Post by: actionshooter on November 23, 2013, 10:14:27 PM
A couple of buddys and I hatched this plan 2 years ago while archery elk hunting in a Montana wilderness area sitting on a hillside glassing. While sitting there glassing, I said, ya know what I have always wanted to do...........and things spiraled out of control from there.. :chuckle:
My main research was word of mouth and of course the internet. We knew we wanted to go to Alaska and we wanted a combo moose/caribou float hunt. Our original plan was to be in the field for 3 weeks, but we eventually backed that off to 16 days. We chose a river on the south side of the Brooks range which I won't name.
We worked out the basics but didn't start any real planning until Oct 2012, that's when the air taxi started taking reservations. After January the planning and logistics became a weekly and then daily process. Lots of phone calls as one of my hunting partners in from Tenn. and the other is from Montana.
The trip kept growing as I decided to drive the gear to Fairbanks, with my partners send their gear to me via UPS. So I convinced my wife that we might as well make this a vacation for the two of us and she could fly home from Fairbanks. She didn't know what she was in for :chuckle: Its 2400 miles one way.
Through the summer I worked on my rowing, and getting gear ready to go.
My wife and I were on the road the last day of August.
We left pretty early in the morning, flew through customs with no issues and saw a band of Bighorns maybe 3 hours into Canada. We drove about 10 hours on day 1 and stayed the 1st night out of the back of the truck. I have a bunk with a futon mattress in the truck, gear storage under the bunk and gear in the trailer along with a generator and chest freezer.
More to come....
Post by: Solohunter84 on November 23, 2013, 10:29:19 PM
Post by: Hawgdawg on November 23, 2013, 10:32:06 PM
Tagged. Can't wait for more. Sounds like an awesome trip
How to you tag?
Post by: Solohunter84 on November 23, 2013, 10:33:38 PM
Post by: SemperFidelis97 on November 23, 2013, 10:35:49 PM
Post by: Hawgdawg on November 23, 2013, 10:40:46 PM
interested in this post at I lived above the circle and hunted the Brooks range for lot's of critters including Dall sheep, muskox, etc.
Post by: actionshooter on November 23, 2013, 10:53:38 PM
My wife was really enjoying herself somewhat to my surprise, she is more of a Mexico vacation kinda person.
I have always wanted to drive the Alaska hwy from end to end and got my way, MAN it was long. We had somewhat of an idea where we were going to stop, but I didn't even think about bringing a sign for the Watson Lake sign forest. :dunno:
We saw several black bears and I had never heard of the Forest Bison, very cool to see about a dozen of those in different locations. Its hard to tell from the pic, but they are really small.
Sheep mountain in the Yukon was awesome, never seen so many Dalls in one spot, over 75 on one hillside.
Post by: dewandgin on November 23, 2013, 10:59:27 PM
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk 2
Post by: wapiti hunter2 on November 23, 2013, 11:02:26 PM
Post by: johnnyaustin44 on November 23, 2013, 11:07:05 PM
Post by: KFhunter on November 23, 2013, 11:50:05 PM
Post by: Annette on November 24, 2013, 12:16:24 AM
Post by: JoeE on November 24, 2013, 12:26:45 AM
Post by: actionshooter on November 24, 2013, 07:48:39 AM
Back through customs and we drove into Tok and stayed the night in an RV park. I thought Tok was one of the coolest towns along the trip. The caribou on the car was at the local restaurant, almost wet my pants I was laughing so hard.
The next morning we were about half an hour out of town when my wife actually saw the lady hit the moose. She was shook up but unhurt, which was incredible. We stayed with here until the Alaska state trooper showed up, over an hour. We drove on to Fairbanks without any other incidents, where we stayed for the night.
Post by: actionshooter on November 24, 2013, 07:53:24 AM
Post by: Basket Rack on November 24, 2013, 08:03:51 AM
Post by: Wea300mag on November 24, 2013, 08:06:54 AM
Post by: actionshooter on November 24, 2013, 08:08:45 AM
We spent 2 days and I will go back someday just to do a backpacking trip.
We saw 6 griz, countless moose, sheep, caribou.
One incident that I can think of, my alternator went out between Fairbanks and Denali. One mobile mechanic, 8 hours and $450 we were back on the road.
