Longbow Creek Reunion

[Kevin Dill]

! haven't done a moose hunt story here for a few years...mainly due to a lack of inspiration. I can't write anything worth reading unless I'm really in the mood to do so. My creative bone is less active these days, and I can't see myself dredging up a story 'just because'. In any event, I was recently in Alaska to hunt moose primarily, but with the option to kill a caribou or black bear. I didn't hunt Alaska in 2020 due to a number of reasons, only one of which was the pandemic. So if you're interested (or maybe just bored) follow along and I'll try to keep you entertained for a bit. This will deliberately be a longer read as I'm not good at writing quick accounts. For that matter, I'm not a writer or author so please forgive any errors found. But first, a few images from past seasons in Alaska:

Bulls we've encountered but not managed to kill:

And a few of the ones we've gotten lucky on:

There are many others, but you get the idea. Alaska has great moose hunting. Even the little bulls are big at 5 yards:

Bruiser at 1,000 yards:

And then there's the scenery....

 

[Kevin Dill]

Flying by Super Cub gets us into places nobody else goes, and allows us to hunt moose which hardly ever see a human being. All of our moose hunting is done with bows exclusively. Any guns in camp are primarily for bear defense.

 

[Kevin Dill]

One of the reasons I didn't hunt in 2020 was due to my pilot avoiding the use of the tiny airstrip at my camp. That airstrip was extremely rough and bumpy....short...and had a dogleg at one end. In 2019 he had a rough landing in there and came fairly near to some plane damage. I saw it happen and it was spooky. My pilot was definitely very unhappy and showed it. He refused to use the strip in 2020 and considered abandoning it altogether. I hoped that wouldn't happen and told him I wanted to go back in there again. The valley there is pristine and has some really good bulls using it. So this past summer he flew in there and spent a couple days reworking the airstrip, making it longer, straighter and smoother. When he told me this was the destination for the '21 hunt, I was ecstatic.

 

[Kevin Dill]

When planning for the ill-fated 2020 season, I invited my friend Jeff to join me. Both of us were massively disappointed when the '20 hunt didn't materialize, but we agreed to plan forward to '21. Jeff had not hunted moose in Alaska, but he was nevertheless an experienced and qualified partner having taken a couple moose with a bow in the lower 48. I was convinced he had exactly the characteristics I value in a partner for these tough and extended hunts. Though it took almost 2 years to see it through, Jeff and I remained committed and finally had our chance in September. Of course it had to start with a glitch.

The airlines are a mess due to major disruptions. Itineraries getting changed are common. Short-staffing issues plague all aspects of air travel. Flight delays and late arrivals are pretty much the norm. I barely made my connecting flight from Seattle to Fairbanks, while Jeff missed it by probably 15 minutes. Luckily he was able to get on the very next plane to Fairbanks, and arrived late but in good shape. All our bags made it just fine. We chatted for 20 minutes and hit the sack...tomorrow (or actually later today) would be very busy.

 

[Kevin Dill]

We had one day to do some business and prep work before our flight to camp, and we made the most of it, beginning with breakfast at the Cookie Jar. From there it was a punch-list of stops and tasks including ADFG for tags, Sportsman's and REI for supplies, Fred Meyer for additional foodstuffs and so on. We completely repacked our gear into suitable bags for the Super Cub. Evening dinner at the Pump House completed our day and we were ready to go hunt.


Note: Most of the pictures here will be from this year's trip, with just a very few supporting images added from previous hunts. I want to thank Jeff for contributing some very nice photography used in this story!

 

[Kevin Dill]

I almost forgot the one thing which really threatened to derail my hunt this year. About a month before the hunt began I woke up one morning (at home) and instantly the room was spinning wildly out of control. I could hardly walk, and I was instantly nauseous. Severe vertigo hit me and I was badly messed up for over 10 days. No bow shooting, little driving, low appetite and so on. I was miserable and worried about the outcome. It did get better and I was able to resume preparations. Barely.

 

[Kevin Dill]

I also want to say a very sincere thank you to Nick Muche and his wife who graciously did a huge (to me) favor ahead of my arrival. I will not forget that act of kindness. I hoped to spend a bit of time with Nick after the hunt, but unfortunately my vertigo hit again before leaving camp and I didn't think I'd make very good company. Disappointed doesn't cover how I feel about that.

