Fairbanks Moose hunt....Here we come.

[junkmanhunter]

Setback fixed, loaded up and headed to camp. Going to be a long evening.

Pics of hunting transportation for the next 2 weeks.

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[BURTONboy]

Those are some cool machines. Now go kill a moose!


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[Johnny Dangerr]

Wow those are bad arse...............

[3ChordTruth]

Moose hunting all by itself is a good adventure, but tooling around in those Argos would sure be some good times. Good luck.

[Burnadell]

Interesting transportation. It's good that the problem was fixed before being in the boonies!

Good luck!

[easeup]

you guys gotta check in with the brothers

[RifleBowPistol]

This might be my last check in before we head out. Got to Fairbanks and have been getting all our gear ready to go. Today we will load everything up and head out. Grocery shopping is on our list this morning and then off to the woods we go.

We had a slight setback that put us a day behind. Problems with one of the Argos machines. Part was overnighted and is supposed to arrive around 10am.

Weather is looking promising. Lows 40's in morning to mid to upper 50's for highs.

I am cheating on this hunt and am using my Weatherby 300. Next year if i come back, I have already told my buddies i'm bringing the bow.

I will post pictures of the hunting rigs before we load them on the trailer and head out.



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A 300 Weatherby, ain't cheating when it comes to moose. It's a good choice, be about the equivalent of using a 257 Weatherby on a whitetail.

[Humper]

Best of Luck Chris.

[AntlerCollector]

Good luck

[wayne 20]

good luck

[rladner]

waiting to see some LDPs. Hopefully at least one Moose is on the ground by now. But hey, me bumping this thread got a few of you excited for an update didn't it?

[BURTONboy]

Yes it did... How long are they hunting for??


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[junkmanhunter]

I got back home last night. The trip was definitely an adventure. I will finish my update and post a few pictures of the hunt in a little bit.

Been trying to play catch up since I got home.

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[brrdnk]

Looking forward to hearing about the adventure.

[junkmanhunter]

Well I finally made it back to civilization. The experience and hunt was great.

I left Dallas Wednesday the 2nd and got back today, Friday the 18th.

This is by far the most remote, removed from society that I have been since the modern era of cell phones. I had been prepped on the disconnect and had told everyone that might need me that I would be gone and would text my wife an emergency contact number she could text if she absolutely had to reach me. We had a Spot X or something like that we could text on if needed. If I do this hunt again, (which we are already planning for next year) I will have a satellite phone. Too many reasons not to in this day and time. Safety being at the top of the list.

When we left out Saturday am, we had a two and a half hour Argo ride to get to where we would be camping. This is an area they have camped at in the past.

The weather didnt help us at all, as it was very windy, warm and rainy most of the days. We had a few days in the mid 60's. Had freezing one morning and frost a couple mornings. Despite the weather challenges we pretty much hunted daylight to dark for 10 days.

We hunted a lot of sloughs, lakes, creek areas and a few meadows. These were all areas that have been productive in the past for guys I was with. We had anywhere from a 20 min to an hour Argo ride every morning to get to where we hunted.

During the day when we would take a lunch break we would either build a fire and cook brats of some sort or eat sandwiches we made that morning. When we would be chilling for lunch we had fishing poles with us and would fish the lakes. Caught a bunch of Northern Pike, nothing big but sure was cool and helped kill a little of the middle of the day time. We also threw in a few naps too, being we were running on no more than 5 hours of sleep per night.

We got in a day late due to a glitch in our plans. In my earlier post I referenced a mechanical issue when we were getting everything ready. The issue was, we were working on the Argos making a few changes and very minor modifications they wanted to do from last year. Should only take a couple of hours and we'll be good. One of the to do items was to put an extra piece of plastic on the front of the Argos to help protect the front shell from limbs and trees poking holes in the body. We got those put on and finished up welding a couple of braces that needed to be added. Went to start them to load back in the trailer and one wouldn't start. We checked the fuel pump and fuel filter then it got dark on us so we said we'll figure it out in the morning and be on our way. That night we all brainstormed trying to figure out what it could be. We knew it couldn't be an electrical issue because we disconnected the battery before we started welding on them. One of the guys ask if it was possible that we drilled through a wire or something. We thought could be, but we checked in the engine compartment on the first one and nothing was in the way where we were going to be drilling for the screws. So when we get back in the morning we open the hood and look in the engine compartment, Yep, you guessed it, we didn't check the second one, we just assumed it was the same as the first one. Boy were we mistaken. I had put a self tapper right into the back of the ECM. It only went in about a 1/16 of an inch, just enough to kill the electronic brain. We said, ok no worries there has to be an Argo dealer in Fairbanks. Wrong, we had to overnight a new ECM in from South Dakota. A $700 setback to start the trip.

We get to camp Saturday mid morning and get everything set up. We were able to hunt that evening. Next morning we hunted until about 9am and came back to camp to get set up better. We hunted daylight until dark Sunday the 6th thru Tuesday the 8th.

Wednesday we went to a lake where we had seen a lot of moose sign the day before. It was windy 20+ and rainy most of day. Temps were in the low 50's. We had been hunting since daylight. I had picked up a fishing pole and was standing waist deep in the lake fishing when I saw the first bull of the hunt. He was 300 yes across the lake from us. I caught the attention of the other guys and had them start glassing to see if he was legal. Had to be 50" or have 4 brow tones on one side. I had already said I was shooting the first legal bull I saw since I have never shot one before.

We watched this bull walk to the lake, get in and swim around for about 5 min. He got out and shook off, ate a little then got back in the lake for another swim. We watched him 15 min before we could determine he was legal. I let him walk up the bank so when I **** he wouldn't fall back into the water.

When he got up the bank he stopped broadside but was behind some trees so I didn't have a shot I was comfortable taking. He then turned 90* and started walking directly away from me. My buddy gave me the range and I took the shot at 350 yes. I hit the Moose in the right hindquarter a little low. It stopped and stood there so I took a 2nd shot, The infamous Texas Heart Shot. He dropped right there. After handshakes and hi gives, it took us 15 minutes to walk around to him.

It isn't a giant by any means but it is one of my best hunting memories and definitely one of the animals I am proudest of. It is by far the hardest hunt I have ever done.

It measured 43" and had 4 brow tines on each side so that is what made him legal. He ended up being the only legal Moose we saw all trip.

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