Post by: actionshooter on November 24, 2013, 08:12:43 AM
Post by: actionshooter on November 24, 2013, 08:13:38 AM
Looks like the moose and Land Rover fought to a draw, or maybe simultaneous knockout. :yike:Ya I think they were both "totaled"
Post by: arees on November 24, 2013, 08:16:25 AM
Post by: Jason on November 24, 2013, 08:16:55 AM
Post by: Skyvalhunter on November 24, 2013, 08:21:23 AM
Post by: elkfins on November 24, 2013, 08:30:29 AM
Post by: LittleJohn on November 24, 2013, 08:33:14 AM
Post by: actionshooter on November 24, 2013, 09:00:54 AM
After 2 days in Denali the wife and I head back to Fairbanks and meet up with my buddies and send my wife home. We spend a day going through gear, picking up last minute items, and checking in with our carrier, Wright Air.
After a sleepless night its a bright morning and go time! The flight time is over 2 hours that didn't seem nearly that long. The pilot was a great guy with some stories that should be in a book! We land on the airstrip (2 planes) take a few pictures and start packing out gear to the river. The best looking tent site is across the river so we got to inflate the raft, load it and float about 50' across to unload and set up camp.
Post by: DeerThug on November 24, 2013, 09:09:08 AM
Post by: Skyvalhunter on November 24, 2013, 09:11:11 AM
Post by: Vulcan on November 24, 2013, 09:42:48 AM
Post by: Hawgdawg on November 24, 2013, 09:50:30 AM
Nice write up!! You think the roads are bad now you should have tried it in 89 when I did. Looking forward to more.
First post never has a chance. should of tried it in 1980!
Post by: KFhunter on November 24, 2013, 10:39:12 AM
Your trip is almost identical to one I'm planning, right down to the chest freezer and dropping the wife off :chuckle:
Post by: gasman on November 24, 2013, 10:55:35 AM
TAG :tup: :tup: :tup: :tup:
Post by: jackelope on November 24, 2013, 11:01:49 AM
Post by: trophyhunt on November 24, 2013, 11:28:39 AM
Hoping you include a cost breakdown at the end of the thread - or PM if you like?:yeah: I really need to do this before I'm not physically able, I would also love to see the cost break down. I'm guessing you are using rifles? Love this thread!
Your trip is almost identical to one I'm planning, right down to the chest freezer and dropping the wife off :chuckle:
Post by: The scout on November 24, 2013, 11:36:20 AM
Post by: Whitpirate on November 24, 2013, 11:55:09 AM
Post by: actionshooter on November 24, 2013, 01:21:01 PM
We get to setting the camp, check the zero on the rifles, a little scouting close to camp and glassing for the rest of the day.
**The game plan on this trip was to be dropped off as high as we could on the river and still be able to float. We would be concentrating on caribou in the upper area and stay in one location for the 1st 6 days. I had a mid-hunt meat pick-up scheduled with Wright, which was not an easy thing to coordinate. The area we picked was pretty far from Fairbanks and we chose our dates based on another groups trip so that our mid hunt meat pick up was on the back flight for their drop off. Then we would float and hunt moose for the next 10 days, with our drop off point being 112 miles below our put in. There was one small change as the river bar landing strip had washed out the previous year and the new one was farther downstream making our total float 130 miles long.**
In the evening we were glassing and around 8pm we saw our 1st 3 moose, a bull and 2 cows! This was a great thing as not one of us, 5 sets of eye including the pilots had seen a single hair the whole flight in. We went to bed excited that night! Up the next morning, getting dressed, eating and glassing we see 3 moose! I believe they were different from the night before as we saw 1 small bull, 1 cow and 1 possible shooter (possible shooters for us are legal bulls 50+ or 4 brows :chuckle:) They were well over 1-1/2 miles away as the moose the night before they were only 5-600 yards in a different direction. At this point I was stoked! I mean there aren't supposed to be very many moose up where we are, whats it going to be like 50 miles down river?!?
