Well my brother came up, got a hunting license and we drove about ten hours one-way to hunt moose. It is near Chicken, AK in an any-bull area, so if it has antlers, it is meat. In 2016 it was loaded with big bulls, but less so in subsequent years. We hunted hard for five days and did not see any sign. (Nor any other hunters where we went) We did explore an older gold mine that has been re-worked in the past couple years. We did see about 2500 migrating sandhill cranes and we did pick and eat lots of berries. But after great effort and no sign, I made the choice to head closer to home to hunt in the woods. Tricky part is there are size restrictions, so can’t shoot just any bull.
Closer to home, the moose antlers have to be small or big; you can’t shoot one in between, and there are lots more hunters. We came the long drive home and slept a few hours then headed about an hour out. There were groups of hunters the first two places i wanted to camp near the trail to “my” area. We spent the night in the tent and next day went past the other hunters who were NOT even hunting on this trail. We did see a cow and calf and another cow and we did at least hear a bull leaving our vicinity by the sound of his antlers. So at least close to home there was lots of fresh sign, but you can’t eat sign…. There were lots of other hunters in the area, including at the trailhead we were going up but no one was in where i was focused.
The trail is an older one with lots of deadfall and about an hour walk in after a twenty minute four-wheeler ride. Have to cross a creek on a log. We hunted in there hard one day and decided to head home. Brother flew out and i went back in two more single days. I didn’t see any more moose but the bull sign was fresh and there were lots of rubbed and raked areas from a bull or bulls. Still did not know if legal though. The trail you can take an atv in but it peters out unless you know where it goes and have a chainsaw, and as far as i could tell no one else was hunting there.
I was back to working but on days off i was busting out to hunt.
I decided to hike in and spend the night and see if i could hear moose vocalizing early in the morning. Went in with my floorless tent and what i though was a cot, but turned out to be same brand of chair. Spent the night with all the bugs on the ground and slept good but woke to steady rain. Rain stopped and so i cow-called from my tent. Heard a crash, then five minutes later another crash and then five more and a bull started grunting. I got quiet and i think he winded me and ghosted out. Never heard him leave but he was gone. There was a little swamp between us and he would not show himself. I hiked back out to my atv in the steady rain and dried all my gear at home. I had one more day off, the last day of season and wanted one more attempt. Last moose i took was 2022, but had split my buddy’s moose from 2023. My three chest freezers were getting empty and i really wanted some moose meat.
Thursday was the last day, and i had planned to head out after work Wednesday but i was tired and losing the mental drive to try again. I flipped a coin and slept at home Wednesday night. Got up early, drove out past the other hunters and parked my wheeler at the “end” of the trail. Did the slow hour+ hike in and was not hearing any moose activity but it was calm, cold and clear. Just a touch of frost in the swamps. I cow-called and did not get any response. Pretty much was deciding to call it and veared over about forty yards and found a very fresh rut pit/waller. That’s where a bull will dig a little pit and urinate in it. It smells strong. Cows are attracted and will lay in it also. I had a moose scapula with me and started raking the elderberries like the bulls do in that area. No response but i had a suspicion. I started walking back to the wheeler an hour away but following the freshest sign and pausing to “ scrape my antlers” every ten minutes or so. About thirty minutes later heard a sound like a buzzing bee and realized it was a cow giving a looong call maybe 2-300 yards through the woods. Kept going and busted a cow who took off. Same time heard antlers busting brush and thought a bull was skedaddling also, then realized he was checking me. I raked back and he accepted the challenge and the game was on. Was he legal? After maybe ten minutes i had eyes on him about forty yards through brush. Man, that was exciting. Adrenaline up as he would not quite show everything. He was raking little trees and walking straight through dense spruce, letting the stiff green spruce branches strain through his antler tines. He would go back and forth not quite coming out. I dared not vocalize in case i didn’t sound right so i just walked back and forth also. I held the scapula in front of my face when he got his head out and had line of sight. Finally i could tell he did not have the required three brow tines, but he might be fifty inches wide. My phone/camera was zipped in my pack and there was no way i was going to unzip with him so close. Finally got a good look and had a good guess he was over fifty inches wide. He started coming in closer. I made the final decision at about eight yards broadside to me and made a clean, fast kill. This is the fifth moose i have taken personally but i still started second-guessing until i got a tape measure on him. My hand-span showed him over fifty though. I made a call to another brother who had offered help, but never had an interest in moose meat. I hiked the hour out, took my atv and met him at the trailhead. I brought him back in and he drove the wheeler while i cut a trail to the moose. Wow, i was tired already, but my rope and 8” Leatherman showed the spread over 54”. Legal. Okay, now i could tell rest of family i got a moose.
Brother and i got it all out and home just after midnight. Two days later i turned in 450 pounds of bone-in quarters to the butcher. The backstraps, tenderloins and miscellaneous flank meat and steaks and rib meat i had kept was a bit over fifty pounds. We brought out the meat with bones (500lbs) the antlers (45lbs) two chainsaws, cleaning gear and two men on one atv (a six-wheeler) in the dark through a trail i’d just cut in. I am STILL recovering, haha.
Here’s some interesting info: for his body size, this is the second smallest bull i have helped haul out. The four quarters with bone-in but hooves removed weighed 318 lbs. Some hindquarters i have taken out have been 180lbs each. I was glad to have a smallish bull for more manageable size and get out in one load.
I hunted about thirteen days—hardest ive ever hunted. But, locally slaughtered farm-raised bison is $11/lb for the whole animal and elk is $13/lb, so if i had purchased this game meat (which one can not purchase or sell moose) it would have cost about $5500 as bison. Bulls do urinate and roll in it to spread their scent. It is very important to keep the smelly hair off the meat and get the meat cooled down to the bone as quickly as possible. Like other game, this meat is very lean. The burger will be mixed with beef suet at 15% and the sausage will be similar. This meat will last at least two years of weekly eating and lots of sharing. Unfrozen is a different experience than frozen, but once it is frozen, i will happily eat it five years later and enjoy it. Every bit of meat will be eaten and enjoyed. I already pressure-cooked “canned” twelve pints of this one and more to follow.
This story is very similar to pretty much every successful moose hunter in Alaska. Some close out on day one, some the last day. Some guys have to pack it out on their backs, some in planes or boats. I was able to drive to it. Some people shoot them in their yard and some ten hours from their house. Some make long-distance shots and some are close. It does not get much closer than paper-airplane distance.
While moose in one part of the state are scarce, they are returning in number around here and in western Alaska the numbers are booming. There were some locally hard winters with freeze/thaw/freeze cycles on deep snow which is tough on moose but easy for their predators.
The butcher said they’ve been busy all season and expect a three week turn-around. It’s usually been less than a week.
I saw no bears and not much fresh sign of them while hunting locally. That is good. I am sure a bear is on my kill site now though.
a love of the outdoors and wildlife in general. I've been very fortunate to live and experience many of my own hunting/fishing/hiking/wandering/& photography adventures. Here are a few of them. Most of these hunting pics are archery kills. Most of the fishing pics were caught with fly-fishing tackle and released
