Caribou Hunting Off The North Slope Haul Road (Sagavanirktok to Ivishak River)

It is that time of year again. The days are a bit shorter, crisp air in the morning and people are starting to think about where they want to set up camp and call for moose or in my case stalk some caribou in the A.N.W.R. off the Dalton Highway on the Ivishak River once again.    I had a stiff learning curve running up the Sagavanirktok and Ivishak Rivers last fall with a couple near disastrous mishaps.  I do believe I will blame those on inexperience with shallow water river running and having only bought the boat a mere week before attempting the hunt in 2010.  Now that I've had a go around and a year to run the boat pretty hard in various rivers such as the Gulkana, Little Susitna, Chena, and the Yukon and Dall Rivers as well. Roughly two months ago, I had the boat shop do a good one over on the motor to get it in prime condition so I wouldn't end up stranded with some silly mechanical issue. I've managed to have a fairly busy week having gone up the Steese Highway Monday to cow moose hunt. Unfortunately all we found was a little black bear on the way back Wednesday afternoon.

http://connect.garmin.com/player/109164930 Cow Moose. Twelvemile Summit: 4-Wheelers.

I had twenty-four hours to get the gear cleaned up the re-orgainized for Thursday morning after getting back into town Wednesday afternoon. I was a bit pressed for time but come Thursday, I was ready.

 At any rate, ready as I'm going to be, Ben and I loaded up the truck and headed north. The truck bed was full as could be since we had decided to bring enough fuel with us to do the entire trip without having to stop and gas up paying ridiculous prices for gas (It was 5.40 per gallon in Coldfoot). So we had borrowed a thirty gallon poly and used all our five gallon cans and filled my boats two-nine gallon cans and tossed them all in the pickup totalling 68 gallons plus another 20 gallons in the truck tank.

We left Fairbanks about 1:30pm on Thursday afternoon arriving at the boat launch on a small braid of the Sagavanirktok about 11:00pm just a few miles north of Pump Station Two. We spoke with a man who had been running the river the last few days and grabbed a bit of beta on who was up river, where a

nd if there there caribou and all sounded well.  We dry launched the boat since there wasn't enough water to float my boat at the launch which seems to be a problem every year.  I'm glad it is to because it keeps most boats out of there.  This hunt is truly for the small man handling tunnel flat bottom jets and air boats. There is of course, the random few who decide

they can do it with their Predator or Extreme Shallow and pretty much destroy their 40K boats on the trip, but hey they made it... kind of...  After launching and loading up the boat with most of the gear which included 28 gallons of gas we pitched a tent next to the truck and crashed out about 12:30.  We were up and boiling a bit of water for coffee by 6:00 am on Friday and revving the motor up shortly thereafter. We started out strong but within a couple minutes we found ourselves pulling the boat off of some rocks in a shallow portion of the Sag. We rounded a couple more corners before getting stuck again.  This continued for a while until we made enough ground up river to get out into the main channel. In all the huss and fuss of pulling the boat off the rocks and making ground up stream, we completely missed the Ivishak confluence and had to turn around and go back down stream and then up into the Ivishak. We made pretty quick work of the Rivers up to camp once we got out into the main channels. By the time we stopped and set up camp we had been on the river for two hours and forty minutes

and covered 21.77 miles.  If I had to do it again, it wouldn't take nearly as long. We had stopped several times to look at the GPS units and track out to the road to gauge the 5-mile minimum distance in addition to having to pull the boat of the rocks when we would get stuck. On the run up we spotted about ten caribou with a couple bulls in the group on the river just shy of the five mile marker. It was a welcomed sign as we continued up. 

http://connect.garmin.com/player/110109640   ----Run To Ivishak Caribou Camp.

Once at camp we hastily unloaded some gear from the boat, set up the tent and headed to higher ground to take a look.  A half hour later we spotted our first caribou and began to head in its direction over a small knob on the tundra. When we reached the top of the knob we spotted about forty caribou about a mile out.

