Caribou Gear

Which would you pick out of the "Super Seven"?

If you were to win, which would you pick?

  • Chugach Mountain Goat

    Votes: 5 3.5%

  • Alaska Range Caribou

    Votes: 17 11.9%

  • Unimak Island Brown Bear

    Votes: 24 16.8%

  • Delta Bison

    Votes: 15 10.5%

  • Nunivak Island Muskox

    Votes: 12 8.4%

  • Afognak Island Roosevelt Elk

    Votes: 9 6.3%

  • Alaska Range Dall Sheep

    Votes: 61 42.7%
  • Total voters
    143
Bambistew said:
That caribou tag is not a slam dunk. Its about 50% success and about 1/2 of the tag holders actually hunt it due to costs and logistics. Its not a migration hunt, the animals don't move very far from summer to winter range, 20-30 miles at most. The herd is like 2400 animals in about 5,000 square miles. A giant or two is taken out of there every year, but mostly just by luck. There are nice bulls if you know where and get the right flight booked.

Since thdrawing is after the statewide draw results in February, you'll be hooped trying to get a flight, all the good spots will be booked up for sheep and bou.

The sheep population tanked in Tok last year, but to the north where the sheep tag is for, faird a bit better, but this winter will be rough in the DCUA. Sad deal they can't catch a break. On the other side of the AK near Denali they got several feet of snow in some places. I saw reports of up to 7.
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Yep...

I think the Caribou for NR is a chance to DIY hunt caribou... but if you want a nice bull you should just plan a fly in trip to a better unit.
Sheep... like you said good luck with flights.
Goat/Muskox/Brown bear... well break out your wallet.

Also is it even remotely possible to find a guide in mid-May for a hunt in August?

Given the draw odds for these hunts, the straight lottery in AK... I don't know of all the raffles in the US this just seems like the stupidest one, like elk, if you throw all 6 apps at one unit you're looking at 20% odds for a lot of those hunts. Reg Draw: $5 per app, you can do 6 apps for the same species/unit. If you do for elk in unit 8 several of the units are 20% so... $5*6 = $30, might take you 6 years to draw... so $30*6 =$180. Likely you have way better odds of drawing a permit through the draw then throwing even $400 at the raffle.

Bison seems like the only hunt on that list that makes sense for a NR...

Yes removal of the guide restriction would be a game changer, but I think a more realistic change would be to push the dates. Make the 2022 drawing be for fall 2023, that would make it way more appealing.

anyway... dumb...
 
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wllm1313 said:
Yep...

I think the Caribou for NR is a chance to DIY hunt caribou... but if you want a nice bull you should just plan a fly in trip to a better unit.
Sheep... like you said good luck with flights.
Goat/Muskox/Brown bear... well break out your wallet.

Also is it even remotely possible to find a guide in mid-May for a hunt in August?

Given the draw odds for these hunts, the straight lottery in AK... I don't know of all the raffles in the US this just seems like the stupidest one, like elk, if you throw all 6 apps at one unit you're looking at 20% odds for a lot of those hunts.

Bison seems like the only hunt on that list that makes sense for a NR...

Yes removal of the guide restriction would be a game changer, but I think a more realistic change would be to push the dates. Make the 2022 drawing be for fall 2023, that would make it way more appealing.

anyway... dumb...
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I don't think flying in to a drop camp is the same as a guided hunt. At least it wasn't for me and my moose. I'd love to get a goat, followed closely by a sheep, but the guide part is the deal killer. Some of Randy's crew did a video on a road-trip caribou hunt. Definitely did not interest me at their very carefully detailed price point. So, I'd fly like we did for moose, but it would still be DIY.
 
I bought a block ..I went half sheep and bison and put the last on the Elk tag. All three of those tags will be worth the hoops and expense to jump though if I won it.

The goat hunt would be fantastic, however if I have to go guided, I like did this year, elk then tags are easy to come by so no sense trying to win one.
 
Know a young lady that went with her boy friend to the Northwest Territorys to bow hunt Musk Ox. They both got one and she said it was the best meat she'd ever eaten. Looks like they would also have a lot of meat on them.
 
I went with the Muskox, since an Alaskan Moose wasn’t. On the list.
 
warmer said:
For a once in a lifetime brown bear, maybe.
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My point is if you drew this tag you would have to hire a guide which is going to run you north of $30k. If you really wanted to hunt a big brown bear you could also just apply for Kodiak which has 100% odds in a lot of units for Guided NR, or go to the Peninsula which is OTC.

This tag probably doesn’t get many apps other than residents and NR who applied in the draw I bet that number isn’t that large.

My overall point is that if you are going to pull tags out of the normal system you better have something to show for it, ie sell a lot of raffles. Way more tickets could be sold if they changed the rules.
 
