Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Prudhoe Bay, Anybody hunted up there...

A buddy just invited me to hunt Caribou there with him this coming Mid August... Anybody hunted there before? Any advice, tips or observations... I originally posted this in the Big game section, thought i would put it up here... I have been informed about the 5 mile limit for the pipeline, as we will be rifle hunting...

Don't drive your truck out the five miles to retrieve your kill.

or drive any thing else for that matter........take a ground blind

ground blind?

i took my caribou up there last year.Very flat and open,you can see for miles.In mid-August it will be steaming hot and the bugs will be out of control.Buy one of those "bug suits" and still have alot of bug spray on you.I would also suggest wearing hip-waders,there is alot of wet "marsh" and swa,py land up there.You may get by wearing calf high rubber boots,but I didnt take the chance and wore my fishing waders and was glad I did.The shots can be long,so practice,practice,practice. My shot was 55 yards and I know of people taking 70-80 yard shots.If you need any more info or would like to see some pics,PM me and I will get it to you.Good luck-Tim

Bring extra gas tanks, gas up there in cold foot is $$. eat at the truck stop at cold foot,pricey but youll get alot of food. make sure your five miles off any part of the road, make sure it doesnt loop 3 miles south of you and your five miles from where you started and think your good. you could go up to galbraith lake(north side of brooks range)and drive out to the pits and start your hike from there, it will give you a mile or so. if you have a bow and ibeps ect bring it! im pretty sure you said you were rifle hunting. bring tire fix kits and fix a flat in a can. nothing special about prudoe bay. 5 miles up there is like 10. musk kegs and tussocks are hell to pack over. watch out on corners for big rigs-they hual ass. otherwise good luck and have fun.

I have been up there a few times. If you plan on hunting outside the five mile limit, be prepared for a very tiring hike out. With minimal gear, you might be able to harvest a caribou and get out in one trip, both carrying. A really big bou and you are going to make two trips each. Walking across the tundra can be very strenous on the ankles. It is rough walking.

You will have to take all of the meat out first before the antlers. DO NOT try to take a vehicle out there. It is against the law and the last people that tried still have their vehicels out there with $$$$$ stacking up every minute.

The bugs are not bad up there, Ben's 100% DEET is best. I have seen far worse.

18" rubber boots are good for wet areas. Good waterproof hiking boots are OK in "some" areas. Plan for fall weather and dress in layers, take water and some snacks. Good bino's, spoting scope, game bags.

It is a fun hunt but I would opt out for the archery zone. Lot easier to hunt and less strenous.

Thanks for all the tips guys...I am a little confused, though...Everyone is mentioning the road as the only accessway, and then miles and miles of tundra, but my Bud says we will be hunting by boat along a river? Then spotting the Caribou and stalking up to them for a shot. The pictures I saw from his hunt last year showed them returning to camp with the Caribou loaded into boats. Is this a different area, or is there river acess also?

Most Alaskans think of "Prudhoe Bay" as the oilfield and it's related facilities. You certainly won't be hunting there. Look at a map of Alaska and everything north of the Brooks Range is the "North Slope." It's a huge area.....there are many rivers, but only one road (that leads to Prudhoe) and you could be hunting almost anywhere. Have your buddy name the river and that will pin the location down a little closer.

He's (your buddy) talking about the Sag, its a river (the only one) that runs parrallel to the Haul road on the slope. It has a few places where you can launch a river boat off the road though it can be quite treachorous, the water in the Sag doesn't always allow you to run a river boat up it. And lots of guys destroy their river boats up there not just on the river but hauling them up there on the haul road as well. Theres quite a few guys hauling airboats up there in the past few years or so and they work great for running up the Sag to the Ivishak and up into the Phillip Smith Mtns in low water conditions. Then once you are 5 miles off the haul you can shoot with a rifle. Its a crap shoot really, once you get 5 miles off the road using the river. Guaranteed to kill a bou if you spend a few days up the river or running the river, seriously.

AlaskaCub, that sounds more inline with what he was telling me, they haul up 2 16' flat bottom johnboats with 25HP engines, and cruise up and down the river looking for targets of oppt. he said the sucess rate on Bous was 90%+. last year the 6 of them shot 10 Bous over a 5 day period. He says there is aso the oppt for Black bear and Wolf...

Never seen or heard of a black bear that far north but theres lots of griz and wolves that follow and hang with the bou migration that time of year. I have had the opportunity twice to watch a griz take down a bou up there and its cool as hell to watch.

Wish I could see that...

One of those incidents happened to me at the Kuparik River (a small river not navigable by any boat)which is a not very far from where you are talking about going.I was washing my face early in the morning at the waters edge, watching grayling swimming in teh creek,my buddies were still in the slide in camper getting breakfast ready. I was squatted down at the water when all of a sudden a caribou comes running out of the alders that border the creek and as I am watching this young bou right on his heels a Toklat griz comes running out of the creek behind him. The bou could have kept running straight and crossed the road but he stutter stepped right before crossing it and ran straight up the hill parralleling the road, the griz reacted like he had done this before and headed up the hill on a dead gallop but circling the hill to the NW the bou lost sight of him in the rocks and the griz got his ass at the top. I ran and got my buddies up and we got in another truck we had there not the one that had the slide in it and we drove up there and watched the griz killing this bou from about 200 yards out. It was awesome. On a side note that I didn't mention the bou and the griz were no more than 15-20 yards from me when they ran passed me and yes I was chitting my pants! All I kept thinking was how much of an easier meal I hunched down at the rivers edge with no weapon would have been if the griz had spotted me mid stride chasing that bou. And yeah I was hollaring like a bitch when I opened the door to the camper yelling bou/griz, griz/bou I wasn't making much sense till I took a few deep breaths and got the story out. My buddies thought I was full of chit too till we drove up the hill and they saw the griz on top of the bou, then they were like how close to you was he? Crazy stuff do happen up here when you least expect it.

That was an awesome story, and that incident would have put a brown stain in ANYBODY'S shorts!!

Just to get your blood boiling a little. Heres a pic of my last trip up there. Thats the Sag river in the background below the sandy bluff you can see and for us bow hunters its one of the better places to stalk bou in that open country.Aint much cover up there.



And heres on after the velvet was peeled off.

Holy Chitt,Man!! Nice! Cant wait for August to roll around...

nice Caribou Alaskacub. Congrats

Alaskacub,

Great story and awesome pics. Can the residents hunt Griz up there?

In your picture with the truck, the road looks paved...I thought the Haul Road was all gravel..is it paved now?

Did you guys bow hunt and rifle hunt or just bow hunt?

They use what they call chip seal on the road. It is a flexible tar like substance that bonds the top layer of gravel and also flexes with the expansion/contraction with the changes in temps.

The condition of the haul roads changes alot, it can be wet sloppy gravel with big chuck holes and washboard, and dry as a bone dusty and relatively smooth.