# Alaska Moose: 2019 Super Adventure



## C20chris

sweet. just got back myself. definitely warm but the leaves are coming down nicely all over alaska


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## LumberJ

Well, I made it to Alaska, but one of my bags did not. Currently missing my pack raft, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, and cooler with 30lbs of frozen walleye and venison for my brother. Thankfully I can manage without the stuff if they can’t get it to me before we leave Friday afternoon, but it’ll be a real drag if that cooler has spoiled. Anyway, gonna roll with it and it won’t stop us from having fun!











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## C20chris

LumberJ said:


> Well, I made it to Alaska, but one of my bags did not. Currently missing my pack raft, sleeping bag, sleeping pad


That sucks! I was so worried about this. Hunting partner and I put all of our hunting gear in our packs and took them in as carry ons. Fortunately, we were able to do this with our planned hunt. We then checked a bag with extra clothes ect for before and after the hunt. Figured worst case we still had the hunting gear.

Surprisingly I have never received any grief from airlines from very large hiking backpacks being used as carry-ons. I had a 72 liter pack loaded to the hilt and hunting partner had a 60 liter. Airline employees just wanted to talk about hunting in Alaska  That could just be a benefit of flying out of a small regional airport 

Hopefully they get you your gear ASAP


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## LumberJ

Most of my clothes were in my carry-on and some other critical gear was in the bag that did arrive, so I’m thankful for that at least. So far no update from the airlines on where my other bag is even at, so no hope of getting it in time at this point. I just pray that it still at least makes it here at some point otherwise that’ll be a huge loss. Bush flight leaves in 3 hrs so this will be my last update for the next week. Stay tuned....


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## alaska86

LumberJ said:


> Well, I made it to Alaska, but one of my bags did not. Currently missing my pack raft, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, and cooler with 30lbs of frozen walleye and venison for my brother. Thankfully I can manage without the stuff if they can’t get it to me before we leave Friday afternoon, but it’ll be a real drag if that cooler has spoiled. Anyway, gonna roll with it and it won’t stop us from having fun!
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> Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


Fairbanks airport ?


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## LumberJ

I’m back! Just got out of the river and finally took my much needed shower. Prior to getting cleaned up, I could have swore that my gear didn’t stink at all; after that shower I went back into the garage and OMG ! Haha. Great adventure as always! It’ll take me a couple days to start typing it up so please bear with me. Right now I’ve got to finish getting my stuff packed back up and hop on my plane home in a couple hours. 


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## MallardMaster

LumberJ said:


> I’m back! Just got out of the river and finally took my much needed shower. Prior to getting cleaned up, I could have swore that my gear didn’t stink at all; after that shower I went back into the garage and OMG ! Haha. Great adventure as always! It’ll take me a couple days to start typing it up so please bear with me. Right now I’ve got to finish getting my stuff packed back up and hop on my plane home in a couple hours.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


Well congratulations!! I suppose the garage is full of protein with a response of OMG!! Lots of cutting and packing to do then. That is a good thing!! Take your time and savor the opportunity and memories!!


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## LumberJ

MallardMaster said:


> Well congratulations!! I suppose the garage is full of protein with a response of OMG!! Lots of cutting and packing to do then. That is a good thing!! Take your time and savor the opportunity and memories!!


The OMG is strictly related to the stench of our rain soaked and body-odor infused gear. Completely unrelated to any game that may or may not have been acquired. 


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## LumberJ

Sept 13
Into the field -

After a morning of running around town grabbing the last bit of gear and groceries we would need for the trip, we head to the local airport to meet our bush pilot. With 3 guys, raft, and gear we expect it to take 2 or 3 trips in his Cessna 185 to get us out into the field. Alaska law dictates that you cannot hunt big game the same day that you fly so our moose hunt won’t technically start until the following morning. However, this law does not extent to small game, so I offer to go first and try to round up a few ducks and grouse while waiting for the other guys to arrive. They agree to it so we filled my flight with as much of the gear as possible and off we went. 

The flight was fairly flat with some nice views, but the best of it was obscured by an afternoon haze 










After one pass of the gravel bar confirming it was clear, we circular back into a turbulent crosswind and made our approach. While it did get a bit bumpy momentarily, before we knew it we were safely on the ground. The pilot helped unload the gear and then off he went leaving me alone in the Alaskan wilderness for at least the next couple hours. 



