? for Tradgangers in ALASKA

[Robert Honaker]

I've noticed several of us gangers are from Alaska.Ultimately my goal is to one day call Alasja my home,but for now all I can do is dream.I just learned that my cousin landed a job for 5 years in AK,they will be living in Anchorage.Soooooo,I have a place to stay if I can make the trip.My question is what kind of hunting oppurtunities are there for a Trad hunter on a couple weeks vacation around anchorage?Black Bear,Sitka deer?Ayn info greatly appreciated.THANX.

[homerdave]

black bear is a pretty good bet, spot and stalk either early ( may, 1st part of june) on the beaches/tidal flats around kachemak bay, or in the fall on the berry slopes on the kenai peninsula.

[Mark Maves]

It depends on the time of year and what you want to hunt. I have hunted black bear in the spring; deer, sheep and goats in the fall.  I haven't been lucky enough to draw one of the "prime" local moose hunts.  I just drew a backyard archery-only sheep hunt from Oct 1-10, so I'll be giving that a try again.  Ducks in the fall can be very good too(mostly shotgunning/is that a word?), but took 2 of them with my bow this past fall.(I lost 6 arrows)  We get out for rabbits, and ptarmagin in the winter.  There are alot of opportunities both locally and remote....Just takes tIme and/or $$$$.  
Good Luck..Mark

[Robert Honaker]

I'm thinking more along the line of what I could hunt without aguide.How hard is it to access places for black bear or deer.Is it just out of town or a long drive for good hunting?I guess basicaly I'm looking for public ground with a decent oppurtunity for success close to anchorage.Sheep or goats would be nice,but I think I should spend my time on deer or bear since I would be a rookie in Alaska.

[John/Alaska]

Don't rule out caribou if you are here aug-sep. A little drive with a plan to stay over a night or two can get you into a couple of road huntable herds. Yep goats & sheep require a guide. And don't forget your fishing pole. If you drive the loop you can see a bunch of country where there are hunting/fishing opportunties if the season is right

[Robert Honaker]

Thanx for the replies guys,I think whan I get to Alaska I would like to go after BLACK BEAR AND/OR CARIBOU.Black bear in the fall is more up my alley.How far from Anchorage is the Kenai Peninsula,is it a good place for spot and stalk bear,and what kind of preasure does it get?Sorry for the dumb questions,but I'm just trying to get an idea of where to start.

[Frank AK]

Your best bet would probably be a carabou or deer hunt. As you can hunt these animals without a guide. Your success would also be pretty high I would imagine. Black bear spot and stalking in the spring and fall can also be very productive.

I believe that the prime time to hunt up here would be august 10th when all the small game opens up as well.

For a hunting and fishing trip I would say June up north because there is alot of hungry fish in the rivers at that time.

Anywhere else would be around august I guess because you can run into the salmon and steelhead if your lucky. There is almost always rainbows and char in any of the rivers at most any given time.

If you plan on hunting the kenai peninsula I would say... get rid of the carabou thought because those are tier II tags. The KP has a pretty good amount of black bears though.

If you want carabou your options are pretty limited to traveling on a small airplane or driving up to the haul road.

[Frank AK]

I forgot to mention. From anchorage you are limited to flying for deer as well. Unless you can hook up with someone that is willing to take you on a boat from whittier and hunt the PWS.

[Robert Honaker]

If I stay in Anchorage,what can I hunt from there without a boat,plane,or a guide?

[AkDan]

it would be like staying in nashville and asking what you could hunt from there lmao, PEOPLE!

[Frank AK]

Asumming you are willing to drive 1500 miles one way you could get on the haul road and hunt that. There are some special restriction for that because you have to have a bowhunter ed class of IBEP or equivelent.

Or you could do spot and stalk for black bears. There is also a short bow hunting only season for moose in variouse places around the state.

[Frank AK]

Oops! 1500 miles from anchorage round trip

[John Havard]

Robert, I lived in Anchorage for about 20 years.  Realistically there's very little you can hunt if you stay in Anchorage.  You need to fly somewhere to have a quality hunting experience.  If you can spare a few days you can drive down to the Kenai Peninsula (about 150 road miles) and do spot and stalk black bears.  But because of the distance you'll need to go down there and stay for a few days to have any reasonable chance of success.  For a few hundred dollars you can fly out of Anchorage to a reasonably remote spot and have a much better hunting experience.

[AkDan]

you can hunt blackies on eklutna and in a few of the other drainages also, straight verticle hills choked in alder brush unitl you break treeline.  Might as well put in for one of the sheep tags cuz ya aint to far from it.  Some nice bears though, tough hunting allows them to grow bigger.

Eklutna lake drainage also has a registration permit for moose.  I dont believe there are very many bulls taken, shot or even seen, but there are some there.  There is two hunts within minutes of downtown anchorage.  If just getting out is what you wanted these might fit your bill but dont expect the to be anything like you are thinking of when you think of Alaska.

[Robert Honaker]

Ok,from what I 'm reading here I should probably research and plan to getting a boat or plane to take me to good hunting areas.Iv'e browsed some sites that offer bear or deer hunts from boats that you stay on during the hunt for reasonable prices.That sounds less complicated,but I've always hated the idea of paying someone to show me where and how to hunt an animal.A week or so on my own in a good area,whether I take an animal or not,is more satisfying.

[John Havard]

Air taxis don't show you where or how to hunt.  They simply take you to areas known to have a reasonable number of animals you want to hunt.  They are an alternative worth considering.

[AkDan]

so do some of those boat charters, the ones that are just dropping you off either remotely or at a Forest service cabin.  

You have tons of options, why are you limiting yourself to hunting out of anchorage?

[Robert Honaker]

AKDan, I'm not,I was just wondering what the options are from there.Since my cousin lives in anchorage,I thought that maybe I could hunt from there.I am researching some boat drop-off hunting for black bear.That lokks like something I would really enjoy and not too expensive.Prince William Sound looks like a likely area.I wonder what kind of pressure that area gets?Do you ahve to worry bout brown bears there?

[Frank AK]

lol come on... There are brown bears in every part of this state pretty much. Do you have to worry about them no. But should you be prepared for them yes.

[Mark Maves]

If you are thinking of Prince William Sound, my recommendation is to fly to a lake (Main Bay/Cog Hill/Shroud/Eshamy/Cannnery Creek,etc) and have them drop you off versus a water taxi. Use the water taxi as a back up if necessary, but a flight to/from Lake Hood(anchorage) will cost you as much as a water taxi. I have flown to all of these lakes and there are a fair amount of bears (black) at these areas, there may be browns around Cog Hill too. If there aren't any, it is sure is a beautiful area and just the exposure is good enough. Your water taxis will cost you about 10.00/mile each way.  I live next to lake hood and there are plenty of air taxis that fly to the sound regularly.  I had a trip planned three years ago to fly to a fish hatchery in PWS for spring bear. The weather was socked in for two days and we ended up taking a water taxi. That cost $495.00 each, there were two of us(32 miles from Whittier) to fly from Lake Hood was $450.00 each.  Main Bay area has a fish hatchery there and several of the workers are hunters too, good ground to camp on and you may be lucky enough to get one to take you out in their boats.  The majority of the ground in PWS is like a big sponge and always wet, so be prepared.  Deer can be very good out there too, but they are further out(Perry Island, Naked, Knight, Latouche, Montague Island) I have had best luck for deer after the snow has pushed them down out of the mountains and thick stuff.  I saw where you were looking and figured I'd add my two cents.  **also rent a sat phone and take it with you. Cheap communications