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Old 10-20-2008 | 11:25 AM
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AK Jeff
Fork Horn
 
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 419
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From: Fairbanks, Alaska
Default RE: Self guided moose hunt??


A wall tent seems like serious overkill for the kind of hunt you want to do. Way too bulky and heavy. You'd be better off bringing a smaller, light weight tent and save that bulk and weight for more essential gear. A boat will definitely give you a lot more mobility than trying to hunt on foot directly from the road system. Even though Alaska is a huge state it has very very few roads and those that are there tend to get hammered. You'll be competing with a lot of residents that tend to have 4-wheelers, argos, boats, and a lot more first hand knowledge. The kind of hike in hunt you're describing will probably give you a reasonable chance of successof less than 5%. Add a jet boat to the mix and you might bumpthat up to 10%. If you're serious about the hunt you'd be much better off doing a float hunt and spending a few hundred bucks on a hunt planner like Larry Bartlett's Pristine Ventures. The easy part of Alaskan moose hunting ends once you buy the moose tag. I'm not trying to rain on your parade, just give you a reasonable expectation. Consider this...I moose hunted this year in an area of Alaska that has one of the highest moose densities in the state. The area is a spike/fork 50" 3-brow area for residents (4-brow for non-residents). I hunted with four other Alaskan residents and we had two big jet boats. The other guys had general tags, but I drew an any bull tag so I could shoot anything with antlers. We hunted an established camp that has four treestands in place. I only saw two moose and the one that I could have shot (about a 40" bull) gave methe slip before I could get into a shooting position. All in all we had 5 experienced, resident, rifle hunters that knew the area and we all went home empty handed. That was thanks largely to the unseasonably warm weather that hit for the last couple weeks of moose season, but it just goes to show it isn't a guarantee by any means. Don't forget that if you hike in very far and are lucky enough to bag one, you'll have to hike it out too. An Alaskan bull moose is about the size of a draft horse so don't underestimate the tremendous amount of work it is to get one pieced apart and out of the field.

Good luck to you,

Jeff
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