Well with two days to go, I was outta the game. My knee wasn't just twisted and I had a hard time getting around. My new duties were behind the spotting scope and providing semifore directions to Jason and John. We had one more chance on the hill across from camp. Jason and John went after a real nice bull as I watched. After over an hour of hiking they moved into position about 150 yds from his hidehole.
As John started to call the bull went nuts. He tore up the place and did mock battle with a willow tree. Finally he turned and headed at the guys. As he closed the distance his attitude changed and he got a lot less brave. I think he had his butt kicked a couple days ago and wasn't in the mood for it again. John showed him the fake antlers and instead of charging in to chase off the little guy, he turned and went and hid in the brush. The guys never saw him even though he had closed to about 75 yds.
They decided to head back and took an easier though longer route around the rim. I headed for camp and got a fire started and some coffee on.
We spent most of the afternoon packing gear and hauling our stuff up to the strip for an early morning pick up on the 17th. A restless night with wind and rain broke calm and cool.
This was it, if the guys were going to be able to land now was the time. Unfortunately in an hour, the winds had come up and were blowing the wrong way. They made four or five passes to try to get in but ended up flying off into the building clouds towards Chicken.
It is a loanly feeling when your plane flys away. We constructed a quick leanto to hold off the wind and waited. An hour later the sky openned up and we decided to pitch the small tent.
We spent all day in the tent as the storm whipped the rain with 30 mph winds. We got a brief calm just before dark and took advantage to make some chow.
The morning of the 18th was perfectly calm and clear. We called for a pick up and were told they were on the way. We quickly broke our small camp and had just finished when the two planes crested the horizon. They made one pass and came right in.
We loaded Jason and me into the planes and made a hasty take off. The fog was climbing the ridge behind us and I didn't realize it but it flowed over just as Jason got off the ground.
They took us directly to Tok, where they were grounded for the next four hours. John was in thick fog on the ridge and put the tent back up in case he had to spend the night. Jason and I got a much needed shower and waited for the skys to clear. Finally about 1 pm John called and said his ridge had cleared and to come get him out. The pilots headed out again and almost turned around seeing the area until the last turn when they saw "bent pipe" ridge glowing in the sun. They took advantage of the break and got John and all our gear out in the two planes. They looked like the truck from the beverly hillbillys when the landed.
A quick shower for John and a stop at Fast Eddies for chow and we headed down the road to Anchorage.
No moose in the bag but a great hunt with high adventure. Total we saw 10 different bull moose with 8 of them over 50". The ridge was hard to hunt because the bulls didn't come to our side and were always at least a mile by gps from camp.
Seeing the griz was cool and the ptarmigan owe us a hit or two the next time we cross paths.
Jason on the left and me
John and me
Sorry it took so long to tell the story. LOL
Mike
Topic: Moose Hunt 2005. . .A wingnut /yellargnome production (Read 7893 times)
