Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska DIY drop camp Brooks Range August 2017

Hi, first time poster here so be gentle with me.

My brother and I are heading to the Brooks Range on a DIY caribou hunt in mid to late August this summer. We're going to be dropped off around the Inyorurak Lakes in GMU26A. We're pretty well set on gear and gear advice and "loaded for bear" in the more literal sense. We're not thinking that the caribou migration is going to be in full swing yet and are figuring we're going to have to hike to go find them. We're kind of both committed to holding out for bulls until day 6 and if we're still empty handed, then we'll take a cow if one comes our way.

Has anyone here hunted this area that can share some specific info on what we should expect? We're wondering things like:

How much difficulty we'll have finding firewood?
What kind of fishing tackle should we bring?
What kind of fish can we expect to catch? (It looks like mostly land locked lakes and a few rivers in the area.)
What is the deal on requirements to have exposed rib cages on your carcasses in this area?
If we have the extra weight, is a packable raft worthwhile?
Are the odds for moose great enough in this area that we should pay the extra $150 for moose tags just in case?
Is it worthwhile to get a wolf tag and if you harvest a wolf do you keep the meat?

Any and all advice appreciated. Thanks!

Oh also, how well do Thermacells work in Alaska?

Thermocells work great!

I wish you good luck on your hunt. I've never hunted west of the Dalton Highway that far north but it wouldn't surprise me from what I've heard of the area for you to find caribou in the time frame you specified.

ADF&G has a fairly easy to use web site with the regulations for each area. There are no non-resident moose tags in unit 26 according to the 2016 regs. I checked and didn't find any requirement for bringing out bone-in meat or rib cages from 26. There is no requirement to salvage wolf meat. Whether to get a tag or not is your call. August wolves are not as nicely furred as they will be in later months.

Many areas of northwestern Alaska have sheefish but I am not familiar with them enough to say if your area will have them. Plan on grayling and char, they should both be in the area. Light tackle either fly or spinning will provide much fun. Grayling are best eaten fresh, they don't seem to hold up well to freezing or being on ice for long.

A packable raft maybe be fun and useful for fishing and ferrying meat across a lake.

Having never been in the area I can't say on the firewood. The area I hunt east of the Dalton and a similar latitude has zero firewood other than some small scrub willow.

ADF&G

Thanks for the feedback. We are really looking forward to it. We're flying in with Brooks Range Aviation and they say 38 of the 40 hunters they flew into unit 26A last year got bulls, so we like those odds.

I wouldn't eat a wolf, but I would shoot any I saw if you have the tag.

I do not see any trees on google earth in that area. But check with someone who has hunted the area for wood.

If you want firewood, you better fly it in. It would be a rather sporty hike to the closest tree

welcome to the 'fire, by the way.

Maybe there's a coal seam nearby.

Check out Silvertip Aviation as they offer both guided and unguided trips

Welcome to the fire, keep posting, you will learn a lot from the members here. There is a tremendous amount of information that you will learn.

My guess Is that you will see a few thousand caribou. Good to hold out for a good bull-you'll know them when you see them! Be prepared to see small clumps of bulls together, say three to several at a time.

Very good fishing in most of those lakes for Lake Trout. Take an outfit good for fish from a pound or two up to 8 or 10 pounds. #2 or 3 spinners and or 3/8th ounce spoons will work fine.

The only wood for burning will be around the lake shores and it will be small diameter (dead brush.) There will be enough for a couple of small fires.

Do get a tag for wolf...you will see several. IIRC the season for wolf starts on the 10th but check that out in the regs. Their white color will be what to key in on.

A packable raft may very well come in handy to cross a lake to get ahead of the small herds. You will get the idea after a day or so how the movement will be going, how much lead time will be needed for starting out to get ahead etc. A raft may very well make things happen by saving lots of time.

Thermocells work but do not forget head nets. They are light and inexpensive but not having a couple for each of you could really screw things up in a hurry, particularly when you are processing your game.

I would be surprised if you saw a moose there. Better chance of seeing a rogue Musk Ox I think...

None better eating than fat August caribou! Take moderately heavy to heavy, dense woven game bags, pepper, and/or acetic acid/vinegar for meat care. An extra set of bags is not amiss for change out of bloody, torn, or wet ones. Several light weight/ cheap poly tarps 8x10 are very handy for ground sheets, dressing out, rain collection/protection, etc. You should take a high performance cooking burner of some sort. Even if wood is available it may well be wet, or inconvenient/ slow to use. Water filter of course- not needed if boiling, or catching rain off tent or tarp. Another thing I like to have is a good thermos, not only on the stalk but just to have quick hot water first thing in morn or return to camp especially in bad weather. A little " luxury" goes a long way. Good luck.

Striker Overly is a guide near there. They charge a set amount for the first trophy bull caribou, then they charge almost the same amount for the second trophy bull caribou and then again for the final third. Look and find out what is the different between a truly once in a lifetime champ trophy bull and a keyboard commando lesser bull.

