Your easiest Alaskan Moose?

[Snowwolfe]

We always talk about the difficult hunts, but what about the easy ones? The ones we were simply in the right place at the right time. I would like to share these two experiences. Please add yours.

The rest of my hunting buddies had headed off looking for caribou for the day so I was alone and lazy. Was sitting on my ATV taking a break with the engine off just enjoying some quiet time. A nice fat spike bull decided to walk up and investigate what I was. A 10 yard shot with a 375 H&H. Poor boy didn't stand a chance.

Met a guy on the Koyukuk river around 2010 who shared a story with me. He and his sons hunted from a huge boat they built themselves. One day the sons went hunting while the old man decided to stay on the boat to take a rest. After breakfast he looked up and there was a huge bull standing on the bank looking down into the boat. If you ever hunted on the Koyukuk you are most likely familiar with the steep, but short river banks. Anyhow, the guy shot the bull and it fell and tumbled down into the bow of the boat. He went back inside to finish his breakfast and waited for his sons to come back to process it. Forgot his name but he lived down near Soldotna.
You just can't beat that!

 

[WMR]

My only moose so far was shot right in front of the tent and fell 75 yards outside the front door. Wife was in the tent when I shot. She looked out the door and watched it fall. 100 yard pack/drag to get the meat to the lake for pickup. Really pretty easy considering the size of the critter. Some luck involved, no doubt, but we planned to shoot one near the lake. We’re a bit old for any long pack jobs, so we did all our calling near the lake. Going back to the same area in 2026 to try again.

 

[Tjdeerslayer37]

Met a guy on the Koyukuk river around 2010 who shared a story with me. He and his sons hunted from a huge boat they built themselves. One day the sons went hunting while the old man decided to stay on the boat to take a rest. After breakfast he looked up and there was a huge bull standing on the bank looking down into the boat. If you ever hunted on the Koyukuk you are most likely familiar with the steep, but short river banks. Anyhow, the guy shot the bull and it fell and tumbled down into the bow of the boat. He went back inside to finish his breakfast and waited for his sons to come back to process it. Forgot his name but he lived down near Soldotna.
You just can't beat that!

Makes me wonder if this may have been my buddy Tom Werth and his brother and dad. they hunt off a big landing craft style rig and lived in soldotna back then.

 

[Meanderthal]

Don't have any stories to add, just like the topic and want to follow. Gives me hope.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

In 2017, I had 10 days off work but nobody to hunt with so I left on my first jet boat by myself at around 7 am on a Thursday morning. About 90 minutes later I was heading up a shallow river that dosent get hardly any traffic.

I pulled the boat into a slough, climbed up a 20 foot bluff to look at a meadow I always check out. Sure enough there was a good meat bull (48”) feeding about 120 yards away, completely unaware I was there.

The tree I was next to even had a great branch for a rest so one shot dropped him. I went back to the boat and figured I’d get a raft out and line it up the slough to haul loads out but the slough was deep enough, I was able to line the whole 16 foot jet boat within 50 feet of the bull. It wasn’t even 9am. By 1 I had it all taken care of and loaded in the boat so I pulled the boat out to the main river, stashed all my extra fuel and made the trip home. It was slow because loaded was loaded down but by like 3pm I had it hanging in my garage.

I got it cut up over the weekend and got back to work Monday without even burning my PTO.

That never happened again, all the rest of my moose trips, even in the same area have been harder and a few of them have been downright brutal. Boat problems, low water, bears in camp, fuel shortages, injuries, etc all that good stuff.

 

[Snowwolfe]

Makes me wonder if this may have been my buddy Tom Werth and his brother and dad. they hunt off a big landing craft style rig and lived in soldotna back then.

He was average height but portly, think he had a Texas or southern accent. Owned some type of mechanical or trucking business. Very likable fellow. Could of listened to his stories all day. Met him two years in a row and he told me they been hunting the Koyukuk/Yukon for 25 or 30 years. Their boat was huge and I believe powered by twin gas V8's.

 

[Yellowknife]

I've helped family "recover" a few yard bulls, and my neighbor dropped one on the other side of the cul-de-sac a two years ago. Never quite so lucky for me though.

I have had some easy ones though, so can't complain. Was driving off a remote job site one day and spotted one a few hundred yards from the road. Short stalk and that was it. Recovered the quarters with an ATV the next morning.

Filled a few winter cow tags on short day hunts. Rolled the moose on to a big freight sled, pulled them back to the truck with a ski-doo and then loaded sled and moose on the trailer whole. Got home and slid the moose into the garage still on the sled. Can't beat skinning in a warm garage.

Shot a few near camp before I'd had my coffee. White antlers before dawn will wake a guy up. Closest was 80 yds from the meat pole.

There are usually plenty of challenging ones mixed in to keep it entertaining though!

 

[SaltySailor]

Was back in moose camp hunting hard and smashing country, couldn't get close to any legal bulls and not much action. I managed to get a nasty hole in my wheeler tire, plugs couldn't save it so I limped it out all the way back to the trail head, took it off and threw it in my rig to make the hour drive to the closest town who could install a tube. Waited around for the tube to get done, anxious to get back to camp and find a bull. After about an hour it was finished and I hurried back out of town to get back to camp. Not even 5 minutes out of town a paddle bull walked right out in front of me on the road, not a soul around. I stared at him staring at me then realized - I'M IN AN ANY-BULL AREA RIGHT NOW! Pulled over and he wandered about 75 yards into the brush while I grabbed my rifle and put my boots back on. He took one behind the shoulder and went down, I called a buddy who was local to help, and 2.5 hours later he was loaded into the back of my rig! Didn't even go back to camp that night, lol. Luckiest hole in a tire ever.