Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska 40 mile caribou herd

I like my caribou hunts. My jetboat is my only transportation so that's what I use. The family prefers caribou meat over moose so it's a good excuse to focus on them. It's a relatively easy trip with my kids, I see few people, and it's just plain fun. I just can't partake in schitshows!

Copy that, think it was $10,000 or so for the flight... Had a great\easy hunt... I'll postpaid tomorrow if anyone is interested... Guess it was like stupid easy...

very nice... Love caribou meat...

that's with everything man!!! Got a couple invites for halibut fishing this year, saved $$$ and time and bought some from you guys.... Halibut fishing s the dumbest waste of energy \resources I've ever seen..... For "sport fishing"......

I've heard the horror stories about rutted up bou, but I've yet to experience it and don't plan to either. Man I love slicing up some backstrap, add some Johnnys, and fry up in some butter when in camp. Everything taste better when camping I guess, but that's just hard to beat for me!

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How'd the trip to back east pard?? Hope everything worked out...

As good as it could. Brought back a new deer dragger to train! Haha!

Your a good sumbitch ptarmigan!!! Good on you and you will be rewarded!! Good man....

Damn! I wish it was that cheap!!!

Btw, I'm a sumbitch too, don't take it personal... Grin

Hope it works out well!!!

It’s all good, I don’t take much personal these days! I figure most folks that bitch at each other one time or another on here would get along just fine around a campfire sharing drinks!

The amazing part its cheap and happens like that all over the state. LOL.

Sounds like killing and not hunting to me.

For the most part I'm ok with ATVs to get to an area, but once there, unless its age or handicap, then park em and get off your azz. Lazy SOBs.

For the record the above is simply my opinion.
And I do agree about folks leaving the state. I will not. LOL

And cost of our moose hunts so far, a bit of fuel, and we would eat whatever we might be doing so the fuel, usually about 4 or 5 cans, and OLD Atvs, and call it good plus tag cost. The folks that fly their stuff in, thats cool, cause I've flown and would again if I could afford it, they could buy beef cheaper, but its not the point. I do know an area up north, that had good bulls and they started this fly the ATVs in and from the air there are almost no good bulls left.... I"m not sure what that means though... but I do know that power this or that can ruin things. And I say that as I hop in a jet boat once or twice a day to take folks fishing.

I think most of those heavy into expensive equipment are into toys and have them no matter what. "Hunting" with them is a bonus. I suspect those boys in their 20's and 30's I met are as much into tearing up the countryside all summer long on their ATVs as they are during hunting season.

My 4 loads of backpacked caribou off the mounain sure seemed heavier than 25# .......each...... My wife's 4 loads were not in that weight class either, being only a few lbs lighter than mine. Someone must not be salvaging all the meat? True, I brought out the legbones and, against my wishes, the antlers. Now antler is useless weight for the most part! Of the 75 or so caribou I have taken over the years, not one produced only 25# of meat. But then, I don't shoot 3 month old calves, which would undoubtedly be top-notch eating.

Actually, going in with low expectations, I told my wife if the first caribou we had a chance at were a cow and calf, we would take both and call it good. That quickly changed!

As for rutted up caribou, just don't shoot bulls - especially big bulls - in late September thru about Nov 10. Problem solved. August caribou thru mid September, properly taken care of, are excellent eating. Those after the rut are edible, but not nearly so good - which is why Eskimos shoot cows all winter long, for the most part.

Sure it's a zoo up there, but where I was, it was very well self-regulated it seemed. We'll likely do it again if the critters are there. With ATV. 50 years of backpacking meat out of the hills is enough. I bet at 71 I was the oldest one up there, and my wife probably the 2nd. Two of maybe 6 walk-ins.... We still have it!

Looking to get rid of it.........

Costs? Diesel money RT Soldotna to Steese was under $300, for a couple hundred pounds of now processed excellent meat. And a nice trip - what does one get from a "vacation" ?- except bills. Big bills. So if it better bobs your cork, just consider it a cheap 5 day vacation for two (the dogs needed the outing) with a bonus of high quality meat and a little needed exercise.

A bit more money for vacuum bags, and that's it. I already had the equipment, including the 4 wheeler that we didn't take along this time.... but will next time if any. No hunt expense there, except perhaps amortised over years and trips.

Try buying beef for $2/lb!

Not to say that's what those other folks are doing on this "hunt".

But it was a damned good slaughter.!

I agree, not the "Alaskan" experience I'd want either. .. They were happy, all killed nice bulls, rode the quads right too em, if they're that's all that matters..

Correction: My wife's rack is slightly bigger with more mass than mine.

Ditto the caribou antler pics on which I reversed the captions.....

If F&G wants to knock that herd down or slow the growth (and piss everyone off) why, just make it a cows only season. Limit of two, or maybe 3.
Won't happen - "game management" is at least 50% people/political management, and hang what's good for the game.

The other thing they need to do is change that bullchit regulation about bringing the jawbone out in case "we ask for it at a check station. If we don't ask, we don't want it".

Either they do or they don't - no "maybe we do, maybe we don't - we can't decide...." If they want it, I'm happy to oblige.


There were a (surprising to me) number of people who hauled ass out of there with gutted, unskinned whole animals opening afternoon, a hot day in high 60's maybe low 70"s. Only a few hours back to Fairbanks. But still... I calculated that there was little chance of getting that skin off within 6 hours of the kill, minimum- probably more.

F&G didn't want to look at his (or any) kill already in the game bags. Wonder what they were checking for?

Simple enough to put a yea or nay on their hotline (last updated 9 days before opener) info on the jawbone thing. If they CAN make up their mind.

Killed some nice bulls
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Managing caribou is difficult at best and F&G puts a lot of effort and money into the 40 Mile Herd. Unfortunately, it is an international agreement with Canada;s Yukon Territory and there's a pile of arbitration goes on. The only thing more difficult to manage is the hunter.