Here we go!
After days of travel we arrive in Tok, Alaska and check in with 40 Mile Air. We pass the weight test and have all of our stuff (50# each and two gear loads of 250#) organized and ready to go. Dick tells us to call at 07:00 the next morning to get our flight schedule.
We get a bite at Fast Eddies and hit the rack. I don't think any of us slept much as we were all excited.
Anyway in the morning we call and Dick tells us we are scheduled to go at 2:00 that afternoon. So off we go to breakfast and head over to the sports store to pick up so last minute items. John's phone rings and Dick says get there ASAP as plans had changed.
We get back to the motel and throw everything in the van, swing by and drop the keys off and head to 40 mile air accross the street. We hit the door and Dick says get our gear on the 206 on the runway. Two guys and two personal loads and one gear load. Jason and John jump in and are gone just that fast.
I'm set for the turnaround trip on the 206 and no sooner set down when a Cub lands and Dick wants one of the gear loads on it fast. So we back the van up and load the other gear load on the Cub and he's gone.
I'm there now with my personal load waiting for the 206 and 45 minutes later he was there and ready to take me and another hunter into the distribution airstrip.
When I land a Cub is waiting for me and we load and are back in the air in minutes. 40 minutes flight time and we are landing on the ridge.
Here is Jason right after they landed.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_1.jpg)
The gear load I put on the Cub coming in.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_2.jpg)
And me arriving.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_3.jpg)
It takes a lot for a guy my size to get out of these little kites.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_4.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_5.jpg)
The weather was perfect for getting camp set with no wind and 60 degrees. In no time we had John's TeePee up and our bedrolls in place.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_6.jpg)
Next we grabbed the pistols, the dromadary water bags and our packs. Headed over the hill to get water. It's about 1/2 mile and 400 verticle feet to the stream so it was nice to have four of the 10 liter water bags.
:campfire:
Here is a view of camp from up the ridge a bit also beyond the camp is the runway and on the very end of the ridge our spotting location for hunting moose.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_7.jpg)
Great pictures ... looking forward to more pics and the full story!!!
As you can see the area is huge and with good optics you can see moose way too far away. But even before I landed the guys had seen four bulls and had a large caribou on the ridge alongside of camp. It turns out that caribou would be our neighbors throughout the hunt as they fed and migrated across the ridge above camp.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_8.jpg)
Gotta run too town but will try and finish this up tonight.
Mike
SWEEET!! Keep it comin' Mike.
Beautiful country! :campfire:
Oh my, looks to be a Kifaru Tipi...4 man or 8 man? You all lived in style while there!
Brian
I can't wait for the rest of this one.
I also would like to know what tipi that is. Thanks for the pics, they are fantastic.
That is at LEAST an 8-man, it might be 12. I have a 4-man for sale in the Camping section of the classifieds here if anyone is interested...
Mike,
I just pulled up my Huntmore 360 and ready for the rest of the story...Figure I can't go huntin yet so why not enjoy your hunt "brought to you by the fine makers of Dryad bows"...O.K. the commercial is over now lets continue ... :rolleyes:
Too cool,love the country.Keep it coming.
Did you fly with John or Jake?
They are my friends step kids.
This beautiful golden eagle spent time looking over camp before sliding off towards the sunlit ridge in the previous pic.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_9.jpg)
BTW the tipi is the 18 ft and is the largest that they make I believe. John also has a titanium 4 dog stove that keeps it very comfortable and has an oven so we could make bisquits.
Jake was flying the pale yellow cub and John was on one of the 206s.
We got into camp on the 6th and the season didn't start until the 8th. We did this so we could do some scouting and get camp setup the way we wanted. The 7th we cut wood and did some glassing. By the end of the day we our bull moose spotted count had risin from 4 to 19 with some very big bulls.
Needless too say the evening of the 7th was filled with anticipation.
Morning came and we quickly got coffee and some bfast bars down before heading to the end of the ridge too spot. It was incredible with us seeing 21 different bull moose including a group of 8 bulls traveling together. Unfortunately the closest ones were 3 plus miles away. We could only hope they would respond to John's calling and head our direction.
At about 11 am storm clouds came rolling over the mountain behind us and we hauled butt for the tent. We made it just as the wind and rain began.
Two days later the storm subsided and we got out of the tent again.
