Would you Hunt NWT/Yukon or Alaska?

[Whitetail77]

Which one would you hunt and why?

NWT/Yukon appears to be more expensive to hunt than Alaska when looking at Dall Sheep/Moose/Caribou.

Caribou seems to be more of a NWT/Yukon hunt and not so much in Alaska. I think you need to draw a Caribou tag in Alaska. Bears brown/grizz seem to be more Alaska focus.

Is the quality/quantity of the game the same?

[Bolete]

A bit off topic, but for the same money that would get you a pretty amazing African trip.

[HuntingAlberta]

I've hunted NWT and Alaska. Dall Sheep tend to be bigger in Yukon and the NWT hence the price difference, of course there are always exceptions.

Unless you are a NWT Resident you can't hunt Grizzlies in the NWT. Yukon you can but they are Mountain Grizzlies and I believe there is a lower quota, Alaska has the Mountain/Arctic and the Coastal Browns which are far bigger.

I believe NWT has the biggest Caribou on average but all three territories will have some exceptional Caribou taken each year. We hunted Alaska for Caribou last year and didn't need to be drawn. There were lots of caribou but the quality wasn't in the area we were in.

My recommendation would be to talk to people who have been on the exact hunt that you want to go on and see what the quality of the animals, the hunt, the guide, the outfitters, etc. I hunted the NWT for dall sheep and the outfitter had a Helicopter and knew every ram by name. It was a terrible hunt and I wouldnt recommend it, although if you are simply after a Ram and want a big one (and are willing to pay for it) then it was an easy hunt. If you want the memories of an actual hunt then a helicopter ruins everything in my opinion.

If I had to make a choice for another hunt, it would be Dall Sheep on a 14 day hunt where it was fair chase and the outfitter hadn't flown the area and you paid by the inch.

[Roughneck Country]

With first hand experience in Alaska, I would recommend the Yukon or NWT. My next far north trip will likly be to the NWT with Arctic Red

Alaska has loose rules on the guiding and there are no allocated areas in Alaska so its a free for all.

Cant say i would rule Alaska out as there is better prices but Canada would be a better hunt IMO

[Elk Hunter17]

I went with arctic red river outfitters and would highly recommend them for a sheep/caribou or sheep/moose. I think you pay a little more but I think it's worth it.

[Double Shovel]

Originally Posted by Whitetail77

Which one would you hunt and why?

NWT/Yukon appears to be more expensive to hunt than Alaska when looking at Dall Sheep/Moose/Caribou.

Caribou seems to be more of a NWT/Yukon hunt and not so much in Alaska. I think you need to draw a Caribou tag in Alaska. Bears brown/grizz seem to be more Alaska focus.

Is the quality/quantity of the game the same?

Have done the Yukon and NWT and they are both great places to go for a hunt. I have never hunted Alaska but with our own two provinces right beside it, I just would want to deal with the import papers with guns and such.
I am leaving Sunday for the NWT again to Redstone Trophy Hunts. I have a sheep,caribou and wolf tag this year. In the NWT you can use a chopper like said earlier, not my form of a hunt but its legal. We will be on horseback. NWT Govt does charge a pretty penny for trophy fees compared to the Yukon when I hunted there. Should have an update for you third week of Sept

[Tundra Monkey]

Originally Posted by HuntingAlberta

Unless you are a NWT Resident you can't hunt Grizzlies in the NWT. Yukon you can but they are Mountain Grizzlies and I believe there is a lower quota, Alaska has the Mountain/Arctic and the Coastal Browns which are far bigger.

Actually you (as a non resident) can hunt Central Barrenground Grizzly here....but us residents (non-beneficiary) can not.

As a resident we are allowed to take one grizzly in our lifetime but it must be a mountain grizz (out of the Mackenzie's).

I'm a little biased but I'll throw my vote at the NWT.....tis a great place!!!

[dogslayer403]

NWT or Yukon for sure first I say take advantage of the animals our country has to offer and support Canadian guides! once or if I manage to get all the animals we have to offer I will head for a Coastal Brown or over to Africa.

