2011 DIY Alaskan moose hunt

[BOWUNTR]

Here's my 2011 Alaskan moose hunt story. I'll tell the story with pics. I've been dreaming of hunting moose for a long time... 2011 was going to be the year and Jason was my loyal partner. After a lot of planning we finally left on Sept 7th. We flew to Anchorage, got a rental van and met my buddy Ernesto (wyodeerhunter) at Humpy's Ale House for dinner. Then we did our one stop shopping at Fred Meyer... they had everything we needed from food to hunting gear to whiskey to... When we checked off the last item on our list we drove 350 miles through the night to the small town of Tok, near the Yukon border.

The 8th was spent getting our gear organized for the hunt. On the 9th we flew out to our camp which was on a small lake with a creek running thru it. We used two float planes to get there. A Cessna 180 took us to a larger lake and the Piper Super Cub got us in to the small lake. On the flight in I saw a few moose including a couple bulls.

Here is the 180hp Super Cub and a view from our camp.

 

[BOWUNTR]

The strategy was to hunt this lake by calling and glassing.... hoping the moose would show up. Well it didn't take long for us to question this strategy. This lake was in the center of a small valley (1 mi across) and was an old burn. The 5-6' tall grass and deadfall made it difficult and very noisy to navigate. In 11 days we never made it more than a couple hundred yards from the water. We had a canoe that we used to move around the lake and also up and down the meandering creek. Another tactic we used was to climb up one of the few taller pine trees and glass. We had a few of these trees set at strategic locations on the lake.

 

[BOWUNTR]

Fast forward to the hunting... It was terribly slow. We passed on a few small bulls the first few days. Moose sightings were few and far between. We prayed for the rut to get things going. Anyways, somewhere in the middle we called a big bull, biggest of the trip, in from a long ways off. The bull came in aggressive to 150 yards and then he lost interest and started feeding. I made the decision to get aggressive on him and advance. The bull didn't want any part of it. He was a beautiful bull with 6 palmated brows on one side and 5 on the other. I will never forget that bull.

We called by using these wood Rackman paddles I made and using vocal grunt and cow calls. It worked... especially the raking. We tore up every tree in our camp.

On the second to the last day I passed on a 40" bull right near camp. On the last day we woke up to a warm, dry, strong wind... not good. We didn't give up. At about 9:30 Jason was up in the tree and he spots a bull coming in to our calls. We quickly set up... Jason was the shooter. I could tell that this bull was coming. He was thrashing trees and grunting the whole way. Whe he got closer, I kept retreating as Jason was set up in a small opening. The bull came right in and thrashed a tree less than 20 yards from Jason. Jason couldn't shoot because the grass was too tall. I could feel the wind starting to hit the back of my neck and saw the bulls nose go in the air. The bull turned and walked away. I ran up to Jason and told him to follow me. We ran up about 100 yards and I stopped and thrashed a tree with the paddles. That was enough. The bull started to grunt and thrashed a tree of his own... giving up his position. We ran up to about 40 yards from where the bull was, on the other side of a stand of pines. I got on the calling again and just pissed this bull off. He knocked over another tree and then started to walk out in to Jason's opening. What a sight it was, this giant creature coming to kick my ass with his head swaying... just like TV. He walked in to Jason's opening and Jason drilled him at 20 yards broadside. I had told Jason to ALWAYS take a second shot if you get one. I grunted and the bull stopped at 60. Jason drilled him again.

The bull went quite a long ways before he died... but by the grace of God he dies 150 yards from the lake's edge. We were able to get the canoe over there and made two 1/4 mile trips back to our camp. It took 12 hours to get the bull out... 12 non stop, back breaking, fricken hours. When I saw the bull down I clearly underestimated the job that was at hand. This was not a giant bull... I uneducatedly guesses him at 1000 pounds.

What a great hunt. Although I didn't shoot this bull... I really feel like I did. One bull is enough... believe me. We hooked up with Ernesto on the way home. While we out hunting, Ernesto became a father!!! Congrats. He also let us use his driveway to pack all of our gear and meat. What an end to a great trip. Ed F

 

[THWAK1]

Awesome job and a great bull! Congrats to the both of you! I enjoyed the story and the pics! Glad for you that he died prior to making it to the lake!

 

[Big Fin]

Man, I gotta do that again someday. To think it has been ten years since the last time. Congrats to you guys. Great bull. Great story.

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

Sweeeeeeeet! Ya'll did real good. What next? John

 

[upper deck]

great stories and pictures

 

[Calvin]

Great pic and stories. Congrats on the bull, with a bow!

 

[JCS]

Congrats on the moose. Yep, a moose is a little harder to pack out than a antelope. I cant imagine if you had both shot a moose.

 

[hardscrabble]

Cool story and pics, congrats on the great bull!

 

[StHubert]

Great pictures, you captured the hunt well. Congratulations on the great hunt. My buddy and I are going up there next year can't wait.

 

[skooter1329]

nice bull.....congrads.

 

[the nikster]

Congratulations on the hunt! I remember those faces. I'm glad you got to go back and enjoy the full hunt. Did Ernesto offer any advice?(give up a secret spot)? What's your next adventure?

 

[ashersdad]

Nothing quite like those monster bulls! Congratulations! Great pictures and story. You definitely earn those big bad boys once they're on the ground.

 

[fishing4sanity]

Those things are so BIG. Great story and photos.

 

[IdahoBugler]

Congrats on a great bull. I'm seriously thinking of doing a trip like this in the near future. Anyone want to go?

 

[Buschy]

Absolutely awesome story and bull. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Monteman11]

Great story and great moose. I have been looking for a partner to do this hunt for some time. IdahoBugler, shoot me a PM if you are serious about planning something out.

 

[ALPINESKULLWORKS]

Nice job!

Great moose! nice job guys.

 

[highmountian]

That is sweet right there! Congrats to ya, great bull!!! IB you know I am in...