What I learned my first caribou hunt

[greenheadkilla]

Great write up Mcseal! Got me feeling pretty guilty I havent shared mine yet lol....

 

[mcseal2]

Plenty of time!

 

[TexasTB]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. Especially what gear worked well and what didn’t.

 

[9.3koolaid]

Awesome writeup, thanks for sharing!

 

[Shoot]

Very helpful and informative, one day I hope to go.

 

[mcseal2]

I had a couple other things to add:

I confirmed with the other guys they do not have my headlamps. When we got the In Reach message the pilots were coming to get us they were already in the air and we had to hustle to pack camp. In that process I left my Black Diamond ReVolt headlamps (my headlamp and the one spare for the group) in my big dry bag I checked as luggage. TSA must have taken them. They had re-chargeable batteries and should have been in my carry-on bag, I just didn't remember to keep them out at the time.

I also wanted to go into a little more detail on meals.

I may have mentioned this earlier. We had my MSR Windburner 1L set (looks just like a Jetboil) plus my bigger MSR set with the 4.5L pot and skillet. Having both meant we had 2 burners that could be used at the same time with any of the MSR containers. This was both handy and a redundancy if one failed. Our big tent gave us plenty of room to cook in the vestibule when we needed to, but before it got terribly cold we mostly cooked under a 10x10 tarp outside the tent.

We had enough extra food for 3 additional days in the field without stretching it.

We had freeze dried meals for a lot of our diet. We had enough to eat for lunches in the field plus a few spares for extra days or nights we didn't want to cook a bigger meal. We did take a lot of sides that could supplement a meal, or be one in a pinch. We also took some items intended to go with caribou tenderloin or backstrap. A little olive oil and some seasonings, plus a marinade packet also made welcome additions. One of the guys has a vacuum sealer that we made use of before the trip. We could shed a lot of unnecessary bulk and weight in packaging using it.

We were pretty flexible on when we ate freeze dried or when we cooked a meal. We let the weather, primarily the visibility, decide when we ate what. We cooked breakfast or lunch some days when visibility was poor and ate a freeze dried evening meal. We had 2 hot meals either cooked or freeze dried plus snacks every day if I remember right.

Some money can be saved with some of this over freeze dried meals. Also in the Covid era freeze dried meals are not always easy to find.

A few of the sides included:
-Stovetop stuffing
-Idahoan mashed potatoes with instant brown gravy
-Mac & cheese (Kraft Mac & Cheese vacuum sealed with a smaller vacuum sealed pack of powdered milk)
-Tortillas

Some of our group meal items:

-Shore Lunch brand Chicken Noodle soup (added some Mtn House chicken from one of their #10 cans we vacuum sealed into a smaller portion) That stuff has good flavor and rehydrates really well.

-Mac & Cheese with caribou tenderloin. Using a little olive oil and seasoning we browned the caribou tenderloin in the skillet. We made the mac & cheese in the 4.5L pot. When we combined them we poured the juice from the caribou tenderloin in the big pot also. Either we were really hungry that night, or this hit the spot. This was a winner.

-The stovetop and mashed potatoes and gravy were sides for caribou backstrap steaks on a couple nights

-Potato soup (can't remember the brand) with caribou tenderloin cooked like the Mac & Cheese night. This hit the spot on a cold evening late in our hunt.

-The olive oil and some seasoning salt and lemon pepper was awesome on the grayling we caught. We gutted them and removed the head and tail. We left the skin on and used a fork to peal the meat off the bones. I thought they were pretty excellent also.

That's pretty much everything we did that wasn't freeze dried just add water stuff. It sure beat living off all freeze dried the whole trip mixing those simple meals in. It adds a little weight and fuel consumption, but it isn't a ton.

I'm not a coffee drinker but I drink hot chocolate when the other guys have their coffee. A hot drink can really make a difference in that climate. I'm pretty much sold on the Swiss Miss brand for hunting, the few others I tried aren't as good with just water and no milk added. I don't remember the last time I had hot chocolate at home, but on hunts it can be a nice addition.

I have had good results with the Wilderness Athlete Hydrate and Recover and Energy and Focus powder packets. I have a tendency to not hydrate adequately in cold temps, I just don't feel thirsty. I think these help, but worst case they make me drink 32oz of water I might not have without taking them each day. I like the Hydrate version before bed each day. The Energy version I will drink mid-afternoon when I don't want to sneak in a nap.

Headed to bed now, I'll hit snacks another time.

 

[Sconnie77]

Thank you for the write up, I'm heading to Kotzebue Sept 2021 and this information will be very useful!!!!

 

[Jboogg]

Man all this info is absolutely amazing. Having never been to the tundra, this will really help my hunting group prepare for it, physically and mentally. Thanks again for sharing all the info!

