Bowsite.com

Some things to think about. The packing doesn't even start until you have got the bull dressed. That is a feat with 2 or 3 people. With a 100+ lb pack how are you going to get it on your shoulders and stand up? We were not allowed to take the meat off the quarters so the biggest bull quarters were around 120lbs for the hinds and 100 for the fronts. Cape was 80ish?

It can be done solo, but you better be strong in the back, body and head.

You can do it. Take a rope and pulley to help butcher. Take trekking poles as well. Rear quarters are heavy 120 plus lbs. but I carried 4 of them in 2 days. You will need 6-7 trips. Tundra is tough to walk in but not impossible. You may need to use a rope to stand up as well.

If you are patient you should not be more than a mile from your airstrip.

Wish I could go again but it is not in the cards for a few years.

I've packed out a couple of mature bull elk out solo but not a moose. Two of us packed my bull moose out this fall. I'll take the elk any day! I wouldn't want to imagine doing the moose solo, but I probably could have. Might have taken me 3 days!

Just butchering it is a job. Like Rick M said, getting stood up could be a challenge in itself. Does the unit you are hunting require you to leave the bones in or can you debone the quarters?

One other suggestion... Don't shoot him in the water;>)

Good luck!

How much do you weigh these days?

One thing that is applicable: Killing them where they are standing in the mud can be a big pain... trying get their legs to break the suction is a chore!

An AL bull moose would be similar to having 3 cow elk down in the same spot.

I did the gutless method on a bull this fall and man those rear legs weigh a lot. It was a chore to lift them up and carry them 20 feet to where we could get the ATV to.

My biggest concern would be spoilage cause its just going to take a long time to get it done. It can be done as others have said but it will be very hard and it will take awhile.

now that said, mine died in a great spot. I wasn't prepared if he was in a bad spot such as a creek or anything like that but I was hunting a long ways from anything like that.

if I was doing it again I might at least bring a small block and tackle to at least aid in hanging the quarters above a bears head.

michael

GUIDED Moose - most definitely. My herniated discs just flared up looking at Ziek's pic!

The first AK moose I ever straddled I was looking for the wheels to take off first....my buddy said you have to peel the lattice work back first.

AK Moose is to an elk like a caribou is to a coues.....almost :)

A friend of a friend was killed by a grizz last year while in the Yukon working a moose he just shot.the grizz attacked too quickly for the guide to respond.....

Solo? I'd rather grizz hunt solo than work a moose solo in grizz country...

If alone, a rope like Rick mentioned is a must, also trekking poles will pay off big. I would suggest you stay within 1/2 mile of airstrip and hunt in either direction. I took my elk solo a couple years back, as long as your are mentally prepared and take your time you'll be fine. It's a bigger job, and will require more trips than an elk, but there shouldn't be any reason to rush it.

One other thing, if you can take a partner that won't realize that he's packing the hind quarters, well I'm just saying......

Good luck,

DJ

I have killed, butchered, and packed an entire Alaskan bull single-handedly. It was a true endurance test. The task was intimidating. It was never impossible.

I used forked sticks I sawed on site to help prop up legs for skinning. I think trekking poles will break/bend. Maybe not. Sticks are free. Trekking poles are not.

Go for it.

These pictures came from a hunt I got to go along on this past September. Great hunt with great guys. Solid team.

I am that sucker born every minute:) Gladly do it again!!!

Also, remember to pace yourself with your load hauling and remember to both eat and drink. Forgetting to do that will severely limit how much and how far you can haul the meat and not kill yourself.

To keep grizz/brown bear away me and my friends always leave a small transistor radio playing at the kill site as well as a small lantern. In 28 years of hunting here in grizz countries we have never had a grizz/brownie get our meat.

Also, make lots of noise as you approach the meat after hiking out a load. I usually kind of yell hey bear, stay away, you don't want my meat, or sometimes start singing quite loud. The one time I did have a grizz/brownie near I yelled, sang while I worked on the dead moose, and when approaching the meat I clapped hands, hit my shooting/hiking sticks on trees, and just made noise. That bear stayed at about 150 yards the whole time. I watched and it finally went to the gut pile about 2 hours after I had taken the radio and lantern away.