This fellow was up the hill from camp. Pic is through Johns spotting scope.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_10.jpg)
We headed down to our spotting locations and began looking for bulls again and were not disappointed. This time we had some on our ridge in the burn about 1 1/2 miles. Two bulls but neither appeared to have the 50" or 4 brow tines to be legal. But a good sign.
Also further down the ridge was a truly big bull with some cows. A bit out of our range but closer then before. At 6:30 we headed back to camp for dinner and to get ready for the next day.
We felt that the bulls were headed our way so that morning should bring an oppurtunity to go after one or more.
Here are some pics of us back at camp glassing caribou up the hill from camp.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_11.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_12.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_13.jpg)
We had a lot of pent up energy after being in the tent for two days so we decided to see how close we could get to the bous. The fed over the ridge soon after we started climbing but we got some nice pics.
This one is off the left side of the ridge looking up the hill.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_14.jpg)
and this one the right side. Real pretty country but never saw a moose this high up.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_15.jpg)
What a great story and pictures; I will happily wait for this tale to unfold, thanks.
sweet pics, what a great adventure. Gotta mention that the golden eagle above is a young rough legged hawk, but carry on, I don't want to interrupt your flow.
Would love to go after moose. Maybe some day.....
Beautiful country there. Love the cloud shadows in the first few pictures.
You craft a good story, Wingnut...almost as good as your bows...almost.
You are making me long to get back to Alaska! Not sure just when that will happen though. The boss/social director/wife is thinking Oz next year, so probably no AK yet.
Keep the story coming. The pictures are beautiful!
:campfire:
:campfire: cool!
Keep it coming Mike! I'm waiting for the "meat and potatoes" of this story. The pics make it look like an awesome place.
Bisch
Good stuff
Loving it so far Mike, great story telling. Looking forward to the rest!
What a great place, beautiful country :)
:coffee:
Dav, the tipi is Kifaru's 16-man.
I'm traveling now and won't be able to frequently chime in on the story, but Mike is doing a fantastic job.
John
A few more pics from our evening stroll.
Down the ridge towards where we spotted moose.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_16.jpg)
Back towards camp
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_17.jpg)
Anyone know what kind of flower these are?
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_18.jpg)
Not sure what the name of the flowers are but I hear they are a favorite food of War Mice..... Terry
Finally we get back and have a good dinner. Pour a drink and go out and watch the sunset.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_19.jpg)
Some how we all knew that tomorrow would be an exciting day.
BUT, where's the moose?????? :dunno:
:campfire: just like being there, keep the great story going :jumper:
Flower is a Harebell Mike.
Moose pics????
John's alarm wakes everyone up at 5:30 but today instead of grumbles we all jump out of bed. Coffee is brewed and breakfast goes down fast. We grab our gear and head for the end of the ridge as the sun starts to peak over the mountains. One thing I learned about moose is they come out to play when the sun comes up not in the middle of the night like elk.
Anyway we cover the .4 miles to the spot with a quickness too our step and settle in. The first couple hours include bulls and cows on the far ridge line over 3 miles away but nothing in the burns close by as we anticipated.
Then about 9 I see a cow in the burn. Where did she come from? Anyway we watch as she feeds into some spruce and disappears. Soon there after John spots a cow and then another. And then BULL!
After a quick look with the 60x scope it's a shooter and on the outside of our range but in range to go after. We saddle up our packs and head over the hill for the first time. John knew this route as it was very close to where Steve shot his bull the previous year.
We dropped down the ridgeline to the peat bog then pick our way to a spot that is solid for crossing the creek. Once on the other side we climbed and crossed the ridge to get the wind right and then start sidehilling through the burn.
We crossed the first burn to a stand of spruce and started across a short burnt area. Jason stopped us with a short whistle and said Mooose while pointing up the hill. We stopped and glassed two cows about 150 yds up hill and up wind. This is the burn I'd seen the cow in earlier so we figured it was it and another and pushed on. 100 yds through the thick spruce and we pop out on the other side. John stops us with a BULL! We see antlers move into the spruce 80 yds ahead headed back to where the cows were. We quickly retraced our steps and found ourselves about 125 yds from not one bull but two and the two cows.
A quick plan and John puts on his moose antler hat and Jason becomes the back end of the moose and they approach the biggest of the bulls.
I wish I'd grabbed the video camera out of Jason's pack before he left as I had a great view of them moving away. John rolling the antlers and grunting while Jason kept close behind.
