How did you do in Kotzebue this year?

[Gulkana Rafting]

I am curious about how you guys that hunted up here did this year? From a locals point of view (as local as I will get) there seamed to be very little “Free Meat” at he air port. This means one of 2 things…. #1 All of the talk about wasted meat and taking responsibility of your kill has had some positive results, or that there was fewer animals harvested. I would like to believe that #1 is the truth here but your response will either confirm or deny that.

My floaters had success over-all group this year. There were fewer big animals taken than in past years but more guys took home nice animals. I took a nice caribou on day 1 of my 5 days out and a good moose on day 4. No trophies but good-looking bulls and loads of meat for another long winter. I just got back in form my cabin up the Noatak a few hours ago and I saw and chased 2 large groups of caribou but could not get close enough for a shot. The first group was about 35 animals with 6-8 big bulls, the largest I have seen this year. While chasing them over another hill (after the first 3 hills) I spotted a group of over 100 animals down near the creek. I have to hope for next weekend and that the water stays ice free for a week or 2 more!

Well I hope you all had a good hunt this fall and let me know how you did!

 

[HunterTom]

Nimiuktuk River - Mid August

Nimiuktuk River - Mid August

4 Hunters, 8 Days, 1 fairly nice bull taken.

However, due to schedule restrictions we had to hunt in Mid-August where large numbers of caribou are quite uncommon, especially within a reasonable distance of Kotzebue. The scenery was beautiful, the weather was unusually cold for that time of year (at least where we were), and not a cloud in the sky. The hunt itself was a lot of fun. Flying in we saw a herd of approximately 150 animals from the air that were a good 15-20 miles SOUTH of the Noatak. This was very surprising, as I did not expect to see these kinds of numbers so early and so far south.

 

[winkhink]

2 Hunters, 8 Days, 1 Nice bull, 1 good bull, 1 cow

It was pretty good, the link below tells it all but the free meat seemed to be the issue. I heard a lot of hunters say they were going to donate their meat. During my trip my transporter was approached by a trooper which talked about meat care and transporter cards. The transporter said the pressure has been put on him about clients and meat care. Our transporter seemed fed up with all of it and said that there would not be an issue anymore as he would have NAC pick it up and it would be donated to the Food Bank of Alaska in Anchorage. That would explain why locals would not receive any free meat.