**2021 AK Moose Hunt** DIY Float Trip

[JES]

In for this thread, the last trip was epic.

[rut-ro]

I’m still tired from reading day 2. Great write up

[CP121]

Last years write up was great and this ones headed the same way. Thanks for sharing these!

[diamond10x]

**2021 AK Moose Hunt** DIY Float Trip

Day 10

Morning comes and we’re not in a rush to get up on top of this ridge before daylight. We still haven’t hiked the other half of it. We know it’ll at least take 2 hours if it took my brother and myself in just waders 45 min to get up almost half way. We get up about 7:00, happy it’s starting off to be a good weather day, strap our gaiters and hunting boots on, and away we go. We are all in high spirits just at the thought of being able to hunt a day without waders. We’re moving along making better timing than we did the day before. This whole morning so far I just have this feeling that when we get up to the top something is going to happen that’ll change the luck. I don’t know what it is but either we kill a bull up there, we find a big bull somewhere so we can make a move to him tomorrow, I don’t know but there’s just something. I had found a shed a few days earlier and nothing has happened so far something has to happen soon. We make it a little past halfway before we come to a nice steep section of a blowdown. No big deal. We get through it fairly quick. We don’t get through that blowdown no sooner do we run into alders. We decide instead of trying to find a way around we’ll go through it. If you’ve ever had to navigate or traverse alders it’s an absolute nightmare. The worst thing to ever have to deal with. It’s like a kids jungle gym deal on steroids. Imagine one of those rooms with all the lasers that you have to worm your way through without touching a laser to get to the end of it to win the prize. Just ridiculous. To top these things off it’s all very elastic so you can’t break branches off or when it catches on to you it just moves with you until it has completely binded you up and can’t move anymore. We make it through this 200 yard patch and we couldn’t be happier to be out of it. We get up to this bench and eat a snack to refuel a bit after the hike so far. Press on as it’s coming on the 2 hour mark of hiking and we need to get to the top of the ridge.

It ends up taking about 3.5 hours for us to make this climb because we had to make our way through several more patches of alders and blowdown. As we get to the top we’re all a little irritated from the death hike we just had getting up here but trying to stay positive that hopefully it’s worth it. Luckily there is patches of blueberries everywhere so we enjoy a few to pick the mood up a bit. If you’ve never had wild blueberries, they’re nothing like what you get at the store. Taste very different and much better. Eating wild blueberries is something every person should experience at least once in their life. I hop up on this rock so I can take a quick look at the drainage below us that we haven’t seen yet. Nothing. Not worried as we still aren’t where we want to glass from. There’s a knob about 3/4 a mile to our southwest, from there we should be able to watch 360* between the 3 of us. As I put my bino’s up to check out that glassing knob where we want to go I notice something right away sticking out. Bear! I take about a second to realize this is a fairly good bear. Definitely fully mature no doubt.



I hop off real quick grab my pack and scramble towards my dad and brother to tell them there’s a bear and we have to go get it. I had brought my rifle on this hike cause I wasn’t sure what things would be like on the hike or how they were when we got up here. They just look at me like ,”oh cool” and go back to eating berries. Guess they don’t care and I’ll get this bear myself. So I start heading to the brush so I can be in complete cover and just grab my camera and rifle to get over there as quick as possible. If you’ve ever spot and stalked bears you have to move quick. Dad and brother realize I’m in a rush and there must actually be a bear over there to go get. They soon get over there once I’m ready to go and are asking what’s going on. I explain to them again and they realize the urgency of the situation. They start dropping gear and grabbing their rifles. I pause and vote that Dad is shooting this bear as he has never bear hunted or killed one. My brother says the same. An argument soon ensues because my dad would rather one of us shoot it since we haven’t even seen a legal moose yet. It ends with basically us 2 boys telling dad he will be the shooter on this bear. I leave my rifle with the packs and just take my cameras. We scramble to make it a half mile basically dropping off the ridge and checking up every so often to make sure the bear is still there. We close the distance to 400 yards and the wind is howling probably a steady 25mph with some gusts probably getting up to 40mph. There’s also another problem and that is the wind keeps swirling. The longer we dilly dally around the better chance this bear smells us and spooks out. With the wind we have to get closer for the shot. Are able to use some spruce as cover to hurry up to about 250 yards. Dad crawls out to a rock to our right to rest off of. He takes the shot and the bear drops. It hops up and is rolling around a bit trying to figure out what just stung it. He racks another one and puts another one in the bear. It drops and doesn’t make another motion. We can’t believe we just made a 1400 yard stalk in just a few min and it worked out.



