Wild Alaska: October 2009

Recently I was able to head north and spend some time on the north slope hunting Caribou. Temps ranged anywhere from 11 to 38 degrees which is extremely warm for this time of year. I was planning to hunt north of Atigun Pass (the contential divide of Northern Alaska's Brook's range) around the Galbraith Lake area. When I stopped in Coldfoot (only stop along the haul road between Fairbanks and Prudhoe Bay) for a coffee they had announced that a winter advisory was in effect for blowing/drifting snow and to expect delays due to a vehicle that had rolled over blocking the road. Driving in blowing snow is doable as long as the snow is blowing across the road because you can still see the outline of the road, however, with a strong head/tail wind the snow blends in with the road causing for dangerous conditions. With the potential of the winter storm getting worse and rising temps I decided to stay south of the pass and hunt the Chandalar Valley. Pickings were slim and the ones I did see were acting pretty skidish so unfortunately I returned empty handed.

This is the first time we've seen the Aurora this winter

While in Iraq I was lucky enough to draw the Kenai Mountain Caribou tag (DC001). Alaska Fish & Game issue 250 permits per year for this area and the success rate is extremely low with 12 caribou taken on average. The Kenai Mountain caribou herd is pretty small, however, if you're lucky enough to locate the herd then chances are you'll have an opportunity of connecting with a trophy bull. The Kenai Mountains also have a high population of both brown and black bear, but unless you draw a permit (we didn't), brown bear were off the menu for this hunt. With half day schedules at work, my buddy and I finally left Ft. Wainwright around noon and headed south after grabbing a cup of coffee for the seven hour drive to the hunting grounds. We parked the truck in Hope, AK and hiked in on Resurrection Trail. The 38 mile trail is well maintained and is a relatively easy hike with forest service cabins scattered along the trail if pitching a tent isn't in your plans. Going into the hunt I had zero expectations besides getting out, testing new gear, and experiencing new country. After camp was established we began glassing the hill sides for caribou. We spotted two moose who thought they were sheep because they were just shy of the snow line on the mountains (approximately 3,500 feet). That evening we spotted one brown bear and two black bear, however, with the sun setting early, we were unable to launch a stalk so we enjoyed watching them through the binos. Friday night came with a lot of rain which made for a messy trail and tough hiking. The rain came to a close around 10 AM Saturday morning and we broke camp and began glassing the hill sides once again in hopes that the bear were still located in the same area as the evening prior. At 11:00 AM we spotted a nice black bear and decided to make a stalk. It took us over 1.5 hrs to make above the tree line since the alders were acting like the mountain's linebackers but after a lot of falling and crawling we broke through the alders and spotted the bear in the same location. With the wind in our favor we had time to put together a solid game plan when all of a sudden the bear took off like Usain Bolt across the mountain only stopping once. The bear looked back in the same direction as if he was spooked then continued running across and over the mountain. At this point the weather started to turn sour so we hiked down the mountain, broke camp and headed into Anchorage for the night. All in all it was a successful trip in the Kenai Mountains and I'm looking forward to my next visit.