We split up and I never saw that moose again that day, I tried calling and one of the guys decided to follow them into the timber (or what they call timber in the tundra :tung: )
4 hours later he was within 75yards of the bigger bull but he just wasn't sure it was 50" so he let it go, for the rest of the trip I think he regretted that, as the trip wet on that moose kept getting bigger. :chuckle:
Later in the day my partner Kyle and I set up on the rivers edge and called, we sat for 5-6 hours and it was getting later in the afternoon but it was staying light till almost 9pm, there was still time. I suddenly spotted a bull moose well over a mile away and he looked good enough to get closer look, so off we went. It was tough to keep tabs on him, we were in the open and he was bedded in the trees on the upper side of a timbered ridge. If we weren't straight on we couldn't see him, so we would make tracks for a while and then creep back into the line of sight to make sure he was still bedded. I checked him at about 700 yards and he was still bedded and looked legal, the wind was right and I picked a location that I thought would be 3-400 yards from him to try and verify he was legal. Well, I got lost :chuckle: , everything looks the same up there.
I never found the exact location I was trying to get to, but I did find the bull and a cow, he was up and feeding but not really moving and was at 418 yards, definitely do-able for me, but I needed a better look at the spread. There was one more ridge between the bull and I and that would have given me a clear view and a 300 yard shot, less than a minute later I was there and he wasn't :bash:
I still don't know what happened, he was just gone, wind was good, he couldn't have seen or heard me. :dunno:
Kyle and I made the 3+/- mile trip back to camp in the dark, an exciting 2nd day to say the least.
Post by: bowhunterforever on November 24, 2013, 01:49:33 PM
Post by: deerslyr on November 24, 2013, 02:01:07 PM
Post by: wapiti hunter2 on November 24, 2013, 02:55:10 PM
Nice write up!! You think the roads are bad now you should have tried it in 89 when I did. Looking forward to more.
First post never has a chance. should of tried it in 1980!
We drove it in 1963 when I was 10. Dirt all the way. Great fishing everywhere we stopped. My dad still likes to tell the stories. he is 86.
Post by: Dblstks on November 24, 2013, 03:57:15 PM
Post by: TheSkyBuster on November 24, 2013, 03:59:14 PM
I rode the Alcan, the Dalton, and the Cassiar on a motorcycle trip a couple years ago. I didn't have time for the Denali on that trip but it appears I missed out. This looks like an awesome Hunt, I'm looking forward to more. :tup:
Post by: actionshooter on November 24, 2013, 04:10:16 PM
Post by: Wea300mag on November 24, 2013, 04:40:40 PM
Post by: cwuhunter on November 24, 2013, 04:58:50 PM
Hoping you include a cost breakdown at the end of the thread - or PM if you like?
Your trip is almost identical to one I'm planning, right down to the chest freezer and dropping the wife off :chuckle:
:tup:
Post by: actionshooter on November 24, 2013, 05:31:06 PM
We moved to a position where I thought we would see them, and we did, at like 50 yards. 2 bulls and 1 cow. Kyle was slightly in front and he saw the bigger of the bulls, he put that one down and then I saw the smaller bull, one shot at 75 yds and he was down.
We quartered them out and started for the airstrip. We figured it was 1.8 miles one way which could have been worse, but walking that ground is never fun.
2 trips, meat cared for and protected at the airstrip, backstrap and idahoans and we were done. Whiskey and out. :chuckle:
The next day was a camp and fishing day. If you go, 3" Rainbow Rapala = grayling magnet. :tup:
Post by: actionshooter on November 24, 2013, 05:49:56 PM
The one picture is permafrost that was undermined by the river and falling in, it was really cool.
There was one issue that I didn't take into consideration, that was the current speed. We never did over 20 miles a day and a lot were 15 miles. Divided by 130 miles and we didn't have the amount of "out of the raft hunting" that I had hoped. There were also days when the wind would blow and with the slow current, rowing downstream was mandatory. 1st day was 18 miles on the river.
Post by: Jason on November 24, 2013, 05:53:35 PM
Post by: Skyvalhunter on November 24, 2013, 05:53:59 PM
Post by: actionshooter on November 24, 2013, 05:54:17 PM
That's cool, I tried and tried spinners and spoons, never caught a thing until I put that Rapala on.QuoteThe next day was a camp and fishing day. If you go, 3" Rainbow Rapala = grayling magnet. :tup:So do Pixies, and for char
We didn't catch any char either, the pilot told us they were only in the rivers that were direct into the ocean.
