In March, we started to talk about the slim possibility of going on the hunt. It first started with Dan missing a meat hunt on the Mulchina herd and the cost being around $800. At that time, I thought about that and said that I could have done that and I would talk to the boss. We then began to talk and decided if we were going to do it, why not do it right and go on a “once in a life time” trip and that we started to plan.
Dan did the research to find the right herd to hunt with the best possibility for trophy caribou. He came up with hunting the Western Arctic herd and now it was time to find the air service that would best suit us. In May, it was time to book the hunt. About that, time is when the boss said it was the right thing to do and I should go for it. I didn’t wait long with those words as I told Dan “it was a go”. When those words were spoken, Dan was ready to move on his already decision, this was it. Dan had already researched and found an air service “Mavrik Aire” who had a nice web page and lots of good information about their service. Dan made sure I was on board, since he would not go alone, and with my confirmation he put money down on his trip and told me whom to contact. I made the call and put down the 40% (of $2,200) for a hunt that we would take in September. As soon a down payment was made, Melina emailed me with a contract and lots of information on all the frequently asked questions. I had to mail back the contract with some other personal information. If you are looking to do a hunt like this, make sure you read the papers and know their requirements, I didn’t, and was almost stuck.
The trip dates were planned around our time teaching classes. We are both in the military and teach supervision and leadership courses that last 5 or 6 weeks, depending on what rank we are teaching. Dan worked with our supervisor to see if it would be possible to teach a particular rank to ensure we could take leave for the required time. With all of this prepared I sat back and thought, “This is really going to happen”.
It wasn’t a week after the lay down of money that we were making out flight arrangements with Alaska Air from Anchorage to Kotzebue. What was nice was the fact that I was able to use airline miles for my plane ticket, which would have cost $450.
The dates were set, plane tickets were bought and a deposit was put down on the trip and there was nothing left but the planning. Now, if you know me I am quite the planner and probably drove Dan the craziest with needing to know our every move well before we left. I think from the day it was set Dan and I talked about it almost everyday. But the planning didn’t continue with just talking, we found the Alaska Hunting Forums and started to ask questions since this would be our first big hunt in Alaska. I also read two different books, one for hunting the wild in Alaska and another book directed at Alaska Caribou hunting written by Larry Bartlet. Dan and I are both hunters but mostly have been anglers here in Alaska.
Dan is a big hunter, mostly from Montana and other states in the lower 48 and myself a whitetail and small game hunter from upstate New York. I myself had never been on a hunt where you camped in the middle of nowhere, Dan on the other hand had. Soon after booking the trip, I went on a 4-day hunt with another friend on a boat in Prince William Sound. I wouldn’t call this roughing it as the trip was in May and we had a heater on the boat and we had rented a cabin to keep us comfortable. I thought this would be a great experience to try and rough it but with others that brought steak, chicken and all the goodies it made it hard to try the freeze dried foods that we would be taking in the field in September.
As the summer went on, we did a lot of fishing but hunting was in the back of our minds. King Salmon season was over and I can tell you, that is what switched my brain. I like silver salmon as much as the others but a break in fishing from a trip to HOT Florida made me focus on a trip that was fast approaching. From the time we started planning, it was a gear getting period with getting stuff little by little that we will need to survive in the great Alaska wilderness.
August was here and it was time to make all the final plans and start the gathering of gear. We made the final calls to Mavrik Aire to settle with our account. I had only paid the 40% up front with my credit card and needed to pay the remaining $1,317. One thing I did not really look at was the request that the money be paid in cash or check. I just ASSUMED that I could use my credit card. When I looked at this I realized it was going to be tight to get the money together, so don’t fall into the same boat. I got the money and sent a check with a copy of my hunting license and my itinerary for the flight up there.
About 30 days out and Dan and I got together to start the packing. I brought a bunch of things to his house and we laid it all out and started to list the items that we needed. It only took an hour but I walked away with a list of things that we still needed. The list of things was very small as Dan had most of the big items. Please look under the packing list to see actually what we took and how much it weighed. The big thing that I found was the deal on freeze dried food, Mountain House. I found it at a garage sale for $35 (29 meals, 44 eggs/beans/peas). We had bought some other food but this will be the majority of it.
About 21 days out it was another packing day with the rest of the stuff. We started to pack the bags and weigh them, as we could only bring 125lbs each to the field, not counting our rifle. Alaska Airlines will allow us 3 bags at 50lbs and one carry on so we can take a lot more to Kotzebue than we can take to the field. At the end of the night, we had a couple things still to pack (cloths, fishing poles, and more salt if allowed). We looked like we were going to be close on weight but I think we are going to make it.
About 14 days out and it is the topic of almost every day. We are staying abreast of anything new on the message boards and from the local area. We made some phone calls to Kotzebue to find out if they would have white fuel. I had borrowed a stove from my neighbor but it took isobutene fuel cartridges but those are impossible to get their since you can’t take them on a commercial airline. We decided it would be best to stick with one fuel source and try and trim down on our items we are bringing to the field.
