I was hunting with Grizzly Skins of Alaska
Phil Shoemaker
Guide Taj Shoemaker
10 day hunt Sept 10-20
FLy into King Salmon and then by small plane into the home stead then on into camp.
Rifle: Winchester 1886 TD Deluxe 475 Turnbull
Bullets are Barnes 400 gr. TSX 2150 FPS


I traveled from Rochester NY to Anchorage and then onto King Salmon.

The flight out of King was low and slow as I was ridding in the plane with Taj and Jim Kinsey, cameraman from Shoshone Productions for the Nosler Magmun Hunt club.

Firstg day was not your typical alaska weather. Nice and warm and sunny low wind and really nice.
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The second day was almost as nice. We saw a number of bulls and had a non typical that we saw the first day at about 1 mile away. Decided not to go after as Taj said we can do better.

The third day it was your typical west and rainy cool day. Really made you apreciate the first two days. Picked a lot of blue berries and cranberries that we had in pancakes for breakfast.

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Fishing was good and we caught some Silvers during the day too.

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By the fith day we had seen a number of bulls and decided to go after about a 60-65" bull and it was about 1 mile away and raining on and off. As we got close to him it really started to rain and hard. We had a busted hunt on him as he came towards us and we all got caught off guard and ran off with out shooting at him as I felt that to be the bsest thing to do.
Saw lots of grizz tracks and we had to get around many at times.



The troopers stoped in and checked out our licenses on the top of the look out theat we used for spotting.




By the sith day we had seen this bull a few times and watched him move into an area that we could do a stalk on him.




We estimated him in the 60-65" width range. Jumping of the sidde of the look out and crossign a river we procedded to stalk him. On the way we ran into a +- 9 ft. bear and had ot wait for him to walk past so we could finish the stalk. We got to baout 80 yards of the bedded moose and he stood up. I shot him as he got up and he went right down. Then he was up again and as he was moving off I shot him again at 150 yrds and put him down for good.





Then the work starts. There is NO ground shrink of these animals. We cut him into about 12 sections and carried/packed them out to the rifle so we could float him down to the runway.






What a great tiem. The moose measured 64" wide.
One of the other hunters bagged the A typical moose and that one had 3 paddles. We knew that it was differen but did not know for sure.Had we, I would have tried harder to harvest him.



Great time and great sunrises. Wonderful people and they really put on a first class hunt.



Looking forward to watching the show on the Pursuit channel 611. If I am going to hunt Grizzlies they are the place to go for sure.

Recovered one of the bullets that I shot the second one that entered just ahead of the RR quarter and inot the lungs and shoulder blade ending in the LF shoulder. Here you can see the first shot and the second that came up fronm the rear and cut a gash in the shoulder blade.



Had boiled Moose toung and that is the best. Looing forward to having that again when I can.
Phils daughter Tia really knows what is good!!!



Here is my moose before we head out back to King Salmon.




Great time, great people, You just need to watch put for Taj he just wants to "mow your lawn"! When you see him just ask him.

Doug

congrats on moose nice pics and story thanks for sharing

Excellent hunt! It looks like you had a great time. Was that a 475T you used?

Congratulations and come on back.

Bob

Yes I used Winchester 1886 in 475 Turnbull with Barnes 400 gr TSX bullets.

Congrats!! Good write up and great pictures.

an excellent hunt with a good pot of fresh meat! Good gear,people and fine country! Tough to beat.

thanks Doug.

Got nervous with the photo with the chopper,that you forgot your hat!

But I see it made the trip!

I think you should commit however,to it being the only one.Baseball cap indeed.....

Great report,super trophy...

Will see you at East Coast Firearms Show in Jan.

Dan

Doug,

Good job!!
Kudos on the excellent Moose.
Thanks for the posting and great pix.

Don Buckbee

Hey Turnbull, yur mowin my lawn with that hat in the last shot.

Looks like a great trip. Great Moose. I love Moose meat, and heart, but never had the toung. Maybe next time.

I really like it when folks hunt with the old guns. I hunt with an 1886 in .45-70 and love it. Thanks for bringing them back to folks attention.

Is your guide carrying a .375 Ruger?

Elk toung sammiches!

A monster moose and a great report. Thanks.

Yes, the guide is carrying a 375 Ruger stainless "Alaskan" with the wood "African" stock

You can really tell when those bulls are putting on some years the way their antlers droop out from their bases. Excellent story and congrats on a fine old bull!!

Great story and excellent bull. Congrats!!

Really enjoyed the story and photos, thanks for sharing and congratulations. That rifle is too pretty to hunt with!

Doug,

Awesome story. It's great to relive a hunt through another's eyes.

The way your antlers curve down from the skull plate remind me of the ones I took last month further north west of you. More than likely very heavy, thus the curve. Do you wish you'd had a bear tag in your pocket as well? A 9' Grizzly would be hard to pass up. I went up for Grizzly and came back with a 62"+ bull taken with my Blackhawk in 45LC. It would have been worth the extra cost of a tag to have it in my pocket. Instead I took a few days off and slept, fished, loafed, wrote in my journal, etc.

Has your rack got home yet? Mine should arrive this week.

Alan

Doug,

Great story, great bull, thanks for sharing. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's admired your bluing work for many years. Glad you get a chance to use your rifles.

Congrats on your fine hunt, Doug! I was upriver with Phil and the other Doug when you bowled over your moose.

The bears sure are thick in that country but what really amazes me is that you were able to keep the Shoemakers and their spraypaint away from that fine rifle!