Alaska moose adventure

[MITCHMO]

Hey all, just want to share an amazing experience I had on my first Alaskan moose hunt. This was a guided back country 10 day hunt. This was not a lodge hunt, we carried camp on our backs everyday and bedded down wherever our feet stopped that day.

First day sunrise from base camp


Hiking in, the scenery was amazing


We did about 5 miles this day trying to get into an area with some good moose. After glassing up a good bull we decided we needed a good strategy. The only catch was it was too far to pack so we spent three days looking for a good way to get one out. No luck finding a spot so we had to let this guy walk!

Walking away from this bull was very tough!

We set up camp again in a nice low cut to get out of the weather. These Alaskan guides are tough! Nothing but a tarp!


We headed out the next morning for a spot several miles from where we started the hunt. We spotted some nice moose along the way. Glassing our way as we went. I swear my guide could “sense” a moose he found them so fast in the binos. It was very satisfying when I saw a moose he didn’t. Which didn’t happen often.

This one wasn’t quite legal or too close to call. Fun to watch though! After we got to where we wanted to be the weather got hot and things slowed down considerably. Now being 5 days into the hunt, this is where I started to get both physically and mentally tired. But we knew with time, things would get better. About that time, I was sitting next to my tent thinking no bull would ever come out in this hot sun. I pulled up my binos and see a bull about a mile away looking right at me like I owed him money. He looked much bigger than what we had been seeing. However he was in a terrible spot and we opted to wait him out. We watched the area intensely for two more days with nothing more than hope that he was still there.

 

[MITCHMO]

So now it’s the second to last day. Who wouldn’t be getting a little anxious by this point? Laying in my tent I had myself convinced it was going to be the day today! I let the rain stop and gave myself a little pep talk. I was pumped and ready to put one on the ground! I got dressed and opened my tent door and my dreams were crushed. Visibility was near zero and it was blowing about 50 mph. I will try to post a video when I figure out how. Did I mention these Alaskan guides are tough! That tarp was rockin!


I wandered off to glass anyway and the fog was just breaking up. I noticed about 8 cows and three bulls running through the fog. I later found out this was probably because a bigger bull ran them off. We packed up our stuff and slowly hunted our way along the high ground in an attempt to glass the bull from day 5. We managed to glass a good bull(which presumably ran the others off) and decided we had to make a move. He was in a bad spot where he had the advantage but we would have to try. We spent about 4 hrs moving and glassing trying to find the bull as the fog lifted. We cautiously worked towards him after about a mile of hiking. We set up and called about 300 yards from where we last saw him with only two cows coming to investigate. We kept working farther in. All of a sudden I looked in the bottom of a ravine and saw him following a cow! 250 yards away! He quickly disappeared so we did some light calling. All of a sudden there was a deep grunt far left of where we saw the bull. We could hear him coming and raking trees aggressively. I thought here we go! It’s finally going to happen! Then he Starts to slow down and stops. Of course I instantly panic. A minute later another smaller bull pops out to our right and starts grunting at our calls. Well this instantly fires up the other bull and he starts heading our way again. I run over and we get on the smaller bull and confirm he’s too close to call on being legal. My guides then gets wide eyed and says “HE’S COMING!” So we shift back to the other bull and 3 seconds after I get my gun ready he steps out almost on top of us! I remember having to readjust my aim higher after he stepped out cause he looked 10’ tall. About 1ms after I heard shoot him, I put one into the chest at 14 steps. As he ran off I got one more quick one in the spine over the tail. I took off after him and got a third and final shot into him and he was down! I had done it, I had got my first moose! Overcome with emotion I couldn’t do anything but marvel at what a magnificent animal moose are.

 

[MITCHMO]

As it turns out, this ends up being the bull from day 5 we had been trying to find! We shot him 200 yards from where we had glassed him. He ended up being 68” wide! What a beast!

As all you moose guys know, now the work starts. He was head down pointed down hill about 1.5 miles as a crow flys through some big canyons and bogs from where we needed to get him. We got to work to prep him for the night and hike back in the dark to where we wanted to pitch camp.

I got super creeped out as we hiked back covered in blood. We kept coming across matted down spots with crunched up bones in them. I thought oh great best day to worst day now....fortunately we made it and setup camp. Two days of hard packing got him back to camp. Wow did that last load feel good. I had the honor of fighting the brush with that rack.

Just flew back to town today and my stomach is finally settled after one hell of a bush flight! I’ll try to get some more pics posted once I get them from the other guys. This was 100% the best adventure I could have ever hoped for. Feel free to PM me for questions on outfitter or logistics to make this work. If I was to pick my favorite gear from the trip, it would have to be my tarptent stratospire or my first kite puffy pants and coat. My worst piece of gear was 5 year old danner boots that filled with water and made me miserable the last two days.

 

[El Jason]

Wow! That’s one heck of a bull!

 

[Bowhuntrben]

Wow! Dream come true! Congrats on a great bull!

 

[Sytes]

Awesome adventure! Wow! Damn... This right here is a dream bucket list experience! Grats getting it done!

Curious, your danners getting soaked through, was this more an issue of the gore-tex inner worn out? Would it have helped to have gaiters that wrapped down over the ankle side of the boots or boots that worn down to it's final journey - one too many? Ugh! Hard to beat for hellish packing in ever pruning feet!

May have to build a bigger house to mount that beast! Grats!

 

[elkrchr]

You and your guide earned that one, congrats!

 

[bts09]

I'd call that "guided-lite." Great job and hell of a moose to show for it!

 

[CRAZYCARL]

Awesome bull, great story and pictures!

 

[targetpanic]

Great bull!!!! Congrats!

 

[Crumb]

Holy bullwinkle! Congrats on a great adventure!

 

[lastlight]

Wow!!! Good work, great bull congrats

 

[MITCHMO]

Hi Sytes, I had gaters so I’m pretty sure the liner was smoked. I loved those boots but I guess they were at the end of their life. I snow sealed them as well and it didn’t help. Now I need to find some new ones quick!

 

[Jorge400]

Great report, great bull! Thanks for sharing.

 

[duck wrangler]

Dream hunt there!

Congrats!

 

[sneakypete]

What a stud of a bull! To say well earned is an understatement! Congrats!

 

[Muskeez]

Incredible Bull for sure! Congrats! So after you packed all the meat back to campsite did you have to clear a runway for the plane to come get you and the bull? Or do they just land on any flat spot they can find? Interested in how they manage that since you just put camp on back and kept moving.

 

[MITCHMO]

They had a runway on this end of the valley carved out this summer. I about pooped my pants when we flew out of it. These guys are brave! Runway would be an over statement. So we had to make one meat shuttle point and then bring the rest of the way to the strip. The night we got the bull, we hiked back to the strip in the dark so our camp was already at the end point. It wasn’t a terrible way to do it, we ended up getting help so there were 4 of us to pack. It took two hard days. Move the meat to shuttle point day 1, then move to strip day two. The bad part about putting camp on your back was you couldn’t carry all the shed antlers! I left piles at each camp spot cause I just couldn’t handle the weight. I bet we found 15 the first day. I left 5 bou sheds and 2 moose sheds an hour hike from the runway but just couldn’t get back up there to get them.

 

[sluggo6850]

Man what a beast!! Congrats on a great hunt and thanks for sharing the story and fantastic pictures!

 

[Pucky Freak]

Congrats on the HUGE bull!