Beautiful fall day in Alaska.
I finally got to do a hunt this year. It was our annual family hunt which has now turned out to be a moose hunt. I personally would prefer a caribou/moose hunt but the area where we have been hunting is closed for caribou.
Alaska experienced a great start to a beautiful summer with June being one of the best for sunny days. That changed in mid-July to one of the rainiest especially in southcentral Alaska. We broke many records for rainy days which often happens when we have great June weather. The rain continued throughout August, September and now October. It almost seems like we are living on the coast of southeast Alaska. I always mention weather because it can break or make a hunt especially in places like Alaska where we can have severe weather at any time of the year. Most unsuccessful hunts are usually blamed on weather conditions like too hot, too cold, too dry or too wet. As a guide I used to say, “If I could control the weather, we would be 100% successful.”
We left Anchorage early on a beautiful fall day. This year was different in that no one was worried about Covid which spoiled our hunt last year. There are seven of us with two of the Solar 470 “Super Jet” inflatable boats. Sagen, Nathan, Thor, Jens and Jack all Juliussen’s, Nate Johnson and myself. Jared is a new father and as expected wanted to stay home this year with Brenna and Je’maine, their new son and my great grandson. As the day progressed it started to cloud up and then began to rain. Nothing bad just rain. By the time we arrived at our launching site it was down to a sprinkle.
I would be remiss if I didn’t cover my state of mind. I have mentioned in past stories that as I get older, I can’t seem to put troublesome negative thoughts about the hunt out of my mind. This seems to take much of the fun out of my hunts. In my younger days none of these thoughts were a big deal. My comment back then to anyone was if you have no control over the negative thought or condition, forget about it. I was a much happier hunter then. My two nagging thoughts this year were, (1) with all the rain would the river be at flood stage and (2) would we be able to get the camp site that we wanted. Hunting on a river with limited camp sites is a big concern for me. When we showed up to the launch site the river was actually lower than I had anticipated which was great. One down!
We hung the motors on the boats, loaded up and took off up river. It looked like we were going to have six boat loads which makes for a great camp but way too much gear. Nathan and I went on the first trip which is always a learning experience since the river changes daily and it had been a year since we were there. Once we found the right channel, we had no problem making it up river. As we came around the bend in the river right below our preferred camping spot, I spotted a boat tied up about 400 yards below it. Two hunters had their spotting scope set up and were glassing the far hillside. Sagen pulled over by them and asked if they were camped there. They said they were just glassing and were camped downriver. Sagen told them that we normally camped at a site just above them and that was where we were going to camp. When we pulled in to our spot and got out, we found everything just like we left it last year. My second worry was over. What a relief! This is one of the best camp sites that I have ever used.
The two “Super Jets.”
Sagen and Thor finished the last of six loads close to 9 PM. The four of us had already set up the two sleeping tents and a gear tent and were waiting for the full crew to set up the 14x16 wall tent. This was a guide’s camp for sure. While everyone else was finishing setting up the wall tent, I was on the inside setting up the kitchen. We hit the sack about 11:30 PM and finished setting up camp the following morning in between glassing the mountain side. We spotted quite a few cows which was a good sign. That afternoon we went up river so we could get a better view glassing the full mountain side.
Base camp.
Sagen glassing!
The next day was Nate’s birthday so we celebrated with pancakes for breakfast. Then we loaded the boats to hunt up river. Somewhere around noon Thor and his boys spotted the flash of an antler in the trees on the lower hillside. We stopped and talked to them and decided it was worth working our way about half the distance from the river to where they had spotted the flash to do some calling. There were some large rocks that we could use for cover and to get above the willow and all the other three to four foot high brush. Sagen and Thor called with no luck. We had lunch and continued to glass and call. I was next to Sagen leaning against a big rock. I turned to glass back toward the river and about a hundred yards below us turned broadside was a grizzly looking down river. It was definitely a big mature bear with one of the largest humps between his front shoulders that I have ever seen. I turned and told Sagen, “Someone needs to shoot this bear.” I knew that Nate was our moose shooter so I thought it was Nathan’s turn to shoot a bear. I hurried around the rock to get Nathan who was taking an afternoon nap. I woke him up and said, “Do you want to shoot a Grizzly?” He said yeah, and as we moved back around to Sagen he had already set Nate up to shoot. I looked at Nathan and said, sorry! Now, I was back in my guide mode. I told Nate that it was a big boar and to take his time. The bear disappeared in the brush and then later we could see his rear as he continued farther into the brush. I felt because of the high brush that this was more than likely our last chance. However, Nate saw another large rock to our right and in front of us and took off with me following him with my Leica range finder. As we rounded the corner of the rock there was the bear stopped staring in our direction. It was only about 70 yards and I told Nate when it turned broadsided to let him have it. As the bear turned Nate squeezed the trigger of the 300 Winchester Magnum and scored a good shoulder shot with a 180 grain Nosler Partition bullet and the bear went down. I said, “If he comes back up hit him again.” He did and Nate hit him again a little far back and then Sagen hit him with a 250 grain Nosler from his 338 Remington Ultra Magnum and the bear was down again. Nate finished him off with another 180 grain bullet. I can’t believe we were lucky enough to take a grizzly in this thick brushy country. Congratulations and high fives were in order! When we approached the bear, I could see the ivory claws and the size was large for a grizzly but being in on fifty plus brown bear kills and many of them 10’ brown bears it didn’t seem that big. This was actually my first time being in on an interior grizzly. I still felt he was a nice boar but when we rolled him over, we discovered he was a big sow. She squared 7’6” which is truly a big interior female grizzly. Sagen told me later that since it was Nate’s birthday, he felt that Nate should be the shooter which was fine with me. It was also a great birthday gift. A birthday Grizz!
