Hunting in Alaska - MeatEater Style

Carbon12

Carbon12

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I am currently watching the Alaska hunts by Steven Rinella in Meat Eater via Netflix (https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/80126646)

I am fascinated by the adventure of it all and dream that someday I too could hunt in the far north. I thought I would start this thread to hear other people's real life experiences with hunting in the Alaska, Yukon, NWT, Nunavut, Northern Quebec, etc. If anyone has hunting pictures from up there ... please feel free to post them.

I am also interested to know the details and logistics behind even planning such a hunting trip and what is involved from gear and transportation to licencing. Steve and crew also have some nice rifles ... I wonder if its his or the sponsors. I see Vortex scopes a lot on the show and the rifles look like Remington 700s.

Weather and cooking / eating in these shows are also very interesting. Eating what can be harvested off of the land .. or sea. It is all cool. :)
 
Some of the bizarre things I never knew that a person could even eat they show case on an Alaskan caribou hunt ... like the eating fat raw from behind the caribou's eye ball ... lol They say it tastes like pizza dough :)
 
Some people can manage comfortably in the wilderness, others are a rescue waiting to happen and would be better off sticking with Netflix... the trick is being honest about which you are.
 
Subscribe to the meateater podcast for a butt-tonne of more detailed meateater content, including a lot of the behind the scenes stuff on the show production.
 
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hoytcanon said:
Some people can manage comfortably in the wilderness, others are a rescue waiting to happen and would be better off sticking with Netflix... the trick is being honest about which you are.
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so true in many ways ...


some are doing shows for tv and some are doing it every time they are going hunting ...
 
I’ve done northern BC, Yukon, NWT. All very good. Found the remote NWT to be the best. Never saw a human track in 21 days. Big moose, Dall sheep, wolves, bears, goats, caribou. Spectacular scenery.
 
A hunting trip to Alaska would be a once in a life time event for me since it would be prohibitively expensive. I was born and raised in Northern Ontario and my family lived a rather rural existence. I love the outdoors and I am an avid camper, hiker and canoeist. I have been whitetail deer hunting for many years and I would plan such a trip with my brother-in-law who has worked, lived and hunted in Nunavut for 8 years. He knows all the tricks of survival up in the tundra. He was trained by the elders of the native people in the community he lived in and has passed some of that knowledge to me. It would be a definite tour de force in planning for sure, and would require top notch equipment. Planning is part of the fun for me since I am a detailed oriented person.

I love whitetail deer hunting but it is important to "reach for the stars" once in a while. Hunting moose in the far north would be memorable and a person only lives once.
 
The unfortunate part is that DIY in provinces/territories other than your home province generally require you hire a guide or have a close family resident connection. This makes the cost substantial. There are some states that you could do some big game diy in the west, however I believe most of the big game hunting in Alaska requires a guide/resident (maybe not black bear and Sitka?).
 
DIY in BC. I’m a resident so we do fly in every year for different stuff. Lost count of how many times, 20ish anyway. Yukon with a friend for moose. Similar to BC. NWT I worked as a guide. So I got to do some really remote hunts, which you may say doesn’t count, but the amount of work and challenge is at least double any other hunt I ever went on. Especially when you factor in bad clients.
 
Duck_Hunter said:
The unfortunate part is that DIY in provinces/territories other than your home province generally require you hire a guide or have a close family resident connection. This makes the cost substantial. There are some states that you could do some big game diy in the west, however I believe most of the big game hunting in Alaska requires a guide/resident (maybe not black bear and Sitka?).
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That is good to know. I happen to have another brother-in-law that is a licensed big game hunter and is a BC resident. I think he would be up for a moose hunt in Northern BC ... which is a spectacular place to hunt. Would need to figure out the best where, when and how.
 
Canada is still very isolated for most of his parts and we do not even see it.

when i guided in Quebec the locals mostly never went to the northern part that can be reached by cars, rails or planes ... there is a train from seven islands to scheferville a trip to be done once in a lifetime to get a little of spirit of the north.

being in the Yukon after a floatplane trip will leave you alone and the first night in the tent when you will hear the wolf howling you will know that the connections with the nature are in.

it is not for everybody and that is a fact but when you can and are able do it: do it.

there is a chance that even in your own province each of you can do a wilderness trip will it be by canoe or fly out.

do it while you can.
 
Carbon12 said:
That is good to know. I happen to have another brother-in-law that is a licensed big game hunter and is a BC resident. I think he would be up for a moose hunt in Northern BC ... which is a spectacular place to hunt. Would need to figure out the best where, when and how.
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Get him to apply for a permit to accompany. $55 online to take two non residents. Licenses, royalties and hunt cost on top of all that and its waaaay cheaper than a guided hunt still. Choose a good lake and you will have no end of fun. There are lots of guys who can help you pick a lake.
 
savage 110L said:
Get him to apply for a permit to accompany. $55 online to take two non residents. Licenses, royalties and hunt cost on top of all that and its waaaay cheaper than a guided hunt still. Choose a good lake and you will have no end of fun. There are lots of guys who can help you pick a lake.
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Thank you for the great advice. I will chat with him about that
 
Was chatting with one of the sales guys today at the Bass Pro and he mentioned to me that moose hunting in Newfoundland was amazing and quite the blast (pun intended). Lots of moose in Newfoundland and apparently caribou? If you go in on it with 2 or 3 guys you can easily drive the meat back to Ontario. He did with ice and Styrofoam in a truck bed. The price apparently for a guided moose hunt can be approximately $3500 per person which includes everything. Does that sound within the ball park? For a hunting vacation I would consider this affordable, especially if you get a good amount of meat out of the deal. Newfoundland and Labrador apparently is quite ultra rugged with mountains so a person needs to be in good physical condition, which I am.

Has anyone else had a moose hunting experience in Newfoundland / Labrador? I would love to hear about it.
 
$3500 is possible but very much on the low side, perhaps when our dollar was stronger than the American. Today I'd be expecting to pay about a grand more at least, before the ferry ride and tags. Caribou will likely be $7000+
If you're looking for the best price Quebec is likely it, but they brought back the gun registry and not the numbers of moose and 2 tags are required for 1 moose.
 
Jim870 said:
$3500 is possible but very much on the low side, perhaps when our dollar was stronger than the American. Today I'd be expecting to pay about a grand more at least, before the ferry ride and tags. Caribou will likely be $7000+
If you're looking for the best price Quebec is likely it, but they brought back the gun registry and not the numbers of moose and 2 tags are required for 1 moose.
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More like $5000 per person is a realistic current amount ... It would still be an awesome vacation that is within my reach.
 
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