All I can say is it’s been an interesting month. I drew a late season moose tag, so I didn’t hunt real hard during the general season thinking I’d get mine after everyone else had gone home and stopped beating the brush.
So I headed out every Saturday starting the weekend after my birthday. First trip was promising although there were still a lot of guys out hunting. At mile 67 of the Steese is a hugh gravel pit divided into two sections, looks like the old pit and a newer one with a big ditch dividing the two up. As I’m driving by I see this moose, hum, maybe, stop get out of the truck, yup it’s legal, so I get my rifle and steady stick and slowly walk down for a cleaner shoot, just as I’m getting my sights on the moose this (I can not repeat the words I used here) Fish and Game vehicle comes tearing down the other side of the ditch between the two gravel pits driving 35 miles an hour and kicking up gravel, what he/she was looking for I have no idea, buy my moose took off running and that opportunity is gone.
I’m thinking he/she probable thought I was poaching and just needed to show my draw tag, but the little bugger (again, I cannot write the verbiage I used describing the persons heritage and birth rights) just drove out of the pit and down the road, didn’t even stop and talk to me even though they drove right by me. Makes me wonder just what they were doing besides ruining a guy’s hunt.
The next few weeks are disappointing and all I get to see are lots of tracks and two moose that weren’t legal for the tag I drew. So Oh well, we just keep on a trucking and trying. This past weekend was my last week to hunt, due to other commitments and what not. So Jake and I decide to head to his cabin in the White Mountains and spend a couple days to see what we could do to fill my tag and our freezers. On the way up Saturday, just as were heading down the Chatanika side of Cleary Summit here’s this big old Moose standing on the side of the road, of course it’s not in my hunt unit, but it did get our hopes up for a promising weekend.
We get to the parking spot and off load all our gear and the sleds (yup, first sled ride of the season) and head on up to his cabin. So what do I do, I put on my helmet and my rifle sling over my back. Usually I’d just wear a warm hat, but I figured were just running up to the cabin to get the fire going and we’ll start hunting right after that. Dang nab it, as luck would have it half up to his place here’s another legal moose just standing on the side of the trail and this time were in the hunting zone, so I grab my rifle and pull it up, and pull it up, and pull it up, and pull it up, you get the idea, darn thing, my sling was stick in the back of my helmet.
By time I get my helmet off and my rifle in hand the moose is down in the trees and gone, well sort of, I can see a small brown spot and something wiggle, hum ears, maybe, take a step and nope, brown spot is butt and wiggle is tail and moose has now left the house. I look over at Jake wondering why he wasn’t getting his rifle up and trying to help me get that critter, he’s just sitting on his sled like it’s a day in the park, “Hey Jake, what’s up, why didn’t you help me shoot that moose” “Hun, what moose” he never even saw it and thought I was adjusting helmet.. Oh well.
All we saw the rest of the weekend were fresh tracks but nothing we could get a shoot at. So my 2012 fall/winter moose hunting is done, but heck, Caribou season opens on Dec 1st, so I still have time to try and get meat for the freezer. I sure hope were not stuck eating beef all winter.
We did do some riding on the snowmachines, up to the cabin of course and also up U.S. Creek Rd to Nome Creek, but the snow was pretty low and I was surprised I still had some skags left on my skis when we got back.
So now I just want another couple feet of snow so I can make it down to the cabin near Hurricane and try and finish that dog gone roof.
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