My Recent Trip To Alaska

[FL SNIPER]

Three friends and myself recently returned from a hunting and fishing trip in Alaska. For me it was my first time there. We hunted caribou and were all successful. I will attempt to post pictures of our animals and fish (I'm not real skilled at posting pictures). I'm not posting these to brag or showoff...I just thought I'd post these pics and share my story incase anyone had any questions about planning a similar trip...maybe I could help someone in the FM Family.

We first flew to Anchorage and stayed one night. Next day, after multiple attempts, we arrived in Kotzebou which is north of Nome, AK...north of the Artic Circle. We set up a tent next to the airport and the following day Matt Owen (bush pilot) flew us into the mountains to hunt caribou. We saw a lot of animals and all shot nice caribou. Matt really knew where the animals were and we owe a lot of our success to him.

Mason shot his bou the first morning of our hunt at 300 yards using a 270. Here he is packing out the head and horns. Awesome animal.

Next, Ryan shot his caribou the first afternoon at 450 yards...yes 450 yards...amazing...using a 300 ultra mag. Giant animal.

I had the chip shot of the hunt with a 215 yard shot the 2nd afternoon. Respectable animal.

Next it was Tim's turn. He had been going with a bow but decided to pick up Ryan's gun in order for us all to go fishing early. Here's his nice bou he took at 275 yards the 3rd morning of our hunt. We counted 50 points!

After we got all the meat down the mountain we called Matt & Julie Owen to come pick us up early...we brought along a satellite phone so we had the ability to call from the bush. Matt came out that evening and picked us, our meat, and gear up. We went back to Kotzebou and stayed overnight. (Matt put us up in his bunkhouse.) The next day Matt flew us to the Wulik river to set up a fishing camp for him and to do some fishing ourselves. It was really fantastic the fishing we had. We caught many fish...none that I had ever caught before...chum salmon...grayling...artic char...dolly varden. We used medium action spinning rods with vibrex spinners for the most part.

Here's Tim with a pretty Dolly Varden I believe.

Here's me with nice artic char. Believe it or not I fought this fish for close to half hour on a walleye type spinning rig...unreal the power they have.

Mason with a nice fish.

We fished for a couple days and then Matt came to pick us up and we made the long trek home from Kotz to Anchorage and Anchorage to Minneapolis with a few stops and overnights along the way.

Note: throughout our hunting and fishing trip we heard and saw wolves howling, watched moose from the ground and the air, saw grizzly bears on the ground and the air, called in red fox, viewed beautiful northern lights...Tim shot a couple tarmigan with his bow. It was truelly an adventure.

This was a trip of a lifetime for me. We planned and saved for this trip for a couple years and it really went well..about as well as I ever thought it would. I felt compelled to post my story and share the pictures just incase anyone was thinking of doing a similar trip and wanted to ask me any questions. I know when we were researching for our trip any input was helpful to us...so feel free to ask any questions. Thanks guys...FL SNIPER

[Stratosman]

WOW.

That looks awesome! That would be something that I would for sure want to do someday. How did you line up the guy to fly you around? How much, (if you don't mind me asking) did you spend on that trip of a lifetime?

Congratulations on a good time!

[Down Deep]

Well done. I enjoyed the whole story. One thing I know aobut a trip of lifetime to Alaska is that it becomes an annual event.

[FL SNIPER]

Ryan initially did the research on what herd we should hunt and figured the northern herd of caribou was going strong. From there he researched bush companies in that area. He narrowed it down to a couple outfits and Matt/Julie Owen were one of them...they run Northern Trophy Air. After a few phone calls to talk to them...Ryan felt we should put our trust in them. And I'm glad he did. Ryan also called and talked to at least one of their previous customers...and they gave the thumbs up. We also knew of a coworker who had a good experience with them. Email me if you'd like details on the costs. jakehult at hotmail dot com

I can see myself going back to Alaska someday but I can't say its a for sure...I'm glad I experienced it at least once in my life for sure and consider myself very fortunate. FL Sniper

[alaskadreamin]

Great Story.....My once in a lifetime trip has turned into an annual migration with flyrod in hand......Looking forward to it already......

Thanks for sharing!!

[ac777]

Awesome trip, thanks for sharing, I've been up there and it's great up there.

[Wanderer]

My heart aches to see that area again! Thank you for the story and pics.

Its been awhile since I've been to Kotz and up in those foothills and mountains but the memories will last as long as I do.

Congrats on the awesome success!

[pharmdfd]

Hopefully you don't always take pics of yourself with the rifle pointing at you!