30 October 2012, 01:19
twilliSelawik moose Hunt revised
My friend Terry Donovan Sr. and I booked a hunt with Joe Schuster of Sportsmans Air Service for a DIY moose hunt in Alaska. We were lucky enough to draw tags for unit 23 with DM875 area. Are appetite was already getting wetted from Greg Brownlee's hunt report from the same area and outfitter. This DIY hunt is alot cheaper than the fully guided hunt offered by Joe. I am not a millionaire, so we opted for the DIY hunt. September was here before we knew it and we were headed out to camp in the Beaver.
On arrival to camp our first set up was wall tent on a lake next to the river. We did make some daily excursions to the ridges around camp to do some spotting and calling. This is a view of the ridge overlooking the camp where we glassed.
No moose were to be found or heard, but a large grizzly was in the area. His track measured over nine inches across!
We stayed at base camp for 3 days then decided to head down the river and call. We had a nice 2 man raft and all our gear. here I am rowing the raft. The water was extremely high for this time of year.
I found a good looking spot to pull off and advance onto the ridge to do some glassing. I climbed through the thick willows to a vantage point where I spotted my bull.
I spied a great bull and tried to get Terry's attention who was still sitting in the raft. Due to his advanced age and inability to hear, and his refusal to wear hearing aides, I had to climb back down and get him. I offered Terry the first choice to take this bull and he refused hoping to get something with bigger paddles. The bull was about 400 yards from the pines across the river and bedded down.
The bush was thick, so i made a bee line to where I thought he was. I could not see him or his rack, so I started breaking branches and grunting. He immediatley stood up 130 yards away looking for his intruder. I leveled the .358 Norma Magnum and shot him with my .200gr Hornandy Spire point handloads. I heard the smack of the bullet and chambered another round. The bull walked only a few yards and tipped over.I couldn't believe how big the bull got as I got closer.
Terry heard the shot and came to see my prize or break my balls for a missed animal. He had 4 brow tines each side and had a 62" spread!!
I shot the bull around 4:00 p.m and we were 300 yards from the river. Now the work began as cutting up and quartering the moose and carrying him back to the raft took over 10 hours!Terry was the master carver and had numerous cuts to show for it. I being of superior strentgh and years younger than Terry volunteered to carry the moose out.
With the moose loaded up we headed down the river to find terry a bull of a lifetime.
With camp set up we worked on calling a bull in for Terry. We did have on bull come in to about 50 yards but we could not see him and he must have smelled us and walked off as the wind changed. We enjoyed celebratory cocktails and cigars.
We loaded the raft up for another excursion down the river with Terry rowing.
I was calling for moose, when a bull charged from the bush to the rivers edge.
I yelled to Terry who already had his .338 up and firing. I called to the bull and waved an antler shed as he was racing for cover. The bull stopped and Terry put 2 more shots into him and he he went down.
Terry's bull had a 59" spread with big paddles like he wanted.
Fortunately for me the bull died 10 yards from his bed. The brush was destroyed around his home turf. The carry out was better than before and only a few yards to the beach.
With camp set up we celebrated and called Joe for extrication.
Nectar of the gods at $53 a case
Bush pilot in to pick up meat and horns. We got to fly out the next day.
This was a great trip and greta company by terry even with his snoring! I have since determined his snoring was a grizzly bear deterrent.There were lots of moose in the area and the camp was well stocked and equipped.I would recommend Joe without reservations. Bush pilot was safe and courteous and got us and our moose out in a timely fashion. Packing out 2 moose is not for the light hearted!! Hope you enjoy the report.