My wife and I are buying a small piece of AK and cabin about 10 mi. SE of Skwentna. I've heard there are moose and black bears in addition to the world class salmon fishing, but ..., does any know if there are any decent areas for hunting caribou on the Skwentna side of the mountains - that you can get to with a small wheel plane. Or, do you have to get on the other side - like maybe through Rainey Pass? My best friend is building a tailwheel Cessna 150 that we are going to be using - he's the pilot also.

How many horse engine in the 150 ??

Having messed around out that way alot mainly on the petersville side on wheelers and the skwentna side this past year on sleds I have never seen caribou out there. I beleive that sits in unit 16B they say the caribou every great moon will wander over from the park but not in great numbers (again this is what I was told) even though the regs say you need a harvest ticket for 16B and 16A. We covered alot of country this winter mainly rode on the Kahiltna river and rode to all the lodges out there as well (done on seperate trips) Unit 16B is under a very aggressive predator control program due to alot of bears in there, the moose population has been hit hard, the reason for the very aggressive predator control program. Good luck on you new piece of heaven some beautiful country you will be living in for sure!

I think it's 100 hp - whatever the standard for a, um, 1963 (I think). It's the last year they made them with the straight vertical stabilizer. I'm not the plane expert - still learning.

Weight wise, I think we'll be able to fly the two of us, 100 lbs of gear (with the extended baggage compartment), and full fuel. If we kill something, it'd be an extra trip. And the end game is to fit it with a STOL kit and bigger tires (Bushwheels are pricey). It'll be sort of a poor mans Supercub (but we'll only have about $17K in it (not counting his time).

If you don't mind me saying, skis are very popular and add versatility to some planes and recreational property. I'd guess your place will be very pretty in the winter months.

When we first came to Alaska in early 90's, we lived in MatSu for a few years, then moved up on the Yukon. As I remember it, they had a tier II permit system for caribou that was a nightmare. Either you lied on application or had been a resident for 30 years to get the tag. I'm not sure how it now is, but always remember there are caribou migrations within a 10 hour drive from that area and most people do fill their tags, most years unless the caribou just don't show up as they do from time to time.

quote:

Originally posted by Zhurh:
When we first came to Alaska in early 90's, we lived in MatSu for a few years, then moved up on the Yukon. As I remember it, they had a tier II permit system for caribou that was a nightmare. Either you lied on application or had been a resident for 30 years to get the tag. I'm not sure how it now is, but always remember there are caribou migrations within a 10 hour drive from that area and most people do fill their tags, most years unless the caribou just don't show up as they do from time to time.

That would be the Nelchina caribou herd for the tier 2 hunt. Things have changed for that since last year after the state was sued over how that hunt was basically ran. They also have draw tags for that herd as well.
But as far as caribou in unit 16A ro 16B I have never seen any and I know folks that ride in there alot and have never seen them either. Most people head north up the Haul road and chase them around up there with bows or walk in the 5 miles and shoot them with a rifle.

We mostly hunt the 40 mile herd up the Taylor, we live in Eagle and last few years everybody gets their bou; heck we can hunt all winter but how many caribou does one really need. Last few years have been seeing nice bulls too. We also can ride snowmachine downriver and in to get to porcupine herd and also some small herds out there too. I lose interest after it gets real cold.

Funny thing is, I had some Indian neighbors back east of Palmer when we lived there. For years, they had all the bou they could eat, then the numbers dropped they told me, no more caribou. Imagine that Indians not getting caribou. Anyway, I've been sending them caribou from up here, they like that ha ha.

Back in the 90's I never saw the numbers of caribou around Eureka that I see up here. No joke, I seen caribou spread out for miles in all directions 5-6 feet apart. I bet out western Ak, they see even bigger herds.