Barren-Ground Caribou hunt

What To Expect:

You will have to fly into Deadhorse, Alaska, for this trip. Once you get into Deadhorse, you will be greeted by A-Team staff, and we will gather up the gear staged in town and prepare for our departure to the field (hopefully that morning, weather permitting). If, for some reason, we are stuck in town, there are several hotel options available if we need a place to wait for favorable flying conditions. Once we finally get into the field, we are not able to hunt until the next morning by law. We will set up camp and glass to hopefully see where the caribou are moving through. The most important thing to know about hunting caribou is it’s very much a “feast or famine” sort of hunt, meaning you might see caribou, or you might not see a single individual animal. I have gone entire hunts with hardly a sighting, and I have been on others where I saw over 2,000 animals in one herd.

Be prepared to sit and glass until your eyes want to bleed. We will be more or less ambushing the caribou as they move through our area. There is no sense in moving around, as the terrain is very rugged, and we can see for miles in any direction. Moving a lot will just make you tired and doesn’t present any sort of angle that would be advantageous to your hunt. Most of our shots are within 300 yards, but further shots are very possible. I am comfortable with clients shooting further if they possess the skill and weapon system that allows them to make further shots accurately.

As for weather, the north slope of Alaska has some of the craziest weather conditions you will ever see, and it seems to change by the moment. Expect to see a lot of rain and even the possibility of snow and hail storms. The north slope is also known for its high winds at times, as there is very little in the name of cover (the nearest tree is hundreds of miles away), and you will be happy to have wind because when the breeze is still, there are enough mosquitoes at times to carry away a full-grown man. Expect temperatures to be as low as the low 30s and as high as the mid 50s.

After you kill your caribou, we will either be hunting Barren Ground Grizzly (if you have the RB987 Permit), or we can wolf hunt if you choose to bring a wolf tag. Once the hunt has concluded and the plane lands in camp, we will fly back to Deadhorse, and if it’s early enough in the day, you may be able to change your flight and head back to Anchorage the same evening. If you are bringing home any meat, there is a service in Deadhorse that will freeze and haul the meat to Anchorage for you and will ship it to the address you provided them. As for your antlers and hides, we will use Alaskan Air Cargo to send them to Anchorage, and a representative of “Arctic Wolf Tannery” will grab them and haul them to the tannery to do any sealing and processing that needs to be completed.

Two women in outdoor gear smiling and posing with a large moose they have hunted, in a rugged outdoor landscape with a cloudy sky.
A person wearing a gray beanie and green jacket crouches next to a large, dead reindeer with antlers, on a grassy plain near a lake with mountains in the background.
Two men in camouflage jackets and caps kneeling behind a large, dead reindeer with impressive antlers, in an outdoor landscape with mountainous terrain in the background.
A dead reindeer lying on snow-covered ground with large antlers.
A person in outdoor clothing holding a rifle, posing with a reindeer in a field with a clear blue sky. The person is smiling and wearing binoculars around their neck.
A man with a beard and gray beanie standing in a grassy field, next to a deceased reindeer with large antlers, mountains in the background, cloudy sky overhead.
A deceased reindeer lying on the ground with blood visible around its head and neck. A person's hand is holding one of the reindeer's antlers. The setting appears to be outdoors with gravel and dry grass on the ground.
A man in outdoor gear kneels on the grass, holding the antlers of a large, deceased reindeer laying on the ground in a vast open field with mountains in the distance.