Alaska Barren Ground Caribou

Knight & Hales Chris Parish recently went on a do it yourself Caribou hunt in Alaska. The following is his first hand account of a barren ground Alaskan caribou hunt.

We left on an overall 8-hour flight from St Louis to Fairbanks August 22^nd. After arriving at 9pm we made it to the hotel and prepared our bags in a final check to be sure we had only what we needed for 10 days; plus a few days extra food in case we get weathered in and the pilot can’t get to us. My friend Hunter and I decided to do a DIY (Do it yourself) hunt and forgo any guides and outfitters. In Alaska you can do this with the exception of Brown/Grizzly bear, Mountain Goat, and Sheep.

 After two flights in the Super Cub we arrived in an area where the Yukon River and Brushy creek drained together; it seemed as if we could see for 150 miles. Camp was set 2 miles from the mountain top landing strip and we glassed caribou until dark. In Alaska you cannot fly and hunt the same day. So, The following morning, after spotting a small group of bulls, I decided one was as good as I could hope for. I moved in and made a good double lung shot! After stripping the velvet, my bull scored 383, only 17 inches from Boone & Crockett! The next few days plagued us with bad weather and very little caribou and no bulls, we did, however, see several Grizzlies working the blue berry covered hillsides. On day 5 my friend Hunter basically ran down a pair of bulls to kill a very nice bull himself. Over all we had an awesome Alaskan experience and are planning a DIY moose hunt for next year!