Fly into Prudhoe Bay $1300-$1500 round trip. I will get an Alaskan Airlines Credit card as soon as I turn 18 to build points, and nock some price off of this.
Buy hunting license and two tags for a total cost of $735
Be picked up by the outfitter, (70 north) in Prudhoe Bay and driven up to Happy Valley. $600 round trip split between hunters.
Fly out from happy valley to hunting spot for $2000 round trip.
If extra flight is needed to get meat out it is $1500 split between hunters.
Shipping meat back should be roughly $300 according to 70 North.
The gentleman I spoke to said that the only way to get your antlers home is through a company called antlers express? Rough cost of $500 split between hunters.
Total cost of hunt should be a little over $5000 dollars.
As far as combo, moose most likely will not be open in August.
Planning is half the fun for me and Ak. is amazing!!
Some archery moose seasons are open in August. I believe unit 16 general moose opens in august. look through the reg book.
Also, you need to double check the map, Sterling is a 24hr+ drive from Deadhorse. If you can utilize whatever relation you have up there, it is possible to cut down your costs above with some ingenuity.
#1. Not just one round trip but two round trips with the bush plane? You do have to get into camp and then come back out of camp and you will have to pay for both trips unless prearranged to have someone share the flights. You are talking flying a bush plane that is big enough to take "as a bare minimum" you and your buddy, your hunting gear and I would have to presume some kind of grocery order, a tent, pack frames, rifles, sleeping bags, something to cook with and also cook on for that matter into an unknown area for a 5-6 day hunt.
#2. Did you count on purchasing any groceries or drinks? If not then plan on spending about twice what it would cost you to do your grocery down south and don't forget to add the weight into the load you will be putting on board the aircraft.
#3. If you are hunting in August and shoot a caribou during the first couple of days of the hunt chances are the weather will be warm in August and you will need to get it flown out of there and have it taken somewhere where it can be hung in a cool and dry spot or it will spoil.
#4. Do you plan on bringing in cheese cloth and/or a screened tent? Flies can be an issue in August and unless you have some place to hang your meat up until the plane can come in and get your caribou out of there you had best have somewhere to hang it where it is going to be free from flies laying eggs into it, dry and ventilated.
I am amazed at how some bowsiters could criticise my initial offer of reintroducing my 1x6 outpost camp for $6000.00/hunter (all inclusive from Montreal taxes and licenses for 2 caribou/hunter included). Yet it is perfectly OK to pay $5000.00 for a DIY hunt in Alaska where you are not being provided with any guiding services and all your outfitter is providing you with is a flight into camp and a ride from the airport but yet the cost of that hunt is going to easily be in excess of $5000.00! In comparison I am offering a fully outfitted hunt where I have flown freighter canoes and/or boats into each and every one of my camps, numerous drums of gas, propane, outboard motors, four wheelers and I offer solid framed cabins with beds and mattresses, oil and/or wood heat to keep you toasty, fully equipped kitchens etc. Not to mention I fly over 200 hours to make sure I am doing what it takes to give everyone a chance of actually being in a camp where they will see caribou. Not to mention if any of my clients get stuck over night at my base camp due to bad weather my wife and I personally feed and serve everyone a warm meal and provide everyone with comfortable accommodations "free of charge" and boast over 95% success rates over the last 5 years. I could go on and on but choose not to as I think the point is made. Just my two cents worth....and nothing more than my humbled opinion! lol
Please don't take me the wrong way, I do wish you lots of success on your DIY hunt in Alaska and hope you have a truly terrific time but just could not resist. If I can be of any help with your planning for this DYI hunt please don't hesitate to contact me. I certainly know what is required as a bare minimum could help you with that if you'd like.
Richard Hume
I did the trip last year but opted for the Haul Road vs a fly in trip, and had a great successful trip. Keeping meat in early august on the tundra is no easy feat.
If you are flying in a Super Cub you will have about a 60 lb. weight limit. One trip per hunter and a separate meat flight.
a 180 will get you two hunters and maybe a little bit more gear limit per flight. Either plane will get at least one Bou out per flight. We got 2 mature bull moose out in a Cub one flight per bull.
Pack like you are carrying camp in. We did 11 days via Super Cub and had enough food for 2-3 extra days if we got weathered in, no problem.
