ddavis_1313
WKR
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2012
- Messages
- 1,421
Fist of all, I want to say thank you to everyone that answered questions for a first time moose hunter. Your information was valuable and very appreciated!
My wife and i flew to anchorage on Sep 1. We spent the next day grabbing last minute items like mountain house and tags. our first two nights were at the lake front lodge which, while nice, could use some updates for the nightly cost. Otherwise, it was more than decent.
We flew out of anchorage on Sep 3 for our "remote" moose hunt and landed around 3:30 pm. From there, we packed gear via game carts (first red flag) to the river we were to hunt. After multiple trips and several hands full of blueberries we made camp on the rivers edge. The next morning we started our float down river out of the upper hills and alpine and passed a fly fishing group along the way. We stopped and scouted a few spots where we would be able to get up high and glass but there were no camp sites reasonable that didn't include extremely swift and deep water or hauling all gear up steep terrain with deadfall. So, we pressed on and found a nice gravel bar 10 miles down river. Much further than I anticipated traveling.
Sep 5 was moose opener and we started the morning sitting on the river edge raking and grunting. i did this every 30 mins until 9:30. Made coffee and had mountain house breakfast then fished. Decided to fish and caught tons of grayling as well as my wife catching a nice rainbow. Had one of the fish for lunch which was a task in itself. Starting a fire wasn't that difficult but getting a fire hot enough to burn bigger limbs was a challenge. most everything was wet or damp. Sat and called that afternoon starting around 6 pm until dark. Then off to bed.
Sep 6 was the same routine other than having a bull walk out into the river and come to about 45 yards before he saw my wife digging for her phone. He lacked the 4th brow and wasnt near wide enough but it definitely brought some excitement! fished and hunted the rest of the day.
Sep 7 repeat of day before except no moose. I will add, a 10x12 tarp is a must when wanting to sit out of the rain/wind while on a hunt. Glad I took one. Also helped to dry things out that were damp. We thought we heard cow sounds that afternoon but wasnt too sure.
Sep 8 was the same. Call all morning and nada. Again we thought we heard cow sounds and eventually discovered that they were cow sounds coming from a couple guides and their hunters. They were just up river and had moved down to set up where we were but couldnt see us or out camp. I spoke to one of them and he told us he had seen a couple bulls across the river but we needed to tie a pull line to shuttle back and forth across the river. He also told us to strictly cow call from a distance far enough off the river that the sound wouldnt be drown out by the water and we could hear. That afternoon we did exactly that after I stepped off the raft (unsecured) came up short and got water in my waders. Thankfully it wasnt much and only my base layer took on water. I climbed a tree and we were in between two beaver ponds being less than 500 yards from either. Saw plenty of moose sign including fresh droppings and heard a cow very close that afternoon towards a pond to our left.
Sep 9 hunted across river both morning and afternoon. we only went 150 or so off the river as to not stink up the area. heard the same cow but she seemed to be further up river. other than that, nada.
Sep 10 walked to the pond to the right and cow called as we were setting up. Within minutes saw paddles headed our way. he only had 3 brows on one side and two on the other and hung up at 165 yards. It was really hard to judge his width and I knew he was close so we worked to get a shot but never worked out. After the fact I zoomed in on the video and measured and he was maybe 46". glad we didnt shoot bc fish and game circled us within 3 hours in the helicopter. That would have been costly. hunted the afternoon but saw nada.
Sep 11 was repeat of call and no moose. Heard a cow towards the other waterhole but far off in the morning but no cow sound in the afternoon.
Sep 12 hunted in morning with no success or cow sounds. Packed camp and decided it was time to move down river. Roughly 2 miles down river we ran into another group of three hunters and stopped to talk. One guy was a resident and the other two were his buddies from Missouri. He had killed a bear and they had seen the second bull we passed. They were hiking a mile up above the river and glassing miles of river and had seen several cows but no bulls worth chasing. In fact, they hadn't seen many at all. This was his second year hunting that river and he killed a bull the year before. I got an idea of a spot to stop at down river and headed down river. We hit a log jamb before dark and had to camp on a tiny gravel bar before portaging around the obstacle the next morning.
Sep 13 was my 39th birthday. Spent the morning portaging the log jamb then rowed 25 miles after hearing from the hunters the day before that severe weather was coming that included lots of rain and high winds. They blew out and got dropped at a lake between the river and Iliamna and ended up seeing a shooter but never got a shot. We then passed the guided hunters 2 miles below log jamb then found walls tents with jet boats a few more miles below them... We made it to a pick up location used by another transport service by dark and set up camp with anticipation of Rainbow out of Iliamna picking us up in the morning.
Sep 14 was bad weather. plane wasnt able to fly so he sent a fishing guide from Chatna Lodge to pick us up and get us off the river due to rising water concern. They put us in a room and fed us that day as well as the next morning. The owner of the lodge purchased it 4 years ago and runs it with his wife and 3 small children. I will do a separate write up about the lodge and their hospitality but they were great people. so much so that they refused to accept any form of payment for a night of logging and food which included doing dishes.
We caught a flight to Iliamna the next morning (adding $2k to our expenses) and the picked up by or return transporter in Iliamna back to anchorage. From there we took a rent car and headed south to spend the next 5 day on the Kenai. we bear hunted one day but never saw any. fished two days and caught a ton of fish. I boated a 28" rainbow on my 6 wt fly rod and my wife put a 27" steelhead in the boat on a spinning rig.