The bull responded but didn't come right away. The guys pressed on an soon were at about 60 yds.
I watched John get his binos up and glass the bull that was head on and then he gave the signal that ment it was not legal. They turned and slowly moosed there way back too me. I was watching the bull following them and then stand broadside at 80 yds looking at us in the trees.
Looks very big too me but John said it was a maybe 50" and only 3 browtines on each side. A maybe 50" is not a good gamble.
We backout and head back through the spruce. You see this is not the moose we saw and hour earlier from the ridge. He must be still ahead in the other burn.
Please, oh please tell us you have some video of Jason and John doing a bull moose act?
Great stuff Wingnut.
Sorry no incriminating pics or video. I don't know how I missed that one.
Anyway we were headed back through the spruce and towards the burn. We skirted the bottom of the burn and got to another screen of spruce that was only a few yards wide. When we got to the other side. Jason again stopped us with a soft whistle and signaled MOOSE!!
There about 150 yds away was a cow and more moose moving behind her. We checked the wind and found it at 90 degrees so we headed up hill to get in a better spot. 200 yards further up John and Jason are in the lead and John sees the bull and gives the "OH BABY IT'S A SHOOTER"!!! signal. We group up and make a quick plan. This time John with his moose hat will lead and Jason will be the butt again but instead of both carrying the bows, Jason will take the rifle. We had a plan that in order to get two or more moose we had to put one on the ground early in the hunt. This was my 3rd time for moose and it was time to take meat home. So if the bow didn't make it the rifle would.
That being said they took off again John doing the moose antler sway and grunting. Jason doing what the back of a moose should and following the front.
I hung back in the spruce with a pile of packs and stuff trying to mark my gps so we could find em again. LOL
I could see the moose and the guys and it looked like they were right on top of him. At about 60 yds I felt the wind shift and take my scent right to the group of moose. The big bull turned and walked off with a cow and a smaller bull in tow. John and Jason tried to head them off but they went over the hill and out distanced them.
I lost sight of the moose over the hill but could see John give Jason the "it's rifle time" signal.
And then we were butchers.
Because the bull was not taken with a trad bow I will not post the picks of it on the ground. But I've never seen anything that big before. Imagine a Clydesdale with antlers.
It was now 11 am and after pictures we started butchering the bull. This was my first "gutless" method experience and I gotta say it was great.
We boned all the meat and bagged it. Built a elevated meat rack out of two down trees and branches and got the 11 sacks of meat cooling before we headed for camp. We got back at 7:30 that night.
We spent the next 2 days packing the meat and antlers to our first staging point 1.25 miles on the gps but more like 2 miles by foot. We were able to make two trips a day with packs from 50# to 80# (mine were the 50# because of my neck). At the end of day two we packed one load up to stage two.
The third day of packing moved the rest of the meat from stage one to stage two and two loads to the meat pole.
The final stage was the shortest only 1/2 mile but it was straight up. We hit it in the morning early and finished the final load to the pole at 11 am.
Here is a pic showing where we packed the meat from.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_24.jpg)
Following the ridge in front of us from left to right you can see the burns and spruce strips. go to the right until you see a small yellow clearing. The moose died just to the left of that. Total 3 mile and 800 vertical feet.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_25.jpg)
More pics of the area we hunted.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_27.jpg)
Blue tarp in lower right corner of pic is stage 2
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_28.jpg)
As soon as the meat was on the pole, John and I grabbed our bows and headed back to the spotting location to get after another bull. Jason was now "camp bi$%^" and was cleaning up and getting a moose stew going with fresh bisquits.
John and I glassed for 4 hours and never saw a moose. He said that the only time he'd seen this happen before was when wolves moved into the valley.
The next morning we hit it again for 3 hours and finally found two bulls about 4 miles away. One was the bull they called "Mr. Big" from the previous year. He was a lot like the bull Jason got only bigger on all scales. A true monster bull but way too far to go. In the morning we only saw the two bulls, a cow and a cow and a calf. We'd been seeing 20 bulls at a setting so something was up.
With two days to go in the season, our chances for a second bull and more importantly one with a bow were gone.
We decided to give it one more try and if we didn't see moose to go after we'd put the signal on the runway that we were ready to come out.
Our next session showed no moose again so we decided to cash in our chips and head for home.
