2020 Moose Hunt

[Hoffer]

Fantastic animals, congrats to the both of yahs!

 

[mooster]

Congrats! Awesome trip!

 

[Mudslinger]

Correction - we are up with Renfros


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They hunt the same areas so they are really good areas.

 

[Canichols424]

Congrats on the bulls

 

[CPD]

Congratulations! Magnificent bulls both!

 

[Doc Holliday]

Kickass. Congrats!

 

[SliverShooter]

Congratulations, thanks for sharing the your hunt.

The palms on your bull are really nice, you have picture of them from a higher angle?

 

[Mudslinger]

Congratulations, thanks for sharing the your hunt.

The palms on your bull are really nice, you have picture of them from a higher angle?

I looked and I don't have pics from a higher angle.

 

[SliverShooter]

Thanks for looking. A racks width isn’t everything, the plams on your moose add a lot.

 

[alaska_bou]

GREAT bulls! Congrats!

 

[Cacatays]

I didn't pack real heavy. I always bring chest waders and good rain gear. We were allowed 100lbs each without camping gear and I think we came in 30lbs light. That included my buddy brought his bow and a heavy gun. To be honest we didn't freeze in the tent but since we had extra weight, I would bring a little buddy heater and get some little propane tanks from the outfitter. It would have been nice to take the edge off in the morning.

This is my second moose hunt and weather wise they couldn't have been any different. The first one, it got down to the low 30's and rained all day and night for six days straight and the wind blew most days also.

This hunt the weather couldn't have been better, it hardly rained at all and got down to the low 30's. The wind blew a little bit but was probably in the 10-20mph range.

Great insight, Very much appreciate your reply.

 

[Hoosker Doo]

Those are 2 awesome bulls! Dream hunt

 

[live2huntelk]

Congratulations on your Alaskan moose adventure, sounds like memories that will be talked about for a long time. Hard to beat coming home with 2 great moose of that caliber.

What were your dates that you hunted? last 2 weeks of Sept? Sounds like a lot moose rutting activity.

 

[Mudslinger]

Congratulations on your Alaskan moose adventure, sounds like memories that will be talked about for a long time. Hard to beat coming home with 2 great moose of that caliber.

What were your dates that you hunted? last 2 weeks of Sept? Sounds like a lot moose rutting activity.

We hunted the last two weeks of the season.

 

[Nontyp]

Awesome hunt. Sounds like a lot of action

 

[MarkB71]

Awesome bulls. Thanks for sharing,

 

[Michigander1479]

Great bulls! Thanks for sharing

 

[thacounty]

Congrats! I'm dying to go on a moose hunt.

 

[cuervosail]

Just thought I would post how our 2020 moose hunt went. We signed up with Papa Bear Adventures. This hunt couldn't have gone smoother from start to finish outside of the flights getting changed due to Covid, but Covid actually helped us get into the field a day early.

We arrived at Papa Bear and Tawny went through the paperwork. Tawny was awesome with all the information we needed. Aaron got us settled and told us to get ready and we could probably fly out that afternoon since the weather was good. Justin flew us out that afternoon and we saw a couple good moose right where we were going to camp.

We got in a day early which was nice to be able to get going a day early. The moose activity was awesome, we could hear them raking and grunting from the tent. We did see some cows the night before we could legally hunt and a shooter bull.

We did see a couple cows and a small bull the first morning. Midmorning on day one we did pull a nice bull across the pond behind camp and couldnt get it into bow range. He hung about 200 yards away. I estimated it to be around 55" with two brow tines. I was hoping for a good bull with good fronts and hopefully 60", so I passed this bull.

Day 2 we had a couple cows with no bull with them down from camp 1/4 mile. Later we found a few smaller bulls also in the morning. We could hear bulls grunting and raking but couldn't find them in the brush. It's amazing how they can hide being such large animals.

