reading the Alaskan Hunting regulations I've seen that in the Unit 26 -Arctic Slope- even the non residents can take FIVE caribou. If is it true seems to be a very interesting opportunity. Any Guides there?

ANWR, (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge,) is a very pretty place to hunt and as far as I know still has good caribou numbers. I've been there twice and have seen good numbers of trophy bulls both times. Nganga had a good hunt there not to long ago and could share his impressions with you.

On ANWR there are only a few guides licensed to hunt and those guides are listed on the refuges website.

I couldn't recommend a guide but I certainly recommend the trip. The North Slope of the Brooks Range is magnificent country.

thanks Scott. Very interesting

Greg Jennen and Phil Byrd (Dennis Reiner's old area) both operate guide services in or near that unit hunting the Arctic River herd. I have had successful trips there for caribou and grizzly. If I can help you PM me. I know there is a hunt report from last year listed here on the forum as well. Good luck.

Thanks Wade. I will contact you.

Me and a buddy are doing a caribou drop camp this August with Greg Jennen(The Grizzinator).

He runs a top notch outfit, I killed my Dall ram with his guide (Dan Ondersma)in the ANWR last year.

Good Luck. I will wait the report.

Mario,
You are correct on the regulations. Non residents can shoot 5 caribou. I haven't checked today, but residents have a limit of 5 a day for years. There are plenty of caribou.

It is remote, with relatively few guides, but they are there. I have hunted out of Kotzebue a couple times. Tons of caribou, and magnificent country, at the end of the earth.

Bill

When the porcupine herd migrates through, we can get to them on snowmachine, but most everybody just hunts 40 mile herd. Most everybody here in our community gets a few bou but nobody ever wants 5/day. What would you do with all that meat, not to mention all the work. I think the reason they have the 5 limit is most rural people want to get their meat in and get it over with. Hunting is not about sport, more about fresh meat. If there was a road to where the caribou are, there would be thousands of urban hunters, the 5 limit would never be in place.

We hunt the 40 mile herd, subsistence season starts Aug 4th, urban hunters aug 29th. We literally get thousands of urban hunters on atvs; and season only remains open a couple days; then after the urban guys go back home, they reopen subsistence season till end of sept then reopens dec and remains open until march. Since f&g only wants 3-4 hundred caribou harvested, I figure the season will close quick. Usually they want 500 killed and 800 get taken. Wolves & bear take 10X what people do. The 40 mile herd is around 50K.

If somebody wants a big double shovel, and by that I mean bigger than anything you have ever seen on the caribou TV hunting shows; get in place a couple days before season, locate bou and find the biggest concentration of big bulls. Our susbsistence season starts Aug 4th, guarantee ya the locals will have know where the big boys are and be gunning for them on opening day.

This is the bou my daughter got last August, not a big double shovel, but nice in it's own way. She wants something nicer this August before she heads off to Texas to school; she'll probably get one too.

a really beautiful caribou! Congratulations!

Damn nice bou.

I've been on 2 self-guided caribou hunts in GMU 26, and both were outstanding. It is true that non-residents can take 5 caribou (at least a few years ago that was the case), and residents could (can) take 5 per day. While that sounds quite liberal, remember that most, if not all, access is by plane (we used a float plane and camped on a large lake) and weight limitations come into play. To ensure the otter we chartered could take us, our gear and the meat out in one trip, we limited everyone (residents and non-residents) to 2 caribou per person.

To ensure the otter we chartered could take us, our gear and the meat out in one trip, we limited everyone (residents and non-residents) to 2 caribou per person.[/QUOTE]

A couple of friends and I did a DIY caribou hunt in the late 90's in unit 26. We had a raft and floated the Killick and Collville rivers and camped along the shores at night. With all the weight from the camp equipment and the raft, we limited ourselves to one caribou each to meet the weight limits. We went the first week of Sept and most of the caribou had already migrated elsewhere. There were deep trails cut in the tundra where the herds had been. We only saw about 200 caribou total and maybe a dozen shooter bulls. We each got a nice caribou though.

Mario,

As Wade mentioned, Phil Byrd operates on the North Slope of the Brooks Range. He has caribou, arctic grizzly, and Dall's sheep. Wade and I both book hunts for Phil and I guide for him.

You can read the report below about my trip last year. We do not have any openings this year but we could get you in for next year if you are interested.

Contact Wade and he can set you up.