We were pleased with the overall Alaska unguided caribou hunting experience.
We put forth a significant amount of effort when it came to glassing from different locations and while we didn’t see a huge number of caribou we understand that caribou hunting is hunting and animal movement is often weather dependent. We did see enough animals to be somewhat selective and we feel that we probably shot three out of the 7-8 biggest bulls that we saw. We did not see any giants!
This was our first Alaska hunting experience and it was pretty much what we had hoped for and/or expected. I would say that the only thing we were somewhat disappointed/surprised in was the fishing, but we didn’t go there to fish. Overall, it was a great adventure.
I visited with both of my son’s last night about what could be better about the trip and we came up with just a couple of little things:
- It would be nice to have some ketchup and/or steak sauce along with the multiple other seasonings they provided.
- There was no Mountain House for breakfast. This was unfortunate as there are some pretty good Mountain House products for breakfast. I’m sure this was just an oversight. We had oatmeal and granola for breakfast which was fine. However, we did have about 15 packages of Raspberry Crumble and used one. So maybe a better inventory of products when they are sent into the field might be a good suggestion.
- Lastly, a more robust and/or defined orientation from Sheila. There was really no structure once we got to Kotzebue, we just kind of stood around and were always wondering what was going on and what the plan for the day was. Sheila came out of the trailer a couple of times and asked for our license, etc., and told us that we could probably go to the “downtown” area and eat if we wanted. It seemed pretty “loose” but we were also waiting for the weather to clear.
- Can they do something about that tundra? Ha Ha.