For my fortieth birthday, I want to hunt caribou in AK. That gives me 2 years (2008) to plan. I have ventured away from my Carolina tree stands and went out West the past 2 falls hunting elk and mule deer and plan to do so again this fall with a muzzleloader for elk and again in 2007.

My partner and I have hunted on our own on public ground. We have had some success and hunted hard each time. We purposely pack backed hunted in wilderness area to get away from trucks and 4-wheelers.

I know you can hunt caribou in AK unguided and we want to do this. It is a point of pride for us that we succeed or fail on our own. When we are older and hopefully our bank accounts in better shape, we may use guides but for now we must go unguided.

I would greatly appreciate any tips or suggestions on unguided caribou hunting. And how expensive will this actually be?


Thanks.

Here's a suggestion:

Contact Northern Wilderness Adventures (Nick Pierskalla at nwa@alaska.com). He offers OUTFITTED -- not guided -- hunts for 'bous in the famed Mulchatna herd.

His hunters stay in log cabins in a comforatble camp right on the Mulchatna River. There are hot showers, a sauna and a very large kitchen tent for meals.

The scenario is simple: you take a float plane into camp, and each day one of the hands ferries you by inflatable boat to someplace where there are caribou moving through. He drops you off on shore, and from there you're on your own until you return for a pickup that evening. Plus, they will haul your game out for you.

Now, of course it costs more than a do-it-yourself drop camp, but you save a lot of the headaches, especially bringing equipment and food along to camp out on the tundra. Besides, a warm, cozy cabin has it all over a teeny tent.

AND...the fishing in the river is superb for salmon -- lots of silvers during the caribou hunts --, Dolly Vardens and BIG rainbow trout. You can fish right off the landing at camp, too.

This is the 'bou I killed there about 15 years ago.

I'm 38 and I'll be making a DIY drop camp hunt this September. My buddy and I are using Pa Pa Bear Adventures and I a was sort of led to him because my available schedule and weight limit
issues - they use some bigger planes. Supercub outfitters generally limit you to about 70 lbs of gear, while floatplane outfitters generally allow up to 125 lbs or more.

A few pointers, first (not to drive you somewhere else) but check out Alaska Outdoors Directory - Alaska Hunting Forum, buy as many books on the subject as you can read (get the The Alaska Atlas & Gazetteer for sure), line up your flight outfitter about 10 months in advance (they usually start booking late October-early November after their seasons are over), I'd really think about early to mid September (most outfits quit flying for caribou by the 20th of September and some areas may close early if there is a quota), I've heard the Mulchatna herd in the Lake Iliamna has pulled a disappearing act (thus we've moved west to Bethel), get good equipment and remember that "cotton kills".

I'm going to post a hunt report and gear list when I return, so keep a check here. Feel free to PM me for specific questions. Lot's of good information and helpful people here if you're polite and patient.

Here's a photo of me first testing out my tent:

I would not recomend hunting the mulchatna heard. numbers have droped off there the last ten years and bulls like the one in the earlier post were the norm back then but now days they are few and far between. I think I would look at the porcupine heard. I haven't hunted it myself in almost twenty years but I haven't heard of any problems up there.