Decided to post up a photo recount of our trip rather than try and type it all out... I'll try and caption most of them to help tell the story. I'll start with the end result.
The trip started with a nearly 800 mile roadtrip north from Anchorage. The drive was nearly as awesome as the hunt itself.
I'll post some more this evening, work is beckoning. Have about 50 photos to show of wolves, grizzlies, moose, sheep, and of course some big caribou.
Dr. Brad hard at work helping convert our rental cargo van into the ultimate hunting machine. Racked up 2400 hours in this bad boy in 11 days. We were super organized heading north to camp... After 7 days in the tundra and breaking camp down in the rain, the ride back quickly became a "throw everything in an we will sort it out later" loading experience...
The coolest experience of the trip was meeting a hunting idol of mine, Dr. Jack Frost. Spent an evening at his home listening to stories from the glory days of hunting. His living room was a sight to behold. Very humble guy for all he has accomplished.
On the drive north we passed two wolves right off the gravel road we were traveling... They bedded down at 50 yards. I got excited because in Alaska you can use a more expensive tag to tag a less expensive animal. Caribou tag costs $325 and a wolf tag is $30. I would have GLADLY traded down to get an archery wolf. We rip out the regs to make sure it was in season... No dice... For the unit we were in, wolf season didn't open for another 7 days. Bummer, but a cool experience none the less.
There is no way to put into words just how horrible the bugs were up there. A black cloud surrounding you is an understatement. After our week stint, I counted over 100 mosquito bites when I got back and took my first shower. If DEET causes cancer, I will most assuredly have it now. We drenched ourselves in it multiple times a day, and a face mask was always a must. Here I am grumpily setting up camp because I hadn't adjusted to the bugs yet on Day 1. It was miserable at first, but I didn't even notice them by the end.
We got within 5 yards of smaller caribou several times. If you sit dead still, they just don't see you. The bigger older animals were smarter, but these were all yearlings and most likely had never even seen a human before yet.
Mid way through our trip we had a grizzly about 700 yards from camp. A little unnerving, especially with a meat cache hanging nearby... But luckily it never bothered us. I didn't get out of the van to get closer for pics, so you will have to excuse me on these haha.
Outstanding pictures. Looks like an incredible trip topped off with a great trophy. That is a beautiful caribou. That is something I would love to do some day.
A little background on the hunt, we did the Dalton Highway hunt or the "Haul Road" as many know it. When they built the Trans Alaskan Pipeline (pipes oil down from Prudhoe Bay all the way south) they built a "highway" to follow it. I use that term loosely, because over 80% of the road is unsurfaced as a rough dirt/gravel road. Anyway, the state of Alaska made this road a bowhunting only zone for 5 miles from the road in either direction. We drove north, up and over the Brooks Range, and camped on the north slope about 60 miles from the Arctic Ocean. This pic is going through Atigun Pass in the Brooks. A very scary stretch of road in bad weather. This road is what a few seasons of Ice Road Truckers was filmed on. One of the last stretches of paved road. This is right around the town of Coldfoot, which is essentially just a truck stop south of the Brooks.
We spotted my bull on day 2, by pure luck really. It was about 1.2 miles off the road... so it was quite the hike packing that big boy out of there. Anyone who has walked across the tundra knows, a mile in the tundra is equal to about 5 on pavement. The sponginess sucks, and it tires you out quickly. My bull feeding in the distance. The stalk to gun range was easy. I was within 200 yards in 30 minutes. It took an additional 4 hours of belly crawling and waiting to close the final distance. The bull was bedded for hours so I had to just lay there and wait. It finally stood and fed over the hill so I ran to the hill crest and hoped he was in range. I was shocked to find him at SIX yards when I peaked over. I drew back sent a stick through his heart, and he toppled over 30 seconds later about 40 yards down the hill from his bed. Best feeling in the world walking up to a clean bowkill. Locked/Punched Tags are a beautiful thing. Getting to share it with a best friend since grade school made it all the better. Alaska laws require no waste of meat. As you can see, you pick it clean to nothing left essentially. The bottom part is the hide, then the blob is the stomach, the few bones at the top are all that remain of the entire carcass once we butchered it. We didn't weigh the packs, but I know they were easily north of 90 lbs. I'd guess mine between 100-110. Pretty grueling walk out, but I loved every second of it.
To keep meat from spoiling, you gotta keep it dry, in the wind, and out of the sun. This was our setup which worked well. A sawhorse with a tarp stretched over it to shed water.
Sometimes when you look over in the bushes you have an OH **** type of moment... Then you realize that while still dangerous, it wasn't nearly as bad as the grizzly you first thought it was. We got within 15 yards of this prehistoric looking beast. Amazing animals.
We didn't like the style of most of the hunters up there road hunting by cruising around all day every day so we spent our time parked, hiking in a few miles off the road out of sight, and spent our time glassing for animals. The migration hadn't started yet so these were all just resident animals, few and far between. We saw less than 100 animals in 8 days. None the less, we still had plenty of opps at big bulls with enough boot leather worn.
