I dream of moose

[Kevin Dill]

A lot of what I got from bowhunting was given to me by others with more experience. I enjoy giving it back in turn to those who are seeking adventure and knowledge.

For anyone interested in a moose hunting story:

http://www.probowsociety.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=413

[Walt Francis]

Folks, Bryan and Kevin's moose hunting adventure(s) on the PBS site provided the inspiration and motivation for me to get off my butt and commit to hunt mooose in Alaska.  Everybody owes it to themselves to read their adventures.

Bryan & Kevin, thanks again!  

We were all so busy in Cincinnati I forgot to buy you guys a round; I'll make it up in Florida.

[Kevin Dill]

One of my favorite memories is that of sitting in the Chena Pump House eating a later dinner and talking moose hunting with Walt, Dave and Bryan. Hey Walt...I even remember what you were drinking! (Do you?)

[Walt Francis]

My bet is it was a Porter, I'm thinking it was called something ... Ice Axe/Hatchet Porter, can't remember exactly.  Man, I love a good Porter.

The time spent over a couple of beers was invaluable, it gave us a chance to pick both of your knowledge and luckily I managed to retain just enough to get it done. My calling location was determined by either Bryan's or your description of a steep hillside funnel you use for watching and calling in your area.  We stayed out of the river bottom, traveling the hillsides instead, to allow a scent free travel corridor for the moose.  Just a couple of the little important tid-bits we managed to retain.

[Biathlonman]

I was only able to make Cincinnati for a very short period of time. Really wish I could have made the whole weekend and picked your brains. I'll make it happen it's all just logistics. Just convincing the wife (and myself) that it's ok to spend that much money and time on just me.  Just feels really selfish to leave her at home with 3 kids while I chase adventure.  I'll probably get over it...lol.

[Kevin Dill]

Walt: Pick-Axe Porter!

Brad: Nothing right about depriving our families in order to go hunt. I held off from doing much traveling until the timing was right, so I get where your head is. Follow your heart.

Less than 5 months until the frosts and rut begins.

[Bowwild]

The advice about not waiting is very sound. I hunted out of state a fair amount in my 30's (whitet-tail, mulies, antelope, and elk). Then when the 40's hit I stopped because of voluntary job and state moves. Ironically, I found it more difficult to put the money together as the kids got older not when they were young.

Due to my "next year" attitude, I lost an entire decade of hunting anywhere except my backyard.

Now my best hunting buddy the past 40 years (he's 68 now) was hammered by life-saving cancer treatment last year. He will go with me on the Alberta moose hunt but, unless rehab goes great, it appears he won't be able draw a bow.

The most amazing adventure I can imagine would be a drop camp in Alaska.

[IndianaBowman]

Walt, Kevin, Bryan, Mike Mitten, John Havard, Steve H., and many other guys have all done DIY AK moose hunts. They are a lot of fun. I'm with these guys on the DIY route. I have been to AK 9 times on DIY hunts and they have never been more than $5k. I went this year for caribou from as far North as you can possibly go and had door to door expenses around $3.5k including a bush flight. My DIY moose hunt success is 100% on two bulls over 60" (VERY lucky to have picked the right spot). It really is all about the homework. Alaska is HUGE and only a very small part of it actually holds huntable populations of game.

You will be hard pressed to find better advice than what the guys noted above can offer.

I too apply for many Lower 48 moose tags. I waited 12 years to hunt Shiras in WY, but it was worth the wait. Still waiting to hunt Maine, NH, or VT.

[DaveT1963]

If any of you are interested in planning a DIY moose hunt in Alaska and want company I'm in.  I have been wanting to do that for years.  If you are interested in 2015 mooose hunt send me a PM.  I think it would be cool to have three or four trad hunters taking a DIY hunt.

[Matty]

Originally posted by DaveT1963:
If any of you are interested in planning a DIY moose hunt in Alaska and want company I'm in.  I have been wanting to do that for years.  If you are interested in 2015 mooose hunt send me a PM.  I think it would be cool to have three or four trad hunters taking a DIY hunt.

X2------don't have to ask me twice.
 

[Steve Chappell]

When I was planning my first AK hunt, which I wanted to be a DIY, I had narrowed everything down except where specifically to hunt in the unit I picked and the bush pilot.  Because the area within a unit is so vast and I had no prior experience hunting it, I felt I needed to put the specific spot I hunt in the hands of the bush pilot. I knew I wanted to get as deep as I could in moose country.  I talked to a number of pilots and just could not get comfortable putting my entire hunt into their hands...I felt they were more salesman then concerned about getting me in a good spot.  Also, my hunt with 1.5hrs flight into the bush oneway was coming in at $7-8k and that I believe was just getting the Moose out of the bush. So, to pull of a $5k is an accomplishment but I can see how it can be done. If I am going to hunt AK in the future I will need to get to the $5k mark.

I have found good pilots and hunting locations are prized secrets, which is understandable.

How do you pick a spot in a unit when you have zero experience hunting in that unit and in AK? Who are you talking to that is helping you narrow things down to the "Spot"?  If I could come up with the specific spot and take that out of the bush pilots hands...that would change everything!

