Area 23 (75 mi NW Kotzebue) Moose?

[Brent]

I have zero expectations of a horse. Never did. I'm not quite that clueless
Brent

[Lazer]

Brent:

I NEVER have taken you to be clueless, quite the contrary... some of your posts on this forum have been very helpful to my BPCR loading.

I'll be looking forward to reading about your hunt on this forum next year. I expect it to be quite the positive experience.

My last bet with you on this hunt is that your outfitter has a couple of local-yocal youngsters (in lieu of pack mules) from one of the villages that will add to your trip. (I found the Eskimos to be very fine people).

Lazer

[mdeland]

Yup, hip boots that fit really well and of good quality and good rain gear. Leave the Gortex at home and bring a good over size Haley Hanson rubber jacket or Peter Storm and wear pyle under it with a good felt or wool shirt.
I always carry the Haley Hanson rain pants as well in my pack. They work great at meat cutting up time and will keep your butt dry.
If you have to siwash (spend a night in the brush away from camp)you will be glad for the rubber and pyle, especially if it soaker rains on you.
No, rubber won't breath and your going to get wet from sweat , sweat is better than rain because it at least starts out warm and the pyle will wick it off and dry out fast.
Let your whiskers grow where ever they will and have a good felt bush hat or my favorite, nylon water proof bela cava with ear laps and pyle interior, that you can screw down real good and a head net.
The skeeters will be gone but the no-see-ums an white socks will make you nuts until the first hard freeze. They bite a chunk out of you and leave a knot for a week on your hide.
I would rather go that route than take a bath in deet each day which is only marginally effective on these critters anyway.
You will need a good rust preventative for your gun as there is a good chance it will be wet a lot of the time. Break free and Hoppes # 9 have worked good for me in Kodiak.
The thing I hate about this is the bore needs to be treated as well for wet and especially salt air and solvent bores don't usually shoot to point of impact the first shot. I use the electricians tape on the muzzle to aid in keeping them dry but check every night and run a patch through.
I would take a short heavy belt gun as well if your going to use a one shooter and are alone. Alaska is different than most places and what would seem silly out side will make sense here when things go sideways.
You will have the adventure of your life but this country can kill you quickly and not leave a trace. It happens almost every year to people who live here so be prepared all the time.
Another tip I can give that I learned sheep hunting when you have to keep weight to a minimum because it's all on your back, is to carry two rubber bands about 1.5 feet long and an inch wide.
When you have to wade a stream just put your rain pants on and two circle band each rain pant leg to your hiking boot ankle with the rubber band. It will let you cross the stream and keep you mostly dry without having to strip down. I always take hiking boots along with my hip waders unless sheep hunting and then it's hiking boots only.
Well, use what you can and pitch the rest. Hope you are wildly successful and safe! MD

[High Plains Shooter]

It's a tough place, it's not Kansas .... or Oz.

Hey! couldn't you have picked another state? such as Texas?

[Brent]

MD, what you describe sounds quite normal for SE Alaska and out on the Peninsula, but North of Kotz is it that wet? I've not been able to figure that part out just yet. I doubt it will be buggy but it is possible.

Brent

[Lazer]

Brent:

It's not that wet from an annual rainfall standpoint. If my memory is correct, <15" a year even with the marine influence. The "flats" will have lots of standing moisture due to the fact that it's permafrost country. I'm pretty sure that by mid September it should be frozen and the leaves off the hardwoods and brush. I think any precipitation will be snowfall by then that far north (even at that low elevation).

I see that the sea is frozen around Kotzebue as I write this...

Lazer

[mdeland]

I have hunted only to mid state north as I did a month ago and it was wet and cold several times in mid September in the interior. I would have been miserable and probably in trouble had I not had good rain gear.
You will be north of the Arctic circle but on the south slope of the Brooks range and close to the sea so I would be prepared for wind, rain and snow.
Fair weather will be a nice bonus but always prepare for foul.
The only thing that I know of that knocks down the flies is a hard frost.
Your outfitter should be able to clue you in on prevailing weather but always be ready for windy, wet and cold conditions no matter what he says! MD

[pete]

Damn, sounds like a composite stocked, stainless Sharps is in order

[mdeland]

I've seen stainless guns turn orange in salt air so don't be fooled into thinking stainless won't rust.
I think the best bet for hunting with a BPCR would be to clean the bore dry and keep the muzzle taped with a check each night by pushing a white patch through and clean as soon as possible after you shoot it.
Water should be used first, dried as best you can and then anoint with a patch of Hoppes # 9 until morning. Clean it dry and tape the muzzle for the days hunt.
When your done hunting and only need it for protection put some Hoppes back in the bore after water cleaning and leave it there.
This can be tough to accomplish if it's raining sideways and you have to spend the night under a tree with your cleaning supplies back at camp. I always carry a segmented stainless cleaning rod , small bottle of break free and patches in my day pack attached to my meat frame for the days hunt.
With your pack frame, rain gear, pyle jacket, meat saw and game bags you can make a pretty serviceable siwash camp for a night or two.
I've done it several times with much less. MD

[Brent]

Hunting in the wet is nothing new to me.

