The Tentative Game Plan for this Season

[Ovis]

Just got off the horn with a good friend from up north. Since Elkgunner backed out on me this season I guess moose hunting will go on hold. So it looks like I'll A) be packing in 5 miles one way for caribou and grizzly or B) go goat and black bear hunting out of PWS again. Maybe I can talk my buddy into a C) plan...both A & B.

 

[T Bone]

Just jokin on the ATV suggestion. I'm guessing live weight of a good interior grizz is 400-500 pounds?

I was thinking about 2005. Oscar and I and a couple others are going on the Moose, bou combo hunt. Rumour has it F&G is turning Unit 23 to a draw only Moose area....If I understand right, one is required to purchase the license to apply.

If we don't draw I'm not interested in paying that kind of coin for a bou hunt. I'll already have the license from the application. Maybe a Haul Road hunt will be in the picture. I'd love to stick a caribou and a blackie.

 

[Ovis]

On the grizz...most likely packing the cape, skull and maybe the straps. Then again if I like the meat, maybe more. I have never eaten interior/tundra grizz, but understand it is far different from the coastal fish eating bruins.

I hadn't heard that rumor. What I have heard is ADF&G adding moose to the list of species that requires a guide for non-res hunters. If this were to happen, it is likely still far down the road.

Haul Rd hunts are very economical. Black bear hunting is confined to the south side of the Brooks range (little bit of a distance from where the bou are) and even then the actual spotting areas are confined to an even smaller stretch of the road. Most of the area is very wooded. It isn't until get to about "Gobbler's Knob" (How is that for a name?) that it opens up more for spot-n-stalk. Still worth a tag for a large party. I have seen quite a few black bear around the road system.

 

[T Bone]

The moose drawing info is on page 4 of the regulations under the heading "MAJOR CHANGES IN 2004-2005 REGULATIONS" It states: Unit 23,Effective fall 2005 create drawing hunts for nonresidents. The nonresident drawing will be listed in the 2004 winter drawing supplent."

The outfitter says F&G may only limit said regs to a part of the unit that gets lots of pressure, not our area.

On the grizz I assumed it was required to bring out meat like in ID. Bear meat is the nastiest meat I've tried. It even overpowered Chili and sausage. I tried to feed it to the dog and she growled and barked at it.

For a Haul Rd hunt, would you say it could be done well with 7 days out of Fairbanks?

 

[Ovis]

Yah, 7 days would be good. Definitely wouldn't do any less than that. That gives you 2 days travel. You would likely have to decide after day 2 if you wanted to pack in 5 miles for caribou. If the stars are aligned, that gives you the day to get in, shoot your bou and pack out a load...and that is if you hussle. It'll take 1 guy 2 trips to get a bou out 5 miles. You can do the math if you have more people and less bou. Some people camp out there 5 miles, others go out for the day and come back to the road by night...which can be very exhausting. We'll be camping out there if and when we go.

 

[Oak]

Way to go, Gunner. How could you back out on a hunting trip like that?

Ovis, wish I had to make your choices.

Oak

 

[T Bone]

5 miles is a long ways to back out a grizz. Can't you get an ATV and just drive in?

I take it you are still classified as an AK res?

 

[Ovis]

No ATV's allowed T-Bone, this hunt takes place in the very delicate and pristine ANWR. In fact this is the same place where Moosie would like to one day venture off to for his caribou bow hunt. My buddy doesn't shoot a bow, so rifle hunters pack out to the 5 mile corridor...it may be an even further hike to find caribou.

I'd much rather pack a tundra grizz than a caribou out 5 miles, but I'm looking for a nice white mane bou with good solid headgear...none of that foo-foo velvet stuff for me

Yelp, I still have my residency in AK...always will. That's where the hat will hang as soon as I punch out from the military (before then if I can help it).

Oak

Don't be too hard on the Gunner, he did manage to do the boat trip to SE AK with me this year and I have to give him credit for taking the oldest-little-Gunner to Africa. I know how it is when you kinda consume all the time off from work.

 

[Erik in AK]

Ovis,
If you can get a hold of a cat-raft(and someone in your party has some white water experience)
consider running the Atigun. Don't let the topo map scare you off its doable. It gets thin in spots and has a shale bed so cutting the boat and hanging up on mid-river boulders can be issues. The gates of the gorge is class IV to V but short (200 yards) and you can line the boat down river, then its an easy 3 mile float to the confluence with the Sagavanirktok. From midway down the Atigun, to about 12 miles downstream of the confluence you're outside the bow only corridor. From there its about another 20 miles to the take out at Slope Mtn Camp (there's a boat launch behind the gravel pit). There is one big bitch of a staircase rapid in that stretch but other than that the float is not too difficult.

I ran it in 2002 and my boss took a 7 foot sow the biologists estimated to be over 25 years old.
The only caribou we saw were through bino's--teeny specks on distant ridges. They hung up on the coast near Kaktovik until late in 02.

I was going to do it again this year but I have friends/family coming for moose in 20A.

If you want more specific details let me know.

 

[Daniel in Ak]

howdy ovis! Hey when do youplan on being up on the slope? I'vee seen a few Bou come in already from up there,and I myself will be up there Aug22 thru about Sept1..

 

[AKHighmark]

I saw 7 blackies between Pump 6 and Pump 5 last week just driving the road. 3 were worth taking a poke at. Too bad I was in an Alyeska truck and not out hunting.

 

[Ovis]

Daniel

Looks like I am going to hunt goat and black bear out of PWS in October instead of caribou and grizz. Wish I could do it all, but 10 days only affords so much. Good luck to you guys hunting the slope though.