Fortymile Herd Closures

[Daniel7723]

Hey folks, this is my first post. I am planning to hunt the Fortymile herd off of the Steese in August/September. I read a thread on here from 2010 in which a lot of folks were bitterly disappointed by the closure of the season after only a few days. Does anybody know if this is still an on-going problem, or does the season generally remain open for the duration of the designated hunting period?

 

[theultrarider]

Dont count on it being open more than 2-3 days tops.

 

[protaxidermy]

Every year its a problem.

Yu put all the time into getting things together for hopefully a couple good days of hunting & then you find out that the season will again be closed after the first day.

We flew my son & his wife up from Oregon for a whole 12 hour hunt.

We ended up going across to the White Mountains & getting them a Caribou.

Last year they closed the season after the first day so we came back to town , then they opened it back up right as Moose season opened.

You just cant Plan on anything with the way Fish & Game run the 40 mile heard.

If I were you I would go to the Taylor hyway by chicken , More chance for success out there.

The season up the Salcha river is the only one that tends to stay open for any length of time, but then you have to have a good Jet boat or Fly in.

RJ Simington
PRO taxidermy & Expiditing

 

[Daniel7723]

Dang! Not what I was hoping to hear.

 

[VernAK]

The 40 Mile Caribou Herd is very difficult to manage as the harvest quota is broken into several areas to hopefully allow hunters from different areas an opportunity to participate. Unfortunately when a herd gets near an easily accessible area, the quota can be exceeded before F&G has time to enact an Emergency Closure [about 3 days]....thus the harvest is often anticipated and closures enacted prior to the quota being reached.

The Taylor Highway will soon have a Youth Hunt season to allow kids an opportunity to participate prior to start of school.

This herd is a very difficult management situation compounded by international agreement [Canada] and subsistence priorities.

 

[oakman]

however, zone 2 should be open for the entire hunt period. Just harder to access.

 

[VernAK]

Unfortunately we can expect more of this micro management as the demand for resources increases. There's simply more hunters with more equipment every year.

The hunting of the 40 Mile Caribou Herd would probably not be nearly as good as it is if it had not been intensively managed. IIRC the current herd of 56K+ was down to 8K at one time. There are all sorts of guesses as to what the herd numbers were when Frank Glaser lived at Black Rapids....some say 300K+.

 

[walk-in]

"Planning to hunt the Fortymile herd off the Steese" is generally not worthwhile these days. It may or may not open on the scheduled day, there may or may not be enough notice of that for you to make other plans, it may or may not be open for more than a day, and it may or may not re-open after they close it. If you are not travelling from too far away, and you have the flexibility to drop everything and go when they do open it, go for it. Otherwise, you are better off dedicating your time and effort to "planning" another hunt.

 

[Daniel7723]

"Planning to hunt the Fortymile herd off the Steese" is generally not worthwhile these days. It may or may not open on the scheduled day, there may or may not be enough notice of that for you to make other plans, it may or may not be open for more than a day, and it may or may not re-open after they close it. If you are not travelling from too far away, and you have the flexibility to drop everything and go when they do open it, go for it. Otherwise, you are better off dedicating your time and effort to "planning" another hunt.

I'm coming from Fairbanks. I'll be off work around that time, so I intend to be there opening day (or the night before).

 

[AKRecurveAssassin]

It is the same situation for the other zone by chicken and the taylor highway. It hardly stays open for more than 3 days. The last few years I havent been back there for more than 5 days total. The best way to hunt the 40 mile herd is to fly out of Tok and head north and get dropped off; it hardly ever closes before the end of season and the caribou are there because you dont get as much pressure. best of luck to you

 

[Daniel7723]

It is the same situation for the other zone by chicken and the taylor highway. It hardly stays open for more than 3 days. The last few years I havent been back there for more than 5 days total. The best way to hunt the 40 mile herd is to fly out of Tok and head north and get dropped off; it hardly ever closes before the end of season and the caribou are there because you dont get as much pressure. best of luck to you

Can you give me a ballpark figure for how much that would cost?

 

[FullFreezer]

Look up 40 mile air - their website has prices to fly out.