Alaska Ptarmigan hunting
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winterstorm
Alaska Ptarmigan hunting
I have wanted to go to AK for several years on a Ptarmigan hunt. Has anyone hunted them? Do you have any contacts? It's nice to talk to someone with firsthand info thats not trying to sell you a hunt.
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Casper
- Rank: 5X Champion
- Posts: 1364
- Joined: Thu May 12, 2005 10:46 pm
- Location: northern nv
I have worked in Alaska and the outfitter that was next to the one I was working for ran day trips for fish bu ti seen them 2 weeks ago at the RMEF Elk Camp in Reno, Nevada and they are advertizing ptarmigan hunts. These people are first class. http://bearbaylodge.com/
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nitrex
- Rank: 4X Champion
- Posts: 662
- Joined: Thu Mar 09, 2006 4:57 pm
- Location: McPherson, KS
George Hickox guides some incredible ptarmingan hunts in Alaska in the early Fall. His website is www.georgehickox.com. His dogs are really fun to watch. Give him a call!
Nitrex
Nitrex
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winterstorm
A lot of flying involved
Thanks for all the info. I've found that most hunting pricy and fly out daily. I don't know how much flying our dogs will stand. We wanted to fly up and back and drive to hunt while we are there. We want to hunt over our own dogs. I am going to contact AK Div. of wildlife to see if this is feasible.
Thanks again, Walter
Thanks again, Walter
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Casper
- Rank: 5X Champion
- Posts: 1364
- Joined: Thu May 12, 2005 10:46 pm
- Location: northern nv
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Wagonmaster
- GDF Junkie
- Posts: 3372
- Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2005 10:22 am
- Location: Minneapolis, MN
you can go to anchorage and rent a mobile home. there are six or seven rental agencies there. the mobile homes are all very nice and price depends on size. from anchorage, you can go up through Wasilla, past Denali, and up to Fairbanks by highway that is very good. you can go north of Fairbanks a little ways. the mobile home rental agencies will tell you what the boundary is. you can actually drive all the way up to Prudhoe Bay, but the road is very very bad and the rental agencies will not let you do it.
make a reservation for a mobile home in advance. they have alot of demand during the summer and early fall.
you can also drive down from Fairbanks through Tok on the eastern side of the state, and back down to Fairbanks. If memory serves, that road is called the Richardson Highway. that road I would rate as good. two-lane blacktop. in addition, there is a road that goes across from near Denali, east to the Richardson Highway, called the Denali Highway. Highway is a serious misnomer. It is mostly gravel and very slow going. However, the scenery is great and you are in the interior.
There are some spurs off of these roads. On the map, for example, it looks as though you can drive down to Valdez. I have never done that, and the route would take you through an area that is very mountainous, so I do not know how productive that would be for what you want.
Also from Anchorage, you can drive down to the Kenai and go to Seward, or go all the way to Homer. Most of the Kenai is mountains and woods. Very scenic and good fishing all over, but I would not think much ptarmigan hunting.
There are campsites all over AK, and most of the state is gravel so if worse comes to worse and you cannot find a campsite for some reason, you can usually just pull over and park a camper. I have driven all these roads several times though, and never had a problem with finding an RV park, state park, national park, or campground. They are just all over, in every little town, and everywhere in between.
Now, as for your big question, which is where can you hunt ptarmigan, I have never done that up there and don't know. I do know that the interior, say off the Denali Highway, is all tundra and brush, the type of cover that ptarmigan like. But whether they are there or not, and exactly where they are, I don't know. I don't know if this applies to ptarmigan hunting, but wherever there is road access in AK there is pressure, and the fishing in road accessible streams is nowhere near comparable to the fishing in fly in locations. Thus, I would tend to want to fly in to hunt.
Be aware that there really are bears in AK, and they really are wild. With a shotgun in your hands, you are likely safe. But do not go wandering off at twilight by yourself.
Be prepared for difficult walking. The tundra looks nice in pics, but it is wet, spongy, and very taxing to walk in.
If you find a great spot come back and let me in on your secret. I would love to do the same thing.
make a reservation for a mobile home in advance. they have alot of demand during the summer and early fall.
you can also drive down from Fairbanks through Tok on the eastern side of the state, and back down to Fairbanks. If memory serves, that road is called the Richardson Highway. that road I would rate as good. two-lane blacktop. in addition, there is a road that goes across from near Denali, east to the Richardson Highway, called the Denali Highway. Highway is a serious misnomer. It is mostly gravel and very slow going. However, the scenery is great and you are in the interior.
There are some spurs off of these roads. On the map, for example, it looks as though you can drive down to Valdez. I have never done that, and the route would take you through an area that is very mountainous, so I do not know how productive that would be for what you want.
Also from Anchorage, you can drive down to the Kenai and go to Seward, or go all the way to Homer. Most of the Kenai is mountains and woods. Very scenic and good fishing all over, but I would not think much ptarmigan hunting.
There are campsites all over AK, and most of the state is gravel so if worse comes to worse and you cannot find a campsite for some reason, you can usually just pull over and park a camper. I have driven all these roads several times though, and never had a problem with finding an RV park, state park, national park, or campground. They are just all over, in every little town, and everywhere in between.
Now, as for your big question, which is where can you hunt ptarmigan, I have never done that up there and don't know. I do know that the interior, say off the Denali Highway, is all tundra and brush, the type of cover that ptarmigan like. But whether they are there or not, and exactly where they are, I don't know. I don't know if this applies to ptarmigan hunting, but wherever there is road access in AK there is pressure, and the fishing in road accessible streams is nowhere near comparable to the fishing in fly in locations. Thus, I would tend to want to fly in to hunt.
Be aware that there really are bears in AK, and they really are wild. With a shotgun in your hands, you are likely safe. But do not go wandering off at twilight by yourself.
Be prepared for difficult walking. The tundra looks nice in pics, but it is wet, spongy, and very taxing to walk in.
If you find a great spot come back and let me in on your secret. I would love to do the same thing.
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NDBDHunter
http://www.outdoorsdirectory.com/produc ... unting.htm
This link will take you to a book entitled "Upland Hunting in Alaska" It may provide some info on a do it yourself kinda hunt.
I lived there for 4 years and the only Ptarmigan I saw was when I flew out to hunt Caribou. I did hunt them in areas that you could drive to, but I only saw tracks in the snow where they had been.
If you go that far do a fly-out trip when you get there, the numbers of birds was staggering.
This link will take you to a book entitled "Upland Hunting in Alaska" It may provide some info on a do it yourself kinda hunt.
I lived there for 4 years and the only Ptarmigan I saw was when I flew out to hunt Caribou. I did hunt them in areas that you could drive to, but I only saw tracks in the snow where they had been.
If you go that far do a fly-out trip when you get there, the numbers of birds was staggering.