Alaska Moose Hunt Help

[Bigfoot]

Me, Bigshooter, Jstamp and 44 Flattop are planning a 2011 moose hunt in Alaska.  We would appreciate any help/suggestions on where to go.  This is going to be a DIY hunt and we would like to have a good opportunity at a decent moose.  Obviously not looking for anyone's honey-holes, but would really appreciate any info that we can combine with our own reseach.

[Bigshooter]

 

[jstamp]

what are you laughing at? we need all the help we can get!!!

[jstamp]

we are looking for info on just about everything, from the drive up there, to getting meat home, and if we can bring bones through canada back here. most of the info we will be able to find on our own, but we just decided to start this endeavor and would appreciate any help from the huntwa members. we've always wanted to do this hunt, and now we finally decided to bite the bullet and go for it.

[Bigshooter]

we are looking for info on just about everything, from the drive up there, to getting meat home, and if we can bring bones through canada back here. most of the info we will be able to find on our own, but we just decided to start this endeavor and would appreciate any help from the huntwa members. we've always wanted to do this hunt, and now we finally decided to bite the bullet and go for it.

Put the beer down and go to bed. 

[Skyvalhunter]

I have done a couple do it yourself hunts. What area are you looking at hunting? Do you plan on applying for a special permit area? Are you looking at doing a float hunt? Lots of things to consider.

[krout81]

Can a non-resident just buy a moose tag? 
Or for that matter can anyone just buy a general tag?
Did you already get a tag and now you want to try and get some info on where to go? 
I googled Moosed hunting in Alaska and a lot of stuff came up might be worth a look

[Stickerbush]

Jus to let you know if you want to apply for special permits they are due around the end of this month for up there. Out of state hunters have the same odds of drawing as in state hunters up there I'm pretty sure.

[BLKBEARKLR]

I spent 6 years in Alaska, I know quite a few of the areas up there
1. Are you driving up there
2. What weapon are you using
3.Trying to do walk in, float, fly in
4. How long are you going for
5. What size moose are you after


Joe

[Tilley Rd]

Look up Larry Bartlett at Pristine Ventures...hunt planner

We have used him in the past and had great hunts... well worth it

[Hyde]

Doesn't a non-res have to be with a licensed guide or local family member when hunting Alaska? 

[Bearhunter]

Can't wait to here some of the advice!  Hogsniper and I are doing the same this year, drive up and do it yourself probably take a month off , float trip!

[jackelope]

Doesn't a non-res have to be with a licensed guide or local family member when hunting Alaska? 

no, not everywhere.

[WDFW-SUX]

Doesn't a non-res have to be with a licensed guide or local family member when hunting Alaska? 

no, not everywhere.

The rule only applies for Brown bear, mt goat and Sheep..Im not aware of any moose units that carry that requirement.  There are some resident only moose hunts and some subsistence hunts but I think the rest are open to non residents.

[high country]

moose laws for float hunts changed a few years ago so I dunno the specifics. that is a big group and to hunt for 4 moose a float is about your only hope. with 4 guys you are gonna need 2 boats minimum. by the time you get all your gear together you are looking at a beaver if you pack light or a otter if you go luxo camp.....or a bunch of cub runs. the big planes need big water to get up, the cubs can land on a gravel bar that is the size of a postage stamp.

if you do not have the gear, I would look into renting it, you can rent good gear in fbk....larry bartlett, anc......alaska raft and kayak, and in kotz, I forget the fellows name, but a good guy and good gear. be careful of who you rent stuff from. it is not uncommon to send guys out with pumps that do not pump, rafts with holes.....etc. use good known outfitters it is worth the $$. larry pushes his pro pioneer boats pretty hard. I use a 12ft bailer and can see where his would be better. check your timing. as september wears on the possibility of ice up gets higher. you do not want to sched a pickup on a lake that is semi frozen.....you will wait for hard ice or thaw.....not good.

[Bigfoot]

We're not really sure where we want to go.  Jstamp does have family up there and is waiting to hear back from them.  Hopefully we can get all the information we need from them.  Anyways, we are planning on driving up and it looks like we'll probably be hunting in September because most moose seasons do not run past sept.  We are not planning on applying for any permit hunts, just general season hunts.  We'll be taking at least a couple weeks for the trip, if not longer.  Does anyone know how hard it is to get firearms through Canada? 

Thanks for everyone's input so far. 

[BLKBEARKLR]

We're not really sure where we want to go.  Jstamp does have family up there and is waiting to hear back from them.  Hopefully we can get all the information we need from them.  Anyways, we are planning on driving up and it looks like we'll probably be hunting in September because most moose seasons do not run past sept.  We are not planning on applying for any permit hunts, just general season hunts.  We'll be taking at least a couple weeks for the trip, if not longer.  Does anyone know how hard it is to get firearms through Canada? 

Thanks for everyone's input so far. 

No pistols allowed, rifles iI believe are still 50.00 per. You have a gun, you will get searched.

Joe

[high country]

the last time I drove through I had 6 rifles and it was no problem. do not take any pistols, hosters, handgun ammo.....etc. anything related to handguns is an instant trip to dissasembled rig area.

are you planning on hunting by calling during the rut or spot and stalk?