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## MallardMaster

LumberJ said:


> The OMG is strictly related to the stench of our rain soaked and body-odor infused gear. Completely unrelated to any game that may or may not have been acquired.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


Well I fudged up on that!! Lol
I will **** my face and sit back and let you tell the store in the way that you always do!! Exited to go along on the ride!



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## LumberJ

MallardMaster said:


> Well I fudged up on that!! Lol
> I will **** my face and sit back and let you tell the store in the way that you always do!! Exited to go along on the ride!
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman


Haha. It’s all good


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## LumberJ

Sept 13
Into the Field - continued

No sooner did the pilot leave when I realized that I was not in fact alone out there. Instead I had the company of 28000 biting gnats and mosquitoes. This season’s usually warm spell had continued into mid-September and given the bugs a longer feeding window. I quickly grabbed my binoculars, holstered my S&W 500, and loaded the shotgun with #6 steel then swiftly headed East down the 1/2 mile runway at a pace too quick for the bugs. As my backpack was still in Seattle, I was left to carry everything that I needed for my mini-adventure. After reaching the end of the runway I continued Eastward another mile along an old mining trail examining tailing ponds along the way. In the past I have found many ducks along this stretch but they usually start clearing out of there by early September. This year was no different as not a single duck was located. I was able to find one spruce grouse along the way though for an evening snack. After an hour and a half I heard an approaching plane so I started to head back to the landing strip. It started as a swift walk but once I realized how far I had come it turned into a jog to try and get back to help unload. 
When I reached the runway I found not my brother but instead 3 other hunters who just got dropped off. I wandered out of the woods and introduced myself taking care not to startle the new inhabitants. They were 3 real nice older guys from Fairbanks hunting this river for the first time. They told me that for the past 3 years they picked a different river and planned a unique hunt along each. Pretty cool plan! We shot the breeze for a bit and I helped take a turn inflating their raft. After another half hour my guys still weren’t there so I bid them adieu and wandered back off into the woods in search of more birds. 

Another half hour passed when finally our plane returned with both guys and the remaining gear. I walked back down the runway and joined them in shuttling the gear 80 yards to the river’s edge. Our electric pump was malfunctioning so the majority of the raft was done with a hand pump. Quite the exercise to start our trip! My new friends floated past as we were finishing up. By 7:30pm we had the raft inflated and loaded with an ungodly amount of gear. We hit the river hoping to get to our spot 5 miles down but ended up having to settle for a gravel bar along the way as the darkness set it. We unpacked, constructed our tent, and prepared for a night of sleep ahead of our first morning hunt. 


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## LumberJ

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## LumberJ

*Sept 14*
_The Hunt Begins -_

We wake up just before daybreak and spread out a little along the river. While we weren't able to make it to our preferred spot the night before, we did settle on a nice looking stretch of moosey-looking willows. The previous evening my brother did some light cow-calling to hopefully lure some potential suitors in by morning. He then continued the calling in the morning: 3 sets of long nasally moans every 45 min. This went on for only a few short hours as we wanted to get back on the river early and secure our desired gravel bar. By midmorning we had no responses so decided to pack it back up. As we walked around camp collecting our gear we noticed the abundance of wolf tracks. They looked to be at least a few days old but quite big. Obviously not the best thing to see while on a moose hunt, but I still take a moment to appreciate how wild this place really is. After about an hour we've got the raft reloaded and we are back on the river to float the remaining couple miles to our new campsite. The float is fairly swift but not too technical. A long drought this summer had the water quite low, but thankfully some heavy rain in August had returned levels back up to normal. On only a couple occasions did we have to get out of the raft to drag it across a short section of skinny water.

By late morning we had reached our spot. I hopped out and dragged the raft up onto the edge of the gravel so the other guys could climb out and examine our site together. We were happy to see that no other human prints littered our area. Through a softer section of mounded silt we could see the tracks of several moose traversing the site. Cow, calf, and bull tracks were all present. Cool! However, further down the gravel bar we found even more wolf tracks as well as bear. Discouraging, but not a deal-breaker. We planned to stay here for at least the next 3 days, so I'm certain that even if wolves came through previously, eventually the moose will start wandering back.

