We made it back safe and sound.
This was our first trip out of state and can't be happier.
We left Texas Sept 7 for Anchorage from there made our way to the outfitters supposed to be lodge turned out to be a little ran down house no big deal to us. Got there and the owner forgot we would be arriving that day but made it work. We spent the next 3 days in the lodge talking with other groups and staff waiting to get flown out between the outfitter not getting moving tell 11 am and not as many pilots as promised 6 turned to 1 flying for the whole operation we had alot of time to explore the village and make new friends .
8 pm the second day Finally we get the word there going to fly my cousin out that afternoon and me out the next morning by now his nickname from the staff is bear bait they have got him worked up with that thought he was getting dropped off in a war zone got a lot of laughs about that.
Weather blew in before we could get him flown out.
Day 3 we finally fly out land on the ridge about 30 minutes before dark barely any sleep in anticipation that night.
Day 1 woke up around 430 couldn't sleep anymore made breakfast and we were off
Didn't plan on going far just try to glass some of the area we were dealing with.
This is where it gets exciting we weren't glassing for 5 minutes have 2 bulls and a cow spotted down the valley one was around that 60 mark the other mid 40s watched them for about 5 more minutes then there he was topping the hill. Every body I talked to said don't shoot the first few you see they all look big there was just no passing this one up he had everything I was looking for. We watched for awhile just trying to make sure we weren't just getting over excited . He made his way down the valley got some great footage of him fighting the 60 incher then stuck to the cow for us to make our stalk. If you ever do a ridge hunt make sure to plan your way back up its easy going down but up is another story. Made our way to 144 yards he was sleeping by now in a ditch all that could be seen was paddles sticking up got setup and let out a few calls to make him stand up nothing didn't budge the next hour was spent laughing at the situation finally he stands up an takes 3 to the shoulder from my 300 win
He was down in an opening no water no brush to deal with perfect spot for skinning.
Got our high fives and pictures done then went to work took us about 5 hours to completely quarter and cape the skull
One big thing to double check is make sure your outfitter sends new saw blades opened ours up half rusted thru snapped the first cut luckily I brought a small key whole saw. Then hell began we walked 2 to 3 days a week with 80 pound packs training for this hunt did no good the only way to be ready would be lots of wet bleachers with a pack.
3 days later we had him up the mountain ready to be picked up I would suggest not shooting past a mile from camp that's almost to far.
Day 5 decided to sleep in then work on packing up water then take in the sights
Sitting a little ways from camp watching a few bulls when we see a giant easy 70 plus 3 miles out watch him work past us into 2 miles start letting out some call here he comes but the clocks ticking 830 already we have him coming on a string sware he raked every bush on his way to us it's 915 he's 1 mile away still coming we lose sight of him thru the brush 10 it's dark no bull maybe he will be there tomorrow.
Day 6 excited hoping to see the giant from the night before spent the whole day glassing trying to convince my cousin to shoot a nice meat bull hanging out in camp with no luck.
Day 8 wake up its below freezing out get to the spot where we spotted mine.
Saw a few small ones then we catch one thru the spruce looks like a shooter run down the mountain to get to a better position don't see him but can hear him .
Finally we get eyes on him moving thru the spruce he makes it to a small opening so I let out a call to stop him he stops and boom cousin puts 2 in the shoulder he's down were high fiving and all grins we did it first time to Alaska and got 2 giants.
Then we see it 300 yards from his moose a grizzly making his way towards his moose.
Now we're in a pickle here we send a few shots that way to scare him off he didn't have a care in the world about our shots. Watched him for about and hour got lucky he passed that bull up and went to my carcass about 500 yards away so we made our way down there had a little more motivation to hurry up we had it completely caped quartered in bags in 3.5 hours. Decided to move the meat away from carcass before we started packing took us only a day to pack this one back had a few scares with ptarmigan flying up at us walking to meat pile but makes for a good story.
Finally were done we did it
2.5 days later they come get us
That's when things get interesting prices of meat flights start doubling flights to Anchorage are all booked for the next week and a half so we hire a private charter to come get us 4grand later we are in Anchorage away from all the hidden fees .
We were lucky to find ak trophy expediters to handle all the meat and trophys for shipping Nick went above and beyond to help us I would definitely recommend him.
67 and 67.5 had a great time got a little more expensive then expected but I will definitely be back.
Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk
This was our first trip out of state and can't be happier.
We left Texas Sept 7 for Anchorage from there made our way to the outfitters supposed to be lodge turned out to be a little ran down house no big deal to us. Got there and the owner forgot we would be arriving that day but made it work. We spent the next 3 days in the lodge talking with other groups and staff waiting to get flown out between the outfitter not getting moving tell 11 am and not as many pilots as promised 6 turned to 1 flying for the whole operation we had alot of time to explore the village and make new friends .
8 pm the second day Finally we get the word there going to fly my cousin out that afternoon and me out the next morning by now his nickname from the staff is bear bait they have got him worked up with that thought he was getting dropped off in a war zone got a lot of laughs about that.
Weather blew in before we could get him flown out.
Day 3 we finally fly out land on the ridge about 30 minutes before dark barely any sleep in anticipation that night.
Day 1 woke up around 430 couldn't sleep anymore made breakfast and we were off
Didn't plan on going far just try to glass some of the area we were dealing with.
This is where it gets exciting we weren't glassing for 5 minutes have 2 bulls and a cow spotted down the valley one was around that 60 mark the other mid 40s watched them for about 5 more minutes then there he was topping the hill. Every body I talked to said don't shoot the first few you see they all look big there was just no passing this one up he had everything I was looking for. We watched for awhile just trying to make sure we weren't just getting over excited . He made his way down the valley got some great footage of him fighting the 60 incher then stuck to the cow for us to make our stalk. If you ever do a ridge hunt make sure to plan your way back up its easy going down but up is another story. Made our way to 144 yards he was sleeping by now in a ditch all that could be seen was paddles sticking up got setup and let out a few calls to make him stand up nothing didn't budge the next hour was spent laughing at the situation finally he stands up an takes 3 to the shoulder from my 300 win
He was down in an opening no water no brush to deal with perfect spot for skinning.
Got our high fives and pictures done then went to work took us about 5 hours to completely quarter and cape the skull
One big thing to double check is make sure your outfitter sends new saw blades opened ours up half rusted thru snapped the first cut luckily I brought a small key whole saw. Then hell began we walked 2 to 3 days a week with 80 pound packs training for this hunt did no good the only way to be ready would be lots of wet bleachers with a pack.
3 days later we had him up the mountain ready to be picked up I would suggest not shooting past a mile from camp that's almost to far.
Day 5 decided to sleep in then work on packing up water then take in the sights
Sitting a little ways from camp watching a few bulls when we see a giant easy 70 plus 3 miles out watch him work past us into 2 miles start letting out some call here he comes but the clocks ticking 830 already we have him coming on a string sware he raked every bush on his way to us it's 915 he's 1 mile away still coming we lose sight of him thru the brush 10 it's dark no bull maybe he will be there tomorrow.
Day 6 excited hoping to see the giant from the night before spent the whole day glassing trying to convince my cousin to shoot a nice meat bull hanging out in camp with no luck.
Day 8 wake up its below freezing out get to the spot where we spotted mine.
Saw a few small ones then we catch one thru the spruce looks like a shooter run down the mountain to get to a better position don't see him but can hear him .
Finally we get eyes on him moving thru the spruce he makes it to a small opening so I let out a call to stop him he stops and boom cousin puts 2 in the shoulder he's down were high fiving and all grins we did it first time to Alaska and got 2 giants.
Then we see it 300 yards from his moose a grizzly making his way towards his moose.
Now we're in a pickle here we send a few shots that way to scare him off he didn't have a care in the world about our shots. Watched him for about and hour got lucky he passed that bull up and went to my carcass about 500 yards away so we made our way down there had a little more motivation to hurry up we had it completely caped quartered in bags in 3.5 hours. Decided to move the meat away from carcass before we started packing took us only a day to pack this one back had a few scares with ptarmigan flying up at us walking to meat pile but makes for a good story.
Finally were done we did it
2.5 days later they come get us
That's when things get interesting prices of meat flights start doubling flights to Anchorage are all booked for the next week and a half so we hire a private charter to come get us 4grand later we are in Anchorage away from all the hidden fees .
We were lucky to find ak trophy expediters to handle all the meat and trophys for shipping Nick went above and beyond to help us I would definitely recommend him.
67 and 67.5 had a great time got a little more expensive then expected but I will definitely be back.
Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk
