Caribou by the 100’s!

walt maslen

Inactive
I was out to my cabin, which is about 26 miles from Kotzebue Ak via a snow machine. It is located just off the Little Noatak River in Noatak National Park. This has been a very hard winter with more snow than anyone can remember for 50+ years. We had school cancled 3 times which never happens up. Our village is located 33 miles north of the Arctic Circle on the northwestern edge of Alaska. We have caribou up here as we are home to the Western Arctic Caribou Herd or WACH and at last count is numbered just under 400,000 animals. Bag limits are liberal as we can shoot 15 animals per day, 365 days per year. This sounds crazy but keep in mind our unit or region is larger than Indiana and is home to less than 7,000 people scattered over 11 villages, remote to say the least!

Heading up to camp we ran into hundreds of caribou this weekend! We almost always see animals but this was extraordinary by all standards! We still have about 3-4 more weeks of winter and the animals are starting to think about the migration over the Brooks Range to the summer calving grounds. It was great to see so many healthy animals as hard winters can really take its toll on the survival of the animals.

I know this is something that most of you will only read about or see on Planet Earth but if you ever get the chance of coming up for a hunting or fishing trip it is worth the effort and the expense. WACH and NW Alaska is the last and best great place left! Wildlife teams up here and so few people! Arrange a float trip down one of the 100’s of rivers and see it before it is all gone!

Walt
Northwest Alaska Back Country Rentals
Kotzebue Alaska
33 miles north of the Arctic Circle!
www.northwestalaska.com
 

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Nice!

I can remember snoozing on a rainy day on the top of a hill near the Mulchatna river, sheltered in a little rock coven with a camo tarp over my head, when all of a sudden a bunch of boo ran over us and right down the hill :)

WildthegreatsleepyhunterAlaska ™
 
Brings back memories. I spent a year at Granite Mountain and a year at Tin City (overlooking Cape of Prince Wales,) before moving south to Tananna.

Pops
 
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