Moose hunt addendum

[coyote101]

A little additional information that I didn't include in the first post.

The people - Pete is a retired Army Blackhawk pilot. We met in Germany in 1984 and have remained friends ever since. He's been in Alaska since 1996 and now works for the Army as a civilian.


Rob and Wes are both retired Army Rangers.  They have been friends since their Army days. Rob works as a civilian for the Army in the same building as Pete. Wes is an independent building contractor.

Rob's wife Leslie, and ten year old daughter Haley, joined us for the last four days of hunting, and the ride out.


Phil is a painting contractor who sometimes works with Wes.

All of these guys ride snow machines together. 

The place - In the Mentaska mountains about 40 miles south and a little west of Tok, Alaska. Stunningly beautiful. The elevation varies from around 2200' MSL where we park, to over 6500' on one of the surrounding peaks. Our camp is around 2800' and the river basin is 2600-2700'.







I climbed to over 3800' one day. The Rangers are at about 3300' on the hilltop under the red arrow. I'm about three quarters of a mile away and five hundred feet above them. A tough climb through the alders.




The weather - The weather was great. Lows ranged from mid twenties the first and last couple of nights to upper thirties in between.  Highs were from the low fifties to near seventy.

We had slight drizzle a couple of times and a light rain most of one night, but most of the time the skies were clear to partly cloudy.

The camp - About ten miles from the parking area and about a quarter mile off the main trail. Much of the equipment stays at the site year round, stored in barrels. Two portable garage frames and a picnic table stay up on site.



The roof and sidewalls of the shelters, along with the cook stoves, pots, pans, cooking utensils, etc. are all packed and sealed in the barrels.


The tripod and cooking grate stay with the barrels.

The food - Rob and Wes make a big deal of eating, cooking big breakfasts and evening meals every day. A lot of fried potatoes and onions, along with steak, pork chops, pork steaks, etc. grilled over the fire.


Pete is not at all into cooking. His wife prepared most of our meals before we left town, then vacuum sealed and froze them. We just boiled the bags to reheat the food and dumped it on our plates. Fast and easy,  and we ate well. Scrambled eggs and sausage for breakfast, homemade lasagna, grilled burgers, and pork roast for dinner.


We also snacked on peanuts, fruit cups, granola/breakfast bars, jerky, and fresh apples.

The tent - Cabela's Alaskan Guide four season tent. It's a six man tent with plenty of room for the two of us, and nearly bombproof if all of the tie outs are used.


For the two nights we spent at the spike camp, we used a smaller Alps Mountaineering tent. Not big enough to stand up in, but plenty of room for what we were doing.

The machines - Pete and Rob both have Polaris Ranger 6X6's.



These things are absolute brutes. Six wheel independent suspension, 800 cc's and will go ALMOST anywhere. I say almost because even these got stuck in the deep mud holes a couple of times and had to be winched out.   

Wes has a Polaris Razor 4X4.


He has taken it some places the other guys wouldn't try, but he had some mechanical problems this year. He has winches mounted front and back which came in very handy this year. He broke the left rear axle of the machine and the front wheel drive started operating intermittently. Rob had spare axles at home and had his wife bring them from Anchorage when she and his daughter came on Saturday.

We made an A-frame from some trees and lifted the machine with the rear winch. 


Wes had the axle out when Rob got there with the replacement and had the new one installed in about thirty minutes.

My ride was Pete's 1996 Kawasaki 4X4.


He bought it new when he came to Alaska, and it's still going strong. I spent many hours on it two years ago and was prepared to do so again this year. I rode it in on Sunday, spent all day on it on Monday, and then didn't really use it again until we rode out on the following Thursday. It is a work horse, but didn't have the most aggressive tires, and got high centered several times in some of the mud holes along the trail. Pete and I developed a system where I rode in front of him and pulled the trailer. If I got stuck he would push the trailer from behind and  drive me through the mud hole or off the obstacle. It saved us from having to use the winch several times on the way in and out.

Phil had a 2005 Polaris Sportsman 6X6 with tracks on the rear.


