DapperDan
WKR
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2012
- Messages
- 1,469
2024 AK Moose Prep
- Thread starter Robinhood21
- Start date
diamond10x
WKR
How did it go?
DapperDan
WKR
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2012
- Messages
- 1,469
Post 1:
Well, here’s a mountainous west hunters first DIY experience hunting moose…
I landed in Anchorage on a direct flight from Phoenix ($430 round trip total). Had planned to hunt 15 days but ended up being sick for the first 4 days out.
I had both a general harvest ticket and a permit ticket to hunt a 3 brow tine 50” unit, plus NR required locking tag. $975 total.
I had done a little bit of scouting in the unit the previous September to give me an idea of terrain and where moose might be, and what their general tendencies were. Turns out, they are a lot like deer and elk (generally speaking). I watched them early in the morning feeding, bedding down for 4ish hours mid day, and getting back up to feed until past dark.
With this information, I came up with a game plan to hunt moose completely “incorrectly” for everything I had read. My plan was to get up high and spike camp the ridgelines, glassing down/across into moose country to try and find moose.
Fast forward to Sept 2024. Once I was feeling better and got some antibiotics in the system, I took my rental TRD off road Tacoma ($2,700 ouch) and drove 6-7 hours to my planned hunt area. Parked along an off road trail and began the hunt.
I got up above the river/lakes/swamps into the endless rolling ridgelines in what I would consider to be “caribou country”. I saw TONS of caribou the first two days, and finally started to see moose feeding in and out of the drainages below me on day 3.
My overall plan was to cover as much country as I could with my 15s and spotting scope on a tripod (spotting scope simply for judging potential legal bulls with a MIL dot reticle). Moving from ridgeline to ridgeline until I started seeing moose activity.
This planned worked out very well. I started finding moose after moose after moose. Days 3 and 4 I must have seen 50-60 cows and calves, and a few sub legal bulls. The bulls seemed to be clumped together in groups of 3-4, jousting and making a racket during feeding hours. They were bedding down around 12PMand staying bedded until 4-5 PM.
To test potential stalk ability, I made a move to get from 1,200 yards, to a ridgeline that would put me roughly 200 yards above a group of 3 sublegal bulls. I made my way down the ridgeline, cross some timber and swamp, and then hiked up the next ridgeline. As I was making my way up and ended up bumping into two cows who clearly heard and saw me. They were less than 50 yards. I slowly backed out and swung around to take another line up the ridgeline. They did not care about me at all. They don’t spook, they didn’t pin their ears, they simply stared at me until I was out of site and went back to feeding.
Once I got around the cows I made my way to the ridgeline, but further than I had planned away from the bulls. They were 325 yards below me. I watched them in the spotting scope, took measurements on them and all 3 were 30-40” bulls. Sublegal as previously determined from before. I set up and dry fired on the bulls for about an hour. Made a bunch of noise to watch how they behaved, learned a few things, and then proceeded to move back to my glassing ridge.
I ended up glassing up a HUGE bull on day 5 around 10 am. I saw him two ridgeline across feeding into the thick timber below him. I actually spotted his antlers moving in a clearing with my bare eyes at 2,700 yards, he was just massive once I got him in the 15s. He disappeared into the thick timber never to be seen again. It’s just incredible how an animal of that size and stature can be gone in seconds.
I fought the intense urge to drop and cross two drainages and try to get closer to where the big bull was. I was seeing too much activity and had an excellent vantage point where I had been glassing so I stayed put.
Well, here’s a mountainous west hunters first DIY experience hunting moose…
I landed in Anchorage on a direct flight from Phoenix ($430 round trip total). Had planned to hunt 15 days but ended up being sick for the first 4 days out.
I had both a general harvest ticket and a permit ticket to hunt a 3 brow tine 50” unit, plus NR required locking tag. $975 total.
I had done a little bit of scouting in the unit the previous September to give me an idea of terrain and where moose might be, and what their general tendencies were. Turns out, they are a lot like deer and elk (generally speaking). I watched them early in the morning feeding, bedding down for 4ish hours mid day, and getting back up to feed until past dark.
With this information, I came up with a game plan to hunt moose completely “incorrectly” for everything I had read. My plan was to get up high and spike camp the ridgelines, glassing down/across into moose country to try and find moose.
Fast forward to Sept 2024. Once I was feeling better and got some antibiotics in the system, I took my rental TRD off road Tacoma ($2,700 ouch) and drove 6-7 hours to my planned hunt area. Parked along an off road trail and began the hunt.
