Wolverines have a bad reputation; but if you had just taken the time to pat it gently on the nose; you would have a completely different story to tell.

Cant wait to se the mount.  

Nice, ConGrats

Must have been a tough decision at the time-but the mount will be worth the sacrifice and think of the savings in shipping!
Nice recurve too John-is mine still on schedule?

Mike, the photo makes it pretty hard to tell, but he's quite a bit bigger than a large racoon.  40-45# is a pretty good guess I think.  From nose to tail his pelt was just over 4' long.  But he's definitely smaller and lighter than a moose!

Sergio, the wool pullover is from Gray Wolf.

The recurves are still waaay out in time.  Until I can satisfy myself with their performance we'll just keep trying new things.  I'd like to get their performance up to the same point as our longbows but am not there yet.

Way to go, John!  Awesome trophy and by your attitude I know you made the right decision.  Moose will be there next time around.  Congratulations!  Please email me a pic for the PBS magazine to: kevinbahr1@comcast.net

Congratulations John! What a fantastic trophy! Opportunities like that are rarer than hen's teeth.

Great trophy, John.

 Many congratulations !
                            Pat

That is one heck of a trophy! Lots harder to hit than a moose!!!

You have joined an elite group. Very few have killed wolverines with trad gear.

Brett

Congrats on the fine trophy! He is going to make one beautiful mount.

Soooo, how does wolverine taste?

cool congrats

I guess when Jason and I go, we'd better get a less expensive tag to acct for this kinda oppurtunity.

Are you having it mounted?

Mike

Great!

Thanks for sharing.

Todd

Mike, I'm having a wall-hanging rug made out of him.  I can't believe how expensive rugs are these days!  It has been a while since I had a bear rug made.  This little booger is going to cost almost as much as my big brown bear rug cost 25 years ago!

John,

An easy decision!  Excellent.  I have seen only one in about 10, 11, 12 years that I have hunted in Alaska and have only ever heard of one other being killed with trad equipment.  You have joined a very elite group!

Thank you John ! And "Ya"(this is the Canadian in me) how do hey taste?

I think it was a great decision also.How about a little story to go with the picture? How did it come about?

Sergio, we didn't eat any of him.  I thankfully managed to dodge his musk glands while skinning him out but he smelled exactly like a brown bear in the spring - like he was fresh out of the den.  

Jim, I was hunting a natural pinch point in the topography.  The 400-yard-wide braided stream bed where we landed, camped, and hunted was right at tree line (about 3400 feet in this part of Alaska).  I was perched up on a near-vertical bluff overlooking a trail that pinched out where the main channel of the stream cut into the mountain face (creating the vertical rock faces).  Any moose migrating into the mountain valley for miles coming from the northeast would bump into this range of mountains.  Any moose following that trail along the base of the mountains would have to walk about 15 feet below me at a range of 12-15 yards just before crossing the braided stream bed.  

I was trying to stay as comfortable as possible while standing on my cliff perch when I heard approaching loping steps.  My setup location prevented me from seeing much farther than about 20-25 yards in that direction.  The thought of moose was immediately ruled out because the steps weren't heavy thuds and were too closely spaced together.  My next thought was wolf.  There are lots of wolves in this part of the state and non residents can take 5 without even having to have a wolf tag.  Then I saw that it was a wolverine when he paused on the trail.  Quick decision - is he worth my moose tag?  Yes was the answer.

Remember - I was expecting a bull moose that's 7' tall at the shoulder to walk by - not a wolverine.  There would only be one small window where the shot would be clear.  He resumed his loping gait along the trail and I swung my recurve with him.  I was fortunate to put a decent shot on him at 12 yards when he loped through the window in the brush.  It was a bit too far back meaning that I didn't allow enough lead in my swing to account for his movement.  But it was good enough.  The heavy moose arrow buried about 6" into the rocky riverine soil and was a total pass through.  The wolverine left a good blood trail.  After climbing a very steep alder-covered face between two sheer rock faces he died laying on a large flat rock while watching his back trail.  

Getting him down that steep hillside (pictured behind me) was a challenge in that I didn't want to fall 150 feet to the stream bed below.  I field-skinned him out right there (leaving the skull and feet and tail bone) beside the stream and carried his hide back to camp.  Later that day I skinned out the skull, split the lips and nose and turned the ears and removed the feet and tail bone.  Thankfully we had enough salt available for the hide.

Nice critter.Ida done the same in your position.