 

[Kevin Dill]

The flight in was excellent, and I was able to spot a couple nice bulls less than 2 miles from our little airstrip. It was so good to step out of the plane and hear nothing but the noisy creek ten yards away. It's a no-name tributary which I tend to call Longbow Creek, though one of my good friends teases me with 'Little Dillta' from time to time. I had the great good fortune to be the first hunter into this location when it was discovered. The valley is not accessible by any means other than aircraft, and I work very hard to keep it pristine. I was first into camp, and wasted no time getting busy. My tent site was a bit grown up in blueberry bushes and I spent some time clearing and leveling the ground. Jeff arrived soon after and I helped him pack his gear into camp. We used 2 tents (tipis actually) for this trip, so Jeff got busy prepping his own area a few yards away from mine.

While spending much of the day working, we spotted a total of 5 moose from camp, with 2 of them being very decent bulls. Things were looking promising for sure, but I've seen that go south quickly.

By day's end we were ready to hunt. We'd also consumed about a pint of wild blueberries which were as big and plentiful as I've ever seen.

There's just no good way to describe how fine it is to slip into a down sleeping bag the night before actual hunting begins. Tired from the work of establishing camp. Quietly excited to be hunting in the morning. Belly full of warm food. Sounds of the creek rushing and gurgling as it lulls you to sleep.

 

[Kevin Dill]

Up to greet the dawn.

Now....I'm deliberately not going to bore you with day-to-day details of this hunt. I know you don't care about each breakfast or the hills we climbed every day. We saw multiple moose every day from the outset, and some were very fine bulls. I've learned the hard way about killing bulls that were far from camp, and it's simply not something I will do these days. I watch for opportunities on bulls walking the valley and then go after them. We made a few moves into the valley and attempted to call a couple of times to no avail. The bulls were walking but their interest wasn't all that great. Cows drifted in and out of the burn across from camp. One day a young bull followed a cow upstream past our camp. That cow was as vocal as any I've ever heard, with near-constant squalling and annoyed cries.

 

[Kevin Dill]

The weather was nearly perfect with no time lost to rain. A couple mornings were really cold with temps near 20 degrees. Frost would sometimes linger in the shade until well past noon.

We kept plugging away and searching the hills. Moose movement and activity was as good as I've ever seen in any camp, with multiple sightings every day. One very nice thing about my camp is the fact that the absolute best place to kill a bull is basically right there...at camp. To be more clear, the key zone for moose movement is straight in front of camp and about 250 yards distant. I always see multiple bulls while working in camp. That's hard to beat when you're a bowhunter.

 

[Kevin Dill]

Speaking of bowhunting: Both Jeff and I were hunting with conventional (some would call them traditional) bows. I'm personally not caught up in the traditional archery / trad-bowhunting distinction. I like the bow I use and it's effective for me. I don't follow a 'trad' mindset....I just hunt with my bow and that's it. On this hunt I was using my tried-and true 3-piece Cari-bow Silver Fox longbow. It packs down small with an extra set of limbs. Jeff was toting his beautiful Black Widow recurve. I also brought a custom .45-70 mostly for bear defense....more on that later.

 

[Panhandler80]

Following…

!

 

[Alaskan89]

Tag!

 

[Kevin Dill]

So somewhere about day 5 or 6 we were sitting on the hill watching the valley for moose. A couple of bulls showed up headed our general direction, and we had to move fast. Bail off the steep hill and head for a known creek crossing....then cross-valley toward a spruce clump and mound. There we set up and I drifted a few nasal cow calls hoping to encourage the bulls.

A full hour passed and nothing showed. No sounds. I know enough about moose to know they can be slow to show up, but still...something told me these bulls got hung up or changed course. I decided to gain some elevation and see if I could locate them. Not my finest decision as it turns out.

