Background: The wife and I travel quite a bit. I am retired and we enjoy driving everywhere we go because she likes to stop and shop. We just returned from Canada/MT and are thinking about AK for 2009. I have a new 4x4 truck. We lived in AK years ago. We have sufficient funds to do about anything we want to do.

My questions are:
1.Is there a caribou herd whose migration route (or local numbers) is accessible by vehicle? IOW, can I expect to drive to a particular point and hunt caribou in "huntable" numbers?
2. What month would you advise we travel to AK?
3. As a Non Res, can I purchase a caribou tag over the counter or will I need to draw?

I'd appreciate your responses.

Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by LBGuy:
Background: The wife and I travel quite a bit. I am retired and we enjoy driving everywhere we go because she likes to stop and shop. We just returned from Canada/MT and are thinking about AK for 2009. I have a new 4x4 truck. We lived in AK years ago. We have sufficient funds to do about anything we want to do.

My questions are:
1.Is there a caribou herd whose migration route (or local numbers) is accessible by vehicle? IOW, can I expect to drive to a particular point and hunt caribou in "huntable" numbers?
2. What month would you advise we travel to AK?
3. As a Non Res, can I purchase a caribou tag over the counter or will I need to draw?

I'd appreciate your responses.

Thanks

http://www.adfg.state.ak.us/
Bring 2-3 spare tires, hope you really like to drive. It is possible & will involve some hiking! Have a good one

1. Yes, take a look at the map below. Most of Alaska has caribou, that doesn't mean you can shoot one from the road.

2. The season opens early so Alaskans can hunt caribou before the school year starts. Check out the tsturm's website post. www.adfg.state.ak.us

3. Yes you can! Though just because you can buy a caribou tag doesn't mean you can hunt the same areas as the residents. Alaska game laws are about as confusing as petroglyphs. I have almost 9 years of Alaska resdidency and I read the book every year (mostly for entertainment as I have been working overseas for years). It suprises me how much the laws change every year.

It is worth buying a black bear tag, and wolf tags. Remember damn near every black bear (excepting those glacier bears and very few cinnamons (98% of Alaska's black bears are black and 1.9% are glacier and .1% or less are another color) are pitch black.

First, thanks for the responses.

I wouldn't want to shoot one from the road. I only meant can I get close enough to where a herd usually travels using my vehicle. I'm still relatively young (58) and in great physical shape, so hiking and humping out the meat would not be too difficult as I still cary out my own elk these days.

The wife and I expect to take a month to 6 weeks for this trip and I was wanting to hunt something during a portion of our days there. One can only watch one's wife shop for so long!

I'll look at the suggested web site.

Thanks again.

The central arctic heard is the most commonly road accesible caribou that are hunted with over the counter tags. The upside is that there are definately huntable numbers. There are a few downsides.

Shortly after leaving fairbanks it is a gravel road. It is the primary access to the oil fields, so there is constance traffic of big rig trucks. You are almost guranteed to need a new windshield after driving the road. There are only a few places to stop and get gas or diesel.

There are a limited number of spots you can legally pull off, so research that. Hunting with a firearm requires you be 5 miles off the road. The area is patrolled via airplane by F&G, so don't think you can pop one at 3 or 4 miles and nobody will no. 5 miles may not sound like much on terrain that appears to be fairly flat grassland, but it is tundra which means uneven hummoncks that can do a job on your ankles. Most people vastly underestimate the difficulty of packing an animal 5 miles across tundra. If you bow hunt the 5 mile buffer does not apply, but then you have to compete with hoards of folks that want to walk a few hundred yards off the road to put an arrow in a caribou. The best compromise is to bow hunt 1-2 miles off the road.

Caribou are nomads, so where they will be any one day is anyones guess. You may have to put a fair number on miles running the road to figure out where they are, or might be.

August is probably the best month.

And, you're above the arctic circle so it can and will snow any month of the year. Be prepared for severe weather and have the ability to perform basic repairs on your vehicle.

Does a crossbow count as bowhunting on the pipline cooridor?

Paul H - I thank you sir for a most informative response. I killed several caribou when I lived in AK, but the hunts were all "Fly In", so I have no past experience to draw upon regarding road access.
Thanks Again.

I believe the regs say that a crossbow can only be used in hunts open to rifles. So for the haul road hunt you would have to hike out 5 miles to use a crossbow.

Check with F&G, but I'm 90% sure that's what the answer will be.

I talked to the state, no crossbows in the pipeline coridor, not one fish cop in Fairbanks could tell me why.

Page 17 of the hunting regs:

General hunting restrictions

You may not take game by:

(many items are listed and by the top of the right hand column)

Using a crossbow in a restricted weapons hunt.

Except:you may use a crossbow in any hunt that does not restrict weapons.  

That's what fairbanks F&G said, I didn't talk to a fish cop but the lady knew all the regs. She said that it was a pretty common question.

Not trying to hi jack the thread but when I moved up here I wanted to hunt caribou it was #1 on the list of things to hunt. Then I started hearing the stories. Chicken turns into a zoo. Tok wasn't any better. Then I heard about the Haul road hunting, that was enough for me no caribou hunting for me for awhile. I guess the best thing is to book a flight and fly in and get away from everyone.

You need to drive someplace away from Anchorage like Tok or Fairbanks and then fly in. Flying in From Anchorage is about like hunting from the haul road.