**2019 Moose Hunt** DIY Float Trip

[Palmetto]

Hooked!

That rain would have done me in! Not sure I could have stuck it out. Much respect to you guys.

I would put this story together, with pictures, in a scrapbook for my kids to read when they get older.

[Patton]

This has been a great thread to enjoy.

What are some things you would do differently next time?
Any gear you wish you had or would rather not have brought?

[deerplanter]

You should consider publishing this story in a couple of magazines, I used to read stories like this in outdoor life. You may also be able to make a little side money helping others plan trips like this if you are so inclined, I know I would pay. Im the same age as your dad I just need a couple of young bucks to help me out.

[gglover]

Wow, awesome adventure. You are a great storyteller.

[GarGuy]

I had a nightmare last night. I dreamed he lost the moose in the rapids.

[Hardware]

Great Story so far and thanks for sharing!!

[TMC50]

ugh! I dont want it to be over!!!

[slicktricker]

Wow so close to another success story on this trip. Can't wait to read the details y'all went through to get to the pickup spot. Awesome story and thread.

[diamond10x]

**2019 Moose Hunt** DIY Float Trip

Day 16

We wake up at daylight knowing we have 40 miles to go and if it’s anything like the day before we have our work cut out for us and will be paddling til dark. Today is a clear sunny day but it’s in the upper 20’s is my guess. Thankfully not windy at all. There’s still ice on everything from the night before. We get dressed and pack our bags and step out to take the tent down and see there’s a fresh dusting of snow. Thankfully it doesn’t start til about 50ft above the elevation we’re at. Get the tipi down and haul our stuff to the rafts. Take a few minutes to knock off all the ice on the rafts and check the meat. Meat is good to go, not wet from any ice or water getting to it, and it’s nice and chilled. Hop in and push off and down we go. We know we have 5 miles of rapids left since it’s supposed to be only 10 miles long, or so we think.

We carefully and strategically make our way through the rapids, trying to pick the best line to take through each section. We make it the 5 miles and the river seems to flatten out from there. We cover a mile or two of soft swift water and come upon a turn and can hear rushing water. The river starts to close in now and is only about 20 yards wide. We turn the corner and it’s nothing but sheer cliffs on each side about 70-80 ft high. At this point we can now see a definite gradient and elevation change in the river. Dropping and picking up velocity with a section of haystackers that are 3-4ft with several places having 5ft peaks near large rocks in the river. With the river narrowing we start to paddle backwards to give us a good distance between the rafts in case things get western we don’t bum each other. My brother has half the moose and his pack in his raft and I’m with my dad in the other raft. We’re loaded down with the other half of the moose, our packs, and all the rest of the gear. My brother wants to go first so he goes ahead and we wait til he has about 60 yards on us. My dad is watching him while I’m busy trying to paddle backwards holding our position. My dad gives me the signal to head down. I’m following my brothers line he picked in case something is to happen, we’re all in this together in case something happens we will end up close to one another to help save our butts. Heading down I’m doing my best to keep the raft pointed down river with the current and waves trying to turn us. We’re both in the haystack section now. I can see my brother go up on a peak as we go down in a valley and he disappears. We come up, and I see him again. We come up on a peak, and he goes down in a valley and disappears again. This goes on for about 300 yards. We make it through this section and keep on trucking. We go through another section of rapids about 4 miles long. Now bringing up the rapid section to about 15 miles, not 10 like we had originally thought.

Finally out of the rapids and the river is moving but it’s all soft water. We’re making great timing, moving about 6-7mph on average. At this point we have no worries about making the extraction on time, unless the weather changes. We’re paddling along and I hand the oars to my dad to check my onx. I see we’re finally almost getting out of our unit, about that time we’re rounding a bend with a bar and my dad whispers ,”wolf! Wolf! Wolf!” I struggle to get my rifle out of the case and throw it up chambering a round. I find the wolf in my scope only to catch it’s rear end disappearing into the spruce up on the bank. If I would have waited 5 seconds before checking our location we could have maybe had a wolf down. We’re about 25 miles from the pick up and now going to be entering native owned land. This is where we are a little cautious because we’re not sure exactly how all this is going to go down when we run into natives unannounced and show up at their landing strip to be extracted, even though our pilot assured us it would be no issue. We can hear a power boat heading up the river towards us. Up to this point we haven’t seen another human since we got dropped off by our pilot. We haven’t even seen an old hunting or fishing cabin, not one bit of evidence of someone being in the area previously. As the boat approaches we are slowing to down to get out on a bar to eat lunch and stretch our legs. Before we land the boat passes by and the 2 guys are rubber necking and we wave. They go past and stop. And pull out they’re fishing poles. We pull over to the bar and get out. The 2 guys float down and pull up to us and introduce themselves. Billy and Don. A native and a white fellow. We get to talking and they’re congratulating us on the moose. They ask where we’re headed and we tell them the village for the air strip. That’s where they are from and they start telling us all about the river and how to navigate it the rest of the way. During the conversation, Billy says the village is a small Athabaskan community. Don then turns and says, I will never forget this line,” Athabaskan? You ain’t no Athabaskan, you’re a half a gas can!” We are about to depart and they tell us they will see us later in the evening at the village. They are looking for bears for the freezer. Wish them luck and head on.