They were too far off at the moment so we decided to continue on after the lone caribou we had spotted in front of us that was just down the other side of the hill somewhere out of sight. Fifteen minutes later we lucked out because we completely abandoned the lone caribou and focused on the herd as they had decided to come our way. Within no time, they were a couple hundred yards out in front of us and we opened up with the rifles. We shot four cows and a bull.  Having already planned on taking cows for meat and possibly a bull or two it worked out perfectly.  However, now we had five animals to gut and cut up. It wasn't until 11:30pm that we had all five back at camp and we sat down to cook up some bacon and eggs. luckily we made it back because before dinner was even done cooking a thick fog rolled up the valley and visibility was down to fifty feet. I was exhausted and barely managed to finish dinner before curling up in the sleeping bag to crash for the day. I was glad to have found the bou on the first morning, it will save us a day on this trip. Always a satisfying hunt when you have five animals hanging in camp on the first night.   Last year I had shot two bulls on the first morning... Saturday morning rolled around and we slept in. Partly because of exhaustion from having to haul all the meat in packs making numerous trips and partly because the fog had not dissipated. It wasn't until 9:30am that the fog had lifted enough to really get the day going. We decided that we had enough weight in the boat that we were more comfortable in making a shuttle of sorts to get it out instead of one heavy trip.  We packed the boat with all our gear and a little more than half the meat and headed down stream to the confluence of the Ivishak and Sag.  We stashed the meat in a shady spot and turned around and buzzed back up to camp to pick up the remaining meat. Once back at the confluence with the second load we sat down and ate a bit of lunch in the sun on the cut bank. This was the bulk of the trip back so we were a bit relieved to be at this point. Its always a little nerve racking while upstream because of the possibility of having mechanical issues and whatnot. I'm generally relieved when I've cut that distance back to the truck. In the process of having to do this meat shuttle we covered 40.51 miles by river.

http://connect.garmin.com/player/110109760 Shuttling Meat to Sag/Ivishak Confluence.

We loaded up the bulk of the meat once more and continued down the Sag to the braid that would lead us to the to the boat launch and made a meat stash again and returned to the confluence to pick up the remaining meat.  Once back at the turn off to the braid we decided to just pack the boat with all the meat and make a run for the boat launch.  We made it down having only to pull the boat off the rocks a couple times. This final leg of the return was 10.47 river miles. 

http://connect.garmin.com/player/110109767 Meat Shuttle from Sag/Ivishak Confluence to Boat Launch.

Ben and I didn't hang around the launch very long, we loaded up the boat and truck and were on our way pretty quick.  We did get visited by a trooper while we were loading up who questioned us about our tags, licenses, and meat retention. However, soon enough, we were pulling back out onto the Dalton Highway around 3:30pm.  We stopped in Coldfoot to eat but we still had plenty of gas in the poly so we filled up a little further down the road at the Koyukuk crossing.  We eventually made our way back into Fairbanks and got the meat set out in a cool basement for the remainder of the night and I crashed by 3:00am.  I was up and about by 10:00 am Sunday and we were cutting up the meat and putting it into the freezer by lunch time.  Another quick trip up north that went well.  No complaints. 

I'm putting a few needed waypoints for the trip. Feel free to use them or drop me a line for questions or additional points etc. I'd like to know if you do use them. Just curious if people actually are using them.. If so I might add more on future ventures.

Pump Station #2   N 69 27'31.5"  W 148 33'32.3"
Dalton Turn Off To Boat Launch  N 69 34'04.3"  W 148 37'06.8"
Boat Launch N 69 34'10.8"  W 148 36'27.6"
Sag Braid Leading Down To Boat Launch From Main Channel  N 69 31'59.1" W 148 32'49.6"

Ivishak/Sagavanirktok Confluence N 69 30'15.4" W 148 30'17.8"

Echooka/Ivishak Confluence N 69 25'01.4"  W 148 16'24.1"




  

Yukon River to Ray and Dall Rivers for Pike Fishing



Yukon Launch to Ray River

Well I have heard the last few years that the Pike fishing on the Ray and Dall Rivers is great... It is time to see if it lives up to the rumor mill.  Having done the fly into Minto Flats for two days a couple few years back, the Dall had some living up to do.  Doug and I made our pact to go check it out for a few days. So about 7:00pm after work on August 4th we left Fairbanks and headed north hauling my 16' tunnel flat bottomed Alweld with a 40 Hp Jet up to the state maintained launch into the Yukon River just downstream of the Dalton Highway / Yukon River bridge.  We had tried to guesstimate our fuel needs and ended up taking 30 gallons of gas on the boat.  By the time we launched into the Yukon, it  was raining and just after 10:00 pm.  Neither of us were too keen on motoring up in the rain since my boat is wide open to the elements so we booked it downstream for a couple miles to the confluence of the Ray River and the Yukon. With such a massive river we skirted the shoreline about a hundred or so feet off incase of motor problems 

