Seems to me that road got pounded. We floated the MacClaren River one year. We didn't do so well on moose but the number of ducks on that river was epic. The trip would have been worth it just for the duck hunting.

I have seen a lot of people on the East end of that road. The weather can be a little iffy out there too. Not many places to get away from the wind

That's Unit 13, isn't it? I hunted the Fog Lakes area a few times and saw decent bulls in there but it was a lottery system and I never got a tag.

I spent a few days there last fall, when I was on a great big two + week road trip up north. LOVED the country. Hiked all over like a maniac. Saw zero. Talked to everyone on the road who would speak (everyone was friendly). The general consensus was, no caribou. The water was so high all around, that they couldn't get there. The few business establishments along the road were either closed, or dying. Everyone there was Do It Yourself type. That whole length of road, I saw one or two small bulls harvested of each - moose and 'bou. That was early to mid Sept. I'd like to be there when it's happening, but that shook my confidence a bit.

Where is "down here?" I am in Alaska, talking to Alaskans. And on multiple fronts. This is one of them. And it's winter. When spring hits and snow and ice melts, I will be thrust into daily work and really no chance to leave Homer until September. Then it will be time to hunt! So I gotta do what I gotta do. Having said that, your comment about jumping in for a ride with someone who has a jetboat on the KP would be a blast and a good learning experience. Any takers?

Can you comment on what you use for a lift?

I think early to mid Sept might be a bit too early for caribou on the Denali. Pete would have a better idea or certainly Denali Trapper.

Yes that is GMU 13 B & E I believe

Ben - Enjoyed that post! i gotta start with one boat. we will go from there...

Several places to use a boat in unit 13. The tier 1 permit for caribou anyone can get, tho it's too late now for next fall. You can buy a good used 4 wheeler for less than a good boat.

I have a Magnum standard 4" Powertran Jack Plate. It has 7.5" of vertical travel. It's 100% electric and I've been pretty happy with it. Another good Jack plate,especially for jet boating, is the Flat jack made by Bob's Machine. It has a thin profile so it keeps the intake of your jet tucked up in the tunnel. That way you always have a solid flow of water into the pump. The reason its so thin is because the hydraulic pump and reservoir is in the boat not built into the jack plate. I didn't have room for the reservoir in the back of my boat so I went with the Magnum.

I love talking boats!

I live in Fairbanks, my time is spent on the Yukon, and smaller rivers around Fairbanks. I've settled on air cooled mud motors for my purposes, they go shallow enough, fast enough, and are fuel efficient enough for me.

Are they're faster boats? Yes, they pass me all the time and are probably carrying much more gas than me and are louder. The one year I did the math and added up the river miles traveled, and miles run up an down hunting, I think we ran over 300 river miles and burned around 40-45 gallons of gas. That's from memory, I'm going to start keeping notes. I know we always have gas left over when we get back to the ramp.

Are they're boats that will go shallower? Yes, but I do aright. I keep toilet wax ring in the tool box for WHEN, not if but WHEN I tear a hole in the boat. I like the wax because you can put it on wet, no cure time, and when you're ready for a weld patch you can just melt the wax off with a torch. I'm not worried about tearing my mud motors up on the bottom, I've hit logs, stumps, rocks, chewed gravel, grass and don't get clogged with floating leaves either. I do very much worry about tearing my old beer can Ouachita up on the rocks, if I had a tougher hull I'd take more risks. But then it would be heavier, decrease what speed I have, and increase fuel consumption. It's give and take.

At wide open throttle my 35 Briggs and Stratton Vanguard engines burn 3.2? gallons an hour according to the book if memory serves. Depending on how heavy the boat is, if I'm going up stream or downstream, and how stiff the head wind is I get anywhere from 12-25 miles an hour. When the boat is heavy and going up river with headwind it can make for slow going.

But where I feel these air cooled mud motors shine is when the boat is empty and your hunting. No need for full throttle to get on step, and the motor is relatively quiet at the lower RPMs. We've been very lucky the last several years to get moose and caribou. All of them we've been fortunate enough to get were standing on the beach when we drove up. They knew we were coming, and every one of them was looking at us, but most of them stand there wondering if we're bad news.

A boat is a wonderful tool, but it has to mach your purposes, and it's hard to get a boat that matches all of the potential uses in Alaska. There are times I wished I had a big jet boat that I could drag to Valdez or Homer and fish from. But they're big, heavy, thirsty and loud. If I could afford it I'd have these mud motors, a big jet boat, a big fiberglass ocean boat, and a couple different airboats, and maybe even a plane! But I can't, yet, so I use cheap old jon boats and air cooled mud motors.

Be safe out there!

That boat zips right along.

That Mud Motor might be a good alternative to a jet or an air boat. How does it perform through thin ice, frazil ice or slush? It would sure be a lot more economical and quiet than an air boat. Any thoughts?

They chew through as much ice as you want to beat your boat on! But they do need enough water to get a bite. I've never run an airboat, I've seen some good videos and heard people talk about them.

Didn't finish my thought on airboats. Maybe Howler will chime in, he has one. Having never owned one or run one I don't have much to say, but those that have them and use them for what they're capable of don't seem to want to give them up for what they use them for.

I would have loved to have owned an airboat but you can hear those things coming from five miles away. I had a Zodiac with a 25 hp outboard and never felt hindered by it. I ran the Big Su, the Little Su, the Kenai, fished way offshore at Deep Creek and ran all sorts of other water in it. I got an occasional hole but nothing that ever put me out of commission. It was light, carried a ton of weight and was safe. I did go through a lot of props. I built prop replacement costs into my weekly summertime budget.

Zodiaks are supposed to be a good boat! About the only thing I'd use an outboard for is the ocean. I guess if I lived on the Yukon and commuted on the main river I'd likely have an outboard for that too. There are times it would be real nice to cruise at 25-30 MPH regardless of load!

If money weren't an object and I were running strictly fresh water, it'd be an airboat.

Reading this thread reminds me of my wife asking why my brothers and I have so many boats. Each one has a specific purpose. It all depends on where you are going to go and what you are going to be doing.