My Brother and I hunted in 21A from Sept13th to the next to the last day of the season. We were camped real remote, no people in our hunt area but with the constant rain, fairly warm weather and rising river we really didn't see too many Moose, could count them all on 1 hand. I'm not saying it was a bad trip but we hunted our tails off and really worked for no big bulls. Couple locals told us it was the worst Moose season they've seen in years, they thought the weather had a bad effect on the Moose.
What were your experiences?

quote:

Originally posted by Snellstrom:
My Brother and I hunted in 21A from Sept13th to the next to the last day of the season. We were camped real remote, no people in our hunt area but with the constant rain, fairly warm weather and rising river we really didn't see too many Moose, could count them all on 1 hand. I'm not saying it was a bad trip but we hunted our tails off and really worked for no big bulls. Couple locals told us it was the worst Moose season they've seen in years, they thought the weather had a bad effect on the Moose.
What were your experiences?

Mine were similar. In fact, I didn't kill a moose this year, but my hunting partner did. However, it seems that the pattern relating to moose movement across the ridge we hunt changed this year. There were fires all over this area a couple of years ago, but we still saw and killed moose a year ago. This year, however, we didn't see any moose on the ridge, except for a couple of cows and calves.

We saw moose far in the distance, in the valleys below, but too difficult to get at. Only a couple of people at my shop (perhaps 5 out of 70) got a moose each.

I had better luck than you guys. About 10 minutes into the second day of hunting in unit 17 I dropped a decent bull. He turned out to be one of the smaller bulls I saw over a two week period but he was legal and the location was right. I did strike out on caribou--but that was mainly a matter of choice--I could have hunted harder and I did have chances I passed on. Ducks however were another story!

What little conversation I had with other hunters and outfitters would leave me to believe that most non-resident hunters did not take home a moose this year. I consider myself very fortunate.

I think it has alot to do with location. This is the first moose season I've missed in AK in 23 years but my sources give a good report for area 17. My friends as a party of 4 took 3 bulls of 59", 63" and 66". I actually posted the pics earlier. They had a couple of opportunities to take a 4th bull but after processing 3 big bulls the 4th guy didn't care about shooting one.

They did have a lot of rain this year and it has been my experience that a rainy season is not good for hunting.

Mark

I saw 85 moose in 5 days of hunting.I would say there were 40 bulls only one legal.Last year I saw 155 moose in 13 days.I see lots of moose but 4 brow tine moose dont hardly exist where I hunt.I saw one last year only about 36" wide but he was the only 4 brow tine I have ever seen alive.I chased about a 65 inch moose this years about 2.5 hours in the thicket.He had a 38" moose in front of him blocking a shot.They were just about to come into a clearing when my hunting buddy coughed and they ran.It was in the middle of the day when they came out.The 4 brow tine 50" rule sucks.Its good for the bears,wolves,poachers and people who love to hit them with their cars.Its not a good rule for people who love to eat moose meat!

I thought I had been skunked this moose season. But it aint over yet.

Leaving tommorrow morning to try the cow hunt on the rex trail. Gonna stay the night and come out sat evening. Partner has an arctic oven tent. Although it would be fine with me to get the moose tommorrow and make it one day. We'll see.

I did get a shot at one but missed high. The snow was deep and the weather cold but it was fun.

We had a tough time as well up on the Yukon. Just to warm and it rained every day. River came up maybe 4 feet on 9 days. We saw lots of moose but only 2 shooters. Mine and another 54"er that my buddy took on day 8. Next year will be better. I will try to post a photo of my bull but its the first time I have tred so hang in there.
Don

quote:

Originally posted by Don Lietzau:
We had a tough time as well up on the Yukon. Just to warm and it rained every day. River came up maybe 4 feet on 9 days. We saw lots of moose but only 2 shooters. Mine and another 54"er that my buddy took on day 8. Next year will be better. I will try to post a photo of my bull but its the first time I have tred so hang in there.
Don

Wow! That's a different set of antlers. Very unique.

Very nice Moose Don, nice rack and great brow tines, thats what I was looking for but none to be found for me.
Did you take any field pictures?

Shellstrom
Did I take field photos??? Oh ya. Enjoy. We hunted in basically the same area but like I said this big bull was the only one I saw and Larry's bull was the best he was able to dig out of the brush. We hunted hard. Not much trouble from the local's but I here different stories from others that hunted this past fall. It was a tough season and I hope next fall is better. Give me a call some time off the form and we can chat.
Don

Don,

Magnificent moose! What did he have for spread? It is hard for me to tell with you a little behind the rack.

Mark

Mark
Have a good look at the bull and give it your best guess. On the 3 pohots I am touching the horns on one photo, on the second I am almost leaning up against the right palm. The first photo I am behind it some, but an old moose slayer like you should come close on the width.
Hint #1 the smaller bull is just at 54"
Himt # 2 My bull looks wider that it is.
Hint # 3. It fooled me on width until I put a tape to it.

Anyone else want to take a guess?
Don

OK! I'll bite. My guess is 60"-62". Regardless of width Don it is a heck of great moose. Maybe only 58". Hell I don't now.

61"

Never even seeen a Moose but I'll have a go!!

67"-68"

Rgds,
FB

i will take a stab at it and say about 59"

Compared to the big guy, if I had shot the smaller one (and while I have shot my share of Southern Alberta moose .. they were all little dudes) I'd be tempted to throw it in the river !! 60 inches is my unqualified guess ...

Don
My best guess is that is a 60" Moose, actually I looked at it and my gut said 59" but I bet I'm in the ballpark. Nice mass, big wide palms and huge palmed brow tines make him look huge and awesome. You are right he looks wider than he is. I'd like to chat with you sometime about this years hunt, it was my first time for Moose in Alaska and at first I didn't think I would go back, but I keep thinking it will be better another year with less rain and colder temps. We were on the Innoko and that river rose about 5' while we were there (13 days).

You guys are great sports. The bull, and I stand for the record that I missed judged him as well, is 63/5/8 . Not real wide but with palms like that you just have to pull the trigger. This bull was sound asleep and I was just still hunting along a strip of heavy brush. Picked him up with just his right palm showing. A quick eval. andd a couple steps tto the right and whacked him right between the eys. Never woke up.

We had a great season except for the boat problems. There were 5 of us but my one partner who owns the boat did nothing but work on it. Anyway, we got 2 bulls for 4 guys actually hunting. The first one was taken within about 3 hours of getting to camp and about 1/4 mile or less up river. We just tied up to him with the boat & towed him to camp. The second was taken a week later and within about 50 yds. of the first. We had to backpack him to camp but no big deal. The guy who shot the 1st one didn't want any meat so 4 of us split 2 moose. Yup! Freezer's full. Neither bull was very large antler wise but we hunt for the meat. In our area, if it's got any antler, it's shootable. Never had it this easy before. Later, Bear in Fairbanks