Dall River by our Camp

we stood a chance of getting to shore relatively quickly. Even worse if wind made waves swamped my boat I could gun it towards shore and not have far to swim!  We set up a hasty camp on the downstream of the confluence in the rain (I didn't want to run up the Ray due to poor visibility and the possibility of sand bars).  We noticed a lone bear track up our sand bar and several moose tracts. The Yukon is intimidating. Its not a slow moving monster of a river. There IS current and it moves right along.  Definitely not a river to just launch into without some experience. At a mile across and sometimes many miles across, it acts like a lake with current. If the wind picks up valley, you are looking at white caps pushing three foot swells. Not to mention the amount of debris that often is found. from sticks to entire hundred foot trees.  Anyway, that is my Yukon disclaimer!! When morning arrived, it was still raining but we walked around the corner to check out the Ray River Confluence with the fishing rods. 

We spent about twenty minutes casting around the clear Ray waters and I only hooked into one pike which I lost (I did see him and he wasn't worth much of anything). We weren't in too much a mood to fish around since it was raining and we had a long night so we broke camp and skipped out on exploring the Ray River with the boat. We headed up past the launch and underthe dalton highway bridge. We buzzed up probably ten miles before my hands were straight up numb from the wind and rain so I pulled off the river and walked around a bit to warm up. After a good ten minutes, off we went and covered another ten miles up stream into some braids.  It was coffee time. We had been running up stream for about an hour now. We pulled off again in a braid on a little sand bar and cooked up some eggs and side pork and sipped a cup of coffee.  We had no idea exactly where we were. We didn't have a map but we knew if we stayed left for two braids, we would hit the Big Dall River and by Doug's account we were in the second braid so we were close.  Sure enough, another ten minutes of running and we popped around the corner and saw the Dall River.  We buzzed right in and as soon as we got up into the clear water the fishing began!   We hooked into a decent pike over 30 inches in about 15 minutes of trolling up stream.  The water was pretty high and people had told me not to bother with the Dall if the water was high. its best low and clear.  But what the hell, we are already here, the fish are still here, its just a bit more water to fish.  We fished all afternoon and hooked several more but it was pretty slow.  We finally stopped and set up a camp several miles up into the Dall and cooked up some dinner and crashed. I was glad the rain had given up by about the time we had stopped for breakfast, it made the rest of the day enjoyable. I slept hard and woke up ready to catch some fish!  We trolled all day back and forth exploring the east fork for a couple miles and then up the Dall further to the west fork.  We landed one pike just under 40" and had a couple huge hits but missed them.  Probably landed about 20 or so Pike. We settled in for another dinner and curled up in our sleeping bags for night two on the Dall.  We awoke to rain again and with no signs of letting up we opted out of trolling around for the morning and just topped of the gas tank and hit the Yukon downstream back to the launch. The ride down was a lot smoother with less wind. We made good time as expected and before long we were enjoying coffee and breakfast at the Yukon River Lodge.  All in all we caught far less than I was expecting but, like people told me, its probably magnitudes better with lower water. I'm a believer of the Dall River pike. I have zero doubts that there are 50 and even 60 inch pike in that river.  I hope to go back for another round with better water levels. I did learn another valuable Dalton trick, cover your boat with a tarp or you'll have to spend a half hour with a pressure washer just to see the paint again!!

Overall, its about 25 miles up the Yukon and 25 back with some room to play in the Dall say 20 or so miles so plan for AT LEAST 70 miles worth of gas!





