2013 Alaska Moose/Caribou float trip report

[Broken Arrow]

love this thread......

[Holg3107]

Tagging in anticipation!!!

[Gringo31]

Having access to these type of stories is my favorite part of Hunt-Wa.

 

[JODakota]

Tag

[luvmystang67]

Clearly a lot of people are envious of your adventure... I am one of them.  TAG!

[C-Money]

Tag!! 

[actionshooter]

Over the next couple of days the weather really started to change, it was starting to snow off and on. The cold was coming in also, wind from the north.
 We were seeing little sign and only saw one cow moose. We continued calling, glassing from high ridges and the never ending floating.
 I did have one very cool encounter I will never forget.

 We stopped on a gravel bar to make coffee and have some lunch in the middle of the day, just sitting around the raft. Something caught my eye across the river about 200 yards out, it was black and moving fast. I yelled wolf, grabbed my rifle, jacked a round into the chamber and headed about 30 yards to a brush pile to get a rest. I didn't take my eyes off of it and soon realized it wasn't a wolf, it was a wolverine and he was heading toward us! I layed prone over the brush but couldn't get a clear shot due to the rolling banks, I would just catch a glimpse of his back once in a while.
 I moved closer and he still didn't know we were there, Conan decided to jump in on the excitement and pretty soon he was in front of me angling to my left. I just getting ready to try and go sitting to take a shot and that wolverine jumped in the river and crossed to our side! He did it so fast I don't think he got wet! Well about the time he hit the bank he realized we were there, at about 50 yards and boom he was in the timber.
 This timber patch was about 100 yds wide with sparse willows on the other side, Conan runs to the edge of timber to try and catch him crossing. I wasn't sure what to do, so I just stood there, after about a minute I got that funny feeling. I slowly looked to my left and the little bugger was standing on his hind legs at 30 yards looking at me! I throw the rifle up and saw him in the scope for an instant and he was gone, back into the timber.  I ran over to the timber, had to climb a little bank on my knees, got to the top, looked up and there he was again! This time at 20 yards, only this time when he took off, he meant it. I tried tracking him in the broken snow, but that was the last time we saw him.
   After we got back to Fairbanks we had dinner with a local, well known hunter who is a friend of Kyle's and he told me that most people will go a lifetime hunting in Alaska and never see a wolverine. I think that made the sting of not getting him worse.   

[HUNT]

Great write up.  Thanks for sharing it with us.

[Benny]

Atta Boy! It's all about the adventure! Isn't crazy how those bou swell up?

[actionshooter]

Atta Boy! It's all about the adventure! Isn't crazy how those bou swell up?

You nailed it, Benny
Always thinking about whats next..

[actionshooter]

 OK, this is where it wasn't much fun anymore. On every long trip there is a point where you just kinda wish you were doing something else, this was it and it lasted for the next 5-6 days.
  I had mentioned it was starting to get cold and snowy, well ya, it cut loose. We hit temps in the single digits and the snow and fog hammered us intermittently. If it was in the 20s during the day, it was a heat wave, that's not even considering the wind. Include the fact we basically lived in our waders, in short life sucked. We were camp bound for 2 days, couldn't see 50 yards through the fog. At one point we had to break ice to get the raft out of the river and I could walk on one of the frozen back channels. 
  Here is something else to complain about, we didn't have a liner for our Kifaru tipi and the condensation would get bad, drip on our sleeping bags and then freeze, every morning we would have to shake the ice off of our bags and then try to get frozen wading boots on our feet.
 I didn't realize I was having problems, but I came away from the trip with a bad case of Frost Nip. As I sit here writing, my toes/feet are still numb. The good news--- the doc said I should have feeling back in 6-9 months. 
 We kept hunting and calling and floating but never saw another track the rest of the trip.
 I didn't take a lot of pictures for the rest of the trip, but here are a few

[actionshooter]

  Throughout the trip we saw a total of 6 other guys, which I didn't think was bad considering the 16 day length of the trip. A couple of the guys were really interesting, they were in their 60s and one of them told me he hadn't missed a season on this river in 23 years! They were the only guys we had seen with moose. They also told us it was the worst hunting and 2nd worst year of weather for the last 23. That was somewhat good to hear, knowing that our lack of moose stemmed from the situation and not our lack of know-how. 

 It was a bitter sweet to see the plane.......... oh, that's a load of crap, I was ready to get the hell out of there. 

 We were picked up by a Helio which made 2 trips to Ft Yukon where we were shuttled back to Fairbanks in a ? bigger plane.
  We were back in Fairbanks about 8pm and that bacon cheeseburger  and tukey/coke never tasted so good. 

 We spent a couple of days getting gear and meat taken care of. Met some really cool folks and then I hit the road. I do have a buddy that I have to give some big thanks too. Hey flew up from SeaTac just to drive back with me. That is kind of a blur as we did the 2500 miles in 4 days.
 I'll post somewhat of a budget since a few guys have asked....... It did get way out of hand, but this was a learning curve for us.

 

[Wanttohuntmore]

Still sounds like a great adventure!  I realize it's been 27 yrs since I've drove up there, need to do that again.  Did a float trip 21 yrs ago.  Bout due for another!

[BoomWhop]

Wow

[actionshooter]

Still sounds like a great adventure!  I realize it's been 27 yrs since I've drove up there, need to do that again.  Did a float trip 21 yrs ago.  Bout due for another!

Sounds like too long!