20a caribou question

[jnalaska]

I was drawn for so many hunts (lucky me) that I was not going to go on the Caribou hunt in 20A but now I am being talked into it by the voice in my head. I am eathier going to fly into the wood river area in the foothills of the alaska range or I was going to atv in somewhere. I don't know anything about the ATV trip to get to these Caribou. Where do you start your trip from? how hard of a ride is the terrain? is there trails to follow?
to anyone thats 4-wheeled this area thanks in advance

[THEDON]

I hunt 20A every year. I personnelly have never seen any caribou up there. But I don't go all the way to the wood river area. The atv trails up there are pretty good. If you start from the Ferry trail the trails there are awesome. They are more like roads. But they go for miles and miles. Or you can drive up the road from the Ferry trail and go into the Rex trail. That trail is a bit more extreme. It can be pretty nasty at times with mud. Either way be prepared to ride a lot, especially if you take the Ferry trail, you will cover a lot of ground. If you have any other questions just let me know.

[AkHunter45]

I use to hunt that area every year until it went draw and haven't been able to pull a tag since. The Ferry trail is a good ride but I believe once you get to the Totatlanika River you can't go any further because of a motorized restriction that was put in place. If I were to draw that tag I would fly in and hunt them, most of the caribou I have seen come out of there via atv were not very big, if your doing a meat hunt then using your atv is the way to go. There are a bunch of bears in there too, i had a buddy hunt there last year and they saw quite a few and did manage to get their caribou.

[jnalaska]

thanks

thanks for the info guys

[somewebguy]

bear question

There are a bunch of bears in there too

Are you talking about bears around Ferry? I hadn't heard about large numbers of bears in that area?

[AkHunter45]

Yes, back in towards California Creek. My friend had them coming into his camp at night and he saw some during the hunt.

[somewebguy]

thanks AkHunter45

Thans for the info, guess I'll have to carry more than the .243 for shooting 'bou.

[AkHunter45]

No problem somewebguy, you'll have a good time in there hunting caribou. To bad you can't go across the Totatlanika River, there are a lot more caribou out that way but the i believe the motorized restrictions prevent travel beyond there.

[jnalaska]

restriction

I noticed that you said you believe there is a moterized restriction across the river. Can anyone confirm that?

[jnalaska]

sorry... I meant motorized

[AkHunter45]

Page 84 spells it out, it's part of the Wood River controlled use area. Only motorized access in that area is by aircraft only.

[Contender]

That's correct about no motorized vehicles for hunting across the Totatlinika River. There are some caribou back in there but there are an awful lot of people going in there any more. Be careful with California creek as it can be a killer if it is up. It is best to cross very early in the morning if it is debatable about getting across as it tends to rise during the daytime if it warms up.

[plentycoupe]

Hi

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Plentycoupe

[Low and Slow]

Alternate trails?

The Wood River Controlled Use Area is south of the Rex trail & north side of Japan Hills and west of the Wood River. That leaves a lot of 20A available to ATV's. Are there any good ATV trails in there? I've only been in there on snowmachines Feb & March so I'm not familiar with getting there any othe way.
I'm especially interested in the area east and southeast of the Gold King mine.