There are rumors of too many bears. Wolves running amok, reduction in calf survival, even Rep Don Young loosing the next election.

The rumors are I gather at least somewhat false.

My wife and I took a jet boat tour up the Nushagak River for the last week of the moose season and bumped into this 60" bull 200 yds in camp.

Babe, although seeming to enjoy the jet boating a little more all the time remains un impressed with moose hunting.

We had this small bear wander by as we were napping on the bluff but decided to not goof a perfectly good moose hunt with a bear hide.

Tina enjoyed the hunt. The bugs- bugged her a little but after we took the bull her demeanor brightened quite a bit.

Interestingly enough, most of the bulls teeth had worn or rotted or something thru the jaw and as you can see in the photo's the tooth roots are showing thru the bone. There were two broken or rotten teeth in the upper jaw and in line with each other. I don't know what thats about. Perhaps high fructose corn syrup really is a scourge in Bristol Bay.


This little cutie was along side the road on my way to work this morning. Good thing season ended on the 15th.

Great Bull Scott

After being involved with unit 17 B and hunting and guiding there for the past 13 years I do not profess to be an expert but do have some extensive local knowledge within the UNit. If I may be so bold and welcome your thoughts and local knowledge of the area as well. I would like to break this down into categories and I am refering to th area generally between the Ethel Creek up river to the confluence of the chilakadrotna and Mulchatna.

1; Caribou; The closure of NR hunting was a good thing. I noticed the amount of Bou seen this year was increasing significantly and the number of Good to exceptional Bulls appears to be on the rise. The over hunting in the mid and late 90's coupled with the terrible disease was devastating on the herd no question warranted the closure and I personally am seeing a rebound in the field. Although I think the NR Corridor in place for the Caribou has and will have no effect as the entire unti is closed to NR hunting. If and when the State warrants a NR Bou hunt in unit 17 B I would reccommend a draw hunt in the unit limiting the number of NR hunters. Once this takes place ( if) the NR Corridor IMO will be an insignificant factor as most if not all NR Caribou harvest take place off the river anyhow.

2; Moose; This is a touchy subject as many factors are playing into this resource. But I think IMO that the NR Corridor in place is a great thing and should remain until the end of time. Over the last few years it seems as though some significant changes have occured and I personally am a little baffeled as to what is happening. It seems as though the resource is rebounding a touch since the late 90's. Although the last couple years I have noticed the Bulls being very Shy and reluctant to respond to calling. Even the cows seemed to have quieted down a bit. In 2010 i ATTRIBUTED THAT TO THE EXTREMELY WARM WEATHER WE HAD but this year weather was typical and normal temps prevailed. The only conclusion I have for this is due to the significant amount of Bears and wolves the Moose have went quiet in order to survive. I do not know what is happening really but all of the traditional areas for ruttin are covered up with sign, Piss Holes, Rubs, you name it but the Bulls are very reluxtant to respond. I would like to see the NR Corridor remain in place, cease the winter hunting on Snowmobiles by local residents for 5 years and let the resource have an opportuntity to rebound to the extradorninary numbers of the 90's.

3; Brown Bear - This is a resource that I think is out of control. We had 13 Hunters kill 14 Bears on the River and off the River in the hills. Typically within 7 miles of the drainage. Numerous Bears were seen on every hunt and all hunters were successful. The Bear numbers are simply out of control and there are way to many Bears and IMO it is significantly hurting and really impacting other resources. We also noticed and sent to F&G a very strange looking worm in many of the Bears harvested. These were not tape worms but something truly strange and concerning. Bottom line is I am under the opinion that with the number of Bears physically seem and harvested this year the Bears are significantly impacting the Moose population throughout 17B and drastic measures need to be implemented to save the other resources. Too many Bears, too little hunting pressure on them to make a difference. If the Moose population is ever to rebound properly this issue has to be dealt with in a significant and swift manner. Not killiing the resource but putting it back in check so all the resources maintain a proper balance.

Wolf: Same as Bears IMO.

There are many other factors as well I would like to discuss and get your opinion and local knowledge on but I am not the best typer in the world and just thought I would open with these items to get your thoughts then we could discuss additional things

Thanks Scott
Doug Klunder
NWA Outfitters

I'd rather not call anything I have to say "Local Knowledge," but rather a Local's opinion.

I suspect the caribou restrictions were generally beneficial to the herd. Jet boats, super cubs, 120mph snowmachines and hunters as fit as Brett have allowed breeding bulls to be pursued across their range maybe a little too effectively. We as modern sportsmen are able to put a hurt on a caribou in areas that saw little hunting pressure what? 50 years ago? The ability of a Cub to land in front of a herd and take the big bulls or the ability of a group of snowmachines to take half a dozen or a dozen pregnant cows at one time and all this at distances from "civilization" historically safe for caribou one could guess is problematic.

The corridor moose restrictions were as I understood them designed to restrict non resident access and improve rural resident opportunity. The restriction wasn't so much aimed at moose herd health so much as it was moose availability for upper Nushagak villages. No, moose don't move like caribou but we do know they move. Heavy boat traffic on the river does push moose away from the river corridor, but that doesn't mean they cease to exist. I believe actual hunting pressure may reduce hunter opportunity, but it may not be as detrimental to the moose herd as in the caribou's case. Moose "take" I think on a typical year isn't too horrendous. A moose is a moose and they weigh as much as they do so there are quite a few that unlike a caribou that are allowed to walk away simply because, "I just can't get that bull moose out of there!" Not true in a caribou's case generally. Yes here in unit 17 it is good moose hunting but I've noticed that on any given year, "Noone up the lakes got any moose!" or "Nobody up river is getting any moose!" The weather as usual effects moose harvest sucess as much as any other factor I think.