It's another unseasonably warm (high 60's) afternoon rife with biting gnats. So after getting the tent set back up it only made sense to hide from the bugs and heat for a little bit by taking an afternoon siesta! It was a much needed nap that would hopefully give everyone the energy to haul a moose or two out of the woods later that evening. A couple hours later and everyone was back up and snacking before we headed into the woods for the evening hunt. Having a few minutes to kill I also put my travel fishing rod together and started casting into deeper stretch of the river-bend near camp. I've caught many grayling here before, but this year the water was moving a little too swiftly through this section so it looks like I'll have to find somewhere else to try later.


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## LumberJ

Wolf track at camp. Saw some other tracks larger than this too!



















My wife left me a to-do list. Trying to check them off one at a time 









1. Find moose - CHECK
2. Call moose in
3. Shoot moose
4. Float moose out 
5. Come home to family


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## LumberJ

*Sept 14*
_The Hunt Begins - continued
_
After a handful of casts covering most of the water near camp, I put the rod away and finish loading up my gear for the night. We send the wives a few messages on our InReach Satellite device and find out from my sister-in-law that my missing bag has finally made it to Fairbanks. Miraculously, even the frozen meat (while somewhat thawed now) has survived the travel! This still doesn't really help my situation out in the field, but it is a relief to know that my gear is now accounted for. I really, really did not want to repurchase all that stuff. Yikes! I pack my equipment into my brother's spare backpack, load the pistol on my hip, and we all head out to our spot "the killing field" together. This is the field where my moose showed up in 2012, my brother got one of 2 spotted in 2016, and a couple of his buddies got a pair in 2017. It's a cool spot to say the least. The trail to the field leads us along a high-bank of the river, followed by a stretch of moss-laden woods, and finally into an open grassy field speckled with young willow and birch trees. We skirt the western edge of the field, cross over a shallow creek, then move through a little more dense cover before emerging along a hillside overlooking the field. Together we traverse along an old winter trail (used for mining and trapping) until we reach the best vantage in the middle of the field. It's just as beautiful as I remember it! What little wind we had along the river has completely died down now and there is no sound other than the mosquitoes buzzing around our heads. After taking a minute to cool back off from the hike, the silence is broken by the pleading moans of my brother's cow calls. I'm not really expecting too much the first night other than to let our presence be known to any bulls in the area. I fully anticipate that it will take at least a day or 2 for them to heed the calls. But nonetheless, I sit prepared with eyes and ears wide open in case we are pleasantly surprised by an early visitor. 

As expected however, nothing quite yet. The sun has now set and darkness is quickly creeping in. We pack it up and head back before it's pitch black. Once back at camp 20 minutes later, we get a fire going and cook up our dinner while hyperbolizing about the number and size of all the moose we are going to shoot tomorrow morning. The skies have completely cleared now and we are left with an incredible view of the stars that's only muted by the brightness of the rising moon. The temperate is already beginning to drop so we bundle up and head to bed dreaming of some cold-weather rut-crazed bulls ready for us in the morning.


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## LumberJ

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## LumberJ

*Sept 15*
_Frosty exploration - _

Finally some more appropriate weather had set in. It got cold enough in the tent at night that we decided to fire up the Buddy heater in the morning to help us get out of the sleeping bags and get going. My brother Josh started the coffee brewing while our friend Mike and I paced around outside warming back up. The temps were now in the upper 20's and the small puddles of water in the area were skimming over with ice. It was the perfect morning in my opinion. At first light we gather our things and headed back up to the field to sit for sunrise


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## Far Beyond Driven

Enough with the slow playing already!


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## LumberJ

Far Beyond Driven said:


> Enough with the slow playing already!


haha. I'm working on it!


