Kaitum
Well-known member
Hello, new forum member here. I thought I'd start my first post with a recap of a float hunt my wife and I did this past August in the Brooks Range of Alaska. I posted this same story on the AOD forum so those of you who visit that site may have seen the pics. Bare with me as I figure out the picture posting process....
I've lived in Alaska for almost five years and have been intrigued about float hunting for the past several years. So this past summer it was time to make a float trip happen. My wife would be my hunting partner, if anyone can tolerate me for a week long trip in the wilderness its her!
The drive from Anchorage to Happy Valley (about 70 mile south of Deadhorse) is a long one but part of the adventure. The first 2/3rds of the drive was nothing but solid rain, luckily the clouds parted when we hit the Brooks Range. Amazingly, those would be the last drops of rain to hit us for the next 9 days! We reached our air taxi, had plenty of time to double check our gear, and late in the afternoon we were off for the headwaters of our selected drainage.
After a 1/4 mile portage from our drop site to the river we set up camp and called it a day. We had approximately 85 river miles to float from our put in to the take out. I expected low water conditions so we packed light. Still we did a lot of dragging those first couple days and progress was slow. Luckily the weather was amazing and the arctic char were hungry!
Three days into the hunt river flows picked up enough that I felt we could add the weight of a caribou or two to the raft and not have to worry about dragging too much. Unfortunately, despite a lot of glassing we weren't seeing animals. That's the thing about caribou, there one day and gone the next 364.
Day four we were nearing an area where the river left the mountains and flowed out onto the tundra. Folks I talked to who had hunted this river before told me to hunt the mountains and not spend much time on the tundra, so we set up camp and decided to explore a side valley away from the main river the next day.
With our backpacks ready we left the raft for a day of exploring. As we rounded a small knoll we stumbled right onto a small grizzly at 20 yards, his head was buried in the blueberry bushes. I had a bear tag with me but could tell right away this fella was small so I had no interest in harvesting him. However, I still had a bear in very close proximity that we had to deal with. We started backing away slowly and moving uphill. Soon after he lifted his head to see us. We each held our ground for a moment (felt like many moments) and after he stood on his hind legs to catch our scent he ambled off the other way. As we watched him move across the valley my wife looked behind us to see a cow caribou on the mountain side looking right at us. Having seen very few animals at this point we decided to go for her. My wife encouraged me to go ahead and she'd stay behind watching through the spotting scope. I didn't have much cover and she was on high alert but I was able to close the distance and take the shot. With one caribou down we packed her back to camp and spent the rest of the day cooling the meat down in the river and relaxing.
The next day we floated out of the mountains and covered a fair amount of river. Weather still amazing, scenery equally as beautiful, and caribou still scarce. Oh yeah, and the fishing was still fantastic! We had caribou tender loins over a fire that night and watched the only rain cloud we had seen our entire float drift over the mountains.
Up early on Day 7, river flows were picking up and with a long day of rowing I figured I could reach our take out. However, not long into our float that morning we rounded a bend and I could see antlers on a distance gravel bar. We drifted to about a 1/4 mile away, beached the raft, my wife grabbed her rifle, and the stalk was on. I really wanted my wife to harvest a caribou on this trip and I thought this was going to be her time. But at 250 yards we ran out of cover on the open gravel bar and the caribou (2 bulls) were getting antsy. We discussed the situation and the shot distance was too far for my wife's comfort. We waited as long as we dared, hoping our luck may change, but the caribou started moving off. The larger of the two bulls hesitated a bit too long and when he turned broadside I took the shot. Caribou #2 down, we were both very happy although I was bummed my wife wasn't able to harvest that bull.
We processed that bull, loaded up the raft and floated downriver a few more miles to camp for the night. The next morning we pushed hard and made the take out by late afternoon. What a wonderful trip through some amazing country, and best of all I got to share the entire experience with my wife. What a trooper! Some final pics:
Jeff
I've lived in Alaska for almost five years and have been intrigued about float hunting for the past several years. So this past summer it was time to make a float trip happen. My wife would be my hunting partner, if anyone can tolerate me for a week long trip in the wilderness its her!
The drive from Anchorage to Happy Valley (about 70 mile south of Deadhorse) is a long one but part of the adventure. The first 2/3rds of the drive was nothing but solid rain, luckily the clouds parted when we hit the Brooks Range. Amazingly, those would be the last drops of rain to hit us for the next 9 days! We reached our air taxi, had plenty of time to double check our gear, and late in the afternoon we were off for the headwaters of our selected drainage.
After a 1/4 mile portage from our drop site to the river we set up camp and called it a day. We had approximately 85 river miles to float from our put in to the take out. I expected low water conditions so we packed light. Still we did a lot of dragging those first couple days and progress was slow. Luckily the weather was amazing and the arctic char were hungry!
Three days into the hunt river flows picked up enough that I felt we could add the weight of a caribou or two to the raft and not have to worry about dragging too much. Unfortunately, despite a lot of glassing we weren't seeing animals. That's the thing about caribou, there one day and gone the next 364.
Day four we were nearing an area where the river left the mountains and flowed out onto the tundra. Folks I talked to who had hunted this river before told me to hunt the mountains and not spend much time on the tundra, so we set up camp and decided to explore a side valley away from the main river the next day.
With our backpacks ready we left the raft for a day of exploring. As we rounded a small knoll we stumbled right onto a small grizzly at 20 yards, his head was buried in the blueberry bushes. I had a bear tag with me but could tell right away this fella was small so I had no interest in harvesting him. However, I still had a bear in very close proximity that we had to deal with. We started backing away slowly and moving uphill. Soon after he lifted his head to see us. We each held our ground for a moment (felt like many moments) and after he stood on his hind legs to catch our scent he ambled off the other way. As we watched him move across the valley my wife looked behind us to see a cow caribou on the mountain side looking right at us. Having seen very few animals at this point we decided to go for her. My wife encouraged me to go ahead and she'd stay behind watching through the spotting scope. I didn't have much cover and she was on high alert but I was able to close the distance and take the shot. With one caribou down we packed her back to camp and spent the rest of the day cooling the meat down in the river and relaxing.
The next day we floated out of the mountains and covered a fair amount of river. Weather still amazing, scenery equally as beautiful, and caribou still scarce. Oh yeah, and the fishing was still fantastic! We had caribou tender loins over a fire that night and watched the only rain cloud we had seen our entire float drift over the mountains.
Up early on Day 7, river flows were picking up and with a long day of rowing I figured I could reach our take out. However, not long into our float that morning we rounded a bend and I could see antlers on a distance gravel bar. We drifted to about a 1/4 mile away, beached the raft, my wife grabbed her rifle, and the stalk was on. I really wanted my wife to harvest a caribou on this trip and I thought this was going to be her time. But at 250 yards we ran out of cover on the open gravel bar and the caribou (2 bulls) were getting antsy. We discussed the situation and the shot distance was too far for my wife's comfort. We waited as long as we dared, hoping our luck may change, but the caribou started moving off. The larger of the two bulls hesitated a bit too long and when he turned broadside I took the shot. Caribou #2 down, we were both very happy although I was bummed my wife wasn't able to harvest that bull.
We processed that bull, loaded up the raft and floated downriver a few more miles to camp for the night. The next morning we pushed hard and made the take out by late afternoon. What a wonderful trip through some amazing country, and best of all I got to share the entire experience with my wife. What a trooper! Some final pics:
Jeff
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(teasing you, Troy!)
