SEP-A-1

“NORTH TO ALASKA-IV”: THE MOOSE IS LOOSE!

  1. Index to the Alaska Moose Hunt in the Yukon Delta with Borealis Outdoor Adventures: Craig Schaefer and Christian Elwell and I heading into Northwest Alaska
  2. Takeoff for the long trip to the northern land of the midnight sun from the Eastern Shore on Labor Day holiday via Dulles and Newark, Anchorage and Aniok.
  3. Entering the Great Land:  “Coming into the Country” Anchorage to Aniok,and points beyond by bush pilot into the Yukon Delta.
  4. Alaska: a Big Game Hunt in America’s highest population of Big Game in its Lowest Density—a feature of the unimaginably vast Wilderness I enter into in the Nushigak River area of tundra along the Chichitna River of the Yukon/Kwoskikwim River Deltas and the “Shotgun Hills” from Aniak by float plane and up the Nushigak by jet boat from Base Camp to remote Spike Camp #2 for the Opening Day of Moose Season and fishing in Salmon-field rivers spotting the rare glimpse of wildlife in glass-and-stalk fair chase in a pristine Alaskan Wilderness adventure experience!
  5. Opening Day of Alaska’s non-resident guided moose hunting:  a startling early appearance of a distant moose to be stalked as a big bull stumbles into me from behind on open tundra: an early score on a magnificent bull moose, and a perfect stalk on a “monster moose” called in and foiled by a shifting wind!  After the shots and photos, a long hard day follows with packing back to base camp—and relief that we did not “double score!”
  6. Rest and recovery days in and near camp, with a transient illness for all but me, and some uncertainty about the confidence in accuracy of our scoped high caliber rifles:  We recover with the help of “Moose Wellington” tenderloins, and resume the “spot and stalk” hunt, with a completely unexpected encounter with Alaska’s rarest trophy which I photograph—and then collect, while also observing a big interior grizzly bear at close range with camera in action and rifle at the ready
  7. “The Moose is Loose:”  An abrupt closed range encounter with the “world book class” monster moose, which charges into us after a short stalk in response to the rutting call—and the least expected result of an encounter with heavy rifles at 30 yards range in nearly impassable riverine habitat
  8. The four day search along a blood trail on foot through nearly impenetrable terrain, by jet boat and an extensive and expensive futile search by air for my “tagged moose”
  9. Return to Base Camp after being dropped off in riverside “Bear’s Lair,” passing otters, mink, eagles and a river-crossing, to arrive in time to experience phenomenal world-class sport fishing for silver salmon, grayling, my first Dolly Vardens and rainbow trout
  10. A big day for Base Camp hunters, as we climb tundra hills where Craig shoots and I kill a bull caribou, then butcher pack it all out, shoot spruce grouse, then head off for Northern pike fishing, as each of our other hunters with their guides score on caribou and a big bull moose
  11. A day for Craig and I to climb the tundra to an unexpected close encounter with the second of the rarest trophies of the Alaskan Wilderness: my close range 60 yard encounter with a rare lone white wolf, within a whiff of wind of being collected as the second of my unusual trophies of the “Moose Hunt” with such an unexpected conclusion—Joe Miller and client encounter the same monster moose, hit five times,(also), track it and lose it for two days searching!
  12. I pack away a treasure trove of frozen salmon fillets, as a long waiting day for our float plane pack out experiences a caribou herd crossing the river near camp before our float plane fly out return to a celebration dinner at Aniak Slough Bed and Breakfast and the surprise of seeing my snow sheep on the back cover advertisement for Marcus Zimmerman’s Taxidermy, just as I am calling him from Aniak for his creative artistry in a full mount of a big male Wolverine—the UM Mascot and the first such trophy to be collected in any of the guides’ collective experience
  13. The cold packing out of moose meat pallets and trophy hides, skulls and CITES and taxidermy clearances, before the long flights in returning diagonally across the USA from ANI through ANC through SEA through EWR to IAD and Derwood, with a fish box of frozen high price fillets
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