megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
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 beaver on floats this year instead of wheels, so we had to opt for water locations for drop with 800 ft of 4ft water depth to be dropped off and picked up. Thus the reason for the planned portage at the beginning and end of the trip. Plan was to live off the land for 10 days supplemented with high calorie food such a power bars and nuts.
Well, lightening struck and my buddys wife had major exploratory surgery Sept 2nd. She recovered a bit more slowly than we all hoped, so we pushed our trip back to arrive on the 17th (season opens 10th). Because she was still a bit touch and go when it was time to leave, and the length of time it would take us to float down to an extraction pond if we got the emergency text he had to return, we decided to make a total change of plans and fly into a pond about 4 miles south of the river I had e-scouted and do a drop camp there for quick extraction if needed. Since we weren't bringing the raft, we piled up groceries, a case of beer, some whiskey, and abandoned the idea of living off fish for the week.
Day 1. Left New Orleans at 7am. Arrived in bush camp that evening at 7pm (Alaska time... 10p CST) Set up tent, started gravity water filter and camp. Bush pilot had covid and was hacking and coughing in the little tiny DeHavilland Beaver. Great, gonna get sick while in the bush.
Day 2. Started calling and glassing from our designated high spot. This 1/2 mile long pond was surrounded by tundra but with 2 small willow filled creeks on either side 1.5 miles away draining down to the main river. Nothing but a couple caribou 800y away, so we started hiking to check out the creeks. Found exactly 1 set of moose tracks 1.5 miles away in one of the creeks, caught a ton on 6 to 7 in rainbows, but nothing worth keeping to eat. Foraged a ton of King Bolete mushrooms all around. Saw a grizzly about a mile away. Shot several ptarmagin with the bow for supper. All in all, we hiked 10 miles and were a bit discouraged by the lack of moose sign. Fair weather, a bit of rain here and there, but not too bad. One of the local semi celebrities had already killed 4 big bulls in his family, so he gave us 4 lbs of moose steaks to take with us... they were FABULOUS!
Day 3. Back to the calling spot but crazy windy and rainy. Hiked another mile away from camp to another high spot and found a shooter bull about 2.5 miles further away... might have as well been on the moon. Hiked back to camp and set up for the afternoon under the awning a half mile in the opposite direction. Saw some caribou and a grizzly 600y away. Called and glassed for a couple hours, got bored and hiked another mile that way to another high spot. Set up there glassing in 30mph winds and rain without finding any moose sign. Made a tower of caribou sheds to leave for someone else to find in the future. Picked a bunch more boletes, the ptarmagin were not as trusting of us after harassing them the day before. Hiked 5 miles.
Day 4. Back to the original calling spot in the rain and wind and glassed for hours. At this point we were realizing the moose had already migrated through this area to the main river and we started contemplating extracting and relocating to another small lake 30 miles south. We hung in there until sunset without seeing anything other than a cow and calf 2 miles from camp. Called the pilot for an afternoon extraction and relocation the afternoon of Day 5.
Day 5. Replay of before, but less wind and rain abated mid day. No sign, no moose. Broke camp and relocated at 4p to a new spot. New spot we did not have high rez maps of and it was very very thick with 10-12ft tall alders and shorter willows in the drains. We explored just a bit looking for an open glassing spot and found a ton of fresh moose sign! Set up camp, then heard a bull grunting 30 or 40 times coming toward camp (presumably checking out our crashing through the alders), but he didn't come out of the thick alders and we just stayed quiet since you can't hunt the same day after you fly. But things looking up for the morning!
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 beaver on floats this year instead of wheels, so we had to opt for water locations for drop with 800 ft of 4ft water depth to be dropped off and picked up. Thus the reason for the planned portage at the beginning and end of the trip. Plan was to live off the land for 10 days supplemented with high calorie food such a power bars and nuts.
Well, lightening struck and my buddys wife had major exploratory surgery Sept 2nd. She recovered a bit more slowly than we all hoped, so we pushed our trip back to arrive on the 17th (season opens 10th). Because she was still a bit touch and go when it was time to leave, and the length of time it would take us to float down to an extraction pond if we got the emergency text he had to return, we decided to make a total change of plans and fly into a pond about 4 miles south of the river I had e-scouted and do a drop camp there for quick extraction if needed. Since we weren't bringing the raft, we piled up groceries, a case of beer, some whiskey, and abandoned the idea of living off fish for the week.
Day 1. Left New Orleans at 7am. Arrived in bush camp that evening at 7pm (Alaska time... 10p CST) Set up tent, started gravity water filter and camp. Bush pilot had covid and was hacking and coughing in the little tiny DeHavilland Beaver. Great, gonna get sick while in the bush.
Day 2. Started calling and glassing from our designated high spot. This 1/2 mile long pond was surrounded by tundra but with 2 small willow filled creeks on either side 1.5 miles away draining down to the main river. Nothing but a couple caribou 800y away, so we started hiking to check out the creeks. Found exactly 1 set of moose tracks 1.5 miles away in one of the creeks, caught a ton on 6 to 7 in rainbows, but nothing worth keeping to eat. Foraged a ton of King Bolete mushrooms all around. Saw a grizzly about a mile away. Shot several ptarmagin with the bow for supper. All in all, we hiked 10 miles and were a bit discouraged by the lack of moose sign. Fair weather, a bit of rain here and there, but not too bad. One of the local semi celebrities had already killed 4 big bulls in his family, so he gave us 4 lbs of moose steaks to take with us... they were FABULOUS!
Day 3. Back to the calling spot but crazy windy and rainy. Hiked another mile away from camp to another high spot and found a shooter bull about 2.5 miles further away... might have as well been on the moon. Hiked back to camp and set up for the afternoon under the awning a half mile in the opposite direction. Saw some caribou and a grizzly 600y away. Called and glassed for a couple hours, got bored and hiked another mile that way to another high spot. Set up there glassing in 30mph winds and rain without finding any moose sign. Made a tower of caribou sheds to leave for someone else to find in the future. Picked a bunch more boletes, the ptarmagin were not as trusting of us after harassing them the day before. Hiked 5 miles.
Day 4. Back to the original calling spot in the rain and wind and glassed for hours. At this point we were realizing the moose had already migrated through this area to the main river and we started contemplating extracting and relocating to another small lake 30 miles south. We hung in there until sunset without seeing anything other than a cow and calf 2 miles from camp. Called the pilot for an afternoon extraction and relocation the afternoon of Day 5.
Day 5. Replay of before, but less wind and rain abated mid day. No sign, no moose. Broke camp and relocated at 4p to a new spot. New spot we did not have high rez maps of and it was very very thick with 10-12ft tall alders and shorter willows in the drains. We explored just a bit looking for an open glassing spot and found a ton of fresh moose sign! Set up camp, then heard a bull grunting 30 or 40 times coming toward camp (presumably checking out our crashing through the alders), but he didn't come out of the thick alders and we just stayed quiet since you can't hunt the same day after you fly. But things looking up for the morning!
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