Some things I learned on my first moose hunting trip:

[mcseal2]

I'm going to try the Dura-flame trick in my stove in CO this October. I can get a fire started pretty easy with the dry wood there, but when I'm trying to take the chill off half awake early in the morning I'll cheat every way I can.

The transporter we are using for our 2020 caribou hunt is going to rent us a Mr Buddy heater and big propane bottle we will use in the tipi. Might be another option worth keeping in mind for hunts where weight isn't a huge issue. We will really be short of wood from what I've heard on that trip.

 

[rwmorgan48]

I'll add to this later but have a few minutes while my wife is getting ready to type a little about what I learned on my first AK moose hunt. We hunted with Papa Bear Adventures and had a good hunt. I took a bull I was very happy with and my buddy shot a smaller one late in the hunt.

We had a lot of rain early. It rained at least 3/4 of every 24hour day for 4 days, and then the sky cleared up and temps warmed up into the upper 60's for highs. We also had a full moon. When the rain quit I shot my bull that evening, before it got warm. We called in another bull the next morning while it was pretty cool and somewhat cloudy. Once the temps warmed up with clear skies and the full moon we never called another bull. I am thinking that the moose did like whitetail would at home and primarily moved and rutted at night, slept or at least were lethargic during the day. With the cooler temps but lots of light that seems logical at least to a rookie moose hunter like me.

This was a drop camp DIY hunt. I would encourage anyone doing it to ask questions before leaving town if you have them about anything. Do a good inspection of the gear the outfitter provides and ask any questions you have before heading into the field. My buddy and I had used gear like what they had and had no issues, but it was something we thought of one evening at camp. How many people today have patched a tire or would know what to do with the tools provided with the raft? How many people have trouble-shot a 2 stroke motor? We grew up as farm kids plus fished a lot with old boats and motors, and my buddy had an inflatable raft for a while. It's stuff we knew but we both know a lot of people with different backgrounds who would not have had that experience. We took our own tent, but if you use an outfitter provided tent make sure you can set it up before you are in the field with a high wind and rain. Self reliance and experience are a big help on a hunt like this and can save frustration and time for hunting.

Take some tarps. We had a 10x10 Seek Outside tarp over our cook/lounge area at camp. We pulled the middle tie out on one side lower than the rest and put my 10L folding bucket under it to catch rain water. It was a lot better tasting than the swamp water we filtered before and after the days of rain, plus saved our water filter some abuse.

Have a good water filter and back-up filter elements. We used a Katadyn Base camp 10L filter. The first new filter element we had (only previous use was flushing it with well water at my house) was very slow from the start. I think the first 10L of swamp water took 12 hours to run through it. We even pre-filtered the water going into the Katadyn bag through a screen I bought off Ebay to help save the filter after having an issue on a Canadian fishing/canoeing trip in 2013. The second filter element we tried was fast, it worked like it should have. If I use that filter again I'll take the filter we used this trip plus a couple spares. I had a Steripen in my pack to treat water as needed if I re-filled my water bottles during the day but never ended up needing it.

Wife is ready, will be continued later....

Thanks for the advice. look forward to hearing more

 

[Justin Crossley]

Heath's article is live! What a cool adventure!

Check it out here. First Alaska Moose Hunt

 

[KChunter71]

Heath's article is live! What a cool adventure!

Check it out here. First Alaska Moose Hunt

Great article MCSeal2

 

[Michael54]

Awesome article. Finding this forum and reading of a lot of you guys doing hunts i've only dreamed of is really putting me in the "just do it already" mindset. Alaska is definitely a bucket list hunt for me.

 

[mooster]

It's not the most glamorous subject, but another item I was glad I had along was a bottle to pee in at night in the tent. I used a 32oz Gatorade bottle. When going outside requires putting on a rain coat, rain pants, and mud boots plus unzipping the bug netting over the door and letting in a fresh batch of bugs it is a darn nice option to have.

Did you need bug netting? We bou hunted this year same time but more to North, didn’t have to worry about the bugs. Of course we had winds most days.

 

[mooster]

I'm going to try the Dura-flame trick in my stove in CO this October. I can get a fire started pretty easy with the dry wood there, but when I'm trying to take the chill off half awake early in the morning I'll cheat every way I can.

The transporter we are using for our 2020 caribou hunt is going to rent us a Mr Buddy heater and big propane bottle we will use in the tipi. Might be another option worth keeping in mind for hunts where weight isn't a huge issue. We will really be short of wood from what I've heard on that trip.

We hunted bou out of Kotzebue this year. We found wood scarce at camp, but abundant 500 yds or more away. We would do as others suggested, bundling and packing deadwood we found away from camp. Sometimes we’d be packing significant amounts back to cmap at days end. We left a lot for the next camp that would use the site.

 

[mcseal2]

Did you need bug netting? We bou hunted this year same time but more to North, didn’t have to worry about the bugs. Of course we had winds most days.

No we had face nets but never used them. Bugs were around in limited numbers but really not an issue. We had bug nets on the doors of our tipi. The few mosquitos that made it in were slow and easily swatted.

 

[decrooj]

mcseal2, could you send me your gear list please? I am new to the forum and unable to PM yet. I have a moose hunt coming up in 2021 and would love to see your gear list and food list. Thanks!

 

[live2huntelk]

I'm going to try the Dura-flame trick in my stove in CO this October. I can get a fire started pretty easy with the dry wood there, but when I'm trying to take the chill off half awake early in the morning I'll cheat every way I can.

Did you get to try the Dura-flame....curious how it worked.

 

[mcseal2]

I did not. We ended up camping in a spot we could drive to. We just used a Mr Buddy heater for a little bit in the evening and before getting out of the sleeping bag in the morning. We didnt have to use the wood stove.

 

[mcseal2]

mcseal2, could you send me your gear list please? I am new to the forum and unable to PM yet. I have a moose hunt coming up in 2021 and would love to see your gear list and food list. Thanks!

I put my gear list up after the trip. Its a couple pages back in this forum.

 

[decrooj]

Email is [email protected]

 

[KChunter71]

Email is [email protected]

I tagged you in the thread for the gear list. The search function you can find other list too

 

[bbright]

Following. Thanks for sharing. Bucket list hunt...one day

 

[decrooj]

Awesome! Thanks!

 

[GrimesCreek]

Great post! Thanks for sharing

 

[mcseal2]

Glad you guys liked it. I'm already working on next fall's caribou hunt. I'm sure I will learn some things there too I will have to share. I can't wait to get back to Alaska. We ended up changing transporters due to a change in the original transporter's business plan. He got more responsibility in his full time job and was going to have to have another guy handle his clients. He was great to deal with, told all his clients and offered us a refund of our deposit if we wanted. Due to that change and some overcrowding reports from a friend who hunted the same area we made a new plan. Now we will be flying out and tighter on weight so some of the extras need cut out.

 

[GrimesCreek]

I would like to see the new lighter gear list, I hope you post it before you go.

 

[mcseal2]

I will do that once its done.