- Thread starter stefan73
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Re: Gear for Alaska?
Where are you going to be? Will make a big difference.
Where are you going to be? Will make a big difference.
Re: Gear for Alaska?
Yeah where are you moving. I grew up on the Alutian Chain and it is completely different then northern AK or even SE AK.
Yeah where are you moving. I grew up on the Alutian Chain and it is completely different then northern AK or even SE AK.
Re: Gear for Alaska?
Sorel boots and Carhartt coveralls with the black liner. Mountain Hardware gear (hat, gloves ect) Patagonia expedition weight long johns.
I also recommend a nice shoulder rig to carry your side arm inside your coveralls.
I spent 3 years in Barrow. It gets C-C-C-C-C-Cold
Sorel boots and Carhartt coveralls with the black liner. Mountain Hardware gear (hat, gloves ect) Patagonia expedition weight long johns.
I also recommend a nice shoulder rig to carry your side arm inside your coveralls.
I spent 3 years in Barrow. It gets C-C-C-C-C-Cold
Re: Gear for Alaska?
I live in A.K and PCS here in the Army. I also do quite a bit of hunting up here. Are you asking about equipment specific to hunting or what you should bring up to live? Do you have family?
I live in A.K and PCS here in the Army. I also do quite a bit of hunting up here. Are you asking about equipment specific to hunting or what you should bring up to live? Do you have family?
Re: Gear for Alaska?
Smith&Wesson 44 mag. would be high on the list as well as warm socks.
Smith&Wesson 44 mag. would be high on the list as well as warm socks.
Re: Gear for Alaska?
Fort Wainwright with two young children (7 and 4), and my wife.
I'm just trying to plan ahead so I can start them off correctly since I might not be in country long due to work.
I have a Dan Wesson .44 Mag scoped and my Dan Wesson .445 Supermag that would for good protection. I might pick up a Marlin 1894 .44 mag lever for the wife.
I'm looking at hunting and daily normal necesity gear for the family.
Thanks for the help.
Fort Wainwright with two young children (7 and 4), and my wife.
I'm just trying to plan ahead so I can start them off correctly since I might not be in country long due to work.
I have a Dan Wesson .44 Mag scoped and my Dan Wesson .445 Supermag that would for good protection. I might pick up a Marlin 1894 .44 mag lever for the wife.
I'm looking at hunting and daily normal necesity gear for the family.
Thanks for the help.
Re: Gear for Alaska?
45/70 Marlin Guide Gun with 350g or 405g FPPN CorBons and ankle fit hip boots.
45/70 Marlin Guide Gun with 350g or 405g FPPN CorBons and ankle fit hip boots.
Re: Gear for Alaska?
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: RedRyder</div><div class="ubbcode-body">45/70 Marlin Guide Gun with 350g or 405g FPPN CorBons and ankle fit hip boots.</div></div>
+1
either that or a nice 12guage shotgun.
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: RedRyder</div><div class="ubbcode-body">45/70 Marlin Guide Gun with 350g or 405g FPPN CorBons and ankle fit hip boots.</div></div>
+1
either that or a nice 12guage shotgun.
Re: Gear for Alaska?
Sounds like you won't be hunting when you first get up here. I would focus on getting your family settled in. It is super expensive to live off post so hopefully you can get them on post. The winter is really cold and lasts about 8 months.
Hunting equipment costs the same up here as it does anywhere else. Don't listen to the people behind the gun counters, see what your friends are using for equipment. What gets you in price is everything else. Are you driving up? Are you pulling a trailer or can you pull a trailer? I would buy furniture, mattresses, etc. For example a used 20' enclosed trailer will cost you $8000 up here and in Washington that same trailer new costs $5000. A $600 mattress up here costs $300 in the lower 48.
I can add more info if you would like but for now don't buy a 45-70 or any other "protection". Why would you want to limit yourself to short shots when you may find yourself staring at a sheep or caribou at 350yds? If you are worried about bear protection a different sport would suit you better. There are hunters up here that have never even seen a bear. Ankle fit hip boots are nice if you are hunting in bog but I have found that it sucks to walk through that stuff so hunt somewhere else. Those boots will just leave your feet sweaty! I wear regular boots for most of my hunting or waist waders for everything else.