A happy Nate with his first bear and his second Alaskan animal.
(L to R) Standing Jack, me, Jens. Kneeling (L to R) Thor, Sagen, Nate and Nathan.
After pictures and skinning we stayed in the area watching for the moose but never spotted him that day. We saw him or another bull two more times but never connected.
The next couple days we spotted a good number of moose including a really dandy 60+” bull on the far end of the mountain and numerous sub-legal bulls, most between 45-50 inches. To be legal in this area the antlers must be a minimum spread of 50” or four brow tines.
Jens checking out a moose on the far mountain side.
The boys, Nate, Jens, Jack and Nathan, came up with a plan to drag a pack raft that Thor had brought, with a spike camp and food for a couple days, up the river about four miles into the non-motorized area. We had spotted quite a few bulls on that mountain side. The weather up to this time had been fairly good with scattered rain showers sometime during each day. As they started the trip the rain picked up and it rained the next couple days fairly steady. It was the worst weather that we had on the trip. Needless to say, everything the boys had got wet and on day three when it started to clear they pulled camp and floated out.
The boys did a little duck hunting. Jack took top honors as “the duck slayer.”
They were glad to get back to the wood stove and dry out. They did have a story about three bull moose with one being legal at 160 yards but never fired a shot. A good learning experience for sure.
One thing that I kept noticing was even with the rain the river had dropped at least a foot since we arrived. Always something for me to worry about.
We continued to hunt up river seeing bulls every day but none legal except for a 65+ incher about four miles across a swamp on the mountain side in the non-motorized area. Jack spotted it next to the last hunting day. That night back at camp everyone but me was talking about dragging or carrying the 80# pack raft across the four miles of brush and swamp and climb the hillside and kill the big moose and then float him out 6 or 7 miles on our last hunting day. A good plan mid-way in the hunt but a bad plan for the last day of the hunt. I told them I didn’t want any part of it.
Thor calling at base camp.
Next morning, we loaded up and headed up river with the pack raft folded up in Thor’s Solar. The plan was if they spotted the big moose, they were headed across the valley floor. We were going to hunt the motorized side. We waited for Thor to get a good lead on us because my boat runs faster than his so we are always catching up with them and having to stop or slow way down. We caught up with them about five miles up the river. As we came around a bend in the river, we could see Thor’s boat pulled up on shore with the spotting scope set up looking on the hillside in the motorized area. We pulled in just in time to see them going through the brush to the moose they had just shot. We loaded their gear into their boat and took both boats about a half mile up the river close to where they shot the moose and a good place to pack it.
Jens with his 56” moose.
The shooters.
They made their way over to the boats really excited and told us the story. Jens had spotted the moose from the boat moving down the hillside angling up river. When they got to shore, it was about 600 yards away, so they set up Jens’ Vortex spotting scope and decided he was legal. They took off upriver using a dry creek bed to get into shooting range. They hustled and closed the distance about 200 yards and then found a place that they could shoot over the brush. Jens got set up using Thor’s 338 Winchester Magnum, which was sighted in for 300 yards, and put two 225 grain Hornady SST rounds into his chest at 400 yards. Thor and Jack fired one round each to put him down. They ended up hitting him all four times. He was a beautiful 56 incher. We all hiked over to look and take pictures of him. Moose are so big!! Every time I walk up to one laying there, I’m just amazed at how big they truly are. A lot of work ahead for sure. After photos, since there was three of them, in the middle of the day and the moose was so close to the boat, we figured they could handle the pack, so we took off upriver to see if we could find a moose for Nate. Two moose on the last day would be great but a lot of work.
The “Gang”.
We spent most of the afternoon close to the area where we had last seen at least two bulls earlier in the hunt. Glassing, calling and even moving into the trees trying to find him with no luck. Knowing it would take an hour to get back to base camp we headed back so we could spend the last half hour of light calling close to camp.
Once back Sagen and Nate headed back behind camp to call and finish the last day off and what an exciting last evening it was. Sagen’s calling had moose running all around them with a 49-51 inch bull looking dead at them in the open at 30 yards but with only three brow tines he was just too close to that magic 50” rule to shoot. Always better safe than sorry. They also got to hear some very explicit mating sounds. What an evening! When they came in for supper they were really fired up.
The next morning, we got up early and went back behind camp to see if we could make him legal or see a larger bull. I did witness some super bull grunting by Sagen. There were two cows lying in a field about 60 yards away and when Sagen started grunting they got up, shook the water off of them and came straight to us stopping at about 12 to 14 yards broadsided for three or four minutes then slowly moved on off. No bulls, but a great experience.
We ate breakfast, broke down camp and about seven hours later we were on the road heading to Anchorage. Another great and memorable family hunting trip!