Post by: actionshooter on November 24, 2013, 05:55:20 PM
Great Pics, Boat rental from Larry Bartlett?No, but I bought it from him. :)
Post by: X-Force on November 24, 2013, 08:09:36 PM
Post by: Maverick on November 24, 2013, 09:25:32 PM
Post by: actionshooter on November 24, 2013, 09:32:05 PM
We were on the river for about an hour when we came around a bend and there were 30+ caribou coming off a bank and crossing the river a 100 yds in front of us. I made a speed boat paddle to the bank and Conan took the 1st shot since he hadn't killed an animal yet, after a small barrage the biggest bull was down and I focused on a smaller bull (only 2 bulls). After the big guy went down, the rest seemed confused and were just milling around. I took a solid rest, shot was perfect, broke right behind his shoulder. He didn't go down, but after the shot the herd took off and went into the brush. I was sure he would be just inside the brush.
Meanwhile Kyle was downstream about 300 yards and the caribou went right past him. I heard a single shot. Well, somehow I missed the 2nd bull and he got it. There was only a single bullet in the critter. I was really perplexed on what could have happened. Anyhow we had 2 caribou to take care of. The pack was easy and running water was nice. :) The fresh backstrap was welcome also.
With everything loaded we were getting ready to go, I was taking a little ribbing about my miss and realized the turret on my Leupold CDS was turned 3/4 revolution, and there was no way to determine which way. :bash:
My CDS is now duct taped.......
Post by: carpsniperg2 on November 24, 2013, 09:46:26 PM
Post by: Hawgdawg on November 24, 2013, 09:58:25 PM
QuoteThe next day was a camp and fishing day. If you go, 3" Rainbow Rapala = grayling magnet. :tup:So do Pixies, and for char
Pixies are the state bate. That is a dandy you got there. State record not much bigger!!!!
Post by: Machias on November 25, 2013, 05:08:39 AM
Post by: shootem on November 25, 2013, 12:22:10 PM
Post by: bigdave on November 25, 2013, 12:33:01 PM
Post by: boneaddict on November 25, 2013, 12:36:48 PM
Post by: Broken Arrow on November 25, 2013, 12:39:07 PM
Post by: Holg3107 on November 25, 2013, 01:12:21 PM
Post by: Gringo31 on November 25, 2013, 01:30:44 PM
:tup:
Post by: JODakota on November 25, 2013, 03:20:56 PM
Post by: luvmystang67 on November 25, 2013, 03:38:38 PM
Post by: C-Money on November 25, 2013, 04:28:56 PM
Post by: actionshooter on November 25, 2013, 05:41:43 PM
We were seeing little sign and only saw one cow moose. We continued calling, glassing from high ridges and the never ending floating.
I did have one very cool encounter I will never forget.
We stopped on a gravel bar to make coffee and have some lunch in the middle of the day, just sitting around the raft. Something caught my eye across the river about 200 yards out, it was black and moving fast. I yelled wolf, grabbed my rifle, jacked a round into the chamber and headed about 30 yards to a brush pile to get a rest. I didn't take my eyes off of it and soon realized it wasn't a wolf, it was a wolverine and he was heading toward us! I layed prone over the brush but couldn't get a clear shot due to the rolling banks, I would just catch a glimpse of his back once in a while.
I moved closer and he still didn't know we were there, Conan decided to jump in on the excitement and pretty soon he was in front of me angling to my left. I just getting ready to try and go sitting to take a shot and that wolverine jumped in the river and crossed to our side! He did it so fast I don't think he got wet! Well about the time he hit the bank he realized we were there, at about 50 yards and boom he was in the timber.
This timber patch was about 100 yds wide with sparse willows on the other side, Conan runs to the edge of timber to try and catch him crossing. I wasn't sure what to do, so I just stood there, after about a minute I got that funny feeling. I slowly looked to my left and the little bugger was standing on his hind legs at 30 yards looking at me! I throw the rifle up and saw him in the scope for an instant and he was gone, back into the timber. I ran over to the timber, had to climb a little bank on my knees, got to the top, looked up and there he was again! This time at 20 yards, only this time when he took off, he meant it. I tried tracking him in the broken snow, but that was the last time we saw him.