Week of Camping and play in the AK Part III

July 27th-30th. We awoke at the Glaciers edge and eager to get the ice climbing gear on and head out so we went back up to where we stashed the gear to find that we had been visited during the night.  Likely a smaller black bear but at any rate, it had put a couple holes in various things we had at the stash like Erin's jacket and my water bottle.  Our food was still high and dry though.  I was glad we had decided to camp down off the trail. Bears are lazy creatures of habit. We ate a quick breakfast and got the climbing gear situated and headed out onto Root Glacier for a day of climbing and hiking.  We wondered a mile or so up on the ice, taking breaks here and there for some short, less than vertical climbing and prussik use/technique schooling. I definitely got fried between the sun and the reflection from the ice. I wish we had found some larger walls of ice to climb but I was satisfied we found something.  Its probably better to get them on something they can climb rather than something that is difficult so I think it went well. We did look for some large bottomless blue pools but all we came up with was some small ones. I surely was not complaining since afterall, its AK and a nice sunny summer day is always welcome!  Before long we had noticed the day was waning and it was time to start to head back down towards our camp. We settled in for some dinner and all found the sleeping bags quite comfortable for the second night down by the Glacier.  I woke up real early to pee and stepped out to see that the clouds had lifted off the mountain tops and had shown us the summits. I woke up the rest of the crew to check it out.  A quick, "wow thats pretty" *click of the camera and then back to bed they went.  We got up the morning of the 28th and were in a bit of a discussion as to what we were going to do with today.  During dinner the night before, Erin had managed to spill hot coffee onto her foot (don't ask me how) and she now had a huge blister on the side of her foot that needed draining every couple hours or so. rather discusting I might say.  Anyway, we all wanted to go up the trail to the Kennicott Mine and check out the rocks.  By the time we had gotten down so the Root Glacier access trail, near where the fork for the mine trail was, it was looking like we were going to be in a rush to head up to the mine in order to get out in time.  We ended up bailing on the mine trail.  It would have to wait for another time. We headed back into Kennicott and found the shuttlebus down to McCarthy were we checked out the little Potato Restaurant and then hit up the museum and walked the half mile back to the foot bridge.  Sixty miles of dirt road later just as we were about to finish the drive out I came around the corner to find a small land slide just covering the road.  The two options are to stop, grab the shovel out of the back and clear it or try to drive over it. worse case scenario is you have to get out and dig out the truck too!  This slide was easy enough and I made it through with a puff of dust getting a thumbs up from the SUV stopped on the other side of it. So with that we were back in Chitina. We walked out to Salmon Point to see how

the dip-netting was going.  I talked with a guy who was almost limited out in a few hours.  I got all giddy and I wanted my salmon for the year so I made the crew check out the Copper River while I put my net in the water.  Erin had to work the next morning so she took off but by two am, 22 Salmon were on the stringer. By now, John and Magdalena were sick of the Copper and tired so we went and cleaned up and crashed at the Fish and Game bunkhouse in Chitina. We didn't manage to get to sleep until nearly three am due to the cleaning and getting out of fishy clothes.  seven am came all to soon with Erin's arrival at work booting us out of the Bunkhouse. We found ourselves no more than a block away at the Chitina Cafe ordering coffee and Reindeer sausage and eggs.  It was Friday morning now and the week is winding down. Hitting the road yet again, we traveled to Valdez and stopped at Worthington Glacier and Bridal Veil along the way to check it out. A beautiful day, we couldn't complain.  We walked along the docks and checked out the boats, ate a nice dinner, went across the bay to see the hatchery pinks returning to the creek and by evening we were driving back up into Thompson Pass.  We parked at a pull out near the top of the pass and hiked in for fifteen minutes and found a nice little spot up on the hill above the road far enough we couldn't see or hear it. We enjoyed the last evening with nice views of a clear evening in Thompson Pass.  Early Saturday we yet again hit the pavement and drove back to Chitina to grab the Salmon that I had left in the deep freezer the other day and then drove to Anchorage. I did manage to get pulled over for speeding but the Tropper let me go. I think he thought I was just tired since I was pulling the boat with dipnets in it and I looked like I had been camping for a week.  I got a warning to slow down and get a soda or coffee if I needed it.  Fair enough, I was tired, just not from dipnetting!  We stopped at the Musk Ox Farm in Palmer but weren't intrigued enough to pay 10 dollars to see one so we just peeked over the fence and then headed up to Eklutna Lake for a little bit just to get out of the truck and walk. Skipped a few rocks and looked at a clouded out Bold and Bashful Peak.  We headed into Anchorage and went up to the Flat Top parking area and Anchorage look out. It was a last ditch effort for a Denali viewing since I know you can catch a glimpse along the road on the way up but alas, it remained elusive. The view was nice enough, just not that far. It was time so I dropped my two old friends off at the airport and started to drive once more.  I made it Honolulu Creek before I pulled off the road and crashed for a few hours.  I managed to get back to Fairbanks by mid-morning on the 31st.  Back to work on the 1st and then off to the Yukon River on the evening of the fourth. I had a few days to clean up the gear and re-organize...  It was a good trip I thought. Fun to get out and about, I have seen most of that stuff before here and there but I always enjoy sharing my little world with people from back home.  We didn't get to do the two things I REALLY wanted them to do.  Denali Flight Seeing Trip and Valdez Salmon Shark Fishing but hey, just the more reason they have to come back I suppose.



