Some things I learned on my first moose hunting trip:

[Blackstorm]

great list, we booked our hunt last year for 2022 Moose in Northen Ontario, fly in to an outfitter. We won't have guides but a base camp, so don't need shelters. my biggest concern is the calling as none in our group are vocally talented, did each of you call for the other?

 

[mcseal2]

I did most of the calling, my buddy did most of the raking when we hunted together. I put in a lot of evenings watching moose hunts on TV practicing calling them with my young daughter. Wife laughed but we had fun and it worked.

 

[hilts]

Very helpful/detailed info. Thanks.

 

[David215]

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....

11/13/19 UPDATE. Heath turned this thread into a complete story-article. Check it out here:

First Alaska Moose Hunt

Thanks for the insight. Going on my first trip for Moose and first to AK in 2022. Trying to absorb all the information available.

 

[HuntinMD]

PM me an email and I'll send it to you. It's an Excel file with weights and doesn't copy/paste well to the forums

excellent summary of your experiences. I also have alot of notes, lists, memories. alot very similar to yours. keep up the good detailed work. Kevin

 

[Justinc68]

Great info and things to consider.

 

[mcseal2]

Thanks everyone. I hope to go back someday.

 

[jruff002]

I'll chime in on a few things since i recently got back and can hopefully pass along a few things from my hunt and a HUGE thanks to mcseal for all his info and emails back and forth to help w/my planning. First thing that comes to mine was how i prefiltered water for my Katadyn camp water filter 10L, i had cut the bottom end outta 1 gallon milk jug and collapsed it for an extra loud raking sound and also doubled as a "prefilter", i took cheesecloth and stuffed down in the lid opening, would scoop water in the jug and let it filter through the cheesecloth into the katadyn hopper, worked great. I think the most important thing i just took by chance that not many people probably even know of are Dan's frog legs, holy cow they were beyond awesome. Dan's frog legs are briarproof chaps that are glued on at the factory by Amish workers onto a big selection of boots, their basically similaar to any hip boots but wayyyy tougher, that's about the only boot us coonhunter's will wear. So you just go online, pick out the chap you want, size, and boot choice and they custom make them up for ya, depending on what ya get they run 125-160, mine are on lacrosse grange which i love cuz they weight and ankle support. The main advantage of these over any other hip boots is you can collapse the top of the wader down to the top of the boot and they have buttons on both sides that snap to the boot to secure in place so you can leave them boot height around camp and much easier to get on/off. I took chest waders which were great also, but the coon chaps are maybe 1/3 the weight, so i found myself wearing them when i woke up in the mornings making coffee and anytime we hunted at camp which was 90% of the time, about the only time i used waders was if we used the boat to keep my rear dry, nobody's harder on boots/chaps than a coon hunter so they busted willows with ease compared to our nasty briars we have here. One thing i know tons of people use are the disposable blades knives, this was my first experience using them and i will add that i was amazed how long those things would hold an edge, they are def the cats meow on big game, i used several knives just trying diff things are they worked the best overall, i believe mine is a 3.5" outdoor edge model of some kind. A puffy jacket was a most, i think i woulda froze out had i not had one, my basic clothing setup was thermals all the time, darn tough socks (most the time i had on 2 pair) puffy jacket and helly impertech rain coat. If it wasn't too cold (which it was pretty much the whole trip), i had on kuiu axis hybrid jacket and sometimes had on both. The helly jacket i loved in the rain, no problems there. We did have a cold hunt (which i prayed for and was answered), we hunted from 9/19-22nd, temps were around 30 at night but i dont think it ever got over 45, and was 15-30mph winds 98% of the time so it was very cool which i was thankful for to preserve meat when down and keep activity up. And make sure and bring tons of coffee if your a coffee drinker, we would have ran out had it taken another day or 2. One thing i will say was i was worried about the packing out part as my back and legs are very strong but i just have an unnatural shaped back and suffer lumbar pain from it, i trained 3-4 evenings a week about 5-6 weeks before with 80lb bag of quikrete, i would walk about 6/10 mile with it and it'd kill my back but the pain was always on my bad lumbar, i knew with the heavy 1/4's they would sit very tall in the pack and put weight elsewhere but also be nearly double the weight. I was very surprised to see that it felt about identical to the quikcrete on my back, it was rather easy haul out although only had to go 100 yards at a time but the swampy terrain makes that more difficult. I talked to several people about processing times, i heard anywhere from 3.5 hours up to 6+ hours. I have butchered cattle, hogs, tons of deer sized game, etc and do some taxidermy on the side and don't really know anyone that's any more handy with a knife, my hunting partner was great also, i timed ours outta curiousity, took us 2 hours n 10 mins to have my bull completely done, that's ribs, 1/4's, neck, trim, everything bagged up and ready to pack up on tarp and also had mine caped out to mount and the skull cut off. Last thing is take atleast 1 really good pair of waterproof gloves, not to mention rubber gloves to process game....That's all i can think of for now, any newbies out there going on a moose hunt feel free to ask me any ?'s, just trying to pay my .02 forward like mcseal has done for many....God Bless!!

 

[mcseal2]

Glad you had a good hunt, and my tips helped. I have a few pairs of Ridgeline Supply Yoder chaps which sound just like your Frog Legs. I use a light pair fishing with a Tingley boot, and a heavy pair with the Lacrosse like you have for fixing water gaps in fence. Great products. The light pair is 46oz I think, not bad to pack in addition to other boots if the area might need them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jruff002]

one other thing i thought of, LEUKOTAPE!!! We had an ember hole in our tent's rain fly from the previous users, Leuko fixed that and also a hot spot on my foot 1 hour after being dropped off. I'll never go on any hunting trip again without it, i think a man could make a sticky trap with that and pour corn on it and it'd catch a deer!

