Before even flying out of the bush I was thinking about the next one and things I may do different. That tells ya just how awesome this hunt was. Key to our success was the planning. Detailed planning, to include multiple plans, what ifs, discussions with many and gear testing in the Flat Tops. A ton of watching videos to judge moose, regs review and map/terrain review. One bull would be considered success for us. My son even let me shoot first. I wanted him to shoot first but he said no way. So the first legal one was mine to try and harvest.
Well the day finally came to head to the airport. We both were walking around with smiles a mile wide. Denver to Seattle then to Fairbanks was uneventful. All the gear made it so that was a relief. We had an Apple tag in each bag so if one didn’t make it we were sure at least of what we didn’t have.
Air BNB close to the airport on the front side of the trip made for a relaxing two days. This will come into play again at the back side of the trip. Nice log cabin and garage. We checked zero on the rifles, picked up the rafts, grabbed some fuel and ate some great food. Inflated and checked the rafts for leaks, started the motor, checked filters then repacked everything for the flight in. It was nice having the garage so we could stage everything for easy loading into the shuttle van. Like most Air BnBs I’ve stayed in we met the owners at one point and they let us store our extra bags not needed, small items not needed and hard rifle cases in a locked conex they had. Lastly we marked weights on each bag and got some sleep.
The van shuttle 5 some odd hours north of Fairbanks was uneventful and we arrived in our small town for the bush flight in. Weather delayed us a day so we got to meet some locals, hear some stories and play a bunch of pool in the one restaurant, bar, road house. The next day there was a 5ish hour window to fly before the next weather rolled in so late afternoon of that day my son, our go in gear and I flew in. Our go in gear consisted of camp, food, survival items in case we didn’t see another flight for a few days.
Light mist and rain was the weather as we landed at the drop off lake and started the 1000 yard hike to the river. Our main hunting area was 1 mile ish down river. Newbie mistake #1 “ the lake shoreline that looks like a shoreline really isn’t a shoreline” Well now I know.
We offload, plane departs and we are left with a single crane screaming its head off in excitement I think that we are there. Quick look at Onx and off we go carrying as much as we can. “Dang is this moss, water grass thing shitty to walk in” We get to the river and quickly realize the outside turn of the river is grass to the edge, drops off to a depth solidly over our heads, there isn’t a flat spot within eye shot. Wet soaked and worn ass out we pick the flattest spot available and set camp. The Redcliffe Winnerwell stove combo really shined here. Out of the rain, fire started and drying out. That was dang nice. We sat there a little in disbelief and had the momentary look of “what did we get into” “ we gotta get the rafts, fuel, motor and rest of the gear across this 1000 yard opening”. Quick check of the weather on the InRreach and it would appear to me, we aint seeing no plane the next day.
