DM540 in Unit 16

[YotaTRD4x4]

Ok so I ended up drawing 2 tags and want to focus on this DM540 since I need Air or Water service to get there. I would like to know from some of you who have done this hunt if you don't mind sharing. I have been searching Air taxi and can't find many that are under $1000 per person plus extra fees to bring back a moose. If I can keep costs down I would like too. I have access to a decent size boat and have a friend who takes it into the ocean regularly. We have run it in whittier and other areas near there and also out of seward and into killer bay etc. I am a little nervous about tooling across the inlet to get to redoubt bay or another area over in 16 to search for a bull moose. A good friend is coming along as we decided we would both enter the drawings and if one of us got a tag we would both go and spilt the costs and meat. Anyhow I got 2 tags 1 moose and 1 caribou and he got none. Either way we're good for 2 animals as we will split it up. Also thought maybe running the yentna or Big Su? Is that an alright area where I could do enough walking to possibly see a bull? I don't want to go to a super high traffic area but im also not afraid to go further away than anyone else is willing to on foot. I'm strong and healthy so packing meat while exhaustive is doable for me and we have a boat. Anyone that can give me a little advice on this??? My other tag is a DC482 but I can get a truck and wheeler into that unit and have killed a few Caribou so I know decently enough how to hunt them and where to go in that area. Any help would be great.

 

[YotaTRD4x4]

Anyone?? 230 views and no replies? I'm not looking to take anyone's honey hole just want to have a successful hunt. I'm fine with a smaller bull as this will be my first moose. Do any of my plans sound good or am I going about it all wrong? At this point we are gonna cross the inlet to better our chances of not seeing lots of people like we would on the Su and Yentna.

 

[salmon hunter]

I also got lucky enough to draw this tag. In the research that i have done I have found there is some private native land to be aware of on the west side of the cook inlet. You can find a plat map on the blm website. When I have access to a computer and not just my phone I will find and post the link.

 

[bullbuster]

Unless you have experience in boating upper Cook Inlet, I would think long and hard about crossing that body of water. Lots of ways to die a wet and cold death out there. It is nothing like lower Cook. My .02 cents. }:>

 

[YotaTRD4x4]

Thanks for the info guys. We are looking to cross down near Kenai and not in the upper part of the inlet. Not sure the exact plans yet but probably leave from the mouth of the Kenai and head across from there as I did read about so scary stuff in the upper part of the inlet. I appreciate the info and also thanks in advance for the Map of the native lands.

 

[salmon hunter]

Yota here is a link that I found to the blm plat map website http://sdms.ak.blm.gov/isdms/imf.jsp?site=sdms. I would look into this a little deeper than just these maps as I am not a person that would be "in the know", just a website i stumbled upon in my own research. I know that if you contact the native corporation in some areas for a fee they will let you cross over their land. I'm not sure if they will let you over there but would be worth a call if there is native land where you plan to hunt.

 

[Seinerman]

I have a cabin on the west side of the inlet and occasionally leave from the Kenai river to get there. Your experience in PWS will not translate well into what to expect crossing the Inlet. Long mud flats, sandbars, the middle rip, logs and extreme currents versus gusts out of Passage canal. Unless you are experienced, I would spend the money on a beaver and fly into a lake. Better to have a little less coin in your pocket than a survival experience.

 

[bullbuster]

, the middle rip, logs and extreme currents.....

That rip has turned good men to jelly. You have good advice here, consider it.

 

[YotaTRD4x4]

Ok thanks for all the info again guys. I wanna stay safe for sure and don't like taking risks!! Thats the mani reason I'm here is I want to hunt over there but don't want to worry about dying on the way. Would the Su and Yentna be a better way to travel?? I have access to some smaller craft for the rivers but don't my want to be in a huge crown of folks either.. I have never been up or down either but have heard most areas are too marshy to even be able to hike around and search for a moose? I have no issues flying if to the other side on a lake etc either just trying to figure out my best plan of attack ahead of time. Hey thanks for the land info again!

 

[YotaTRD4x4]

Ok so I have decided to pay a charter to fly across to 16b for my moose tag. It will be just 2 of us and I am in need of some advice on a good starting point. I have a charter already but need a good place to go. I'm gonna be in a 206 on floats so any good size water hole should be a good area to land. The charter guys won't tell me obviously where to go but the few lakes I named they said were overrun with cabins and not what they would recommend for a hunting locale. I'm not asking someone to give me their spot just wanting to know if anyone knows a few good smaller lakes that don't have a ton of cabins so my hunting partner and I have a better chance of being more remote? Any help would be great. I am gonna be the only one with a tag but he will carry black bear tags and possibly a moose harvest tag and we will also take a brown if we see a good size one.

 

[323]

Ok so I have decided to pay a charter to fly across to 16b for my moose tag. It will be just 2 of us and I am in need of some advice on a good starting point. I have a charter already but need a good place to go. I'm gonna be in a 206 on floats so any good size water hole should be a good area to land. The charter guys won't tell me obviously where to go but the few lakes I named they said were overrun with cabins and not what they would recommend for a hunting locale. I'm not asking someone to give me their spot just wanting to know if anyone knows a few good smaller lakes that don't have a ton of cabins so my hunting partner and I have a better chance of being more remote? Any help would be great. I am gonna be the only one with a tag but he will carry black bear tags and possibly a moose harvest tag and we will also take a brown if we see a good size one.

I would hit up the Kidd I know he has posted about hunting for moose over in 16B. Also you will see plenty of Bears as well.

 

[YotaTRD4x4]

323,
thanks for the heads up. I will see if I can contact him. If anyone has any suggestions they don't want to post you can always PM me too. Again any help would be greatly appreciated and I'm always willing to hand over a few steaks for your effort.

 

[323]

Only experience I have over their is hunting the McCarthur (sp) River for Bears. Only moose we saw this was spring time back in 2011 were two calf moose hell couldn't of been week old those little guys came flying off the bank into the river and swimming for dear life. They got to the other side off they went have no idea where the momma moose was at. We suspect that a bear was picking their teeth with momma bones. Poor little guys probably didn't last much longer the bears at the time over their were pretty bad.

 

[YotaTRD4x4]

I have heard the bears were bad over there. I hope they are are still plenty around but also want to have few enough to get a chance for a moose. I would obviously like to kill a trophy bull but I'm a meat Hunter and a spike fork would be just fine eating. Hopefully someone will have some more info for me. I plan to tote my 375 since it is bear country and like I said Hope to smoke a brown as well if possible.

 

[bmunsell]

Wondering how your hunt plans are coming. We hunted the DM540 Susitna and Yentna Rivers last year and ended up with a bull below the mouth of Alexander Creek. Tough hunting anyway you look at it. We just got lucky and caught a bull out on a sandbar. My son-in-law had the tag last year and I have a tag this year but we are actually going to Chicken for most of our hunting this year. We like that part of the state and it's any bull.

 

[swampdonkey]

The wife and I also drew this permit this year. We're taking my boat down from the Deshka landing and just go for it. I used to hunt down there (below the Yentna) many years ago, 1995-2000. Every year the moose got less and the predators got worse.. The bears were really getting bad back then, before all of these bear programs started. We'd call moose and sometimes wolves would come in.
Those predators are obviously still there, but from what I've been hearing, not "as bad" as it was back then.. The moose population is rebounding, not booming..
A friend of mine hunts (harvest ticket) down there every year with an airboat, hunts for 2 weeks, and does ok, but he really has to work for them 50"+ bulls. Plenty of "sub legal" bulls... Most have 2 brow tines, even when over 50"...
Those situations with bmunsell are the exception, not the rule... Luckily he had the same permit..