Haul Road Caribou Hunting

[jcorwin4278]

So I have just done some looking into the haul road in the archives and I couldnt find to much about Slope Mountain. My understanding is if you know bout it, it's very hush hush. If you have any information on it could you plase PM me and let me know if the guy I am talking to is right? I am interesed in getting off the road with out walking in the 5 miles. Thats why Slope is so interesting to me.

Second, I am going up from July 28th-Aug 3rd. I have read, on here, that July is a good time to go becuase no one is up there and the bou are just starting to move. If anyone can help me out with this, it would be great. Just trying to get meat in the freezer and have a fun trip.

Thanks and good luck!

[Brian M]

What is it about Slope Mountain that you're interested in, or what is the guy you're talking to hinting at with regards to Slope Mountain? It is stil covered by the 5 mile firearms restriction, so if you're hunting with a firearm, Slope Mountain isn't an option.

I've only hunted up there twice, so take my comments with a grain of salt, but the only thing that I've noticed that is "special" about Slope Mountain is that it holds quite a few sheep in an accessible, easily hiked area. Most of the sheep are plainly visible from the road, and while there were no legal rams hanging out there when I passed through, I imagine if there are any that they would get chased by bowhunters early on the 10th. With regards to bowhunting caribou, it's nice that it is easy to spot the flanks of Slope Mountain from the road and that it gives some terrain to set up stalks (as opposed to the pancake flat terrain further north), but I can't think of anything else that would make it a special destination when hunting the Slope. Of course...maybe I'm just not in on the secret. :rolleyes:

[Brian M]

Two side notes - In late July/early August it is less likely that the caribou will be south as far as Slope Mountain in any numbers. I hunted it once during the first week of August, and we had to get up near Ice Cut before we started seeing substantial numbers of caribou. Second, if you are indeed bowhunting and you just want to put some space between you and others, consider bringing a small (stable and safe) raft. Float across the Sag and you'll be all alone without needing to walk for miles.

[jcorwin4278]

You know Brian I'm not real sure what it is about slope either, but he told me there were lots of big bous that roamed there. I remeber when I went up there, the big boys stayed away from the road and so I thought it made sense that they would be on the back side of slope where hunters couldnt see them. I am hunting with a bow and again am meat hunting. It would be nice to get a big one, but it's not the end of the world if it has meat on it . I would love to float the Sag, but money will not make that a reality. I will give it a shot and see if I can bag one by slope, and if I have to go farther north to see any that early, so be it. I just like to hunt and love it up there, its beautiful!

[mossyhorn]

Slope mountain isn't the only place to hide caribou. There's a million places that will hide a caribou, it doesn't take much. There is supposably some resident caribou around that area, so I was told, and I saw a few bulls around there. But for the most part, those caribou are there one day and gone the next, they don't stop moving. If they do stop, it's not for long.

You don't have to float the Sag, just use a raft to ferry across. Last year I was up there and was ticked for not bringing something to get across, there were huge bulls all over and it would have been a great stalk in the willows! If the river is in good shape then it would be an easy cross in many places. Places I observed were braided and flat water.

[Jerod]

The Slope Mountain area is a natural migration route for this herd. They typically move through there in fairly large numbers, but if they aren't there, then hiking to the back side wouldn't be worth your time. During late July, early August, the caribou are typically much further north. Sometimes the migration brings them through the slope mountain area earlier, but typically it is September-October when they are around there from my experience. I've never seen a legal ram on slope mountain, but have seen a couple 3/4 curls up there.

[Teacherman]

You don't have to float the Sag, just use a raft to ferry across. Last year I was up there and was ticked for not bringing something to get across, there were huge bulls all over and it would have been a great stalk in the willows! If the river is in good shape then it would be an easy cross in many places. Places I observed were braided and flat water.

What do youu mean you got ticketed for not having a raft or a way to cross? I'm also looking at going up those same dates that where mentioned below.

[Frostbitten]

What do youu mean you got ticketed for not having a raft or a way to cross? I'm also looking at going up those same dates that where mentioned below.

ticked (meaning upset with himself) not ticketed.

[jcorwin4278]

You don't have to float the Sag, just use a raft to ferry across. Last year I was up there and was ticked for not bringing something to get across, there were huge bulls all over and it would have been a great stalk in the willows! If the river is in good shape then it would be an easy cross in many places. Places I observed were braided and flat water.

Where on the sag is a good place to put in? How far up do I need to go? How deep is the water? Just wondering so I can look in to a raft from a buddy of mines and see if we can get across it and get some nice bou's.

[mossyhorn]

Well if you had a light packable raft you could put in at many areas. There's a launch at ice cut I believe. But many places you could walk down to the river at just go right across. I don't know how deep it gets but it varies. It's too deep to wade and wear a life jacket of you do cross. Many places you could park and walk down to the river and cross a few braids and go hunt and then come back across and be back at the truck. One guy had a canoe and drifted a short stretch and just hitched rides back to his rig. There are a ton of nice hunters that finding a ride is no problem in this situation.

[Sterlingmike]

Brian,

How would a canoe work in late April? Just was talking with someone yesterday into heading that way this Spring. Might still be frozen for all I know........

Mike

[Brian M]

I would count on finding ice in the river in late April, though I've never been there during that time, so I'm just guessing.

I lent my buddy my packraft for a hunt up there a couple of years ago. It worked out nicely.

[jcorwin4278]

And you can just put in any where and just get across the Sag and walk in a little to get on the bou? I have only been up there once, but we never got close enough to shot anything legal, when we went it was bull only and 2 total. So we are looking at getting off the road a little and trying to get on the bou. I'm not walking 5 miles, but 1/2 mile or so will get us away from people. most arent willing to walk in that far. Thats my way of thinking anyway.

Quick question for everyone. Is there any place to camp that isnt overly exposed? We camped 5 miles osuth of pump station 3 last time and was in the wide open. If anyone has a good place to just set up camp, please let me know. We had tent stakes pulling out of the ground due to high winds.

[mossyhorn]

Any place that you can get to the river you could probably cross with a raft. When I was up there, there were several times that the only thing separating me from some nice bulls was the river, they were literally on the other side.

You don't have to walk five miles to get to caribou and the other side of Slope mountain is almost five miles. The further south you are, the easier the terrain is to walk on it seems. Seemed to me it was more rocky, mostly south of Slope mountain. You just have to cover some ground and find where the caribou are then start hunting.

As far as camp spots, I didn't find anything like you describe, it's all open terrain with not much shelter. There was one spot that you could get down below a bank by the river but that seems to be a well known spot and there was already a camp there.

[jcorwin4278]

Cool, thanks! I guees when it comes to a camp spot, it will be a hit or miss thing. I will have to talk to my buddy about useing his raft to get across the Sag. IF we see bou on Slope, then we might just walk in the 5 miles. From looking at my "haul road maps" it looks like the back side of slope is 5 miles. So if they are there, it might be worth it to walk the 5 miles useing slope to get back there. I would think since it's higher in elevation, it would have more soild ground to walk. on. Maybe i'm crazy and don't know what I'm talking about, but you never know. I will make sure to keep my options open since I'm going up so early in the season.