I had killed a monster bull moose five years ago and had booked to go back to that spot this past September. Dirk Lawyer (dirklawyer) had established Alaska residency after moving up to Anchorage, so he was able to join me on this hunt. Someone was in “my” spot the morning we were to fly out, so we ended up at another location – in the long run, we would not be not disappointed.

Dirk killed this very nice brownie late on the first evening; he had to scramble and run around a 1/2mile to cut him off, but eventually got to within 80yds of the boar and made a good off-hand shot. The bear fell within 30yds. We spent most of the night rolling around the tussock tundra with this guy just trying to get him skinned. He fell in a hole and we couldn’t roll him out or roll him over. We got back to camp at 3:30 the next morning. NOTE: The dates on the pics are not accurate.







He was an honest 8ft bear and we spent part of the next few days in camp fleshing the hide. Late in the afternoon of day three, I stood up to stretch my back from being in the fleshing position – i.e., hunched over – and spotted a nice bull across the valley about a mile from camp. We guessed him around 60”, maybe a little bigger, but it was too late to reach him.

In the early afternoon of the fourth day, it happened again. I got up from fleshing to stretch and saw him across the valley. While we were gearing up he disappeared, but we had the area marked. We paddled across the lake and down a creek till we were even with the spot, got out and went straight at him. The wind kept flipping and quartering to us from both directions, so we had to be careful to try and approach the area straight-on to keep him from winding us. It took us a while to get close to our mark, but as we approached the area, working through head high willows, we caught movement to our left at 20yds. He was getting out of his bed. As he got up, he grunted and I immediately grunted back. He thrashed the willows then turned to face me. Dirk and I quickly realized he was a bigger than 60”. We proceeded to have a pretty intense couple of minutes of interaction – I got him fired up; he was calling, thrashing, and I got him antler-rocking as he circled us at 20yds, all while I tried to find a hole to shoot through. The kill is a story in itself, but it took 3 shots (all within 20yds) to anchor him and a coup de gras once he was down – it was a bit of a rodeo.





We spent the next 2 ½ days getting him back to camp - and they were long days.

The last trip…





We were pretty tired at this point.



We had a blast doing this trip and it was great having Dirk as a hunting partner; we made a pretty good team.

Congratulations to you both. Thanks for sharing.

Great story and hunt , thanks for posting. Love Alaska

Awesome Bear, and giant Moose, great pictures and report, congrats to both of you!!

Butch

Thanks for sharing. That is some excellent trophies and a real hunt

Love when a plan comes together.

Mike

Fantastic hunt, thanks for sharing

What outstanding trophies, and a great story. Congrats and thanks for sharing it.

Antlers,

Where were you? I don't expect you to specify a lake!!!!!!!! The terrain looks like that country to the west of Dillingham rather than the boreal forest around the lakes.

Nice bear and a boomer moose. How much over 65" is that bull? Those DIY moose hunts are what I really miss about Alaska.

Mark

Very nicely done! Congrats to the both of you!!!

Congrats,
This was a fantastic adventure with two great guys,good work!!

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
Antlers,
Where were you? Nice bear and a boomer moose. How much over 65" is that bull?
Mark

Mark we were in Alaska
Bull was 70.5 inches to be exact.

dirklawyer,

Good friend you made there with Antlers. He knows some of my old backyard. Some of the best hunting and fishing in the world. Enjoy!

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by dirklawyer:

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
Antlers,
Where were you? Nice bear and a boomer moose. How much over 65" is that bull?
Mark

Mark we were in Alaska
Bull was 70.5 inches to be exact.

Yeah; I said where we were in the subject line!

But to be exact he measured 70.75 inches.

Awesome bull + bear - congratulations to you both!

You should have let him go, to small you have him beat. I want to hear the rest of the story.

Mike

Congrats! Been there, done that - on the DIY moose hunt in AK. Fun, but lots of work! Good for you guys.

Congrats, that is an awesome looking moose.

Any details on the rifle in the pics?

Outstanding gents!

quote:

Originally posted by Sevens:
Congrats, that is an awesome looking moose.

Any details on the rifle in the pics?

Sure. It is a custom build on a LH Stainless Mod 70 with 25" barrel (Shilen, IIRC) in 9.3 X 62; I shoot 286NPs at about 2500fps.

Holy balls.
Looks and sounds like great hunt.
Alaska eh?
Looks like Kentucky to me.
Didn't know they had bear and moose over there

Great trophies. AIU

Wow!!!! Awesome!!!

Great trophies! An 8 foot brown bear and 71" moose on the same trip? You guys are living right... well done.

Dream trip right there!

OUTSTANDING!!!
Congratulations to the both of you!!!

You fellows had a trip of a lifetime for sure,,

congrates on the nice animals!