Aniak Moose hunt

[Hunter stafford]

Does anyone have some good intel on the terrain south of Aniak Alaska along the river. Getting dropped a few miles North of Aniak lake for a 12 day DIY moose hunt this coming September. I've done a lot of research and talked to my outfitter and the biologist, but not a ton of info out there and google earth only goes so far for planning purposes. Anyone hunted out there? Are waders/ hip boots a must? I've done a few moose hunts out of central Ak but never this far south. Planning for rough weather a terrain but tryin rule out certain pieces of unnecessary gear.

 

[rayporter]

hunted the aniak river and got a nice one years ago. things may have changed since.

we landed on the lake and floated the river a hundred miles back to aniak. the river was only about 5 feet wide and 6 in. deep leaving the lake and takes several miles to grow to any size.

there was a camp on the lake that were hunting and they had only seen 3 bou all week. the same bou circled a hill daily near the lake.

send a pm.

 

[Waylon#23]

hunted the aniak river and got a nice one years ago. things may have changed since.

we landed on the lake and floated the river a hundred miles back to aniak. the river was only about 5 feet wide and 6 in. deep leaving the lake and takes several miles to grow to any size.

there was a camp on the lake that were hunting and they had only seen 3 bou all week. the same bou circled a hill daily near the lake.

send a pm.

I'm looking to do what you just described next year. Do you mind telling a story of your experience? How long did it take you to float from Aniak lake to Aniak?
Thank you

 

[rayporter]

Aniak was very interesting. we stayed in a "lodge" for a day waiting to get out, the rooms were sparse and many windows were broken letting in cold air. there was a stove of half in plate steel that had a fire roaring 24-7 in the kitchen. that was heat. we sat in the kitchen mostly talking with other hunters.

somewhere a generator ran 24-7 [or so we were told] for the town. ah em village. there was one pickup available to help move gear.

very very interbeing people. back then there were no wannabes. it was my second moose float but i did not consider myself experienced, so i listened.

there were 13 wrecked airframes in the hanger. [much more on this later]

the fairgrounds were noteworthy [less than an acre]

i do not remember the pilot or the wt limit. but we did not lack for junk.

 

[rayporter]

drop off. the lake drains out just beyond the picture. it resembled a crater in the mountain top. a camp was there hunting for caribou. they had 3 bou that had a circuit circling the mountain. that is all they seen were the same 3 bou every day. a bear was spotted once. the river was a good bear hunting area. we never seen anything but spoor. but i never got out of the raft with out my rifle as tracks and poop were everywhere.

after putting the raft together we started down the stream. it barely had room for the raft and we drug and scraped the bushes on each side for a mile or so. we were rather worried about this. as it was work pushing the raft. after a few miles we had some current pushing us along and bouncing off the rocky bottom.

pitching camp the first night we found one bou with one antler. i was going to shoot it until i got a look at the missing side..

the first thing in the morning Sam is yelling to get up and get your rifle. you always wanted to kill one laying in your sleeping bag, so here you go. i rolled over and there were 3 cows crossing the stream about 200 yds away. i passed. this was not moose country.

 

[rayporter]

day two
the river was slowly getting more flow and it gained about and inch in width per mile.
soon we were going at a sporting pace. you could see the elevation drop easily. trees were hanging over the river and it as a lot of rowing to dodge them. it was continuous white water.

it was necessary to spot the sweeper as soon as you rounded a bend and plan where to start rowing to dodge it. if you were late you went over, under or through but not around it.
we were not in moose country yet but we could see that soon we would be. trees here were limited to the rivers edge.
by the end of the day we camped and fished some. grayling and some salmon spawning were beginning to show. bear sign.

day three
the river began to change. some fast sections and some really slow spread out areas.
we were always trying to find the main channel with enough water to float the raft. guess wrong and you had to drag it across the gravel. i believe this is the day we passed a small river entering and giving us some more current. we stopped and scouted for moose sign several times this impacted the milage we covered a lot. more bear sign and lots of spawning salmon.

Sam had offered to give me a break on the oars today as i was wore out. he just could not plan to row soon enough to dodge the sweepers. he waited until too late and we hit many of them.

there was a giant log jam we had to portage. as we rounded a curve the logs were clear across the river and water was strained through the logs. i could not get to shore and we hit. we kept the raft even so it did not ship water and hand walked it to the bank. yea, a serious situation.

 

[rayporter]

day four

the river is changing again. less white water and fewer braids to navigate. this morning there was some frost but no ice sickles on the branches over the river.
we found good campsite and there was some elevation to glass from so we hunted and glassed most of the day.

sam almost shot a caribou. there was a dozen bou walking in the river and he decided to shoot the last bull. no bang. he had an empty chamber and after racking the bolt they were gone. no meat that night but we did have rainbow for dinner.

day five
lazy current and easy travel. we came to another river junction and a lot of water entered this river. there was a good camp site so we dumped gear and i pitched a flying diamond fly over the gear real quick. and we decided to hunt. it looked real good and a natural corridor for game. sam went up the river and i went up a dry channel.

after a couple hundred yards i stopped. something caught my attention. what? i waited a minute and there, SQUAK. raven! i waited and the rave was about a hundred fifty yds ahead in the bush. but it was moving sort of toward me. i sat behind a down log. the raven was now visible. GLUNK. no raven, there. tree shakes. GLUNK.

mmmmm. stalk or call. i decided to bawl like a cow. bwaaahhhh.
the moose instantly appeared over me at 20yd. looking down at me he was huge. but only a 3 point. i tried to use the duplex to gauge the width. i came up with 56 in. so
i fired at the base of his throat and as he spun i got a second shot off. he went out of sight in the scrub willow. i climbed out of the dry channel and stood where he had been looking for sign. well not likely a length wise shot exited so i started to track. in 20 yd he was stretched out and in a decent place to work. i sat on him and gave thanks. sam appeared. he sat down too. no high fives or jumping around just take it in.

finally sam says "daylight is wasting. you get the tarp and meat bags and i will start.
i ran back to camp and collected more knives and the meat gear and we worked frantically to get done before dark. it was quite dark when we headed to camp and still had to make camp. we hung the tent and crashed. then slept in.

 

[rayporter]

six
we hauled meat and stuff back to the river camp. the sand was tough to walk in with a load. it took 13 trips ---if i remember correctly.

a group of hunters floated into view and we hailed them, they decided to camp with us and we shared meat over the fire.

seven
loaded up and headed back to civilization.

we had many miles to go. maybe 50mi? we had to be on the water all day. the current slowed down too.
eight
it was obvious we had passed the good hunting areas. there were sighs of habitation frequently. we also passed a boat or two heading up river..
nine
today we ran into the Kuskokwim. a really big river. think Mississippi river.
it was a short drift to aniak. we beached and searched for the lone pickup truck to help ferry gear and meat. no one wanted to have any thing to do with us. things were not right in town. Alaska troopers were there.

we had to go check on when the next plane would arrive and how to get meat in the cooler. at the desk the women were all crying and hardly talking.

it seems out pilot had flew into a mountain the day before. he had one caribou on the plane and took off from a lake and never climbed over the mountain.
one more wrecked air frame to add.

we got the meat taken care of and hit the "lodge" the fire was still roaring and we unrolled our sleeping bags while the water ran. i took a cold shower and sam finally got hot water for his shower. broken window or not we slept.

ten
headed back to anchorage. unremarkable trip.
the hunters we had met had their meat left on the tarmac and it ruined. we got to columbus ohio and processed 368lb at a buddys place before we went home.
the spread was 60inches on the antlers