Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska My First Bullwinkle

So, I put in for the Berners Bay Moose tag (1% draw odds) like I have to the past 20+ years, but
this year I finally struck gold. Hunt supplement said there would be 5 any bull tags, but they
bumped it up to 7 due to the number of animals. I intended to hunt with my neighbor who has
a few jet boats and has hunted the area a few times, but ended up going with some guys who
had an airboat and a ton of history with this hunt area.


I knew I was going to take the Whelen that Redneck put together for me 3 years ago. Had to
decide between the 250 Partition @ 2,500 fps and the 200 TTSX @ 2,840 fps. Ended up going
with the 200 TTSX and was not let down. Made a set of shooting sticks with a couple of alder
sticks and practiced a bit with them. Got scope bit pretty bad a couple of days before the hunt
during a final practice session - It will leave a nice scar above the left eye.


Weather looked great for opening weekend. It's about a 30 minute run from the end of the road
up to the mouth of Berners. 3 rivers come together at the delta - the Berners, Lace and Antler.
Here's what it looks like at the delta:



This was my first time up there and my first time in an airboat. Really an amazing water craft -
and as I later found out, not bad in the meadows. The rivers were well below normal for
September, but those things really work well in skinny water. The boundry effect (extra lift) they
get in 1-2" of water blew me away. The 76 year old pilot was very skilled at "flying" that thing.
The 14 foot boat had a 540 c.i. Lycoming flat-6 engine and some trick carbon fiber blades. The
ride:



I ended up being a one day hunt. Didn't see any animals until late Saturday. Called some cows
to the edge of a large meadow and kept waiting for a bull. He finally showed up and looked like
he was going to come over our way (never got closer than 300 yds) buy ended up going back
into some smaller adjoing meadows with his cows. It was getting late and I said let's make a
move - something these guys don't normally do. Got over to the other side and had 3 cows in
sight. We sat still with the cows about 100 yds away, when I spotted the bull. He was 75-100
yds away. I set up the sticks and watched him walk dead away from me. He started quartering
away and was about to go behind a tree, so I let the Whelen rip. Seemed like a good shot. We
waited a few and then started looking. Found him down, but still alive so a coup de gras was
administered.



Kyle (the younger guy) was more excited than me and I was pretty stoked. We ended up gutting
him that nite and coming back the next day to make the retrieve. The "pack out" was brutal -
lol.

Here's the cap'n and me and boat at the butcher shop:



I'm going put a plug in for Redneck (Lee Christensen) for rebarreling a M70 SS classic .30-06 to
.35 Whelen. He helped match the Pac-Nor barrel to the McMillan edge perfectly. I'll let you guy
guess at the width.



And finally, some bullet porn. The long shanked bullet was 99.3% and the short shank was
96.5% of 200 grains.

Congratulations, very nice! I also killed my first moose with a Whelen and the 200 TTSX with almost identical bullet performance.

Very nice bull congrats. Unlike you two I killed my first with a 30-06 but have shot a few with the Whelen since!

Nice!

I'll guess 50"-55". 52"ish?

Jeff

That was my guess as well somewhere around 50-52"

49"

48.5

Congrats! Nice looking swamp donkey. I'm surprised you caught those bullets. I've only caught three and all of them involved a shot going diagonally through the neck of large bulls.

In any any-bull area, 50.5 inches... in a 50-inch or 4- brow-time unit, 49.5 inches...

Good going, you had better luck than I and hunted with a couple really good guys! Good thing you brought the young packer, what six steps! Kyle's a really good kid, looking forward to working with him next year.

Looks really wide, I guess 53"

Very nice. I"m saying 53.

We love our airboat. Sure hope to bring it up in a few years. Don't care for the noise but thats about the only negative I can see. Besides getting it stuck. When its stuck, its stuck. LOL

Outstanding! Congrats.

That's on my bucket list for sure. Congrats, and thanks for the great pics.

IB is dead nuts on w/ official ADF&G measurement. It was an any bull area. It had 3 brow tines on the right.



Kyle's a good one and one strong dude - he did most of the heavy lifting. We weighed the hind quarters @ 123# at Horst's old butcher shop. He retains priviledges to use the facility which really helped out with things.

Congrats, great photos and beautiful country.

That's what I was thinking, Murphy!

Get out the rack stretcher!

That rack falls into the "very nice" category by my definition, yet, failing to see the third tine at first glance, I though, "Gee, too close to call legal in many hunting areas."

I agree, mine from the last day of the season on any any-bull tag is quite similar, but "finer". All the points are long and thin so much less obvious. It turned out, very surprisingly, at 53 1/2 inches, but I would not have shot it for 50. Two crab claws for brows.

On my list as well. I am moose-less at this point.