Brooks Range Caribou Hunt

[Rainier10]

I really appreciate the information you guys are providing and am looking forward to wetwoodshunter's thread and account of his trip when he starts one.

I will say this about guided trips and I think it relates to this one as well.

I have been on a few guided trips.  When the hunting or fishing are on fire nothing else matters.  When the hunting or fishing are not so hot all the little things seem to matter way more.  What bugs me is the little things are what you can control.  The guide can't control whether the fish are biting or the animals are there.  They can control the food that you eat, the gear that you use and the transportation to and from the hunt.  I have been skunked on trips before but everything that was in the guides control was exceptional and nothing to complain about.  I have been on others where the hunting was great and what the guide did was not up to par but the hunting or fishing was so great it didn't matter and then I have been on trips when the hunting or the fishing was terrible and those are the ones that everything is an issue and having the stuff that can be controlled not be right just really adds salt to the wound.

[jackelope]

I just did the same hunt, I believe you were right below us on the river, we did hear your 7 shot fiasco when you harvested your bull. 5 shots all at once and then 2 more a few minutes later.

We had troubles with gear and the outfitter. He made us wait at the ramp twice for 4 hours each time going in and out, we were in an airboat wreck, he gave us a soaked tent and no cook stove for 2 days, our tent was better than yours was, cabelas alanak, but during the blizzard the wind nearly destroyed it. Also there is no way to keep it warm since they have mesh windows you cannot close, water would condensate on the mesh and drip on us all night on the inside of the rain fly.

Long story short, Ryan had a lot of bad luck this year with boats (sunk 1 another catastrophic breakdown). He was trying as hard as he could but with our service we will look for another hunt next time we do caribou.

We did harvest some animals, and had a great trip once we were in. The camps were way to close together, we hiked 60 miles in 7 days of hunting and ran into other hunters from other camps daily.

I kept a detailed journal of our experience, I'm undecided how I'm going to post the trip yet when I finish the article.

I agree. Write up and post your story. It would provide some insight for other hunters.


Not sure how I feel about the opening line, but it is what it is at this point I guess.

[Rainier10]

I just did the same hunt, I believe you were right below us on the river, we did hear your 7 shot fiasco when you harvested your bull. 5 shots all at once and then 2 more a few minutes later.

We had troubles with gear and the outfitter. He made us wait at the ramp twice for 4 hours each time going in and out, we were in an airboat wreck, he gave us a soaked tent and no cook stove for 2 days, our tent was better than yours was, cabelas alanak, but during the blizzard the wind nearly destroyed it. Also there is no way to keep it warm since they have mesh windows you cannot close, water would condensate on the mesh and drip on us all night on the inside of the rain fly.

Long story short, Ryan had a lot of bad luck this year with boats (sunk 1 another catastrophic breakdown). He was trying as hard as he could but with our service we will look for another hunt next time we do caribou.

We did harvest some animals, and had a great trip once we were in. The camps were way to close together, we hiked 60 miles in 7 days of hunting and ran into other hunters from other camps daily.

I kept a detailed journal of our experience, I'm undecided how I'm going to post the trip yet when I finish the article.

I agree. Write up and post your story. It would provide some insight for other hunters.


Not sure how I feel about the opening line, but it is what it is at this point I guess.

My guess is there are established routes that the caribou travel and he is just stacking hunters up in locations that are in close proximity to that migration and also easier for him to get to multiple camps with one trip.

The problem is in my mind is that takes away a bit from the alaska experience.  It sounds like the shooting is similar to the Colockum during rifle season, as the elk go by camps each one takes a few shots.

I agree it is what it is but it is also nice to know going in that you are going to be in close proximity to other camps for this hunt.  I would have just assumed that an alaskan drop camp would be remote and solitary.  Reviews like this are very informative and teach us not to assume anything.

[daddysprad]

I just wanted to add my 2 cents.   I was with Fred as he was my roommate in the tent.  We challenged each other nightly with our snoring but have known, hunted and worked together for years and just by the way, I was not the one who took the 800 yard shot and was amazed when they started shooting. 

