My First Alaskan Moose Trip

[Russp17]

Thanks for the honest story and thanks for being honest with Fish and Game! Yeah that first bull is likely between 43-47 inches in my mind. Much less than 50.

 

[JPD350]

Glad you guys had a good hunt, I can imagine how you must of felt, it's the feeling of that thought that kept me from shooting....I didn't shoot on two different hunts so I am 0-2 for Alaskan moose hunts, I don't know what the penalties that you faced were but I am glad I didn't shoot........
My first hunt I had a bull at 250 yds and right when he came out of the trees it started snowing enough to where I couldn't glass clear enough to really judge him, I was sure he was right in the 50" zone, I just watched him torment us for an hour or so, it was day 12 of 14 and the only opportunity we had.
On my second hunt there was a bull walking along the opposite side of the river from our camp but I couldn't tell from the side view if he was 50 or if he had 4 b tines, he turned and crossed the river right towards us. At that point I could see he only had 3 b tines and we needed 4, I still couldn't tell if he was 50, he continued to come straight to us. He came out of the river and stood at 30yds looking at us for at least 3 or 4 minutes, we were figuring right at 50 but we opted to not shoot, on this hunt he was also the only bull we could have shot, it was sooo hard not to shoot that bull!!

So you made me feel a little better about not shooting but 50" still haunts me in a different way

 

[Thess87]

Thanks. Awesome and honest write up

 

[bigredxlt]

Great write up and great insight. Thank you

 

[cnelk]

The AFG put out a new 'Is this moose legal' video

Also helpful watch - http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=moosehunting.legal

 

[Buck2747]

Thanks for the link some good info in that video.

 

[OFFHNTN]

Excellent write up and honesty. Live and learn!
Thanks for sharing!

 

[keller]

great and honest write up and great respect for owning up and doing the right thing! i'm sure it could easily be done in the heat of the moment.

 

[cruzer17]

Nice write-up and thx for sharing. I'm curious as to what your tripod setup was, referring to the one in the picture?

Sent from my moto g(6) play using Tapatalk

 

[RedRidge]

Nice write-up and thx for sharing. I'm curious as to what your tripod setup was, referring to the one in the picture?

Sent from my moto g(6) play using Tapatalk

It was a Slik 624 tripod with Manfrotto 700RC2 mini fluid head with vortex bino adapter.

 

[7Bartman]

Thanks for sharing and kudos to your for being honest and doing the right (but hard) thing. I certainly wouldn't beat my self up over a man-made imposed rule. Not that the rule isn't for good reason, however I judge people by motive and it doesn't seem like you were trying to cheat the system. Hopefully, you didn't get too large a paper cut.

 

[AlaskaEd]

Man when I saw that first moose pic I thought mid 40s at best, then when the transporter said he’d shoot, I knew where your story was going. In your defense, what should have been a knowledgeable AK outdoorsman, gave you some shit advise. That sucks, but I guarantee you still had a great time.

My second moose was 49 7/8. I took him to the Wildlife troopers and they did all kinds of creative measuring to try to make it 50”, but just couldn’t get it there. Still, I ended up being let go with a warning, and got to keep everything, what a relief. Ever since then I’ve passed on a ton of what we’re surely slighty over 50”, but I got lucky once, and don’t want to take the chance.

I know why you mean about the bush planes, I enjoyed flying in them so much I bought a Taylorcraft. Not quite a Supercub, but it scratches the itch.

What general area, or unit, were you in?

 

[NorthernAK]

For judging/practice, what was the spread of the legal moose your buddy shot? Looks like 65"ish to me, fantastic bull. Lots of brow tines as well. Great write up and good on you for doing the right thing and reporting and actually writing about it. Helps people learn. The first pic of the bull you passed on looks like 47"-49" to me.

 

[clearwateralaskaoutfitters]

Excellent write-up and honesty. Thanks for sharing your amazing experience with us and the pictures that you have shared in this post.

 

[dkhor]

That’s awesome man, congrats!

 

[mooster]

Long overdue, but will share my first trip to Alaska moose hunting. A friend of mine, his dad, and another lad had been planning this hunt over 2 years out. Of course I probably read every thread on here about moose hunting and what to bring, expect, etc... Our texts between each other usually consisted of gear selection, current sales, and of course pictures of stud moose in the alaskan bush.

I flew in to Alaska and the other three took the long drive through Canada from Tennessee to get the full experience. We all met up at the airstrip where they left their trailer. They said the drive was super long, but got to see some awesome sights along the way. The next morning had us meeting our transporter getting some breakfast and then prepping gear for the bush plane ride in. We had decided the order of who would fly in first and set some priorities of work once the first guy hit the ground.

I fly helicopters for a living and when I stepped in the bush plane to head out I was in heaven. I can honestly say I almost enjoyed the flight in and out as much as the hunt. Perhaps a future calling.... We had a clear sunny day flying in (one of two for the 11 days in the bush....) and was able to see alot of beautiful country going in to include some rams.

