Moosing in Mining Country

[martentrapper]

Someone on here said all I do on here is stir the pot. So, rather than argue I'll just take their advice and post about my hunt.
You'd think(especially if you believe everything Strahan says) that a couple guys with airplanes would have the primo hunting spots all picked out before opening day, of moose season. Not so. Despite several flights over a 2 week period, it wasn't until aug. 31 that we had a spot we were satisfied with and could reach economically..........or easily for 2 fat old guys..........hahahaha.
The night before opening day found us at this comfy spot, with an average size bull grazing in the willows above us.

This is mining country. Everywhere you look are signs of mining. Here's another view of the camp. My pard is standing in an old cat trail, which is mostly a 4 wheeler trail now. You can see an old water pipeline that brought water down to this creek, from another creek.


We were glassing the average bull at 10:00 pm that evening, wondering if we should take him after midnite, might still be enough light to shoot even. My buddy had flown that morn, so we left the bull for opening morning. Figured he'd still be close by when we got up.
Lots of folks hunt around here, with most of them getting serious right off the bat. As luck would have it, just as it got light that morning, here comes another ATV. 2 young lovers on a 4 wheeler looking to get a moose. They continued up the trail, and I suspect, scared off our bull. Never saw him again! I went a different direction that morn, over the hill with the water pipe, to look for another bull my pard had spotted the previous morn. Small one, but we weren't gonna be picky.
Got to where the bull had been spotted, and he was there. Problem was, he was with 4 cows in the brush. Didn't see any way to get to him without scaring him off. I kept quiet and watched plus glassed other areas for moose. Saw several cows, but no bulls. Finally gave up around noon and headed back to camp. Took a rest, ate, and discussed our next move. My oldest kid was with us, but had to return to town that evening. Bout 2 pm we all 3 headed back over the hill to see if that bull was still there and what we could do about getting him.
only a few minutes on the wheelers and we were glassing over the willow patch he was last seen in. He was still there, and so was at least one cow. We left the wheelers above the moose and walked down. On the way, we passed 2 of the cows that had been with the bull that morn. Looked like only 1 cow was with the bull. As we watched from about 300 yds away, the last cow headed away from us towards a small river. We moved a little close, to a high spot. I told the others that bull would either come towards us to join the 2 cows we had passed, or he would follow the other cow to the river. I moved to our left to be in a position to shoot him if he moved to the river, leaving my pard and my boy to do the shooting if he came that way.
Ended up with the bull coming right to me. Thanks to less than ideal shooting on my part, 4 shots put him down. Here's me with the end result:


Here's my kid after some skinning, cutting, and sawing. He walked about 3/4 mile, 3 times, to bring all 3 ATVs down to the kill. Almost got attacked by an angry cow on the first hike up:

[martentrapper]

More

Got everything except the head, even the cape (200 buckeroos) on the wheelers, and headed back to camp. Here's the pard and my wheeler on the way back:


It had been a warm, sunny, windy day until the ride back. Clouds were bioling over the hills south of us, and rain looked imminent. We still had 3 days to hunt, but decided we better get the meat to town. One trip each with meat and some gear, to the trucks, then back to pack up camp and load up the trucks for town. Here's my truck ready to head home:

I did remember to close the gate before i drove off!!!!!!!!!!

That's the end of my hunt, or at least my shooting. But the pard still had a tag to fill.
Got the meat home and hung. Next day dawned clear and sunny, and warm. Headed back to repitch the camp and do some more hunting. Only 2nd day of the season, but we figured there were enough hunters out to get the moose moving. Had to be another bull around.
Hunted around camp that evening, no luck. Next day, headed up the cat trail. As the title of this thread says, this is mining country. In the old days, placer mining was the way to go. But you need water for that. If the crick your mining doesn't have enough, what'ya gonna do? Most of the mining here took place just after 1900. Labor was cheap, and there wasn't no EPA or DNR to bury you in paperwork. So if your crick didn't have enough water, you went to the next crick over, started up high, and dug a ditch over to your crick. Everywhere you look on the Seward Pen, you'll see ditches. It's amazing just how far the old timers would go to get water. Out hunt area had it's share of ditches. Some of these ditches provided good walking, and great views, of the country. Here's a pic of one in the valley we travelled the 3rd day:

