Alaska - part 2

The next 15 days or so solidified my love for Alaska and this career. I already knew it but now I dream about it daily and can’t wait for years of adventures up there. I won’t go day-by-day for this stretch. I’ll roll through these 15 days by harvests, with photos and stories to back them up.

Before Tim, Ben, and Dan landed I creeped through the spruce trees to check on my moose carcass. The trees were thick enough you didn’t have a view until 60 yards away. I crept slowly and peered through the trees hoping for wolves. The bushes were high enough I couldn’t actually see the gut pile. But I saw a patch of fur shifting back and forth above the willows.

I held up my rifle and peered through the scope. At once a massive grizzly bear stood up and his face completely filled my scope. The reticle centered straight on his nose. Stunned and nervous I’d spook him off, I slipped out and creeped back to camp.

Dan and Ben had grizzly tags. They would land that afternoon. But Alaska has a “same-day airborne” law meaning you can’t hunt the day you fly. It prevents scouting from the air and un-fair chase of game. We could only hope that grizzly would stay around for another day.

The dream team was in camp now. Tim (guide) is a chill, extremely competent hunter from Ohio who knows moose well. Dan and Ben are two best friends from Arizona. Elk slayers and very fit, they can pound the mountains well, have eyes like a hawk, and have the patience and perseverance for success. Then there’s me -a weird, pale, city-borne kid with an earring that likes to carry heavy loads and live in the woods.

We discussed the plan night 1. We’d check the carcass the following morning, knowing very well a massive grizzly was likely sleeping near us that night. One problem - we can’t harvest a grizzly with cubs. And, in that thick timber, how would we determine cubs weren’t present?

The next morning we crept in. There was the fur again. Before all of us even had time to see it, the grizzly stood up, looked at us, and ran off. Disappointed, we realized that was actually a good thing. Watching him run away let us determine there were no cubs. Now we had to pray there was enough meat left that he’d return the following morning.

After a full day of scouting for moose, we returned to camp just before dark. Why not check the carcass again? We creeped in fully loaded. Three rifles, two hand guns, and a can of bear spray. Let’s go.

We peaked through the 60 yard sight line. No fur. No noise. Nothing. Damnit. Ok, we’ll try again tomorrow morning.

We put our guard down. We talked louder. Little did we know a 7.5 foot grizzly bear was sleeping 60 yards away in the thick bushes. We broke branches nearby to open up the shooting lane and that woke him up.

“Crap there he is! There he is!” Tim yelled. I looked up to see our grizzly staring at us from 60 yards and then dropped into a charge towards us. The fastest thing I’ve witnessed in nature. In two short bounds he covered 20 yards. Now at roughly 40 yards he stood up again, standing roughly 9 feet tall on his hind legs.

“Shoot him! Shoot him!” I yelled with rifle and handgun ready. I crouched to stay away from the barrels of Dan’s and Ben’s rifles. Before the bear had a chance to drop again, Dan put a perfect shot into his chest. He hit the floor rolling and growling with only the sounds a grizzly can make. Before he ran off, Dan and Ben pumped three more rounds into him. Two experienced hunters that can perform under pressure, every shot hit and the bear died shortly after.

Our first legal hunting day! GRIZZLY DOWN! Sipping whisky that night we knew we were in for a hell of a trip.

Before I jump to the moose harvests, here’s a summary I wrote while in the field. Summaries generally come at the end but it encapsulates the trip. In conjunction with photos, it helps me remember the trip in a couple short paragraphs. Then I’ll get to more stories and special moments.

We watched fall come and go - from green to yellow to bare branches. We endured storms of rain, snow, and even wind from a nearby typhoon.

We saw the moose rut progress from bulls stripping velvet, to endless fighting, to gathering harems. We watched antlers turn from velvet to bone-white to dark brown stained by spruce.

We heard wolves howl many times. We gazed at the aurora borealis dancing above our heads. We even heard wolves howling while watching the aurora’s light show.

We were charged by a grizzly bear. We picked up caribou antlers. We felt 4.2 and 4.8 earthquakes.

We listened to so many 1000’s of sandhill cranes migrate overhead that our ears began to filter it out.

We bushwacked for miles. We glassed so long our eyes hurt. We had days of frustration and boredom followed by days of excitement and adrenaline. The extreme highs and lows indicative of a true hunt.

And we cried, laughed, and screamed in excitement over the harvest of several beautiful animals. Moments you can’t make up. Moments I can’t describe in words. Momentary highs I’ll always share with these new friends for life.

I haven’t showered in 30 days. My feet have been soaked nearly half that time. I have more scratches from willow branches than I care to count. And my clothes are stained from tundra dirt, squished blue berries, sweat, and moose blood. My gear reeks of adventure and success.

