We went to Alaska

[cnelk]

After a few minutes of taking pics, it was time to butcher.

I told Collin earlier that it’s probably best that only one person runs the knife and the other guy holds legs and pulls hide. It was his choice on what he wanted to do.

He thought it would be best for me to run the knife and he will hold/pull hide.

 

[cnelk]

It took a solid 2 hours to quarter up and get meat ready to transport. There was a steady cold light rain the whole time. We didn’t know how wet were until we started packing the meat.

We decided to shuttle the meat about 100yds away from the carcass.

 

[Szwampdonkey]

Good stuff! Looks like a great hunt.

 

[cnelk]

Once all the meat was shuttled 100yds away, we then reloaded our packs and trudged thru the woods and marsh 300yds to the big lake where the plane could land.
17 trips in all - from carcass to lake

I truly believe everyone should strap on an Alaska moose quarter and hike 300-400yds thru the shit with hip boots on to get the full Alaska moose hunting experience

 

[cnelk]

There were 8 game bags plus the head to pack to the lake. I think we were done about 2pm.

We were exhausted

 

[cnelk]

Next was to construct a meat pole and hang the meat

 

[cnelk]

With the meat taken care of, we finally got back to camp, washed up a bit and then sat down and smoked a Black&Mild cigar to celebrate.

It’s the finer things in life

 

[cnelk]

Monday evening I sent an InReach message to the pilot letting him know we had a moose - all quartered up and hung at the lake - and when extraction could take place

We got a reply Tuesday morning that we could be flown out Wednesday or Thursday - Wx permitting

We had to wait for the message of when.

 

[cnelk]

So we hung out all day and waited. The message came Tuesday evening that the pilot would arrive at 930am Wednesday morning as he had a cancellation

We started to pack up camp

 

[cnelk]

930am Wednesday morning we heard the faint hum of the plane coming. We slogged our way around the lake and over to the meat and started loading the plane

The pilot is very experienced. He took over half the moose on the first trip out.

It’s quite a feat to put a moose quarter on your shoulder, stand on the pontoon and shove it into the plane.

 

[dallen]

View attachment 520778

Next was to construct a meat pole and hang the meat

I can just smell that scene…..love being at that point in a moose hunt

 

[cnelk]

After the first load of meat left, Collin stayed at the meat pole, and I went back over to the camp to finish packing up and taking all the gear to the lake shore.

Here is Collin over at the meat pole loading the 2nd load and antlers. I’m standing at camp

 

[cnelk]

It took just over an hour for each round trip.



So, 2 loads of meat, and one trip each for me and Collin.

We were all out by 2pm

 

[cnelk]

I’ll skip some of the next day’s details of butchering and packing and show what we looked like going thru the airport

We gave the pilot some meat and also a relative I have up in that area.

350lbs of meat plus head headed home

 

[cnelk]

So that’s the story. If you ever think about going to Alaska, do it man. It’s just there waiting for you

 

[cnelk]

 

[UncleBone]

Awesome story man!

 

[NB7]

Awesome story with great pics!
Congratulations, that's one hell of a hunt and lifelong memory

 

[Adamsfj]

Wow very cool!. Thank you for sharing an awesome adventure story and photos to go with it.

 

[BigBerm]

Fantastic write-up. Thanks!