You're right, we all don't own planes or always use guides. There are places that you can hunt off the road system for Caribou, but they tend to be a madhouse (crowded) and few in number. There is a registration hunt around a small town called Chicken. You need ATV's to hunt the area and it really gets crowded. It tends to close after a few days to a week as the quota gets filled. Another option is to hunt the Haul road north of Fairbanks. It is bow only from 1/4 mile off the road out to the 5 mile mark. Once you get out to 5 miles, you can rifle hunt. It is a hard hunt as you have to walk in 5 miles (if you find the Caribou right at 5 miles), then back out with your meat on your back. You cannot have a motorized vehicle in this area. It is tundra walking all the way (equals very hard loaded with meat). If you rifle hunt, make sure you are at least 5 miles from the road using a GPS. The game cops are very active and will stop and check on you if they see you out there. They are not very forgiving of breaking the 5 mile mark rifle hunting. Make sure you read the regulations very carefully and know exactly where you are and what you're supposed to be doing.
Lots of folks do the haul road hunt, so most likely you will see folks out there. I'm not trying to discourage you from trying it, but want you to be aware of what you are getting into.
My advice is to stay off the road system and charter a fly-in trip. You will get away from most of the people and with a little planning, have a good hunt. Best of all, you are not paying a guide, but it will cost you about 1/2 the price of a guided trip after all is said and done. If you are planning for 2006, you are almost too late. By mid January, most of the good, reputable charters will probably be full. Start calling around now.
Here are a couple of great web sites that are dedicated to Alaskan hunting with lots of knowledgable folks posting:
www.outdoorsdirectory.com and
www.pristineventures.com
Read through the forums and check the archives. A question like this gets asked many times a year and there is loads of info in the archives about the Haul road hunt and Caribou in general. If you don't see anything that helps you out in the archives or you still have questions, just ask. You will most likely get an answer fairly quickly, even if its not what you want to hear.
Alaska is not cheap to hunt. An average unguided, fly in hunt will set you back about the cost of an average guided elk hunt in a non-trophy area.
Again, I'm not trying to discourage you, but hopefully I'm giving you some useful info. Sorry for the rambling post.
Take care,
Garion