My son just arrived at his new duty station in Fairbanks, AL. I'm wondering if anyone has been there? Looking to do some fishing or hunting while visiting him. Any suggestions?

Hi William
First thing, it is AK, not AL.....
I will leave it to Randy to help with the fishing/hunting suggestions, there are lots of opportunities in the area.

But too cold for me! Although this past week they have ben warmer than us here at home.

Is your son Army or the blue branch?

Right. AK it is. My son is Army Green. He done with two tour in Iraq and ready to enjoy AK. I'm thinking that as next of kin I can hunt without the high cost of a guide? I'll check with the AK fish and game website.

Thanks,

PS: Randy Who?

1akhunter.... he will give you a hand soon, I am sure..

I think res. requirement is one year (it is for civilians).

You will get some help from a number of AK posters here, be sure to thank your son for his service from us; better yet, get him signed up as a poster here!

Thank you kindly. I'm very proud of his service. As a military member, he's followed his dad, grandparents, uncles, etc. and done well. My daughter also served with the AF, supporting the 101st when they initially rolled through Bagdad. She's out now. Very proud of her service also. I'm lucky to have such wonderful kids.

I want to get up to AK and help make some memorable hunts/fishing trips with my son. It's a once in a lifetime chance and I'd like to make the best of it. I'm also an outdoor writer and will surely have plenty of experiences to write about from these adventures.

Mr. clunie,
Page 11 of AK regs states your son "......... may obtain a special military hunting license at the resident rate."
Greatly appreciate his service to our country!
Best Wishes

I noticed that. I'm hoping to avoid expensive guide fees as next of kin also. Should be able to afford some great hunting. Never thought I could do this before -- now Alaska seems do-able! I am PSYCHED! Thanks for your kind words.

i was stationed in fairbanks to.....com'in on 30 years ago... and i'm still here, your son is in ALASKA (and not a 2hr drive from it) like other parts of the state ! lots of fish'in and hunt'in to be had...drive 15 mins from town and u will be in "no where"

The only animals you need a guide for as a non-resident under any circumstances are grizzly/brown bear, Dall sheep and mountain goat. You can hunt caribou, moose, Sitka blacktailed deer, black bears and others all by yourself, if you choose to. You and your son can have a great time this fall (starting in August), and as soon as he has Alaska status he can take you brown bear, Dall sheep and mountain goat hunting. It won't change your non-resident tag cost, of course... . But relative to many states we are quite inexpensive.

Come visit more than "once in a lifetime", though. Being here is a "lifetime", not just a piece of it... .

Dennis

Don't take this as certifiable fact, but I suspect your son will may obtain a special military hunting license at the resident rate which is just a show of appreciation from the state for his service.

For you to benefit as "next of kin" to avoid the guide requirement for sheep, goat and brown bear, he would have to be a legal resident, not just paying resident rate on the licenses. You would still need to purchase a license at non-res rate.

Well if he goes about 30 degrees of North from the Fairbanks International Airport about 15 or so miles there is a bump in the Tundra, its were we go to do confined area work in Helicopters. Back in the day when Tundra Helicopters was still in business. There is a stream full of rainbows and grayling. And there is always moose hanging around. Should help in getting and Idea of where to go, all he needs is a map.

Might be a great place to go hunting. After making sure that the area is open to non-resident hunting, and that there are still moose there. And that you can fly in on a fixed-wing aircraft -- can't hunt out of helicopters.

Dennis

I know you can't hunt out of helicopters and I just was able to fish the creek and saw moose dam near ever time out there. Just a though, Alaska is a huge place, just a spot to look at. I would never suggest doing illegal. ATV's go out there, so its accessable then again its been a few years too. I am sure that the Fairbanks guys will take care of the young man.

William,

Glad to have your son up here.....I hope you can come up to visit him.....give me a call if you do.....he's in a good location to launch off into the various hunting opportunities. Haul Road, Delta, Forty Mile and several good rivers.....lotsa fun.

Fishing in that area is so-so......but the Fairbanks Airport launches me off to Baja

You didn't mention if your son was bringing a woman with him....it could be a good thing to do.....1Ak has the pretty ones corraled.