I would recommend looking at AKoutdoor Forums if you want to start learning about hunting up here. It is a great resource to learn about hunting areas, equipment etc. Be wary of those guys who haven't hunted up here or haven't hunted recently or other than off a boat. Unless you plan on spending a lot of money for a boat or plane you are going to do a lot of walking.
Sounds like you won't be hunting when you first get up here. I would focus on getting your family settled in. It is super expensive to live off post so hopefully you can get them on post. The winter is really cold and lasts about 8 months.
Hunting equipment costs the same up here as it does anywhere else. Don't listen to the people behind the gun counters, see what your friends are using for equipment. What gets you in price is everything else. Are you driving up? Are you pulling a trailer or can you pull a trailer? I would buy furniture, mattresses, etc. For example a used 20' enclosed trailer will cost you $8000 up here and in Washington that same trailer new costs $5000. A $600 mattress up here costs $300 in the lower 48.
I can add more info if you would like but for now don't buy a 45-70 or any other "protection". Why would you want to limit yourself to short shots when you may find yourself staring at a sheep or caribou at 350yds? If you are worried about bear protection a different sport would suit you better. There are hunters up here that have never even seen a bear. Ankle fit hip boots are nice if you are hunting in bog but I have found that it sucks to walk through that stuff so hunt somewhere else. Those boots will just leave your feet sweaty! I wear regular boots for most of my hunting or waist waders for everything else.
I would recommend looking at AKoutdoor Forums if you want to start learning about hunting up here. It is a great resource to learn about hunting areas, equipment etc. Be wary of those guys who haven't hunted up here or haven't hunted recently or other than off a boat. Unless you plan on spending a lot of money for a boat or plane you are going to do a lot of walking.
Re: Gear for Alaska?
I moved my family up when my kids were in 1st and 3rd grade. We lived on Birch Hill on the back side of Wainwright. Worked at Camp LIWA Bible camp. I pulled a 16' trailer up. I relized that when people move back to the lower 48, they sell everything they can't haul out. Roadside sales, garage sales and thrift-surplus stores have lots of bargains. Let your needs be known and many people will give you extra furniture and such. Local community dumpsters, very large ones for areas without trash pickup, can be a source for good furniture. People drop off a lot of good stuff. Everyone I knew that hunted had a 300 win mag or 338 win mag. I brought my 30/06 . can't go wrong with Carhartts. It is wet ground everywhere when the frost starts to thaw. Bring good quality foot wear. In the deep winter the sun comes up at 10:00 am and sets at 2:30 pm.Kids go outside for recess until it hits -20. Every school has an outdoor skating rink, bring ice skates.Hockey is king. fireworks are for New Years Eve not 4th of July. I loved living there but winter is long , dark and cold. Have to stay busy and enjoy the outdoors. Fairbanks is always sunny, no wind and low humidity. Very scenic in the winter. Enjoy and take plenty of cash to buy up the bargains.
I moved my family up when my kids were in 1st and 3rd grade. We lived on Birch Hill on the back side of Wainwright. Worked at Camp LIWA Bible camp. I pulled a 16' trailer up. I relized that when people move back to the lower 48, they sell everything they can't haul out. Roadside sales, garage sales and thrift-surplus stores have lots of bargains. Let your needs be known and many people will give you extra furniture and such. Local community dumpsters, very large ones for areas without trash pickup, can be a source for good furniture. People drop off a lot of good stuff. Everyone I knew that hunted had a 300 win mag or 338 win mag. I brought my 30/06 . can't go wrong with Carhartts. It is wet ground everywhere when the frost starts to thaw. Bring good quality foot wear. In the deep winter the sun comes up at 10:00 am and sets at 2:30 pm.Kids go outside for recess until it hits -20. Every school has an outdoor skating rink, bring ice skates.Hockey is king. fireworks are for New Years Eve not 4th of July. I loved living there but winter is long , dark and cold. Have to stay busy and enjoy the outdoors. Fairbanks is always sunny, no wind and low humidity. Very scenic in the winter. Enjoy and take plenty of cash to buy up the bargains.
Re: Gear for Alaska?
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Stefan73</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Fort Wainwright with two young children (7 and 4), and my wife.
I'm just trying to plan ahead so I can start them off correctly since I might not be in country long due to work.