I started to call around to Taxidermist to find the best prices and to see how they recommend care. What it looks like is you can get a caribou shoulder mount for between $700 and $900 and you can get a grizzly rug for between $110 and $300 per foot of the bear. I am not sure what I am going to do but will bring the hides home and have them tanned for later since that will be a big bill at the end of an expensive trip.
10 days out and I have been scanning the web for pictures of Kotzebue. Since the service can’t tell us where we are going to be we are trying to find out about boots and other gear that we might need. We would like to find out if there will be trees to hang our meat or we will be on open planes. We are also documenting local phone numbers to provide for emergency plans that we leave home. I am submitting my leave paperwork to ensure all is well with the military.
Here is an artical about the herd we will hunt
Alaska's Largest Caribou Herd Grows
By Riley Woodford & Jim Dau
ADF&G biologists counting Alaska's largest caribou herd by aircraft.
Alaska's largest caribou herd, the Western Arctic Caribou herd, has grown to at least 490,000 animals, according to a survey recently completed by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
This vast herd ranges over a 140,000 square-mile area bounded by the Arctic Ocean, the lower Yukon River and the trans-Alaska pipeline. About 40 communities and 13,000 people are located within the range of the herd. For the indigenous people of these communities, the herd is both a vital link to their cultural heritage and a staple of their diet.
There is also growing use of the Western Arctic Caribou Herd by resident and nonresident hunters living outside the herd's range. These caribou are an important source of income for commercial operators that provide services to these hunters.
Because of its tremendous size, the ecological importance of the Western Arctic Herd to Northwest Alaska is incalculable. Although they are important prey for wolves and bears, these caribou directly and indirectly impact the entire food web through nutrient cycling - affecting organisms from bacteria to moose.
Wildlife biologist Jim Dau, Alaska Fish and Game's lead biologist for the Western Arctic Caribou Herd since the late 1980s, estimates the herd has grown about one percent annually for the last 10 years. That's significant for this herd, which crashed in the mid-1970s from about 242,000 to 75,000 animals.
Counting almost half-a-million caribou is no easy task. Radio-collared caribou and low-altitude photography are two key components. The census was staged out of a remote airstrip on the western North Slope last July. A team of 13 biologists and four planes were involved, including a Beaver fitted with a large format U.S. Geologic Survey mapping camera. One or more planes radio tracked the herd daily to determine whether conditions were right for the photography.
"The sample of collared caribou tells us two things," Dau said. "They obviously lead us to the groups, but they also indicate what proportion of the herd is present. Seventy five percent of a herd this size looks like all the caribou in world are beneath the plane. But until we are certain at least 90 percent of all the collared caribou are present, we know we need to keep looking for other groups.
During the census the Department determined 97 percent of all collared caribou were present in the various aggregations of caribou. Once suitably aggregated, the Beaver flew transects over each group and shot photographs at a regular interval so that each photograph overlapped on all 4 sides.
While the Beaver photographed large groups of caribou, two Piper Cubs and a Cessna 185 radio-tracked caribou and searched for small groups that did not contain a radio-collared animal. When a group was found the Beaver was either called in to photograph it or the animals were counted directly from the plane.
Once back in town the photos were laid out and areas of overlap marked so that no caribou were double-counted. "It took 11 of us three days to put the overlap lines on photos," Dau said. "It's a big job and a critical part of getting an accurate count."
Alaska's Western Arctic Caribou herd forms aggregations or groups that can stretch for miles.
With the overlap lines marked, the tedious task of counting began. The Department took more than 1,100 9-inch by 9-inch photographs to capture the herd on film.
Most of the actual photo counting was done by Don Williams, who lives in the heart of the range of the herd in Ambler, on the Kobuk River. Williams has worked with Fish and Game for many years radio-collaring caribou and, more recently, counting census photos.
"He's really into it! He pores over each photo and does a wonderful job on a task that most people would consider intolerable," Dau said. "Don counted about 85 percent of the photos for this census."
biologist counting caribou
Alaska's Western Arctic Caribou herd forms aggregations or groups that can stretch for miles.
The herd is on a three-year census schedule. The Department attempted a census during July 2002 but high wind, snow and fog forced a one-year delay. Weather almost prevented the 2003 attempt as well.
"Weather delayed our start by one week," Dau said. "Then, once we were there, weather conditions were still marginal for the caribou to aggregate. High wind, clouds and cool temperatures subdued levels of insect activity. Without intense harassment by mosquitoes, warble flies and bot flies, caribou don't form the huge aggregations we need to photograph the entire herd."
Since the Western Arctic Caribou Herd crashed in the mid-70s, biologists and hunters have been concerned that the herd could experience a similar drop in coming years. According to Dau, Western Arctic caribou have generally been in good body condition during fall. Following several recent mild winters caribou were in relatively good condition even during spring.
"The body condition of caribou is really the ultimate expression of their habitat in terms of quantity, quality and availability of their food," Dau said.
To determine if diseases are present in the herd, biologists have systematically collected blood samples from the caribou since 1992. Dau said the data so far indicates that disease is currently not a problem for this herd.
The next census is planned for 2006.