After we got back to Fairbanks we had dinner with a local, well known hunter who is a friend of Kyle's and he told me that most people will go a lifetime hunting in Alaska and never see a wolverine. I think that made the sting of not getting him worse. :chuckle:
Post by: HUNT on November 25, 2013, 07:08:50 PM
Post by: Benny on November 25, 2013, 07:18:22 PM
Post by: actionshooter on November 25, 2013, 08:04:34 PM
Atta Boy! It's all about the adventure! Isn't crazy how those bou swell up?You nailed it, Benny
Always thinking about whats next..
Post by: actionshooter on November 25, 2013, 08:35:12 PM
I had mentioned it was starting to get cold and snowy, well ya, it cut loose. We hit temps in the single digits and the snow and fog hammered us intermittently. If it was in the 20s during the day, it was a heat wave, that's not even considering the wind. Include the fact we basically lived in our waders, in short life sucked. We were camp bound for 2 days, couldn't see 50 yards through the fog. At one point we had to break ice to get the raft out of the river and I could walk on one of the frozen back channels. :'(
Here is something else to complain about, we didn't have a liner for our Kifaru tipi and the condensation would get bad, drip on our sleeping bags and then freeze, every morning we would have to shake the ice off of our bags and then try to get frozen wading boots on our feet.
I didn't realize I was having problems, but I came away from the trip with a bad case of Frost Nip. As I sit here writing, my toes/feet are still numb. The good news--- the doc said I should have feeling back in 6-9 months. :rolleyes:
We kept hunting and calling and floating but never saw another track the rest of the trip.
I didn't take a lot of pictures for the rest of the trip, but here are a few
Post by: actionshooter on November 25, 2013, 09:09:14 PM
It was a bitter sweet to see the plane.......... oh, that's a load of crap, I was ready to get the hell out of there. :chuckle:
We were picked up by a Helio which made 2 trips to Ft Yukon where we were shuttled back to Fairbanks in a ? bigger plane.
We were back in Fairbanks about 8pm and that bacon cheeseburger and tukey/coke never tasted so good. :)
We spent a couple of days getting gear and meat taken care of. Met some really cool folks and then I hit the road. I do have a buddy that I have to give some big thanks too. Hey flew up from SeaTac just to drive back with me. That is kind of a blur as we did the 2500 miles in 4 days.
I'll post somewhat of a budget since a few guys have asked....... It did get way out of hand, but this was a learning curve for us.
Post by: Wanttohuntmore on November 25, 2013, 09:16:33 PM
Post by: BoomWhop on November 25, 2013, 09:17:46 PM
Post by: actionshooter on November 25, 2013, 09:20:59 PM
Still sounds like a great adventure! I realize it's been 27 yrs since I've drove up there, need to do that again. Did a float trip 21 yrs ago. Bout due for another!Sounds like too long!
Post by: Machias on November 26, 2013, 05:47:26 AM
Post by: Skyvalhunter on November 26, 2013, 11:42:24 AM
Post by: Machias on November 26, 2013, 11:57:01 AM
Post by: Wea300mag on November 26, 2013, 04:51:52 PM
Post by: actionshooter on November 26, 2013, 05:17:24 PM
Post by: BIGMIKE on November 26, 2013, 06:30:25 PM
Post by: Stickerbush on November 26, 2013, 08:33:33 PM
Post by: wackum on November 27, 2013, 06:01:45 AM
Post by: Elkstuffer on December 19, 2013, 06:57:40 PM
A true dream hunt, I hope some day to do a similar hunt. :drool:
Definitely on my bucket list before I get too old. Thanks for taking the time to share your trip with us.
Post by: TeacherMan on January 24, 2014, 10:09:25 AM
Post by: bearpaw on January 24, 2014, 10:50:22 AM
Post by: lastmk8 on January 24, 2014, 11:49:17 AM
Post by: Boss .300 winmag on January 24, 2014, 12:03:51 PM
Post by: actionshooter on January 26, 2014, 10:11:26 PM
Didn't see any trail crews while we were in Denali, they were actually going to close the park for the season right after we were leaving.
Post by: Tracker20xray on January 29, 2014, 11:19:41 AM
Post by: Skillet on January 29, 2014, 11:49:37 AM