I got up above the river/lakes/swamps into the endless rolling ridgelines in what I would consider to be “caribou country”. I saw TONS of caribou the first two days, and finally started to see moose feeding in and out of the drainages below me on day 3.
My overall plan was to cover as much country as I could with my 15s and spotting scope on a tripod (spotting scope simply for judging potential legal bulls with a MIL dot reticle). Moving from ridgeline to ridgeline until I started seeing moose activity.
This planned worked out very well. I started finding moose after moose after moose. Days 3 and 4 I must have seen 50-60 cows and calves, and a few sub legal bulls. The bulls seemed to be clumped together in groups of 3-4, jousting and making a racket during feeding hours. They were bedding down around 12PMand staying bedded until 4-5 PM.
To test potential stalk ability, I made a move to get from 1,200 yards, to a ridgeline that would put me roughly 200 yards above a group of 3 sublegal bulls. I made my way down the ridgeline, cross some timber and swamp, and then hiked up the next ridgeline. As I was making my way up and ended up bumping into two cows who clearly heard and saw me. They were less than 50 yards. I slowly backed out and swung around to take another line up the ridgeline. They did not care about me at all. They don’t spook, they didn’t pin their ears, they simply stared at me until I was out of site and went back to feeding.
Once I got around the cows I made my way to the ridgeline, but further than I had planned away from the bulls. They were 325 yards below me. I watched them in the spotting scope, took measurements on them and all 3 were 30-40” bulls. Sublegal as previously determined from before. I set up and dry fired on the bulls for about an hour. Made a bunch of noise to watch how they behaved, learned a few things, and then proceeded to move back to my glassing ridge.
I ended up glassing up a HUGE bull on day 5 around 10 am. I saw him two ridgeline across feeding into the thick timber below him. I actually spotted his antlers moving in a clearing with my bare eyes at 2,700 yards, he was just massive once I got him in the 15s. He disappeared into the thick timber never to be seen again. It’s just incredible how an animal of that size and stature can be gone in seconds.
I fought the intense urge to drop and cross two drainages and try to get closer to where the big bull was. I was seeing too much activity and had an excellent vantage point where I had been glassing so I stayed put.
Post 2:
Day 6 morning was just cows and calves but in the evening things got real interesting. I glassed up a large group of cows and calves, who were spread out across about a 500 yards clearing above the tree line. All of a sudden the 8 cows/calves took off running across the drainage heading away from me. I panned around looking for a bear or a hunter and actually ended up glassing a bull coming in at full charge. He was a very large bull, not as large as Day 5 bull, but upon first glance looked to be legal.
He actually crossed right below me at 450 yards before going into the timber, continuing on a run/trot the whole way. I heard him crash through the trees before I lost all sight and sound of him. I decided to make a play on this bull.
I waited for about an hour and then side hilled around and down keeping mind of the bulls last known trajectory. I got to where I thought I would be roughly 300 or so yards ahead of the cows and bull and waited and listened. At around 4 pm I began raking and making very subtle cow calls, mimicking what I had heard throughout the hunt so far.
I began to hear something coming towards the large clearing I was set up in, however it was coming in with the wind blowing right into its nose. It was a cow and a sub legal bull, the wind was blowing right through me to them. I hid behind a large tree and quit making noise for about 10 min. I slowly popped around the tree and the cow had been joined by another cow and calf and the sub legal bull had fed closer to me. The bull was 80 yards and the cows were 130 yards. I moved to put another large tree between myself and the small bull and to get the wind direction more in my favor.
I started raking again (Rokstok hollow carbon works excellent for this) the cows got curious and started coming in. Still no sign of the big bull anywhere. I continued flanking and raking until it was getting dark. The large bull never showed himself and I bailed out back up the ridgeline to sleep.
Day 7 morning was slow so I moved further down the ridgeline to where I had a good vantage point of the river below. I saw some movement on a peninsula that stuck out into the river at 900 yards. It was a cow coming in hot from across the river to this large peninsula. I watched her for a while and she trotted in to within 30 yards of a small bull. I watched the small bull for about 5 min and something caught my eye about 50 yards right of the small bull. A large bull came in and started fighting with the smaller bull. They fought for about 20 min until going separate ways, all while the cow watched and fed. The large bull moved down the peninsula and bedded down in a 50 yard by 75 yard clearing. I could see him plain as day bedded down.
