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.

 

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.
 

More pics of the area we hunted.


 

Blue tarp in lower right corner of pic is stage 2

 

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.

 

When we took this pic I looked over the top of the camera to see a yellow Super Cub land on the strip.

 

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

 


We had trucks and cars following us into parking lots to take pics of the minivan with the rack.  LOL
 

 

This is a glacier that was totally covered in clouds on our way out too hunt.  A much better view here"

Big Mac from the Telketna river:



Kenai with mountains in the background

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"

 

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.      

I wish I was there with you. That is some pretty county.