Where the ditch crosses that crick, there was a pipe, a wooden pipe, to bridge the crick.
Here's one as we neared the top of a pass, heading to the other side to check for bulls:


The top of the pass gave us a view of alot of different country.

[Alaskacanoe]

Nice country

I like the open hills and the brushed up draws in that area you are in.
Did your pard get a moose?
Nice job on yours, and nice to see your son and his smile.

[martentrapper]

I'm not done yet Mr. LarryBwannabe

Once on the other side we went down another crick. Parked the wheelers and hiked up to a ditchline, which would take us around a hill at an elevation to give us good glassing. Here's one of the views we got from the ditchline:


Not the best pic, but the dark spots at the top of the hill are muskox. Lots of them out here.
No moose that day. Here's the view going back over the pass and down to the crick where our camp was:


Last day we headed the same way. Going to try a different direction once we got over the pass. Here's an early morning view from the top of the pass:


Didn't see anything to shoot that morning either. More muskox, but no bull moose. We kept expecting to see a bear or 2, but didn't. Here's me, the last day:


So that's it. The pard didn't fill his tag, but there's still an area open, so you never know. I'm moving on to muskox, as i have a tier 2 tag for one in an area NW of here. Might even be able to do a drive by hunt!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Snyd]

Great pics and story. Have you ever shot a Muskox? Ever eaten them? How are they? Those things look prehistoric. I like looking at them even through the fence here at the UAF Muskox farm.

[sh]

thanks for the story

nice photos too. i like the seward peninsula area. lots of history to come across even when not hunting.

[fullkurl]

Great hunt and pics!

thanks for sharing, Mike. Those above tree line hunts around Nome would appear to be easier than the swamp bustin?

[martentrapper]

Just got my first muskox tag this year, so haven't ever shot one yet. Have eaten them. If you get the right animal, at the right time of year, it's very good. Cows in winter seem to be quite fat and good eating. Big bulls need to go to Anchorage to a sausage shop!

[AkHunter45]

Insult??

Once on the other side we went down another crick. Parked the wheelers and hiked up to a ditchline, which would take us around a hill at an elevation to give us good glassing. Here's one of the views we got from the ditchline:


Not the best pic, but the dark spots at the top of the hill are muskox. Lots of them out here.
No moose that day. Here's the view going back over the pass and down to the crick where our camp was:


Last day we headed the same way. Going to try a different direction once we got over the pass. Here's an early morning view from the top of the pass:


Didn't see anything to shoot that morning either. More muskox, but no bull moose. We kept expecting to see a bear or 2, but didn't. Here's me, the last day:


So that's it. The pard didn't fill his tag, but there's still an area open, so you never know. I'm moving on to muskox, as i have a tier 2 tag for one in an area NW of here. Might even be able to do a drive by hunt!!!!!!!!!!!!

If thats your way of trying to insult me Mr Quinn you've failed miserably.....hahahahaha!

[AlleninAlaska]

Great post and pictures.

Now if you'll tell me who said this I'll send my cousins Vinny and Guido to talk to them.

Someone on here said all I do on here is stir the pot.

[martentrapper]

I sorta forgot who it was. I do stir the pot once in a while, not that often tho. I think whoever it was isn't able to count very well.

[jeff p]

Potsterer

We didnt notice ha ha ha ha ah

[Paul H]

Thanks for sharing, great writeup and pics!

If no one stirs the pot, the beans will burn ;~)

[martentrapper]

JeffP..........that's stirrer...........with an I! At least spell it right...........hahahaha.