 

[Kevin Dill]

I probably traveled 250 yards and gained 20 feet of elevation when I suddenly saw the biggest bull headed my way downstream and undoubtedly passing me far out of position. I was frustrated beyond belief for myself, but immediately prayed the bull would walk to where I'd left Jeff in the spruce clump. I watched the bull walk right into the immediate area Jeff was watching and I prepared myself to see the bull take an arrow. It didn't happen, and the bull began circling the spruce clump. Ten minutes later he made his way uphill and disappeared into the burn with all its second growth cover. No shot. What the heck???


Jeff later told me he'd relocated a few yards, thinking the bull might be taking a different course. When the bull came into 'the zone' he was unable to see it. The bull circled and eventually surprised him at 12yards. That's right...12 yards, but with a sizable spruce blocking any shot at the chest. The standoff ended with the bull turning away and only offering a risky hard-quartering away shot at greater range...a shot Jeff passed on as he believed it was simply not good. Wise and honorable was my partner, but also disappointed. That bull was a real sledgehammer with large palms and good points. I was so frustrated for us because I know how difficult it can be to get close chances like that one.

The bull, as photographed by Jeff after the encounter:

 

[Kevin Dill]

For this trip I was breaking in a couple of new gear pieces. My shelter would be a Seek Outside Redcliff pyramid tipi. This thing is almost a cabin for size, and it honestly has a more efficient interior design than any 8-man tipi I've owned. I combined a large S.O. U-Turn ti stove with it and suddenly had a heated cabin.

The 'phone on the wall' was my new inReach which allowed good communication with my wife, the pilot and others as desired. I'm admittedly slow to the show when it comes to accepting the inReach, but now I'm a total believer in its usefulness.

 

[Kevin Dill]

I also brought the aforementioned .45-70 rifle. I had the rifle customized by a superb gunsmith over a year earlier. It's a short-barreled Marlin 1895 which he made into a takedown. Almost everything about it is custom, and it was designed specifically for duty in Alaska. I had it Cerakoted to protect against corrosion. Equipped with Buffalo Bore JFN ammo, it's a real bear stopper. At only 20” long in the TD case, it's perfect for bush travel. I kept it ready but hoped it wouldn't be used.

 

[Kevin Dill]

16 September: We were in camp at lunchtime and suddenly a cow came hurrying past, leading her yearling calf. She wasn't messing around or looking backwards. She was clearly getting the heck out of the area and wasting no time about it. I commented that she might have a bull behind her, but more likely a predator. Not long afterward, Jeff spotted and counted 12 wolves in one pack. They were across the valley from us and appeared to be looking for opportunities. I heard them howl hard and long. Thankfully they moved on and cleared our area.

I was a bit disappointed by the wolves appearance, and admittedly had some doubts about what it might mean for our hunt in the following days. And of course there's no way to really know what might happen...a fact which was hammered home the very next morning.

 

[Kevin Dill]

I want to take a moment or two and recognize Jeff. Jeff Holchin (a Bowsite member) and I had never hunted together before this trip. Certainly we had met and generally knew each other through mutual association. I had a strong conviction Jeff would be a nearly ideal partner for Alaska. He's a proven diy guy...almost exclusively...and had a couple lower 48 moose kills under his belt. He's the guy who doesn't give up or cry uncle when things get tough...answers the bell every morning and goes hard all day. Great disposition and a nonstop thinker when it comes to problem solving. I can honestly say as a partner he gives far more than he asks, and those guys are rare in my experience. He's both humble and joyful just to have hunting opportunities. We got along great obviously. Probably ruined him with all this positive character talk. Sorry Diane.

 

[Kevin Dill]

17 September started like any other day...chilly and cloudy. Out of the bedroll at 5:30 and get dressed. Hot breakfast and coffee. Glass from camp until light enough to see ahead (and that includes moose ahead) and then move toward our observation lookout on the hillside. We got there and dropped our packs...tossed out the ground pads for sitting...and I immediately picked up big antlers up the valley. The bull was a no-brainer for size, and he was only just over a full quarter mile upstream. I knew we had no seconds to waste if this guy started walking. We packed up and fled the hillside heading for the creek crossing. Going up the opposite bank we passed The Twins which are 2 young spruce trees I used for cover when I killed a bull on a solo hunt a few years back. I silently wondered if this day would play out in our favor.