Week of Camping and play in the AK Part II

July 24th, 25th.     We drove to Talkeetna in hopes of getting on a Denali flight tour but the weather once again had different plans and the planes were not flying. The lady said stick around for a day and hopefully there would be a break.  Living up here, I knew better than to believe a word she said and we abandoned the Denali flight seeing tour and headed further north to Cantwell were we gassed up and hit the Denali Highway over to Tangle Lakes. Once at the lake we launched the boat and headed down to the outlet and found a nice camping spot, albeit, no where near level, but nice enough. Considering there were blueberries everywhere, we were pretty happy with it!   We quite happily enjoy the first afternoon without any rain and hung out. Our first real break in nearly 36 hours. A cow moose come out onto the lake late evening to feed and we buzzed over in the boat to get a closer look. She wasn't very amused by our curiosity! After a few drinks and fresh Copper River Sockeye I caught a few days prior, we crashed for the night and again woke up in the rain. A quick buzz back to the boat ramp and soon we were on our way to the Tonsina River where my friend Erin had a cabin that we could shower up at. We stopped at Sourdough and since the weather was holding up we decided to toss the boat into the Gulkana River and buzz up river for a bit to check it out and shoot a couple rifles to play around. The little excursion was pretty uneventful other than you get to go under the pipeline as you go up near the launch and I did manage to smack a rock coming down but it wasn't too big a hit. The Gulkana is full of boulders so its pretty much guaranteed to scrap one or two unless you run that river constantly.  After our two hour Gulkana River run, we finished off the drive and enjoyed a hot shower while we re-organize our gear for Kennicott ice climbing and camping.  We met up with my friend Erin in Chitina at the Cafe and had a burger and then hit the road to McCarthy. We were a bit pressed for time since the last shuttle up to Kennicott was at 7:00pm but we made it. Got our gear hauled across the foot bridge and ready for shuttle bus with fifteen minutes to spare!  The weather was pretty decent our here. I was glad we abandoned the Denali area or we would have still been stuck in the rain.  The four of us piled our gear into the near shock-less shuttle bus and graciously took the ride up to Kennicott sparing us from the eight walk in (well worth the ten dollars).   We

wasted no time in headed on up valley and before long we were at the fork for the Root Glacier access and Root Glacier trail.  We took the trail and followed it up close to where Erie Mine was before stopping for the night. Probably a good three or four miles. With all the bear activity, it was decided that we would cook and stash our gear near the trail and then set up camp a couple hundred yards down the slope near the glacier.  We cooked a feast of pineapple, red pepper, mushrooms, Sockeye Salmon, and fresh Prince William Sound

shrimp.  We ate until absolutely stuff and then raised a bag in the nearest acceptable tree with all the food and settled down into the tent for the fourth night.

Week of Camping and play in the AK Part I

I had a couple friends come up from the lower 48 for a week long excursion to see what the AK was all about during the summer.  I had a fairly ambitious week planned and of course the weather changed some of that plan as we went but I thought we covered a fair amount of ground, picking areas with fewer tourists but still just as impressive.  Anyway, here is the synopsis of a week of AK play in July. I should mention, Magdalena snapped all these pictures during their week up here. I'm just snagging some to put on here for show and tell.

July 23rd & 24th...  Their plane landed in Anchorage at 10:30pm on Saturday night and after grabbing luggage, off we went.  A quick hour drive later, we were re-organizing gear, popping open a beer, and parking the truck at the Crow Pass trail head.  We wondered up the trail a mile and a half or so without any headlamps with decent visibility until we crossed tree line.  Found a nice little relatively flat spot and set up camp for the night.  After a day of flying, an hour of driving and another hour of hiking at night, it was time for a rest.  morning arrived all to quickly and we staggered out of the tent and continued to wonder up the trail to the pass where we had a great view of Raven Glacier about 3500' .  I had more planned for the day so the top of the pass is as far as we went on the Crow Pass trail system but it does go all the way through to Eagle River for a good weekend trip.  We meandered back down to the camp site, packed up and went back to the Girdwood coffee shop at the bottom of the hill for a latte and to meet up with a friend of mine. With coffee in hand the four of us piled into the pick up and hit the Whittier tunnel.  My  two friends went out on a glacier cruise of Prince William Sound for the afternoon while Moriah and I attempted to hike a trail in the rain to find the elusive Horsetail Falls. The entire afternoon it rained on the two of us hiking and the two out glacier cruising which is on par for Whittier but still, would have been nice to have a bit of sun!  After being entirely drenched for five hours hiking we met up with the cruisers and hit the tunnel out and settled down at Mooses Tooth with another friend Joshua for dinner. Afterwards we grabbed my little jet boat and began to head north. We tried to get up into Hatchers Pass for the night but the fog spoiled our plans with a thickness that limited the view to twenty feet. I found a pull off near tree line and we pitched the tent for the second night.  It lightly rained on us all night long and by morning I was a little ticked that the weather hadn't been nicer and considering I was dip netting the Copper River in nearly ninety degree weather the week before, a little sun wasn't too much to ask.  I had planned on driving over the Pass and coming out down the road from Talkeetna but I found no point in doing so when morning arrived and the fog had not lifted at all.   We opted to make the drive back down the hill and around to Wasilla before heading north.  









