Couldn't resist posting, as I went in that area in 2003. A retired State Trooper, a PhD from Michigan (both dear friends), and I flew out of Tok 30 miles due north, where the Super Cub dropped us off on top of a butte. At night, if it was cold and clear, we could see headlights, and the town lights of Chicken WAY off to the northeast.
Dave, the Trooper, a resident, had a bear tag, Mike and I were after moose. Dave took his .375 H&H Model 70, Mike, a Model 700 .35 Whelen, and I had a controlled feed stainless Model 70 .300 Winchester loaded with 220 Noslers. Dave had a pocket-full of 220 Hornady's for 'varmints', I had some 150's for the 'light stuff', and Mike stuck with 250 Noslers for the Whelen.
We got snowed on, wind blew like hell in front of and behind the low pressure that brought the snow.
We each had our own tents, with two of them big enough to house us all, if need be. Set up the cook shack about 50 yards away from us, where we cooked, cleaned, and ate. Stored the grub in a ground stash about a hundred yards away where we could see all the way around it, and checked it before we went to it for 'visitors'.
We hunted around the top of the butte for about three days without much luck. The third morning, I found a small tree, and a stick that approximated the thickness of an antler, and proceeded to rake it up and down the branches, making sure to break a few off here and there, and thump the trunk now and again. I'd stop about about 30 seconds or so, and give a beller. About the third session of this, I heard what sounded like a locomotive coming up through the brush and timber just below me. I turned around and realized that my rifle was leaning against a tree about 30 feet uphill behind me! After a minute or two, I managed to get to the rifle, then slid back down and sat behind the 'callin' tree', and sat there and 'talked' to him back and forth for about an hour, listening to him busting up timber and brush, apparently in an attempt to run me off without a confrontation. In any event, I couldn't coax him out for a shot, and my belly started grumbling loud enough to overshadow the conversation we were having, and he went away.
Next morning, I flew out, and headed back to Anchorage, where my son and his family were stationed at Ft. Rich, picked the wife up from the airport, and my granddaughter was born in the Elmendorf/Ft Rich hospital the next day.
Three days later, I got a call from Dave and Mike from Dave's home in Fairbanks, and Mike had finally managed to draw the bull out into the open and put him down with the Whelen. Went 54 inches, with four brow tines, legal for a non-resident.
The oldest son is now living up there again, the DIL transferred up to the Post Office and is now manning a "one man" post office up above Wasilla.
The wife and I are headed up again next year, the wife flying up in September, but I hope/intend to drive up in the spring and fish my way up till caribou and moose open again. I think, for some bizarre reason, that I need to try that 'Combat Fishing'. Hope it works out, but there's some health issues I've gotta get past before I go.
Too bad your hunt didn't work out, it's something we deal with every year here in Idaho. One or two outfits will go in and get a toe-hold on a camp spot, and in the next day or two, it loads up with extended family, friends, and all their kids and four wheelers. Without hiking or taking a horse WAY back in, hunting territory that's fairly accessible is shrinking all the time, and land owners are either fed up with the damage, or have found out that some folks will pay a hundred bucks per gun, per day for trespass, and have closed off access to their land. Depending on who is occupying the White House, roads in national forest may be open, or not, and these days, mostly not, but it don't matter much, there's four wheeler tracks around the gates and barricades anyway, and you can listen to 'em pounding around the hills all day, and most of the night..........
I can't seem to manage to draw a resident Idaho moose tag here, and probably won't before they close the lid on me, and Alaska non-res. moose tags are available over the counter, so it ends up being a no-brainer. Biggest misconception about AK is that for us 'flatlanders', there's an impression that AK has animals behind every tree, when in fact, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana have WAY more animals per square mile.
Hope it all works out better for you next year! I think I'll send 40 Mile Air a deposit in December, and start planning for next year's hunt!