I threw my stuff in my pack and made a move. I had to drop down one drainage and back up the next ridgeline which would cut my distance in half. I got to the top of the ridge and found him in my 8x50 range finding binos at 550 yards. I made my way to a clearing where I could get setup and glass him up, and have a clear lane all the way to him.
I watched this bull for the next 5 hours. Raking and making sounds to get him to look at me in several different angles. Took photos, videos, measured him 100 times in my MIL Dot spotting scope and had him nailed down as a legal bull. I used an app on my iPhone as well to draw a line measuring his ears and then transpose that over the antler width parallel. As he was only two brow tines on each side I wanted as much confirmation as possible, but I only had him at 52-54”. I dry fired on him dozens of times, cleared sticks and branches out of my way, tried another shooting position, went back to my first position, and dry fired a few more times.
I had him dead to rights at 523 yards but was still hesitant to pull the trigger. I said, let me dry fire on him one more time and then I’ll make a decision… I put the reticle on him right where I wanted, cycled the bolt with no magazine in it, safety off, and pressed the trigger. The bull slowly lowered his head and laid back onto his back as if he had been shot. He had fallen asleep and fallen back, this actually woke him up and he started to look like he was going to get up. I don’t know why but I took this as a sign to kill this bull.
I took the mag out of my pocket and put it back in the gun, cycled a round and safety on. As I was about to kill him he stood up and started to feed. He turned broadside quartering away and I took the safety off and shot him. He stumbled 20-30 feet forward, went behind a tree, and crashed down hard. Didn’t move again.
Next began the longest 523 yard downhill climb of my life. Turns out there was a much easier route following the ridgeline hip if I had continued down the river a bit further.
I made it down to the bull and was very relieved to tape him at 52.5”. I got his guts out and tied him open to let him cool while I went and got the Tacoma. I was able to test the crap out of the TRD off-road capabilities of the truck and got to within 0.6 miles of the bull. Took all of my gear out of my pack other than my kill kit, tarp, and cordage and headed back to the bull.
It took 10 hours and well into dark to get the moose into the bed of the Tacoma. Turns out a bull moose fits in the bed of a Tacoma, the suspension does squat quite a bit.
I slept for about 4 hours and started driving towards my buddies cabin. Was not worried about the meat as it had been down into the mid 30s overnight and only warming up to mid 40s.
My buddy met me as a gas station off the highway, we moved the meat and skull to his side by side and got to his cabin to hang the meat. A friend of his is taking care of the processing and he will freeze it hard and ship it to me when it’s ready. He’s getting as much of the meat as he wants for his help, knowing him he won’t take too much even though he should!
All in all it was a successful trip and I learned a lot. I did learn that you can hunt moose like a mule deer/coues deer hunter and have success. I also learned that I will likely never hunt moose by myself again unless I’m being flown in and don’t have to pack meat very far.
This was an incredible experience and hunt, and hopefully this helps somebody who sucks at moose hunting like I do. Use the skills you know and have developed and I think you can be successful spot and stalk style hunting moose. Just know that if you get one on the ground, and have to pack it anywhere, you will be sore for a week after and hate your life haha.
Day 6 morning was just cows and calves but in the evening things got real interesting. I glassed up a large group of cows and calves, who were spread out across about a 500 yards clearing above the tree line. All of a sudden the 8 cows/calves took off running across the drainage heading away from me. I panned around looking for a bear or a hunter and actually ended up glassing a bull coming in at full charge. He was a very large bull, not as large as Day 5 bull, but upon first glance looked to be legal.
He actually crossed right below me at 450 yards before going into the timber, continuing on a run/trot the whole way. I heard him crash through the trees before I lost all sight and sound of him. I decided to make a play on this bull.
I waited for about an hour and then side hilled around and down keeping mind of the bulls last known trajectory. I got to where I thought I would be roughly 300 or so yards ahead of the cows and bull and waited and listened. At around 4 pm I began raking and making very subtle cow calls, mimicking what I had heard throughout the hunt so far.
I began to hear something coming towards the large clearing I was set up in, however it was coming in with the wind blowing right into its nose. It was a cow and a sub legal bull, the wind was blowing right through me to them. I hid behind a large tree and quit making noise for about 10 min. I slowly popped around the tree and the cow had been joined by another cow and calf and the sub legal bull had fed closer to me. The bull was 80 yards and the cows were 130 yards. I moved to put another large tree between myself and the small bull and to get the wind direction more in my favor.
