In case of ak

[cgasner1]

With 2 moose hanging in camp and having 70 miles of river between us and the runway we had to make 2 trips to get camp and meat out no matter what at this point. So that night at camp I told the guys we need to load those things up with our headlamps on and hit the slough at daylight. It’s about a 30 mile boat ride before we hit the main river and with any luck before we hit the main river we would have caught our third moose. I grabbed the bow this time incase another one wants to play dumb games. We start putting up the slough and come across a new camp they must have gotten in late about 5 min later we catch them and they are looking at a little bull whinkle. He escapes unharmed neither boat had much interest in him. We tell them we are headed back up to drop moose off so those guys turn around and head back down the slough towards our camp and we continue up to get to the airport.

 

[cgasner1]

With about 2 miles left on the little slough we once again round a corner and there is a bull standing there. I pull up the binos and see great fronts. That’s the one thing I really wanted on this trip was good fronts. The boat gets turned and I’m out of it with the 300 wsm. I had brought my bow to the end of the world and was really wanting to use it but here I had a great bull standing on the waters edge. He was about 90 yards and standing there staring at me when the first Berger hit his sternum. With the can on that gun the crack of the bullet was pretty apparent the bulls back feet buckled to his knees and his nose went straight up. He had turned about 90 degrees when that happened. The second round hit high shoulder and he was down for the count. I jumped back in the boat and we cruised up to see his cow on the other side of the slough if I had only known I would have got out with my bow.

 

[cgasner1]

It’s hard to pass on a bull that you can pull the boat up to about 5’ from especially after wrestling a couple the day before and all the work it entailed. With the 3 of us it was all we could do to get him posed up to take some photos.

 

[cgasner1]

The wet work on my bull was much more enjoyable because well it wasn’t wet. The last 2 had been in such a marsh you didn’t wanna set you pack down. We kept my meat so nice and clean it was great laid out a big tarp and set it all out then bagged it and slid it about 10’ into the boat. 3 in the boat is a lot and we really hoped we wouldn’t have issues on the big river but when we got out to it. The skies had parted and we had great weather. Other than one cloud traveling with us at the same speed for about 40 min that was raining on us.

 

[cgasner1]

As you can imagine we are at the absolute end of the world here I made jokes about coming around the slough and seeing it. Just a waterfall and it stops there. So we used the in reach and got hold of one of the guys wife’s and she was able to get us a place to stay in town. For a small room fee of 700 dollars we had a shower and Wi-Fi. That’s where the little update a few days ago came from. The night we got in we were out till about 1 am breaking meat off the bone for shipping. We couldn’t legally do it till in town which is silly but the way it is. We finally called it and went to the lodge to shower and sleep. Back up at 7 and back to knocking meat off the bone. Once all that was done the guys took of to get camp. They had 140 miles of river round trip and I had meat to get to cargo and scrap to get rid of. We both had a long day but I feel like I got the better end of the deal. 3 caught moose headed for cargo

 

[cgasner1]

I eventually get all my chores done and go crash out with one of the locals I’d met. Life is funny sometimes here I am 2700 miles from home on this trip sitting in a little 10x10 room with a 61 year old native watching the hallmark channel. He is telling me all sorts of stories about life up there and things that have come and gone. He made a phone call for us and the local pastor had agreed to put us up on his church for the night. He had come talk to us the night before and just seemed like a great person. One of the guys had shook his hand that night and commented on his hands. Even up there the pastor works and pulls his weight. I found it funny because after the comment about his hands he looked at my buddy and his response was “Christ was a carpenter my son have a good night” the guys rolled in that night about 945 just beating the sun we loaded all the gear into the truck and then the church. That night while setting up our cots and getting some stuff out the pastor came over and played the guitar for us. Keep in mind at the time of this picture it’s about 1 am

 

[Valley1320]

Sounds like a great trip! And amazing bulls. Something I'd love to do some day...

 

[cgasner1]

I’ll be honest I have days when I’m about as far from a religious man as one can get. Sitting that and talking with him and how his life had lead him to where he was if that guy was in Montana I’d be a member of his church. His entire outlook on life was just quite inspiring. We woke that morning to snow on the ground and was very fortunate for his hospitality. It was our last day in this little town and was just as busy as the rest of the trip. We beat feet up to the airport to get bags checked which was about 7-8 miles from the village. I had made the drive a few time and our truck didn’t have a gas gauge. We ended up a gallon short 2 miles from town after checking bags and going back for our personal stuff and to put some gear in storage. In a small village like this what are the odds the first person to stop was the niece of my ol buddy I was watching g the hallmark channel with. He jumped into action as he put it and brought us a 2 gallon can and we made it to the pump. Not really a neat feeling being out of fuel 2 miles from town with about 90 mins to get you stuff stash some stuff and get back to the bird.

 

[cgasner1]

We made the plane out of the village and back into anchorage. The rest the trip is just logistical bs that eats up a lot of time. From this trip we learned once you pull the trigger is a day. We also will take a sterling next time so when we break camp we can book flights out 2 days after the last bull hits the deck. I left a lot out in this story on the logistics and the nightmare that it was to leave early but it’s what had to happen for that meat. We gained 10 years of knowledge in 7 days it feels like. All in all best I can figure we hunted 5 hours for those 3 bulls. I’m a lineman by trade and have a pretty physically demanding job and these creatures flat whipped my ass when we caught one. I’ll throw one more pic up with the 3 of us with our heads. Anything else and I’ll just start a rambling on.

 

[kwyeewyk]

Nicely done, been waiting for this one, I knew when you were mailing yourself a winch it was going to be epic! Any idea what the average bone in hind quarter weighs? Cool story, thanks.

 

[cgasner1]

Nicely done, been waiting for this one, I knew when you were mailing yourself a winch it was going to be epic! Any idea what the average bone in hind quarter weighs? Cool story, thanks.

I’d bet around 130

 

[Dave N]

Well done, gents!

 

[mtmuley]

We made the plane out of the village and back into anchorage. The rest the trip is just logistical bs that eats up a lot of time. From this trip we learned once you pull the trigger is a day. We also will take a sterling next time so when we break camp we can book flights out 2 days after the last bull hits the deck. I left a lot out in this story on the logistics and the nightmare that it was to leave early but it’s what had to happen for that meat. We gained 10 years of knowledge in 7 days it feels like. All in all best I can figure we hunted 5 hours for those 3 bulls. I’m a lineman by trade and have a pretty physically demanding job and these creatures flat whipped my ass when we caught one. I’ll throw one more pic up with the 3 of us with our heads. Anything else and I’ll just start a rambling on.

Hat off cgasner1. mtmuley

 

[cgasner1]

Guess I should also add that we turned down the opportunity for the Arizona elk hunt this year. Gotta love social media my wife knew we had drawn before I got out of the bush and was less than impressed and wanted to know how long I thought I would be gone for that.

 

[mtnkid85]

Sounds like you fellas had another helluva trip! Congrats on three great looking bulls!