My is looking at a job at Bethel,and I was wondering if anyone knew anything about the hunting and fishing there.Also perhaps life in general there.We are in northern Wisconsin now,and are thinking of a adventure. I would really apreciate any help on this,the"living in" part of the question might be most important.

Bethel is on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, very wet and very windy. Hunting is good (though I've never hunted there personally) for moose, caribou, wolf. It's a predominately Native village, large by those standards. Great fishing and adventure opportunities, but a true village, not a town.

There's a fella that posts on a few other forums that lives in Bethel. If you would like, I get his email to you.

Bethel is on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, very wet and very windy. Hunting is good (though I've never hunted there personally) for moose, caribou, wolf. It's a predominately Native village, large by those standards. Great fishing and adventure opportunities, but a true village, not a town.

There's a fella that posts on a few other forums that lives in Bethel. If you would like, I get his email to you.

That would be great on the fellows email.Evidently there is a small hospital there,and my wife was looking at a position there.Shes a ER doc.Thought we would start looking for a position in Alaska.How would the bear hunting be in that area?

Bear hunting is good, for the coastal grizzlies (Brown bear). Not a lot of trees in the area, but lots of tall grasses. Plenty of hummocks and hills to cover your stalk.

I sent you an email.

My is looking at a job at Bethel,and I was wondering if anyone knew anything about the hunting and fishing there.Also perhaps life in general there.We are in northern Wisconsin now,and are thinking of a adventure. I would really apreciate any help on this,the"living in" part of the question might be most important.

As others have said, the hunting and fishing in the area would be pretty good. Bethel is an excellent jumping-off point for reasonably short air taxi rides for some good hunting.

You should think carefully about the culture shock aspect of living in Bethel, however. For a person in the right frame of mind, Bethel can be a heaven on earth, but it may well feel like a prison to many other people. Most people from "Outside" that come there to live and work will not be tempted to put down permanent roots there. Anchorage feels pretty remote to many folks, and Bethel is a lot farther out "in-the-Bush."

Check out this link to a bunch of photos of Bethel.

http://images.google.com/images?q=bethel%2C+alaska&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en


Good luck!

Alaska Hunting Adventure: 700 Miles Alone by Backpack and Raft
http://www.bucktrack.com/Alaska.html

I might add that it's a remote place, imagine living on a small island and if you want to get away you'll have to flyout. Grocery and everything else is VERY expensive. It will definitely be an experience.

I might add that it's a remote place, imagine living on a small island and if you want to get away you'll have to flyout. Grocery and everything else is VERY expensive. It will definitely be an experience.


A couple of my Alaskan friends have told me that Bethel is one of the worst places in Alaska to spend a year in.

A couple of my Alaskan friends have told me that Bethel is one of the worst places in Alaska to spend a year in.

Thanks for all the help.I made some calls and emailed folks up there,but I think it is a place you need to visit to get a close idea what it would be like to live there.As it stands now,we are going lighten our load down before we make a move.Also look around and see if we can find some other places up there in need of a good ER doc.I think Alaska is definatly where we want to be,so we will get there some times in the next year or so.Always seems to be a shortage of realy good ER doctors,we just need to find a hospital up there that wants one.

I worked for North Slope Borough Police Department for a while in Barrow. Barrow isn't Bethel, but the experience is similar.

The Native people are not going to welcome you with open arms. You may follow someone into the AC Commercial store and they will let the door hit you in the face if your not watching. Not all Alaska natives are mean, they just take time to get to know you.

Living in Alaska is nothing like living anywhere in the lower 48 (I am originally from Wyoming and Montana, so don't give me that BS about cold weather). Alaska is probably colder longer than what your used to. Let me rephrase that, Alaska is colder longer than what your used to. Even southwest Alaska is cold. Prepare for winter to last from September 15th until May 1st. Prepare for a steak in a resteraunt in Bethel to cost $22, and a hamburger to cost $11. Prepare for a six pack of coke to cost $6. And a gallon of milk to cost $6-11. Rent might be cheap or not, houses might be cheap or a 3 bedroom might be $300,000.

Your spouse better be really prepared for the adventure. When I was hired in Barrow, there were 7 other officers hired, 3 quit within 2 months, and 1 quit within 7 days. Your wife will be the deciding factor.

Is hunting great? Yes of course it is, if you get away from everyone else and work hard it's fantastic. But you don't get snowed in while hunting for 2 weeks in Wisconsin.

I suggest you move to Fairbanks, Anchorage, or South East and figure out if you really like Alaska before you just move on up!

Paris on the Kuskokwim isn't for everybody, as has been noted. But on visits I've always found it a fascinating, if difficult place. There is a unique mix of cultures. It is a big Yupik village, but it also has a large population of Koreans, Russians and us "Gussik" types. Natives in Bethel tend to be more abrasive than in the outlying villages. In Emmonak everybody smiled at me and I had a great time listening to the local country band. In Bethel it was a whole different ball game. I was just another Gussik and not at all welcome. I view Bethel as a jumping off point, and I'd rather live in a small village myself. But it's worth a visit for sure. There is no other place like it on the planet.

One odd thing--cabs are $6 a ride, no matter how far you go.

Hi - I am a pilot up here in Alaska and would love to talk to you about your move up here. We did it in 2000.

My wife and I moved to Ketchikan in 2001, from South Dakota, so the experience is pretty new in my mind too. Southeast isn't the bush interior, by any stretch, but some parts of the experience are common. We're on an island, with a very limited road system, so getting more than 20 miles from the house means flying or boating. Which, whether you own or charter, is spendy. Bush villages offer the same kind of isolation. If you have sufficient disposable income to get out "at will", it's not so bad -- until you get weathered in and sit in some other bush airport for a couple of days in January. Stuff is pretty expensive, and fairly hard to get sometimes. We have a Wal-Mart -- and people come from a hundred miles around to go to it. By boat and floatplane.

People in small rural communities anywhere take time to decide if you're going to be worth spending the winter with. Friendships, while not instant, tend to be long-lived.

Don't think you'll be able to walk out your back door and whack a moose whenever you want. You will be flying or boating to get to hunting areas, and it may cost more to go hunt moose 50 miles from your house than it would cost you to drive to Colorado from Wisconsin to hunt elk. Of course, once you're a resident the tags are free...

None of this is meant to discourage you. I would strongly recommend going to visit first -- and spend a week or two in the village. I was able to work here almost three months before accepting a permanent job, and it gave me a great dose of reality. Many communities are looking for doctors, and you should have no problem finding a placement in Alaska.

Good luck...