2011 Moose Hunt

Mid September Mark and my Dad headed over to Gustavus, Alaska on a moose hunt. They took our boat out of Juneau and had quite the adventure!
They took our boat up a creek in some shallow water - this included Mark and my Dad walking the boat through shallow water to their camping spot. View on the way there~
The boat was loaded - it included items such as the white raft, two sleds, propane grill, ice chests and so much more!
Getting shallower but still a long ways out.
Can you see shore?? Almost there. . .
BBQ grill and shovel. . .
The camping spot! The boat all set on damp land with buoy's balancing it!
I'm thinking they didn't use the skiff at this point :)
Beautiful weather and scenery~
I wish I had my Dad and Mark write the notes for this blog, I'm sure it would be so much better and far more entertaining than what I have to write.

After they got settled in their campsite they crashed for the night in order to get an early start on the first day of the hunt the next morning. They were up early and headed out to find their spots. Marks was up a tree and Dad's was a little ways away in the trees/bushes. At 7:15 am while my Dad enjoyed a muffin, a bull moose walked literally right in front of my Dad. He aimed and shot!

In this hunt area only a bull moose can be shot and it had to be 50 inches across on the antlers. The moose my Dad shot was 46 inches. Yep, 4 inches shy of the limit. So they butchered up the moose and packed out (using those sleds I mentioned earlier) hundreds of pounds of moose meat. At the beach they met up with Trooper Andy and handed over everything, including those antlers. All the meat was donated to the local food banks in Gustavus and Hoonah.

They both will tell you they had an excellent time and everything could not have gone better - even though they didn't get to keep the meat or antlers.

My suggestion to you - talk with my Dad or Mark about this trip. It is truly a great story!

Here is Mark with the heart and gut pile in the back :) Breakfast back on the boat~
The sleds and branch to pull the sleds :)


Then they had to wait. . . for the water to come back in and raise the boat up. I think this was a little nerve racking. Can you imagine? What if the water didn't come back in high enough (low tides)?

Saw a little more wildlife~
And the water started to come in. . .

Hooray the boat is floating! Yep this means they had to walk the boat back out to the deeper water :)
All set to head home with beautiful weather!
This was quite the adventure for both Mark and my Dad - here's to next year and bringing home a moose!!