Are there good hunting and fishing opportunities for the Fairbanks resident? Can one hunt around there by driving and hiking? Would a 16' flat bottom boat with a 25 horse be a good fishing rig on the rivers around there? Is a snowmobile a good transportation mode in winter? How long is the drive to Anchorage? Thanks for anything you can offer.

I can answer some of your questions. It's 358 miles from Fairbanks to Anchorage. Yes, a snowmachine is very practical for at least 4 months of the year. Lots of guys take them down towards Cantwell or other places in Denali Park.

That boat would do ok around town on the local rivers. I would want a bigger boat if possible...say an 18 footer with a 55-75 hp motor. It all depends on what you want to do.

There's actually more moose around Fairbanks then some of the rural areas. They get in and eat people's gardens, etc like deer do in the Lower 48. There are pretty good moose densities in the cities because the moose can get out of the deep snow and find easy food. You really have to be careful on the roads. Hitting one of those could really mess up your day.

Well Jackfish .. Answering the topic title .. basically Fairbanks sucks! It is ugly, antiquated, a military town (nothing wrong there guys just defines the attitude), over populated, winters are lousey, ice fog can be real bad, and did I say UGLY!....but hey I love it!! It is "town" to alot of us "rural" people! By the way we don't have a good opinion of los anchorage ( about 350 miles south!). Fairbanks is super easy to get around in and most of the people are good.

The boat you described will work for a bunch of situations.

Snowmobile?? whats that?? We call them snow machines here. Any body using the former term is an outsider!!

Surrounding hunting success is controlled by accessibilty and population. Not good as mentioned but do able.

John/ALaska, noticed you're from Tok; I had the pleasure of being snowed-in in Tok this past fall, around September 21, after I hunted down in the Wrangells. Stayed at that motel across the Hwy from the airport. Seemed like a nice little, albeit very remote town, everyone very friendly. I'll likely be back to hunt again, as soon as my wife gives me the thumbs up!!

Regards,
Craig Nolan

Craig, Tok is more than a nice town. Everybody in that place will bend over backwards to help you out if you show them the same respect. Good bearhunting, sheep also (if you get drawn for TMA). I've met alot of good people up there and if I could convince the wife I would move there in a heart beat.

Jackfish: Yup! Fairbanks ain't too bad for a town. Lottsa snowmachines but as was posted earlier, I think I'd want something a bit larger for the rivers. They are treacherous. Not "wild" as in lots of rapids but rather relatively fast moving, many are wide & quite deep with the attendant dangerous currents combined with silt.

We have boroughs up here, not counties. Fbks. is in the Fbks. North Star Borough & encompasses something like 80,000 + people & is about the size of Rhode Island. We've got 4 grocery stores - 2 Safeway's & 2 Fred Meyers. I may have a warped attitude but since K-Mart left out town, we have had little in the way of price competition. We're getting a new Wal-mart (our 1st) & hopefully at some point they'll have a grocery section. BTW, we do have Sam's & they sell food too. I've been here since 1967 & those were the good old days. Talk about the infamous "2 Street". It's all gone now & in fact they put up a real crummy looking hotel that takes up much of the space. Talk about ruining the downtown area. For the life of me, I can't see why a tourist would want to see "2 Street" now, there's essentially nothing there of interest. Still, I wouldn't even consider going anywhere else and certainly NOT to Los Anchorage, especially since Dawson City, Y.T. is the same distance as "that other city". Dawson's much more fun. Anyway, hope this brief overview gives you some idea of what it's like. Oh! The weather! Well, we've just warmed up to around 0 Deg. from lows in the -40's or so. Our cold is a "dry" cold with little humidity making it more bearable. Still, you never, ever take chances with severe cold. In Dec., the days have around 3 3/4 hrs. of official daylight and conversely, in June, about 3 3/4 hrs. of official darkness. It does take a certain "mindset" in my opinion to like it here. You either like it or don't. There's no in-between. Any more questions, just post 'em here. Somebody'll answer. Bear in Fairbanks

Monday below Fairbanks in Delta Junction Ak it was like -70 degrees very cold!!!!The Hunting right around Fairbanks is a big Archery area.There is a Home Depot and a Walmart Being built there also yea!!!Most Fairbanks people hunt unit 20 D and so do the Anchorage people.Yep road kill moose is just as tastey as hunting moose you just gotta get on a list to get one!!!