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## LumberJ

*Sept 15*
_Frosty exploration - continued_

A beautiful and frigid morning really had our hopes high now. Josh continued the cow calling on repeat every hour. We all sat together for the first little bit but eventually I started to get antsy and needed a warm-up. Having all 3 of us watch the same field didn't really make a lot of sense either so I went for a walk down the winter trail to see what else was out there. I slowly crept along the soggy trail peering with my binoculars as I went. The trail itself gave me a couple hundred yards to view and occasionally I would come across an opening in the Black Spruce revealing a small valley. After a half mile I found a great spot to sit and call myself. I gave it almost an hour in this spot then continued my journey back in a circuitous route that followed the river. I came across a couple deeper fishing holes and a few sets of caribou tracks from earlier in the week. Eventually my path led me back to the other guys but not before first discovering an even better (more silent) way to get in and out of our hunting spot. Once I had rejoined the group we decided to head back for breakfast and chose my new path as the egress. Today's updated plan: eat some food, catch some fish, shoot some moose.


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## brushbuster

After going to Alaska for over 40 years now I never grow tired of stories about Alaska trips. So far so good man. Great moose hunting spot! Love the pics.


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## flyting

Thanks for sharing, this is a good read.

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## LumberJ

*Sept 15*
_Frosty exploration - continued
_
Breakfast consisted of homemade and pre-frozen burritos. Outside of the wilderness the flavor stands on it's own as incredible. While on a hunt, these things are a godsend! My sister-in-law gets top notch reviews from us for putting them together ahead of the trip. As we were finishing up, the babble of the river was slowly drowned out by the throttling of an approaching engine. Several minutes later this tiny jet boat rounds the bend then passes right by our camp heading upstream. That's a first! We've seen jet boats before and airboats too, but never this far upstream! It does offer some relief though as this gives an indication that the expected log-jams downstream probably aren't as bad this year. In previous years we've had to portage around some seriously clogged sections of river and this despair is exponentially compounded by having to move a moose around the mess too. We wondered where in the world he was heading as the water only gets skinnier as he's going up. He was dressed in camo and accompanied by his wife but it didn't look like there was any way you could get a moose in that tiny boat. 45 minutes later and we heard him buzzing back downstream and continued on until we could no longer hear him. Eventually we suited up and made our way downstream to the "honey hole" that I found in the morning. Sadly, it must have been the combination of the boat's wake as well as resulting debris field that completely shut that spot down. We spent an hour chucking lures all along that stretch with no luck. After giving up on it we started heading back up to camp casting along then way when finally I managed to get on the board! While returning to camp I noticed another decent looking spot just down from our tent and sure enough, found a handful of really nice fish in there too. I took the opportunity to roughly trace the outline of one of the larger fish onto a piece of cardboard. Recently I carved and painted a Brook trout for my youngest daughter's room. I decided that since my oldest daughter wasn't yet ready to join me for the hunt the least I could do is carve a fish for her too. So I quickly traced out a top and side profile of the fish to replicate when I get back home.











By now the afternoon is starting to wear on and it's far from frigid. In fact, it is starting to get far too warm again and the bugs have returned. We grab some more food then take turns with the bug spray before putting the rest of our gear together for the evening hunt. We head back to our same spot along the hillside but the bugs and warmth don't make it feel as promising as it had felt in the morning. After several more hours of calling, darkness has again set in without any sign of a moose. It's still no big deal as far as I'm concerned though, we aren't even halfway into our hunt yet. Plenty of time!


