Are there good hunting and fishing opportunities for the Fairbanks resident? Can one hunt around there by driving and hiking? Would a 16' flat bottom boat with a 25 horse be a good fishing rig on the rivers around there? Is a snowmobile a good transportation mode in winter? How long is the drive to Anchorage? Thanks for anything you can offer.

Jackfish,
Good hunting and fishing in Fairbanks. What kind of fishing though? A lot of people from Fairbanks comes to ANC and Kenai during the summer for halibut and salmon. You can hunt anywhere in Alaska by driving and hiking. But the better hunting is off the "road system". Don't know about your next question on the boat because I've never lived in Fairbanks but I imagine it would be OK with the boat and motor. Maybe Alyeska can answer that. Having a snowmobile is a definite plus up here during winter. It's 368 mi from Anchorage to Fairbanks. You can do a lot of hunting up here but it is very expensive. You might want to check this link out.www.outdoorsdirectory.com. Go to the forums for more info.

jackfish,
Sorry to take so long to respond. Fairbanks is a neat place. Good hunting and fishing opportunities around there. As is with everywhere else in Alaska, the farther you get from town, the better off you'll be for hunting and fishing.

If it were me, I'd want a little bigger boat and motor. The rivers in that area aren't technical, but they are deep, silty and swift.

We don't have snowMOBILES up here!!! If you move to Alaska, please call them snowMACHINES. You'll be labeled as a cheechako forever if you use call them snowmobiles. Lots of great places to go snowmachining, ice fishing, ptarmigan hunting, trapping, wolf hunting, etc in the winter if you have a snowmachine and live in the Fairbanks area. Lot's of good folks in the Fairbanks area. Easier and quicker to get to some prime hunting country like around Tok, or up on the Haul Road. Fishing is incredible for big pike, lakers, salmon (though nowhere near as good for salmon as southcentral).

Have you thought about the Kenai Peninsula or Southwest Alaska, say Dillingham?

The best description of Fairbanks I ever heard was on a tourist movie I saw about Alaska a few weeks back. Fairbanks was, according to the narrator, "like a giant Alaska cabbage". We got a good laugh out of that. The analogy is spot-on, since Fairbanks smells odd, too.

Seriously, I really like Fairbanks in the winter. The hotels are dirt cheap and the cold is bone dry and doesn't seem that bad. The place is interlaced with rivers and is in the Yukon drainage. A good river boat and a snow machine for winter will let you get out and go all over.

Fairbanks is, and will likely always be, the gateway to the Arctic. We are the last place to really stock up on supplies. The winters are dark, and feature some bouts with bitter cold, but they are bearable, espeially if you snowmachine, trap, ice fish, or like me like to do a little varmint calling. Summers are spectacular, round the clock sunlight, and great flyfishing for grayling in the Chena river. I loved my stay there, wish I were going back, but alas the Air Force has different ideas. Hunting the interior, could take weeks to describe, lets just say lifelong friends and memories were forged during the hunting seasons.

Dave

Forgot to add, I also would go with a bit bigger outboard, the Tanana river can be tricky at times, and the extra power gives you more room for error. Anchorage is about 6 hours away via the Parks Highway, a little longer if you take the Richardson and Glennallen highways. We Alaskans are by nature a friendly bunch, and it is infectious.