What would YOU do?

Another thread, Western Allure, reminded me that it has been on my mind to post here an idea that we have been discussing for a couple years now. Basically, we've been discussing doing a mega-road trip to AK via the route through BC. Time on the trip would be 30 days max. Now, I'm a bit slow sometimes but usually catch up to the curve and it occurred to me this would such a great opportunity to do some once in a lifetime sort of hunting along the way. If you did such thing, what would be on your bucket list? Budget would be a concern, so probably no guided hunts though that's not for sure....the circumstances for that to happen would have to be unusual I think.

Edit: Just found out one can't hunt BC without a guide: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/.../fishing-hunting/hunting/non-resident-hunting Looks like we'll be checking into some guide services after all.

Glad my thread got you thinking. My bucket list hunt going into Alaska would be a DIY caribou hunt. I don't remember the website, but there's a fly in hunt service that drops you off and supplies all the equipment (tents etc) that you'd need. The cost is somewhere around $3500 +/- . Keep going after your dreams and I hope y'all have a blast.

There are some exceptions, but as a non-resident you can’t hunt AK without flying in or drawing a special permit for anything except black bear.

wllm1313 said:

There are some exceptions, but as a non-resident you can’t hunt AK without flying in or drawing a special permit for anything except black bear.

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Here's what AK regs say about what NRs can do:
A nonresident who hunts brown/grizzly bear, Dall sheep, or mountain goat must be personally accompanied by an Alaska-licensed guide OR by an Alaska resident 19 years of age or older who is within the "second degree of kindred" (see definitions below).

For NR alien:
A nonresident alien must be personally accompanied by an Alaska-licensed guide to hunt ANY big game animal, including black bear, brown/grizzly bear, bison, caribou, Dall sheep, deer, elk, moose, mountain goat, muskox, wolf and wolverine.

We would fall into the first category so could hunt anything except the 3 named species. Still, flying in would still be something we'd have to deal with.

kotikant said:

Here's what AK regs say about what NRs can do:
A nonresident who hunts brown/grizzly bear, Dall sheep, or mountain goat must be personally accompanied by an Alaska-licensed guide OR by an Alaska resident 19 years of age or older who is within the "second degree of kindred" (see definitions below).

For NR alien:
A nonresident alien must be personally accompanied by an Alaska-licensed guide to hunt ANY big game animal, including black bear, brown/grizzly bear, bison, caribou, Dall sheep, deer, elk, moose, mountain goat, muskox, wolf and wolverine.

We would fall into the first category so could hunt anything except the 3 named species. Still, flying in would still be something we'd have to deal with.

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... Lol I thought the same thing when I first started looking into hunting Alaska, then I talked to Bambistew, glasseye, and a bunch of the veteran hunters here with tons of experience. Once you read through the regs, look at maps of public land/look at native corp land/ check out restrictions on federal land in various areas look ranges of game animals + herd size, use google earth to see how dense the timber and terrain are in OTC areas etc., you will see what I mean. You can hunt haul road caribou with a bow from the road or hike in 5 miles to use a rifle or you can fly to Adak, those are pretty much the only NR caribou opportunities that don't involve hiring a transporter. Most of the moose units that you could conceivable hike from a road to hunt are draw, have very low success rates, or are very difficult because you can only hunt mature bulls and have to pack out bone in the meat, almost all rivers that you could hike into and pack raft out a moose are draw or have some pretty bony rapids.



I'm planing doing two AK hunts this year trying to stay under 4k total, so I'm not trying to say you can't hunt Alaska cheap. Simply that it's regs are far and above the most complicated of any state, that because of the regs and logistics opportunity is limited unless you have money and that other than black bear and maybe black tail you can't just drive up park at a trail head and OTC hunt.

Understood, thanks for the feedback. I've got homework to do.

Ok I have no first hand experience with Alaska. However both my dad and brother have lived there. They are always talking about driving up and taking a boat. They say that all the hunting you would ever want can be gotten to with a boat. Just something else for you to look into if your rig can tow.