I started raking again (Rokstok hollow carbon works excellent for this) the cows got curious and started coming in. Still no sign of the big bull anywhere. I continued flanking and raking until it was getting dark. The large bull never showed himself and I bailed out back up the ridgeline to sleep.
Day 7 morning was slow so I moved further down the ridgeline to where I had a good vantage point of the river below. I saw some movement on a peninsula that stuck out into the river at 900 yards. It was a cow coming in hot from across the river to this large peninsula. I watched her for a while and she trotted in to within 30 yards of a small bull. I watched the small bull for about 5 min and something caught my eye about 50 yards right of the small bull. A large bull came in and started fighting with the smaller bull. They fought for about 20 min until going separate ways, all while the cow watched and fed. The large bull moved down the peninsula and bedded down in a 50 yard by 75 yard clearing. I could see him plain as day bedded down.
I threw my stuff in my pack and made a move. I had to drop down one drainage and back up the next ridgeline which would cut my distance in half. I got to the top of the ridge and found him in my 8x50 range finding binos at 550 yards. I made my way to a clearing where I could get setup and glass him up, and have a clear lane all the way to him.
I watched this bull for the next 5 hours. Raking and making sounds to get him to look at me in several different angles. Took photos, videos, measured him 100 times in my MIL Dot spotting scope and had him nailed down as a legal bull. I used an app on my iPhone as well to draw a line measuring his ears and then transpose that over the antler width parallel. As he was only two brow tines on each side I wanted as much confirmation as possible, but I only had him at 52-54”. I dry fired on him dozens of times, cleared sticks and branches out of my way, tried another shooting position, went back to my first position, and dry fired a few more times.
I had him dead to rights at 523 yards but was still hesitant to pull the trigger. I said, let me dry fire on him one more time and then I’ll make a decision… I put the reticle on him right where I wanted, cycled the bolt with no magazine in it, safety off, and pressed the trigger. The bull slowly lowered his head and laid back onto his back as if he had been shot. He had fallen asleep and fallen back, this actually woke him up and he started to look like he was going to get up. I don’t know why but I took this as a sign to kill this bull.
I took the mag out of my pocket and put it back in the gun, cycled a round and safety on. As I was about to kill him he stood up and started to feed. He turned broadside quartering away and I took the safety off and shot him. He stumbled 20-30 feet forward, went behind a tree, and crashed down hard. Didn’t move again.
Next began the longest 523 yard downhill climb of my life. Turns out there was a much easier route following the ridgeline hip if I had continued down the river a bit further.
I made it down to the bull and was very relieved to tape him at 52.5”. I got his guts out and tied him open to let him cool while I went and got the Tacoma. I was able to test the crap out of the TRD off-road capabilities of the truck and got to within 0.6 miles of the bull. Took all of my gear out of my pack other than my kill kit, tarp, and cordage and headed back to the bull.
It took 10 hours and well into dark to get the moose into the bed of the Tacoma. Turns out a bull moose fits in the bed of a Tacoma, the suspension does squat quite a bit.
I slept for about 4 hours and started driving towards my buddies cabin. Was not worried about the meat as it had been down into the mid 30s overnight and only warming up to mid 40s.
My buddy met me as a gas station off the highway, we moved the meat and skull to his side by side and got to his cabin to hang the meat. A friend of his is taking care of the processing and he will freeze it hard and ship it to me when it’s ready. He’s getting as much of the meat as he wants for his help, knowing him he won’t take too much even though he should!
All in all it was a successful trip and I learned a lot. I did learn that you can hunt moose like a mule deer/coues deer hunter and have success. I also learned that I will likely never hunt moose by myself again unless I’m being flown in and don’t have to pack meat very far.
This was an incredible experience and hunt, and hopefully this helps somebody who sucks at moose hunting like I do. Use the skills you know and have developed and I think you can be successful spot and stalk style hunting moose. Just know that if you get one on the ground, and have to pack it anywhere, you will be sore for a week after and hate your life haha.
medvedyt
WKR
That sums up everything and congrats on your experience and adventure.
DapperDan
WKR
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2012
- Messages
- 1,469
OP
OP
Robinhood21
WKR
Amazing write up and huge congrats on making it happen!! Awesome hunt and dude…. That’s gotta be such a monumental task solo! Hats off to you my man!
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