**2019 Moose Hunt** DIY Float Trip

[menglert]

Absolutely incredible. I'm in.

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[IDFWU]

yea this is gonna be a good one.

[MLank]

Made it..........

[diamond10x]

Day 1- Hunting begins

We wake up about 5am to the sounds of water flowing and salmon splashing trying to get upstream over riffles. All 3 of us excited like kids on Christmas morning. Get up and get dressed, it’s a cooler morning probably about 40 but clouds seem to be building up the drainage and quick, looking like we might get a shower before daylight. We gather around the tent and grab our packs to put on and strap in but we’re all a little quiet nobody wanting to say what we seen. Dad breaks the silence,” y’all see them bear tracks around the bear fence?” My brother and I nod and just smile as we all look at each other with that look of things just got real. We better keep our heads on a swivel after all the bear sign and the fresh tracks from some point in the night a bear was sniffing around camp walking around our fence. Put it in the back of our minds and start our hike up river to the place we called from last night.



I start raking brush about 6:15 and it immediately starts to rain and the wind is picking up. I finish the sequence and go meet back up near my dad and brother. We sit silent for an hour before my dad goes and rakes for another sequence, all the while it still hasn’t quit raining. After that sequence we sit for another 2 hours and nothing. By now the wind is steady probably around 15-20mph. We decide we should move further up river closer to where we seen that bull because the wind and sound of running water is just drowning out our raking and grunting. The further up river we head there is fewer and fewer signs of game but we are almost to where that bull was so we’re not too concerned. We finally get to a spot where We think would be a good place to set up and call the rest the day that is close to where we want to be by that bull. We call the rest of the day but nothing. It’s now 9:30pm and we’re a mile up river from camp and we need to get back before it’s too late with having to cross sections of river and hoping not to surprise a bear on accident. We also have a decision to make about a game plan for tomorrow.

Get back to camp and boil water for our dinners and discuss tomorrow’s plan. We decide to call from camp in the morning and slowly pack up to head down river and if nothing shows by 11:30-12 to head on.

Day 2

Next morning we wake up to more bear tracks around our bear fence and no new fresh moose sign anywhere near. Get camp packed up while keeping our eyes and ears peeled for a moose possibly working his way in. It’s 11:45 and nothing, so we hop in the rafts and head on. We covered about 13 miles in about 3 hours, stopping a few times at different sand bars to inspect tracks and other sign.

Finally we happen upon a sand bar with a lot of fresh bull tracks, a whole brush line that’s been raked recently with several heavily used trails just right up on the bank. Mixed in with the moose tracks are a set of lone wolf tracks, the last thing you want to see while hunting anything. They look about a week old and blow them off. As we’re inspecting the brush that’s been raked to hopefully get a time frame on it we spot a moose shed from the year before, lying about 5 feet into the trees smack dab in the middle of a trail. I take a step over to pick up the shed and hang it in the branches of a nearby spruce (Native American hunting ritual/offering). Motioning hand signals we decide to go through a call sequence and wait an hour here to see if that bull is bedded somewhere close and get him to come out. Go through the sequence and wait it out, nothing. While sitting and watching I had got on my onx to kill a little time and boredom. I notice there is a small lake not but 40 yards in from the bank that you would never know unless you had gps or flown over. We are now positive there’s a bull here close by. It’s now 5pm or so and we’re trying to figure out where to camp so we can hunt this area. We float down about 500 yards to the next bar and set up camp, allowing us to hike back up the river to hunt that lake and sand bar. We set up camp and Dad and I decide to hike up to the lake and hunt there while my brother will watch the sand bar from camp. The brush is incredibly thick, taking the 2 of us about 25 min to go 500 yards. We get close to the lake and decide to drop our packs so we can slip in a little bit quieter. The weather had cleared up on this second day of hunting with clear skies, but absolutely still. Zero breeze to help cover any accidental noises. Grab our Binos, a few snacks, our rifles, and our paddle to rake. We slip in on the edge of the lake along the brush line and find a good spot to sit and call, and wait...

Day 1 spot






Day 2 evening spot




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[TildenHunter]

Great write up. Can't wait for the rest!

[solocam_aggie]

Man this is awesome. Thread of the year potential. This would be a dream trip of mine.

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[Rwc]

Extremely enjoyable read.

Thanks

Rwc

[Shurshot]

Sounds great so far, waiting for more.

[slicktricker]

So awesome

[yotethumper]

In!

[sotx]

Can you explain the "Bear Fence"

[C.Read]

Man this is awesome. Thread of the year potential. This would be a dream trip of mine.

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No doubt!

[sotx]

Is this an electric fence system?

[diamond10x]

Can you explain the "Bear Fence"

UDAP bear fence. Just a small 3 strand packable electric fence to help keep curious bears from getting to curious. I have some pictures I’ll upload where you can see it.

[TMC50]

Man this is good! You are truly living the dream!!,