Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Chasing the Dream

I would appreciate some honest insight from those who've lived in or spent considerable time anywhere in Alaska. Life in Alaska has been a dream of mine since I was very young, so my question is this. If you were given the chance to live anywhere in the state, and there were no limiting factors, where would it be and why? Is there that perfect place where the moose are huge, the caribou are plentiful, the furbearers are abundant, the soil is fertile, and there is acces to various kinds of fish (salt and fresh water)?

You're not gonna get everything you list in 1 location. I'm in/near Fairbanks and for the most part, have been here for 40+ years. Many of us in the Interior consider anything south of McKinley Park (NOT Denali) as almost being in the Yuke. (Sorry, you guys from Suthin "Alaska", don't take it personally.)
Want salmon, halibut, etc.? It's at least a 360 mile run to Valdez. Homer is about 600. A lot of people have their own boats & make runs to 1 of the two places - BTDT.
Here in the Interior, we have no taxes except for the town of North Pole (sales tax in town). There is, of course Borough property taxes and school tax. No state income tax. For hunting, the only real game in the area is moose and competition is fierce. You're not gonna go anywhere & not see someone - even if you have a river boat & go to hell & gone.
Going back to living expenses - our electricity bill averages a good $300 a month. Our last delivery of fuel oil cost $4.09/gal. We got 191 gals. You figure it out. Last time I got gas, it was about $3.89/gal., as I recall. Living here is not cheap but it helps keep the riff-raff & wannabe's out. Lottsa
times, if you want to order items to be shipped to you from the Lower-48, it's "We DO NOT ship to Alaska". WTF? We're part of the U.S. of A., at least we gotta pay Fed. Income taxes.
The net result is that you either love the Interior or you hate it - there's no "mister-in-between". Winters with their short days (~3 3/4 hrs. of daylight on Dec. 21) and sometimes long, extra cold, cold spells (talking like -40 or so for perhaps 2 weeks) are not endearing to many people. In the winter you've got to stay active - lottsa restaurants, & sports. Summer is the fun time and with long days. People tend to party too long into the evening then realize that they've gotta be up the next day for work. Oh, well, that's life in the "Yuke".
As far as I'm concerned, if you decide on the Interior and are going to stay, then "Welcome". I have little to no respect for those "once & a while Alaskans". If you're gonna settle here then do it but don't go taking one of our jobs with an on-off schedule of 2 weeks & spend your "off" weeks in Hawaii or some place. Off my preaching stump for now.
Later, Bear in Fairbanks

There is no one place in Alaska that meets your criteria, and given the expense of enjoying the state, unless you are indepently wealthy you need to factor in income and cost of living.

That said, given my druthers I'd choose SE as it has the best saltwater fishing, the winters are milder and it's not as developed as the road system hubs. The black tail, bear and goat hunting would be more than enough to offset moose and caribou hunting.

If you have the dream of living off the land, I'll be so bold as to say nobody lives completely off the land in Alaska. A big portion of "subsistance" lifestyles are well and goodly subsidized by the government, and I'm not just talking PFD's.

If you can drive to it, I'd rather live in the L48. Bush AK is wonderful. SE AK is also wonderful. The road system sucks.

If I were choosing a location according to it's fishing, South East Alaska would be the place to be but I also like to hunt moose, caribou and sheep.

Interior Alaska has some excellent moose and caribou hunting but you need to know where to go to find them. Fishing is good for freshwater fish but for salmon, halibut and other saltwater species, not so much. And if you live in the interior, you better like the dark and the cold.

Those are the 2 reasons why I no longer live in the interior and now reside where I do. It's definitley not for everyone.

Well I think when and if I ever do retire, I have been givings some serious thought to the South East part of the state, mostly for the fishing and for the Sitka Black Tail Deer. Being by myself moose while fun to hunt and to eat is getting to be more than I can manage by myself. And besides I love seafood. Halibut Salmon, cod, crab, clams etc. But I would not turn down a place in the interior if it was the right cabin. As for gardens well, I would build a hot house just for that purpose.

what we don't want here is a "foodstampsourdough" less government would help to....cold and dark snow 11 months a year ...summer bugs and tourists all the same to me

If I were to hand pick a place to live, it would be Petersburg. There are moose, though not the caliber nor numbers you get "Up North", deer, elk(in the area), bear, goat(close enough), and loads of fishing. Petersburg also has protected waters, you just need to be able to read and understand navigation markers. The big plus, roads!!!!

Simple...Unit 23. NW Alaska

You put the perma-stink on that.

lol!

Say it taint so

Like a caribou in full on rut stink.........lol.

I'm sure ol' dumb ass Walt is still looking for the other 65 links he promised. She wouldn't welsh, would she?

65 links? What did I miss this time?

He told me he could do 10:1 "all day long".

He got to about 5 and poosed out.

That's because he know's better, for a change.

apologies to BBCody for the hijack.

Bear and 458 above gave you good answers.

Thanks for the info so far. I hadn't really considered SE Alaska as I'm more of a hunter than fisherman, but maybe I should reconsider. Can anyone speak to the trapping opportunities in SE Alaska?

I would choose Haines and buy a really nice boat.
http://www.hewescraft.com/mid-size-ocean-boats/oceanpro_boat?p=1.1.4.2
http://www.duckworthboats.com/model-offshore.html
http://www.tuffboat.com/
http://www.seawolfmarine.com/

Any of these would work great! Then you have all of Southeast and beyond to explore. You have a road system that will take you to the interrior or down to the lower 48. Great Heli ski/boarding and also plenty of runs right off the road system.