I can no longer pull my bow back (Old age and injuries have taken their toll), so I opted for my old 30-06 with open sights.
This was a wonderful experience in all respects. The guides were fantastic.. Graham and Lee are two brothers in their later 60's who have guided for different outfits for many years. Graham has gone 100% for the past nine years with Cassiar Stone Outfitters. They are both tough as nails and do not know the meaning of the word quit. They are also the camp cooks and the meals were great.
This was a lake hunt. They have a couple of cabins on a remote hunt on a lake about 100 miles in from Atlin. I was in camp with a couple in their 70's from New York State...
The weather was a mix of sunshine and light rain. It got down to about 30 degrees a couple of nights, but there was very little wind..very calm for the most part.
I killed my bull on the 8th day of the hunt (the hunt was a 10 day hunt).. During those 8 days I saw 40 moose and 16 of those were bulls.
Both Graham and his brother Leigh are expert callers and they know moose inside out. The moose were not responding to the calls the first few days, but things started to pick up around day 5, which was September 23. Leigh called a nice bull to within 30 yards that one of the hunters from New York killed. The next day Graham called in a bull to within 50 yards (the other side of the river) and then the bull crossed the river to our side. It was a nice bull (about 45") but Graham said to pass on it so I did..
We left camp every morning as soon as it was light enough to see. We hunted the edge of the lake shore and then headed up the river... The guides have several places along the river and lake where they stop and call. We would tie the boat up and hike to places where there was a lot of moose sign and they would call. If there was no response, we'd go further up the river and stop and hike to another spot and call again. We did this all day long getting back to camp around supper time...
Day 8 saw us at the top of the river (about 12 miles up from the lake). I say the "top" as there is a large log jam and going further up is impossible. We called this area the "War Zone" as it was totally torn up by moose fighting, trees were thrashed, etc. We had seen two small bulls and a cow here on previous days, but tracks along the river showed their was at least two large bulls in the area.
Graham called when we first got there with no response, so we ate lunch and hung out there for a while.. An hour or so later we were sitting there when I heard a bull grunt behind us in the bush. He grunted again and then I could hear him thrashing the brush with his antlers.. Graham raked the brush with a couple of pieces of plywood he had fashioned into fake antlers for calling and the bull stepped out about 75 yards from us.. 3 quick shots put him down. Walking up to him was like walking up to a Clydesdale! He was an old bull on the downhill slide. Age was estimated at 10 years old or so. It appeared that he had lost a battle with another big bull as his reared was punctured as was his side... Then the work began. Skinning, quartering, and getting a huge bull into a boat for two old duffers isn't exactly a walk in the park!!! We were both wringing wet when we finally got the job done (from sweat not the rain!!). On the way back down the river we saw another big bull that I got some pictures of..
The last two days of the hunt were spent resting up and doing a little fishing....the lake is full of Northerns. We didn't do a lot of fishing as it was raining most of the time, but we caught more than enough for a nice fish fry.
The plane came in on the 29th and I got back into Atlin later that afternoon.. Spent the night there and started the drive back to Montana the next day.
The couple from New York State both took nice bulls also.. The outfitter took them back to Whitehorse to catch their flight back on the 30th.
As this is a bowhunting site, the question comes up as to whether this would be a good place to bowhunt. It would be tough due to the heavy cover and boggy areas, but all bowhunting is tough. The plus side is that there was little to no wind and the guides are expert callers. They've had a couple of bowhunters in over the years but most have used rifles. I could have killed one bull with my bow, but I would have needed to get closer to the one I killed with my rifle... The other plus (and probably most important "Plus") is that there are a lot of moose in this area.. I don't know of many places a hunter can see 40 moose with 16 of them being bulls in 8 days of hunting..
This hunt was everything I had hoped for and then some... I had a fantastic experience...
Best regards, Scott Alberda
Back home with the wife and granddaughter checking out the rack....
I hunted with CS Outfitters back in 2004 & killed a small bull with my bow up there. It it a beautiful area for sure!
What did you think of the color of the water on Atlin Lake?
Mark
Bear Track's Link
Congrats on a fine bull. Enjoy the meat.
That was a classic adventure. Glad it worked out so well for you.