We had a good breakfast in the morning and started breaking camp. John went up and put a red and a blue tarp on the runway indicating we need meat and us out. We got all taken down except the tent and stove and decided to take a couple more pics.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_29.jpg)
When we took this pic I looked over the top of the camera to see a yellow Super Cub land on the strip.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_30.jpg)
Beaut pictures!
Soon all three Cubs were on the strip and I was hauling gear up to the strip as fast as I could as Jason and John tore down the tent and stove. As soon as I got to the plane the pilot said that they would take the moose and one of us on the first load. I ran back down to tell Jason and John and they told me to grab my pack and go.
I tell ya when those Cubs start getting stuff out of the woods they move fast. We were all at the intermediate strip an hour later and in two hours back in Tok.
I'll post some pics we took on the way to Anchorage the next day later this evening.
Mike - Sounds like a great hunt with good pictures & story telling. Congrates!! Aren't you glad that you did a bit of getting in shape walking? They are big critters that seem to grow once on the ground! That is great country. I take it that you didn't bother with a caribou tag. Unlike in the past is that season lasted a while this fall!
That storm that you got on the 8th (be glad that you got flight out of Tok when you did!)caused me a pile of grief as flash flooding force me to desert my camp leaving all gear behind on thursday the 9th. After getting home I planned to head back on the 13th after the water had dropped. But ended up on the Copper River chasing a bull buffalo with my SIL. He hit it with an arrow @ 20 yds. The buffalo decided to be nasty and had to be put down with a gun as it move in on him. I was back in moose camp the 15th but could only do limited hunting due to the storms damage that I had to contend with.
Again congrates!!
Wingnut,
I've seen some majestic views in my life. Colorado, Wyoming and Utah. They say pictures "don't do it justice", but those you took show some of "it".
Hope my eyes get to see some of that country before they close for good one day. Consider yourself fortunate to have actually spent time there. Thanks for the pics and words.
Great story, I enjoyed it very much :) Giant country !!
Thank you
A few pics of our trip back to Anchorage:
Hopefully John will come in and tell the names of these places
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_33.jpg)
We had trucks and cars following us into parking lots to take pics of the minivan with the rack. LOL
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_34.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_35.jpg)
This is a glacier that was totally covered in clouds on our way out too hunt. A much better view here"
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_38.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_37.jpg)
Big Mac from the Telketna river:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_36.jpg)
Kenai with mountains in the background
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_39.jpg)
Jason is working on the video stuff so I hope to post some links to that in the next couple days.
Mike
Mike,How long were you in the bush hunting?Some great pictures there.
Bill
Bill,
11 days in the back woods.
Mike
Great experience,gorgeous country.
Mount Samford (I believe) is the big rounded mountain shown first. It's in the Wrangell-St. Elias national park. The glacier is the Matanuska Glacier. The mountain in the distance behind Kenai in the photo is Mount Spur. Another active volcano is actually directly across from Kenai, Mount Redoubt, but it was more cloudy on the day I snapped the photo of Spur behind Kenai. Spur is actually more or less directly across from Anchorage. Prettiest countryside in the world for my money.
Very nice guys!!
QuoteOriginally posted by wingnut:
This is a glacier that was totally covered in clouds on our way out too hunt. A much better view here"
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/AK2010%20Moose%20hunt/ak_38.jpg)
Oh! I recognize that glacier. Is that along 1 between Tok and Anchorage? Thanks for the pics and sharing a fun time.
Great story Mike! That pic with two of you on the ridge looking out over the spruce strips, burns and yellow clearing where Jason got the moose sure was a good one. I thought TX had wide open spaces, but now I feel like I live in Rhode Island (sorry to any RI TGers) after seeing your Alaska photos. Thanks for the story and the pics. :clapper:
I wish I was there with you. That is some pretty county.
Thanks for sharing your trip. :campfire:
Oh, my dream hunt. Thanks for sharing.
Just out of curiosity what kind of bows were you hunting with? :bigsmyl: :laughing:
Well John was hunting with an A&H 3 pc longbow and Jason and I had our Epic 17" ILF risers with long recurve limbs.
Mike
Thanks for the ride. I just got back last night from AK myself. Unbelievable scenery and hunting.
Great pics. Thanks for sharing.
John H.- Minor correction. It's "Mount Sanford". And all of that country is now white!
How is Jason doing on the video??