As I shared in other posts, I got the green light from the wife late this year and there was no way I was going to let the opportunity slip by. My wife  had informed in late 2012, when I started planning a DIY hunt in AK, that before I go to AK hunting I had to take her Italy for our 25th Ann which is  at the end of this month.  When out of the blue she tells me I should go hunt AK this year I felt it was too late to pull off a DIY...given the obstacle I outlined above so I booked with Yote to hunt the Moose John which I am very excited about.  It is costing me a lot more than $5K but I am OK with that...I am finally hunting Moose in AK.

[Biathlonman]

What shoot one expect to pay for a bush pilot?  The first I contacted was $3200/person, sound about right?  I just have no frame of reference here.

[DaveT1963]

There are other ways to hunt. .. motorized rubber boats can take you pretty deep and are a lot cheaper

[Kevin Dill]

Price depends on lots of variables.

Is the pilot experienced with a good reputation and typically full schedule? Likely more money.

Type of aircraft. A Super Cub flies for less than a Helio Courier or 3-man Cessna, while a Beaver is costliest of all these usually.

Distance and time to destination. Self explanatory, and killing an animal means additional flight time, fuel, etc.

Hunter success, if high, can also drive the price upward.

For strictly air taxi or transporter services, I've found that rates from around $2,000 to $3,500 are typical. Closer to base will be less, while flying far and deep will be spendier. If going over the $2,500 mark, I'd want to know what I'm buying with the extra cost.

[Steve Chappell]

Biathloman - Back in 2013 I was getting a rate of $600 to $700 a fight hour and I am looking at $600 hr to get in where I am going this September.  When I was focused on DIY in 2013, I never found a pilot I was willing to stake my hunt on.  At $700 an hr for a 1.5 hrs in or 3 hrs round trip that would cost $2,100 round trip then that cost would be divided by the number of people on the flight or for two people $1,050 each round trip.

[Biathlonman]

$3200/ gets you and 70 pounds of gear plus rifle/bow to and from on a Beaver. Also included is getting meat back to Fairbanks should we score.

So sounds about right then...like I said I had no frame of reference.  Just trying to wrap my brain around it.

Can anyone recommend any calling tutorials, DVD or such?

[Flatshooter]

Brad, I booked a moose hunt with Conne River Outfitters in Newfoundland last year. I will be leaving on Sept 25 for a six day wilderness hunt during the rut.This is a fly-in camp with four hunters in the camp. Each hunter has his own guide. I hope to give a full account of the hunt when I return. Do it if you can!

[Kevin Dill]

The hardest part for anyone (me included!) is putting your first Alaska drop hunt in the hands of a pilot and saying "put me where the hunting is good"...then trusting him to do that. That's exactly what happened on my first AK drop, and we had a wonderful hunt and bulls in range of our stickbows more than once. Picking the pilot is a bit hard, but if his references are enthusiastic and tell you that he drops in good game areas, isn't this enough? You might hunt the best drainage in 100 miles and still not get a bull due to weather or rut or predator presence. Give me a lonely place where few ever go, even if the moose aren't thick in there. I don't mind only seeing a bull ever 2 or 3 days if I know the area has bulls and some might be 65"+.

Keep the expectations real. A pilot can only put you where moose live and nobody else is competing with you. The rest of it is up to the man and the arrow.

[hunt it]

Check out White River Air in Ontario, they also have website under North to Adventure. I have been hunting moose archery with these guys for 31 years. The spot we hunt know we have taken 19 bulls with archery in 11 yrs. they have great guided or unguided hunts fly in or controlled access logging areas. Talk to Dan the owner, 1-807-822-2222, be sure to tell him your a trad archery hunter and Dave from London said he was to look after you - he will, great outfit , two lodges, many outpost camps, beaver and turbo otter. Pm me any questions you might have.

[Cari-bow]

Well this is more about fueling the fire then about where or how. I've hunted moose before so this is more about all the dreaming I've done over the winter. My plan is to drive as far north as I can (in Manitoba) then take the train with gear including a freighter canoe get dropped off at a river in the middle of the night. Unload in the dark set up camp and spend the next 10 days paddling down stream (80 miles) hunting moose. At the end of the river empties in a larger river where I will contact (sat phone) and have someone pick us up with jet boat and take us back to the truck. So this is truck,train,canoe,jet boat,and then truck.

This just might be my biggest adventure and I will be spending this with my wife and oldest son. The planing and mostly dreaming so far have given endless hours of enjoyment. I just confirmed my pick with the jet boat operator today.

Side note the jet boat operator just came back from a muskox hunt where he put on 2400 kilometers round trip on snowmobile . This is over the tundra not from city to city with people in-between. Now there's an adventurer not for the faint of heart. This may not be that big a deal for the Inuit who understand the barrens but needless to say for us that are use to pavement it's an adventure.

For me it's about dreaming and the planing which fuels more desire. Which creates anticipation of the possibilities that lay ahead. To see this developing in my wife and son with close to the same passion as myself gives me much joy . Life is all an adventure and sometimes we control just enough to give us a false sense of control.
Hope is such a great motivator,that without hope there would be no planning.

What Kevin and Bryan have done sounds like such a grand time. My hat goes off them I wish I could be there, but it's nice to follow along with all the pictures. Thanks
Abe