DIY moose in Alaska

You'll never be prepared to walk up on a dead moose. Their size is unbelievable when you get up to them. You better find two guys that won't quit for the pack out. It ain't an elk. I'd much rather pack two elk as one moose. It's the most fun you'll ever have being miserable.
 
I went with Willow Air out of Willow in 1997 on a combo caribou/moose hunt for about $2700 with outfitter. Hunted the 100,000 strong Mulchatana caribou herd and the Yunoco River area for moose with same equipment they use now. Moose only unguided hunt is around $16k now. We had inflatables with motors.

If I was going back, I would look at Les Krank and Papa Bear self-guided hunts with gear.

Pick your hunting partners wisely. I had a good time, but I was the serious hunter. My partner quit about 3 days out. Two guys are lucky they did not die, one lost a Dirty Harry pistol in the river and I missed a solid black wolf literally howling in the river at a 100 yards while floating. Nothing like pooping in a 5 gallon buck for two weeks and scared to death at night that a bear might decide to bite your stinking butt while you are konked out for 4 hours of darkness.
 
M

Thread 'Catch and release Alaska Moose'

Just got back from my 2 week trip... absolutely incredible, one of the most fun experiences I have been on!

A little background... this was a total DIY hunt, no guides, no outfitters, no 'drop camp 'DIY''. Plan was to fly into a pond with my buddy and his AIRE Cougar raft, portage 1/3 mile to a creek, assemble the raft and walk it down 3 miles to the river, then float hunt 60 miles to the take out spot. My buddy has done this before several times, but always had his air taxi drop him off on a gravel bar on the river and pick him up on a gravel bar downstream. Well, the air taxi had his...
  • Like
  • Love
 
Our Alaska winter has been kind to moose. Almost no snow. As I type this, the ground around my house is clear and temperature is 40. Winter kill off due to wolf kill off and starvation should be low. As a nonresident one of the best chances of scoring a nice bull would be around Bethel.
Most guides are booked out for 3 years and outfitters are usually booked 2 years out. If you were lucky enough to kill one, then you could be in the position of moving up to 600 pounds or so of meat from the kill sight to camp. This could mean a mile or more of back and forth trips. This type of hunt isn't for the faint of heart of those not in decent shape.

DIY is not impossible. But the logistics of transporting all your gear from TN to AK then back can make it very challenging.

I have killed plenty of moose. It can be a cake walk, like the time I shot one within 15 yards of my ATV. Or a extreme ball buster when I helped a friend pack one out from the bottom of a valley that took about a one mile walk up each trip. Don't pull the trigger unless you do the math first.
 
Snowwolfe said:
Our Alaska winter has been kind to moose. Almost no snow. As I type this, the ground around my house is clear and temperature is 40. Winter kill off due to wolf kill off and starvation should be low. As a nonresident one of the best chances of scoring a nice bull would be around Bethel.
Most guides are booked out for 3 years and outfitters are usually booked 2 years out. If you were lucky enough to kill one, then you could be in the position of moving up to 600 pounds or so of meat from the kill sight to camp. This could mean a mile or more of back and forth trips. This type of hunt isn't for the faint of heart of those not in decent shape.

DIY is not impossible. But the logistics of transporting all your gear from TN to AK then back can make it very challenging.

I have killed plenty of moose. It can be a cake walk, like the time I shot one within 15 yards of my ATV. Or a extreme ball buster when I helped a friend pack one out from the bottom of a valley that took about a one mile walk up each trip. Don't pull the trigger unless you do the math first.
Click to expand...

This sounds like sound advice.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top