Annual Alaska Moose trip

[mdeland]

We just finished our first meeting trying to get our moose trip together this year. Scott, my son-in-law, hunting and fishing pardner, won't be able to make it this year as he will be doing some missions for the Air Force during our hunt time so I will soarly miss his companionship.
However I have a very good friend that went with us two years ago that is chomping at the bit to go so we'll sally forth in my NRS raft and try again.
Still have to check some regulations to make sure but it looks like we'll try an "any bull area" this year up by Chicken and stop when one of us gets one down. If not than it will be back into a 50 inch or 4 brow tine section which I loath as you need to be either a Philadelphia lawyer or zoologist to make sure you aren't running fowl of some obscure game statute.
Looks like the caribou allotment will be closed by the time we hunt so that option will be out.
We are allowed Grizzly and black bear so that will be another option for us and the fishing is usually quite good this time of year as well.
Been really wet here the last month so the water should be up in the interior and will possibly make a fork we have wanted to try doable this year.
I will take my 280-338 again this year as we will definitely be in bear country and the interior Grizzly quite often have a worse attitude than does the coastal Brownies.
As much as I love the single shots, I just don't feel comfortable in the brush with them hunting alone as is often the case on these trips when we split up for a couple of hours each day.
I'll take some pictures, if I can remember my camera and post some shots of the Chicken area of Alaska when I return. MD

[Dan O]

Sounds like a great trip. Have you taken a Grizzly yet on these trips. How many rafts do you use, 1 for 2 people or ??? Either way have fun and good luck.
Dan

[mdeland]

We usually take two 14 footer NRS rafts with my son-in-law and I each piloting one passenger. That makes it just about right for one moose and all our gear. A big moose will usually yield 400-500 pounds of meat and then the rack can go 90lbs or so.
I have never taken nor wanted to take a Grizzly but my pardner Chris picked up a tag this year. I probably will take a black if the opportunity affords itself.
If we don't connect this year on the road system I think we'll do a fly in float trip next year. MD

[jdb3]

Sounds like fun, my hunting partner is building a house so we will not be going this year. I will stay home and hunt Mitkof Island for moose. Not as prolific an area but will give it the best shot. Jim

[mdeland]

Well, good news! Chris my hunting pardner for this year, called today and said he got a caribou tag for our area so if they don't do an emergency closer on us we should be in good shape for our hunt. WE stopped and talked to a miner on the Forty mile two years ago and he said the week before we got there he was over run by them right in his camp on the river. He said the dummies were so curious as to what he was doing in the river that they were coming right up to him on his claim and being a general nuisance. Hope we run into the same problem! Chris also picked up 6 black bear tags and I felt like asking him if he thought that would be enough! Sounds like they want them thinned out a bit. I will get an any bull tag and if we fill them we can go back to Tok and each get another tag opposite of what we got originally. They won't give us each a moose and caribou tag together. Only in Alaska does such things make sense to the the fish and wildlife people. Must be liberals! MD

[mdeland]

Well, heading out in the morning and hope to make Tok before the Game department closes so we can get our moose tags for the area. If all goes well we will make Chicken before dark and get the raft set up for a morning departure.
Still have a few loose ends to tie up for my business but am looking forward to getting out in the wild again. I'll try to get some more good pictures and share them when I get back. MD

[mdeland]

Just got back last night and had to cut our trip short by 8 days. My pardner got sick on the second day of our float and had vertigo so bad he couldn't sit up until noon. He went to the doc today and they think it was a reaction to his sinus meds but he was one sick puppy for two days.
I sure was glad we were on the short leg of the trip rather than the west fork of the Densison that takes several days to float which is where we were headed next.
Had an easy shot at a small black bear at about 175 yards but as it was the first day and we were hunting moose I decided not to harvest him.
The country was all tracked up with caribou which had passed through a few days before and we did see some fresh moose tracks intermingled here and there but no moose through the second day when Chris got sick.
One group we bumped into coming out of the Denison had taken a paddle bull so we were certainly looking forward to starting that Denison fork the next day.
Ah well, poor Chris felt like a heel ending our trip but he made the right call not knowing what was making him so short winded and dizzy. I was kinda worried about his ticker to tell the truth. For him not to want to get up and move out on a moose hunt means something is drastically wrong as he would rather hunt and be in the wild more than any one else I know.
I got a few shots of the area and an old abandoned gold dredge I'll put up when I get some more time. Gotta head out to Palmer and put some glass in heavy equipment tonight before it gets to late. MD

[Dan O]

Glad your partner is OK. To bad you had to cut it short but there is always tomorrow.

[mdeland]

A shot of Chris and the loaded raft just before push off on the Mosquito Fork of the 40 mile river.

Another angle of the same spot.

An old abandon gold dredge just up from the Denison Fork confluence.

More shots of the same dredge.



Mt. Sanford on the left and Mt. Drum on the right dropping down into the Copper River Basin on the stretch from Eureka lodge headed into Glenallen.

The weather was excellent and the scenery spectacular as usual for this country. MD

[Mike Johnson]

sorry your trip was cut short. looks like you guys made the right decision to end it though. glad your buddy is doing better. beautiful country.

[mdeland]

Chris and I watched some cool hawks that neither of us could identify while on the Mosquito Fork. They looked very much like a Redtailed Hawk but had a belt of white across their lower back and were bigger than the average Redtail I have seen.
Chris is a taxidermist and has mounted a good many birds and said he was not sure of what Hawk type this was either. I immediately thought of Theodore and wished he was along to see them and tell us what he thought. They were hunting in the slues and oxbows of this river system near Chicken Ak.
Sure wished I could have gotten a picture of one.
Also saw a rather sickly looking Bald Eagle that just watched us as we floated under his limb and a few Peregrine Falcons. MD

[mdeland]

Thanks for your input Dan. I will ask Chris what he thinks as well. He said when he got home he would consult his bird books and see if he could come up with an identification. I'll wait to tell him your thoughts after he tells me what he thinks.
I don't think either of us thought it was a Golden at the time although there are a few up here I'm told. I can't say that I have ever seen one in the wild for sure.
I have seen one Hawk Owl that sure was easy to identify. Mike

[Lazer]

Take a look at the Marsh hawk, it's got a white belt above the tail. They certainly hang around the 40-Mile. Suspect they think they might snipe off a chicken near Chicken.

L

[Brent]

Take a look at the Marsh hawk, it's got a white belt above the tail. They certainly hang around the 40-Mile. Suspect they think they might snipe off a chicken near Chicken.

L

Lazer,

I thought of a Marsh Hawk (Northern Harrier) also, but they have narrow wings compared to a Retail and are considerably smaller; 15 oz compared to a mature, female Redtail at 2.5 lbs. But, Marsh Hawks are in that range this time of year. However, based on Mike's description of the hawk he and his son saw, I ruled it out.

Roughleg? White rump patch, redtail sized. A northern bird that winters along the snow line in the Midwest.

[Brent]

Roughlegs have a unique hovering flight that can ID them when they do it. Much like a Kestrel. They can even fly backwards a short bit if there is a little breeze.