A friend and I decided to take a trip to the Yukon River in
hopes of finding a moose about 2 weeks ago. We left early Friday morning with
our snow machines, around 6:30 am, in order to be in our hunting area by
daylight. Before we left we prayed that God would keep us safe and that we
would be blessed with a moose if it be God’s will. The trip itself is about 70 miles one way,
with about 40 of it being wide open, wind swept tundra, which can be
treacherous, add to that traveling in darkness. Fortunately for me, my friend works
as a game warden and makes this trip on a regular basis. We also decided that
we would only take one moose and split it between our families, especially
since we were doing this trip in a day. Many times people will set up camp and
spend the night on the Yukon, but we decided to try to do it in a day, only
planning on spending the night if necessary. It took about three hours to get
from Bethel to the tree line of the Yukon, where we could hunt, about 10:00. It didn't take long to find our first moose standing a ways away in a thicket of
trees, a big cow. We decided to track the moose by foot. After spending a short
period of time following its tracks we spotted it about 800 yards across a
meadow. We were eventually able to set up on it at about 300 yards, but never
able to get within a reasonable range to take a clean shot. After about an hour
of effort we decided to move on and try to find another moose. The rest of the
day was incredibly enjoyable, beautiful mountains, warm temperatures, and
wildlife. At one point we had a pair of foxes running in front of our snow
machines and playing for about 30 minutes, it was fun to watch. The day was
winding down, still with no moose, when my friend saw some movement in some
really thick willows. We pulled up and stood on the back of our snow machines
to see over the top of the willows and saw three big bulls. You could hear them
racking there antlers against the willows. Two of them were a little smaller (still
big) and one very large. What was
surprising was that they still had there antlers, normally they shed those way
earlier. They were moving towards a creek or slough that was on the other side
of the willows so we followed. When we noticed that all three were standing out
on the slough in the open, we got off our snow machines and worked our way to
the edge of the willows in order to get a shot. To our surprise, the big bull, which
made the others look small, doubled back towards us and came within 15 yards of
us, but the willows were too thick to shoot. After a couple seconds of trying
to find a lane to shoot through the willows, I decided to take one of the two
bulls standing across the slough, around 120 yards or so. It was so exciting to be so close to such big
and beautiful animals, especially 15 yards from one that had at least a 60 in
spread. The one we got was estimated to be around 1100 to 1200 pounds, and had a
spread of 54.5 inches on its antlers. Most importantly, it had plenty of meat
to provide for both our families for a long time. What a blessing! Goodbye beef and hello moose! The good
Lord provided for us, that is for sure. It took about 2 hours to skin, quarter and
get in the sled and it took about 4 hours to get home. Between the weight in
the sled and the snow storm that blew in, it took a little longer to navigate
home, but it just added to the adventure. I was in my own bed by midnight! It was a wonderful day and we were so thankful and blessed. Here are some
pictures for you to enjoy if you are interested.
Amazing! =)
ReplyDelete