Caribou Hunt Timing

Whip

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Nov 28, 2015
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Looking into starting the process of planning a caribou hunt for the 40 Mile herd within the next year or two. I'd really like to have them hard horned and hopefully with full white manes. They are just such beautiful animals.

What would you recommend for timing of the hunt? Mid September in sure would sure be fine for caps & horns, but I've also heard that the bulls can be almost inedible by then due to the rut. Meat is important to me, I don't want to kill one I can't eat.

Also wondering about how bad the bugs could be by going too early even if they have shed velvet.
It kind of seems like it's a fine balance to get the timing right for everything in looking for.

Thanks for any insights.
 

AKBorn

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Aug 14, 2018
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Are you considering a fly-out hunt, or trying to hunt the herd from the road? Different challenges for each -

For the road hunt - I think that 2 or 3 of the 4 "zones" in Unit 20 are accessible from the road (Zone 2 is the zone that has historically served the remote flyout crowd). However, I believe that most of those hunts open and close fairly quickly most years, depending on how fast the harvest goals are reached. Would be a tough deal to travel all the way to Alaska (if you are from the lower 48) and have the hunt close on you before you had an opportunity to really hunt.

For the flyout hunt - booking with a transporter would be the first challenge. 40 Mile Air is a great outfit, but tough to gat a reservation with unless you're a repeat customer. Tok Air is another option - more expensive and it seems that Zack is the lone pilot, so weather would wreak havoc with trying to stay on schedule if weather delayed or cancelled other hunters' flights. I am not sure if Jim Cummings with Golden Eagle Outfitters flies caribou hunters into the 40 Mile country these days.

Many bulls are out of velvet at the end of August and early September, although some still have velvet at that time. My buddy and I both shot bulls last Fall (2019) in the first few days of September - his was velvet, mine was hard horn.

One other note about the 40 Mile herd - the moose season in that area generally starts around September 8 for non-residents, and the air taxis are swamped with people hunting moose. Would be tough to schedule a caribou hunt within that Sep 8-18 timeframe, altho people have done it.
 

VernAK

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^^^^^THIS^^^^^

Jimmy Cummings flies into the NW area of 20E only......it's good caribou country but you can't always count on em being there.
 
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Whip

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I have hunted with 40 Mile Air so would be a repeat customer and would plan to use them as the transporter.
Thanks for the info. It seems like a tough balance to get the dates lined up perfectly for good edible meat and hard horned white manes. But that's the window I'll be trying to squeeze into.
 

AKBorn

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I have hunted with 40 Mile Air so would be a repeat customer and would plan to use them as the transporter.
Thanks for the info. It seems like a tough balance to get the dates lined up perfectly for good edible meat and hard horned white manes. But that's the window I'll be trying to squeeze into.

I have hunted bou with 40 Mile many times and will in the future. I always try to hunt from about August 30 - September 4 or so. About September 6 they are swamped with moose hunters flying in to start hunting on the 8th of September.

Most bou I have shot are out of velvet, had a couple that still had some velvet on them. My partner's last fall was in full velvet when shot on September 2.

All of the bou we have shot had excellent meat, none have been gamy or rutty.
 

NUGGET

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Oct 7, 2019
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Wouldn’t worry about the meat being gamey at all in sept. A wise man gave this perspective regarding caribou and the rut. Based on his experience the younger bulls leading up to the rut are the ones that taste horrible. The older mature bulls know the rut isn’t happening yet so their body hasn’t entered that stage. In all his years of guiding the big bulls were fine until the actual rut started. So shoot a big bull and call it good.
Good luck!
 
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Whip

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Good info - thanks!
Another question is how long to plan on being in the field. Again, I would plan to use 40 Mile Air and ask them to drop us wherever we would need to be based on current caribou concentrations.

I hunt with a traditional bow, so would want to allow enough time to have a reasonable chance to fill a tag with a respectable bull. Not concerned with a score - just a nice mature animal.
Would 7 days of actual hunting seem about right to try to accomplish that?
 

NUGGET

WKR
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Oct 7, 2019
Messages
328
Good info - thanks!
Another question is how long to plan on being in the field. Again, I would plan to use 40 Mile Air and ask them to drop us wherever we would need to be based on current caribou concentrations.

I hunt with a traditional bow, so would want to allow enough time to have a reasonable chance to fill a tag with a respectable bull. Not concerned with a score - just a nice mature animal.
Would 7 days of actual hunting seem about right to try to accomplish that?
7 days is good. Never too early to plan next years hunts!
 
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