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## LumberJ

*Sept 16*
_Antsy Pants -_

In the morning my alarm wakes us enough to be greeted by the sound of a light rain bouncing off the tent. These are the hardest mornings to get up. After managing to only hit the snooze button once, we muster the courage to put on our raingear and head outside for our morning coffee. There's less dawdling around the campsite this morning as the rain has us moving with a purpose. We venture back into the field and by the time we reach our spot it has mostly stopped. Another mid-40s morning has the mosquitoes already waking back up and searching for an easy meal. I didn't last much longer than a couple series of cow calls before I decided that I wanted to cover some more country today. This style of hunting (call and wait) is antithetical to the spot and stalk approach of our previous sheep hunts. Daydreaming about that hunt's success has me convinced that I need to move around a little and see what else I can find. I grab a few morning snacks with the guys then head down the trail in the opposite direction of my last voyage. This route leads me through some amazingly dense willows. Dense enough that I've now unbuttoned my pistol from the holster since a bear could just as easily be hiding in here. I then ventured across a stream then back out into an open field. a handful of moose tracks imprinted in the soft moss reveals that this route has been traveled at least a few times recently. As I unhurriedly slipped along I took note of the silence and smells of the area. It was deeply relaxing. Eventually I decided the further I got down this path the uglier it would be to get a moose hauled out so I started to make my way back. As I re-approached the willows, I noticed a handful of freshly rubbed branches. They weren't tore up real bad so it's possible the caribou were the culprits, but there's still a good chance a bull moose is in the area. I descend back down into the creek then use its cover noise to stealthily following it upstream. After rounding a couple bends I look off to the side and notice that the tops of a nearby willow are shaking. I didn't get too excited though as a moment earlier I saw a beaver in the creek. Sure enough, 10 seconds later and this MONSTER beaver came tearing out of the woods. Easily well over 50lbs. I followed the creek up several hundred more yards but only found more wolf tracks and merganser droppings along the gravel bars. I then returned to my partners via a round-about way that led me to another moosey-looking beaver pond. No luck for them in my absence but we did find some shared excitement in the newly discovered rub. We also start talking about what our plan will be for the rest of the trip. We have roughly 16 hours of floating to do over the next 3.5 days which doesn't include time for possible portages. We all agree that we want to give this spot 1 more day though as it usually takes 3-4 days to start producing bulls. After hanging out together for a little bit longer we all head back to camp for breakfast.


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## Forest Meister

Far Beyond Driven said:


> Enough with the slow playing already!





LumberJ said:


> haha. I'm working on it!


Quality takes time! FM


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## LumberJ

*Sept 16*
_Antsy Pants - continued_

Once back at camp I wasted not a moment before grabbing the fishing rod and wondering off again. While the guys got breakfast warmed up I worked on padding my grayling stats. I also made a point to take a lot of fish pictures from various angles ensuring that I would have a better chance at color-matching when I go to paint my carved replica.




















Once the burritos were warm I joined them then talked my brother into going for another walk with me once we were done. On the satellite images, I could see a slough a half mile upstream that needed our attention. There was no clear route to the spot so it took a little bush-whacking in the forest to make it all the way. Once there we both agreed that it was a pretty cool _looking_ spot, but we definitely did not want to shoot a moose anywhere near it. Mortally wounded moose have a penchant for heading towards water with their last steps and we can speak from experience, it is not a lot of fun when they expire in the water! While heading back we put up a few spruce grouse, one of which was kind enough to put on a show for us on an open limb just above head height.










As tempting as it was to whack him, I figured it would be a better bet to leave the woods undisturbed. We returned to camp and hung out for a while. The on and off rain of the morning mostly cleared at this point and the other guys decided it was naptime for them. Not me, I was still a bit too antsy so I wandered off again with the fishing rod in search of a few more monster freshwater sailfish. I fished all the holes within a few hundred yards of camp until they ran dry. Around 1pm I returned to camp and the guys were still sleeping so I left them a note: "J hunt ↑ back 2/3". Alone I ventured back to our hillside in hopes of an afternoon surprise. I thrashed the brush a little to mimic a bull while sitting and trying to dodge mosquitoes for the next hour and a half. Still no luck so at 2:30 I headed back to camp. Upon my return the guys were awake so we cooked up lunch and just hung out together at camp killing time before the evening adventure. In the distance we could hear the unmistakable sound of an airboat echoing off the hills as is it throttled up and down around the winding river. He got within a mile of us before finally cutting the engine. A lot more traffic up here than we are used to! An hour later his engine started up again but thankfully it grew quieter as he headed back down.


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## LumberJ

*Sept 16*
_Antsy Pants - continued_

The evening hunt consisted of more of the same: bugs, scattered rain, and me wandering off. This time I climbed up the front face of a taller hill behind us. It overlooked the beaver pond I found the previous day and had a few denser canopied spruce trees for me to seek shelter under. From up there I could hear the distant and more frequent cow-call serenade that my brother was offering. This looked like the perfect spot to have a love-drunk bull emerge from the thick cover and walk past me towards his siren. I started leaning heavy into the power of will trying as hard as I could to manifest any massive cervid from the taiga below. At this point I'll be happy if it's just a cow! As the evening wears on, frustration and doubt start to creep in. I try to remind myself that we still have the morning hunt tomorrow (although the forecast is heavy rain) and several more days on the float out to accomplish the goal. I really like it up here though and wish we had a few more days. Downstream feels like more people and less moose, but I know there are still good spots and we've even seen a couple bulls along the way while floating out before. As darkness returns I rejoin the group and head back to camp praying that we can still prevail to make this an epic tale.