Oryx Hunting New Mexico

Switching things up a bit with a hunting tag for Oryx, I eagerly left the January 3rd forty below temperatures of Alaska for the warm sunny days of south central New Mexico to an area bordering the famed White Sands Missile Range and National Park. The missile range itself grew famous for the Trinity Site which is where the first atomic bomb was tested by scientists working out of Los Alamos, New Mexico. An area boasting a uniqueness of terrain and history matched by no other.
         93 Oryx bred from a herd originating in the Kalahari Desert of Africa were relocated to the 3200 square mile White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) in New Mexico over the course of eight years starting in 1969. Since then, the population has grown conservatively, to at least 3000 animals. Some additional historical information about the introduction can be viewed at http://www.hcn.org/issues/213/10797 . We had obtained an "off-range" permit which essentially means we had to find Oryx that had crossed the fence line for whatever reason. This is, however, an easy task to accomplish since after all, it is the desert and water rules. Oryx routinely cross under the fence line at night onto ranches to drink water from the cattle troughs set up nearby and either quietly return back to the range during the morning hours or bed down in the area. The trick is to find the spots where the oryx go under the fences and which water troughs they are hitting. The range is a large area, and perimeter hunting is a game of patience

Jan 4th. I arrived in Albuquerque during the mid-morning hours and we were quickly on the road to Tijeras to hook up the Trailer and then south to camp near Bingham, New Mexico. Having Set up camp and a couple hours left of daylight, we loaded into the truck and went to a drive down the perimeter road of WSMR and then off onto a ranch, crossing several Arroyos which were a sandy mess making four wheel drive a necessity.  Only saw a single set of Oryx tracks but plenty of mule deer and Pronghorn antelope.  Ate a nice steak dinner with a couple beers and finally crashed. Hunting officially starts in the morning. 





Jan 5th. Up and about well before dawn, filling the Coffee thermos, getting some food together and warming up the truck (it was unusually cold for down in this area, below freezing, pushing close to single digits).  We piled into the truck as dawn approached and started to quickly drive the perimeter fence line scoping the terrain in hopes that some Oryx had crossed in during the night.  We must have covered twenty miles on the roads that weaved around the ranches to each cattle water trough and saw nothing but some large mule deer bucks and plenty a head of cattle. Eventually we meandered back to the trailer and cooked up some bacon and eggs before heading out again.  With no fresh sign in this area, it was pretty evident, we were in the wrong spot.   We hit the highway in the afternoon down the road to another ranch that borders WSMR. Access to the WSMR fence was nearly a 17 mile drive back on a dirt road but, we were pleased with the results. Tracks littered every water trough and the fence itself was partially torn on the bottom with heavily used Oryx trails in numerous places. We knew of this spot before hand since after all, it was the area my dad had shot a young Oryx on the last trip. We quietly drove around until dark scoping different crossings and water holes discussing the next mornings plan.   Back at camp that night over a green chili Oryx burger (from the last one shot in the previous year) we were confident we were getting onto the Oryx and would see one the next day.

Jan 6th In the pre-dawn hours, we drove the dirt up to the fence crossings and set my dad down in the dark where we thought they would be coming back in the next couple hours while we circled around up on another road in attempt to push animals down to him.  It wasn't long before I spotted an adult Oryx about 400 yards out making his way back towards the range.  They are here.   Its truly amazing how well they blend in and can disappear in a blink of an eye.  By 8:30 in the morning, all was quiet and I slowly made my way back down to the fence line to hear about how he had shot at a nice Oryx when three came trotting down the path we had scoped. Unfortunately in the heat of the moment, moving animals, frigid fingers ... he had missed the shot.  We had the right idea, we knew where the animals were going, where they were coming from, and most importantly when and where they would be the morning hours.

                       Three Oryx quickly making their way into the WSMR (if you can pick them out).