William, the way I understand it , your son must live in AK for 1 full year and then file for residency after he has become a permenent resident is when you next of kin would kick in. As stated above you only need a guide for Griz, Goats and Sheep . I know you're a moose guy in Maine so you can hunt moose right now in AK without a guide as well as bou and blackbear and deer . Just bear in mind getting into good country is still expensive even for residents.

Thanks all,
My son is going to be stationed right on post with his wife. They're having my first blood grandchild in August. He's headed for Afganistan in about one year. I will be doing some fishing and moose hunting with him this fall. What's the best time to fish in his area of the state? When do the moose go in rut?

Moose start rutting about September 10th.....salmon in that area nearly spent.....Delta Clearwater, by my house, will have a lot of silvers of poor quality but still can be fun to catch. Grayling and pike will still be biting. Good luck!

It's fun to head up to the Sag River around Labor Day and see if you can hit the char run, along with a stop by Pump Station 5 to take a few grayling out of the Jim River. Unless they've changed the regs, the salmon in the Chena were out of bounds.

Don't even think of taking the Dalton north that time of year. You're not gonna have enough gear in case you run into a problem. The only help/gas you can find between Livengood & Prudhoe is Coldfoot should you have vehicle problems. Weather can be very bad - the north side of the Brooks makes its own weather. If it's rainy/snowy the road can be a quagmire and the rigs running the road don't slow down much.
Bear in Fairbanks

Geez, Bear! That's what made it fun! (Although there was some pucker involved at the Atigun.)

william,

I just want to enlighten you a little bit about what hunting around Fairbanks is really like in comparison to what you see on the discovery channel. Fairbanks has gotten huge for its britches, Wainwright is growing by the day and to effectively get away from the crowds of hunters is much harder than you would imagine. Everybody that moose hunts out of fairbanks has either 4wheelers,river boats,track rigs,or planes, and just having of the above does not guarantee you that you will find any sort of solitude from the hunting presure. Without many of the soldiers deployed, the woods will be filled with the sound of 2 stroke and 4 stroke motors. Finding a way to get away from the crowds and into good hunting territory is quite the challenge, and those that have done so have their lips sewn shut. Keep in mind that as south central Alaska gets more and more populated , many of those hunters come north to hunt in the interior too. The fishing in the interior is really pretty lame, you have to go south on either the parks or Richardson hwys to really get into some good fishing, we have Grayling,Trout and Char if your into that kind of fishing on light tackle or fly, and some pike, but all are pretty small from road accessible locations, and not all that exciting to catch IMO. If your willing to pay to be flown out , you can get into some decent fishing too for Pike, Trout, Grayling and Char. But the decent salmon fishing starts about 220 miles south of Fairbanks, and gets better the further you go south. Your son will meet a lot of guys that talk hunting at work, and may get hooked up with a guy or two that will take him along an dshow him some things, but once again, most of the guys at Wainwright that are pretty successful at hunting up here, will not add new members to the hunting party. Dont mean to rain on the parade, but there is lots of logistics to hunting up here and unfortunately most of it invloves money, either in fees you pay someone or money spent buying toys or paying for our $3.60-$5.00 a gallon gas getting from point a to point b. My father in law used to get a real kick out of coming up here for the first few years that we lived up here, and I enjoyed showing him some things, but even from an outside perspective (he lives in Utah), he's not been all that impressed with interior Alaska, near as much as he enjoys being down in Valdez or the Seward/Homer areas.

There's a lot of truth in that post. I know I was a little shocked at what hunting involves up here after I moved, and it's only gotten worse.

Yup, thats one of the main reasons I am looking to leave state this year permanently.

Prayers sent.

Yeah I know.....I'll need em!

Yup, thats one of the main reasons I am looking to leave state this year permanently. [/quote]


AC:
Ya can't do that - ya gotta be kidding! Right? April Fools day has come & gone. Now get real!!!

P.S. AC has it right, guys. Our bush plane trip into the Brooks this year is gonna be $2000.00 each for my partner & me. Typically, for our ~ 3 week moose hunt, the 4 guys in our camp have to pony up about $800 each for both boat gas & food. It ain't cheap to hunt here and contrary to lots of opinions of Lower-48 cheechakos, there isn't a moose or a bear behind every tree/bush.
My advice is to think twice about a DIY hunt.
Bear in Fairbanks