Alaska Wolf Hunts
Alaska Private Guide Service
Smokey Don Duncan,
Master Guide #136
Alaska Wolf Hunts |
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Spring Wolf Hunts - Spring Description Fall Cast / Blast - Fall Description Wolf Hunt Prices License, Tags, Fees, Permits Travel Information History K2 Camp Wolves
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Wolf Hunting OptionsWe have spring and fall trips. The spring trip concentrates on multiple furbearers. The fall trip is a “Cast and Blast” style trip where we can hunt wolves and waterfowl along with excellent fishing. Spring Expedition March 15 - April 10The spring trips can be conducted under a trapping license and trapping laws or hunting laws. Trapping laws are better in that they are much less restrictive concerning methods and means and the limits are higher and other fur bearers may be taken. Spring Trip DescriptionIn March we should have as much snow and ice as we are going to get. This allows us to cover vast areas by ski plane and snowmobile looking for and tracking wolves. The airplane can be used to find the moose and caribou kills "predator wheels" as Tom the pilot calls them (tracks in the snow that circle a kill site). There we can use snares and traps. The snow covers a lot of the brush along the rivers and on the ridges so spotting them is much easier. On this trip we operate under a trapping license ($250) instead of a $85 hunting license. The trapping license eliminates the need for individual tags for wolf and wolverine. It means there are no limits, and enables us to take other species, such as river otter. This style changes the allowable methods of taking an animal, so we can use bait, snares, traps or rifles. Now we can use a snow machines to take wolves. Plus you can legally sell any extra hides or pelts. A typical day would entail having breakfast, packing a lunch and riding the snow machine searching. On this hunt, it is imperative that you be able to ride a snow machine and fast sometimes. Covering 50 -100 miles or more per day is the plan. Find them and shoot them. Skin'em and freeze them and keep going. We can also set up an Arctic Oven and sit on a spotting ridge above a wolf travel route and use predator calls. I have 2 base camps in the area along with 3 Arctic Oven tents for mobility. I expect to be able to rent a cabin or two in the area since the locals like white boys killing wolves. That will allow us to spread out and cover even more territory. The weather is always somewhat unpredictable but it should not be below zero and average around 20 degrees. The daylight will be increasing by 1+ hour / week. I stop the hunt in early April to get ready for Spring brown bear hunts in a different location. The trip is primarily targeting wolves. You agree to take all the wolves you can. Other available species include: Wolverine (no limit, closes March 31); Lynx (no limit, closes March 31); River Otter (no limit, closes April 15); Red and Arctic Fox (no limit, closes March 31); Beaver (no limit, closes April 15). Small game available include, Ptarmigan, grouse and hare (that's 1 BIG rabbit). You will need a small game license if you only have a trapping license. And we might even be able to take in a little fishing through the ice or in open leads. A 7 day fishing license costs $55. When using a trapping license, you do not need a hunting license for fur bearers. -- top Fall Blast and Cast and Blast for 7 DaysThis is our newest offering, and it gives you the biggest bang for your buck! The trip is offered:
This trip offers a combination of hunting and fishing, and allows each hunter to place more emphasis on whatever they want to do. Wolf season opens first (August 10); waterfowl, red fox, and wolverine seasons open next (Sept. 1); and fishing is always open. Red and Silver Salmon are plentiful from August to mid-September. Rainbow trout, arctic grayling, dolly varden, pike and some char are also available. Brown bear season opens September 10th. Hunters are allowed to partake in any or all of these activities when the season is open and they possess the appropriate license and tag(s) and are accompanied by a guide as required by law (when hunting brown bear). After September1, the primary purpose is to hunt wolf and waterfowl along with fishing. -- top Fall Hunt DescriptionsThe wolf packs and dens are usually located along one of the main salmon spawning rivers and adjacent tundra. We hunt wolves using several methods. During the quiet mornings and evenings, one can locate the wolves by hearing them howl. The wolves will travel looking for easy food, which means they will travel the river banks and gravel bars looking for salmon, dead or alive, beavers out of the water, other small animals, We can also hunt our moose and bear kill sites after Sept 17th. Predator calling along the river, sloughs and open tundra can be productive, however one must be careful when and how you do this since brown bears will also be attracted