DIY Alaska Moose

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megalomaniac

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Starting to lay the foundations for next year's big hunt... going all out... DIY Alaska moose.

Planning to be dropped off in a remote location by Bush pilot with a raft, float and camp 10 days down the remote river, and get picked up 40 miles downstream.

Crunching the numbers, I think I can do the hunt for around $6000 all inclusive, unless I kill a Moose... gonna cost another $2500 to have the meat and antlers flown out of the bush, transported to cold storage, then shipped back to the states on a freezer semi.

Will prob tack a couple days on the end to salmon/ halibut fish as well. Anyone here tackle this???

Been wanting to do this for a decade... but my kids were just too young and wife too reliant on me in the past. Now that they are older, I don't feel as guilty about living with the grizzlies for a week and a half (their bellies 'should' be full from the salmon runs if it's a normal year).

Going with a friend who is a bigger hunter than me. Should be good times, even if we don't kill.

And in fact, I don't really even care if I kill one or not as long as I'm seeing game... if it were about the kill, I'd pay an outfitter $25k and be done. I'm just looking forward to the adventure in the last frontier!
 
I've looked into that hunt too! It was a little more adventure than I was prepared for at my age. I think the outfitter will also supply a camping kit but you still must provide a lot of your own stuff. Probably entail driving to AK because you can't pack all that on a commercial flight. If you have a partner, you've won half the battle. I ended up going to Newfoundland for a Canadian moose hunt out of a fly in lodge. Plenty of adventure for me and I had an epic experience for about the same price as your DIY hunt. Best of luck!
 
Was one of my bucket list items that never fulfilled. At my age now the burning desire has somewhat wained. Did have a diy caribou hunt put together in 2020 but COVID derailed it. I found an outfitter in Deadhorse that used a huge airboat instead of bush plane. He'd take you 75 miles and drop off & pick up. Beauty was that there was basically no weight limitations & could get hunters, gear & game out in one trip. You might want to search for similar to consider. They had a camp kit that you could rent as well that came with solar powered electric fence to put around tent.
On another note, I had a guy that worked for me in the late 80s that he, his wife & a buddy drove straight thru from Montana. Pilot flew them in & was suppose to pick them up in X days. The pilot took another job & left them in there with 3 Caribou & 1 moose. The jerkwad happen to mention it to his mother-in-law & SHE made arrangements to have another pilot pick them up!! It was 5-6 days later than scheduled and they were fixing to try and walk out. Be careful in your selection. Sat phone would negate that happening now, but I'd still be looking for him...
Good luck & look forward to hearing about it.
 
My friends have done before, already have all the camping gear, electric bear fence, raft, etc in a storage unit they rent by the year and just leave in AK. My friend has had no problems with this transporter in the past, save for the occasional weather delay. But I imagine it's going to take 1, maybe 2 trips to bring in gear, another 2 to bring out moose, then 1 more to bring us and gear out. My buddy wants to bring minimum food and live off the land eating fish and berries for the 10 days... gonna have to work on him about that. He is willing to concede bringing a bottle of whiskey in case of rheumatism :) But the logistics of getting the meat out, stored/ frozen, then transported back to the states is a booger. I'll probably bring 50lbs of backstraps and 50lbs of salmon/ halibut as baggage on the plane and pay the overage charges just to be able to start to eat it after return.

anyone used Alaskatrophyexpress.com to get game and trophies back to the states? This looks like the best/ most reasonable option.
 
Mega, you have alot of homework to do brother. This is a trip I always wanted to do but never had the dependable people to count on. You definitely need to stay in touch with your transporter/pilot/guide, things change up there constantly. Some transporters will run a group down the same river that 4 or 5 groups have floated in as many weeks. A good outfit will put hunters on different drainages for a more quality hunt. Remember that the game will be in certain areas and other areas you float by might be void of game. Really pour over those maps of the drainage you plan to float and plan on spending multiple days in the best areas. Don't expect everything to be right on the river either, could be a honey hole 1 mile out and that is where the game is concentrated. Keep us informed on your plans, many of us live vicariously through threads like this.
 
Sounds like you may be looking at Les Crank. We used Willow Air on the Inoko river in 1997. Papa Bear seems to be another good one.

I sure wish all of these YouTube videos were available then. I made a lot of mistakes for sure.

I would love to return, but I'm afraid it is a pipe dream at this point. My back and knees would just be in misery the entire time.
 