Got to disagree...

Most do not recognize a truly good bull until they are dressing a dink and the big one walks by. Everyone wants to kill the first "16 pointer" they see.

Pull a hard copy of this advice and do it... all of it.

Oh yeah, beerhunter is dead on for the rest.

Caribou will be in velvet. If you are planning to strip it before mounting, do it ASAP. Take a bottle of peroxide to wipe the blood off the bone, or leave it on to stain/darken for character, but later dying may turn out spotty. The antlers can later be dyed (they are already died... first spelling ) I used KIWI shoe polish on one of mine, for OK "browning", but spotty.

I haven't actually used peroxide myself, but thought of it later. Just a thought. Have no idea if it would work better or not. Might be a difference in bone density... Too?

"Most do not recognize a truly good bull until they are dressing a dink and the big one walks by. Everyone wants to kill the first "16 pointer" they see."

HEY! Good thing I'm primarily a meat hunter or I might have been pissed after killing that 3 year old.

The really funny part was the Dachshund nose-tracking that big bull for nearly a half mile ahead of us while we were packing meat. Uphill. He never did see the bull, never over 300 yards off, sometimes at about 100. Sometimes trotting a bit, then stopping, sometimes just walking. (How did he know the tag was already punched????) The bull kept looking back with this funny look....As if to say, " I've been trailed by bears, and chased by wolves, but WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?"

We got up to the ridge-top trail, with the bull standing in the trail about 200 yards away, and my 15 year old son said "You know, Dad - We might have done this all wrong." Smart kid.

A few days later when I was up retrieving camp ( 8 miles pack in), I took a dozen pictures of that bull at about 50 yards. With no film in the old Pentax SLR/200 mm telephoto. Grrrr!

For getting it wrong, I invent new stuff all the time!

There aren't any Beavers North of the Brooks Range.

Filters &/or boiling water is a waste of time & resources.

Just drink it!!

"beaver fever" or giardia, is carried by virtually all mammals from humans to mice and most definitely is found north of the Brooks range.

Fortunately most people who get it never even know they have it. In fact it is found in a high percentage of municipal water supplies and as many 80% of the people who get it never have symptoms.

Giardia is actually the perfect pet, it goes where you go, eats what you eat and it is no problem to clean it's cage.

I had a case of the perfect pet many years ago, I was camped at the mouth of the Horn River, 20 miles below Ft Providence in the NWT. It was great for weight loss; I think I lost about 20 lbs. before it was all done. But, definitely I would filter wild water these days. Also sometimes wonder what is really in most municipal water systems, as you mentioned.

I've had water borne illness twice in the last 5 years - first time in Haiti from the shower, second on a CO elk hunt 2-3 years ago. I didn't drink native water in either instance. Giardia and several other water borne nasties make for a great weight loss program and fodder for America's Funniest home videos.

As a graduate degree and professionally certified hydrologist, I wouldn't drink unfiltered/boiled native water if you paid me. I've tested 1000s water sources across the Continental US - I'll pass. I'll leave that to the he-men. Most people only have to go through water borne illness weight loss program once before they decide maybe native water isn't such a good idea.

Thanks again for all the feedback. I like the few thousand caribou comment a lot. We're primarily bow hunters at home and a good bow hunt is just seeing a deer.

We've already got filtration gear. We're gonna use it. I'm with bwinters. I drank the water once where I shouldn't have and spent 3 days on the toilet after that. It's just not worth the risk. We've got a full filtration kit of some kind for camp and life straws for our packs.

We are flying with Brooks Range Aviation. They seem to be highly recommended by everyone that we've encountered.

After two perfect pets I will do about anything to avoid number three. Mice and their relatives are a monster host pool...

For camp water get a gravity feed system. I have yet to see a straw worth carrying... have not tried them all, but the ones I did would not suck!

Any thoughts on whether or not it's worthwhile to bring along a shotgun for ptarmigan in this area?

Art - I've used the Lifestraw quite a bit and have yet to suffer any ill affects. I know people that have used them in third world countries supposed drinking water out of mud puddles with no I'll effects. I'd not do that but have drank from the Smokys in TN, Elk Mtns in NCO and the Snowys in SWY with one. I still prefer filter and boil from water sources, especially those running through pastures/rangeland or beaver looking areas.

Yeah, I've talked to people that have used Lifestraw on missing trips in some pretty nasty places, also with no ill effects. In camp we'll use something that can handle more volume but when we're hiking I'm pretty confident in the Lifestraw.

If it is dampish, for drinking water I generally just catch water off the tent fly or rain cover tarp (first choice) or spread a tarp in a dip and hope the little bastards don't think it is a custom built swiming pool for them for the few days I'll be using it. Hot drink and food water gets boiled anyway.

A carry along filtration system for away from camp/run out of canteen water scenario.

Rinse a new water tarp well first, or the water tastes funny from, I assume, manufacturing residue which probably isn't that good for you......

you might ask your air taxi about the bird population but they can be great on some years.