Hauling the moose out is tough, but if you are in any decent shape at all, it is doable with only a little discomfort!!!!!! Don't be too worried about doing it solo.........although having a friend or 2 along makes it much more enjoyable and beats you up less!!

Jesus!

If you kill one of those bastages in the water I'll be watching from shore!!!!!!!!

Wait... on 2nd thought I guess that shoe could be on the other foot. One for all and all for one! :-)

Good luck City. What are your hunt dates? No September elk this year?

Maybe you need a partner? Hint Hint !

Willie im hunting Bou late Aug but while im up there i might as well try and add a moose hunt !

Good luck Lou! Strong back, weak mind, will travel. Hint Hint!

Given our surroundings I'd say there is better than a 50% chance of a moose dropping in the water. Gives me nightmares. Oh well... we only live once. I'm sure we'll live to tell about it. Beats getting dragged downstream underneath a loaded raft!

Note to self: Bring ibuprofen

DJ

For a bull elk it takes me five trips of boned out meat plus the antlers and cape. Loads were in the 80 pound range for meat. The AK moose take about 9 trips, but meat loads were heavier. Some GMU you can bone out the moose while others you must take out on quarters. When leaving the bone in the first mistake I made was to cut the lower legs off with my bone saw at the joint like I would do a whitetail deer. Well, this left me with no leverage to push up the hind legs for skinning and or rolling the moose over. So I suggest leaving legs intact until ready to bag. It takes me about 4 hours to cut up the meat and bagged for travel. Make sure you have enough battery life in case you are processing at night. I move the meat away from the kill site to a location I can observe safely as I approach multiple times. Yes I will admit that luck plays a big role in the answering this question. What if bears find your kill, will the animal fall in the water, or die at the bottom of the hill and your landing strip is at the top of a ridge, will you have a treacherous river crossing to deal with moving each load. Time and distance may not be on your side. Yes luck goes without saying. I once shot a bull 3 miles from a pick-up landing strip. It took 2 and a half days to pack out the 9 loads. Sounds like bad luck, but the good luck was I found an old trap line to help my travels through the high dwarf birch.... and my over all distance was down hill. I could walk back up to the meat pile in a little over an hour but it took over twice that to haul back. The point of most of our discussion falls on the topic of getting the meat, but far much more of your time could be spent on the solo hunting itself. Again, many answers to a simple question. Some folks go on a solo hunt for 3 or 4 days, or maybe a week. .... but the vastness of Alaska and its uncertainty may require the hunter to be in the field for a couple or several weeks. Being alone that long has its own challenges. For me, the solo hunt takes on an almost spiritual event sometime during the middle of the second week. Like many others, I tell myself I'm not doing this again. Ha! .. and then find myself going it alone year after year after year. But you have to at the least be in a good mindset and know that your solo hunt is not an escape from any troubles of life. It's quite the contrary. It can be a rejuvination where new life's resolutions can be contemplated. The solo hunt is not for everyone. Is it romantic to dream about? Yes! Will the solo hunt test your "metal?" YES! Even a lucky one will be a challenge. Only you can know if you are up for it. If you are successful in making a kill, you will find a way to get the meat out. Mike

I agree with everything herdbull said with the exception of the trip count. I carry a quarter a trip (4), ribs (1), neck meat (1), straps and tenders (1), and rack (1), for a total of 8 trips maximum. I never get the cape, but would carry it on trip 8 with the rack if I did. I am also a big fan of building a fire at the kill and cooking and eating my fill with each return to the carcass. In the picture I shared earlier in this thread you can see the smoke around the carcass. That was for insect control during butchering. Works great.

lol Just kidding. I have a Barney's Freighter that I haven't had a chance to use yet. Pretty solid pack.

DJ

Saying or thinking that skinning, butchering, and packing a moose won't be all that bad and actually doing it are two very different ball games. It took two of us about 3 hours to skin, quarter, and pack my moose about 75 yards to the boat.. It was a cool day, but we were both soaked from the sweat by the time we had it loaded up.. Of course, neither of us are young!!! I'd do it all again in a heart beat!!!

