Free: Contests & Raffles.
Random Things that crossed my mind when doing my hunt.....• I love moose meat and I wanted to get it home. (cost and practicality on that) I chose to drive. It was with my father and one of the best things I could have done.(wouldnt be the same solo or with just any person) It was strenous as I did all the driving and it was roughly three 20 hour days in a row(x2) and was obviously the most expensive part of the trip. Plus had to deal with Canada. Also eats a minimum of 6 vacation days.• Taking a partner. Its difficult to transport two moose out once one is shot. Even on a float trip, plans have to be made ahead of time and moving and preserving that much meat and being a roving bait station needs to be though of. You invest in a trip and your partner shoots a dink.... Everything in Alaska is epic. From the black clouds of bugs to the terrain. Not a place for a greenhorn. •Wet. You say you've been to Alaska for fishing, woods wet for days on end requires specific gear and mentality.
Bone is 100 percent right about having a partner. Even the locals will glass me up and we’ll meet and they wonder why I don’t have a machine and why I’m all alone with no help. This place ain’t jokin. With all due respect to inter mountain lower 48 grizz, they aren’t the same as a coastal brown or as curious as an Alaskan mountain grizz nor near as thick. There lots of places that don’t hold moose year round or moose at all.
I would look into alaska trophy expaditors for shipping your meat home. Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk
That price tag seems low for a Beaver? How far are you planning to fly one way?
I have hunted up there half a dozen times + and truly the best deal I have found on getting meat home was check baggage on Ak Airlines... process it up there, ship it home in overweight baggage 100# at a whack, use an Ak Airlines visa and get a discount also. I have also driven up there and brought the meat back... this is an OK option if you have the time, but with the price of gas lately, it's not great either. You're estimates per hr flying time in the beaver is right on what I have found and you have a better deal on the 206 than I have found lately... everything jumped this year.just got home and was skunked this year... but thats ok, cause I was hunting in AK
Just lurking and taking notes...
I hunted moose out of Dillingham this fall. I am very familiar with the research you are doing and I can probably answer some questions you may have. It sounds like you are interested in going the Air Taxi route. What I found when talking to Air Taxi's is they aren't allowed to handle the meat, only a Transporter can do that for you. If your plan is to keep the meat then you need to come out of the field with it and get it in cold storage. Then you can choose to get flown back out in to the field which adds another paid leg on to your trip total. I chose to go the transporter route because I considered the trip a once a decade thing and days in the field were the highest priority. I didn't like the idea of coming back to town and messing with meat and potentially having my return trip get delayed. I was successful in a (meat on bone) unit. My transporter brought my bull back to town. He delivered it to a meat cutter who broke it down, vacuum sealed it and delivered it to Air cargo who flew it to Anchorage. There it was packed in to 7 insulated fish boxes and shipped Alaska Air cargo down to Seattle where I picked it up at the airport. Total cost of getting meat from the field to my freezer was $1800 and I ended up with 425 lbs. of meat. I know it can be done for less. I was willing to pay a bit extra for peace of mind. I didn't want my time in AK to be spent worrying about logistics. I did meet a group at the hotel who has hunted up there numerous times. They provided all of their own gear and have numerous local connections. They were able to do it all for a lot less than we did. I would we happy to chat more about my experience if you PM me we can set something up. You can see photos of my trip at https://www.instagram.com/northwestskyler
Quote from: sburreson on October 11, 2022, 12:24:04 PMI hunted moose out of Dillingham this fall. I am very familiar with the research you are doing and I can probably answer some questions you may have. It sounds like you are interested in going the Air Taxi route. What I found when talking to Air Taxi's is they aren't allowed to handle the meat, only a Transporter can do that for you. If your plan is to keep the meat then you need to come out of the field with it and get it in cold storage. Then you can choose to get flown back out in to the field which adds another paid leg on to your trip total. I chose to go the transporter route because I considered the trip a once a decade thing and days in the field were the highest priority. I didn't like the idea of coming back to town and messing with meat and potentially having my return trip get delayed. I was successful in a (meat on bone) unit. My transporter brought my bull back to town. He delivered it to a meat cutter who broke it down, vacuum sealed it and delivered it to Air cargo who flew it to Anchorage. There it was packed in to 7 insulated fish boxes and shipped Alaska Air cargo down to Seattle where I picked it up at the airport. Total cost of getting meat from the field to my freezer was $1800 and I ended up with 425 lbs. of meat. I know it can be done for less. I was willing to pay a bit extra for peace of mind. I didn't want my time in AK to be spent worrying about logistics. I did meet a group at the hotel who has hunted up there numerous times. They provided all of their own gear and have numerous local connections. They were able to do it all for a lot less than we did. I would we happy to chat more about my experience if you PM me we can set something up. You can see photos of my trip at https://www.instagram.com/northwestskyler Does that $1800 include process (cut and wrap) if so, that's not terrible... Alaska Air Cargo is a little cheaper than regular baggage but requires another trip to the airport to pick it all up. Looks like a great bull in your pics! And a wolf!?
Quote from: Pathfinder101 on October 11, 2022, 01:08:01 PMJust lurking and taking notes... No worries pathfinder!! Did I read your story on roklide the other day of your moose hunt?? If so it sounds like you guys had a rough go.
