Alaska Moose Pack Raft Hunt - 2020 (Long with neat photos and stuff)

[AvidIndoorsman]

So spoiler alert this tale, as @Ben Lamb might phase it, is a tale of F-ing new guys... but whatever it was a blast.

I put in for a bunch of AK tags didn't draw them... my buddy missed the draw as he was floating the grand, we didn't have a ton of vacation time to work with and well Covid... but we said screw it and cobbled together a wee little adventure.

I arrived in AK, negative covid test in hand and we went straight into the field.

Trail head packing was a bit ridiculous


The moose crew



For all those at who want to know what a rando on the internet packs for a 5 day trip here you go. (I added a FL sweater)

In order left to right, 56.4lbs, 37lbs, and 64.8lbs


We hiked a bunch... more than 8 miles less than 15

Around dark found the first moose


We stalked him (theme of the trip, if we saw a moose we got up close and personal)



Not legal so we ate food


In the morning we glassed... re-found the same bull and that was about it, so I played around with sweet filters


Decided to move to a new spot in a different valley, we were greeted by a welcoming party. Probably 10-12 miles possibly 8 felt like 20.





As the light waned, we found some moose
Across the valley some bulls were duking it out…


Cow and a calf in the river


The next morning we glassed up a pair of bulls, one of which we thought might be legal. We waited for them to bed and made a play. Apparently the larger one peaced out during our stalk.


Not legal... apparently the theme of the trip

We hiked back up to our glassing spot and found a couple bulls beaded on the other side of the river (bulls fighting the night before and decided to make a play. We didn’t have a ton of time left and the opposite side of the valley would make for easier pack outs anyway.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

We made the 1.5 mile trip down to the valley floor, through the willow bog. We had to cut way up river to avoid some oxbows which meant we needed to cross the river and do a short float to get to the bulls. We opted to all just climb in the alpacka raft forager with our packs plus the dog.

@AlpackaRaft FYI three adults + their full packs + a toller will fit in a forager without putting stuff in the cargo fly.



Figuring it could be a late one we elected to set up camp before we headed after the moose.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

This is where things got a little western.

We headed up to where the moose were beaded, the wind was blowing down hill and we crept up hill parallel to their location.

Passing the spot we had seen them, we realized they had moved and decided to slowly creep up hill. We made our way to the edge of a meadow with good visibility and decided to glass the tops of the willows for antler tips.

Not knowing exactly where the moose were I decided to glass above and to the right of us.

Out of the corner of my eye a caught a brown shape mocking towards us.

… “Shit grizzly, get your gun up”

“What, really how far away”

“Dude like right here, put one in the chamber”

I range the bear at 248 yards.

Moose catch the bears wind and burst out of the willows. I catch a quick look and I think the lead bull is probably legal, range 178 yards… but they’re now crashing full speed up through the willows.



And out of our lives forever


Smaller bull peels off and perches up in this talus field for the rest of the evening.

Meanwhile I’m not sure the bear even realized we or the moose were there and had his attention entirely on rodents.


Red arrow is where they were bedded originally

Red dot is where they relocated.

Green is our path, the dot being where we stopped.

Blue is the bears path, and where he came to an abrupt halt.

Orange is the smaller bull that peeled off.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

Hiked back to camp we were pretty stoked about getting to see that bull and a bear. Just before bed we had another huge bull come right next to camp across the river, but we didn’t have the light to shoot.

That night we were treated to some awesome northern lights.

Next day we decided that we wouldn’t have enough time to pack a bull out from up high and float out so we opted for short stalks from the river and if we didn’t see anything by late evening to just float all the way to the take out.


We saw some moose from the river and made a stalk a couple of miles downriver.

We had this bull bedded at 200 yards, we didn’t have a great view but both kinda got the sense he wasn’t legal. We tried to get him to stand up, but we wouldn’t no matter what we tried. I even tried to get him to gentle rise by playing some Neil Young on my phone… nothing.

We got into 30 yards, saw he wasn’t legal and at that point he charged out of there at full speed.

No more moose the rest of the trip and the river got a bit spicy, so I had to put the camera away. Would have been an interesting float out with a bull.

Now before @Bambistew says 1. none of those were legal and 2. you spread your sent around like no ones business...

and @theat says you would have been f-d putting a moose into that forager and floating it down 5 miles of class II + rapids... not to mention fitting the moose plus 3 people and a dog into a subaru forester...

I'm just gonna say, listen I don't need your negativity in my life guys.

Anyway buddy is going out again with a friend with a jet boat so fingers crossed he gets one. I learned a ton this trip and got to see my first G-bear and the northern lights so I'm stoked.

Pro tip- running shoes, gaiters, and gortex socks are the footwear you want for a moose hunt. What ever you have on gets absolutely drenched slogging through the bogs, then it gets ~15 degrees at night and they freeze solid. Unlike a boot you can cram you foot back into a running shoe and they will mostly dry out during the day if your out of the water.

 

[Mtnhunter1]

Excellent adventure

 

[Sytes]

This is where things got a little western.

Hah! Awesome! Keep it rolling...

 

[Ben Lamb]

This is a poem of learning & sweet, sweet filters.

17 stars.

 

[MTLabrador]

Cool stuff! A DIY Alaskan moose hunt is in my future, and this makes me want to scratch that itch...

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

Cool stuff! A DIY Alaskan moose hunt is in my future, and this makes me want to scratch that itch...

I quickly realized that given how sweet AK is I'm a fool for not just being the designated photographer and pack animal on all my buddies hunts.

Like ok I'm not the trigger puller but I could be hunting sheep/goats/moose every year.

 

[MTLabrador]

I quickly realized that given how sweet AK is I'm a fool for not just being the designated photographer and pack animal on all my buddies hunts.

Like ok I'm not the trigger puller but I could be hunting sheep/goats/moose every year.

My long term plan is to convince my sister to move to Alaska to get me in on a sheep hunt. Time will tell how that works...

 

[Kiwi]

Very cool. Sounds like an awesome adventure.

 

[Hatchie Dawg]

Cool trip. Way to make it happen.
HD

 

[Jape]

Excellent telling! I’m actually going to tag along with my dad on his moose hunt just to see what it’s like and then do a drop camp with a buddy in a couple of years. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Dsnow9]

Looks like a good trip, thanks for sharing!

 

[bowhuntmontana]

Man I love the fall and all of the hunting season tales! Amazing adventure. Thanks for sharing it.

 

[Hunting Wife]

Looks like a great adventure, whether you had a tag or not.

 

[TheNorthStar]

Sweeeeeet!

 

[kansasdad]

Your altitude is determined by your attitude, and I would say you and your friends are at the top with your love for adventure and can-do outlook.

 

[Duck-Slayer]

Great pics, looks like a crap load of fun!
Matt

 

[N_8]

Float trips with good weather and friends are the real trophy.