Morning, day seven and look at the view we've got this morning after moving camp.
It is absolutely stunning.
We are right on top of a basin
and it is exactly a
year ago today I took my grizzly bear. Hopefully it'll bring us luck.
The plan is today we're going to get on top of on of these knolls just out here and sit in glass and
see what we can see and hopefully we'll be able to pick out a moose.
Which then leaves us four days to pack it out, we've being two of us it's
going to be a mission, but I'm sure we'll be able to do it. Any who, time to get
behind them binoculars and I'll catch you later.
good morning from Alaska and what a magnificent day it is this morning. A
beautiful, bright sunshine, really warm it's incredible that this time last
year we are rained in for four or five days straight and the with all the fog around
mountain we couldn't see anything, but this is a huge departure. Now, busy day
moving yesterday, my thighs are pretty sore from all the carrying and lifting
we're now at home up here on this plateau, but today it's gonna be busy.
We've got a lot of glassing to do on both sides of this valley. It's actually over behind
me that we were camping last year that we took our moose, Steve's grizzly bear and
two black bears, so we know this is pretty fertile country. It's also a big
country lots of work to do today so we just having breakfast now head down to
knoll, which is just over my left shoulder gives you a great panoramic
view of the valley as it opens out beyond you and hopefully we'll see a
moose. We've got five days left of the hunt, ideally today, tomorrow we need to get a
moose down to take us two or three days for two of us to pack it out depending not the location.
The closer we get to being picked up the
more nervous we'll get. But, you couldn't ask for better conditions you,
couldn't ask for better location, so fingers crossed that luck is in our favour today.
With the drama of yesterday's move now
behind us, we set about our next task, finding a giant moose bull.
It isn't long before we have action.
It's encouraging to see so many animals
so soon after arriving in camp. Here is a small family group comprising a young
bull, two cows and a calf.
But, not too far away is a much larger bull, which appears to be legal.
In order to be harvest legal in this hunting unit a bull must have
antlers with at least a spread of 50 inches or have three brow tines on one side.
This is where it's essential to have access to a quality spotting scope
that allows you to correctly identify these characteristics. Getting this wrong
has severe consequences.
Well, it's a beautiful day and a wise man once said you're never gonna see any
game sat in your tent. He was a liar, he was not right because
this morning Wildey's seen not one bull moose, but actually two groups one
on the far ridge over that's great thing about having the tent pointing out
towards that face and then a bigger one down over our left down shoulder here, he
looks like he's in great shape now he's disappeared into the oldest down there
this is quite warm, we've got choice of two bulls really.
We don't know how far away he is. You think a long way and I think not as long, but
it's definitely worth going to have a look. The great thing is about the
location we're in there is a knoll down there that we can sit on, gives us a good
panoramic view of the valley in front of us and hopefully let us look up
into the olders and some of the drawers that are up there. But, it's a great sign.
Ideally we could do getting one down today or tomorrow, gives us plenty time
to pack them out, as there is only to us on the job. But, yeah it's very encouraging.
This bull here, he was already clean wasn't he?
This guy was nearly finished. Now, there's another one just appeared at the bottom
of the ridge down here as well. There's moose everywhere. So, let's just have a
quick look at this one and then we'll have a drift down there and that one's
right near the airstrip. Come on, let's have a look at that.
Soon after we moved down the valley a cow and calf passed directly behind camp.
Looking inquisitively at their unexpected neighbours.
Cole couldn't have picked a better spot for us to hunt.
not only does our location provide a panoramic view of the valley, but the area appears to be crawling with moose.
Wildey finds a comfortable spot and relaxes into his task.
With a view like this the smart approach is to let the binoculars and spotting scope do the hard work.
Once we spot a legal bull we can plan our approach.
It's a team effort, we work together to discuss and agree on strategy.
It's a system that served as well in the past.
After a productive morning we have the luxury of being able to head back to
camp for lunch, taking the opportunity to glass the valley from a slightly
different angle on route.
Of course they're still chores to do and we head down to the creek to collect water.
I prefer to have a water source a little closer to camp, but it's the only
minor downside on what would otherwise appear to be the perfect location.
Having finished lunch I leave Wildey scanning Moose Ridge while I check out
the country behind camp. We saw a cow and a calf crossing earlier and I'm intrigued
to see where they went. You never know there may be a bull with easy reach.
But, with the rolling terrain offering so many places to hide,
I decide our best bet is to continue scanning the far ridge where we have the best visibility.
The moss and lichen covered knolls a surprisingly comfortable bed and we
relaxed into the task at hand.
Our patience is rewarded as another bull emerges into the late afternoon sun.
He's a little smaller than we'd like but, the signs are encouraging
With the shadows beginning to lengthen we decide to head back to camp and regroup in the morning
So, coming towards the end of day seven, it's been a
fantastic day, you know beautiful bright sunshine a little bit more wind in the
air, so a little bit cooler today. We haven't got anything on the ground, but
we've seen plenty of games. There's been moose everywhere, they're all the
way down this valley. First thing this morning, Steve could see all the way
from down the valley from his seat. Very early on you saw four moose, two
bulls, cow and a calf. That's right. Up there, they seemed to move down as well
when we moved position and came further down the valley we've seen moose down
here as well. So, just on this little patch here we've seen some big paddles
right at the top of the hill couple of decent sized bulls a little bit further
down, but they've been moving in and out of cover all day, so we know were there
we've just got to be a little bit patient and be there at the right place
at the right time. Yeah, we've got to source it out a little bit. Anyway, it's
like you pushed further up the valley and I've gone this way and then we've
both met up and gone back down here again. But, like say they are moving
they're in and out the olders, you see in one minute and then they've gone the
next. It's hard to make a game plan they're not really settled. All we can
say is that all the way along that saddle, wherever you can see olders
there's moose in there. There is. I think the plan now is go back grab some
dinner, get a coffee, sit down and glass a little bit more maybe get an early night,
try get it a little bit earlier in the morning. They didn't seem to like it around
9-10 o'clock. Pick out a bull that we want and get
into position. Ideally we need to drop something either tomorrow at the very
latest the morning after to give us enough time to get it packed out. But, the
weather is being very kind to us and it's set to be that way until we leave
the mountain. So for the moment we're still feeling pretty relaxed. Well, how can you not be
relaxed? It's great to just be up here really. I have to say this is some of
the best weather I've had any hunting trip anywhere in the world and this is
supposed to be Alaska the last frontier. So, it's not always going to be this way
but we're going to enjoy it while it's here.