USA: Of Moose & Men, Alaska September 2022

[375 Ruger Fan]

With apologies to Robert Burns, the best laid plans of moose and men often go awry..........

I just returned from two weeks in Alaska, where I did a ten day moose hunt with Brent Keith of Castle Rock Outfitters. https://www.castlerockoutfitters.com/about-us.htm.

Very tough hunt, both mentally and physically. A couple of weeks before the hunt, I tested positive for COVID. Since I was vaxed and boosted, the symptoms were relatively minor and only lasted 3-4 days.

I flew to Fairbanks on American and Alaska Airlines. On each leg, I checked the American app to see that both of my bags were loaded on the plane. When I arrived in Fairbanks late Friday night, got my rifle but no duffle bag. A bunch of bags were taken off of the plane in Seattle due to a weight and balance issue. Good thing I planned to be in Fairbanks two nights. Alaska Airlines delivered my bag on Saturday morning around 10 am, so that worked out okay.

Late Saturday, the outfitter contacted me and said a truck broke down and I might need to stay in Fairbanks until Monday. So I watched a lot of football games on Saturday and Sunday and also wondered around Fairbanks a bit. Hopefully the hunt will get started Monday. For now, I stared a lot at the moose photo in my hotel room.

 

[Bullthrower338]

Been wondering how you did my friend, don’t fully dally with this report! Lol

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

Monday (Sept 12) evening, the outfitter's daughter drove me the 100 miles from Fairbanks to Healy. We also had a starter for the truck that had broke down near the trailhead and caused the delays. The outfitter's nephew met us in Healy and he was going to take the starter to Brent and the broken down truck. They got me a hotel room in Healy at the Totem Inn. It was a nice, clean and quite place and had a restaurant and bar. Also a decent breakfast.

On Tuesday, I went to the outfitters house and met Brent and also shot my rifle. I was then transported to the trailhead, about a 1.5 hour journey via a nice Polaris Razor UTV. We crossed a stream several times, which made for an interesting ride. At the trailhead, which was located on the divide between the motorized and non-motorized area, I met assistant guide Bruce and Wrangler Pete. There was also seven horses and a tent. The plan was to spend one night there and Brent would meet us the next morning and we would do the four hour ride to moose camp. However, we ended up delayed another day, so spent two nights in the tent at the trailhead. It was raining the entire time and a miserable start to this hunt. I was pretty frustrated at all the delays, because I knew my departure date couldn't be pushed back. I was losing hunting days and wasn't too happy about it.

Thursday, Sept 15, we finally loaded the three pack horses and the four of us rode to the cabins at moose camp. We spotted a few moose as we rode, so that was encouraging. The scenery was stunning!

With the moose camp and all the area we would be hunting being in the non-motorized area, I wondered why there was a worn over two track road that we were riding on. It turns out the non-motorized restriction was just during hunting season. So the outfitter can use motorized vehicles in August to stock the camp with propane, horse feed, etc. Also, in October haul out moose and anything else.

Arriving at camp, I was impressed with the setup.

Exterior of 4 man bunkhouse.

Interior of bunkhouse. The thick memory foam mattress made for a comfortable bed. The wood burning stove was great for drying out clothes.

Buzzard Creek. When you hunt with horses, you need a good water source. The water had a fair amount of sediment in it, so the Sawyer water filter system I used came in handy.

Main cabin with kitchen and outfitters bunk.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

Map of approximate location of where we were hunting

Friday, Sept 16, was the first real hunting day. Our morning routine was to get up at 6am and have coffee and a little something to eat. Sun up was about 7:15am. Bruce, the assistant guide, and I hiked up hill a short 10-15 minutes and sat at a nice glassing spot where you can literally see about a mile in every direction. We had a resident cow and calf we saw every morning. The moose rut gets started in late September, so we were hoping the pre-rut activity was ramping up. After sitting and glassing for a couple of hours, we'd walk back to the cabin and have breakfast. Pete, the wrangler, would handle all the horse chores of watering and feeding the horses and then would join us as another set of eyes to glass the vast landscape. Brent would join us too or sometimes he would venture off to another area, searching for a bull.

The weather was windy, cold, rainy, etc. We spotted a total of 7 moose on the first day and also a few caribou.

Saturday, Sept 17 was essentially a repeat of the prior day. When Bruce and I sat in the glassing spot, he sat on one side of the ridge and I sat on the other side so we were looking in opposite directions. We sat a few feet down slope, so we didn't silhouette. I was reclining against my pack and trying to stay warm in the brisk wind, while constantly glassing. At one point, I rolled over to glance in the direction behind me, where Bruce was glassing. At 400 yards, slightly up slope of us stood a bull moose broadside. I crawled up to the ridge top and whispered to Bruce who was sitting down slope a few feet on the other side. Bruce was a bit hard of hearing and the roaring wind didn't help. When I finally got Bruce's attention he told me it wasn't a legal bull. To be legal, a bull needed either 4 brow tines on one side or a spread of over 50 inches. This bull didn't meet either requirement. I noted that even at 400 yards, a bull moose is a large target and a makeable shot at that distance.

Sunday, Sept 18 was a beautiful, sunny day. We sat glassing most of the day and I was actually getting sunburn on my face and had to dig out the 50 SPF sun block. Late in the day, Brent took us on a forced march and we walked through the wooded area along both sides of Buzzard Creek. We saw lots of moose tracks and droppings, but no moose. We also saw lots of bear and wolf tracks. Sunset was around 8pm, so it made for a long day in the field.

