I might end up hunting the Forty-mile herd near Chicken this year. Can anyone tell me anything about the area?

I will be hunting with my father, who lives in Achorage, but I'd like to know what to expect out there in terms of what kind of terrain, numbers of Caribou, difficulty of the hunt, chances of seeing wolves and bears, etc.

Thanks

There are huge wildfires all around the Chicken area right now so the terrain will be pretty black & nasty. I know that fire improves moose habitat when the new vegetation starts coming back, but I don't know if it does anything for caribou.

Thanks, Is the area around there marshy, do I plan for hip-boots there, or hiking boots? I assume it is fairly flat(?)

I think I'll order a good topo map of the area also.

I would not characterize the Fortymile country as "flat". You may encounter flat, marshy areas such as Mosquito Flats, but much of the Fortymile is hilly, rugged terrain. You can get a quick look at www.topozone.com.

I hunt the area close to year around. For the area around chicken as with most of the taylor a decent pair of hiking boots (bunnys in the winter)works best for me. There are wet lands but odds are you'll be on the hills most of the time. If you do decide to venture into the drainages yes there is lots of wet stuff. But as I said you'll probably be hunting the hills.

As far as the numbers of caribou you will see that's a tough one as the herd has done some different wonderings the past couple of years making the traditional spots bare of bou. I expect because of the burns that they may move through very quickly. But caribou are caribou and if they decide to stay around there will be lots of them! As for the fires...

A good chunk of the road access areas have burned or are in the process of burning (over 750,000 acres as of two days ago). This will affect hunting of all types in the area this fall. The moose & bears, etc have been fleeing (lots of moving critters spotted). The moose population was poor to start with and it should be worse this fall. The area always has bears but they are moving out of the burned areas. Yes the burned areas will provide a lot of feed over the next few years but not this fall. The burn hopefully will slow the intrusion of the nilchina herd into the 40 mile herds range. If the nilchina herd shows up then the 40 mile hunt gets closed immediately as the nelchina is under protection.

Since access is easy expect lots of hunters especially from the big cities. The area has been "discovered"! Also keep in mind that many of the trails through the burned areas will be close to impassable due to fallen trees & such. Take a chain saw!

Just my take on it.