Thought I would add a little more on my Moose Hunt experience. After picking up Todd from the airport and doing our final provisioning, Mike, Todd, my son-in-law and I Towed the boat with everything in it to the launch site on the Salcha River (about 30-40 miles from Fairbanks. We Then went by jet boat (an enjoyable experience in itself) down the Salcha to the Tanana River to the muddy creek to the clear creek and then up it to Mike and Bernies cabin. This is about a 1 hour run at 15-25 mph so if it wasn't for the dozen cabins along clear creek it would be complete wilderness. This is a picture of Mikes jet boat in front of their cabin.
Here is a picture of their cabin. Not really "roughing it". They have running water, electricity, and a comfortable outhouse. About 1/4 mile away from the cabin is a large muskeg area with a treestand that normally provides a good vantage point for feeding moose although we didn't see any this year. Todd and I floated the creek two mornings. The first morning we got the moose you see in the previous post. Pretty exciting for both of us.
After Mike's son-in-law John got off work and to the cabin we loaded this tent and all of our gear on their 4-wheelers with large trailers and trecked 4-5 miles further back into the wilderness and set up camp in another area that promised to have some good hunting. We hunted about 3 days in this area- saw a lot of sign, heard a lot of bugling, heard bulls scraping their antlers. John saw one large moose but couldn't tell if it was a legal. (My permit was for any bull but they had to have a bull with a 50 inch spread or at least 3 brow tines on one side so you have to have a pretty good look at the animal before you pull the trigger). Mike's wife Bernie and John's wife Michelle stayed at the cabin while we went back to the tent camp and they needed to get out on Monday so Todd and I also came out, Helped butcher my moose and caught a flight back to Utah. Mike and John went back to the tent Tuesday morning so here is wishing them good luck.
This time of year in Utah is beautiful in the mountains as the "colors" start showing so we decided to go for a drive up Logan canyon to see them.
Another picture showing many different colors.
Thought I would add a little more on my Moose Hunt experience. After picking up Todd from the airport and doing our final provisioning, Mike, Todd, my son-in-law and I Towed the boat with everything in it to the launch site on the Salcha River (about 30-40 miles from Fairbanks. We Then went by jet boat (an enjoyable experience in itself) down the Salcha to the Tanana River to the muddy creek to the clear creek and then up it to Mike and Bernies cabin. This is about a 1 hour run at 15-25 mph so if it wasn't for the dozen cabins along clear creek it would be complete wilderness. This is a picture of Mikes jet boat in front of their cabin.
Success in Alaska. Flynn and Todd spotted this moose while floating down the river. Flynn took the first shot and then Todd made sure this big guy didn't get away. It went down close to the river so it was loaded in the boat for transport back to camp. They were happy but tired hunters that day. There are several members in their hunting party so they are now trying to help others fill their permits and enjoying every minute of it. Deb and I have been keeping busy. We attended the Utah state fair on the one and only rainy day, had a good time anyway. We have done our fair share of eating and shopping too!
We arrived back in Utah about a week ago. Getting caught up visiting family and friends. The weather has been beautiful, nice to see the sun again. On one of our trips around Ogden we saw these painted horse statues. They were part of the Pioneer celebration that is held every July. These are just a few that are all over the downtown area. Flynn will be flying out on Sunday for his moose hunt in Fairbanks. The last few days he has been buying, sorting and packing supplies for that. While he is gone I plan on having some girl time with Debbie and Dana. That usually means shopping and eating out.
Here's where 'Tug For Two' will spend the winter. Of course it had to rain almost the entire time we were putting her up. By the end of the season we had gone 570 miles. That's quite a few hours at about 6 miles/hour. The storage yard is about 5 miles south of Petersburg.
Our new transportation awaits us. We took an overnight ferry to Ketchikan where we had left our camper. We decided to get a cabin on the ferry so we could have a hot shower and a good nights sleep. Nancy said she didn't sleep well. Go figure. It's raining here in Ketchikan too!!!
Well we're back in Petersburg. As I said before it is a fishing village and this picture was taken from our slip in the harbor. Notice how low this purse seiner is setting in the water. They must have a lot of fish on board. On our trip down from Juneau our boat was supposed to have a lot of fish on it too but I felt so lousy I just didn't feel like fishing. We got here yesterday so I went to the clinic today and found I have bacterial pneumonia so I'm on Z-pac, an antibiotic, to see if I can shake it. We've got quite a bit of work to do on the boat to get it ready for storage here in town. Hope I feel up to it.