We hug and all share the excitement. It’s an unexplainable feeling to get to experience moments like this with your dad and brother. Something that can’t be found somewhere else and memories that will last forever that can’t ever be taken away. We go check out this bear and it’s apparent it’s been living off blueberries for a while now. We take pictures and get the bear broken down and packed in our packs. After all the action, excitement, and work that had to be done it’s getting close to 6:00. During all this time of being up top we haven’t stopped grabbing berries to enjoy while we can, wishing we had a bucket to fill to have a big stash of them at camp with us. Packs stained of blood and blueberries, we begin our descent. We wanted to glass/hunt up there but with already shooting a bear we figured it best to get this bear back to camp so we can get the meat hung up. The hike back is just as aggravating and exhausting as the hike up. We get back a little after dark, about 9:45, and get the bear meat and hide all hung so it can start drying. We’re beat after a total of a little over 10 miles on the day and 1 of those being through alders. Anywhere else 10 miles is about an average day but up here it’ll beat you up pretty good.




Hiking back to camp a little heavier

Day 11

It’s a pretty day and we decide over breakfast we aren’t making that hike up the mountain again. It would waste a day and just be too much trouble. Made it worth it killing a bear up there but trying to get a moose down would take 3 days minimum with having to cut a trail. We break camp and get the rafts loaded to make another run down river in search of fresh sign. We make it about 8-10 miles before we have to pull over and tarp the bear meat cause it’s starting to lightly rain and we can’t be too careful. We press on and don’t find much that really catches our attention. After checking numerous places we decide we’ll find us the best camping spot we can up around the next bend as there is a series of lakes about 3/4 of a mile from the river that should be easy to traverse. Plus, there’s several meadows in the area just making it look like moose heaven from our maps.

Get camp set up, meat hung, hide hung, just have the bear fence left to do. By now it’s probably 7:30 or so. Dad gets the bear fence put up while my brother and I head to go check out the first lake. Passing through the first meadow we find two fresh moose beds, droppings, and a raked bush. This has us excited as finally we find some legitimate bull sign. We back out before even getting to the lake and head back. Both of us are not wanting to push anything being as it’s evening time. Get back and tell dad the the good news and we’re all excited and have lifted spirits with hopes for the next few days.

Day 12

To be continued…


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[diamond10x]

Awesome! Hoping for a moose or 2 pack out!! Keep it coming.

I never knew how difficult it would be to breakdown and pack one out, until my moose trip last month. Especially when your cold and it's raining sideways.


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Yes moose never die in an easy spot and seems the weather doesn’t exactly want to cooperate during or after while taking care of meat. Those 140lb quarters aren’t the funniest to put and your back and start trucking through the places they call home.

[diamond10x]

I must say this sounds like an extremely physical challenge. The thought of walking in waders with a 65 pound pack on my back for miles sounds exhausting and hot! What do yall do for getting ready physically and how do you keep the stink off your clothes and body? Shower, wipes, ???

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Good waders make a big difference but even then living in them gets really old.

Moose habitat is just a pain to trek through, no matter your strength or cardio it just plain sucks. Or at least their habitat in muskeg and tussocks there in AK is just a pain. The biggest thing is mentally preparing honestly. Being in shape helps but you’ll get burnt out quick and just have to mentally push through it.

You’re going to stink no matter what you do. Wearing all merino wool helps quite a bit, if you’re gonna have a fire for a good while it’s not a bad idea to dip clothes in the river with some soap. Changing socks everyday is the biggest thing.

[ACbob]

Great read, and you guys are my new heroes!

[diamond10x]

In for this thread, the last trip was epic.

Congrats on that heck of a moose you killed sir!

[slayr]

Have really enjoyed this one thus far.

[Uncle_Milty]

I am truly enjoying this thread.....thanks for sharing the adventure with us!

[TMC50]

Getting Good!!!!!

[diamond10x]

**2021 AK Moose Hunt** DIY Float Trip

Day 12

Wake up early after not much sleep. Partially from the promising sign we saw the evening before, and partially from it being a cold clear night. We set up with my dad on top of a hill raking, then my brother and I down about 60 yards from him on the side. Then my brother and I are about 150 yards apart so we can watch about 200* around this hill. There’s a meadow to my right and a draw in front of me that runs perpendicular then I can also see the side of the adjacent hill. My brother has a similar scenario in front of him. The closest lake in this chain of lakes we can both see parts of it as well. I have my bow hoping if a bull comes in he’ll want to circle down wind of my dad and to do that he’ll have to come right down this draw and I can have anywhere from 40-80 yard shot with plenty of cover and elevation on him to draw and get a shot off. We hunt til about 11 til we start getting too cold and need to move around to stay warm. We head back to camp to cut and split more firewood as well as working that bear hide good and getting the skull cleaned better. Also we want to put up a few more tarps to block the meat and hide from the sun.



Afternoon comes and we head back over to the same exact spots and repeat it all over again. No dice, just like the last 12 days of trying for a moose. We stay til dark and it’s another fairly cold night. A warm tent and stove with a hot meal keeps our spirits up.



