Thank You Alaska!!

Bridger · Oct 3, 2013

LAST EDITED ON Oct-03-13 AT 04:13PM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Oct-03-13 AT 04:12?PM (MST)

I'm in my late-50's now and it has been a dream of mine since I was a kid to hunt your great state! Who remembers how the stories by Jack O'Connor and Russell Annabel fueled your dreams? Well, two years ago, with the blessings of my wife and with some great friends we began to plan our greatest hunt. Was it what I thought it would be? No...it was MORE!! The people were great - thanks to Alaska G&F and the great folks at their Anchorage Office, our processor, transporter and anyone else we met along the way. We hunted the 40-Mile herd and we all took great bulls and our friend from Anchorage also took a beautiful grizzly. I also learned there is a big difference between wilderness and 'wild'. What we experienced was 'wild' country - a white wolf, wolverine, moose, thousands of caribou, incredible weather and scenery - we saw and experienced it all. When the wind quit blowing...the absolute silence was deafening! We were remote, but we were reborn. Thanks Alaska...I hope we can come and do it again sometime.

264mag · Oct 3, 2013

You guys did good.Nice looking Bulls

muleybull · Oct 4, 2013

Wow, looks like a great time! Congrats, great pic!

www.muleybulloutfitters.com

cbat · Oct 5, 2013

Bridger sent you a pm.

Bridger · Oct 6, 2013

cbat: sent a reply.

Gator · Oct 7, 2013

Great bunch of Caribou right there. That had to be a lifetime trip.

Did you keep a running total what the trip ended up costing you.
If you don't mind telling that is.

This type of hunt for Caribou is on my bucket list to do in the next few years.

"I have found if you go the extra mile it's Never crowded".
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Bridger · Oct 8, 2013

LAST EDITED ON Oct-08-13 AT 04:46PM (MST)[p]My buddies and I have talked about just how much we spent...kind of hard to give a solid figure since we used a lot of the clothing and equipment we hunt with in Colorado.

Our tents were borrowed from friends, and we saved a bunch because we met a friend in Anchorage and used his truck and stayed with he an his wife while in town. The difference in flying to Anchorage and not Fairbanks = about $200 each. We paid for our buddies gas and drove to Central from Anchorage instead of flying to the hunting grounds straight from Fairbanks = saved $400 each. Flyout ($1,600), licenses (about $450), airline (roundtrip Frontier $450) = $2,500 each. Food, meals, incidentals, etc. = we figured between $3,200 - $3,800 each....still LESS than a quality Kansas/Nebraska whitetail hunt!! We began planning the hunt two years earlier so every now and then I'd stop in at REI and pick up something that I didn't have, but needed (ie. water filter, extra gloves, air mattress, headlamp, Mountain House food, etc.)...I spread the cost out over the two years so it wasn't killing the budget.

Besides all that listed, the first thing I bought was my Marlin 1895SBL - 45/70 just for this hunt...that was an unnecessary luxury since I have a perfectly good 30/06 at home - just had to have a new rifle though.

Gator: You are right about it being a lifetime trip! You need a plan: Treat your wife nice, start saving some $$, find friends early on who can commit 100% to the hunt, start by having some planning meetings around each others house, find a great transporter and reserve your seats ASAP, sort through your gear, etc. I hope it comes together for you as well.

PS: I learned a lot about proper clothing on this trip. Bulky is not always best - you need excellent mountaineering gear (it doesn't have to be camo either - the caribou didn't care).

Gator · Oct 9, 2013

Thanks for the Information. I will put it to good use.
I figure that if a spend around $4000 on the hunt I will save up $6000 and hand a $2000 gift card to her before I head north and that should smooth things over pretty good.
Again Thanks for all the infor.

"I have found if you go the extra mile it's Never crowded".
>[Font][Font color = "green"]Life member of
>the MM green signature club.[font/]