It started acting up the first day he was there and sat in camp for the first week.  We left the little Kawasaki in camp so he and Wes wouldn't be limited to foot travel. Wes drove the Kawasaki out on Saturday when Rob went out to pick up his family. He then drove the five hours back to Anchorage to meet up with an old friend who had been a Polaris mechanic for over twenty years. He came back on Sunday with a box full of parts and a list of likely problems to address. He had a flywheel and puller, a stator, a kill switch assembly and most importantly, a speedometer assembly, which fixed the problems.

Here are a couple other vehicles we saw:

A Rokon two wheel drive motor cycle. I didn't know such a thing existed:


A tracked eight wheel ARGO. We visited this young couple for a few minutes one morning several miles from our camp.


The calling - Pete did a lot of calling.


The moose were not responding the first few days, but things changed on Sunday. Pete called a bull from way off that came in grunting and raking the brush as he came.

The bull is barely visible under the red arrow



Monday and Tuesday he called three more, including the one I shot. The call is a fiberglass megaphone kind of thing. The broken canoe paddle is used to simulate the sound of antlers raking trees and brush.


 
The rifle- Because of the crazy airline rules and fees for checked baggage, I was potentially looking at a $200 oversize bag fee (each way) to get my rifle there. I have killed a moose with the rifle I was going to take and it just wasn't that important to me to use my own gun. Pete has several rifles suitable for moose and the one I used was his son's Remington 700.

It's a .338 Win Mag., was loaded with 250 grain Remington Core lokt ammo, and has taken several moose.


The first shot on the moose was about 80 yards. The bull had been facing me head on and began turning to his left to leave when I fired. It was a quartering shot that entered the right shoulder and exited behind the ribs on the left side. The second shot was about 65 yards broadside, also entered the right shoulder  and was recovered under the skin of the left shoulder. It was nicely mushroomed and weighed 177.6 grains.


Pat

[Frogman]

Pat,

Great follow up post.  Adds to my understanding of your trip!  Sure looks like fun!!  Thanks for all the great pictures and the story!!

Jim

[HaMeR]

Another great writeup Pat!!

My Brother works across the street at the Polaris shop. He said most everything runs thru the speedometer including the 4 wheel drive.

[Carolina Coyote]

Pat, It sure looks like you had a great time and the scenery is beautiful. cc

[Hawks Feather]

I certainly do appreciate you taking the time to post the pictures and the details about them.  It sure is beautiful country and I am glad that you enjoyed your hunt.

Jerry

[msmith]

Excellent post Pat. Love reading them and the pictures!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Dave]

Wow - great write up and pics, Pat.  I'm always amazed with all the work and effort that goes into any of these alaskan hunts. 

[FinsnFur]

Now THAT is an expedition. Very interesting Pat, I enjoyed that and thanks for taking the time.
I love the ingenuity. It's everywhere in those pics!

[KySongDog]

Great post, Pat!   I used to own a Rokon which looked just like the one in your pic, camoflage seat and all.    That thing was a two wheeled drive tractor!  It would literally go anywhere.  I got in and out of places a 4 wheeler couldn't possibly go.  Rokon has been around for over 40 years I think. 

I really enjoyed those pics.  Sure makes me want to go back to Alaska again.   

[nastygunz]

In 1963 the Company was purchased by one of its dealers, Orla Larsen, and moved to Wilmington, VT. Orla renamed the company Rokon and he was responsible along with Jim Fowler for Rokon's appearances on Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom TV series. Television appearances such as the Land of the Condor's episode helped to popularize the machines. Marlin Perkin's colorful descriptions of Jim Fowler's riding exploits in Kenya and Peru secured the vehicle's go anywhere reputation. Even today Jim Fowler continues to use Rokons for wild animal research.

In the mid 1960s the company was purchased and moved again to Keene, New Hampshire USA. Many new products were introduced in the ensuing years. Production of Rokons increased and its product became more widely known. The Company has remained in New Hampshire, U.S.A. ever since

[Todd Rahm]

Beautiful country out there.  There's a few of those Rokons running around up, and for the right price I would gladly pick one up. Looks like that pic was taken at Glen Allen.

[coyote101]

Looks like that pic was taken at Glen Allen.

It was Todd.

Pat