Tclhunts
FNG
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2023
- Messages
- 16
In 2021 a friend of mine from college reached out about planning a 2023 AK moose hunt. Got the approval from my wife and we started planning and getting gear. The two years of planning the trip was honestly a thrill. It was something to look forward to, it was something to talk about, and it was something to be excited about.
It was finally time to make the trip to Alaska in Sept of 2023. I met up with my friend and his wife in Anchorage and we couldn’t wait to get into the bush. Flying into the bush was quite an experience. It was a beautiful day flying in, the views were spectacular. We had an hour and half flight In a 206 and then 30 min individual flights into camp in a super cub.
Getting into camp we met our guides and worked through some strategy for what we were expecting and hoping for and discussed the options. Both my friend and I came into camp with a moose tag, grizzly tag, and caribou tag. We were there to hunt moose but were prepared to be opportunity hunters in the chance we came up on some other game.
There were options to hunt close to camp and there was an option to hunt up the river about 1.7 miles. To give us space apart I choose to make the trek up river and my friend and his wife chose to hunt the spot closer to camp. I knew the challenge of putting down a moose 1.7 miles away and I felt I had trained serious enough to take on that challenge! I actually enjoyed the walk to the spot every morning and every evening!
The spot up river, was on the river, on a bluff that was about 40 yards up, could see a mile up river, 600 yards down river, it was a great spot to sit!
Day 1 we caught a cow come out about 800 yards up river no bull behind her.
Day 2 was a really exciting day. Late morning we saw a sub legal bull about 600 yards up river. In the evening around 4pm a black bear and 2 cubs came out only 120 yards away. I was excited when mamma came out, grabbed my gun and got ready, put it down and grabbed my phone when the 2 cubs came out! About 45 min later we had 3 black bears run across the river 400 yards down river, didnt even have time to grab my gun. After seeing 6 bears in an hour on day two I was positive I was coming home with a bear on this trip. I didn’t See another bear the rest of the trip!
Day 3 and 4 we got skunked!
Day 5 we had another sub legal bull come into bow range. It was mid day, around 1:30pm, the guide and me were dozing off, bouncing our heads at noises, I heard something in the water and looked down and the bull was staring right at me 50 yards away. I rolled out of my chair and shook my guide, told him there was a bull moose, he said “where”, I said “Down there”, at that time the moose was 35 yards at the bottom of the bluff on the river! In the evening, right before dark, as my guide had told me was going to happen, we had a cow come out of the woods directly across the river from us. Followed behind her was a nice bull! I grabbed my gun, shooting sticks, and was right on him. Another cow was behind him. He came down onto the river at 180 yards, guide called, he turned his head, and I slammed him with a 300 WM in the shoulder, a second 6 inches back and double lunged him, and then two more in the should, total of 4 rounds in about 30 seconds, he never took a step, but really shocked me how he took the rounds. After the 4th, he just fell.
Day 6 was packout day! Got up early, hiked up to the moose, took pics, took us 3.5 hours to cut him up, and we made our first trip back. There were 3 of us and we took 3 trips total to get him back to camp, a total of about 10.5 miles of hiking that day. I honestly loved it. It was the experience I was looking for. Really thankful to have a guide who had a great attitude the whole time and had fun with me getting the moose back in one day!
Day 7 and 8 we hunted the gut pile for bear but didn’t see anything.
Day 9 the gut pile had been dug around and piled up on the river bank where we left it. We got to our spot and got ready to shoot a grizzly. Didn’t see anything. The night of Day 9 my friend shot his bull!
Day 10 we hunted the morning over the gut pile without any luck, got word the plane was coming in to pick up our two bulls. I had yet to see my buddy;s bull and we had not taken pictures. We ended the hunt, went back to camp, took pictures and enjoyed the trip that was coming to a close!
Hunted with Hidden Alaska and I can’t tell you how thankful and pleased I was with my experience. Tony M was always available, helped with understanding everything we needed, meat processing, shipping, taxidermy, just really helpful and easy to work with; solid, upstanding guy. My guide was Travis Preuit, he was an incredible guy. Travis loves to hunt! We sat morning to evening every day. We hiked 3.5 miles a day round trip to and from our spot. Never for a moment did I think he was not enjoying the hunt as much as I was. It was like hunting with a best friend who loves it just as much as you do, I will hunt with Travis again in the future for sure. Same with Hidden AK, my next Alaskan hunt will be with Tony!