Day 3 we went behind camp again we did find one bull that came across a pond quite aways off and my buddy thought it was a shooter. We decided to try and cut it off. We came around the corner of some trees to find a nice bull standing chest deep in the water. He was definitely a shooter. He had good fronts and seemed pretty wide. I wanted to wait for him to leave the water. I shot one in the water years ago and it wasn't to fun taking care of it in the water. The bull stood up on the edge of the bog and I shot and of course he jumps back into the water going deeper this time!! I thought for sure it was going to be a nightmare.... I walked down to the edge of the pond and the bull turned around and stumbled back to the opposite edge from where I shot him from. I connected with two more shots and he finally went down about three feet from the pond. Luckily we had waders on and went over to see how big he was, he was everything I was hoping for. Good fronts and wide! He was laying in about 8" of water but we could manage that. It wasn't fun but it was doable. We went back to camp about a 1/2 mile and ate a quick mt. house and grabbed our knives and a couple tarps. My bull ended up being 58 1/4" wide. We took care of the bull and called Aaron with Papa Bear and he said they should be able to get the plane right to my bull. We headed back to camp early that evening only to see another shooter 1/4 mile the opposite way chasing a cow. The bull crossed the pond to our side and the hunt was on again! I wasn't sure if I wanted to take care of a second bull in one day but we had to go after it. Andy was carrying his bow still but the bull went the opposite way and we never did see him again.


Day 4 the plane came in and picked up my bull to bring back to the lodge. It was awesome not having to carry that meat anywhere and just load it right onto the plane. Action definitely slowed down and we didn't hear much for the next couple of days.

View attachment 226413
Day 5 was still pretty slow and we didn't see or hear anything, along with the morning of day 6.

Afternoon of day 6 we did call a smaller bull in the lower 40's range into 21 yards and Andy decided to pass. The evening of day 6, we decided to sit by the pond by camp and as soon as we sat down we saw a cow staring at us and right behind her was a bull. They were in some bushes and hard to get a good look at the bull but I figured around 50". The cows wandered off and the bull came out for a drink 130 yards away and we watched him for 30-45 minutes and Andy wasn't ready to grab the gun yet.

Day 7, we went behind camp again and could hear a couple of different bulls and cows but couldn't locate them or call them out. We went back to camp around noon for lunch. I could hear a faint grunt and cow call I thought from the tent. I decided to stand by the pond and Andy came out as well. We both looked to our left at the same time and about 1/4 -1/2 mile away was paddles swaying in the trees. Andy had decided it was time to put the bow away and he had a 45-70 open site, lever action. I could see a smaller bull in the pond also. Both bulls were after a cow. We finally covered some ground and I would cow call trying to slow them down. We had been on this trail before and it got pretty thick and I wasn't sure we would find them again. There was a trail going left and one going right back towards the water, I told Andy to wait and I would check the water quick. I came around a couple trees and one of the bulls was on the other side of the pond. Andy quickly ran over to me and I told him he was pretty wide and asked if he was big enough. Andy's response was yep and boom! Andy hit him with three shots and the bull ran about 20 yards where we couldn't see him and I crept along the side of the water just in time to watch him go down. We totally weren't sure how big he was because it happened so fast. We had to go back to camp and get our waders on and come back with the tarps and knives. We finally got back to the bull and we couldn't believe how big he was. The points were really heavy and he had awesome fronts and measured 62" wide. We cut him up and left him for the night until the next day.

Day 7, we went back to Andy's moose and only had to pack it 100 yards to the edge of the pond where the plane could pick it up. We packed up camp that afternoon and Justin came in and picked the moose and us up and we headed back to the lodge.

View attachment 226417
Sorry its such a long winded story... I couldn't recommend Papa Bear Adventures enough. I know the waiting list can be a couple of years out but a drop camp moose hunt is totally doable. Papa Bear has everything in order and was on the ball on everything from Tawny changing flights and getting meat boxes and everything else you need and Aaron getting everything you need with your meat and coordination. Justin is an excellent pilot and a great guy too. They know where the moose are and will put you in a awesome spot.

Those are a couple of real nice bulls. Great story.

 

[keller]

Good story and moose Brad.