Monday, Sept 19, Bruce and I tried something different. Brent suggested we hike about an hour or so southwest of the camp. There was a high mountain pass that had a few small ponds and moose like to travel through it. We broke the hike up into easy segments and sort of still hunted our way to the spot and spent a good 10 hours sitting there, waiting for a moose to show up. No luck though.

I used my range finder to range several points. The nearest tip of the pond on the right was 200 yards and steeply down hill. The left side of the pond was 300 yards and the left side of the next pond was 400 yards.

 

[Firebird]

Sorry for the lost days, that is very frustrating-TIA I suppose-the other side of the world tho! Eager for more action and hoping for some pix of large animals!

 

[gillettehunter]

Great start to your hunt. I'm hoping that it ends well?
Bruce

 

[jacques smith]

Since no news for days, I’m assuming u r packing out meat

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

Tuesday, Sept 20: This is my 36th wedding anniversary date, so I thought it would be really special to get my moose today. Makes it easier to remember the date. We decided to hike downstream of the camp. We had to cross Buzzard Creek a couple of times, stepping from rock to rock and hoping to not take the plunge. Most of the walking was on a game trail and the native grass varied from waist high to nearly shoulder height. Capstick never wrote about bull moose in the tall grass, did he?

After an hour or so of hiking, we bumped into a cow. Brent was doing his bull imitation, using a large white leather glove on his left hand as an antler and calling with his other hand. I was close behind him, basically the back half of a moose decoy. I ranged the cow at 200 yards and she was looking straight at us. Then a calf stood up and they both looked at us and turned and walked into the brush.

We waited a few minutes and then pressed forward, slowly and quietly. Brent told me to chamber a round, so I dropped a 225 grain Swift A Frame into the chamber of my 338 WM. With 3 rounds in the mag, I had 4 rounds available.

After walking about 15-20 minutes, Brent spotted a bull, along with a cow and calf. He indicated it was a legal bull and I needed to shoot quickly. It looked like about 200 yards and I guess the shot was going to be off hand. I drew up my rifle and didn't even take time to crank up my 2.5-8 power scope. The bull was walking away from us, so Brent made a call and the bull turned and took a few steps toward us. Standing still and quartering towards me, I set the crosshairs on the front of the right shoulder and fired. A second or two after shooting, the echo was heard and I think confused the bull. There wasn't much reaction to the first shot, but the bull was now standing broadside. A second shot, echo and not much reaction again. A third shot, echo and the bull flopped to the ground this time. We waited awhile and I ranged it at 226 yards.

We slowly eased down to the bull and it was down for the count, laying on it's side and nose sticking straight up in the air. Interestingly, there were 3 bullet holes: one in the front of the right shoulder, which was my first shot, another in the right shoulder up high and the last one in the spine near the hind quarters. I consider myself an average shooter and don't typically shoot offhand at animals. Thankfully, a large target at a reasonable distance worked in my favor.

The first thing I noticed was 3 brow tines on each side and I worried a bit about the 50 inch required spread. Bruce quickly produced a tape measure and the spread was 55 inches. After a bunch of photos, the worked of skinning and cutting the big critter up began and took us a good 3 hours or so. We left Bruce to finish the last bit of work and Brent, Pete and I went back to camp to get the horses. It took 3 pack horse to haul everything. Quite a haul.

 

[Firebird]

Congratulations and happy anniversary!

 

[Velo Dog]

Hello 375 Ruger Fan,

Happy Anniversary and thank you for the excellent hunt report.
I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Despite the multiple hardships, you prevailed anyway.
I say bravo and Congratulations on a fine bull moose.
Your choice of the .338 Winchester and A-Frame bullets is a perfect combination for moose, grizzly and bison up here.

Regarding all the many unpleasant things you had to overcome, due to typical Alaska fall weather, you know why I no longer hunt big game here. (I have lived in Alaska now for a little over 40 years).
I other words I’m old and lazy now.
Cannot enjoy sitting, glassing and hoping, day after soaking wet, cold windy day any more.

You are definitely a real hunter and I salute you for it.
I used to be, but that was when I was young.

Best Regards,
Velo Dog.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

@Velo Dog thanks for the kind words. I think my days are numbered for doing hunts like this. The weather, particularly the cold rain, gets you down. Cabela's Dry Plus was Wet Plus very soon. My Helly Hansen rain gear worked well when sitting still or for the last day ride out in a wet, heavy snow.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Congratulations!

 

[Shootist43]

375 Ruger Fan, I just finished reading your report. I have to agree the scenery is something to behold. From what I've heard and read previously the hunting conditions were typical if not perfect for Alaska. Looking forward to seeing that moose mount on your wall. Good luck on your Daddy / Daughter Antelope hunt.

 

[Pheroze]

What a great moose hunt, and congratulations for prevailing over adversity. Your guide's instincts seemed to pay off nicely, that's for sure .

 

[R eight]

A good write up of a great adventure . What did you think of Fairbanks?

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

Fairbanks was good. I stayed at a downtown hotel upon my arrival and walked around the tourist area and riverfront. My last night, after the hunt, I stayed at a hotel near the airport. I went to the Pump House for dinner and it was quite good and doing a booming business. The Fairbanks airport was nice and easy to check in, etc.

 

[Red Leg]

Thanks the report and great news on a superb bull. And I am with you - cold, wet, and long is less appealing every year.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Cold and wet has never been appealing.

Congratulations on a nice bull. Glad you got the job done.

 

[Ragman]

Congrats on a cool bull and nice offhand shooting! Looks like beautiful country. AND you’ll be able to remember your anniversary now!!! I still don’t mind hunting in the cold so long as it isn’t wet. Dry or snowy is still fine for me.

 

[WMU05]

Congratulations...and way to prevail through all the challenges!