[Bigfoot]

Good to know about the pistols, I guess I won't be taking the .454 Casull.  We will do whatever we need to do to get moose, spot and stalk or calling.  I would really like to get one with my bow, so whatever works the best to get close enough.

[high country]

if you are planning on bowhunting you WILL need a certificate from a completed course. a previous tag would not cut it for me. you might look into mailing the pistol to yourself up there at your destination.....I dunno if it flies or not.

[Grizzlykiller]

I have a bit of experience with moose hunts so I'll try to give you some advice.
 Four guys going means four bulls is the goal? Thats a lot of meat to handle. I think your first stop before leaving the house is to click on the Alaska Outdoors Directory website.
http://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com/
 Browse around and view the threads about out of state moose hunts and you should be able to gather quite a bit of information.
 Also a member there named Steve posted a couple of very well done videos on You Tube of his fall moose hunts. One was a float on the Koyukuk via the Yukon the other was on the Kobuk River I believe. He did a very nice job on them and you should be able to gather much info from them also.
 http://www.youtube.com/user/stid2677#p/u/0/kSlrKSTzgbg
http://www.youtube.com/user/stid2677#p/u/1/_BQtl2DVxKI
I live in Nome and if you have a map of northwestern Ak handy you will see there is no road headed to Nome so I'd imagine that your not too keen on heading to the Seward Peninsula.

Your dreaming big no doubt about it but if you do your homework thoroughly and plan for failure and hope for success you might be rewarded with the best tasting game meat on earth. No question you will be eager to try another moose hunt if the first one doesn't yield results.
 Currently there are no requirements for non residents to use a guide for any animal besides Brown/Grizzly Bear Sheep or Goats as stated in a previous post. Just pulling into Anchorage or Fairbanks though with high hopes will place you right in the middle of all the local hunters who have those same hopes.
 A large percentage of guys either charter aircraft to access moose or trailer boats to the larger rivers and set off on an excursion.
 Bear in mind though that there are many villages along the rivers and you are sometimes viewed as direct competition and with good reason by local hunters not so eager to see you.
 Some villages have welcome mats others don't.
 I'd say if you are driving up and there are four of you and you all want bulls there are two options. Boat or air.
 If you are looking at another option then flying out from Anchorage say to a regional hub such as Nome where you may be interested in renting a four wheeler (atv) and truck and doing a hunt from the road system.
 Either way there is no cheap way to end up with a 60 inch moose rack in your house.
 As of today guided moose hunts are going for as much as $14,000 bucks and although that sounds like a crazy mans figure if you do the math on what it's taking to put these hunts together it may come into focus a bit more.
 Look at the website I linked to. View Steve's videos. He did a nice job.
 If you have specific questions feel free to message me and I'd be happy to try and answer them
 Good luck to you all.




Even a small bull is considerably larger than a big bull elk. Be prepared for much labor.

[Blacktail135]

 Now's the time to start planning! Great air charter's get booked early. IF any of you have EVER had a DUI in the past, that might not bode so well upon entry into Canada. There is some kind of provision where you get a queen's pardon or something if you've been a good boy for a long time. I don't remember the details now. I looked in to it a couple of years ago when I went to Alberta waterfowling. I took my chance's and had no problem but, an Alberta waterfowling trip is not an Alaska moose hunting trip! My DUI was in 1980. There's all kind's of bad "past DUI/Canadian entry" example's on Google.
 Been on 4 caribou drop camp's and 2 moose/caribou hunting float's up there. Great time's! Went on one this year. We too used PristineVentures.com hunt planner on both float's. Met and chatted with Larry at his home after this year's trip. Nice guy. I think when he saw us he was a little surprised about who he had sent on his "special" float (short fat guy and an old man!). It was sort of a tough 11 day hunt. Could've been much tougher though if the water level was normal (low=dragging). I lost 21lbs, partner lost 15-20lbs.
 Get some book's. Larry Bartlett's float hunting book, Michael Strahan's float book and Dennis Confer's book (if you can find it) and read them over and over. Make note's, highlight specific part's, make a list of question's etc.
 Get some practice rafting. Rent a raft, put 1200lbs of homemade sandbag's in it and go down one of our smaller river's this spring. Might even consider going down it when the waters a little high. Rent 2 raft's, take some camping gear (and 1200lbs of sand each) and the 4 of you make a weekend camping trip out of it.
 Take good gear. Know how to use it and how to repair it too. We had our gear airdropped. Some stuff got busted up. Will pack better next time.
 Happy hunting. Patrick.

[Lightning_Rider]

  those are sum awesome pics!!!

[Blacktail135]

 I second everything Grizzlkiller says.

[Bearhunter]

I not going to be able to sleep until next hunting season after seeing those pics!!

[high country]

blacktail, what did you think of the pro pioneer vs a typical bailer? 

also, widerness taxidermy is a great vid, as is float hunting alaska.....both by larry. dennis confers book is a great read and chris batin has a good one too.

