Kotz bou hunt

[Skullwhite_designs]

I have a spot ready to go for a caribou hunt this aug(18-25) just need to send the deposit. Before I pull the trigger a few questions. First, is this even doable to plan in 6 months? I see most guys reccomend a yr or more to plan this diy drophunt. Second, are these dates too early for Kotz? I see most people do mid to late aug. Thanks for the info! Any tips/tricks for this short notice would be appreciated!

 

[Corey Paulsen (teamkabob)]

@mcseal2 has a thread on the kotz hunt he did last year and if you read it your good to go.

yes, 6mo is double if you got the gear, which I’m sure you do.

I have no idea for Kotz on those dates.

Happy hubt

 

[kwackkillncrew]

Plenty doable. I really don't see any reason it wouldn't be doable. If its basecamp drop hunt your probably going to be camping where ever they drop you. They might be able to give you a general area now and you could do some google earth scouting. When your within a week of the hunt they might be able to give you a better idea of where they might drop you off so you can get the lay of the land from google earth. Not to much to plan for other then the right gear to bring.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

 

[Skullwhite_designs]

@mcseal2 has a thread on the kotz hunt he did last year and if you read it your good to go.

yes, 6mo is double if you got the gear, which I’m sure you do.

I have no idea for Kotz on those dates.

Happy hubt

That's a great thread thanks for that. Anyone have info hunting Kotz on or around these dates??

 

[Ono]

Pull the trigger, never know when/if you'll have the opportunity that is currently in front of you again. Plenty of time to prepare.

 

[Voyageur]

Pull the trigger, never know when/if you'll have the opportunity that is currently in front of you again. Plenty of time to prepare.

Sound advice on all fronts

 

[AKBorn]

6 months is plenty of time, but a couple of thoughts -

I see you're from New York - whitetail country like MD was for me.

If you have not hunted out West for elk or mulies, please take the time to review how to break larger animals down into loads that you can pack back to camp in your backpack. This is one key difference in hunting moose or caribou and hunting whitetails.

Another thing (if you have NOT hunted out West) is to get your legs and back in shape to haul meat/antlers/cape over very uneven terrain. I can't describe hauling meat over tussocks, it's a special kind of suffering that you will remember for a long time if you have to haul your caribou far. 2 miles (on two different occasions) is the furthest we have had to haul meat back to the ridgetop, hopefully our future hunts involve much shorter packs.

Another thought (again, if you have NOT hunted remote spots out West) - you will be a LONG way from help when the bush plane drops you off to hunt. Don't take unnecessary risks, be very careful when field dressing any animals. If you sustain a deep cut, it could be days before a plane can come by to take you back to somewhere that Emergency Services can offer any kind of aid.

Not assuming that you don't already know these things, just offering thoughts in case they haven't come up yet. Good luck and have a blast, you will remember this hunt for the rest of your life.

 

[Skullwhite_designs]

AKBorn, great info definitely will have my med kit along for the trip! If I've learned anything over the years, a tourniquet butterfly strips and tylenol can be a real saving grace! Thanks again

 

[AKBorn]

Glad to help. Came across this list I drafted for a different thread a while back, hope there are 1-2 nuggets in here that are useful -

A fly-in hunt is different than a western backpacking trip, since you don’t have to hump everything to your camping spot (unless you camp a long way from where the plane drops you off – we try not to do this whenever possible). So, there is room for some minor luxuries and items that help the hunt along! Here are several lightweight additions we have made to our camp over the past 2 decades of remote AK trips:

Cheap, lightweight silk long underwear top and bottom – to sleep in only. It’s refreshing to change out of your hunting clothes when you go to bed, and sleep in clothes that don’t smell.

Lightweight camp shoes or crocs – to change out of your boots or waders when the day is done, and for those late-night bathroom runs.

Cut-resistant gloves – to wear over your nitrile gloves when field dressing game – protects against cutting fingers. Keeping cuts clean in the field is a pain in the ass.

Trekking poles – a HUGE help when navigating uneven terrain with a pack full of meat.

8-10 Rings (1.5 to 2” diameter) used to partition game bags when you put multiple pieces of meat in the same game bag. Put a piece of meat (neck meat, backstrap, etc.) in the game bag, slide a ring over the bag to create a separate section that holds only that piece of meat. Put another piece of meat in, and repeat. Helps keep meet cleaner and dryer, which helps reduce any spoilage in the field. I used to just tie knots between the separate sections of a bag, but knots take up a LOT of the bag’s usable space.

Tyvek Meat Tarps – Cut an 8’x8’ Tyvek sheet, and soak it in the clothes washer for a few hours. Then run it through one wash and rinse cycle, the soaking and wash/rinse will remove the annoyingly loud crinkly noise. You will be left with a cheap lightweight tarp that can be used to lay quarters and other pieces of meat on when you are field dressing an animal, helping to keep it clean and dry. We have each hunter take one tarp in their backpack; that way if we shoot a caribou a couple of miles away from camp, we can use the multiple tarps to set game bags on as we shuttle the animal back to camp in half mile increments or so.

We also use one Tyvek tarp under the tent, and one inside the tent, as support to the thin groundcloth that comes with most tents these days.

Empty 32-oz Gatorade Bottles – 1 for each hunter to use as a nighttime piss bottle. Beats getting up in the middle of the night to pee outside when it’s raining and the wind is blowing!

Large Unscented Trach Bags – We use these when we are packing meat, to keep blood and meat off of our packs to the extent possible.

Newspaper – Take a full sheet of newspaper, compress it just enough to shove inside your boots at night. In the morning, your boots will be dry when you put them on.

Hand Sanitizer – Who doesn’t have hand sanitizer these days? Use before preparing food and eating, or after field dressing or deboning animals.

Baby Wipes – An 80-120 pack should work for 3 hunters. Nice to wipe hands after a restroom visit, and also nice to wake up and give yourself a quick once over with 1-2 baby wipes before getting dressed in the morning.

Electric Tape – To place over your rifle muzzle, lots of little twigs and leaves in the AK backcountry.

Glow Sticks – 1 per night. If an animal happens to wake you from a deep sleep, it’s nice to have your bearings within the tent as opposed to waking up in the pitch dark. They don’t give off enough light to disrupt sleep in our experience.

Pocket Shears – To help clear away small branches and bushes as you are clearing a spot for your tent.

 

[Adam S]

who are you flying out with? float plane or super cub?

 

[Larry Bartlett]

dates are a little early but if you're far enough north and east you might find good pockets of 'bou after about 20 August. The farther east and north you go the better, IMO until mid September