Day 13

We start the day off just like we did the previous day. Same spots and same order. About 10 or so my brother gets up to move over further to his left on this hillside giving him a better view of this meadow and this lake. We meet up at noon to discuss a plan and head back to the tent to check on the meat and lay out bear backstraps so they’re airing out good. Back at camp my brother tells us he found several more beds and a number of fresh bull and cow tracks in the new spot he moved over in.
We’re excited for the evening and catch a short nap before we head back out at about 2:30.

We set up just like we were in the late morning. At this point I’m itching just to have a chance to nock an arrow. We sit all evening and nothing happens. At this point the negative thoughts and doubt are starting to slowly creep into my mind. It’s about to be two dang weeks without seeing a single bull unless you count the little forky we saw on day 5.

Day 14

Morning comes and it’s hard to find the motivation to get out of the sleeping bag. It’s cold and that bag is nice and cozy. We set up in the same spots as the previous day and hunt til about 10. It’s getting hard to sit for long periods and keep hunting when the moose hunting has been pretty poor compared to what we expected. To make things worse, most spots you can’t watch a large area. You’re focused in on a small spot and can’t see much so you get bored very quickly. We decide let’s check out this next lake in the chain and I want to walk this ridge along the one side of the lake we’ve been on. There’s also a big meadow on the opposite side of that ridge maybe we’ll see some trails out there. Two days set up in the same spot with absolutely nothing out of it maybe we can find something more promising.

We make the trek around the current lake and to the next lake in the series. It looks pretty good with more open area to watch. There’s one big problem. To hunt this lake is going to be almost 2.5 miles one way from camp. Also, it’s not easy walking by any means. We leave the second lake and start to make a loop around the first to walk the ridge I mentioned earlier. Sure enough the meadow on the backside of that ridge looks very moosey. We also come across numerous old raked trees and several fresh ones. We decide we will change up our set up for the afternoon/evening hunt. I’ll set on the ridge so I can watch half the lake behind me and most the meadow in front of me. My dad will rake down at the end of the ridge where he can see me so we can communicate if need be. My brother will sit on the opposite side of the lake where he was earlier that morning. We’re set up by 3:30. On the way in I find a dead head from a legal bull it seems. I pick it up and hang it as high as I can in the nearest spruce. That’s where it will stay til it rots or gets eaten by little critters. First rake my dad does isn’t until 5. We wait 2 hours before the next session. 7 pm on the nose he starts another 20 min session.

He isn’t done 5 min and ,”CRACK!!!” An unmistakeable sound, once you hear it one time you know exactly what it is and won’t ever forget. There’s a bull back behind us over by my brother and he’s ready to play. He just smashed some brush with his antlers. “Sssscccccrrrrrrrrrr,” his antlers are scratching brush as he’s making his entrance from out of the brush. All I can think about is I hope my brother is ready cause this bull is about to be in his lap over on that side of the lake. By this time I’m slowly trying to get to the top of the ridge so I can see the lake. It’s literally impossible to maneuver through this country without making some sort of noise. I get up enough where I can peek over and watch, all I see is a bull from the shoulders back walking straight in front of where my brother is supposed to be. Smack dab in this meadow on the edge of the lake at probably 50-60 yards from him. I don’t see the antlers and I’m waiting to hear his .375 H&H go off. Nothing. All sorts of thoughts are going through my head. What is my brother doing? Is he freaking sleeping over there? I can hear the bull working around headed my dads direction. I look to my left and he’s motioning for me to get over there. I grab my bow and get over there as quickly and quietly as I can. The wind is terrible. This bull is gonna get to 80 yards and be right in our wind. Nothing we can do but hope he’s so mad he doesn’t care. He gets into our wind and things go silent. We don’t hear a peep. Not a scratch, not a thud from a hoof. Nothing. 20 minutes goes by and nothing. My dad and I move up the ridge sort of away from where the bull is to see if we can see him. We move to our right about 60 yards when we see this bull disappearing right back into the draw he came from. Not making a sound. My heart sinks. We’ve been working our butts off for literally two weeks and we finally get an opportunity and blow it.

We stuck it out the rest the evening and nothing else happens. The woods are completely dead. We meet up with my brother at dark before we head back to the tent. He’s in a good mood and all excited about the evening. All I can think is what the heck happened? He was actually ready and set up to dump this bull right when he stepped out but he was definitely a sub legal bull both width and brow tines. He was able to get some video and pictures of the bull which I was happy about being as now I at least got a good view of the antlers and that’s more exciting than what’s been seen so far. For some reason I still can’t get the negative thoughts to quit creeping in. What if that’s the bull hanging on this lake and we’re wasting our time as he’s got cows and chances are no other bulls will show up. We have 5 days left and at this point I’m not feeling too positive.

made it past my brother and headed in the direction of my dad and myself

making his exit



Day 15

To be continued…


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[Joel]

Awesome hunt!! Keep it coming.


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[Bh_liberty]

Dang it, the suspense


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[HouCav]

Really enjoying the story and the pics. Thanks