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.

Get them while you are young... they are not fun for old men!

Blind hogs; acorns.
I don't like having my name in the same sentence with 'dead nuts' though.

That's a very nice looking rack.

I thought this bull looked pretty similar to the moose around here (lower Skeena Valley) with the antlers almost as dark as they are here. It turns out the moose where you got yours are very similar to the ones here compared to the bigger moose farther north and east.

This is a fascinating article you might want to read.

http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlifenews.view_article&articles_id=602

I didn't know that south east Alaska had moose right up to tide water but I guess it shouldn't be surprising since they do that here.

thank you Gerry for the link.

Phil

I'm jealous! I've put in for the Berner's moose hunt several times, and it's inspiring to see consistently beautiful animals come out of there.
Congratulations, and good call on the air-boat. Did you launch from Echo Cove?

Congrats on your first moose MuskegMan. The next best thing after seeing the bull on the ground is seeing that air boat less than 20 paces from the kill site!!! Awesome.

Regards,

Congratulations on a great bull.

Pretty sure the moose in this area were transplanted from up north. Dark horns are dependent on what the rub on. Theyy have lighten up just sitting outside in the rain.

Yes sir! Pretty flat in the saltwater coming and going. Whitecaps would have been a bitch.

White caps are scary in an airboat. I"ve been in 42 mph winds with mine, not fun at all and white knuckle until on the ramp.

All in all its rough as heck with caps, but not really all that dangerous UNLESS the engine cuts out or fails... then you will almost certainly find yourself on the bottom in a few seconds... BTDT.

What I worry most is not running or on plane when someone comes by very close and you have to handle the wake, that can get scary when it comes over the sides/back. Hope its not enough to sink, and hope your bilges are working fine. and fast.

Nice moose, congrats!

My neighbor just got back from that same hunt. He was successful as well.

Use the ears, Grasshopper. Especially if you can get a view with an ear at horizontal. Another ear-length of antler beyond the tip of the attached ear will make the critter legal, IME. Should come in a bit better than 51, giving one just a teeny bit of margin.

The problem with a moose like that is that all those beautiful points makes him look '50' legal even though he's right at the edge.

.....kind of an optical (or psychological/emotional) illusion!

Rather make a mistake to the low side...

Never had a standing-facing-me look and frankly did not need it (any bull tag), so just guessed and let it fly...

So often we see what we want to see...

Congrats on a beautiful animal, looks like you had the perfect rifle/bullet combo...and thanks for the pics/writeup.

That'll work.. Nice bull.

Not that it matters, but I take the mature IE 5 year old bull idea, and zoom in with the scope from center to outside fat part on the front head width at eyes. Then take full width of fat to fat part of reticle and apply from side of head to edge of antler. If both sides exceed that setting, it should be good... I have a hard time trusting ears as they lie on whitetails depending on a LOT of things...

Congratulations! beautiful moose! On your "scope eye", I see the problem, your scope is set way too far back. The ocular lens should be right over the tang on the receiver.

Looks like I need to put in for that tag, and hope for the 1%. How do guys get in there who don't have a neighbor in Juneau with an airboat? Charter a flight?

Not necessarily. Depends on the individual and how the rifle fits him. And the eye relief on the scope.

One of these days I'm gonna draw a moose tag down here. Either that or bite the bullet and do an AK hunt.

Congrats muskeg, nice animal, great pics.

Aren't you like older than dirt? You should probably get on that.

You won't like it. If I kill one, every photo will have me in it.

Very nice moose, and with a Whelen, too! Congrats!

I've always used that rule of thumb, particularly with the bigger bores and of course with scopes with decent eye relief. I read it somewhere a long time ago and since using that technique, I've never had an issue, even with a 416 Rigby.

I'm glad it works for you but you do realize that people come in different sizes and there's more than one way to skin that cat?

PS, I've always used the rule of thumb that you shoulder the rifle with your eyes closed, get a good cheek weld in a neutral position (not creeping forward on the stock) then slide the scope back just until you get the full field of view.

That usually gets me farther back than the tang. As a matter of fact, after I finish this tasty breakfast I'm going to mount a new scope on my "elk rifle" doing just that. To each his own, and good luck this season.

oh sure I do and that is how I mount my scopes (mostly Leupolds with longer eye relief), but my comment was made as a rule of thumb that worked for me. I'm 5'10" so about average height and I'm sure most rifles are made that way LOP-wise, but just from observing where that scope sits on the rifle, it sure looks like it's way too far back to me.

Anyway congrats to the OP and thanks for posting.

Nice....Congrats!!

Dandy bull! Sounds like a great trip!

Nice Moose! Looks like you had a good hunt.
Congratulations.