Jan 7th, 8th and 9th.  We repeated the same thing the next morning but to no avail. We spooked the ones that were regularly crossing there and they moved on.  It was a matter of waiting until they came back or another set of animals came over.  Mid-morning on the 8th we packed up shop and headed back to Los Alamos. I spend a day and half with family while slowly repacking gear and getting some more groceries and stuff together. I was pretty determined to get back down promptly considering I flew all the way down here. Motivating my dad to do the same didn't take much effort although I'm quite confident he would have been just as pleased not having to sleep in a tent when temperatures were down to single digits at night and highs into the 50's.  Such is life, it least it wasn't forty below!

Jan 10th We hit the road by mid-afternoon and met up with a friend of mine who joined in and the three of us headed back onto the ranch. We arrived with about an hour of light to spare and spent it scoping out the water troughs again. The Oryx were still drinking nightly, we just had to catch a good one on the right side of that silly fence!

Jan 11th, 12th and 13th. Three absolutely frustrating days of staring at Yucca's trying to find bedded down animals. Pretty well convinced at dawn, all the animals turn back into cactus. Oryx tracks 400 yards from camp fresh from overnight. Highly annoying!   They have been hunted pretty strong so the animals have become quite used to coming in during the night hours and being gone by morning. My friend had to get back to Albuquerque so it was back to just my dad and I.  The 12th ended much as it started, cold, dark, and no oryx while the 13th rolled through much like all the other days, checking water troughs, glassing for bedded down Oryx.

Jan 14th.   Well we finally got what we wanted around 8:30 in the morning with 200 yard shot using a commemorative single-shot 1976 7mm magnum.



Finally after being patient and putting in a fair amount of time. You can hunt all you want but in the end, an off-range hunt for Oryx is all about waiting at the arbitrary line (fence) in the early morning hours for a straggler headed back to the range.  It was an interesting hunt, I'm so used to wide open terrain in Alaska that it was difficult to confine myself to this side or that of a silly fence.  It was nice to hang with my dad for week or so and I'm glad we were finally successful cause I won't lie, I was getting tired of staring at Yucca's through the binoculars.  Of course--- I've already applied to go back though.

Hittin' Up Valdez for some Silvers

Well after the quick trip up north, we heard the Silver's were hitting good in Valdez so we turned around and went south a day after getting back from the Sag River. It turned out to be a rumor, there were Silver's but not in the number I am used to. We did manage to get a dozen or so in 15-18 pound range and had a black bear come into camp which I couldn't shoot cause it was a day before the season opened.. Go figure! We spent two nights in Valdez and then meandered back half way and camped for a third night before finally pushing back into Fairbanks. Today is Moose opener so I'm sure we will be driving around half assed looking for an easy Bull but I'm not too worried seeing that I got a freezer full of salmon and caribou. As always, Valdez was a blast. Makes me wonder why I turned down the job offer there... Such is life I suppose, decisions, decisions. Maybe next time...

