heeeere moosey moosey moosey

     So fall has been odd with random and new activities.  A five-day trip house-to-house got our our hunting party some moose meat.  Being my first real hunt ever I found it way more enjoyable than I expected.  We had 2 days of sunny weather followed by a partially rainy day, a full rainy day and concluded with a sunny day.  We saw a number of caribou as well as several legal bull moose and ended up shooting one under the >50" category.  We also saw eagles and coyote, but no bears.  The scenery was amazing, and it even snowed one evening.  I learned a fair amount, most notably how large a moose really is.  It was a good time and we plan to repeat next year with experience on our side.

There was evidence we were clearly in caribou country.  Next year I might opt for shooting one of these in addition to the moose hunt.  We'll see.

I have never seen this columnar ice curl like that, usually it is straight.  The frozen ground made for some easier walking than swampy low-land.  Dry feet are a luxury.

Caribou country.  This bunch moseyed on through: 2 bulls of small to moderate size were in there.

This was our measurement method to confirm the spread was >50".  It was.  

Going to town.  I was a noob so took pics and did an occasional slice here and there.  The moose is heavy when you have to carry it.  

Once at the water and floating, things were much more pleasant.  Rafts are and excellent way to transport meat.  

Photo: Adam Baxter

Maybe hunting is not for me?

     So I waited in line at Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game to get my permit to hunt a bull in the Ship Creek drainage this fall.  I spent the night there, comfortably in my bivy, because I heard they only issue x permits and they run out.  Come door opening time there were way fewer people than permits.  Oh well. 
     Got the permit and headed out Friday of the opening weekend with some ski buddies.  So did everyone else.  We went from S. Fork Eagle River trialhead to the second pass back.  When we got to a good vantage point we could see about 6 groups of hunters scattered below us.  No bulls.  All cows.  If there was a bull, it would have 15 pairs of binos looking at it no doubt and everyone would be on it.  Ridiculous.
     We went out several other times as the season progressed and encountered fewer hunters.  We hunted the same areas, saw no bulls whatsoever but plenty of cows.  It may have been the late and sparse snow coverage or maybe it is just me.  The original plan was to wait until later in the season and ski in there to hunt and sled/pulk it out, hoping our backcountry travel skills would work to our advantage.  No snow = a no go. 

The season came and went.  No luck, but being in the chugach was great and worth it.