 

[crich]

Thanks for the write up. The Mods should definitely pin this. At least until an article is written. Well done

 

[rayporter]

wish i could write as well as you. good one.

a list of what the TSA will confiscate could get as long as your arm.
matches and fuel bars and lighters and batteries. gosh!

they were not going to allow my fuel tank for a white gas whisper light stove.
the tank was still in the shrink wrap and not opened so it could never have has gas in it.

one thing is for sure. you have to check your gear real good to make sure you still have all of it.

 

[Justin Crossley]

Enjoy Heath's full article detailing his trip here.

You can also check out the Rokcast episode on this hunt with @Jordan Budd and @mcseal2 here.

 

[TXCO]

Great write up and congrats on the trip! Which version of the Alaska Guide tent were you using, the original green version or the new one with the higher walls?

How far in advance and how much trouble was getting lined out with the transporter? Did you pick the area or did they for drop off?

 

[Honyock]

A+ on the information. Planning a drop camp caribou hunt as our first Alaska hunt and this info is great. Thank you for posting this. I've got some shopping to do.

 

[Honyock]

View attachment 220062View attachment 220063

What did you use for communication with the bush plane?

 

[ReinsuranceShooter]

Awesome write-up, especially all the tips, tricks and things to be mindful of.

 

[mcseal2]

We had the new Alaskan Guide tent, the Instinct one.

We had 2 In reach devices to communicate with both when we split up and to text the transporter.

We were talking to the transporter over a year in advance.

 

[mcseal2]

Another tip if you have Onx maps is to download the low detail 150 mile maps of anywhere you might be dropped. I’ve done a whole unit. Its not near as good as a 10 mile one but still helps.

 

[Fivefuchs]

Great info! Thanks for spending the time to share it with us. Congrats on the hunt.

 

[Spartans171]

Like I did after the moose hunt I wanted to put up a post about what I learned on my first caribou hunt. I got a lot of help from people here in preparing for both hunts and want to do my part to pass on what I learn. I do a review after each out of state hunt like this for myself anyway, to hopefully increase my skill level and decrease my packing list as I gain experience. I may as well share it with all of you.

I think being a first timer giving advice can be a double edged sword. On one side I probably think to mention things an experienced caribou hunter might take for granted. On the other side I have only been on one hunt and have only that experience to go off of. What I’m saying is take my advice for what it’s worth, a lot of hunters with a lot more experience are available to help you on this site. They were very willing to help me and I am very thankful for that.

To start I’ll give a little background on our hunt. We flew out of Kotzebue on 9-16 and back to Kotzebue on 9-24. We were lucky to get out a day early. Weather ranged from the upper 40’s for highs to single digit lows. Three of us hunted from one camp unguided but flown in by a transporter. They used a pair of 206’s and landed on a gravel bar.

Our hunt was done from a base camp with weight split between 3 people. Our gear excluding clothes we wore in and our binos/harnesses was 250lbs. Our food we would consume in the field was not counted against our weight limit but rifles were. We went with a more comfortable and heavier camp than we would have on a float hunt. We had a 10x10 tarp to cook under, camp chairs, Thermarest cots, and a Cabelas Instinct Alaskan Guide 6 man tent.

We each carried a Rite in the Rain notebook on our hunt and kept a journal for ourselves. We each also had a section in the back for tips, gear ratings, and anything else we wanted to share after the hunt. This is compiled from our conversations, experiences, and notes. I may be writing an article on the story of the hunt, so I’m going wait to share that part for now. This post will be on tips and gear.

HUNTING:

We all got caribou, no giants but we tagged out. I shot a nice bull that fit the description of what I realistically expected from researching this hunt. We did not see any really big frame bulls with great fronts and tops. We saw bulls with great fronts, big frames, and few or no points on their tops that we passed early. I think that’s just the luck of the draw hunting migrating caribou, others hunting with the same transporter at the same time shot some really large bulls that had everything I could want. You have to hunt what is there and be prepared not to fill your tag if you hold out to long. No matter your skill level or ability to cover country, luck is going to be involved when hunting anything migratory from a fixed location. It’s just part of hunting. This may play into your decision between a drop camp or float hunt.

Hunting caribou is about much more than the harvest of the animal and if too much focus is put on that I think it can really take away from the experience. I was fortunate enough to harvest my bull on the third day we could shoot. Having that out of the way really let me relax and take in the whole experience. There is a beauty to that remote country and its inhabitants that it’s worth taking time to appreciate even if it means slowing down to do so. You won’t regret taking time to take in the whole experience later.

Take way more pictures than you think you need to. Describing a hunt in a place like this to family and friends is hard with pictures, it’s even harder without. None of the three of us wish we had taken less pictures.

Tundra is every bit as hard to travel in as you hear or read. I’ve heard a mile in the tundra described as equivalent to anywhere from 5 to 7 miles in the mountains. I think that is pretty accurate. We found travel best along the river and near the edge of other large sharp drop offs. The flat ridge tops had the worst tussocks with the biggest gaps between them. Walking on the worst of it is like trying to do a stair-master as someone drags it bouncing down a rough road. Stepping on the top of the tussock made it fall to one side or the other. Stepping between tussocks meant sending your foot into a hole of unknown depth, likely between 1.5 and 3ft. It’s tough traveling, but not so tough I don’t already want to go back. Just be prepared for some type 2 fun. Trekking poles make a big difference.

