I've seen a few questions lately about Caribou Hunting and Mosquitos, 2 things that quite often go together. Here are some pictures of my August 2001 Caribou hunt North of the Brooks Range on the Ivishak River.



We drove north from Fairbanks on the haul road and put in on the Sag north of Pump Station 2, then boated several miles up the Ivishak.



Lots of things to see on the way. Farthest north Tree on the Haul Road.





Sheep In Atigun Pass.











Here's camp by the Ivishak River.

And some Caribou.

My Caribou



Bobs.



Everyone got one!!!!

Water can be pretty shallow so need to be able to run in low water.




Hovercraft worked real well.

Lets talk about the weather. One year later, Aug 2002.

On the drive up.



Camp, within 200 yards of the last year.




Time to go.




Snow melted and flooded road. About an hour after passing through, the road washed out and took several days to fix. We just made it out.

Thanks for sharing the great photos! I haven't had a chance to hunt up there, but have had a chance to drive from Prudhoe down to Pump 4 and back, and did some canoeing in the evenings. I've also been up from Fairbanks to Pump 5, but unfortanately haven't been through Attigan yet. Beautiful country, I'll have to make a road trip up there one of these days.

Good taste in trucks, I've also got a white Toy extra-cab, though of older vintage and w/ a shell.

Do you think a zodiak would be of any use in teh rivers, or is it johnboat w/ jet or go-devil only country?

Paul,
Your right about it being beautiful country, I worked out of PS 5 for a couple years and loved the area. I have seen people make the trip in a flat bottom boat with a jet, but they had to get out and do some pushing. We usually have to do some pushing also, and the water is swift in spots. I dont have enough experience with zodiacs to say it couldn't be done if your're willing to do some work. The water level changes a lot depending on the weather, probably have better luck towards the afternoon when the water level is higher from the snow melting in the mountains. We see Musk Ox, Grizzlies, and Wolfs on the trip also. We go in August because the water level is usually higher, later it becomes a airboat hunt and can get crowded and quite noisy from what I understand. The go- devils are slow, but they get you there.

JD