DIY AK moose drop camp: who to use

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Hey everyone! I’m fairly new to the forum but been reading many threads and there is so much knowledge out there, happy to be a member. So I’m planning a 2021moose diy fly in drop camp. I’m wanting more of a ridge type hunt to get better glassing vantages. I’ve spoke with many charters and due to some being to much money for a drop or the lack of being able to book due to repeat clients, I’ve narrowed it down to Golden eagle outfitters hunting in 20a, Wrights air service or Mike odins hunting 20 and 25. Does anyone have personal experience moose hunting with these guys? They are a little more under the radar it seems like and can’t find a lot of reviews on them. Thanks for the help!
 

VernAK

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Golden Eagle Outfitters owner Jim Cummings is my neighbor and friend. Jim and family are very respected members of our community and I wouldn't hesitate to use either their Delta or Kotzebue operations if I hadn't been using another area and outfitter for a couple decades.

I think you'll find a few threads regarding Golden Eagle.
 
OP
bakcountry
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Ok great! I have found a few things on Golden Eagle and all positive! I had a good conversation with Jim sounds like he has good success and his rates are great! Thanks for the help!
 

VernAK

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Ok great! I have found a few things on Golden Eagle and all positive! I had a good conversation with Jim sounds like he has good success and his rates are great! Thanks for the help!


Success rates are much more dependent upon your performance and the weather rather than the guy flying you in.

Many of us are out there for the wilderness experience:

Some of the Rokslide members are very experienced moose hunters that hunt with longbows........a really challenging hunt with a very low success that hardly reflects upon the abilities of the outfitter.

Out group is mostly a bunch of Geezers that have shot a carload of moose and we hunt every year because we don't know when it will be the last one. I take a rifle, knife and a coffee cup and the cup gets the most use. My primary function is to provide adult supervision as my 80 YO buddy George gets carried away now and then.
Our group is usually 4-6 "hunters" with a goal of taking two moose.

"Success rate" can be interpreted many ways and should be taken with a grain of salt.
 
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Finding an open seat with a really good transporter for 2021 moose?.... That's like walking into the best restaurant in town and getting a window seat. On Saturday night. At 7:00 pm. If you have the chance, think very strongly about locking it down now.

I won't say too much about success rates, but I do absolutely agree with Vern. Personally I have a tendency to run from people who tout how many animals their clients kill, or their success rates. It's much better to hear: "I'm going to put you in a good place with moose around. I can't guarantee you an opportunity or a shot because that's up to you." Just remember this: The hunter is THE biggest variable in any estimation of success rates.

"Two glasses of cabernet please!"
 
OP
bakcountry
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Absolutely I couldn’t agree more! There is a lot more that goes into being “successful” than just where you are dropped. Just looking for someone that is passionate and takes pride in attempting to put their clients in the best areas they believe, opposed to charters that are just looking to fly as many people as possible and make the money without truly caring where they put you. I’m confident in my ability to do whatever is needed to give myself an opportunity and with hunting sometimes that’s still not enough but harvesting an animal or not, I still consider my trips a success.
 

AKBorn

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I have flown with Golden Eagle, and would again in a minute. I have not flown with Wright's, but only because the 40 Mile Air operations fits my hunting style to a tee. I would fly with them and may sometime in the future.

I haven't hunted or flown with Mike Odin, but have read good things on this an other forums. One cautionary note though - he offers guided hunts as well as DIY hunts. Most guides that offer both, typically save the best hunting spots for their guided hunts. Just smart business on their part.

Good luck, whomever you book with.
 
OP
bakcountry
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Thanks for the info! I would like to try 40 mile air but want a ridge top style hunt and it sounds nearly impossible to get that booked with them being a new client. Did you do a drop with Golden Eagle or a float?
 

AKBorn

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Thanks for the info! I would like to try 40 mile air but want a ridge top style hunt and it sounds nearly impossible to get that booked with them being a new client. Did you do a drop with Golden Eagle or a float?

Drop hunt. If you think about doing a float hunt, be in really good shape and be skilled at reading water. If it's a low rain year in AK, you may be dragging your raft a LOT in areas where you expected to float. If it's a high rain year, the river you float could be much more dangerous than normal. And guiding a raft filled with over 500 pounds of moose meat and antler is no easy feat.
 
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I’ve flown with Wrights once. They got the job done but wasn’t impressed with the way they choose to operate. The pilots did a great job.


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OP
bakcountry
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Drop hunt. If you think about doing a float hunt, be in really good shape and be skilled at reading water. If it's a low rain year in AK, you may be dragging your raft a LOT in areas where you expected to float. If it's a high rain year, the river you float could be much more dangerous than normal. And guiding a raft filled with over 500 pounds of moose meat and antler is no easy feat.
Yea I’m wanting to do a drop camp, Jim mentioned river bottoms and valleys is where he flys into just wondering what kind of terrain that is? If you can still get on ridges and gain elevation to glass or is it thick river bottoms with not much visibility?
 
