DIY Alaska Moose: Steelheader.net- Steelhead, Salmon and trout fishing

I haven't shared much about this but thought you guys might enjoy it, I did, one of the most enjoyabale and rewarding trips I have ever been on.

First of all I am a contractor for the military, primarily the Air Force, and when they asked me to take on a project at Eilson AFB in Fairbanks in Mid-August through Mid-September I was beyond exited. One of my co-workers who would be going with me had been there moose hunting a couple years prior so he half way knew what to expect. It would be in a different area though, his area was a draw hunt way down the Yukon from the bridge north of Fairbanks (like 300 miles).

We did not have the luxury of drawing a hunt and we had to stay fairly close to Fairbanks because of work. We spent about 2 months gathering information and looking at every topo map we could find.

Before we knew it, it was time to go. We hooked up to our duck hunting boat, a 19' flat bottom with a 115 Yamaha pump on it and along with all our gear, I mean tools and headed north. 54 hours and 15 movies later we reached our hotel in Fairbanks.

Even though we were dog tired once we unloaded everything we couldn't resist back tracking an hour to a lake we had seen on the way in. We caught a few nice rainbows and a couple toad Char's. I thought I was in paradise.

Then we had to work for a couple weeks but every night after work we would either fish at one of the close lakes or run the rivers looking for moose.

I would just like to say that is anyone would like to complain about how shallow our rivers can be (in idaho at least) go to Alaska, now that is some skinny water. I pushed and pulled that boat so much I could have been hired to be a tug. We could run in skinny water with the best of them until we sucked something up and then down we'd go. There is a reason they run tunneled boats (mostly Phantoms that we saw) and Air boats up there. Oh and then we got T-Boned in the middle of the river but that's another story, the video is classic.

I am not going to name any names of rivers or towns we were near, I don't want to publish anyones spots who live in the area. Anyway opening morning came and we had our wall tent set up a small river (about a 45 minute boat run) where we had seen quite a few moose and sign in the last couple weeks. We had two issues we didn't figure in; (1) Come opening morning there were bear tracks in every set of moose tracks on the river and (2) They apparently had a cow tag opening the same day in our unit. There were people all over and to get away from them you had to go into the feeder creeks and small rivers. This entailed working your butt off, the only other boats that were in there beside us were airboats. Our first 4 days of hunting, we never even was a moose, it was like they dissappeared.

We had to work again for a few days and obviously needed to change our approach and get away from the people. It became more and more clear that we were going to have to get completely away from the river because there was far to much traffic. So we renewed our efforts in a location that had a bunch or ponds off the main river about 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile. It doesn't sound like a long way but when you figure you have to carry something bigger than a horse on your back through a brush patch any quial would feel safe in, it's a long way. Not to mention that we had also all but lost hope of shooting anything with any size, there were so many planes scouting the area that any large bull would easily be spotted.

As luck would have it the first evening in our new location our lucked changed. Getting off the river paid off, apparently no one else was motivated enough to do so. We was about 10 cows and 2 small bulls the first night. I also caught a flash of what I thought was a big bull off in the timber but coudln't get a good look. We passed on the two small bulls the first night (it was an any bull unit), knowing that we didn't spook them and counting on the fact that no one else would find them. They would be easy to come back and tip over the last day of the hunt.

The second day we looked around some other ponds in the morning and only located cows. So that evening we again went back and the two small bulls were there. Again I thought I saw a flash of a big paddle in the same general area that I did the night before. We tried to call several times, but it was to early, they just weren't in to it.

The third day we did basically the same, looking in a different location in the morning and then checking on our small bulls in the evening. This was the first night that I had not seen the suspicous flash on the far side of the pond. Which was actually toward our camp because of the way the river wound around.

We packed up and headed back to camp. I started cooking pork chops just outside the doorway of the tent and had already downed one bloody mary when I heard some splashing. When I looked up I couldn't beleive it, the bull that I thought I saw the last few nights was trotting down the river from where we just came headed to the cows across the river that we had been watching in the mornings. Not just any bull either a toad 65" bull with 5X6 fronts and about 20" paddles. The next few seconds were a blur. I grabbed my 300 WSM with (180 grain Hornady hand loads) and put two behind the shoulder and that was that. Down he went. Bye the way moose don't float worth a crap. I think I held my breath the whole time getting the boat to him and getting a loop around one horn. We tied him off the the back of the boat and drug him in to the bank. We couldn't get him all the way out of the water, there was nothing to winch to and he was just to heavy to deal with.

We had to start taking quarters and cape off right there. Next morning I left the guys and hauled him back to the hotel and put him in the freezer.

That night I met up with the guys. We only had one more day to hunt so we went in and shot one of the small bulls the next morning. By nightfall we had camp, both bulls and all of us back to the hotel and ready for work.

We worked for a few more days, went pike fishing the next few nights (another one of the funnest things I've done) and then headed for home. We had a chest freezer in the back of one of the pickups ran on a generator most of the way home. The meat had a fantastic taste. The steaks were a little tough on the big bull but tasted great.

My bull (Murph) would have scored around 220, but I never had it done officially, it really doesn't matter to me.

This was bar none the best experience of my life hunting big game and I grew up hunting elk and deer. If anyone has the chance to do it do not hesitate. It was fairly inexpensive doing it ourselves.

Hope you enjoy this as much as I did.