hornchaser2011
FNG
Hey guys,
Just got back from my 2019 Alaska DIY moose hunt. I had a less than satisfying experience with the air transporter that I used and was not successful in harvesting a moose. The up side was my 64 year father got to experience Alaska hunting for the first time and we got to spend a lot of quality time together.
I had done a caribou DIY trip 4 years ago in Alaska and ever since have been dreaming of a DIY moose hunt (like a lot of you). I researched several outfits in Alaska and found that a lot of the well known long established guys were virtually impossible to go with. They offer such a good service and had been around so long that they were basically full every year from repeat clients and new guys don't get much of chance. So we took a chance and went with a lesser known transporter who had openings right away and was a little cheaper and we got burned... bad..
Everything sounded pretty good on email and the phone. The pilot offered both outfitted drop camp and float hunts and boasted that he had 20 years of flying and hunting/guiding experience in this area.
We really wanted to do a float hunt because we are both avid fishermen and with dads age and physical status we knew our best chance for success was going to be dropping a bull on the edge of a river. Packing meat a long way with just the two of us wasn't going to be possible so a drop camp ridge hunt was out.
We were told which creek we would float and I did extensive research on it for the 6 months leading up to the hunt. 1 week before we were scheduled to fly out the pilot messaged me and said we have a problem.. The summer had been exceptionally dry and the river was to low to float, but he offered an alternative. He said there was a different river that we could float that in his words "had not been float hunted for moose in 5 years and was gonna be red hot". Through my research of the area I found that this particular river was a world famous fishing river, and it struck me as odd that no one would have hunted it in 5 years but we were trusting our trusty guide...
Right before I left I sent a quick double check making sure the float was on as I didn't want to fly waders and fishing gear 4k miles if it wasn't. He said absolutely float is on and its gonna be red hot.
When we landed in the remote town the pilot was going to meet us the anticipation was high. Finally after years of planning, training, and gear research it was on. I looked around the airport for the professional looking pilot/guide and was instead met by a guy with grease all over him and dirt on his back. He told me the plane is broke down but I think I might have her running soon... This was the first hint that things were not gonna go as planned.
His friend ended up flying in and picking us up and he did get his plane running but I was happy to not be riding in it. As we flew up the "red hot river" and approached the landing strip we were met with an unpleasant surprise. On the landing strip there was 2 tents set up with 2 moose hunters in camo standing in front of them.... After we circled a couple times the pilots decided to take us further up the river and put us in at the lake. Obviously I wasn't super pumped at the idea of going to remote western Alaska and seeing other people on my hunt but figured one group of hunters probably wont bother us to much... When we approached the second landing strip at the lake guess what... another camp with another group of moose hunters set up. At this point it was obvious that the whole "red hot river with no one hunting it in 5 years was BS"...
The pilots flew us over and stopped at a ridge not far from the lake to have a discussion. When we stopped the pilot said that this was actually a great spot and a hunter kill a 67 inch bull here at some point in time." He then told us that if we tried it here for 1-2 days and didn't like it he could come pick us up and take us to the original creek we were supposed to float (which made no sense). So here we go on a ridge drop camp hunt...
The pilot tossed the oldest junkiest camping gear I have ever seen out of the plane and onto the hill side and walked towards his plane. My dad wisely realized and asked "what about water". The pilot replied "well ive never had anyone have trouble finding water in this spot before so there should be some up here somewhere and if not you can just walk down to the river." The river was around 3/4 of a mile straight down hill through the thickest alders in the world (I didn't know this yet but would soon find out.) Before we could ask any other questions like how does the tent and ancient dual fuel stove work the pilot was buzzing off in the plane.
After a little trouble shooting we figured the tent and camping gear out. Next order of business was find water... After walking all over the high ridge we were on and checking anything that looked like it held water we were in for another rude surprise. No water. By now it was almost dark so our only plan was to get up at first light and instead of hunting moose on opening day we would be hunting water.
As we made our way down to the river (both very parched at this point) the alders got thicker and taller. We live and hunt in Florida and thought we had seen some thick swamps but this stuff was like nothing Ive ever encountered. There were spots were the alders were so thick we were crawling through bear trails. Finally made it to an oxbow slough and drank about a gallon of water each and loaded up as much water as we could carry. I messaged the pilot and told him he had to bring us water as this march to get a drink of water was a touch ridiculous.
On our way back we were catching our breath in the only open area on the hike when my dad noticed something moving. When I looked over we saw the grizzly right when it saw us. I flipped my scope covers off and shouldered my rifle. The bear was around 130 yards away and stood up on its back legs sniffing the air and looking at us. Through the scope the bear looked huge standing up, his face was dark brown but his body was silver tipped. It appeared to be a younger male bear.
He dropped to all fours and quickly popped back up on his back legs sniffing the air. The 20 mph cross wind made it impossible for him to smell us. At this point I did what all the bear experts recommend, he knew we were their and it was time to let him know we were humans and not food...
So I waved my arms and yelled in the most aggressive tone I have " HEY BEAR, HEY BEAR"!! To which he instantly responded by dropping to all fours and charging. I hissed at dad "load your gun! load your gun!! I lined up on the bear and will never forget the image of the bear staring right through me and slinging clumps of tundra out the back, dam thing was coming like a freight train!! He went from 130 yard to 70 yards in a nano second. At that moment I pulled the cross hairs up and touched the trigger on my 375 H&H sending a 300 grain barnes sizzling over the top of his ears. He skidded to a stop. I chambered another round and told dad, if he charges again shoot to kill. The bear walked sideways staring at us and I yelled again and he ran off just as fast in the other direction. We both stood there for a second and dad said " holy shit, wild Alaska, they aren't kidding" lol.