["No Choke"Lord Walsingham]

NWT or Yukon gets my vote.

For USA I'd go Wyoming first I suppose.

No immediate/forseeable plans for hunts in these places as of this writing.

[sheepguide]

Originally Posted by Bolete

A bit off topic, but for the same money that would get you a pretty amazing African trip.

I get this lots!! To me an amazing multi species African trip doesn't rank very high on my list of top hunts. But that's the difference between just hunting or living to hunt a certain style. I couldn't even fathom going on a safari over a NWT or Yukon Sheep, Caribou or Moose mountain hunt.

[Tundra Monkey]

[QUOTE=HuntingAlberta;2087150] I hunted the NWT for dall sheep and the outfitter had a Helicopter and knew every ram by name. It was a terrible hunt and I wouldnt recommend it, although if you are simply after a Ram and want a big one (and are willing to pay for it) then it was an easy hunt. If you want the memories of an actual hunt then a helicopter ruins everything in my opinion. QUOTE]

Not to totally derail the this thread but I've got a little different opinion of this hunt. I've done 8 helicopter hunts up here in the last 10 years. The last two years we have driven the 30 hours to take argos in. Access is not easy here.

I'm not sure if my memories would be better if I'd have flown in on a Super Cub or walked the 90 miles in

As far as the outfitter knowing every ram in his area (+ or - 10k square miles)......he'd better know where they are if he's charging $20k+ for em'.

When used within the guidelines there is absolutely no problem with helicopter use imo.

[Roughneck Country]

Originally Posted by Double Shovel

Have done the Yukon and NWT and they are both great places to go for a hunt. I have never hunted Alaska but with our own two provinces right beside it, I just would want to deal with the import papers with guns and such.

The paper work in Alaska is a breeze, and the gun permitt is as easy as it gets. The Federal Fish & Wildlife office is in the old Anchorage airport right beside the new terminal so basically a quick stop before you hit the airport. The US F&W told us the cites permitts would take 2 or 3 hours or less if the cites computer system wasn't down (apparently this is a big problem). As for the non cites animals no permitt is required. We just put our animals in rubber maids and away we went. Since we had checked in with the US F&W Canadian customs didn't check our animals or our guns we just walked out of the Calgary airport.

What i didn't like about Alaska was we spent a lot of money and it was essentailly a backpack trip, no comfortable camp, mountain house for 21 days, and no way to dry out. At least with a canadian outfitter for not much more you can do a horse trip.

[Whitetail77]

Is a horse back trip that much better?

I am really considering this type of hunt to get the "full" experience. I've never riden horses or hiked in the mountains, but I am in relatively good shape.

[Roughneck Country]

Originally Posted by Whitetail77

Is a horse back trip that much better?

I am really considering this type of hunt to get the "full" experience. I've never riden horses or hiked in the mountains, but I am in relatively good shape.

Just my personal opinion, I pretty much do all of my sheep hunting back packing, (only been on one hores pack trip) and the "full experience" you are talking about has nothing to do with using horses or not. Long story short the horses will get you into the drainage, there is still plenty of back packing and "full experience" to be had. basically you won't wear yourself out getting to the area and can use your energy to actually hunt vs hike with a 50 lb pack for two days just to get into an area. Sheep hunts as you probably already know are pretty physically demanding, when I went to Alaska it was backpack all the way, I'm pretty sre I shrunk 2 inches and had deff taken a toll on my knees. Horses would have made the entire duration much more enjoyable as so much effort was expended just packing our gear around, not to mention the lack of good food as all we could carry was mountain house.

I don't want to sound like I'm complaining as it was an awesome time overall, but a horse trip deff makes the whole experience more enjoyable IMO. Wall tents, good food, and heat to dry out make a world of difference when your cold and wet. I still d pleny of backpacking, but would deff use horses if the opportunity is there.

Not sure if its true or not but in my opinion horses increase your odds of success as well. Not being cold and tired helps you stay out in the field a lot longer. Maybe I'm getting soft but in the past couple years i have really come to appreciate a comfortable camp. Well worth the extra money to go with an outfit that can make camp comfortable!