Life Long Dream - Alaska
Joe and his Alaskan moose.
Zendal goofing off.
Hoofing it in Alaska.
A dream come true
Hunter: Joe Rush
Cameraman: Zendal Carroll
My whole life I’ve dreamt of Alaska and its mystic and vast wilderness. Probably like most people that will read this, I’ve always wanted to see it, touch it, and smell it for myself. Pictures and video just can’t do justice like your own senses can. Once I started hunting, I became fascinated with the antler: it’s growth, and how each one is different, and of course the ULTIMATE antlers are THE MOOSE! With that passion came the dream of getting to actually HUNT a moose someday. Little did I know that in early 2009, Ralph and Vicki would set this dream into motion to becoming a reality.
It all started early this year when Ralph asked Zendal and I if we’d be interested in a self-guided moose hunt with Renfro’s Alaskan Adventures (RAA)! Wade (RAA) was going to be our taxi service to get out into moose country, but once we were there, Z and I had to be completely self-sufficient. I’d hunted moose in Ontario before (with no success), but I’d never been to Alaska. Z, on the other hand, had never hunted moose, but he HAD been to Alaska before. Between the two of us, we’d have it covered. So we thought!
It was some time in May when I asked Ralph if I could get a frame pack so I could load it up with weight and start training for this trip. Zendal got a pack too and we were off… adding everything from metal weightlifting plates to shelled corn and sand! It wasn’t long and our hodge-podge of sand, corn and metal put our packs up to 90 pound mark and we were hiking 3 to 4 times a week with this weight. We averaged about 3-4 miles a day and missed a few days here and there, but all in all, we figured we were in tip-top shape for a self-guided moose hunt in the wilderness of Alaska… or so we thought!
If you’re heading into this type of country, you need to be sure to have quality gear that will hold up to the demand of the harsh Alaskan weather. With that thought, Zendal and I began scanning our Cabela’s catalogs and listing out needed gear. With Ralph and Vicki’s wilderness experience, we were able to get a lot of help from them on what we really needed and what had worked in the past for them. September came, and so did all of our Cabela’s gear…and Zendal and I began to get pretty pumped about the adventure that was to come. We had our gear, we were in shape for the hunt, and we were ready to go… or so we thought!
The flight from Chicago to Anchorage was long, but with the layover in Seattle, Zendal and I were able to get out and stretch our legs and get a bite to eat. Z and I were both in awe of Alaska just by flying over it, so our adrenaline and excitement grew as we were switching from bigger commercial planes to Renfro’s smaller transporter planes like the Maule and Piper Cub. Z, not afraid to fly, but acting like it, had me laughing like crazy with his antics as he took off with Wade in the Piper Cub!
It was my turn to get flown out to the proposed camp / hunting area and you would be amazed at what you can get into with a Piper Cub and those big old tundra tires! Wade landed us on top of a ridge, on a VERY short runway, were we’d be setting up camp. This base camp would quickly become an excellent spot for glassing and learning the area. Once camp was set, we couldn’t wait to get out and glass the valley to see if we’d spot our first moose. We had moose droppings and hoof-prints around camp and it didn’t take long for Z and I to be smiling ear to ear! We spotted the first moose, a REALLY NICE bull! Now, keep in mind that Z and I are not seasoned veteran moose hunters, so seeing a spike would have got us going! Seriously though, this was a respectable moose and either of us would love the chance to take him. Z and I flipped a coin on who would be the first to hunt and Zendal won the toss. He will tell the story of his hunt for you to read, but I will say that his hunt was the most intense hunting experience I’ve EVER had. I couldn’t hear the moose grunting and raking because all I could hear was my own heartbeat!