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## LumberJ

*Sept 17*
_Rolling Down the River_

As forecast, the morning brought more rain but thankfully it wasn't as bad as predicted. I returned to my spot overlooking the beaver pond while Josh and Mike continued to work our primary field. Negativity has really begun to take over about this spot, but I force myself to remember how lucky I am to be here and how much fun I'm still having. We give it a couple hours but eventually call it an early morning around 8:30 so that we can try to get loaded and on the river before noon. 










I'm quick to get my stuff together and have a little bit of time so figure now a great opportunity to start blowing up the woods in search of grouse. I located a spot to cross the river then vanished into the woods to our north for 45 minutes. It was a very interesting looking area to search for birds packed with rosehips, large spruce trees, and rolling moss-carpeted flooring. Almost immediately I managed to flush one bird that disappeared into the canopy before I could shoulder the 870. The rain had again stopped so I returned to camp to help break down the tent during the lull. After crossing the river again I looked down and noticed a 3" long rip in the knee of my waders. My brother and I both laughed about it because this is on par with my history of destroying a pair of waders on every moose hunt. ha! In fact, I had already patched the other knee of these waders by day 2. We brought a spare pair of wading pants for me but those were pretty leaky too so I slapped some duct tape on the knee and called it a day. The tent was packed and the gear reloaded into the raft by 11. Our last task was to carry a 55 gal drum into the woods and chain it to a tree. It contained a wood burning stove that we never even used on this trip along with a few other odds and ends that might be useful in subsequent seasons. It's nice to finally get this out of the raft's bow so we have a little leg room for the longer floats. 

As we headed down the river we only made it around a few bends before a harlequin duck came scooting out in our path. I quickly uncased the shotgun and jumped out near the shore. The river made a long hairpin turn at this point which allowed me to cut the corner just in time to intercept the bird. One shot later and he was down and out floating with the current. He ended up against the bank in a spot not accessible from the river so we had to stop at the next gravel bar so that I could retrieve him. Just then I also noticed an old dilapidated trapper cabin that I'd found on the previous trip and the other guys wanted to check it out too. So I grabbed my duck and walked into the woods with them. halfway there and another grouse flushed in front of me. This time I could see where he landed. Boom! 2 birds for dinner. We explored the old cabin for a few minutes then continued on our way.


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## LumberJ

*Sept 17*
_Rolling Down the River - continued
_
Less than a half mile later and we see a couple rafts pulled up against the shore. It's my new friends from the airstrip. They were all hanging around the campsite drinking coffee as we floated by. We waved to them and heard their elated greeting, "Jeremiah!". Well now we have got to stop . After introducing my brother and Mike to them, they informed us how I've been the talk of the campsite all week. "Jeremiah from Detroit emerging from the woods with a dead bird. Jeremiah Johnson!" haha. They also assumed the shooting they just heard was me getting a moose upstream but I'm sure they were happy to hear that it was just a couple birds. The sun has popped out at this point and we spend a half hour chatting with this guys while paying little attention to the accumulating gnats. They didn't see anything upstream either and got to this spot the previous day. That airboat we heard had stopped just down from them and apparently shortly after it left, a young bull moose came wandering out of the woods just across the river from them! Unfortunately he absconded before they could even pick up a gun. We shared some intel and looked at maps together (they had some very detailed sat images printed and laminated), then headed back to the raft to get our 5+ hours of floating in for the day. Not long after the sun again disappeared and we were hit with a few heavy patches of cold rain. The bright side is that at least we didn't have to break down the tent in this weather like we assumed we'd have to do. The float itself was nice giving us a few good spots to cast for grayling along the way (although some of the best stops were skipped due to the rain). We didn't see much evidence of other float hunters along the way, but you could see the occasional tree that had be removed via chainsaw by the airboats. A couple hours in and we finally came across our first obstacle. A newly fallen spruce that the airboats could go over but we could not. So we beached the raft then took turns with the bow saw. the current and weight of the tree made the task a bit difficult but eventually we prevailed and were back on our way.


