn't yet responded to 3 E-mails.

There is no commercial air traffic

The closing of the base, of 6,000 people, reduced the population to 300 Aleuts. The heating, steam, electric plant was sized for 6,000 and it actually only needs to supply 300. So it had to be modified for reduced capacity. The Aleuts have had the base since 1997 and so far ( 4 years later ) the only "enterprise" has been a Norwegian codfish processing plant. The wildlife situation apparently cannot be managed because there are insufficient hunters ( so the biologist thinks ) to control the herds . There is no commercial air transportation and ocean shipping may take a month.

Are the caribou safe?

Tyler R.T.