Alaska: Everyone has their hand out to take your money there....
PM sent
Richard, by no means do I not think you run the best camp in QB. But you not adding up all the costs for your hunt. What about a commercial flights to Montreal or the cost to drive up. The cost of having the meat processed and the cost to ship the meat home on Commercial airfare. What about the cost of food for the 1 x 6 hunt, that is all extra. The Kid from Utah is figuring his cost from Door to Door. Yours undoubtedly will be closer to $8500 when your said and done.
I'm not trying to discourage you, but I talked to a guy who did what you are doing last fall....10 day hunt...4 guys were dropped off. They killed 2 caribou between the 4 of them (rifle hunting)..one nice one and one small one (for meat on the last day). They saw some a long ways off, but said the tundra was like walking on a waterbed filled with bowling balls and couldn't get close to them before they moved on.
I'd only hunt where I had some mode of transportation other than my two feet(like a boat or where someone would move me if there were no caribou around), but it's your adventure. Finding others to join you might be a problem.....
If it's adventure you're looking for and taking home a caribou is secondary, go for it... If you truly want to bring home a nice animal, I'd save up a little more money and go with either JHA or a hunt in Northern Manitoba... Good luck!
Unlike driving up to Alaska, Montreal is only a very short 1.5 hour drive north from the USA/Canada border and so for many of our clients arriving from the north eastern portions of the USA (PA, NY, VT, MI, OH, WI, MA, ME, NH, VA etc.) it is very much feasible for them to actually drive up and take advantage of our "free parking" within our secured and guarded parking lot.
For those who choose to fly in, fortunately Montreal has very affordable connecting flights with all the available airlines whom all have regular scheduled flights into Montreal each and every day of the week. I fly to many of my sportsman shows and it never cost me more than $600.00 for a return ticket. I have also used air miles to travel and it then cost me nothing more than the cost of the taxes.
In so far as the meat butchering goes, not all of our clients require butchering services as the caribou cones out of camp quartered and deboned but none the less for those who do require his services, the butcher conveniently meets our clients upon their return at the Holiday Inn hotel and picks up the caribou from anyone wishing to have it processed by him. He not only butchers your caribou but vacuum seals it and fast freezes it prior to returning it to you the next morning. The cost for this service is $80.00/caribou but by doing so you can lower the weight of each caribou box to less than 50Lbs. and instead of paying for excess weight and excess baggage you would only be charged for excess baggage.
So yes there can be extra cost involved in our hunts other than those I had previously mentioned but my pricing is from Montreal and not from 800 miles north in Lac Pau. In the case of the DIY hunt you have to get all the way up to Alaska which we could compare to getting to Lac Pau. (Driving is certainly not going to be an option for most to get to Alaska nor would most of our clients wish to drive to Lac Pau. It is however going to be a little more restricted to use your air miles to get into Alaska than what it would be to get yourself to Montreal.)
With all that being said I am not trying to purposely take away from anyone experience of doing a DIY hunt. I have done many of them myself and have some great memories to go along with them but I am putting out other options that might be worth comparing.
And with all that being said my 1x6 fly up option is not my cheapest package as I do offer a 1x6 drive up hunt for $4500.00. Just saying!! Get yourselves 24 hours north of Montreal to Lac Pau and hunt for $4500.00 out of a nice cozy outpost cabin with boats, motors, real food and everything else required to have a successful hunting trip including an outfitter/bush plane pilot who locates the caribou prior to your arrival and positions you accordingly....and once you arrive at camp you have an experienced guide to send you off in the right direction. I won't hide the fact that I don't use my fanciest camps for this hunt as they are reserved for my fly up guest who are paying much more money to hunt with us but I can guarantee that it will be dry, warm and have everything you require.
On a different note I just got off the phone with one of our clients (Richard Mann) who hunted Amanda Lake a few years ago with his son Allan Mann. Richard's caribou was recently registered at 398 B&C and is the 2nd highest scoring caribou to be registered in B&C during that three year period....See the picture! It was an awesome caribou.
Richard Hume
That's means save 2 Richard!
with AK you have much more variability and it could end up being a death by thousand cut type thing.
even if AK is s planned costwise the line about a "camping trip" if the bou are not there is a possibility that is greater in AK drop camp and JHA hunt.
