Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire To Kill a Bison...

The first night had us eating well, drinking a fair amount, poring over some maps and sharing contacts and info about the hunt area and whatnot. SD’s house had no shortage of interesting things to play with and gawk at. Dan in Alaska stopped by to say hello and shoot the breeze for a short time. Good dude who really helped me out and shared some wonderful stuff to bring home with me on the back end of the hunt.

We had some concerns over weather and we watched the AK 511 road conditions/weather website closely. With an approximate 350 mile trip from Anchorage to Delta Junction, including running some relatively steep and potentially dangerous mountain passes, it wasn’t something to ignore.



Our fears came to pass the next day. Conditions on our route were alternately marked as ‘difficult’, ‘very difficult’ and ‘hazardous’ in several of the areas we’d need to transit. If we were lucky, what would have been maybe a 7-8 hour drive in decent conditions could turn into a 12+ hour drive, if we could actually make it. We decided to abort for the day, and crossed fingers that the forecast for better weather predicted for the following day would allow us to make the run up to DJ in better conditions and in good time. And so, it was.

We spent the extra day around Anchorage running around making a few pitstops. I secured my required $900 NR locking bison tag and a state duck stamp (we’d hoped to get a chance to shoot harlequin and Barrow’s goldeneye for my bird collection after the bison hunt). We picked up a couple of last-minute odds and sods, and I saw some very impressive mounts and fish in live tanks at Cabela’s. The pho joint we ate at was quite good, and we ran up to a local vista for me to check out. Alaska has no shortage of beautiful views, even inside city limits.