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Dave N said:
Boy, that was tough. I ruled out the sheep/goat because of not being in shape for it. Caribou was out because of migrations and chances of finding the "big one". Elk, not really interested. Brown bear would be cool but no meat and a HUGE taxidermy bill. That leaves bison and muskox. Muskox would also be more of a taxidermy bill because I don't know if it would look worth a darn without being a full body mount. So I went Bison, with a head mount for the wall and all that meat! I never win anything anyway, so it's all a guess.
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I can't fault your logic. Bison are excellent, however, I wouldn't rule out muskox because of the full body thing. I didn't do a full body mount with mine and I don't regret it one bit. It's still a large mount, but it really turned out awesome.

Muskox.jpg

Muskox mount.jpg
 
I guess that I'd go with the Afognak Island Roosevelt elk because, although I didn't shoot all of them in Alaska, I have all of the other animals listed. :D
 
Some cool hunts, and we all have our own idea of what they are. IMO Alaska just doesn't have any really great tags that stand out above and beyond OTC opportunity. Sure they'd be fun to have, but none are really dream tags besides the bear, and the late draw really decreases their value as well. If I was a NR my desire would wane even further.
  • Bison is a farm/private land trespass type road hunt and hope you find one in the right spot. I don't have a strong desire to hunt bison, especially there. They give out lots of tags in hopes of getting the harvest they want based on the low success. So lots of other tag holders, but they are staggered to reduce pressure on the few areas where the bison tend to linger
  • The muskox hunt will cost you nearly as much as a guided hunt in the NWT. No strong desire to hunt muskox.
  • Sheep hunting in the Delta CUA, will be tough this coming fall. Its one of the most heavily hunted sheep areas in the state. 130 (10% of residents huners) tag holders ahead of you... I know numerous people who've had this tag (including my wife). The pressure the last few years has been high. Many OTC areas have less pressure and just as high or higher success and just as big or bigger rams. Rams tend to have big flares and small bases, they're pretty, but few true giant rams are ever taken.
  • The goat tag would be a good one, tons of area to hunt decent chance at a nice billy, can find a place to yourself, etc. I'm just not all that interested in goat hunting. The weather usually sucks, the brush is thick AF. It would be a cool tag to have especially living here. The season is long and lots of places to go.
  • The elk hunt would be a fun hunt, but lining it up and logistics to hunt it after the statewide draw would result in a very poor hunt and low success unless you have prior knowledge on where to go. IRRC, its also a registration hunt after the draw hunts. The bulls are big as a moose in body size. Success rates are decent for the draw hunters. There is also at least 100 other tag holders lining up hunts for that area before you. Half won't go once they figure out logistics, but still... you get second pick of whats left.
  • The bear hunt would be way cool, just to see new WILD country. Odds of killing a big bear are very good. Logistics are challenging without a guide and costly to get there. This one of a few true trophy tags in AK, IMO. You can hunt this fall or next spring too.
  • The caribou tag would be fun, with decent odds to kill one or as good as any other OTC area, but logistics are tough. 150 other tag holders ahead of you. You can probably find a flight in, but odds decrease on good spots being available. Access is tough and not a ton of strips or transporters. It can be hunted off the highway and some ATV access, but you'll earn it, and you won't be wading through caribou to shoot a big one.
Good luck to any that apply
 
Archery Brown Bear. We may not see a grizzly tag in the lower 48 anytime soon, and the odds of drawing will likely be microscopic, so might as well head north for the biggest of the bears.
 
I think I would choose the Muskox just because of the uniqueness of the hunt and it's not something I would probably choose myself if I didn't win it.
 
Dave N said:
Boy, that was tough. I ruled out the sheep/goat because of not being in shape for it. Caribou was out because of migrations and chances of finding the "big one". Elk, not really interested. Brown bear would be cool but no meat and a HUGE taxidermy bill. That leaves bison and muskox. Muskox would also be more of a taxidermy bill because I don't know if it would look worth a darn without being a full body mount. So I went Bison, with a head mount for the wall and all that meat! I never win anything anyway, so it's all a guess.
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I’d choose Musk Ox. I think they look pretty good without a full body mount. At least I think mine does:

0B9D8C43-3240-4EE0-B57E-8F7B2DF05BEC.jpeg

I took mine DIY in September. I’d like to go back and do a winter hunt for the experience and for the meat. If I won the lottery I’d buy a Musk Ox Governor tag every year and fly the whole thing out as a beef. Better than Kobe beef.

The Bison hunt would be tough to pass though.

You could not pay me to hunt elk in that godforsaken jungle. Goat, the one I have DIY from Utah was enough for me. Have enough caribou as well.

Bear and sheep are not hard to draw tags for a NR, just expensive.
 
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