@Colt_Seavers @Basher22
Me, my buddy and his son picked up his jet boat in a rural village and headed up a local river we know well. We reach marginal hunting grounds that evening and see 3 grizz and two cow moose. No bulls.
Morning two: Spot 3 smallish bulls, a couple cows, and 2 black bears. All too far away. head up river. Spot large bull in a slough. Buddy’s son puts 4 .308 rounds into its boiler room at 371 yards. Pretty impressive. Bull is a nice 60+ inches, with 4x5 fronts. Laid up as pretty as you please on a gravel bar just feet from the river. No pack out required!
Spend rest of day cleaning and hanging bull.
Day 3: head further up river. Set up new camp. Spot black bear on hill behind camp. Too far and hauling ass. Start calling in evening. Spot nice bull about a mile away. I make the announcement that I would gladly shoot that bull should the opportunity arise. Bull disappears into far away drainage. 3 hours later bull reappears from drainage 800 yards away across river. We call it to 275 right across river from camp. I put 4 .338 225gr Barnes Vortex into it. Bull drops 70ish yards from the river. Spend evening cleaning bull. 2 full days in, 2 60+ bulls down.
Day 4: finish cleaning, packing, and hanging my bull. Hunt that evening and see several bulls but no shooters.
Day 5: repeat of day 4. Several bulls. No shooters close. Film bulls fighting on ridge top about a mile away.
Day 6: wake up to sound of bull thrashing and grunting nearby. Race to high ground but never spot that bull. Call small bull into camp. Get fearful of river level so pack camp and bull into boat and head back down stream. Stick boat on gravel bar in an inch of water. Learn how to use gas powered winch. (Fore shadowing of things to come). Spend 2 hours getting unstuck. Get back to meat pole where first bull is located. Hang second bull, ditch all unneeded gear and fuel. Head back upstream. Hit 2 massive rocks. Obvious damage to hull but seems sea worthy. Get back to where I shot my bull. I stay to set up camp, buddy goes out to glass/call. Buddy shoots moose 3 at dusk. Another 60+ in her with lots of points. Spent all night cleaning bull 3 in the rain. Have visions of using all remains time to schedule a halibut fishing trip (lolz).
Day 7: sleep in. Eat big breakfast. Pack moose 3 to camp and load boat. Head back down stream. Stick boat again. Use winch again. Make it to previous down-stream camp just before dark. Set up camp.
Day 8: head to meat pole to load 1/2 of one previous moose in addition to moose 3 already in boat. Upon reaching meat pole I feel nature call and step a few feet away to take a piss. While pissing I hear what I’m fairly sure is a bear not far into the woods in front of me. I zip up and yell for the guys to bring firearms when they come up to load. I try to convince myself that what I heard was not a bear. We load the meat and capes and head to town. Drop off meat and head back to camp.
Day 9: wake up and pack up camp. Intend to load final bull and heads and head to village. Then head to the Yukon to scout other tributaries. This won’t happen. Get to meat pole. I see a very fresh grizzly track right on our path to the meat pole. We come in loud, guns out. Find that bear has eaten ribs and damaged a front quarter. Buddy hears bear in woods nearby. Continue to load all gear and moose. Boat fully loaded. Only about half a dozen low water threats left down stream so we’re loaded pretty heavy. No choice anyway. So we push off to head home. But the boat won’t get on plane. Reload weight distribution. Boat won’t plane. Make multiple attempts, no luck. Observe that jet seems to be spraying hard to port side. Plunge into freezing river water to inspect jet/reverse shroud. Determine maybe reverse shroud is dragging. Adjust cables. No luck. Recheck jet and realize the jet nozzle housing is missing 2 of 4 bolts. 1 of which is bent. Cut trees to make ramp. Use winch to drag transom of boat up the ramp onto the bank. Pull bottom bolt which released some sort of cast jet protector plate. Decide we don’t need that part. Rob multiple washers from various other parts of the boat to use as spaces to replace width of protector plate. Tighten bolts catty corner from each other. Pray bent bolt doesn’t break. Prayers answered. Use trees to leverage boat back into water. Success, plane out and hit first set of skinny water. Realize we have no right rudder. Narrowly miss running boat into cliff. Reload all weight onto starboard side of boat. Helps a little. Limp into village on a wing and a prayer just before dark. Too late to make our cargo plane. Realize we can’t camp on the Yukon, so we find a guy to rent us a room for the night. Get flipped off by 6 year old native girl on street. Wanting to go home at this point.
Day 10: load boat on trailer, pack gear, pack heads, take all stuff to cargo hangar. Go wait for Ravn flight back to Anchorage. At time we’re supposed to depart we get word that plane decided ceiling was too low to land and circled but headed back to Anchorage. ****.
Called charter company out of Bethel. Charter scrambles a 207 and a Navajo and picks up all stranded hunters. Catch Alaska Air from Bethel to Anchorage.
Day 11: Screw around in Anchorage and catch most of the A&M/Fla game at a local bar. Fly home.
