Outfitter: Wade Benfro from Renfro Alaskan Adventures.

Dates: September 2015

PH: Joe Miller.

Game sought: Alaskan Yukon moose & Brown Bear.
Game Taken: One hell of a big Moose.

Hi guys,
I recently hunted with Wade Renfro from Renfro's Alaskan adventures. after changing 6 flights i arrived at the small 'dry' town of Bethel. i was met at the airport by Wade and my PH and was checked into a comfortable little bed & breakfast, after getting ready i was to take my gear and wait at the hanger so we could see if the weather cleared enough for our bush pilot to fly us out to our hunting area.
I was warned about the weather issues by all my friends who had hunted Alaska so i was mentally prepared when i spent the next three days waiting at the hanger all day for the weather to clear and then in the evenings having dinner in this little restaurant that served surprisingly good chinese food.

Finally we had a brief window in the weather and Wade personally flew me to our designated moose camp. another plane flew in our camps and gear.

once we settled in guess what,,,, the rain started pouring down again and it didn't stop for 2 more days. finally on 3rd day the sun came out and the place transformed into what I'm sure paradise would look like (minus the 70 virgins)




word of advise: please make sure you download many many books on your kindle, you will read em all and then re-read em all while waiting for the weather to clear in Alaska.




having dinner with friends in Anchorage.








killing time at the hanger.




finally we flew.






our camp.

when the sun came out we started seeing a lot of moose, every day we would climb a mountain near our camp and glass all around, we must have seen atlas 8 moose that morning, but none was what i came all this way for, they were all shootable though.

on 4th day we spotted a big bear about a KM away, we went after it and literally had to swim our way through the alders and pass a hundred streams before we got within 300 yards of him, the rain started again but it was more of a drizzle. we conducted a fantastic stalk and we were within 80 yards of this giant when all of a sudden i felt the friggin wind on the back of my neck, i had never seen a big bear vanish so quickly out of my life never to be seen again. this was the only shootable bear we had seen on this trip.

The very next day after the failed stalk on the bear we spotted something miles away from our camp that looked like a white dish antenna stuck in the middle of the alders, and it was shining on the morning sun. my guide looked at me with a big smile and said "THAT my friend is the moose we will hunt"

we changed into our hip waders etc and started in the direction of the moose. from the hill the moose seemed far but not as far as it really was, it must have taken us at least 4 hours to reach the hill we had marked when we spotted him that morning. and as we started getting close the weather started turning nasty again.

we stalked to 20 yards in alders and couldn't see anything in front of us, all of a sudden the moose stood up and was about to run away when i got on top of a little mound on the ground and i could just make his head, i shot him right in the ear hole and he collapsed right away. he was a beautiful old bull with very big wide horns.

I would recommend Wade Benfro's services to anyone.

Congrats on a fine hunt! I am baffled by how many say they will never hunt Alaska because it is too cold, wet, and miserable, but it ranks amongst the grandest adventures.

Dang, how did I miss that dinner? At Jen's Restaurant no less.

You are surrounded by two guys with incredible double rifle collections.

Congrats and cheers
Jim & Joyce

Another excellent hunt, trophy and hunt report. Congratulations! Gotta love a hunter that enjoys a good cigar too. What's the favorite stick?

quote:

Originally posted by Frostbit:
Dang, how did I miss that dinner? At Jen's Restaurant no less.

You are surrounded by two guys with incredible double rifle collections.

Congrats and cheers
Jim & Joyce

I wish I had the pleasure of meeting you in anchorage Jim, the Doctors were incredibly nice guys and gave great advice prior to my hunt. They said they would be hunting with me soon in Pakistan so let see :-)

Best Regards.
Danish

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
Another excellent hunt, trophy and hunt report. Congratulations! Gotta love a hunter that enjoys a good cigar too. What's the favorite stick?

Thank you sir,
My absolute favourites are the Hoyo double coronas and Behike 56s. When I'm out and about I prefer a shorter smoke like a Cohiba robusto or a Partagas D4.
US customs made me break every Behike cigar out of the brand new box with my hand when I landed in Dallas however I had some loose montecristos no. 2s that came through because I had taken the bands off of them and they were placed in my Cigar caddy instead of a wooden box with Cuban stamp. What a waste of one of the tastiest cigars in the world

You had to break a whole box of Cohiba Behike 56s? A whole box? With your own hands? I would have broke down and cried. Hopefully it will not be much longer before we can start getting Cuban cigars here . . . although the quality of the Nicaraguan, Honduran and Dominican cigars has gotten very good.

I wanted to create a scene. A box of 25 Behike is always worth a scene but I would have missed my connecting flight. :-)

I even told them to smoke them instead of breaking them.

Last cigar post to detract from this incredible moose . . . but my understanding is that US citizens traveling to Cuba can now bring back something like two boxes of cigars. Seems typically stupid that the government would say you can leave the US and return with two boxes, but if you transiting the US with a box, that is a no-no. Asinine.

very good report and trophy.

seems northwest weather was not bad on you ...

Well done Pir!

Pir, Looks like a great hunt and what a suprise to see a photo of you with Davis, Lou and Brett. they are great guys and hope you all have a great hunt in Pakistan.

Just another fabulous report from Pir!
Well done!
Zeke

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
Last cigar post to detract from this incredible moose . . . but my understanding is that US citizens traveling to Cuba can now bring back something like two boxes of cigars. Seems typically stupid that the government would say you can leave the US and return with two boxes, but if you transiting the US with a box, that is a no-no. Asinine.

I completely agree. i tried to tell them that the rules have changed and my friend Bryan Harlan from Dallas assured me that i can bring in Cuban Cigars for my personal smoking now. but you know how it is when you start arguing with a Custom officer in any part of the world.

Thank you gentlemen. I'm hoping to return in 2017 to have another go at the Brown bear.