Well, I booked it. Alaska 2021

Wapiti1

WKR
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Sep 18, 2017
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Indiana
What no one ever tells you is that they'll come to the tent. It's like having your groceries delivered to the front porch.

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These are last day, spike fork, what the hell, I flew to Alaska and want to eat moose bulls. I'd have to look at the regs again, but I'm pretty sure both were legal. And tasty. And tender.

Have a great hunt!!

Jeremy
 
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Gunnersdad49
Joined
Feb 21, 2017
Messages
1,794
Location
Colorado
What no one ever tells you is that they'll come to the tent. It's like having your groceries delivered to the front porch.

View attachment 324047View attachment 324048

These are last day, spike fork, what the hell, I flew to Alaska and want to eat moose bulls. I'd have to look at the regs again, but I'm pretty sure both were legal. And tasty. And tender.

Have a great hunt!!

Jeremy
Jeremy, We just got back last night from 12 days actually afield. We saw 5 moose total. All were bulls. On the evening of the 10th day, we called in a bull to 700 yards from the tent. We called and called, and he put on a great show for us. He squatted down and pissed all over his neck, putting on a show and some fresh cologne for the hot cow he thought he was coming to. I shot him 140 yards from the tent and 20 yards from the lake we loaded him onto a plane on. It was amazing!
 
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Gunnersdad49
Joined
Feb 21, 2017
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Colorado
The payoff. He had 6 brow times on his right and 4 on his left, so I shot based on those, but I guessed him at 54-55”. He was right at 50-51” (based on my string I brought from home, so not 100% accurate). Shot him from my camp, and probably could have got him closer, but the gut pile right in camp and my excitement led me to take him there. One round between the shoulder and middle of his neck had him wobbly, but he was stumbling towards the water, so when he turned broadside I put another through both lungs. 225 grain Barnes TTSX out of the .340 Weatherby that I hand loaded went right through his chest. The quartering to shot went through one lung, liver, diaphragm, and stopped just before his pelvis in the guts. Probably 4 or 5’ of penetration.
 

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Joined
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Chugiak, Alaska
The payoff. He had 6 brow times on his right and 4 on his left, so I shot based on those, but I guessed him at 54-55”. He was right at 50-51” (based on my string I brought from home, so not 100% accurate). Shot him from my camp, and probably could have got him closer, but the gut pile right in camp and my excitement led me to take him there. One round between the shoulder and middle of his neck had him wobbly, but he was stumbling towards the water, so when he turned broadside I put another through both lungs. 225 grain Barnes TTSX out of the .340 Weatherby that I hand loaded went right through his chest. The quartering to shot went through one lung, liver, diaphragm, and stopped just before his pelvis in the guts. Probably 4 or 5’ of penetration.

Sweet, love those big brows! And a nice ‘bou to boot, doesn’t get much better than that.


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Joined
Aug 19, 2019
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692
The payoff. He had 6 brow times on his right and 4 on his left, so I shot based on those, but I guessed him at 54-55”. He was right at 50-51” (based on my string I brought from home, so not 100% accurate). Shot him from my camp, and probably could have got him closer, but the gut pile right in camp and my excitement led me to take him there. One round between the shoulder and middle of his neck had him wobbly, but he was stumbling towards the water, so when he turned broadside I put another through both lungs. 225 grain Barnes TTSX out of the .340 Weatherby that I hand loaded went right through his chest. The quartering to shot went through one lung, liver, diaphragm, and stopped just before his pelvis in the guts. Probably 4 or 5’ of penetration.

Congratulations! Thanks for letting us all tag along on your adventure and preparations!


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Wapiti1

WKR
Joined
Sep 18, 2017
Messages
3,571
Location
Indiana
Thank you. It was a great trip despite a couple of hiccups. Lots of hard work and planning, but I can tell you we are already planning the next one in a couple of years.
It never goes perfectly. Long range trips are just that way. As you have found, you roll with it and make it work.

You'll get it worked out and Gunner will have smooth sailing by the time he's old enough to go.

