Thanks for looking. I would love to do a caribou drop hunt and am looking for advice and recommendations. Probably me and a buddy we have plenty of good quality camping gear and would just like some recommendations on who you know or better yet who you have done a hunt like this with. Probably drop off hunt 5 to 7 days and picked up.
Thanks in advance.

I would call 40 mile air in tok. Pretty solid operation.

Doug

quote:

Originally posted by michaelj:
Thanks for looking. I would love to do a caribou drop hunt and am looking for advice and recommendations. Probably me and a buddy we have plenty of good quality camping gear and would just like some recommendations on who you know or better yet who you have done a hunt like this with. Probably drop off hunt 5 to 7 days and picked up.
Thanks in advance.

Michael,

Check out my hunt report on Alaska for an example of a good drop hunt. We do the same for Caribou (I'm going in September this year). We've sent dozens of clients up there now for caribou and everyone has come home happy with lots of re-bookings.

Let me know if you're interested.

Greg

A second vote for 40 mile air.

My advise: don't even think about using Illiama Air Guides

I had a great time with illiamn air guides. What went wrong with your hunt? Just curious.

quote:

Originally posted by Joel/AK:
I had a great time with illiamn air guides. What went wrong with your hunt? Just curious.

They dropped the three of us off where there were not any Caribou. Oh, we saw few cows and a couple immature bulls in 6 days, but nothing to shoot at. When "Bob" came flying in to check on us about the third day I asked him where the caribou were so we could go to them. He said he had no idea, he was just the pilot. We asked him to move us to a spot that was better and he called in on the radio and they at the other end said all the other spots were full with other hunters and we would loose a day of hunting even if they could. So basiclly they set us down in an area they knew had no Bou and took our 6k to give us a plane ride. Just so you dont think we were sitting around camp waiting for one to walk up to the tent our GPS said we walked 96 miles in 6 days. I would call that hunting. But.....I was with my son and brother, we got some great fishing in for Grayling in the Mosquito river, saw a couple huge moose from the plane and while hunting we saw a couple brown bears and a wolverine. Almost got a wolf also, but I missed and we ate buckets of blueberries till our poopie was purple.
Actually one of the finest get aways from civi that I have ever had, just a very rude and un-ethical outfit/guide/flying service. The guy who flies the charter plane from Anchorage to Illiamna and also lives in Illiamna also did not think much of them, nor the mechanic that was there working on their Beaver. The pilot and I got aqaunted as I was sitting in the second pilot seat and as I have a little background in flying we spoke quite a bit about it on the way back. Dirty Laundry and not worth mentioning
I think they should have refunded some money but she was pretty bitchy when I mentioned that so I figured it wasnt worth the effort. The really funny thing is the very next year I saw them at a convention and asked how the last season had went. The guy (different than anyone I had seen there before) said they had 100% success. After I told him we were some of the "hunters'and didnt take home a bou he changed his tune and said it wa his first year plugging for them and that was what they told him.
The other strange thing is the lady wanted us all to buy blackbear and wolf licenses. I spoke with other people afterwards about the area we were in and nobody had ever seen a blackbear in that part of the peninsula. Another way to make a few extra bucks I guess. Anyway lesson learned and advise given. I would like to go back on another unguided caribou trip with my son, but we will go with a flying service with a much better reputation. I have also heard 40 mile air is a good outfit and I am going to look into Gregs drop camp

They have changed, that's for sure. I hunted with them about 10 years ago. The day we flew to illiamn a, they called my wife and said there were no caribou and we could re-schedule, unfortunately, we were already in the air. On the last day of the hunt, they came early to pull us out. I still had a bull in bags about 3 miles away. The young kid said he would fly out and get them for me while I broke down camp.

Cindy was great to us and we still knocked over some decent bulls.

Shame they went that way, I really enjoyed hunting with them. To bad the mulchatna herd isn't all that great anymore, I know a few good outfitters.

Just in case anyone doesn't know, the Mulchatna herd is just about gone. Nonresidents can't even hunt caribou in Units 9, 17, or most of 19 (western units 19 A & B). I think I was in on the last hoorah in 2006 when I got my caribou. Advice - head north unless you really have something pegged. Hopefully the habitat will recover sufficiently and the predator population drops a bit so that the Mulchatna herd recovers one day, but right now, I'm not holding my breath.

Redlander,
I would say your 2006 was exceptionally lucky, not even a last hoorah! I was in 17B that year and my experience sounds identical to Full Roar's only it was with Alaska West Air....to say there were issues is an understatement! For caribou drop offs, I have heard really positive things about 40 mile and Papabear. Goodness, just the sight of a caribou gets my blood boiling, still need to get back up there to scratch that itch!

quote:

Originally posted by Full Roar:
My advise: don't even think about using Illiama Air Guides

Mark sold out his operation and moved to Oregon when the herd collapsed. They were the best in town when the Mulchatna Herd was in it's prime!

Check out RAM AIR out of kotzebue bush plane service they have rental packages good people hunted with them last year group of 4 we all killed caribou seen grizzlys every day any questions pm me Kevin