A couple of notes.  Fred mentioned, the transportation and the equipment are two different companies although in the family.  If I were to go on this trip again, I would take my own equipment and not depend on anyone else.  There would be a weight issue but I would pay for it or I think Ryan would work it out. Ryan is a great guy and father trying to make a living; I respect that. 

The raft that was mentioned as a playtoy:   I bought and drop shipped to Ryan as a backup to the rented equipment.  I figured we could ride in the big raft and tow the caribou...haha.  They furnished an Explorere 200 which is what I buy for the grandkids to float the St Joe.  The rental cost for the Explorer 200 was $75.  It costs $17.99 on amazon.  We didn't even blow it up.

The biggest thing that I would figure out is how to dry out your clothes and sleeping bag (other that a real tent).  There is no wood to burn.  I also dropshipped 2 cases of 3 hour pressed logs thinking we would use them to help.  They were useless in the with and rain.  Mist, rain wind, snow and old guys walking through tundra create a lot of mosture.  You can keep changing clothes but eventually everything is damp and your pack empty.  Just having dry undies after 5 days is one of the most amazing things. next time I would buy the cheapest insulated underware that WalMart sells, one set per day.  At the end of each day I would burn that set.

There was no table to put the stove on so you cooked on your knees.  I know you survivalist out there are thinking " I would just craft a table out of the natural resources"...Problem is there is nothing to build it with,  No wood and the bushes barely reached your knees. We found an old frying pan in a abandonded camp and you'd of thought we won the lottery.  We had to use our trekking poles to hang the gravity fed water filter.

Take wax boxes with you.  They don't know what they are in Deadhorse. 

I saw more caribou than Fred, probably 30 because of my spotting scope and my location.  I would also suggest leaving the spotting scope at home .  Pretty heavy to carry and gives you false hope since you cant run a caribou down in the tundra.  Good binos would do fine.

Here is how I would use Ryan's services again.  All of the rivers in that area eventually run into the Sag river.  Most of the Sag is in the 5 mile archery only area from the pipeline. If I ever did that particular hunt again,taking my own equipment,  would also have a large real raft.  I'd have Ryan take me as far up the most remote river possible twards the Brooks range and have him drop me off.  I'd then spend a week floating back toward the Sag hoping to find the caribou.

This was a bucket list thing for me I had been planning for 30 years.  The lack of caribou could not be helped, but the comfort in camp could have.  My suggestion to Ryan is to figure out how to communicate to his hunters 24/7 who have questions and need answers.  He could also bolster up his website with some more current info like the infamous wax boxes.  He should get out of the equipment business.  I thinks if it hadn't been for the poor equipment, we'd have little to complain about.

Sorry to jack this thread Fred for what it's worth. 

 

[Rainier10]

That last post is exactly what I am talking about.  The stuff that can be controlled should and if the animals aren't there at least the stuff that can be controlled doesn't bring you even farther down even more because it is sub par.

[Machias]

 

[h20hunter]

Some excellent posts.

[JoeE]

What was the cost for the trip for each person?

[tlbradford]

Congrats Fred!  Thanks for the great write-up, movies, and photos.

[Wetwoodshunter]

Congrats Fred, and so you know I meant no disrespect in my previous post. I was glad to read your story we were thinking someone got charged by a grizz.

[Jpmiller]

I was going to take my dad up on this hunt this summer before his health went South. I appreciate the write up, gives me some questions to ask if I ever get a chance to make it up there with him

[Machias]

Congrats Fred, and so you know I meant no disrespect in my previous post. I was glad to read your story we were thinking someone got charged by a grizz.

I didn't have any problems with what you wrote,  I understood what you were saying.  😊

[Machias]

What was the cost for the trip for each person?

$2500 to the outfitter.  All told I spent around $5400ish.

[ihunt]

I also was up there with ryan aug 18-24 and it was a experience big time boat problems belt came off of motor crashed boat into a undercut bank blew the front windows out of the boat water coming in my hunting partner got hurt leg black and blue from hip to ankle and is still going to Dr. We did kill to big bull's only seen 25 Caribou total.It would be hard for me to recommend Ryan.

[ihunt]

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