Water comes out of hills where and in what quantity it wants to. Sometimes streams near hilltops are to wide and deep for knee boots. You can’t always get across without going far out of your way upstream. Going down may or may not show you a place they get wide enough to cross. Often it’s best just to put on waders and cross at the best place near you rather than spend a lot of time looking.

Caribou seemed fairly easy to get within 250 yards of. We took longer shots on our bulls, but that was more due to terrain and the herd’s direction and speed of travel than them being scared of us. Nothing paid much attention to seeing us until we were within that distance, sometimes much closer. Wind is a different story, once they smelled a human they were leaving. I’m sure we did not smell very good after a few days in the field, humans may have had the same reaction.

Our caribou were taken at 500, 300, and 330 yards. The first was shot prone at 500, two shots but the first would have done the job with a little more patience. My bull was shot standing over my tripod at 300 yards, and the last was shot sitting over trekking poles at 330 yards. Due to terrain only the one bull could be shot from prone. I’d recommend having yourself and your equipment prepared to shoot from at least kneeling height. Two of us had 300 win mags with 180gr Nosler E tips and one had a 7mm Rem Mag with 160gr Nosler Accubonds. All worked well. Rifles that big are not needed for caribou but that’s what our lightweight rifles are chambered in. I would not recommend going to light in rifle or caliber. Caliber due to bears, weight due to stability from less than ideal positions. All our guns will weigh between 8 and 9.5lbs fully loaded, with sling, and ready to hunt.

This is really great information as I’m preparing for a similar hunt in the fall of 2021

 

[Spartans171]

Travel:

Never use TSA approved locks on a gun case, and if possible have a way to check your scope adjustments after travel. I had TSA locks on my rifle case and someone unscrewed the cap over my elevation turret, dialed it to 475 yards, and put the cap back on. I always leave my turrets set to 200 yards and the cap on until I need to dial. My rifle got bumped right before we put them in the cases a day before leaving home. I shot 5 shots at 100 yards to check my gun right before putting it in the case and locking it for the trip. I am 100% certain the turret was not dialed all the way up to 475 by me, someone messed with it during my air travel. If I’d have been presented with a 200 yard shot instead of a 300 yard shot I would not have checked the turret and I’d have missed at best or wounded the caribou at worst. If I ran into bear trouble it could have been deadly. Not everyone likes hunters or respects firearms.

We received some bad advice and packed sleeping bags and other bulky gear in with our antlers and heads in the antler box we bought from the transporter. We figured this would protect the antlers without adding much weight. At the airport we found that TSA does not allow anything but antlers to be in those boxes which led to some hasty repacking. Thank goodness we put fish boxes of meat in our totes, rather than just meat in the totes. Several other hunters were also repacking frantically but we all made our flight.

I like having a spare box of ammo in a checked luggage bag. Just in case something happens, it’s nice to have ammo in 2 locations. The spare box stays in town in the bag I leave with the transporter if weight is an issue, or at camp if it’s not.

In my rural community cash still works everywhere, and it’s what I’ve always used traveling. I am old fashioned and still use a credit card I keep a $1k limit on to restrict what thieves can access if it’s stolen. I had my card stolen once and while the credit card company covered the loss, I hated the idea the thieves got way with all the Walmart gift cards they bought using my card. I’d made a few purchases on the card before the trip so the card didn’t have the full 1k available when I left home. I figured this was no big deal, I’d just pay it off at the end of the month like always. I planned to use all cash on my trip because cash works as well in rural villages as it does big cities. I was wrong. Between modern times and Covid 19, cash did not work everywhere like I expected it to. I could not pay baggage fees in cash, only by card. Several places we ate were not taking cash. I ended up with a lot of cash left over, but not much room on my card. One of the guys I was hunting with put my luggage expense coming home on their card and I handed them cash. It all worked fine but it was something I wasn’t expecting. I need to get a debit card or have the card company increase my limit before next trip. I never expected cash to not work everywhere. I hate the idea of a cash-less society and hope this change is not permanent.

Take a few things in a separate bag to leave in town with the transporter (ok this with the transporter first). Duck tape and garden or sprayer hose for packing trophies is worth having in there, as well as travel clothes for the trip home. Transporters will often have some packing tape, cardboard, and other material to protect antlers but this can make it easier. If you are hunting later in the season this material may be picked through or in short supply. It’s worth asking a transporter about this at minimum. Take only what you need into the field, plus valuables you don’t want to leave in town. What you don’t need in the field don’t take, it’s just more weight and hassle.

That’s about all I can think of for now (several pages later) ! I’ll add to this thread if I think of things later.

What would you recommend for locks on your gun case as I thought TSA approved were required?