Jeremy
 
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Gunnersdad49
Joined
Feb 21, 2017
Messages
1,794
Location
Colorado
It never goes perfectly. Long range trips are just that way. As you have found, you roll with it and make it work.

You'll get it worked out and Gunner will have smooth sailing by the time he's old enough to go.

Jeremy
Sadly Gunner was my old yellow lab. He is in doggie Heaven. I just never changed my username.
 

thedutchtouch

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Sep 2, 2021
Messages
185
this was a fantastic thread to read, awesome stuff. my brother moved to alaska a few months ago so we're already making plans for when his residency kicks in.
 

Alaskan89

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Oct 15, 2013
Messages
245
As of yesterday, Granite View Sports in Delta had locking tags and fuel canisters. ADFG Tok had locking tags.

I'm driving to Tok today to deliver gear and groceries to friends flying in to moose camp. I won't be going along as I'm still hampered by last years injury......NEXT YEAR........i'll be out there.

I've been watching a 45" bull every morning.......his antlers are velvet free but no rut indications yet. Our spring came late and everything else seems late. Trees are holding leaves longer than usual. Will the rut be a little later this year?

Good luck to all of you. There's not many more hunting thrills than calling a 60"+ bull in close. Real close!
Vern, we were seeing lots of rut activity starting around the 11th and when my buddy shot his bull he had 5 cows with him and was heavy in the rut, creating rut pits and urinating all over everything. I don't ever remember seeing that kind of behavior that early in the season, especially where we hunt.
 
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Gunnersdad49
Joined
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Location
Colorado
Vern, we were seeing lots of rut activity starting around the 11th and when my buddy shot his bull he had 5 cows with him and was heavy in the rut, creating rut pits and urinating all over everything. I don't ever remember seeing that kind of behavior that early in the season, especially where we hunt.
I've always heard that the rut typically starts around the 10th and really heats up around the 15th. For us this was absolutely on target. The first bull we called in was on the 11th. Prior to that they didn't seem to care about our calls as we watched them through binoculars and the spotter.

I shot my bull on the 15th and we had another bull come in about 20 minutes after I shot my bull. My bull put on a hell of a show, pissing all over himself, swaying his antlers, grunting, etc. He was all horned up and ready to make sweet moose music!
 

Alaskan89

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Oct 15, 2013
Messages
245
We spotted the bull my buddy took the day before he shot it, it was up in the timber with some cows but you could see his antlers 5 miles away which is how I spotted him. He gave us the slip so we went back to camp and had lunch. Buddy went back out with another friend of mine and they got into a group of moose, 3 bulls and a bunch of cows but he could not get a shot due to all the moose in the area.

Went back the next morning and once again I spotted him in the timber so we sat there and waited, didn't take long before he got up and started to come down near the riverbed where we were glassing them. When he came out of the timber he had 5 cows with him, he was getting all aggressive with them and started digging a rut pit and urinating in it. That was behavior I've never seen before in my 26+ years hunting moose in Alaska and I was enjoying every minute of it. One of the cows would lay in his rut pit and he'd kick her out of it and run her off, only to have another cow lay in it, rinse and repeat.

Another smaller bull (40"-+) came into the scene and I thought for sure we'd see a fight but the small bull was all talk and no action, eventually the big bull lost interest and went back into the timber and I thought he was gone for good. As I was walking back to my Rhino I turned around to get 1 last look and there he was, I put the bino's on him and just as I did that I watched his hind end go down followed by a loud boom from my buddies 300 win mag, it was game over.

I've hunted this area for close to 20 years and I've never seen moose go into the rut like they did this year, I don't know what exactly causes them to go into rut but the weather this year has been terrible in that area so I suspect that maybe it had something to do with it.
 
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Gunnersdad49
Joined
Feb 21, 2017
Messages
1,794
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Colorado
That's an awesome bull, congrats!
Thank you. He isn't as wide as a lot of guys say they are looking for, but I am 100% happy with him, and after 11 days of not having a legal bull within 2 miles, when you get a legal one in your scope, it gets the heart PUMPING!
 
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