OP
bakcountry
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Keep in mind that ridge tops seldom have water available and you may have to walk a long ways to the creek bottom.
Yea good point I would just like somewhere that you can get a couple good vantage points at least.
 
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I've never done a ridge hunt for moose. My hunts have always been in various drainages featuring creeks and rivers for travel corridors. I have of course seen many moose in the higher ground, so they are up there. Keep in mind that almost any bull you might kill could be well below camp in elevation, making for an uphill packing job. It's also a LOT easier to see moose far away when you're up high, and that can lead you to chase a bull which is much further from camp than is advisable. It's one thing to sit here and think about a big old 62" bull down and dead about a mile from camp and 500' lower. The enormity of what that means may not sink in until you strike out for camp with the first 80 pound load of meat.

And for sure, water can be scarce up high. You can likely find wet locations or maybe trickles and little potholes. If so, you'll be pumping and filtering most of your gathered water. That's not awful for drinking and cooking, but you'll want extra water for hygiene, camp use, etc. It can be laborious to keep water around in drier areas.

A potential issue of upland camps can be wind. There are a number of guys here who can tell you true accounts of extended windstorms which were extremely severe....enough to flatten good tents and threaten hunts. Go advised.
 

AKDoc

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The OP has definitely gotten some extremely helpful and valid perspectives from others thus far...

Regarding the ridge hunt comparison to low country hunts, I've done them both over the years, and as already accurately mentioned, there are for sure pros/cons to each. I've seen moose up high in areas that really surprised me...even jumped a bull one time in a very narrow and high elevation mountain pass when sheep hunting with my daughter. That said, I have definitely experienced many more moose down low nearer water...that is, the lower elevation of whatever topography I am hunting. I have enjoyed looking out and glassing from up high, but when up there I'm typically spotting them down low...and the terrain never looks the same when you get down low where the moose was spotted from above. KD's point about remembering that you will need to get that moose back to your ridge is extremely valuable!

Regarding your question concerning what it looks like in the river drainage areas used by your transporter, the best answer you will get will come from him. Topography is highly varied up here, so get it straight from him for the areas that he uses. If you're on floats, ask him if he drops on a lake or a stretch of the river...that will also tell you a few things. If he is tail-dragging, then where does he tend to drop folks for the river drainage hunts?

It sounds like you have chosen a good person...Vern's endorsement carries value with me.
 

VernAK

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I hunted 20 years in GMU 20A from a high valley just below a glacier and it was very productive as we could see bulls wandering the side hill from our tent. Some were shot from the tent and the pack down hill was much easier but we often had to wait until very early morning so wading the glacier run-off wasn't so life threatening. For the past 25 years I've hunted ridge top and it does have a vantage advantage but packing uphill is tough and only a small percentage of bulls can be enticed up to the high open ridges. If the weather is warm, it's nearly impossible to call bulls up hill.

We spend a lot of effort making bad water potable.

We bone out our bulls and keep meat bags to 40-50 pounds so there are about 12-14 bags of meat to pack up hill however far and then the antlers and cape. To satisfy curiosity this year, I weighed a cape at 82 pounds.

In addition to weather vagaries, I and others on this site have enjoyed seeing multiple bull moose for several days until a migrating herd of caribou pass through and the moose seem to disappear. WTH?
 
OP
bakcountry
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Thanks everyone for the valuable input definitely have several things to consider but I’m enjoying the preparation process and learning lots already!
 

AlaskaEd

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Jim (Golden Eagle) flew me out for a sheep a few years ago. Great guy. He’ll do his best to put you where the game is.

Wrights is good also, but they seem to cater to the local hunters (that just say take me to this location) and non-hunting airplane transport needs. I know lots of folks that use them, but they are all completely self reliant.

I’d use Jim in a heartbeat.
 
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Can you even get in with Golden Eagle for 2021? I called them back in January and was told they were "booked solid" for a couple years. Maybe a waitlist slot would open up.

This forum has so much good advice when it comes to drop camp moose hunts and which outfits to use. There are many guys on here who are more than willing to share information, usually via PM. I started the process myself of booking a DIY moose hunt for 2021 or 2022 back in December. I am going to go ahead and tell you this. Be prepared for lots of frustration. The top tier outfits are booked solid for years to come. And getting people to tell you who their favorite transporter is or who they have used, successfully for years is almost as difficult as winning the lottery.

It takes lots of phone calls, lots of research and lots of reading between the lines to find an outfit that is not booked solid, that doesn't charge an absurd price for DIY drop hunt and has a good reputation. I have probably made 30 phone calls, sent 100 emails and hundreds of PM's, spent hours reading, researching, watching youtube videos, browsing forums. I have narrowed mine down to 3 outfits that meet my criteria, my price and have potential openings for 2021 or 2022.
 
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