Now let’s fast forward 4 days to when it was my turn to hunt… (It took 4 days to get Z’s moose out of the woods!) By now the temperatures had dropped and we'd had some rain. The fog had been so thick in the mornings we couldn’t hunt, but with the soreness in our muscles from hauling Z’s bull out, neither one of us complained about sleeping in for a day. The 8th afternoon of the hunt allowed us the chance to get back out and do some glassing. Since Z and I had trampled the Eastern Valley so much getting his moose out of the woods, we decided to focus our attention on the Western side. We hiked out to the Western look-out point and spent the evening glassing with no luck seeing any moose activity. That night during dinner we formulated a plan to move back to that same area in the morning and work the two valleys, one to the Northwest, and one to the Southwest with some cow calling sequences to see if we could pull a shooter bull out of one of the valleys.
It was September 25th, and the bulls should be in full swing of the rut so this seemed to be a great plan. We glassed for a few minutes to see if we could spot a bull in the area and then we started to do a series of cow calls. We’d sat there for awhile glassing and did another series of cow calls. It was around 10:15 a.m. when I started to pray, asking The Lord for an opportunity to see some bulls, just to keep our spirits high, when I spotted this wide-paddled bull crossing the valley to the Southwest! Instantly I hit my knees to say my thanks and then Z and I grouped up and watched this bull working his way towards us. I asked Z to keep an eye on him while I raked some brush and did some grunt calls to see if he’d turn and look. INSTANTLY he looked our way. Z and I both figure the cow call got him coming our way, but we wanted to be sure it wasn’t a coincidence that he was in the valley. As self-guided hunters, you’re bound to make some mistakes that veterans don’t, but it seemed that we couldn’t make a mistake on this… everything was going WAY too predictably… maybe all our research, preparations, and practice did pay off! Z and I moved down the ridge to get behind some cover and make sure we had a good open clearing for when he came up the saddle of the ridge. We raked a few times to keep his attention and it wasn’t too long when Z spotted him up on the saddle coming out of some thick brush. This bull was thrashing the alders and making sure we KNEW he was coming our way! I sat down and laid the TC Icon across the Bog Pods and prepared for any shot opportunities that would come my way. Once again, this bull looked like he was on a string… he walked right where we wanted him! The first shot opportunity was at 243 yards, but Z and I knew this guy was coming. He came to under 50 yards and turned broadside, walking RIGHT IN FRONT OF US! My heart was pounding so fast and so hard that I couldn’t seem to hear my own thoughts! It was actually pretty cool though how well we held our composure, knowing this would probably be our only opportunity. The bull cleared a small spruce tree in front of us, and my Nikon Reticle was settled square on his chest at less than 40 yards. Once Z gave me the green light, I squeezed the trigger of the .300 win mag TC rifle and that big old bull bucked up, took a few steps, and fell right there! Fifty yards away from where we were sitting, quickly passing away from a lethal hit, sat the icon of my hunting dreams. An Alaskan Bull Moose--instantly I was flooded with emotions. It took a minute, but once it settled in, I actually began to cry. Not for remorse from my kill, but more from the release of the excitement, energy, anticipation and the realization I actually was able to fulfill a life long dream…thanks to Ralph and Vicki.
This bull, the one I will always remember as mine and Zendal’s, because of the opportunities you share when you are hunting with a camera, was absolutely stunning to me. Everyone asks “How big was he?”… “What does he score?”… and I have to tell them I have know idea! I just know he’s a mature bull that Z and I were able to hunt and kill… self-guided and no matter what, he’s our trophy! I don’t know if I’ll ever get back to Alaska, but I DO know that it will forever be in my soul.
Thanks to Wade and all of his crew for the awesome service and, without question, thanks to Ralph and Vicki for their support and faith in Z and I as well as the opportunity to go on such an AWESOME adventure! I also owe a special thanks to Zendal for his dedication to hunting with me after we had his bull. It takes so much work that you truly can’t understand until you do it. Most people would have either quit or not worked half as hard once their bull was down, but Zendal and I were in it together as a team and he proved that by sticking by me through my hunt after the work it took to get his bull out. I respect and appreciate that.
I guess, in the long run… we WERE ready!