My Alaska Moose Hunt

[Basinboy]

I've dreamed of making a moose hunt for many years. Two years of reading posts, calling transporters and biologists, I finally decided on a place. It would be a 100% DIY trip. We arrived in the village and got our boat loaded. It was late but we went for a ride down river just to see what it looked like. We saw a few cow moose and our spirits were high for the next day to start hunting.
The next morning found us scouting some of the spots I had found on Google Earth. They had a little sign but not what we were hoping for. We got back in the boat and headed to another area. We saw some huge rubs on a bar and headed in to see if we could find the bull that made them. We weren't a 100 yards in when we hear raking!

We slowly slip ahead trying to close the distance. We ease up a slough embankment and immediately see a bull, then another and another! I try to close the distance while my friend signals me when to move and when to freeze. I'm about 40 yards from a good bull with a couple others feeding nearby. I got as close as the cover would allow and nocked an arrow and waited. The smallest bull headed my way and had come between me and the big bull. I looked back at my friend and he signaled 31 yards. I drew my Talltines StickFlinger longbow and sent an arrow only to watch it fall just below his chest :? they scooted off and my friend said I had clipped a limb.

We didn't get back on any bulls the rest of the day.

That night I told my friends that they can go in there and try for those bulls, that I had my chance.

The next morning I drop them at the big rubs and I go south a mile to and start working my way north into the wind. I hear something running through the water and think I have bumped some moose. I try to follow but they are gone by the time I get to the edge of the swamp.

I go back to the edge of the ridge and continue my stalk. About 100 yards in I see a huge bed, I am standing in it marking it on OnX when I hear a limb crack. I pick up my binoculars and see a couple moose, one is a decent bull. They are coming my way! I drop to my knees in the bed and nock an arrow.... One cow passes 14 yards to my right, another to my left about 25 yards. The third is headed straight for me she is now 7 yards and I'm thinking she will walk right over me! At 6 yards she turns and passes at 4 steps and I can see the whites of her eyes as her ears pin back :? Thankfully she continues past me, now I focus my attention behind her looking for the bull. I see a paddle coming, he's following her exact path! :shifty:

He's coming in fast and I'm hoping he doesn't see me. He gets to 7 yards and stops right where the cow had, I contemplated a frontal shot but held tight thinking he would continue on the same path as the cow. I could tell he didn't see me, he was looking behind me at the cow. He started walking and turned at 6 yards. I instinctively drew and released without thinking.

I watched the Magnus Stinger 150gr two blade punch through the backside of his shoulder just above the knuckle! In slow motion he ran, blood squirting from the entry wound! He ran into the swamp, stopped for a second then went down kicking and splashing

Thank you Lord!

I waited a few minutes for my nerves to settle then eased out there towards him. I was in shock, my Alaska Moose hunt was over on day two of a 10 day trip :dance:

It took us all afternoon Into evening to get him quartered up in the water. Not the best circumstances but it was what it was. Without a com along we had no other choice.

Fast forward a few days, I'm out with one of my friends trying to get his hunt on video. We found a bull but couldn't close the gap before he spotted us. We worked our way to the spot I had missed the bull the first day looking for my arrow with no luck. We sat on a log taking a break. About a half hour later we hear something.....

Hear comes a bear! He doesn't have a tag, I do but didn't bring my bow :roll:

I said give me your Longbow! The bear comes in to 10 yards, stands when it sees me. I try to draw to shoot it in the chest but it sees me, whirls and runs 5 yards and up the side of a tree. I shot and it jumped down and ran another 20 yards and went up another tree a few feet. I ran towards it to hopefully keep it treed which worked. It went about 25 feet up and we could see that my shot was good. It got wobbly and came down hard!
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[rastaman]

Dang Corey!  What an awesome hunt and two beautiful animals!  Thanks for posting it up and was hoping you had one of your videos to go with it! Congratulations sir!  Well done!

[GCook]

Corey you are awesome!!!  Congratulations again!!!  Couldn't have scripted it better.

[Cory Mattson]

Amazing hunt
Thanks for sharing
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[Wudstix]

That is awesome, thanks so much for taking us along.

[Kyle85]

Great job!  Did you get that moose with your 48# recurve?  Great accomplishment!

[Maclean]

Congrats Corey. Great hunt! Thanks for sharing the story and pics.

[mj seratt]

Amazing hunt!  Thanks for the story.

Murray

[varmint101]

So cool! Thanks for the story!

[supernaut]

Epic Corey! Awesome job all the way around!   


Great shooting! Great pictures! Great recap! Thanks!     


Hunting threads like this are my favorite part of TradGang.     

[two4hooking]

Yes, bucket list material there.  If anyone is ever looking for company on a hunt like, shoot me a PM!

[stevem]

Quite a hunt and recap.  Thanks for sharing, and congratulations on your success.

[Mike Yancey]

Excellent!

[KAZ]

Well done and congratulations on two wonderful animals.

Sweet adventure

[Herdbull]

That is a great hunt, and thanks for your enthusiastic recap. Mike

[Walt Francis]

Congratulations!
You Done Good....Really Good!

[Basinboy]

Great job!  Did you get that moose with your 48# recurve?  Great accomplishment!

I would have been happy to have got him with my Palmer but Alaska has a 50# minimum at your draw length. So I had Michael Arnette of TallTines build me a StickFlinger 50#@26" 62" amo for this hunt and it did very well.
Thanks everyone it was an awesome adventure! I hope to do it again in the near future 

[Basinboy]

Might I add that it sure is nice to have two strapping young men to help when your fortunate to get one down! 

[Friend]

Such an amazing experience and splendid success.

Thank you for sharing something reserved only for my dreams.

Congratulations!!!

[Friend]

Corey...would you please share your full arrow specs...thank you in advance...