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## LumberJ

*Sept 17*
_Rolling Down the River - continued_

We keep traveling down the river and stopping at GPS'ed spots along the way. Each spot has looked and continues to look promising in it's own way, but as we walked around we failed to find an good quantity of fresh sign. That is aside from more and more wolf tracks! I recall seeing a few here and there before but never to this extent. The float continues. We pass a few anchored airboats along the way: some hunters and some miners. By 6pm we figured we've floated enough for the day and had already made it past one of the 2 potential log jams (thankfully a path was cleared). This gives us enough time to set up the tent and spread out again. Mike heads downstream, I head upstream, and Josh calls from camp. A light rain has again returned but cleared just before dark leaving us views of a brilliantly covered sky. This spot looked good and I returned to attempting to will a bull out of the woods until it became too dark to see.


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## LumberJ

*Sept 18*
_Ready for a Repeat_

Rain again graced our tent when my alarm sounded in the morning. We all slowly got up but eventually the other guys decided to lay back down. I think they were just trying to help me get a repeat of our hunt from 10 years ago. On that hunt it was one of the first mornings of the trip and I was the only one able to wake up in the morning. Sure enough, as I was sitting on the river by myself the first and only bull we would see came wandering out along the river's edge for me. So the guys were nice enough to stay in their warm sleeping bags today giving me the best possible shot of repeating that task.  I traveled upstream to my spot from the night before and immediately started thrashing the brush. After sometime I also began mixing in cow calls before continuing along the river bank. Occasionally I would stop and listen for a while under the canopy of a spruce tree. The trail continued on until I reached a spot that looked like a probable funnel point for game sandwiched between the river and a steep hillside. I resumed my calling from here but was slightly perturbed by the presence of more wolf tracks underfoot. 










I hung out along this stretch of river for another hour and a half before the sound of an upstream airboat dissuaded any further progress to which I returned to camp. The other guys were up by now and keeping an eye on the downstream stretch while making coffee and breakfast. The rain let up and once again we broke down the camp by noon to get another 5+ hours of floating in for the day.


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## LumberJ

*Sept 18*
_Ready for a Repeat - continued_

Thankfully, with the lack of rain this afternoon we are much more eager to spend time fishing along the way. We stop at several deep holes which are visibly stacked with grayling. On one such hole we landed well upwards of 20 grayling. By early afternoon I estimate that I'm at about 60 fish so far on this trip! 










As we progress downstream we pass by more and more moose camps. Some of them have large tents and empty meat poles that are tarped while others simply consist of a chair sitting along the river's edge waiting for the owner to return. We pass by one more of our really great spots but as it's still upstream of the remaining log jam we decide to keep going so as not to risk a late arrival on our final day tomorrow. Eventually we reached the log jam and it was huge! Lucky for us the airboats had already done the work of clearing a path wide enough for us to sneak through. 










After that we were relived to know we wouldn't have to portage on this trip. Continuing downstream we came to a few of our other spots but were forced further down due to the presence of other hunters and/or camps. Thankfully it at least gave us a little more time for float fishing . By late afternoon we were in a good position to finish the float tomorrow and we settled on a long and beautiful gravel bar. Both bear and moose tracks crisscrossed the soft silt at the top of the gravel. This looked like a great spot to try for a bull on our last evening. An added bonus was that we stopped right on another grayling hole which I immediately confirmed was holding some hungry fish. We constructed the tent one final time and then split up for the evening. Josh and Mike went upstream and I headed down. Young willows lined our side of the river and there were a few shallow stretches that appeared to be crossing points. We really laid into the calling on the final night. Something has got to be out there! Yet once again darkness fell on us without any sign of a suitor. It's an obvious sentiment, but I'm realizing how difficult it is to be fully subject to the will of nature. I find it frustrating that I can't just work a little harder to make something happen. On a sheep hunt you can often grind a little more to get to a new vantage then keep grinding harder until something changes. I'm sure there are moose hunts like that too, but here on the river that's not as much of an option. I could grind hard up to the high hills a mile off the river but that's no place to shoot a bull.

