Sulatna River

[Sasquatch]

Does anyone have any information or experience on the Sulatna River? Some questions include: Can it be motored up in an 18' Cataraft, if so how far, and floated back to the Nowitna? Are there any good places to get air dropped a decent distance up river, then float down? In a smaller raft, obviouly depending on conditions, and time available, can it be floated from Sulatna Crossing below Ruby, to the Nowitna? That looks tough according to my Topo map. I searched this and the old forum, and didn't see much about the Sulatna. Any information would be appreciated. Thanks for your time.

[martentrapper]

Are you planning a moose hunt? That area is all drawing and registration hunt now. Did you get a drawing permit?
The sulatna is a steep sided narrow river. You can motor up quite a ways, but due to the sides, you wouldn't be able to see much from the river. I doubt you can get dropped from a plane. Maybe if there is a lake large enough for a cub on floats. Flaoting from the crossing is out as you cannot get there by road. The road at Ruby is only maintained for 40 miles.
Talk to Colin Brown at Yukoneagle Air in Galena if you want more info on the area.

[Mark]

....The sulatna is a steep sided narrow river. You can motor up quite a ways, but due to the sides, you wouldn't be able to see much from the river. I doubt you can get dropped from a plane. Maybe if there is a lake large enough for a cub on floats. Flaoting from the crossing is out as you cannot get there by road. The road at Ruby is only maintained for 40 miles.....

What's the road like past the 40 miles of maintenance? Is it ATV passable?

Harvest records show a good success rate on the Sulatna. If few float it, I would suspect they're coming up from the Nowitna?

[fk 107]

MArk...How do you look up harvest records for a particular area?

[Mark]

Go here. If you don't have much experience with data queries, it will take a while before you get the hang of it, but keep at it.

I copy the resulting spreadsheet and paste it onto an Excel spreadsheet. That allows "sorting" by field. Another website allows queries which show which drainage people hunt. So I can sort the data by drainage and see which drainages enjoy the most success, dates of kills, modes of transportation, residency of the hunters, on and on and on and on. It can be complicated. I've got a bit of experience with military analysis and data programs, and do lots of research like that, so I find it easy and fun.

[fk 107]

Thanks Mark...That is pretty neat. Your right, it will take a little bit to get used to. Good chance to kill some time till the snow melts..