Hunting out of Kotzebue
hump Hi Guys:
My name is Walt and I own Northwest Alaska Back Country Rentals here in Kotzebue. I live here year round and have a wealth of personal knowledge of the area and take great pride in assisting you in arranging a great hunting or fishing trip into western Alaska. A have attached my standard “pitch” letter and it will answer a lot of questions and hopefully get you think about your next hunt into the best caribou hunting in Alaska. Please check out my web site and drop me a line if you have any questions about drop or float hunting in WACH of Alaska.
Walt
www.northwestalaska.com
Thanks for contacting me and allowing me to pitch my services:
I live in Kotzebue AK which is the jump off point for most hunts into the Western Arctic Caribou Herd (WACH) which is currently at 500,000 animals. Most hunting packages offer a drop camp for a fixed rate per hunter and most are in the $2,500-3,000 range (a head). What I do is work with the client to choose a good river to hunt depending you needs and the dates that you can hunt, assist in lining you up with a local flight service and rent any equipment that will be needed to make your hunt affordable and comfortable.
Flight Services:
I work with 3 local pilots who live in Kotz and know the region very well, are very safe and charge by the hour for the entire plane rather than by the head. This reduces the cost a bunch because you fill the plane up and split the cost with your hunting group and with my assistance we choose the river to hunt. I work with the local pilots including law enforcement on a daily basis where the game is moving. This allows me to direct your hunt into the most productive rivers thus increasing your chances to see large numbers of trophy animals. Most drop services will put you in 2-3 areas that are close to town and do produce animals but they are normally thick with other hunting camps.
The pilots are charging between $600 and $650 an hour right now and most of the areas that I send my clients are between 1.25 -2 hours out. I work very hard at getting you in the caribou and away from the heavily concentrated areas. We can also send you into the Squirrel of the Noatak Flats which are closer and less expensive to reach but see more hunting pressure every year.
Gear Rental:
I provide everything that you will need for your hunting camp ranging from total Float hunts, total camp rentals and kitchen packages so all you need to worry about is arriving ready to hunt. My rates are listed on my web site at
www.northwestalaska.com Most of my clients choose float hunts because it increases you odds of seeing large groups of caribou but about 25% do rent camp packages for drop hunts and they also have good results.
Let’s look at some dates because the caribou are migrating and will be in various rivers ant different times and this is my most important job, putting you where the animals will be.
OK! Let’s start the planning process and get you fixed up for a great hunt!
Useful web sites that will assist your hunt planning.
Hunting tag info
http://www.adfg.state.ak.us/
http://www.wc.adfg.state.ak.us/index.cfm?adfg=unit23.main
Walt
Northwest Alaska Back Country Rentals
Your best bet in rafts, canoes and camp rentals
Kotzebue, Alaska
www.northwestalaska.com
Ok I just made it back from my “Sunday” caribou hunting trip. Well I took a rookie teacher out with me thinking I would show him the country and the dos and don’t about travel on a snow machine. We headed down towards the “Arctic Circle” to find some bou. We saw well over 500 animals in groups ranging from 8-10 to upward to 150 or so. These critters were spooky and we could not get with in 500 yards before they would head for the Russia at warp speed. Not to be detoured I swung to the east hoping for better cover and more animals. About 8 miles from town I spotted a small bull hanging around a small lake and he was the one. 2 shots later he was down and we gutted him in record time as it was almost dark and at -28 you work fast just to stay alive!