by the calls. We use jet boats for mobility up and down the river from camp. The jet boats are equipped with oars and an electric trolling motor so we can sneak down the river quietly, catching them on the open gravel bars and sloughs. This is a great method early and late in the day. Checking the gravel bars for fresh tracks will tell us their routes. The jet boats can get us to or close to the open tundra where we can spot and call for wolves. We have tree stands set up over salmon spawning areas where wolves and bears feed. Sometimes we set up on the high bank opposite a long and wide gravel bars that wolves are traveling along and feeding on. The waterfowl hunting is primarily done 2 ways. We set up blinds and decoys along back channels and sloughs. This is fun and effective early and late in the day. After Sept. 17 the ducks are everywhere. There are a lot more on the main channels. So you can use the blinds in the morning and evening and drift hunt all day. The most common species include pintail, mallards, shovelers, blue and green wing teel, widgeons, gadwalls, some canvas back and lots of different kinds of mergansers. After Sept 17 the geese tend to show up along the river. You'll see cranes but they land way out on the tundra and by the time you see them over the river, you need an anti aircraft gun to miss properly. If the desire strikes you, you can walk through the woods and jump spruce and some ruff grouse. Few if any ptarmigan are along the river. You can add brown bear to this simply by adding the bear tag and paying a kill fee if you take one. This trip is not a way to hunt brown bear by buying a cheaper wolf and waterfowl hunt. If you want a bear first and foremost, then book the bear hunt. It is cheaper in the long run. Plus, you can work in the fishing, wolf and waterfowl hunting. The beauty of this trip is you can fish and hunt at the same time. -- top Wolf Hunt Prices
Licenses, Fees, PermitsNOTE: License. I sell you the license and tags by mail or in camp. Do not buy them from the state. In the fall, each hunter will need a hunting license ($85) and a tag for each wolf killed ($30 each). Trapping license is $250 for non-residents; Spring only. License
TagsExtra tags are sold in camp. A tag will cover any animal/tag of lesser value.
NOTE: A tag will cover any animal of equal or lesser value. Kill Fees
Stamps
Licenses can be sold by mail or in camp. -- top Travel InformationThe Spring and Fall wolf expeditions/hunts are based out of Dillingham or Koliganek. You would travel at least to Dillingham by commercial jet. Depending on where we are when you arrive, you may need to fly a commuter plane to Koliganek (about $80 each way). Airfare anywhere USA through Anchorage to Dillingham is about $800. -- top History of Wolf Hunting in AlaskaIn March 2005, the Alaska Board of Game finally got a brain and relaxed the methods and means for taking wolves. The customary and traditional method of shooting from snow machines or boats is now legal. This will help manage the wolf populations with out using more controversial methods such as aerial gunning and land and shoot. Every time the latter 2 were even attempted to be invoked there was a firestorm of protest. By the time any efficient method of wolf control was passed; the prey species were already decimated. Trapping has never been an effective control or reduction method. The old time villagers use to take care of controlling wolves. Even though it was customary to illegally run and gun and everyone knew what was going on, the cops always left them alone. Well the old timers aren't getting around so good anymore and the new generation is more gameboy and big city orientated. Add the facts that wolf hide prices have not increased, and you cannot legally sell a sport taken (hunting license used) wolf hide. But the cost of buying and maintaining a snow machine or boat has sky rocketed not to mention the cost of fuel at a minimum of $5.50 a gallon at a regional hub (town or city a 100 miles away). The State Of Alaska has determined that tourism is more important than managing wolves to the detriment of moose and caribou. The original tourist, the non-resident sport hunter, is now sucking hind tit. In Alaska, the non-resident hunter is the first to be restricted or eliminated when game numbers decline. That is why I am offering these hunts. Now, guides and hunters, have the opportunity to provide and enjoy a successful wolf "hunt" and help with the needed wolf management/control that will not be done otherwise. It is an excellent opportunity to round out your trophy room with seldom taken species. I hope you will take advantage and join my guides targeting wolves and making a difference. -- top See our References to talk with our past customers. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Smokey Don Duncan, Owner, Master Guide #136 and P.H. All content © 1991-2008 Alaska Private Guide Service |
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