I have a Dan Wesson .44 Mag scoped and my Dan Wesson .445 Supermag that would for good protection. I might pick up a Marlin 1894 .44 mag lever for the wife.
I'm looking at hunting and daily normal necesity gear for the family.
Thanks for the help. </div></div>
What time of the year? Most PCS in summer but a few unlucky get the winter curse.
As far as kids, the school district has a list of what kids are required to have for clothing: snow jacket, snow pants, snow boots, hat (2ea), gloves (2pr), extra socks and such. Buying before you get there may not be wise but things are cheaper in the states. When my kids went to school this list is mandatory and the teachers have to sign off each kid has them at school. They will wear through them quickly sliding on their knees and such during recess and at home. My kids are grown but the temp limit use to be -10 before kids could not go outside on recess so...they will need to dress warm. For high school it was -20 or -25 for outdoor athletics. School does not close for snow and cold. If I remember right, my 3 kids only had two snow days.
For adult clothing, too many variables but you will see Alaskans do not dress as warm as those from the states. Even at -20 we did not wear boots and coats outside. The blood will thicken if you get out in the cold. Alaskans wear Carhartts but to me, too heavy and does not perform in the Alaskan backcountry like better high end systems.
For military wear, most of my guys did not wear issue, the Commander waves many non issue due to the mission and weather. I would go or send down a list to local stores with IMPAC for our clothing/boot needs.
Driving up? vehicles require winterizing. I would recommend you do it in Alaska unless you have the winter curse. Crossing the Canadian boarder is a real chore. I was lucky as we pull up to the boarder with Alaska plates and it darn near a hand wave but last time we drove was mid late 90s. You can take handguns and some restricted long guns through Canada but the paperwork and tax is very expensive. Take enough money, cannot remember how much you are required but along the highway nothing is cheap and just pray you do not have a break down. Exchange US currency to Canadian, you have been warned and a lot of drivers do not. The highway is a piece of cake these day but watch the frost heaves near the AK/Canada boarder as they can break any rip and flip you and special care if pulling a trailer. Milepost is real south 49er thing but it is good to have.
For bear protection, get spray as your first and best defense and a Remington 5077 shotgun with 2 3/4 low recoil slugs. Short gun 44mag with hard cast is good too but its still lacking in real penetrating power.
Buy a glowing plug in, you have been warned. I used a four socket outlet on my fender running an inside heater sitting on cookie sheet, oil pan heater, battery heater and plug heater into the 4 outlet and then run just one cord out to plug in. I could use all four when it was Alaskan or just the freeze plug when it was cool. My outside socket was circuit protected. Friends had autostarts that would start and run engine during the cold to keep the engine and rig between a certain temp range.
4 wheel drive is not needed for winter but good studded tires are good to have. I am not one who likes the alloy studs, I am a steel stud guy. The environment friendly alloy wear down too quickly. But a complete set of winter rims, the cost of these will save you after the first year tire change over.
Playing in Alaska is not cheap!!! And for E4 and some E5 just surviving can be hard. I had many boots get way in over their head buying toys on credit for their tour only to find out they cannot pay for them. Lemon lot is full and I suggest a good place to start for toys as you will find some E3/E4 that is PCSing in a month or needs to get out from the payment and will just about give it away. Banks are real fond of giving military easy loans! Or they use to.
But, in winter you have to play outside and the cold is quite easy to deal with but the dark is what is hard on people, especially wives. The isolation too. There use to be a Space A tanker out from Eil every week to Scott in IL, that you can take a bus into ST Louis airport to get just about anywhere but its been many years since I did this. Weekly medivac too from there to the Dorf, to Cali back up to McChord then to Eili every weekend but its full and hard to get space A. A C12 goes everyday between the Dorf and Eili but full of brass and you can catch the C17 on the pacific loop, 2 times a week at the Dorf.
Learn to speak Alaskan soon as you arrive.
Anything else just ask.
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Stefan73</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Fort Wainwright with two young children (7 and 4), and my wife.
I'm just trying to plan ahead so I can start them off correctly since I might not be in country long due to work.
I have a Dan Wesson .44 Mag scoped and my Dan Wesson .445 Supermag that would for good protection. I might pick up a Marlin 1894 .44 mag lever for the wife.
