RAM AVIATION 2019

[mooster]

TWINCEDAR,
Is your sleeping bag Cabela's TransAlaska model?

Hmmm mine wasn’t, I had a Klymit Zero, but my buddy may have.

 

[Corey Paulsen (teamkabob)]

Congrats on the bulls!

 

[mooster]

Video of winds from inside tipi (Kifaru 8 man)

 

[mweller]

My son and I are booked with RAM in August...following this and can't wait.

 

[rlmmarine]

Are tags over the counter for that hunt or due you have to apply in December
Thanks

 

[mooster]

OTC for Ram’s unit. You can buy online and they will mail you your tag.
BTW word of advice. Be sure ALL of your licenses are all printed and with you at all times. Pay attention to all the transfer of possession forms also.

An hour after we arrived and camp was set, A trooper and BLM guy landed by us and checked our licenses. we were shocked and also thankful we hadn’t dispatched a broken legged cow bou that was bedded nearby. We thought it might be merciful and a nice source of camp meat. Luckily we talked ourselves out of putting her down as surely the trooper would have Frowned on such.

He did point out I didn’t have a printed copy of my fishing license. Not a problem since I wasn’t fishing but of course he noticed I had a fly rod and let me know not to fish without it. Even though I had bought a fishing license it didn’t matter since I couldn’t prove it.

The BLM guy was very nice, complimented our tipi set up, and thanked us for using our public land.

 

[Northwestalaska]

All of Unit 23, Western Arctic, is over the counter for caribou and the limit is 1 Bull. Moose is currently closed for out of state hunters due to the bumper crop of Griz we have and they are increasing calf mortality rates every spring. If your an in state hunter please consider taking a Griz on your next hunt! 1 Griz every year. Wolf Tags are low cost and high odds of seeing one if your interested in a wolf and no guide needed!

Here is the Link for buy licenses on line. Need anything else just ask... Bring your rod with you. NW Alaska is home to the worlds largest Dolly Varden. Spawn is in Aug. and we have an entire segment of our business dedicated to Dollies.

Licenses and Permits, Alaska Department of Fish and Game

Licenses and permits home for the Alaska Department of Department of Fish and Game.

www.adfg.alaska.gov

Walt

 

[HuntHarder]

You'd think if there is such a griz problem they would lower the cost of the hunt so some non-res could afford one. It would be a win win for the outfitter as maybe in a few years they could start offering non-res moose hunts again. I might even be tempted to sign a contract that if I get a reduced cost griz hunt, I would commit to a moose hunt when they become available.

 

[Northwestalaska]

You'd think if there is such a griz problem they would lower the cost of the hunt so some non-res could afford one. It would be a win win for the outfitter as maybe in a few years they could start offering non-res moose hunts again. I might even be tempted to sign a contract that if I get a reduced cost griz hunt, I would commit to a moose hunt when they become available.

That would be the common sense answer but the Board of Game acts in strange ways...The Guides have a very strong voice at the state level and because of that it ain't going to happen. I have suggested a number of times that the state Board of Game should allow a 1 year moratorium on the requirement to have a guide for Griz in unit 23 to any out of state hunter who does a Caribou first and adds a Griz. Lots of guys would jump at that and the Griz numbers would take a dive at least for the short term. I would guess a Guide would love that to because most are also moose guides and they are on year 3 of no out of state moose hunts and Unit 23 has some huge moose!

Its all about money! Knock the Griz back a bit and the moose will bounce back. Just look at what happened when the Lower Youkon shut down ALL moose hunting back in the late 90's and early 2000's. Right now that is the best area in the state for Really Big Bulls and it could be duplicated in kind in NW Alaska.

Walt

 

[Josh86]

Just spoke with Meghan we're booking a trip for 2021. Thanks for all of the info!!!

 

[Santa]

Congrats Josh. We're going w/ Ram next yr too. What are your dates?

 

[PLhunter]

Congrats Josh. We're going w/ Ram next yr too. What are your dates?