Will post pics tomorrow.
Me, my buddy and his son picked up his jet boat in a rural village and headed up a local river we know well. We reach marginal hunting grounds that evening and see 3 grizz and two cow moose. No bulls.
Morning two: Spot 3 smallish bulls, a couple cows, and 2 black bears. All too far away. head up river. Spot large bull in a slough. Buddy’s son puts 4 .308 rounds into its boiler room at 371 yards. Pretty impressive. Bull is a nice 60+ inches, with 4x5 fronts. Laid up as pretty as you please on a gravel bar just feet from the river. No pack out required!
Spend rest of day cleaning and hanging bull.
Day 3: head further up river. Set up new camp. Spot black bear on hill behind camp. Too far and hauling ass. Start calling in evening. Spot nice bull about a mile away. I make the announcement that I would gladly shoot that bull should the opportunity arise. Bull disappears into far away drainage. 3 hours later bull reappears from drainage 800 yards away across river. We call it to 275 right across river from camp. I put 4 .338 225gr Barnes Vortex into it. Bull drops 70ish yards from the river. Spend evening cleaning bull. 2 full days in, 2 60+ bulls down.
Day 4: finish cleaning, packing, and hanging my bull. Hunt that evening and see several bulls but no shooters.
Day 5: repeat of day 4. Several bulls. No shooters close. Film bulls fighting on ridge top about a mile away.
Day 6: wake up to sound of bull thrashing and grunting nearby. Race to high ground but never spot that bull. Call small bull into camp. Get fearful of river level so pack camp and bull into boat and head back down stream. Stick boat on gravel bar in an inch of water. Learn how to use gas powered winch. (Fore shadowing of things to come). Spend 2 hours getting unstuck. Get back to meat pole where first bull is located. Hang second bull, ditch all unneeded gear and fuel. Head back upstream. Hit 2 massive rocks. Obvious damage to hull but seems sea worthy. Get back to where I shot my bull. I stay to set up camp, buddy goes out to glass/call. Buddy shoots moose 3 at dusk. Another 60+ in her with lots of points. Spent all night cleaning bull 3 in the rain. Have visions of using all remains time to schedule a halibut fishing trip (lolz).
Day 7: sleep in. Eat big breakfast. Pack moose 3 to camp and load boat. Head back down stream. Stick boat again. Use winch again. Make it to previous down-stream camp just before dark. Set up camp.
Day 8: head to meat pole to load 1/2 of one previous moose in addition to moose 3 already in boat. Upon reaching meat pole I feel nature call and step a few feet away to take a piss. While pissing I hear what I’m fairly sure is a bear not far into the woods in front of me. I zip up and yell for the guys to bring firearms when they come up to load. I try to convince myself that what I heard was not a bear. We load the meat and capes and head to town. Drop off meat and head back to camp.
Day 9: wake up and pack up camp. Intend to load final bull and heads and head to village. Then head to the Yukon to scout other tributaries. This won’t happen. Get to meat pole. I see a very fresh grizzly track right on our path to the meat pole. We come in loud, guns out. Find that bear has eaten ribs and damaged a front quarter. Buddy hears bear in woods nearby. Continue to load all gear and moose. Boat fully loaded. Only about half a dozen low water threats left down stream so we’re loaded pretty heavy. No choice anyway. So we push off to head home. But the boat won’t get on plane. Reload weight distribution. Boat won’t plane. Make multiple attempts, no luck. Observe that jet seems to be spraying hard to port side. Plunge into freezing river water to inspect jet/reverse shroud. Determine maybe reverse shroud is dragging. Adjust cables. No luck. Recheck jet and realize the jet nozzle housing is missing 2 of 4 bolts. 1 of which is bent. Cut trees to make ramp. Use winch to drag transom of boat up the ramp onto the bank. Pull bottom bolt which released some sort of cast jet protector plate. Decide we don’t need that part. Rob multiple washers from various other parts of the boat to use as spaces to replace width of protector plate. Tighten bolts catty corner from each other. Pray bent bolt doesn’t break. Prayers answered. Use trees to leverage boat back into water. Success, plane out and hit first set of skinny water. Realize we have no right rudder. Narrowly miss running boat into cliff. Reload all weight onto starboard side of boat. Helps a little. Limp into village on a wing and a prayer just before dark. Too late to make our cargo plane. Realize we can’t camp on the Yukon, so we find a guy to rent us a room for the night. Get flipped off by 6 year old native girl on street. Wanting to go home at this point.
Day 10: load boat on trailer, pack gear, pack heads, take all stuff to cargo hangar. Go wait for Ravn flight back to Anchorage. At time we’re supposed to depart we get word that plane decided ceiling was too low to land and circled but headed back to Anchorage. ****.
Called charter company out of Bethel. Charter scrambles a 207 and a Navajo and picks up all stranded hunters. Catch Alaska Air from Bethel to Anchorage.
Day 11: Screw around in Anchorage and catch most of the A&M/Fla game at a local bar. Fly home.
Will post pics tomorrow.
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