I always carry a cleaning set up. There are several ways to do it. A cable cleaning - plastic coated made by Arnie works very well. Lots of other things work too. But one of the candidate rifles for this trip is an original Ballard Pacific and it has its own built in cleaning rod of course.

I don't much like tape over the muzzle unless there is deep snow. It works, but not that great.

Other rifles to consider are the Sharps .45-100 which is the heaviest rifle, or a Wincheste highwall .38-72, which is the lightest. So, I have to decide sometime this summer.

Thanks for the notes guys. The hip boot issue is a real one. I would like to leave them at home due to weight restrictions. But if they are needed, they are needed. Our outfitter will be telling us more.

Brent

[Kurt]

Brent.

Sounds like your going to have a hunt of a lifetime.
I don't know how much time you have spent up in that country but listen to MD's recommendations, conditions can get rough in a hurry.
It's tough just walking on the tundra with just a shot gun or rifle in hand. I just came back a couple months ago from my third two month stay up there. I spend a lot of time out in the bush past the end of tractor trails not hunting game but other things and I will say carrying gear on the soft mushy tundra moss it's tough. Good rain gear and waders is a must.
Enjoy your hunt, wish I was going with you.

Kurt

[mdeland]

Brent, if you tape over the muzzle one thickness after cleaning off all lube and solvent and then give the end a couple of wraps around in front of the sight you can stick it under water and it won't leak. You also will have enough left on the wrap to tape it shut again after the shot.
The bullet never touches the tape as it is long gone before getting any where near it.
I guess one could go bare if they want to and hope they don't get debris and water down the tube.
A snow or mud plug if shot through though will ruin a barrel most every time and rain down the tube will wreck a PP.
I dearly love those Pacific Ballards. That would be great to use and as you stated you already have a wipe rod with you. MD

[Brent]

Yes, MD, I know. I have done it many times in the past. I just don't care for it. Esp in a cartridge rifle. If there is enough snow, I will do, but otherwise, I prefer to avoid it.

Brent

[whiskeybill]

Hunting in the wet is nothing new to me.

I always carry a cleaning set up. There are several ways to do it. A cable cleaning - plastic coated made by Arnie works very well. Lots of other things work too. But one of the candidate rifles for this trip is an original Ballard Pacific and it has its own built in cleaning rod of course.

I don't much like tape over the muzzle unless there is deep snow. It works, but not that great.

Other rifles to consider are the Sharps .45-100 which is the heaviest rifle, or a Wincheste highwall .38-72, which is the lightest. So, I have to decide sometime this summer.

Thanks for the notes guys. The hip boot issue is a real one. I would like to leave them at home due to weight restrictions. But if they are needed, they are needed. Our outfitter will be telling us more.

Brent

Brent,
The outfitter I was working with said the LaCrosse boots were just about mandatory. Those areas north of the Arctice Circle are prone to pretty good mud bogs. My brother-in-law said he could sink up to his hind end in a hurry on more than one occasion.

They will encourage you to mail some of your gear ahead of time(Things such as sleeping bag and waders). I would have mailed mine into Galena for the outfitter to put into storage until my arrival. As far as checked baggage, you bring a backpack with your personal gear and your rifle.

Anchorage airport has freezers for keeping meat in. You'll have to check with the airlines (Normally Alaska Airlines / Penn Air, go to Alaskas' website for info) for shipping meat and trophy heads / antlers. Unless the outfitter is taking care of all those arrangements for you.

A couple years ago Alaska Airlines and Penn would allow three checked bags for in-state flights free of charge, but now they're charging. There is alot more to the logistics of one of these hunts than most folks imagine.

I am just assuming that your outfitter works drop camps similar to Joe Schuster. They will fly you into the camp with a light weight tent, cots, dried food, cooking gear, and a small collapsible boat to navigate small streams. You can bring your own satellite phone or rent one of theirs, but you have to have one. Bring a GPS, but they tell you to bring a plain old compass "Just in case".

One of the guys I was Caribou hunting with met me in Anchorage looking like a poster child for Cabelas. I could have left half my gear at home and still had a great hunt with all the crap he brought. I was amused, and felt pretty good that I didn't have to pay the bill for that excess baggage.

[Brent]

We will probably mail our gear to Kotz. I think we will take mostly our own gear but we are debating that option. If we do, it will be mailed ahead. We have already scouted that issue a bit.

We will probably fly direct from MSP to Fairbanks on NW and I'm sure we will get hosed on flying meat and bones back.

The areas this guy hunts sound a lot drier than most of what you are describing. But I'll be asking him pretty closely. Foot gear is probably the biggest question for us right now. We still have 10 months to sort it out though.

Brent