I like Fairbanks, but don't think the wife would be up for living there. I think it's a neat city, spread out, slower paced, just gets a bit nippy in the winter

As far as hunting opportunities close by, you have to recalibrate what you consider close when you move to Alaska. Something 1-2 hours by car is close by. A long drive is something that takes more than a day each way.

Anchorage is close enough to drive to in a day, but far enough away that you can ignore it's existance Sadly Anchorageites sound more and more like lower 48 folks. Not to say there aren't real Alaskans in South Central, but they are the exception to the rule.

The only downside to Fairbanks is you have a bit of a treck to get to salt water fishing, as well as plentiful salmon streams. That is the only advantage Anchorage has over Fairbanks, IMHO.

I have lived in both Fairbanks and Anchorage (aka North Seattle) and I much prefer Fairbanks. My son starts at UAF this fall and once I retire next year, I'm moving back.

hos: Welcome back (potentially) to the real world.
Bear in Fairbanks

Bear - The mention of 2 street brings back a ton of memories. Had a place (6th floor) in the Polaris over looking 3 street. Man what a place of action. I'd stand looking out the window watching the fights by the Savoy, watch the cops chasing someone on foot, the hookers arguing about whose conner it was, and all of this was going on at once! Every night! The bars didn't close until 4 am then when they all got tossed into the streets the women fights with all the screaming! How about the underground gambling places?? Or the after hours clubs? God I knew that place well! Too bad its all gone now!

We here love Dawson as they are our neighbors!

Craig - You stayed at Youngs Motel and probably ate at Fast Eddys (I live a 100 yds from it). You may of even had a drink or three at the Husky lounge right there! Did you fly with 40 Mile?

Joel - Now don't go saying lies about Tok. Our hunting here sucks!! No critters here especially not sheep, caribou, moose or bear! We do have mosquitoes though! Along with a ton of tourists!!

HI,

I will move to Alaska myself within a year, SE. I saw this post and then on TV last night I saw a program ,it was about a gentleman who lived in Fairbanks who started the AIP party. It had to due with independents for Alaska, Anyway I not trying to start any politics I just found it very interesting and I learned somethings that I near heard before, Kev

John/Alaska:
Yup! How well I remember 'em too. At the time of the pipeline, I worked at the borough when it was on the corner of 2 St. & Lacey. In the summer, you could look out my window & watch all the hookers in their fur coats & the temp musta been at least + 80. Don't know how they could stand it. How about the Gold Rush Saloon? You could go in on the 2 St. side & walk thru the entire establishment, & exit on 1st Ave. In the summer, they'd just leave the doors open and they kept sandwich makin's on the bar. Ya got your drink & just went up & made a sandwich. Egg salad, tuna, etc. That's where that CRUMMY hotel is located now. Yup! No more "good old days".

Kev: Ya be a talkin about ol' Joe Vogler what started the Alaska Independance Party. He was a crusty old coot (never met him myself) and liked to call himself a miner. He had a lot of claims but according to people that I know who knew him, he never really mined himself. I understand he had others moving the dirt, a not unheard of thing in the mining industry. He owned quite a bit of land locally & subdivided a lot of it. My understanding was that if you bought a lot from him, a covenant was that you had to remove all of the aspen trees. He hated them. He also had a running feud with the Feds on many issues, thus his party which advocated seccession from the U.S. Never could figure out how he planned to pull that one off. Just some more local history. Bear in Fairbanks

Cold! -40 last week

I do most of our hunting by 4WD ATV or 21' Woodridge Jet Boat or my 19'Gruman Frighter Canoe with a 9.9 Honda. Alot of people do fly Ins with Bush planes. I live in North Pole just outside Fairbanks, which I have Bear and moose that freq come thru my yard.

I set up camp usually a week before the season in SEP for moose and hunt a saddle high on top of the mountain and let all ATV and 4WD veh push the Bulls up to me from below.

Alot of country to cover on foot!

John/Alaska;
yes to all (4) of your questions; Youngs Motel was nice, as was the food at Eddys and the beer at the pub. Also was very pleased with 40 Mile, used them to fly in and out of Terry Overly's camp at Chisana; the flight out was hairier than I liked, due to those September storms, but I'm a pansy from California

cant wait for my next trip,
Craig