I recently found some photos from a Musk Ox hunt I went on a few years ago. It was on Nunivak Island. One of my friends drew a permit and I went along for the trip.

Here is one of the photos:



dave

Nice thanks for sharing.

One of my buddies went over there and got a bull a couple of years ago.

I'll do it one of these years.

Come on, give us all the details....

How much was the hunt?I am Alaska resident so tag is $500 I think.It might be cheaper to go to North West Territories.

david;

looks like an interesting hunt. tell us the story of the hunt.

cold zero

Sorry for not responding..I've been away for a few weeks and didn't have the opportunity to stop in here.

I'll post some particulars tomorrow when I get some time...

dave

I don't know for sure how much the hunt cost came to...I think around $3000. When you win the permit, you're sent a list of booking agents to book through. I'm not sure if there's another way to do it, since it wasn't my permit. Anyway, my friend booked through the booking agent (cant remember his name, lives in Palmer I think) and he hooked us up with a transporter on Nunivak. He's not a guide, but will haul you around on snowmachine until you find a herd.

We flew into Bethel from Anchorage on Ak Air and from there flew to Mekoryuk on Nunivak Island via some air service that operates daily flights between the two villages. Think we got there around 10am. Once you arrive, you have to go find the Fish and Wildlife agent in the village and do some paperwork and get a quick lesson on how to identify bulls from cows.

Our transporter was Charlie Spud. He was a great guy and quite hospitable. We set off on snowmachine around lunchtime and had to travel to the opposite (south) side of the island to find the herds. We saw a couple different herds from a distance and finally got close enough to one herd to determine there was a couple of nice bulls in it. There was a guy and his wife along who also had a permit, so we planned to take 2 bulls from the same herd.

Once you get close to the animals, they bunch up and the adults form a circle of defense. When you approach them, they get pretty agitated and have been known to charge, though I believe they bluff charge frequently. We weren't charged.

It takes a bit of patience to wait for a bull to present itself without another animal in the way of a pass-through shot. My friend was using a 7mm I believe, and took his with one shot. The other guy's wife shot at about the same time and hers dropped as well.

As you probably know, they have real long and thick hair. It's very cool. Skinning them out didn't take long. They look alot smaller without their hide, that's for sure.

On the way back, it was a fair blizzard and we ended up passing right by the village in the dark and snow. Only a pile of driftwood poking out of the snow saved us from a long ride across the sea ice..as it was obvious once we saw the pile that we'd hit the beach and the next stop was probably Diomede.

All in all, we flew in and got our animals on the same day. It's not particularly challenging from this standpoint, but it's not quite like shooting cows in a field as I've heard some say. They are a cool trophy and the meat is great. I don't know how to cook much, so all I can say is that some of it was tough and some wasn't, depending on the chic that cooked it

Enough has been said on here about Alaska's weather, the blizzard kept us pinned down in the village for a couple days, waiting for clear skies to fly. We stayed with Charlie and got to hear lots of stories. He took Ted Nugent out to take one with a bow a year or two before we went.

I think there are some registration hunts for cows, but not sure if you can hunt bull musk ox without a permit anywhere in the state right now. I do see them on the North Slope from time to time at work.

My friend had a full body mount made, and it's quite a sight. Another friend has a head mount on the wall. The natives use the hair, called quiviut, for some clothing articles and craft items. I don't know much about judging the horns by the numbers, it wasn't something we were too interested in. A nice adult bull is all we were after.

That's about all..if anyone wants more info, such as what outfitter we used, or what the exact cost was..I can find out from my friend.

dave

David
I've heard they are more related to the goat than the bovine? True? Did you eat it? What do they taste like?

So many questions

Bakes, the meat reminds me of goat and even sheep. It's quite good but can be tough depending on how it's prepared.

I just found two steaks in the bottom of my freezer, vacuum sealed since 2000. I'll let you know how they turn out

dave