Just got back from my 2019 Alaska DIY moose hunt. I had a less than satisfying experience with the air transporter that I used and was not successful in harvesting a moose. The up side was my 64 year father got to experience Alaska hunting for the first time and we got to spend a lot of quality time together.
I had done a caribou DIY trip 4 years ago in Alaska and ever since have been dreaming of a DIY moose hunt (like a lot of you). I researched several outfits in Alaska and found that a lot of the well known long established guys were virtually impossible to go with. They offer such a good service and had been around so long that they were basically full every year from repeat clients and new guys don't get much of chance. So we took a chance and went with a lesser known transporter who had openings right away and was a little cheaper and we got burned... bad..
Everything sounded pretty good on email and the phone. The pilot offered both outfitted drop camp and float hunts and boasted that he had 20 years of flying and hunting/guiding experience in this area.
We really wanted to do a float hunt because we are both avid fishermen and with dads age and physical status we knew our best chance for success was going to be dropping a bull on the edge of a river. Packing meat a long way with just the two of us wasn't going to be possible so a drop camp ridge hunt was out.
We were told which creek we would float and I did extensive research on it for the 6 months leading up to the hunt. 1 week before we were scheduled to fly out the pilot messaged me and said we have a problem.. The summer had been exceptionally dry and the river was to low to float, but he offered an alternative. He said there was a different river that we could float that in his words "had not been float hunted for moose in 5 years and was gonna be red hot". Through my research of the area I found that this particular river was a world famous fishing river, and it struck me as odd that no one would have hunted it in 5 years but we were trusting our trusty guide...
Right before I left I sent a quick double check making sure the float was on as I didn't want to fly waders and fishing gear 4k miles if it wasn't. He said absolutely float is on and its gonna be red hot.
When we landed in the remote town the pilot was going to meet us the anticipation was high. Finally after years of planning, training, and gear research it was on. I looked around the airport for the professional looking pilot/guide and was instead met by a guy with grease all over him and dirt on his back. He told me the plane is broke down but I think I might have her running soon... This was the first hint that things were not gonna go as planned.
His friend ended up flying in and picking us up and he did get his plane running but I was happy to not be riding in it. As we flew up the "red hot river" and approached the landing strip we were met with an unpleasant surprise. On the landing strip there was 2 tents set up with 2 moose hunters in camo standing in front of them.... After we circled a couple times the pilots decided to take us further up the river and put us in at the lake. Obviously I wasn't super pumped at the idea of going to remote western Alaska and seeing other people on my hunt but figured one group of hunters probably wont bother us to much... When we approached the second landing strip at the lake guess what... another camp with another group of moose hunters set up. At this point it was obvious that the whole "red hot river with no one hunting it in 5 years was BS"...
The pilots flew us over and stopped at a ridge not far from the lake to have a discussion. When we stopped the pilot said that this was actually a great spot and a hunter kill a 67 inch bull here at some point in time." He then told us that if we tried it here for 1-2 days and didn't like it he could come pick us up and take us to the original creek we were supposed to float (which made no sense). So here we go on a ridge drop camp hunt...
The pilot tossed the oldest junkiest camping gear I have ever seen out of the plane and onto the hill side and walked towards his plane. My dad wisely realized and asked "what about water". The pilot replied "well ive never had anyone have trouble finding water in this spot before so there should be some up here somewhere and if not you can just walk down to the river." The river was around 3/4 of a mile straight down hill through the thickest alders in the world (I didn't know this yet but would soon find out.) Before we could ask any other questions like how does the tent and ancient dual fuel stove work the pilot was buzzing off in the plane.
After a little trouble shooting we figured the tent and camping gear out. Next order of business was find water... After walking all over the high ridge we were on and checking anything that looked like it held water we were in for another rude surprise. No water. By now it was almost dark so our only plan was to get up at first light and instead of hunting moose on opening day we would be hunting water.
As we made our way down to the river (both very parched at this point) the alders got thicker and taller. We live and hunt in Florida and thought we had seen some thick swamps but this stuff was like nothing Ive ever encountered. There were spots were the alders were so thick we were crawling through bear trails. Finally made it to an oxbow slough and drank about a gallon of water each and loaded up as much water as we could carry. I messaged the pilot and told him he had to bring us water as this march to get a drink of water was a touch ridiculous.
On our way back we were catching our breath in the only open area on the hike when my dad noticed something moving. When I looked over we saw the grizzly right when it saw us. I flipped my scope covers off and shouldered my rifle. The bear was around 130 yards away and stood up on its back legs sniffing the air and looking at us. Through the scope the bear looked huge standing up, his face was dark brown but his body was silver tipped. It appeared to be a younger male bear.
He dropped to all fours and quickly popped back up on his back legs sniffing the air. The 20 mph cross wind made it impossible for him to smell us. At this point I did what all the bear experts recommend, he knew we were their and it was time to let him know we were humans and not food...
So I waved my arms and yelled in the most aggressive tone I have " HEY BEAR, HEY BEAR"!! To which he instantly responded by dropping to all fours and charging. I hissed at dad "load your gun! load your gun!! I lined up on the bear and will never forget the image of the bear staring right through me and slinging clumps of tundra out the back, dam thing was coming like a freight train!! He went from 130 yard to 70 yards in a nano second. At that moment I pulled the cross hairs up and touched the trigger on my 375 H&H sending a 300 grain barnes sizzling over the top of his ears. He skidded to a stop. I chambered another round and told dad, if he charges again shoot to kill. The bear walked sideways staring at us and I yelled again and he ran off just as fast in the other direction. We both stood there for a second and dad said " holy shit, wild Alaska, they aren't kidding" lol.