I'm looking at hunting and daily normal necesity gear for the family.
Thanks for the help. </div></div>
What time of the year? Most PCS in summer but a few unlucky get the winter curse.
As far as kids, the school district has a list of what kids are required to have for clothing: snow jacket, snow pants, snow boots, hat (2ea), gloves (2pr), extra socks and such. Buying before you get there may not be wise but things are cheaper in the states. When my kids went to school this list is mandatory and the teachers have to sign off each kid has them at school. They will wear through them quickly sliding on their knees and such during recess and at home. My kids are grown but the temp limit use to be -10 before kids could not go outside on recess so...they will need to dress warm. For high school it was -20 or -25 for outdoor athletics. School does not close for snow and cold. If I remember right, my 3 kids only had two snow days.
For adult clothing, too many variables but you will see Alaskans do not dress as warm as those from the states. Even at -20 we did not wear boots and coats outside. The blood will thicken if you get out in the cold. Alaskans wear Carhartts but to me, too heavy and does not perform in the Alaskan backcountry like better high end systems.
For military wear, most of my guys did not wear issue, the Commander waves many non issue due to the mission and weather. I would go or send down a list to local stores with IMPAC for our clothing/boot needs.
Driving up? vehicles require winterizing. I would recommend you do it in Alaska unless you have the winter curse. Crossing the Canadian boarder is a real chore. I was lucky as we pull up to the boarder with Alaska plates and it darn near a hand wave but last time we drove was mid late 90s. You can take handguns and some restricted long guns through Canada but the paperwork and tax is very expensive. Take enough money, cannot remember how much you are required but along the highway nothing is cheap and just pray you do not have a break down. Exchange US currency to Canadian, you have been warned and a lot of drivers do not. The highway is a piece of cake these day but watch the frost heaves near the AK/Canada boarder as they can break any rip and flip you and special care if pulling a trailer. Milepost is real south 49er thing but it is good to have.
For bear protection, get spray as your first and best defense and a Remington 5077 shotgun with 2 3/4 low recoil slugs. Short gun 44mag with hard cast is good too but its still lacking in real penetrating power.
Buy a glowing plug in, you have been warned. I used a four socket outlet on my fender running an inside heater sitting on cookie sheet, oil pan heater, battery heater and plug heater into the 4 outlet and then run just one cord out to plug in. I could use all four when it was Alaskan or just the freeze plug when it was cool. My outside socket was circuit protected. Friends had autostarts that would start and run engine during the cold to keep the engine and rig between a certain temp range.
4 wheel drive is not needed for winter but good studded tires are good to have. I am not one who likes the alloy studs, I am a steel stud guy. The environment friendly alloy wear down too quickly. But a complete set of winter rims, the cost of these will save you after the first year tire change over.
Playing in Alaska is not cheap!!! And for E4 and some E5 just surviving can be hard. I had many boots get way in over their head buying toys on credit for their tour only to find out they cannot pay for them. Lemon lot is full and I suggest a good place to start for toys as you will find some E3/E4 that is PCSing in a month or needs to get out from the payment and will just about give it away. Banks are real fond of giving military easy loans! Or they use to.
But, in winter you have to play outside and the cold is quite easy to deal with but the dark is what is hard on people, especially wives. The isolation too. There use to be a Space A tanker out from Eil every week to Scott in IL, that you can take a bus into ST Louis airport to get just about anywhere but its been many years since I did this. Weekly medivac too from there to the Dorf, to Cali back up to McChord then to Eili every weekend but its full and hard to get space A. A C12 goes everyday between the Dorf and Eili but full of brass and you can catch the C17 on the pacific loop, 2 times a week at the Dorf.
Learn to speak Alaskan soon as you arrive.
Anything else just ask.
Re: Gear for Alaska?
A good outdoor activity is xcountry skiing. You do not need high speed package to enjoy. Many trails to ski on. I used skis for all my winter backcountry travel. I think skiing is easier than snowshoeing and is 5 times faster but only you can decide.
A good outdoor activity is xcountry skiing. You do not need high speed package to enjoy. Many trails to ski on. I used skis for all my winter backcountry travel. I think skiing is easier than snowshoeing and is 5 times faster but only you can decide.
