Graybeard Outdoors (GBO Reloaded)
State, Regional, Country Specific Forums => Alaska => Topic started by: Dand on September 20, 2010, 07:10:00 PM
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Well, after 4 unsuccessful seasons I thought surely this would be me or my son's year. We hunted 15 days of the 26 day fall season without luck. First day we saw 13 cows and my buddy found a little bull right next to the river. Second day we saw 7 more cows. It had rained most of July and August so the river was quite high and many many sloughs were easy boating. Man, I boated through sloughs that I have partially walked in most years. I really learned the layout of a lot of sloughs - but no moose. Happily no bear problems tho - never even set up the bear fence. Only saw one bear late one evening a long way from camp. We made 3 short trips in the rain and poor weather. After the first week the moose were a lot harder to find tho a few bulls were getting found. Finally the weather broke and we spent the last 6 days of the season enjoying sun and even hot weather. But it was so hot I didn't think calling would work and didn't try until the second to last day. I learned too late that I should have been calling and scraping that whole last week.
Found some cows way off the river and on high ground - WAY too FAR to even consider shooting a bull out there so got back down on the river. While we were on the high ground we watched a cow moose go crazy from the bugs. She starting raring up like a horse and stomping the water and marsh she was standing in. Water flew everywhere and she danced around like she was crazy shaking her head - I think bugs were getting into her ears real bad - it was a super hot day "for us" maybe hottest of the whole summer. Never saw a moose do that stuff before.
With my 12 yr old along I didn't get going quite as early or run quite as late as maybe I should have. He's tough but I didn't want to over do it too bad - he gets real hard to manage when pushed too hard. Wrecked 2 props and went through about 60 gallons of gas - love my Honda 40. If I had taken my jet boat I'd be totally broke feeding it gas.
Watched some martins one day, beaver, several otter families, porcupines, ducks, grouse, and other birds. We have lots of osprey and eagles here.
One day drifting around a corner we saw a cow and calf caribou. It took me too long to realize we could shoot them and they got away from us. I tried a couple running shots but no luck. Darn. I would have been real happy with caribou too. Overall between the rain and hot sun, bugs didn't bother us much the whole season - one for the + side of the ledger. Still, its pretty frustrating to have to add a 5th unsuccessful season to the list. Well, we may have a winter season and I did draw a buffalo permit. So I still have a chance.
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you can't shoot cow moose your way?
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Nope - no antlerless seasons out here. With the wolf and bear predation and a small amount of poaching, I don't think an antlerless season would be good. Also, it hasn't been that long since Fish and Game convinced locals to shoot only bulls in season - maybe 30 years or a bit less. There was a time that folks shot any moose whenever they found one - old fashioned subsistence. Getting folks to observe seasons and bulls only has allowed the population to get strong and to spread west to areas that never had moose. Just in my 21 years here we've gone from Togiak folks shooting any moose they saw (even poaching in valleys near Dillingham), no moose season and very few moose - to having a strong and growing moose population and a short open season right in the Togiak River drainage. It took nearly 20 years for this to happen. But now the folks see the value in respecting seasons and bag limits and they are enjoying the fruits of their restraint. Now the moose population is spreading farther west to Goodnews and the Kanektok area. So a little restraint and conservation is rewarding the villages with moose hunting opportunities.
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Copy that ! I wish our "First Nation" that term is a laugh in itself IMO and the Supremes would use the same sense. Not going to happen
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Dand: Enjoyed your post. Had to take a look a it in Topo. Looks like a maze of waterways.
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Yeah Sisk - there are lots of waterways and side channels. And thanks to your help and advice with my new GPS and Software purchase, I was never lost. Most amazing - that mapping software I got turns out to be super accurate. If it said there was a slough from one point to another, it was exactly there. I don't need to put in so many way points now that I know how accurate it is. I can just mark the spot on the map then go to it. Now, as the water levels dropped, I couldn't boat thru all the channels any more, but I could find them. So many of the Alaskan USGS maps were made in the 1950's and updated in the 1970's, you can't always count on the rivers to be shown accurately. But that software is right on - I got the Garmin Mapping - forget the exact name but I'm sure happy with it. And the Garmin Basemap software for my iMac has been easy to use too. I like to back up my data from the gps in case I break or lose it. Thanks again Sisk for your guidance on the equipment.
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I am jealous, glad to help!
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Sounds like a good year. all the enjoyment of hunting with none of the real work ;D
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Ha ha ha SEAK ;D! You have a point. But the kids are already grumbling about how often we eat salmon and winter hasn't even begun. We'll see by April. Still laughing. Lots of moose hunting is bang then backaches, sore legs and so on. That's why I stay close to the rivers. Its one thing to pack a caribou from a mile off the river but a big moose could be a major nightmare.
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Hi Dand
Me and my Boys got to up by Tanana 62 and 56 inch bulls. Seen a lot of wolf sign and killed a black bear on way back.
Was nice with the high water and 2 -20 year old younguns to pack.
dabigmoose
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My friend drew a cow permit. We floated the Chena and got a cow a week ago. She was big, took us five hours to dress her out and get all loaded in the boat.
I was in hospital during Caribou and Moose season this year. maybe next year. Rog