We head down river and make it about 12 miles or so and there’s another power boat coming up river. It’s a man and his wife and a child. We would later find out it is one of their grandkids. They ask about Billy and Don and we tell them they are up river and they head on to go find them. We keep on paddling to make the village as early in the afternoon as we can as it’s still a good ways away. It’s now 6pm and we are rounding a bend and the village is there on our river left. There is a man down along the bank where they keep all their boats with his four wheeler. It’s the fellow that we had run into up river with his wife and grandkid. He helps us pull our rafts up on the bank and we talk for a few minutes, his name is Freddy. He asks if we are staying since we’re getting picked up the next day. We ask him if that is okay as we’re not trying to intrude and if we can just camp down by the air strip, as well as keep our meat up there. He gives us an answer of ,”yeah whatever you wanna do it doesn’t matter.” We’re all a little leery as not wanting to step on any toes and the conversation ends and he goes back to what he’s doing with his four wheeler and we start to unload the rafts. A few minutes goes by and he turns around and says ,” you all are probably going to want some help moving your stuff, aye?” We say no but thank you and he offers us his four wheeler and trailer to move all of our stuff without having to carry it a 1/4 mile. Comes over and hands us the keys. My dad asks him about the meat if it’s okay to keep it there by the strip. There is an old fishing shack with only about half it’s siding still on and starting to lean one way. He points and says,”you can hang it In there if you like.” We kind of laugh and say it probably won’t hold all this without falling. He laughs and says,”it’s not mine, go ahead and use it!” He then proceeds to offer us staying in his other house for the night for a warm dry place with a good stove. We take him up on the offer and he tells us how to get there. By this time his wife pulls up on her four wheeler and he says they are headed off to find a bear and that he’ll be back at dark and to just head on up to the house.

As we’re hanging the meat Billy and Don pull up in their boat, coming home for the night. They both offer us a place to stay at their houses but thankfully decline as Freddy has already offered us. These people are incredibly generous and absolute salt of the earth. Finish hanging the meat and gather our gear and take it up to the house, by now it’s right at dark. We move our bed rolls and packs into the house around the stove. Freddy come in with birch logs and fires up the stove for us. He shows us where he keeps his firewood in the barns behind the house and tells us we’re free to use all we want. Then offers us his extra beds in his regular home, as well as his phone, but we decline. As we’re already staying in his second house which is actually a pretty sweet 2 story log cabin with several bedrooms. The Hilton compared to what we’ve been staying in the last two and a half weeks. We get the stove roaring and warm up and get comfortable and gorge on some dehydrated meals.

Day 17

We wake up we’ll rested from a great night of sleep, the best we’ve had in a while. Freddy comes in about 8am while we’re packing up and cleaning and tell us his wife made breakfast to come over and eat with them. We walk into his home and right off the bat notice his view out of his living room. Absolutely amazing! We sit down at the table and eat with him and his wife and talk about the trip and swap hunting and fishing stories over caribou sausage and egg burritos. He tells us a little about the village that it used to be about 45 people and that everyone has moved away and now there are only 12 people that call it home, and that he has lived there his entire life. He’s probably in his early 60’s. As we are about to leave to move our stuff to the air strip we see hanging up in one of his windows a full size stars and bars confederate flag. I found this pretty entertaining being all the way in Alaska in a native mans home.

Freddy helps us get everything to the strip just in time as our planes are landing. He helps us load the planes with the pilots and we thank him and pay him for all his help and hospitality. We tell him we will be back in two years and he tells us we have a place to stay and looks forward to meeting us again.






All I can say is what an incredible experience. This kind of trip puts a lot of things in life into a whole different light and perspective. It was everything I had wanted out of this. To make memories with my dad and brother, get my dad a bull of several lifetimes, and so much more. God is good and this trip would have never gone the way it did without his blessing. I will forever be thankful for those incredible 17 days. The only thing that could have topped off the trip would be punching our other two moose tags and bear tag, but we will be back. You can’t have it all at once on your first trip. If there is anything I can say to anyone who dreams of going on a trip like this it would be to go for it. Its a daunting and a laborious task but it’s all worth it. It’s completely doable and affordable. Maybe not every year but at least once in everyone’s lifetime.

When we got back we finally score my dads bull. He taped out at 64-1/4” wide with a green net score of 214” B&C. Making the record books.

Thanks for following along I hope y’all enjoyed the read.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[saintsfan]

Thank you for sharing this amazing story! I know that I cant be the only one here that is now looking at float trips in Alaska.

[Rwc]

Appreciate you taking the time let us live through you and your Dad and brother.

Rwc

[El General]

Well done, dude. Fantastic write up of an even better trip.

[Smell the Glove]

Incredible

[ccbluewater]

Incredible. Thank you for sharing!

[wayne 20]

thank you sir