I am about 10 years behind you on this. A buddy and I both want to do this, but both of our kids are 4 and 3 and we cant do it yet. We try and go on one DIY trip every year doing something. I am looking forward to seeing how it goes.
 
clwg97 said:
I am about 10 years behind you on this. A buddy and I both want to do this, but both of our kids are 4 and 3 and we cant do it yet. We try and go on one DIY trip every year doing something. I am looking forward to seeing how it goes.
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Purchase a term life insurance and go when you can!
 
clwg97 said:
I am about 10 years behind you on this. A buddy and I both want to do this, but both of our kids are 4 and 3 and we cant do it yet. We try and go on one DIY trip every year doing something. I am looking forward to seeing how it goes.
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I was in that boat 7y ago... just didn't feel my kids were old enough and didn't feel comfortable making my wife take care of all of them for 2 weeks without me.

Now 1 is in college, 1 is a HS senior, and the baby is a Sophomore in HS. I've saved up enough money and have enough insurance that if I don't come back my family will be OK financially without me....

So it's time to do some of my bucket list hunts.

Wish I could figure out how to do a sheep hunt for less than 25k. Still kicking myself for not jumping on a cancelation Dall sheep hunt 8y ago that came up for 8k. Again, timing just wasn't right.

Still hoping Iran overthrown the mullahs and goes back to what they were back in the '60s... would love to hunt Ibex in Iran.
 
megalomaniac said:
I was in that boat 7y ago... just didn't feel my kids were old enough and didn't feel comfortable making my wife take care of all of them for 2 weeks without me.

Now 1 is in college, 1 is a HS senior, and the baby is a Sophomore in HS. I've saved up enough money and have enough insurance that if I don't come back my family will be OK financially without me....

So it's time to do some of my bucket list hunts.

Wish I could figure out how to do a sheep hunt for less than 25k. Still kicking myself for not jumping on a cancelation Dall sheep hunt 8y ago that came up for 8k. Again, timing just wasn't right.

Still hoping Iran overthrown the mullahs and goes back to what they were back in the '60s... would love to hunt Ibex in Iran.
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Sheep is one I would love to do. I would have to get back in my marathon shape, but it would be worth it for a sheep hunt. We have 5 or 6 points for antelope in Wyoming and will be trying to go this coming year. We will have a few elk points and deer points for Wyoming also to maybe go back in another few years. We are trying to decide what hunt we want to do after the antelope. We have thought about a spring bear in Canada but aren't sure yet. If you can make it work, the cancellation hunts are the way to go. Also just winning one in a raffle would be nice!
 
That's a hunt I've wanted to do myself, read a lot of stories about floating the semi mythical Moose John River and the trips that Jay Massey and Doug Borland did tradition bowhunting. Let me know if you need a non trauma doc as a third wheel but internists aren't much use to an ER guy unless it involves an admission 😁

Fellow I spoke with once that had done a few floats said the best way to prepare for an AK float hunting trip is to fill your bathtub with cold water, top it off with ice, and add three heaping shovels of sand. If you're still having a good time after sitting in the tub for 8 hours straight and can do that for a week, then you're golden.
 
David Sapp said:
That's a hunt I've wanted to do myself, read a lot of stories about floating the semi mythical Moose John River and the trips that Jay Massey and Doug Borland did tradition bowhunting. Let me know if you need a non trauma doc as a third wheel but internists aren't much use to an ER guy unless it involves an admission 😁

Fellow I spoke with once that had done a few floats said the best way to prepare for an AK float hunting trip is to fill your bathtub with cold water, top it off with ice, and add three heaping shovels of sand. If you're still having a good time after sitting in the tub for 8 hours straight and can do that for a week, then you're golden.
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LOL, sounds miserable!

My buddy is an actual ER doc in Rapid City. I'm sure he will have all the suture kits, lidocaine, abx for giardia, etc covered to handle anything less than lethal :)
 
I been on plenty of Alaskan moose hunts and shot my fair share of these giants, so I do have some real-life experience.

Couple of thoughts:
The real work on any moose hunt begins after you kill one. They are huge. The last full-size bull we shot took 3 adult men to flip over the carcass AFTER we boned out one side. Do not under any circumstances shoot a bull a mile or more away from the water you are floating. Regardless, make sure all of you have quality backpacks and not the ones with internal frames (unless you want to make many more trips carrying out meat).

It might be less expensive to bring back some of the meat as checked baggage when you fly. Most airlines charge a fee in the $20-$40 range for extra luggage for each 50 pound piece. Save all your old clothing, underwear, socks, shirts, etc and take them on your hunt. Once they get dirty on the hunt toss them in the campfire at night. Frees up a lot of space on the way home.