My wife and i flew to anchorage on Sep 1. We spent the next day grabbing last minute items like mountain house and tags. our first two nights were at the lake front lodge which, while nice, could use some updates for the nightly cost. Otherwise, it was more than decent.
We flew out of anchorage on Sep 3 for our "remote" moose hunt and landed around 3:30 pm. From there, we packed gear via game carts (first red flag) to the river we were to hunt. After multiple trips and several hands full of blueberries we made camp on the rivers edge. The next morning we started our float down river out of the upper hills and alpine and passed a fly fishing group along the way. We stopped and scouted a few spots where we would be able to get up high and glass but there were no camp sites reasonable that didn't include extremely swift and deep water or hauling all gear up steep terrain with deadfall. So, we pressed on and found a nice gravel bar 10 miles down river. Much further than I anticipated traveling.
Sep 5 was moose opener and we started the morning sitting on the river edge raking and grunting. i did this every 30 mins until 9:30. Made coffee and had mountain house breakfast then fished. Decided to fish and caught tons of grayling as well as my wife catching a nice rainbow. Had one of the fish for lunch which was a task in itself. Starting a fire wasn't that difficult but getting a fire hot enough to burn bigger limbs was a challenge. most everything was wet or damp. Sat and called that afternoon starting around 6 pm until dark. Then off to bed.
Sep 6 was the same routine other than having a bull walk out into the river and come to about 45 yards before he saw my wife digging for her phone. He lacked the 4th brow and wasnt near wide enough but it definitely brought some excitement! fished and hunted the rest of the day.
Sep 7 repeat of day before except no moose. I will add, a 10x12 tarp is a must when wanting to sit out of the rain/wind while on a hunt. Glad I took one. Also helped to dry things out that were damp. We thought we heard cow sounds that afternoon but wasnt too sure.
Sep 8 was the same. Call all morning and nada. Again we thought we heard cow sounds and eventually discovered that they were cow sounds coming from a couple guides and their hunters. They were just up river and had moved down to set up where we were but couldnt see us or out camp. I spoke to one of them and he told us he had seen a couple bulls across the river but we needed to tie a pull line to shuttle back and forth across the river. He also told us to strictly cow call from a distance far enough off the river that the sound wouldnt be drown out by the water and we could hear. That afternoon we did exactly that after I stepped off the raft (unsecured) came up short and got water in my waders. Thankfully it wasnt much and only my base layer took on water. I climbed a tree and we were in between two beaver ponds being less than 500 yards from either. Saw plenty of moose sign including fresh droppings and heard a cow very close that afternoon towards a pond to our left.
Sep 9 hunted across river both morning and afternoon. we only went 150 or so off the river as to not stink up the area. heard the same cow but she seemed to be further up river. other than that, nada.
Sep 10 walked to the pond to the right and cow called as we were setting up. Within minutes saw paddles headed our way. he only had 3 brows on one side and two on the other and hung up at 165 yards. It was really hard to judge his width and I knew he was close so we worked to get a shot but never worked out. After the fact I zoomed in on the video and measured and he was maybe 46". glad we didnt shoot bc fish and game circled us within 3 hours in the helicopter. That would have been costly. hunted the afternoon but saw nada.
Sep 11 was repeat of call and no moose. Heard a cow towards the other waterhole but far off in the morning but no cow sound in the afternoon.
Sep 12 hunted in morning with no success or cow sounds. Packed camp and decided it was time to move down river. Roughly 2 miles down river we ran into another group of three hunters and stopped to talk. One guy was a resident and the other two were his buddies from Missouri. He had killed a bear and they had seen the second bull we passed. They were hiking a mile up above the river and glassing miles of river and had seen several cows but no bulls worth chasing. In fact, they hadn't seen many at all. This was his second year hunting that river and he killed a bull the year before. I got an idea of a spot to stop at down river and headed down river. We hit a log jamb before dark and had to camp on a tiny gravel bar before portaging around the obstacle the next morning.
Sep 13 was my 39th birthday. Spent the morning portaging the log jamb then rowed 25 miles after hearing from the hunters the day before that severe weather was coming that included lots of rain and high winds. They blew out and got dropped at a lake between the river and Iliamna and ended up seeing a shooter but never got a shot. We then passed the guided hunters 2 miles below log jamb then found walls tents with jet boats a few more miles below them... We made it to a pick up location used by another transport service by dark and set up camp with anticipation of Rainbow out of Iliamna picking us up in the morning.
Sep 14 was bad weather. plane wasnt able to fly so he sent a fishing guide from Chatna Lodge to pick us up and get us off the river due to rising water concern. They put us in a room and fed us that day as well as the next morning. The owner of the lodge purchased it 4 years ago and runs it with his wife and 3 small children. I will do a separate write up about the lodge and their hospitality but they were great people. so much so that they refused to accept any form of payment for a night of logging and food which included doing dishes.
We caught a flight to Iliamna the next morning (adding $2k to our expenses) and the picked up by or return transporter in Iliamna back to anchorage. From there we took a rent car and headed south to spend the next 5 day on the Kenai. we bear hunted one day but never saw any. fished two days and caught a ton of fish. I boated a 28" rainbow on my 6 wt fly rod and my wife put a 27" steelhead in the boat on a spinning rig.