It was finally time to make the trip to Alaska in Sept of 2023. I met up with my friend and his wife in Anchorage and we couldn’t wait to get into the bush. Flying into the bush was quite an experience. It was a beautiful day flying in, the views were spectacular. We had an hour and half flight In a 206 and then 30 min individual flights into camp in a super cub.
Getting into camp we met our guides and worked through some strategy for what we were expecting and hoping for and discussed the options. Both my friend and I came into camp with a moose tag, grizzly tag, and caribou tag. We were there to hunt moose but were prepared to be opportunity hunters in the chance we came up on some other game.
There were options to hunt close to camp and there was an option to hunt up the river about 1.7 miles. To give us space apart I choose to make the trek up river and my friend and his wife chose to hunt the spot closer to camp. I knew the challenge of putting down a moose 1.7 miles away and I felt I had trained serious enough to take on that challenge! I actually enjoyed the walk to the spot every morning and every evening!
The spot up river, was on the river, on a bluff that was about 40 yards up, could see a mile up river, 600 yards down river, it was a great spot to sit!
Day 1 we caught a cow come out about 800 yards up river no bull behind her.
Day 2 was a really exciting day. Late morning we saw a sub legal bull about 600 yards up river. In the evening around 4pm a black bear and 2 cubs came out only 120 yards away. I was excited when mamma came out, grabbed my gun and got ready, put it down and grabbed my phone when the 2 cubs came out! About 45 min later we had 3 black bears run across the river 400 yards down river, didnt even have time to grab my gun. After seeing 6 bears in an hour on day two I was positive I was coming home with a bear on this trip. I didn’t See another bear the rest of the trip!
Day 3 and 4 we got skunked!
Day 5 we had another sub legal bull come into bow range. It was mid day, around 1:30pm, the guide and me were dozing off, bouncing our heads at noises, I heard something in the water and looked down and the bull was staring right at me 50 yards away. I rolled out of my chair and shook my guide, told him there was a bull moose, he said “where”, I said “Down there”, at that time the moose was 35 yards at the bottom of the bluff on the river! In the evening, right before dark, as my guide had told me was going to happen, we had a cow come out of the woods directly across the river from us. Followed behind her was a nice bull! I grabbed my gun, shooting sticks, and was right on him. Another cow was behind him. He came down onto the river at 180 yards, guide called, he turned his head, and I slammed him with a 300 WM in the shoulder, a second 6 inches back and double lunged him, and then two more in the should, total of 4 rounds in about 30 seconds, he never took a step, but really shocked me how he took the rounds. After the 4th, he just fell.
Day 6 was packout day! Got up early, hiked up to the moose, took pics, took us 3.5 hours to cut him up, and we made our first trip back. There were 3 of us and we took 3 trips total to get him back to camp, a total of about 10.5 miles of hiking that day. I honestly loved it. It was the experience I was looking for. Really thankful to have a guide who had a great attitude the whole time and had fun with me getting the moose back in one day!
Day 7 and 8 we hunted the gut pile for bear but didn’t see anything.
Day 9 the gut pile had been dug around and piled up on the river bank where we left it. We got to our spot and got ready to shoot a grizzly. Didn’t see anything. The night of Day 9 my friend shot his bull!
Day 10 we hunted the morning over the gut pile without any luck, got word the plane was coming in to pick up our two bulls. I had yet to see my buddy;s bull and we had not taken pictures. We ended the hunt, went back to camp, took pictures and enjoyed the trip that was coming to a close!
Hunted with Hidden Alaska and I can’t tell you how thankful and pleased I was with my experience. Tony M was always available, helped with understanding everything we needed, meat processing, shipping, taxidermy, just really helpful and easy to work with; solid, upstanding guy. My guide was Travis Preuit, he was an incredible guy. Travis loves to hunt! We sat morning to evening every day. We hiked 3.5 miles a day round trip to and from our spot. Never for a moment did I think he was not enjoying the hunt as much as I was. It was like hunting with a best friend who loves it just as much as you do, I will hunt with Travis again in the future for sure. Same with Hidden AK, my next Alaskan hunt will be with Tony!