I'm guessing you will be going first week of Sept or later. Charters in Seward or Homer start shutting down after Labor Day. Make plenty of calls before you leave to find one who can take you out. Figure a 3 hour drive from Anchorage to Seward, 5-6 to get to Homer. Me personally would drive there, get a room, fish the next day, spend the night, then drive back to Anchorage. Homer is a much better spot for late season halibut. Salmon will be spotty but silvers should still be around Seward.

Your friend's idea of partially living off the land while you hunt? Sucks big time. Cutting back on calories while being on an intensive hunt isnt a great idea. Depending on which area of the state you are floating limits what fish you can catch.

Good luck. If I can answer any questions I'll be happy to. I lived in Alaska for over 35 years so have an idea of what works and what doesn't.

One final piece of advice. When you are in Anchorage drive to Girdwood and eat dinner at the Double Musky Inn. Order the Coconut salmon for an appetizer and Pepper Steak for the entree. Your welcome :)
https://www.doublemuskyinn.com/framed.html
Be safe, float trips are not to be taken lightly.

PS: Make sure you take every scrap from the carcass then take photos to prove you removed all the meat. Alaska F&W goes crazy if they think you left meat in the field and will charge you with wanton waste. Fines are HUGE and could cost your hunting privileges as well as losing all the meat you do have. They are very serious about this, even more so with nonresidents. I have been on remote hunts and had them appear via helicopter checking out camps and and carrying scales. They will actually weigh the bags of meat and compare what you have to how much they think they should have. In some areas the hunter is not even allowed to bone out the meat and is required to stop in at a check station. This is how it was when we ran up the Koyukuk to hunt the Huslia.
 
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I did this exact trip in 2012. Happy to help with any questions.
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3 weeks till departure!

Ive worked up to 70 minutes at a time on the treadmill at 15% incline at 3mph with a 45lb pack on. Should be up to 60lbs by the time I leave.

Pretty much have all the gear assembled, licenses in hand as well as locking tag. Have the float itinerary planned out. Not going to start till Sept 15th, so if anyone else has planned to float the same river, they should be well ahead of us (season opens Sept 10th). Have to land in a puddle, portage gear half mile to a creek, then float/ walk the raft pontoons down the creek 1.5 miles till we hit the river. Set up camp, assemble the cataraft, and fish for supper. Prob spend 3 days there before we go 10 miles downstream to 2nd campsite. Stay there a few days, then camp 3 15 miles further down. Take out spot is a lake a half mile portage off the main river 60 miles downstream from where we started.

Going to be the adventure of my lifetime!
 
Oh man, That sounds like a dream come true for 90% of us on here. Good luck brother Keep us posted and take lots of pictures!
 
Antler Daddy said:
Sept. 15th.....And so it begins.... really looking forward to some pics and tales. Good luck!
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Well, I'm still in MS...

My friends wife had emergent exploratory surgery for a twisted colon with bowel resection and anastamosis 2 weeks ago.

So we pushed back leaving till the 17th, which will only give us the last 7 days of the season to hunt and get it done. Not ideal, but what can you do....

I already had today off from work, bags already packed... so I went fishing.

Bit of a grind, but found some reds that wanted to eat the topwater whopper plopper back in the skinny water. Several short trout, and 1 keeper flounder
 

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That sucks!

I am sure you know, but it can get pretty cold and rivers begin to freeze up in late September. Unless you have a ton of already committed expenses, you might just want to push a year. Weather delays on either end of a hunt are real possibility. 7 days will be tight to get two bulls, but not impossible. It will make for a great story.

Godspeed, safe travels and best of luck. Cant wait to read about it and see the photos.
 
Antler Daddy said:
That sucks!

I am sure you know, but it can get pretty cold and rivers begin to freeze up in late September. Unless you have a ton of already committed expenses, you might just want to push a year. Weather delays on either end of a hunt are real possibility. 7 days will be tight to get two bulls, but not impossible. It will make for a great story.

Godspeed, safe travels and best of luck. Cant wait to read about it and see the photos.
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Completely agree this is possible. We were delayed 3 days going in due to weather and pulled out 1 day early due to weather coming in all within a 15 day hunt. The guys that decided to stick it out had to wait 4 days after season for planes to be able to fly and get them. That was after the wind blew so hard it snapped their tent poles. 😳
 

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