Sagavanirktok and Ivishak River Caribou

After getting off of work, I went home and we spent a couple hours getting loaded up and filling gas cans and whatnot. Finally hitting the road shortly after seven in the evening, I was in for a long night of driving. It was after midnight before I even hit Atigun Pass. I came across some hunters near Toolik Lake who were having some truck problems, and by that I mean, their tire came flying off, severing three lugs and bending the other three. There was no way they were going to get a spare on. I gave one of them a ride back to their camp near the UAF research center at Toolik Lake and pressed on… What else can you do? Two hours after that, a thick fogged dawn arrived and we were still driving. We finally arrived at the boat launch site north of Pump Station Two only to find the water in the Sagavanirktok was so low that only came half way up the tires.
Launching the boat was an interesting task. I backed the truck completely into the water and we had to dry launch the boat by lifting the front up enough that the boat finally slid down into the water. It was a rough job and I will try to avoid ever having to do that again. I spoke with a couple guys at the launch who had been up there before and they gave me some beta which I found to be valuable. He told me that the launch is actually in a channel off the main Sag River and it was pretty hairy for a mile or so to get up and out into the main channel. He also mentioned that to hit the Ivishak just keep an eye on the bluff about eight miles up and then head into the left channels once close and then offered an additional word of advice about coming back down… “Don’t miss the channel on the left cause you’ll just miss the launch and keep on going. It is easy to miss because it’s a little channel and when you are running down, you are focused on staying with the main current”. I’m glad I talked with him! So here we were, twelve hours since we left Fairbanks, getting into our boat topped off with gear about to buzz up some arctic river I had never been on in dense fog with an earful of beta and no map… Sounds good to me.
I ran the boat smoothly five miles up-river going full throttle weaving through channels barely deep enough for the tunnel jet flat bottom, gritting my teeth every time I tap a rock underneath going 20 mph. I finally cut a corner too close and hit a large rock with the impeller guard and it severed three bolts knocking the guard down into the river and leaving us high and dry. We managed to pull the boat ashore and I begun the task of wading up and down the river trying to find the guard (we could still run the motor at this point but the next rock I hit, we would be floating back). After ten minutes I got lucky and found the guard near a boulder in the river and we discovered that of the six bolts that hold it on, three must have jiggled loose on the drive up and fallen out while the other three were severed in place. So that was a relief, we took three screws out of the floor decking and screwed them up into the aluminum putting the guard back on but entirely ruining the fit (what other choice did we have). So yay, we are up and running again, just don’t hit anymore rocks! I tried to get on step and noticed we were dragging a lot so I pulled off the river again and turned the guard around (had it on backwards) and that helped! We ran another ten miles up-river with no problems, weaving in and out of channels. I eventually hit the Ivishak River and darted left to head up and around the first corner I saw fifty caribou wading across. I run up on shore and grabbed the rifle, but they were already a couple hundred yards off and running. Definitely didn’t like the boat. I could have shot one of the two large bulls that were bringing up the rear but I passed on the shot. We continued up the Ivishak for roughly six or seven miles and finally decided there that we weren’t going to run up the river any father because we could see several hundred caribou on the surrounding hills.  The caribou were here, why go further up-stream with an injured motor?
We set up camp pretty quick and my dad was ready to crash. He said if he heard a gun-shot then he would come out and help me but that he was going to stay in camp and sleep. That was fair, he was tired, I set off with my pack and rifle, and a hundred yards from camp, a small bull caribou popped up 50 feet in front of me all confused. He was by no means a trophy caribou, but heck, can you get any closer to camp? I shot him right there and my dad wondered over mumbling, “I just got into my sleeping bag”. Several hours later that small bou was hanging to dry in camp and my dad was snoring away. I decided to go up over the ridge and see if I can down a large bull. I wasn’t disappointed when I popped out over the bluff and saw well over a hundred caribou and several trophy bulls. I took my time and skirted around the group, flanking the bulls on the back side of a hill. By the time I got into shooting range, I was nearly a mile and a half from camp late evening. I shot the large bull and began the work of cleaning him up. I took my time and got all the meat packed but there was just no way I was going to carry all the meat plus the head and rack so I left it in the tundra and slowly made my way back to camp carrying the whole caribou strapped to my back. It was a long mile and by the time I curled up in my sleeping bag, we had two bull caribou hanging in camp on the first day. My dad awoke the next morning surprised to see another caribou but not energetic enough to walk out the mile and a half to get the rack. I wasn’t either. We broke camp and loaded up the two bulls into the boat and begun to head back to the truck by ten am after spending just one night on the Sag. There were so many caribou, I could have easily stalked and shot numerous trophy bulls that would have made any trophy hunter jealous like no other. the second bull I shot, would have done that jealous bit nicely and it was left in the field. what can you do, next time I'll bring it out!

I made a couple mistakes running down river, it is a lot harder to see. At one point I ended up in a channel that diverged from the main channel by nearly a quarter mile and then spread out so much that I got hung up trying to fly through, we spent a half hour dragging the boat down that channel until I could get back into the main channel. The second mistake was once we were near the launch, I ended up in the wrong channel again but I caught it pretty quick and was able to turn around and go back up and get into the right one. The final mistake was the worse and would've cost us the boat. There is a hairpin turn near the launch where you have to make a ninety degree turn in order to stay in the channel and not run aground. I unfortunately didn't see where the water was the deepest and cut the corner a little and hit a rock that forced the motor out of the water taking me off plane and unable to steer. I run straight into the river bank going almost full speed. We had just enough time to brace ourselves. the aft end of the boat sticking out up into the current was close to being pushed under by the current as our bow was up in the bank. We carefully maneuvered ourselves out of the boat and dug it out. and got it floating again and off we went. Smooth sailing the rest of the way. We loaded up and decided to start the drive south but to stop at Gailbraith Lake for the night and break up the drive. We found a herd of a dozen or so Muskox resting out in the sun along the Sag River and stopped to get some pictures and managed to stalk within about 25 yards or so. We spent the night at the lake and cooked up some beans with fresh diced caribou ribs and it was fantastic. Slept hard and finished the drive back to Fairbanks the next morning. All in all, we spent one night on the river, one at the lake (where I even managed to catch a couple smaller lake trout) and then back to town. A two night trip was quite a wham bam thank you mam trip for the arctic but it went well and I intend to do it again someday.