Hey all how did the hunts go this year

 

[Jboogg]

Here’s a pic of the bull I shot. 90 yds. I debated about bringing my bow and wish I did. There are some areas that are very doable with a bow. I felt like I could have closed the distance to under 40.

That’s an incredible bull. Congrats and thanks for sharing your success. Question for you. I’m researching a 2022 Caribou hunt with some buddies. How would you describe the landscape? We are from the Midwest, so it’s mainly flat. We ideally would love to be in the high tundra with rolling hills and hiking to knobs for lookouts. I’m assuming much of this area was more flatter tundra? Thanks!

 

[j3butch]

Thanks for the write up and congrats on a good hunt.

A couple buddies and I are going this fall in the same area. We are working through our gear list now since we are also taking all our own stuff. We have most of it done, but I keep asking everyone I can what they used for tents, footwear, and if they used a cot? Those are the items we are still deciding what we want to use.

Thanks for the help.

We’re going with RAM this fall as well and I’ve been stressing some over the tent decision. We have a 12-man and 8 man Kifaru tipi to choose from, both with stoves, only the 12 man has a liner. There will only be 2 of us. I’m considering either bringing an extra Big Agnus 3-man just in-case of really high winds-we had a bad experience in WY with the 8-man... RAM will rent just the tent or just the cot as well. I think $250 for tent and $65 for a cot in case weight is an issue flying to AK

 

[TXhunter8536]

Our 2019 hunting season has finally come to an end. My family and I had an awesome year to say the least, but I wanted to share my trip to Alaska with everyone who might be interested in a drop camp style caribou hunt. My hunting partner and I chose to book a drop camp hunt with Ram Aviation. The experience was first class. My hunting partner and I are blue-collar. We both have young families so we wanted to book a trip that would "check all the boxes" on an Alaskan adventure without wrecking the bank. We first began looking for outfitters and it seemed overwhelming. I wrote an email to a Rokslide member who is also an Alaskan Outfitter and explained my budget, roughly 5000$. That gentlemen recommend Ram Aviation. Brian, the owner, had recently purchased RA - so if you are looking at early online reviews- understand that the name was owned by a different couple who ran it into the ground. By the way, that couple is still flying caribou hunters out of Kotzebue so be careful who you hitch your wagon to. Brain and his team were always the first up and flying hunters into the field. This is important because there is not a concession for caribou. Meaning that the outfitter who is up first and putting caribou hunters into hot spots in front of the migration path will claim that territory and ultimately have the best success. Brain's team were professional, responded to email and phone calls in a timely manner, and new the game of caribou migration hunting.

Our trip provided hundreds of caribou to pick and choose from. My buddy shot a good bull the first legal hunting day. We fished for grayling on the fly rod for camp meat and ate 2-4 grayling everyday along with back straps. I shot a good bull the following day and got it back to camp. That night, a grizzly came into camp and stole our caribou hides that were in a dry sack and sunk in the water near a cut bank- about 30 yards from out tents. We chose to bring our own gear and Brain provided a discount to the trip as we were not using his provided gear list. I did however see the gear that he provided and it was much more luxurious than the back pack gear my friend and I flew up with. So if you're not a back pack hunter and don't have your own gear I would highly recommend Brians setup. BRING GOOD GLASS! It is critical to look over the bulls and know which one you want to stock before aimlessly walking around in the clump grass. The clump grass is awful as everyone says. If you want more information on this post feel free to contact me. I can't get all the pictures to upload.

Any idea of temperature expectations in mid-September? Trying to figure out what temp rating you might need on a sleeping bag.

 

[mooster]

We went in last week of their season and saw high teens at night.

 

[Salty Heart]

We went mid sept this year and saw low 30 and upper 20"s. We had a very successful trip with ram and was very pleased.

 

[Uintah]

Our group also went mid September (13-19) this year, in fact our group came out of the field as Salty Heart's group went in. I would echo what he said, we saw low 30's and upper 20's as well.