We meet back at camp and I sauté the birds along with some slices of apple. A celebratory meal to acknowledge that despite the lack of moose so far, we are still having fun together. Tomorrow is the last chance. Let's just try to get one down first thing then quickly get him squared away so we can head home!


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## steelyspeed

A successful hunting trip is not determined by a kill. What a great time! Thanks for sharing.


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## Forest Meister

Wait for it....wait for it.....


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## LumberJ

*Sept 19*
_The 11th hour -_

We've done it before: on our 2011 hunt my brother shot a bull in the final hours. There's still a chance of getting this done and we are in a decent spot. We wake up earlier than normal this time and head to our spots before daybreak. I wait until my eyes have fully adjusted then start working-over the willows in the area. Along the riverbank I found the perfect sized beaver-chewed stick and use it to smash, batter, and crack against the brush. I then start working it down along the length of the log to my side. It makes a beautiful clacking sound akin to antlers rattling against each other. From the distance I can hear my brother's calls raising above the willows. The trap is set. I continued to wait while convinced a bull has to emerge from the willows across the river at any moment. A light fog has descended from the hills accompanied by a gentle sprinkle. Perfect weather for a final push. One thing that I take note of is the invincibility of the mosquitoes around here; 42 degrees & rain and they are still harassing me to no end.




















An 90 minutes later and I can't take it anymore, I've got to go see what's around that next bend. It looks great from down here so I slipped out of my hide and made my way through a shallow stretch then up the bank onto a game trail. The further I got the better it looked. Not only could I watch the gravel bar from this morning, but also another huge stretch of willows. This whole area looked amazing. To my right is a mature willow patch across the river and to the left an old burn that was still in the process of re-growing into a field of willow and birch. No doubt a moose highway. It was another 100 yards later when I spotted something out of place. Red and blue dry-bags hanging next to a tree from a hidden tent! Crud! No one was currently occupying the spot but it was still a unsettling to see. They had one heck of a view though: stationed on the high-bank of a river-bend looking down both stretches. We agreed to meet back at camp around 9-930, but after an airboat passed by at 830 we all headed back to eat breakfast and catch a few more fish.


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## LumberJ

*Sept 19*
_The 11th hour - continued_

We were slow to pack up and all took turns with the grayling before reloading the raft. It ended up being a fun morning full of laughter. There was still time to get a moose on the way out, but we were all happy with the outcome regardless. After a few hours of fishing and taking silly videos we were back on the river to finish the float. Along the way we stopped at a few gravel bars to cast for more fish. One of the spots looked like there was an entire wolf family that had run though. The number of tracks was insane! The float continued through some prime moose country but the number of hunters increased as we travelled down. We even saw one guy dragging a raft upstream! Hats off to him for that! Eventually our river flowed to the point of entering a new hunting zone (one whose season has already ended) so that officially marked the end of the hunt for us. By 3 pm we were back at the road and messaged my sister-in-law for a ride. We had a little time to kill so I of course had to catch a few more grayling while we waited. Final count put me at about 95 I'd guess. Not to shabby!



















I found myself far less frustrated with this outcome as compared to empty-handed hunts of the past. While it would have obviously been better to have a story for you of the epic 66" bull that we grounded, I'm still happy with the adventure we accomplished over those 6 days. We returned to Fairbanks with plenty of time to take a shower, get some laundry done, and even go out to a family dinner before I had to load up my gear for the red-eye back home. We are already talking about what the next adventure might be (goat or moose) and how soon we can put it together. I'm still threatening to take my daughter with me next year but it's definitely a good thing she didn't tag along for this one. I was way underprepared for how difficult it would be to keep her dry and bug free.

Thanks for following along with me on the journey! I've got a few more pics and videos on my IG too if you're so inclined: @lumber.jeremiah


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## Chappy410

Thanks for sharing your adventure. A great read.


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## MallardMaster

Thank you for the incredible story. I appreciate you taking the time to take us along on your trip. Love your attitude too! Pretty cool that you get the chance to share opportunities like this with your brother!! Awesome stuff indeed....and congratulations on a successful trip! It isn’t about the catch or kill, but the experiences we encounter in life.


Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman


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## BucksandDucks

Thanks for the great write up.


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