 

[4J_Outdoors]

great list, we booked our hunt last year for 2022 Moose in Northen Ontario, fly in to an outfitter. We won't have guides but a base camp, so don't need shelters. my biggest concern is the calling as none in our group are vocally talented, did each of you call for the other?

Blackstorm, where are you hunting out of this year? I'm flying out of Wawa Ontario this September on my first moose hunt. PM me if that's better for you. Cheers !

 

[No Saint Thomas]

This is exactly what I needed. I am going in a slightly different part of Alaska, but I've been trying to wade through what I need and what I don't.

 

[No Saint Thomas]

Something I've learned on my 49th moose hunt:

There's getting to be too many hunters in the bush and too much ORV stuff!

It is definitely getting harder to get away from other people!

 

[kybuck1]

Good info and story

 

[TAS1313]

Thanks for all the insights, recs, and tips ITT.

 

[nick2021]

Great list!

 

[mcseal2]

Thanks, glad it helps.

 

[akcabin]

If I may chime in. As a resident n hunter I've spent over 40 years out there. And have moose in our yard often like daily in the winter. So a good opportunity to watch n study.
I do a few things differently. If going remote I'd get a MSR water purifier. Won't ever have to worry about water if there is any near. I use a plastic pint whiskey bottle with a stick in the end for a raking call around the cabin. Or just my hands n voice. Easier for me to control how loud. I will pick a couple devils club leaves where I make a ground blind. They turn yellow and I use them as antlers.
I will put a couple in a willow tree next to me or near that look like an immature bull. They wave around with the wind. Same thing with a canoe paddle. Lay it in the branches. Then do cow in heat calls.
As they are small most bulls wont be intimidated.
Find cows you find bulls. I do cow in heat calls mostly. Hard n loud n long. Throw in a few bursts now and then. If a bull responds be quite. Maybe an immature bull grunt done lightly to bring in a stubborn bull. Bigger bulls will make a light grunt sound with each step, ugh ugh. Warning any bulls to split. Stay quiet.
I still hunt during the day moving slowly. Looking for sign or a moose. They don't dissappear. Sit at dusk n dawn.
Moose see good. Movement grabs their eyes.
I will wear muck pro boots or hip waders. The new loose fitting ones are nice but noisier. I'll also just use a good pair of rubber pants n muck boots.
Deet. The thermocells work good. I've used alder leaves mashed in my hands n rubbed a bare skin.
Don't shoot a moose in the water. If it gets wet process it fast. Lots of bacteria in the water. I lost a whole moose because it fell into a river that had salmon in it. Turned green in 2 days. Water goes right down near the bones into the middle.
I have a bag of knives when out usually. I've done them with my 3" pocket knife before.
The ak department of game has a good video on gutless method for moose. And other great information.
Mostly always remember that the opportunity and experience of hunting is the goal. Hard to get there sometimes. And harvesting game is the frosting on a great cake. And doing it together with family or good friends is a reward in itself. Nothing wrong with sitting around a campfire with friends and family and maybe a bit of beers n whiskey. And just having the opportunity

 

[Slugz]

If I may chime in. As a resident n hunter I've spent over 40 years out there. And have moose in our yard often like daily in the winter. So a good opportunity to watch n study.
I do a few things differently. If going remote I'd get a MSR water purifier. Won't ever have to worry about water if there is any near. I use a plastic pint whiskey bottle with a stick in the end for a raking call around the cabin. Or just my hands n voice. Easier for me to control how loud. I will pick a couple devils club leaves where I make a ground blind. They turn yellow and I use them as antlers.
I will put a couple in a willow tree next to me or near that look like an immature bull. They wave around with the wind. Same thing with a canoe paddle. Lay it in the branches. Then do cow in heat calls.
As they are small most bulls wont be intimidated.
Find cows you find bulls. I do cow in heat calls mostly. Hard n loud n long. Throw in a few bursts now and then. If a bull responds be quite. Maybe an immature bull grunt done lightly to bring in a stubborn bull. Bigger bulls will make a light grunt sound with each step, ugh ugh. Warning any bulls to split. Stay quiet.
I still hunt during the day moving slowly. Looking for sign or a moose. They don't dissappear. Sit at dusk n dawn.
Moose see good. Movement grabs their eyes.
I will wear muck pro boots or hip waders. The new loose fitting ones are nice but noisier. I'll also just use a good pair of rubber pants n muck boots.
Deet. The thermocells work good. I've used alder leaves mashed in my hands n rubbed a bare skin.
Don't shoot a moose in the water. If it gets wet process it fast. Lots of bacteria in the water. I lost a whole moose because it fell into a river that had salmon in it. Turned green in 2 days. Water goes right down near the bones into the middle.
I have a bag of knives when out usually. I've done them with my 3" pocket knife before.
The ak department of game has a good video on gutless method for moose. And other great information.
Mostly always remember that the opportunity and experience of hunting is the goal. Hard to get there sometimes. And harvesting game is the frosting on a great cake. And doing it together with family or good friends is a reward in itself. Nothing wrong with sitting around a campfire with friends and family and maybe a bit of beers n whiskey. And just having the opportunity

Well said. Humble, thankful and grateful to be in the woods. I can remember the day my son figured that out. Proudest moment ever and made me feel like..." well shit I did do.something right as a father"

 

[barehandlineman]

Im getting ready too head up here in September. Any pointers on shipping meat home? I set up alaska air cargo as known shipper. But still figuring out best place to ship from iliamna too anchorage or if better too ship to meat processor. Caribou was pretty simple im thinking 2 bull moose wont be. Thanks