If going on a DIY camping trip is worth the risk then go for AK over a more predictable (I said more predictable not predictable) JHA package.
Why choose to fly into Prudhoe? I would recommend the western arctic herd out of Kotzebue. There are more caribou, and they are closer to town. There are also bigger bush planes available. Cubs are for sheep hunting, not caribou and moose. Get into a 206 if you can, or even a 185. This will cut your costs by several hundred dollars.
Example:
Get alaska airlines card, spend $2500 on normal purchases...fly round trip for $10 from anywhere alaska airlines services.
Tags and license for two bulls $735.
Bush flights (assuming three...in and out twice plus meat haul) $3600.
Extra baggage to come home :$200.
That's more like $2700. Just my two cents.
Full disclosure: I'm booked with JHA for 2015.
Pretty sure I'm on the last 2015 hunt with JHA. Chose Richard based 100% off bowsite recommendations. I will be using a rifle, as I am a rifle hunter. I respect the archery choice, and will probably end up there eventually.....just not yet. :)
Still dropped roughly 4k on that trip. That included a jumper flight from Fairbanks to Bettles and back, 2 caribou tags, hunting license, fishing license, wolf tag, satellite phone rental, mailing the bulk of my gear to and from Bettles via USPS, freight charges, rental vehicle and two nights stay in Fairbanks.
The one financial mistake I made was shipping the meat home. Would have been much cheaper to pay the fees and bring it home on the plane.
The North Slope is breathtaking. Glad I experienced it. Wouldn't trade those memories for anything.
That said, my next trip will be in more bowhunter friendly terrain. We had migrating caribou, but these caribou did not follow the script...or each other. Watching the route of one herd and then laying in ambush for the next group did not work.
The hunt was basically spot and stalk...in minimal cover. Getting within 100 yards was not an issue. Getting within 50 yards was almost impossible. Spent nine days on the tundra...busted my hump every day except one (all day downpour)...and didn't seal the deal until the last day. Ate tag soup on my second tag.
Best of luck on your adventure.
The haul road is a rodeo, and a crap shoot. On top of that, you likely won't save that much money by the time it's all over.
In my opinion, to hunt alaska correctly....you should ALWAYS get into a small airplane. A good transporter can land at numerous strips, show you the ground from the air, and won't be worried about flying to have a look. Generally, the better deals are non-package flights you pay for by the hour. Those "all inclusive" packages are normally marked up well over a thousand dollars.
I have a write up on the haul road trip in the caribou forum if interested. The views perpetuated online are flat out wrong about the haul road IMO. Sure you will see other people, but you aren't STUCK if the bou aren't moving through your camp. You can literally pack up and be 100 miles away in 2 hours if need be. ESPECIALLY as early as you are going. August is before the migration most years, meaning the bulk of the hunters won't be up on the haul road yet. We hunted 7 days and only encountered ONE hunter off the road. Sure you see trucks cruising the highway, but that is a terrible way to hunt them in the first place. Hike off a mile or so where you can glass terrain not visible from the highway and your encounters will go up.
Prices are what you make of them. I didn't get a hotel on the beginning and tail end of my trip. I didn't buy a second tag (regretted this later, but one bou was enough for me going into the trip). I didn't pay for my commercial flights (credit card miles). I paid for half the vehicle rental, half the fuel, one tag/license, and about $100 in food/beer. I didn't pay to mount it, I boiled it out for the euro. We paid less than $100 to have a bou butchered and frozen ready for the flight home, and the baggage fee was <$50. He packed his carry on full of the best cuts of meat to not lose them lol. My friend split his antlers and played tetris but got them down inside his huge duffel somehow.
All said and done I was out right at $1500. I roughed it compared to how some people prefer to travel... and I wasn't interested in the taxidermy as that would cost as much as a return trip to hunt them again. For the $5-6k figures quoted on here I am hunting WY Pronghorn, AK Black Bear, AK Moose, MT Elk, and MT Mule Deer this fall.... It's about setting a budget for necessities and working within that budget. If you are big on taxidermy, or must have a guide, or must stay in a lodge/motel vs sleeping in the bed of your truck it's obviously going to cost you more.
Trevor's advice is very sound... If you only road hunt, you'll likely have a terrible time.