Predators I believe are significant but some bold steps have already been taken. There is a Koliganek resident/ guide that has taken something crazy like more than a dozen wolves annually for the last several years, both trapping and guiding sportsmen. Can you imagine more than a dozen a year!? Now thats doing moose and caribou a favor. Bears as you note are being reduced by sportsmen and the 14 your camp took this fall did more to help the moose and caribou than any other effort in the area. Dillingham residents have been actively pursuing predators thruout the Nushagak/ Wood river drainages in increasing numbers and efforts for the last few years, and as I mentioned above, with the utilization of 120mph snow machines and supercubs, hunter success is improved.

I gotta go. Church starts in less than an hour and I'm working after.

Nice moose Scott, thanks for posting the pictures and story. Can't wait to get back up there.

Jerry,

Little has changed since last you were last here. Moose are well, caribou are not, bears and wolves abide.

Mark's absence is not appreciated and I am available at your convienience.

Hey guys. I had a great first time in AK a few years ago. Shot a moose on lake Beverly and a bear on the float out to Dillingham in 2005. Crazy story but too long to type.

My question.... I hunted with a newer guide named Brian ????. Do you have any information on his current whereabouts? How about the air charter guy....Crazy bastard but got us there and back in a badass turbo beaver.

Thanks,
Ski+3

quote:

Originally posted by SkiBumplus3:
Hey guys. I had a great first time in AK a few years ago. Shot a moose on lake Beverly and a bear on the float out to Dillingham in 2005. Crazy story but too long to type.

My question.... I hunted with a newer guide named Brian ????. Do you have any information on his current whereabouts? How about the air charter guy....Crazy bastard but got us there and back in a badass turbo beaver.

Thanks,
Ski+3

Hi Ski,

There is a young fellow named Brian still running around and guiding. I don't even know his last name or how well or not so well he's doing.

The most commonly ued air charters are Bay Air, Tikchik Air and Freshwater Adventures. Freshwater used to operate a turbine otter but that was the only Dillingham based turbine aircraft. Tikchik and Bay Air operate the only Dillingham based beavers and they are both radial engined. I have been told that the turbine upgrade is more for fun than profit, meaning its not a good business decision. The turbine otter no longer is in DLG so we're back to the old gasp and choke radial's. Bay Air also is operating a Maule on big tires so a sportsman can get bounced into some different locations the floated beaver cannot. I've used it twice to camp on the beach and its good transportation.

I should have mentioned in the original post that I used the .458 that Snowwolfe and Roger helped me with. A stainless Ruger, Douglas 24"barrel, 73g of AA2230 behind a 450gtsx. The load ofcourse is popular on AR and rightly so. Cloverleaf five shot groups and he fell in the made classic on video brained bull elephant collapse. head thrown up and back, tail down and then collapse. When I got to him he was gently kicking and his eye blinked at the touch of the muzzle. I backed off a few moments and he died quietly. I really like the rifle and the cartridge. The bullet was recovered and resembled the advertizements. My poor .375 is certainly being neglected and this after such good service. I am also faced with the possibility of germanating bad feelings between myself and the year old 9.3 Snowwolfe generously sold to me. The rifle served me well last year on a bigger moose and has been in the gunrack ever since. "No appreciation!" I'm sure its thinking.

quote:

Originally posted by Jerry Huffaker:
Nice moose Scott, thanks for posting the pictures and story. Can't wait to get back up there.

Say Jerry, the teeth and the exposed roots? You ever seen that before and any idea why?

Thanks Scott. Happy Hunting.

I've seen a lot of worn and rotten teeth on animals, but what seems odd to me is that it occured on both sides of the jaw. I don't know.

Scott,
Tried to send you a PM but couldnt so I apoligize about hijacking this thread.

How did that lefty hand Ruger 458 work out? Any feeding or ejecting issues? I been thinking of building one up myself.

It's hard to tell but are those new teeth sprouting under older teeth? Did you have the bull aged?

Awesome trophy!

Hi Snow,

Sorry about the delay, I locked mself out of AR for a little while.

I am very happy with the .458 and a big thank you to you again. The rifle did have some feed problems that Stan corrected but as you and I have both found with Stan's rifles, it is accurate and dependable.

If anyone else is interested, Roger/ QSL sold me a stainless lh .300 winchester in a Ruger Mark 2. Snowwolfe helped me re barrel to a .458 win wit a 24" Douglas barrel. I broke a total of three stocks before I sent it to MPI for a custom job with a mercury recoil reducer in both the butt and forearm. Its topped with a fixed 3x Leopold Mark Young gave me and worked quite well on this bull moose. I've recoiled apart most of the Williams iro sights Sta installed so I'll be buying some NECG one of these days.

The rifle is generally accurate but the 480g Hornaday DGS AND DGX with AA2230 are favorites. After reading some negative reviews on AR regarding the DGX I went with the also accurate TSX and the results are in the photos.

With your and the others mentioned generosity I'd certainly do the same again but it did seem to end up costing a little more than simply buying a Montana Rifle Co complete package? Maybe you'd weigh in on that.

Stan has worked on a total of four of the rifles I own and I am much the better for it. my lh Remington 30-06 and .375, and the two lh Rugers I got from you are great rigs and it is hard to choose which one to take outdoors.

Thanks again!

quote:

Originally posted by Aspen Hill Adventures:
It's hard to tell but are those new teeth sprouting under older teeth? Did you have the bull aged?

Awesome trophy!

Hi Ann,

I was thinking the odd dentistry was decay or age. I didn't have it aged as I don't think the local fin and feathers have the ability to cut teeth and get 'em under a microscope to count rings.