Figured I’d give a write up of this trip like I did the last one. Here is the link for the last one if you never read it so you can get all caught up to speed.
After the last trip we were stuck on how we could make it better. How could we top killing a bull of a lifetime, completely DIY, with so much adventure thrown in? Well, let the planning and dreaming begin once more. Since gear lists and most logistics were dialed in this left a lot of time to put into planning our actual hunting area and the hunt aspect itself. Over the years out west, in the lower 48, we’ve hunted a lot of the same places and only venturing to new ones every so often. The past few years we have really gotten into hunting new places every year. Well, this would be no different. A new river, a new unit, and whole new adventure. The goal would be two moose and a bear. 45-95 river miles. 20 days in the field. I would also be documenting the whole trip by video camera not just running some video on my phone.
This time around I was in the drivers seat. I am up first to shoot. Should I just take my rifle? Should I just take my bow? Should I take both in case I can’t get it done with my bow? These are questions that played over and over for the last two years. I finally decided on taking both but hoping I could get it done early and not have to worry about making a choice coming down to the wire.
Finally after two years all the anticipation was over, September was here and I was flying out to meet my dad and brother who had been up there fishing for the week prior. They had also picked up our new rafts and gotten them ready, as well as meeting up with our pilot to discuss some last minute things. Things such as possible meat haul locations and different pick up coordinates depending on how the hunting was going. Everything so far was seeming to line up perfectly and going smoothly like one could only wish for on a hunting trip 3000+ miles away from home. I landed in Alaska on the 1st so I would have time to double check gear and hopefully be able to get a little silver fishing in. Good thing I double checked gear once there because I ended up forgetting my long handled spork, personal water filter, and Nalgene bottle. After picking some new ones up we fished for silvers for a day and half before we headed out with absolutely zero luck. Oh well we weren’t there to fish, or at least I wasn’t. I was there, if the stars would align, for me to get a moose.
Day 1
We wake up early with anticipation. It’s finally here and the weather looks like it’s going to be a good day to fly. Clear skies and calm winds, but our hunting area has some questionable fog that is holding us up. We get delayed on our bush flight a few hours (normal stuff during sept in AK). After loading the plane with gear and all our hopes and dreams, the anticipation breaks and we start the flight out at about 2pm. It’s a beautiful flight through some amazing country and touch down on a lake right at 4pm.
Just like last time our plan is to portage to a small feeder creek and take it down to the main river. After we get the plane unloaded and watch it disappear into the sky, we begin the process of figuring out what we want to do as far as portaging. We had each seen and noticed several obstacles in this creek coming in, and my brother had thought he saw a grizzly bear appearing to be bedded down on the creek bank chewing on a salmon. We make the call to stay and camp on the lake for the night as we have no idea how long it will take to get down this creek. The last thing we want to do is get caught on the creek at dark with salmon carcasses everywhere and already seeing a bear.
One of the rafts and rowing rig, weighs about 100lbs total
Backpacks w/ personal gear
We get camp set up and then spend the rest the afternoon/evening fishing for pike.
The fishing ended up being great, catching 8-10 fish in the 25-30” range and numerous smaller ones to boot.
To be continued…
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
After the last trip we were stuck on how we could make it better. How could we top killing a bull of a lifetime, completely DIY, with so much adventure thrown in? Well, let the planning and dreaming begin once more. Since gear lists and most logistics were dialed in this left a lot of time to put into planning our actual hunting area and the hunt aspect itself. Over the years out west, in the lower 48, we’ve hunted a lot of the same places and only venturing to new ones every so often. The past few years we have really gotten into hunting new places every year. Well, this would be no different. A new river, a new unit, and whole new adventure. The goal would be two moose and a bear. 45-95 river miles. 20 days in the field. I would also be documenting the whole trip by video camera not just running some video on my phone.
This time around I was in the drivers seat. I am up first to shoot. Should I just take my rifle? Should I just take my bow? Should I take both in case I can’t get it done with my bow? These are questions that played over and over for the last two years. I finally decided on taking both but hoping I could get it done early and not have to worry about making a choice coming down to the wire.
Finally after two years all the anticipation was over, September was here and I was flying out to meet my dad and brother who had been up there fishing for the week prior. They had also picked up our new rafts and gotten them ready, as well as meeting up with our pilot to discuss some last minute things. Things such as possible meat haul locations and different pick up coordinates depending on how the hunting was going. Everything so far was seeming to line up perfectly and going smoothly like one could only wish for on a hunting trip 3000+ miles away from home. I landed in Alaska on the 1st so I would have time to double check gear and hopefully be able to get a little silver fishing in. Good thing I double checked gear once there because I ended up forgetting my long handled spork, personal water filter, and Nalgene bottle. After picking some new ones up we fished for silvers for a day and half before we headed out with absolutely zero luck. Oh well we weren’t there to fish, or at least I wasn’t. I was there, if the stars would align, for me to get a moose.
Day 1
We wake up early with anticipation. It’s finally here and the weather looks like it’s going to be a good day to fly. Clear skies and calm winds, but our hunting area has some questionable fog that is holding us up. We get delayed on our bush flight a few hours (normal stuff during sept in AK). After loading the plane with gear and all our hopes and dreams, the anticipation breaks and we start the flight out at about 2pm. It’s a beautiful flight through some amazing country and touch down on a lake right at 4pm.
Just like last time our plan is to portage to a small feeder creek and take it down to the main river. After we get the plane unloaded and watch it disappear into the sky, we begin the process of figuring out what we want to do as far as portaging. We had each seen and noticed several obstacles in this creek coming in, and my brother had thought he saw a grizzly bear appearing to be bedded down on the creek bank chewing on a salmon. We make the call to stay and camp on the lake for the night as we have no idea how long it will take to get down this creek. The last thing we want to do is get caught on the creek at dark with salmon carcasses everywhere and already seeing a bear.
One of the rafts and rowing rig, weighs about 100lbs total
Backpacks w/ personal gear
We get camp set up and then spend the rest the afternoon/evening fishing for pike.
The fishing ended up being great, catching 8-10 fish in the 25-30” range and numerous smaller ones to boot.
To be continued…
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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