Some things I learned on my first moose hunting trip:

[roymunson]

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

i got a spot on a truck with Alaska Trophy Express.

Additionally, I love how loud moose seas becoming on here and in my own head.

 

[barehandlineman]

Is it true they only go to certain locations and you have too meet them?

 

[william schmaltz]

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

Is it true they only go to certain locations and you have too meet them?

I've used Lake and Penn Air as well as Iliamna Air when bouncing around the Lake Clark/Iliamna area. Both are very good companies with offices in Iliamna and deal with cargo. Give em a call. What does your local contact say? He would by far be the best info. I know that ACE air cargo also flies into Iliamna and would be worth a phone call. Everts is another company I would check with - they may do a seasonal route into there. Or they may be making trips for the mine and have space for some cheap back haul.

If you have to put everything in boxes/totes to ship from the village, you may as well just send it AK air cargo or check it IMO. It's already packaged to go so why mess around. If you can ship whole quarters/Hamburger bags on a pallet to Anchorage, then I'd go the AK Trophy Express route. You are correct that you need to check their map and meet at the closest town on the route. And the major complaint my friends have had several different times and years is that they are terrible at updating the location and timing of their route. So they update everyone on when they left AK and then went radio silence. Last year my buddies tried calling several times during their departure week to get an idea of when they need to meet. No one ever returned a call or email. Opening day of pheasant season and still silence so they were several beers in after the hunt and they got a phone call that they need to meet at their pickup location 3 hours away in 5 hours. If it was me, my preferred route would still be to ship everything whole on a pallet to ANC and coordinate pickup, freezing, and hauling with AK Trophy Express and their contacts.

 

[barehandlineman]

Thanks i ended up booking through lake and penn and scheduled charter with them back. Gives me 2400lbs of luggage capacity. Then set up air cargo from anchorage home. Having nick in anchorage pack my meet and wrap antlers.

 

[charliechunga]

Thanks for the list. I’m trying to go next year.

 

[Leembelden]

Great information being shared all around. Thanks everybody

 

[Whizkid]

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

I’m heading to Newfoundland later, but probably good advice for me to think about up there

 

[hobolance]

Simms G3 chest waders and G3 boots worked great for both of us. I wear a size 11 normal boot and went with a size 9-11 stocking foot on the waders and a size 12 boot. I think that was about right. Flipping the waders inside out and letting the foot dry when we could was a good idea.

Hi. Considering buying Simms waders, I am curious how you used them during your moose hunt? How did they hold up? And what kind of abuse did they see?

 

[mcseal2]

Every time we left camp we were in our waders. There was nowhere to travel in anything less. We hiked through some brush, really never babied them just hunted. I would take the same pair again on a future hunt with no worries.

We had a couple repair kits if they were needed, but mine have never leaked. I have worn them a dozen times or so around home on fishing or predator hunting trips on the river during colder months. I think they are a good investment.

I should add it depends on your hunt. Ours was in a swamp, a ridge hunt would be different. It would be a question for your outfitter or transporter if you are using one.

 

[barehandlineman]

Just got back we lived in our waders. Between them and alpaca rafts idk what was a better purchase. Rut never kicked in for us so was hard hunting i did kill a 63” bull

 

[bobco]

thanks for the information, helped out on my Colorado moose hunt.

 

[diydan]

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 tips!