I've held many Alaskan caribou licenses, and have hunted them both guided and unguided, but I have never personally shot a caribou in Alaska. Sometimes this was because I was too picky. Other times I was just in the right place at the wrong time. The only barren-ground caribou I've ever taken was in the Yukon, north of what is considered mountain caribou range (although I'm not certain the caribou know the difference). This is not so say that Alaska doesn't have magnificent caribou country. It does, and without question produces the biggest bulls, provided you do your homework and put yourself in the right place at the right time.

At its best caribou hunting is done more with binoculars than with your legs, but be prepared for lots of walking in nasty, soggy, boggy, uneven ground.

In recent years the burgeoning Mulchatna herd, essentially western Alaska above the Alaskan Peninsula, has been considered the hotspot. Guided and unguided hunts require a bush plane and competent bush pilots are well versed on the migration routes. That said, for a really big bull my preference would be the much smaller Alaskan Peninsula herd, which has produced many fine bulls in recent years, including the new world record. Although more difficult to reach and less likely to produce a real monster, if you want to see a lot of caribou, consider the huge western Arctic herd northeast of Kotzebue.

A Caribou For You
Some of us have fallen into the seductive trap of wishing to hunt at least one of everything in our lives, including caribou. If you join me in this absurd quest, then you're stuck: You must hunt caribou in at least five places (six if you want a small caribou from Canada's arctic islands). If, on the other hand, you have a more sensible goal of just one really nice caribou, then you have many options. One note: Only Alaska and Quebec offer viable unguided nonresident hunting, but you'd better know what you're doing.

Alaska produces the biggest caribou, has the highest license fees and, on average, the highest cost for guided hunts. Both concepts are somewhat relative because a big caribou is a big caribou, and all areas produce some very big caribou, a lot of average caribou and the potential for being shut out altogether. Because of the remote areas that you must reach, transportation is a big part of the cost of any caribou hunt. So, if I was in search of one really nice caribou, I'd probably rule out mountain caribou, as the most difficult to obtain. I'd rule out woodland caribou second; hunting in Newfoundland is very successful, but these caribou definitely average much smaller than the rest.

That leaves us Alaska, Northwest Territories' central Canada barren-ground caribou and the Quebec-Labrador caribou of northern Quebec. These areas all offer very successful hunting with the potential for very big bulls.

To make the final choice for just one good caribou, I'd consider where I'm coming from. In the eastern U.S., the Quebec-Labrador herds are the most accessible. From the central U.S., Yellowknife is easily reached as the jump-off point for central Canada barren-ground caribou. From the West, Alaska is probably the most accessible.

From east to west, the caribou is the most available adventure the Far North has to offer.