Once we all got in to camp and gear was situated we constructed a cook area and strung up tarps for our hangout space. Since you cant fly and hunt on the same day we just checked our gear and glassed the area around camp deciding on our game plan for the first day of the hunt. The first hunting day would be our only day it didn't rain on us. We decided to move up above the trees calling as we went to get a good feel for the area which would lead to our first encounter. We split up into two teams of two. We hunted high and the other stayed low. We ended up above tree line around lunch and sat down to rest and eat a snack while calling. The flash of a white paddle in the trees is hard to miss or forget. Just like that I had a bull moose in my scope. Judging the 50" requirement was definitely the hardest part of the trip even accounting for butchering and packing a moose in my opinion. The bull works all the way into 30 yards and we can't make the call. We think he was like 49" maybe 50". Here he is. The bull I passed on the first day of hunting. This will come back to haunt me later...

Day 2 comes and we move down into the thick trees and call. Almost felt like turkey hunting, but didn't move as frequent. We ended up calling in another bull to 60 yards and passed on him. He was definitely easier to judge. For the next few days we would do this and we had a blast walking through the mushy ground and browsing on blueberries along the way. As the time passed we all split up in hopes to increase our odds and it worked. Another bull was passed from the other guy with us. After the fact he thinks he was legal, but its hard to pull the trigger on one when its close.

My friends dad and him hunted the next day and me and the other guy moved areas and went high again to glass. What happened next was amazing. We were glassing down into the trees and my friend says bull! He sees a white flash come out into an opening at least a mile away and sure we see two hunters setup on him and the bull is moving towards them. We hear the shot and watch the bull stumble off and we think he crashes but it was hard to tell. We knew it was our guys and we checked the compass and GPS and headed off in that direction. Long story short we drifted some and ended up going back to camp to wait on them. My friends dad took an amazing bull with some awesome fronts.

We learned a lot on butchering a bull that day and next morning! 4 guys made it easier for sure and Mr. Dill is right on doing it solo would suck a**.

Quick excerpt on gear: We stayed in this Cabelas tent provided by the transporter and it was ok, but I should have taken my Kifaru Sawtooth. Having room to standup and get dressed is invaluable. We did stay dry sleeping, but we had rain 9 out of the 11 days. We had 3 tarps and more would be beneficial. Having a place to hang out at camp or eat breakfast and drink coffee is a must have. I had a Kifaru Reckoning and it worked flawlessly. I had multiple loads near the 100lb mark. Definitely sucked, but bearable. Three of us had .300 Win and I carried a Tikka 7RM. I bought some kayak waterproof pants and they worked great. A little loud but not really a factor when rifle hunting IMO. I did have some condensation, but totally worth it when everything is wet all day long or when the rain is coming down. For butchering we had two small folding saws and your basic hunting knives. Nothing crazy. 3-4" blades worked fine.

A few shots of our camp.

Our bush kitchen

Now to the bad part of the trip. I headed off calling in an opening and ended up calling a bull in. Now when the transporter came to pick up our friend's dad's bull I showed him the pictures and video of the bull I passed on day 1. He said if he was hunting that day he would have shot him... With that in my mind here I am looking at this bull with the same angles of the paddles and the fronts are identical. A spit brow and one spear. I had my phone out and would look at him then the picture. I did this multiple time as he stared into the trees I was hiding behind. I made the call. I shot the bull. As I walked up to him I had that bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I had my trekking poles marked off for 50" and when I got the pole set I could tell..... he was short. Talk about a horrible feeling. After getting my sh** together I mark him on the GPS and head to camp to grab help. We hike back up and get him quartered up and bagged up. It takes us until dark to get him down to camp. Fast forward and I am dealing with Alaska Game and fish when we get out of the bush. If anyone has questions on what happens if you shoot a short bull you can shoot me a pm. Most guys probably wouldn't post it, but I am to tell you all who are going moose hunting to really spend the time learning to judge a moose spread. I would offer that unless he is legal by his brow tines or you know for a fact he is over 50 don't chance it.

Overall the trip was amazing even after making a serious mistake. The experience of Alaska was incredible and I would encourage all of those wanting to try it to just go for it. I am already looking at going back! Here are some more pictures of the trip. If he you have questions on anything specific shoot. Sorry I was long winded.

Awesome write up. Extremely helpful for us to read and learn from. Thanks for sharing the good bad and ugly. Hope you got some respect from the trooper for self reporting, you do in my book.

 

[Cc1]

Thanks for the story. Anyone have tips on estimating 50"?

 

[ReinsuranceShooter]

Lots of info about gear lists etc, which is mostly what I am hunting for leading up to my actual hunt but this was an awesome reminder of the human elements that happen in the field. Then doing the right thing when things go off the rails a bit. Thank you for sharing and making sure folks keep this front of mind. Caution and integrity. Good on you!

 

[clearwateralaskaoutfitters]

Thanks for sharing your experience!!

 

[Tomks]

Great write up