[Bigshooter]

I spent 6 years in Alaska, I know quite a few of the areas up there
1. Are you driving up there
2. What weapon are you using
3.Trying to do walk in, float, fly in
4. How long are you going for
5. What size moose are you after


Joe

1. I think we are going to drive.
2. Most likely rifle.
3. Walk in
4. Two weeks
5. Any legal moose

Help us if you can.

[Blacktail135]

 We used a Soar Magnum. I think it is 2' longer than the Pro Pioneer. It used to be a self-bailer but had been patched over. I like that better....less water at your feet most of the time.

[Bigfoot]

Wow, great info everyone, greatly appreciated too.  It kind of sounds like maybe we should start planning and saving for a 2012 or 2013 moose hunt.     I didn't figure a trip like this would be easy, but I thought a person might be able to do it without having to apply for a personal loan.  From what it sounds like, there's no "cheap" way to go about it. 

Does anyone have any total costs that they've accrued on an Alaska DIY moose hunt that they would be willing to share.  You could pm me if you would rather not make it public.  Just trying to get an idea on how much overtime i'm going to have to work between now and then.   

[CastleRocker]

It will cost more than you think it will, and you will have delays.  Just expect them, accept them, and move on.  It's much more fun that way.  Here was our trip in a nutshell...

We (my son and I) flew to Petersburg, hooked up with a real good friend of mine.  We put the truck, and boat, (18' sled and a 17' canoe) on the ferry to Haines.  Ferry broke down in Juneau, so we spent a day there.  Got to Haines too late to make it through the border so we spent half of one night sleeping in the truck at the customs gate.  Customs was a breeze.  I had downloaded all the forms so they were already filled out, and read the regulations many times over.  It cost $25 per rifle.  (That was two years ago, last September).  We drove to Manley, AK (after a couple flats, and the reciever hitch broke off the truck...more delays), and put the boat in the Tanana River and went up a couple other rivers.  If you plan on doing something like that, make sure you bring a decent sized chainsaw (044 Stihl with 32" bar or bigger), to cut log-jams out of the way.  The small rivers we went up were impassible without one.  Bring at least one pair of good chest waders.  (We each had them).  Lost the water pump on the truck on the way back to Fairbanks, and had to buy a couple more tires.  It may not sound like it, but we had a blast!  Was a great trip, am looking forward to doing it again.   

I just wanted to point out a few of the obsacles that we had to deal with.  Remember the two rules of hunting/traveling; #1 Don't sweat the small stuff.  #2 It's all small stuff.

I have the modified version of our list of "things to take next time" on this computer somewhere, I'll have to look for it tomorrow, as I just got home from work and it's time to go horizontal for a while.

[Skyvalhunter]

I have done float trips on the Woods and Koyukuk rivers. The Koyukuk was a permit hunt. Since you mentioned a walk in hunt you best be prepared for a tough pack. Even on our float hunt one of the guys got a 62" bull 2 miles off the river and it took 4 of us 2 days to pack it out so you are not going to be packing moose out in any distance in a timely manner. Learn how to judge a moose size as there will typically be a 50" min and/or 3 or 4 browntine rule. Be prepared for all conditions as I have run into 15 to 60 degree weather. I just got back from Kodiak and you have to be prepared for anything.
   If you are not set on a walk in hunt I would suggest a float hunt as you have a better chance of getting into more moose in my estimation. Plus its easier to float the meat down the river than pack it a significant distance. Take a look at Prestine Adventures website. Login and read the forums as you can learn alot. Larry will help you immensely if you choose to hire him.

[high country]

any big rivers are going to have hunters on them, small rivers can change dramaticly from year to year....heck, week to week. decide what your level of energy expenditure is and factor that into your plan.  as stated, the terrain can very from loose rock gravel bars to alder thickets so tangled the only way through is via bear tunnels . when I flew into umiat I thought to myself, this sucks there is no cover. when the plane hit the ground I realized it was all 10 feet tall and bulletproof. be cautious in areas of glacier runout, the silt will suck you up and it penetrates your clothes and adds unreal weight to you.....been there, did not like it at all.

[BLKBEARKLR]

any big rivers are going to have hunters on them, small rivers can change dramaticly from year to year....heck, week to week. decide what your level of energy expenditure is and factor that into your plan.  as stated, the terrain can very from loose rock gravel bars to alder thickets so tangled the only way through is via bear tunnels . when I flew into umiat I thought to myself, this sucks there is no cover. when the plane hit the ground I realized it was all 10 feet tall and bulletproof. be cautious in areas of glacier runout, the silt will suck you up and it penetrates your clothes and adds unreal weight to you.....been there, did not like it at all.

When did you fly into Umiat? I worked a couple of times up there as a packer on leave from the Army back in 93-94

[high country]

I should check my notes...but it was 2001 or 2002. the renwicks from the dry-*censored*ties were camp hosts for their uncle mike in fbk.  I heard the camp burned a few years back....bummer. I wish I could have been there in the bud conkle days.

[SuperDave]

Hey Blacktail135,  I know that short fat guy you are referring too!!!  Im tellin!!         A great hunt you guy's did well!!   

[Blacktail135]

 Hey SuperDave. He referred to himself that way before the trip  Saw your pic's from back east, WOW.