As for collecting water, clean tarps are a great way if you will be staying in a permanent camp. Although most folks I know who actually live remote have adjusted well to giardia, clean, close water is always appreciated.

Camp is just a DIY tent drop camp and we're getting there via float plane, so we're planning on using the lake we land on as the primary source of water.

Lots of water in AK is mighty turbid... lifestraws do not do well in nasty stuff for long. Safe, but they do not make enough water to be effective.

No straws for me.....let gravity do it's work while your hunting.

Take a slingshot for ptarmigan as they are easy at that time and no noise to scare game away.

That sounds a bit outside of my skillset.

You can get close... a slingshot is good advice.

If you're bow hunting stick a couple arrows with Zwickey Super Judos on them in your quiver. I'm not much of a slingshot shooter either but I've been know to shoot small game with my bow. Or pack a 22, I had an old Stevens single shot I cut the barrel off at 16.25" and sawed the stock down to koddy dimensions that I shot piles of ptarmigan with. It and a box of shells weighed about 3.75lb and it was the same length as my pack frame, bungee that sucker on my pack and go.

I have a super light 22 that hold 17 rounds. It's a collector's item my Dad gave me. Somehow the make escapes me, but that might be an option. I'd have to take the scope off it and get the iron sights set properly, but that just might be the ticket. Of course I just love my Savage Arms Fox Side by Side 20, so if I have the room it's gonna be hard to pass up bringing it.

Katydin base camp filter bag
Is sweet. Lightweight and drains quick for a base camp water supply. I love mine.

.22 and cb caps, after u WAC your boo and your waiting for days ....cause of chitty weather, the 22and the fishing pole will be good entertainment. One thing about boo up there, they see really good,on my boo trips a rule we came up with is no black hats....they stick out like a sore thumb/I dropped off my hunting partner then I went like 2 miles farther down around the conner, and got into a good spot to pull a ambush..... So me and a few hundred boo had lots of time to watch my Buddy's hat come Across the tundra.

Hey there, sorry to resurrect an old thread, but as I was thinking about going back to Alaska again, I realized that I'd never reported back as promised. Thanks again for all of the help here. Much of the advice was quite useful.

So here's me and my 'bou.

[img]https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipPpTnlUpeqyVOyeokrnwiLevKOOo_ijONA5YDbq[/img]

We had a fantastic trip. We didn't see too many caribou, especially mature bulls, but I'm really happy with the one I got. I wasn't too happy that I shot it just a bit under 2 miles from camp.

We didn't see a single ptarmigan and we also didn't catch a single fish from the lake we were on. My brother couldn't stand the idea of not having bonfires, so we shipped Duraflame logs up via Amazon Prime. Our genius was admired by all of the other hunters at Brooks Range.

Brooks Range was fantastic and we really enjoyed the time we spent in Bettles and the people we met there.

We're working on putting together a float trip for 2019 now.

Headed up there next year for my first Alaska hunt, looking forward to it. I do a little bit of Coyote calling, would it be worth taking up a call to see if I can call in a Wolf or would that not be a good idea with grizzly bears in the area ?

On giardia and chlorine:

Results of these experiments at the three temperatures studied can be summarized as follows: at 25°C, exposure to 1.5 mg/liter for 10 min killed all cysts at pH 6, 7, and 8. At 15°C, 2.5 mg of chlorine per liter for 10 min killed all cysts at pH 6, but at pH 7 and 8 small numbers of cysts remained viable after 30 min but not after 60 min. At 5°C, 1 mg of chlorine per liter for 60 min failed to kill all the cysts at any pH tested. At this temperature, 2 mg of chlorine per liter killed all cysts after 60 min at pH 6 and 7, but not at pH 8. A chlorine concentration of 4 mg/liter killed all the cysts at all three pH values after 60 min, but not after 30 min. A chlorine concentration of 8 mg/liter killed all Giardia cysts at pH 6 and 7 after contact for 10 min, and at pH 8 after 30 min.

From FEMA:

Clear clean water: add 8 drops of unscented household bleach per gallon

Water with an obvious happening party therein: add 16 drops per gallon.

Our group (3 to 5 persons) packs about a 6 ounce squeeze bottle of bleach on all of our wilderness trips. We usually have about half of it left after trips of up to 3 weeks. Dip it from the source, treat, wait a bit, and have at it. Much quicker than neighbors that spent about 40 minutes a day filtering water.

It was great to meet you guys. I did chuckle at the fake firewood.

We bought wolf tags but didn't see any wolves or sign of them. We only saw one grizzly and were very surprised that it never touched the gut pile he was straight downwind from.

Our bonfires were epic! Are they selling it in the gift shop in Bettles now?

I've had wolves respond to howls but I've never been able to get them close enough for a shot. Most of the time it's just dumb luck running into them or spotting them before they spot you. As for using a predator call, if you're going to use one I'd do it far away from camp and somewhere where you can see 360 ° around you, bears have been known to sneak in on hunters calling for predators or moose.