With freezers full, legs sore, memories and friendships made, we head home. Thank you Alaska. It’s always incredible. We’ll be back at it again next year.

special moments I want to remember forever

The night of the typhoon winds none of us could sleep. Our tent walls were constantly blown into our faces and the flapping noise was endless. As night fell the sky was covered in clouds. At 4am I peered out the tent surprised to see stars. The winds didn’t stop yet had blown all the clouds out. I crawled outside to see the northern lights dancing harder than I’d seen on previous trips and also for the first time since Tim, Dan, and Ben arrived. Dan and Ben had never seen it. I ran to their tent shouting and chanting “northern lights! northern lights!” As Dan would later describe, “tribal member Neil started dancing under the lights and woke us up”.

We watched all stages of the moose rut. The horniest bull we saw demonstrated how rutted up and hormone-controlled these moose get. The bull stood in a meadow alone and began to pee. No big deal. Just peeing for literally almost a minute. He finished, turned, and then proceeded to aggressively rake, slash, and roll his antlers and face into his own urine. Next he bedded down. Right in his pee pool soaking his body in his scent. Two minutes later he got up and proudly walked away - now covered in a cologne only a cow moose could find sexy.

As Luc (outfitter) and Ben stalked a bull we’d been patterning for several days, Dan and I stood on a high ridge giving hand signals to guide them in from a mile away. A sow grizzly and two cubs appeared in the meadow between us and would later walk 100 yards from Luc and Ben. While watching the grizzlies, a nearby wolf pack erupted in howls. I wrote,

“snow capped peaks rise in the distance while the green timber in front of us is peppered with yellow aspen trees. We are currently watching three grizzlies walk in between us and the moose we are stalking while wolves endlessly howl to our right. WTF Alaska?”

Tim whining like a cow “I WAAAANT IT!”

Getting hammered, sloshed, and turnt after harvesting Dan’s bull. Then struggling to look through binoculars the next day,

“If your socks aren’t crusty enough to stand up on their own each morning you aren’t hunting hard enough”

Favorite Meals and Drinks

-moose steaks cooked in a bed of bear fat

-moose tenderloin wrapped in caul fat

-moose eyeball

-moose chunks and moose fat cooked in Alfredo sauce and hot sauce

It should be noted some of these meals may not actually be as tasty as I remember. We may have just been so hungry they seemingly tasted amazing. Try at your own discretion

Brown sugar bourbon, screwball, butterscotch whisky - combine in all ways and with hot chocolate occasionally

Dan’s Bull

A massive bull notable by his front palms walked within a mile of camp one night. Through a downpour of rain we glassed him and predicted his nighttime movements. The following day we pushed to a far knob hoping he’d be nearby courting cows.

Halfway there we dropped into a steep, thick canyon. Before a steep climb, we stopped to drop layers. A bull nearby must have heard us and thought we were cows. Our wind was perfect. Tim heard him first. Deep grunts echoed through the timber. This bull was fired up.

We quickly got into position in our small meadow along the stream. Tim’s sexy cow calls brought this bull in on a string. Knowing full well it could just be a horny small bull, we were pumped to see our bull from the previous evening poke out of the trees. Dan put three perfect rounds into him at 60 yards but only one was necessary. We watched him take his last breaths - the cold morning air allowing us to see the air expel from the holes in his lungs. Ethically and quickly, he died shortly after. We celebrated over the euphoria of how it all happened. We hugged, high-fived, and, with water is his eyes, Dan turned to me and said “this was my bucket list”. I’ll never forget that moment with those guys. And next came my favorite part - the pack out.

Ben’s Bull

First let me say Dan and Ben are savages. Very fit and capable, they could run wherever Tim, Luc, and I took them and would help pack meat. They also are real hunters - doing it for all the right reasons. Most notably the experience. After Dan’s bull on day 5, we struggled to find another legal bull. Even moving to the other camp, Dan and Ben had to hunt hard day after day. The season was getting short. Though we didn’t like to mention it, everyone knew there was a chance of not succeeding on the second moose. However, Ben kept a solid attitude and kept saying “it’s called hunting, not killing”. They were there for the experience and I appreciate that. The experience is what it’s all about.

Three days until the end of season, Dan glassed a bull we’d been hunting for several days. He was incredibly old, seemingly lethargic, and wouldn’t move more than 100 yards a day and rarely show himself for more than 5 minutes. Dan’s short view that day began a long stalk by Luc and Ben with Dan and I hanging back giving hand signals. Ben had hiked his ass off that day on multiple stalks and deserved this chance. From over a mile away Dan and I got to watch through spotting scopes the entire stalk, the shots, and resulting high-fives and hugs Luc and Ben shared. Bull down. As a team we had done it.

That night we packed out one load getting to camp around 11pm. This was our farthest pack of the trip by far but not crazy steep. In two trips the next day we finished the job. After that we spent 2-3 days waiting in camp. Alaska can leave you feeling stranded. Your only way out is by plane and weather can ground all plans to fly. Snow, fog, and wind kept us waiting but we had plenty of moose meat to eat and good company. Eventually our expert pilot Robert made it in. Back in Fairbanks we celebrated with cold beer and our first showers.

With the grizzly on day 1 we knew the trip would be epic. But it turned out even better than we could have expected. I can’t wait to hunt with all these guys again. Dall sheep and brown bear let’s GO!