2020 Moose

[Gellar]

Moose is 52" 4 x 4
View attachment 159672

Jellied moose nose is in your future!

 

[Lige]

Awesome!! Thanks.

 

[Birddog916]

One of the things I like most about his forum is seeing how everyone hunts. Congratulations on a great trip. Looks like the kids had the time of their lives.

 

[marksjeep]

Those are some big smiles! Thanks for writing and posting up. Congrats on an awesome trip!

 

[Wild Bill]

Awesome write up! Very cool for those kids to get to experience that!

 

[kiwi hunter]

amazing

 

[Jape]

Love your annual moose hunts! Congrats and hopefully you get a grizz next time.

 

[Jc2020]

That’s awesome those rigs are cool

 

[Hammsolo]

This year, we had a new challenge, a new experience. Took the grand kids with us, on a two week moose hunt. A nice break from covid crazy at the start of school, and their mother was away for months, military training. More people meant more stuff to haul into the woods. Left to right, age 5, 10 and 7. Teeth red with berries.

View attachment 158794

I cooked up and vac sealed, mac & cheese, Taco meat, carnitas, spaghetti spiced sausage, and other things easier to do at home. Even spaghetti and ziti noodles precooked make nice frozen blocks for the cooler. A river known to support anadromous fish required a Fish Habitat Permit to cross. We got the permit same day with a phone call to Alaska Dept of Fish & game. The river gauge, water flow is enough to stop wheelers and side x sides easy access. We are stoked! Water level was 3/4 up the tire, but no river push. Season has been open for a week and we broke the old trail, all the way in. Nobody but us. The country here is prime! Evening arrives and we find an old campsite and settle in. The evening spot session finds a couple of bulls. One is non typical and very nice, three miles off. Two smaller bulls are butting heads and some cows. Night was clear and cold.

View attachment 158795

At first light, I see a bull and cow at two miles across the valley, I cant see tines, but have no doubt this is a 50+ bull. The antlers lay out in a wide "W', not straight up like goal posts. The hike is on. Temp is in the 20's. Through bog, mud and elevation gain, I got within 480 yards. The bull was in heavy brush. I scraped and thrashed a bit. No response and he faded away. The next few hours I slowly worked into the "zone" with bull grunts and light scraping. Ended up jumping a cow and calf, at 50', and later found out, by my spotter, the bull also jumped and ran. I never saw him. Later that evening, we could hear motor sounds, long before we saw them. Four buggy trucks, with two persons each, rolled into our camp. The kids were in awe of big rigs.

View attachment 158796

They shared with us we were in a good spot and they were heading to their spot #2. Few words. Next couple of days no moose were to be seen. Kids had no trouble amusing themselves.

View attachment 158797View attachment 158798

These folks took control of the valley each day, by driving each of their rigs, out to great vantage points, spread across a few miles, and spotting from those trucks. We saw them and no more moose. A couple days of this and we opted for plan "B", packed up camp and rolled out.

View attachment 158799

Many hours later, we settled into a nice hillside just before dark. That night was clear and cold. All of us spent time outside the tent, enjoying the heavens.

View attachment 158800

Stories for a lifetime!

 

[243varmint]

Amazing trip for everyone.
The kids will have learned a lot more life skills than 2wks in school.
Only something we ca dream about in the UK
Fantastic

 

[JColony]

Looks and sounds like an awesome adventure!! 7 more months till my residency is official!! Can't wait to hit the woods again!

 

[AndyPOW]

Awesome hunt. . . so good to see your crew not letting school get in the way of an education.

 

[Dinkshooter]

Really, really cool. I’m gonna send my kid up to you next fall.

 

[BearFoot]

 

[mdhunter]

Sorry to be redundant but that adventure was awesome. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Brady1]

Wow those trucks are impressive!!

 

[johnnyg08]

This is one of the most amazing hunting threads I have ever read. Thank you for sharing this! I can only imagine what it was like to experience this with your family!! Wow!

 

[johnnyg08]

Morning bed heads.

View attachment 158938

We are on alert for moose all day, yet most results come early morning/evening. The kids would sleep in, which helped a lot. Once up, I had them collect berries for breakfast. Some school home work and chores. They kept themselves amused all day. Last hours, sometimes we would call and sit in silence, sometimes they watched movies on an I-pad, while we spotted for bulls. It worked. We had dinner after dark.

View attachment 158939View attachment 158940

Blue berry pancakes, bacon, and hot coco. I might tear up too

View attachment 158941
Home work
View attachment 158942
Watching a movie
View attachment 158943Bed time
View attachment 158944

I love seeing the bunks! They're pretty great!

 

[OverlordBear]

Amazing hunt. Love that you guys made it a family affair. Great moose and thanks for the photos for size scale on moose with the 50 inch requirement. It is good to see as many of those as possible.

 

[Dougfirtree]

That's good stuff!