Planning a hunting trip: The work starts long before you leave

As you are reading this, I’m probably on my way home from the Unit 13 DC485 drawing permit hunt for caribou. We drove up this past Labor Day and two of us, Gnarly Dan and myself, hunted all week. I’m hoping to be bringing home a caribou and Gnarly is looking for a moose.

Planning for this hunt has been a sort of “Keystone Kops” kind of activity. One of the guys originally scheduled to go and his son-in-law drew permits. Gnarly did not, but wanted to go anyhow. I also drew a permit. Then a friend of one of the guys, who also has a permit, asked about going along with, I think, his son. We were now up to six hunters. A seventh, also a friend of one of the guys and who also drew a permit, asked to join when he found out about the trip.

I have a small motorhome which Gnarly and I will use. The man and son-in-law were looking to buy a camper of some sort and had one lined up until the owner sold it to somebody else as my friend was on his way over to purchase the unit. The father/son hunters have their own motorhome and were planning to use it. The seventh guy was planning to bring a hammock! This guy is new to Alaska and the demands of Alaskan hunting. I hope he knows what he’s in for by sleeping in a hammock on a caribou hunt along the Denali Highway in September!

We picked the week of Sept 4-10 because that best fit the work schedule of the son-in-law. Everybody else could accommodate that timeframe. Then things started happening!

First, the man and his son-in-law became questionable because of changes in the son-in-law’s work schedule. Their next step was only going for a couple of days instead of the week as originally planned. The other father/son team then decided they were only going for a couple of days too. Nobody was hearing from the seventh guy, so we didn’t know what was up with him.

I got a call from Gnarly the Saturday before Labor Day that the man and son-in-law wouldn’t be going with us at all. If they even went, it would be the next week at the earliest. So now we’re down from seven to five, maybe. As it turned out, the seventh guy had also drawn a sheep permit and the reason nobody was hearing from him was that he was sheep hunting. The word last Saturday was that this guy would be staying all week.

Gnarly likes to be the camp cook and he’s very good at doing that. As he was starting to organize the grocery lists and who could eat what, all this confusion began about who was even going and for how long. Gnarly Dan quickly made the decision that each group would supply their own groceries in the quantities they would be using. He was still willing to cook for the group but with the uncertainty of who would be hunting when, he figured each group needed to supply their own needs.

Gnarly and I were the one and only group that has abided by the original plan. We worked out our own grocery lists and gear requirements (although I expect we’ll still be duplicating some of the items). Everybody else is on their own for gear and groceries.

I’m bringing my six-wheeler while Gnarly will have his four-wheeler in case we need it. He’s planning to ride with me most of the time anyway. Our plan is to find a good place to glass and basically wait. According to all the information I could gather prior to our leaving, caribou were scattered in small groups all along the Denali Highway. There were even reports of animals seen along sections of the Richardson Highway south of Paxson.

Gnarly and I have hunted together on several other big game hunts for both moose and caribou. He is a great hunting companion and is willing to jump right in and tackle whatever job needs to be done. He’s small in stature but is tough as nails with a great sense of humor and a depth of knowledge on many subjects which makes conversation with him very enjoyable.

The only problem is that he is about my age and we’re both getting a little old to try and “muscle” our way through tough tasks. We’re both learning to think “smart!”