An Alaska moose hunt is the big leagues in EVERY way. It's far and away my favorite hunt so far, and I've got 22 of the 29. I'd probably have them all if I could quit chasing moose!

For the money, a DIY moose hunt is an unreal value.

There is a rumor that the elk on etolin island are as big as moose. I know that to be false, since I killed both animals about two weeks apart and packed the elk out in 5 trips. The moose takes 8. Although the elk there are not "officially" Roosevelt's, they're Roosevelt's. Bigger in body than any of the bulls I've killed in New Mexico.

I've never killed an elk that died in the water. :)

Fortunately I made a bad enough shot that mine got out of the river before it died and DJ made a great shot which kept his from getting to the river. In my case it is better to be lucky than good.

It is always good to have help with a Moose, I've done a few elk on my own and there is really no comparison.

I wish I could take a pic like that Rick... all meat comes out on the bone where we are hunting. Ugh!

NY Bowman... those trees aren't that far away to anchor to. No come-along?

You guys are giving me nightmares. lol

Bowsite... a place full of friends who don't even know each other. I'm looking forward to meeting my moose hunting partner one of these days. haha

Everything but the rib meat and scraps came out on the bone anyway. When a quarter weighs 130lbs an extra 10lbs of bone won't make much of a difference to your back:) With digital camera evidence these days I would think ak. would bea able to change the rules in the "bone in" units.

You will get it done!! Louis will as well.

I know it sounds sarcastic but 100 pounds of moose weighs as much ans 100 pounds of elk and as much as 100# of feathers.

Many Alaskans talk up a dead moose, and yes they are twice as big (mature bulls). But assuming no muskeg, an elk shot twice away is usually a little tougher (because of elevation - lower oxygen and elevation gain/loss).

A 1600# moose shot on flat terrain (no marsh etc.) at 1 mile is the same amount of work as an 800# elk shot at 1/2 mile (after butchering).

For moose rig a simple lever system and take out small chunks.

Just like cnelk said elk are lighter but further.

You will be fine, be in shape, common sense and do not rush.

City, you responded to how do you get up with a 150 lbs load, simple just stand up. Try it. As any experienced backpacker will tell you, getting the load first couple feet up with a 75 lbs plus pack can be a bitch. I always try to load and lift with my pack on a rock or stump, anything to get me in a decent hacksquat position. A partner pulling helps a lot. Solo on the tundra - I don't know, knee pads?

A 150 pound hindquarter is not unrealistic at all.

To get up under the heavy load I usually rollover on my belly and get up on my hands and knees like a turtle with a really heavy shell. Lean forward placing the weight on your hands and extend your legs fully… You should be able to stand up. As mentioned above… The 1st foot from the ground is definitely the most difficult.

I'm just a little guy so I plan on loading down Mixedbag. By the way Mixed... what's your height and weight? Run any marathons lately?

On my last Alaska drop hunt, I met a guy that used a method I would never have imaginedI

the guy was a native Alaskan and killed a moose every year, for like, 30 years. He packs in a Dewalt cordless sawzall and a couple charged batteries. When the moose is down, he guts the bull, then slices the skin at the marks where you would as if quartering a steer. He then uses the sawzall to quarter the moose, cutting the spine in half lengthwise through each quarter and leaving the skin on. He then cut slots through skin and meat for "handles" and depending on distance, him and his partner would each grab a handle or rig straps like sled dogs and start hauling to the boat or pick up spot. The meat stayed clean as could be and all was out in 5 loads, the last being the head. I helped him drag one and was amazed how easily we dragged a 300 lb. quarter with the hair on. I have done it both ways, and can say that it is far easier to drag 300 lbs. with a partner than to carry 120+ solo. One of those plastic sleds would make it even easier.

The hide on quarters just fit through the door of a Maule or 180. No way in a cub.....

Things change a bit if you're mounting the bull and saving the cape, but you could still drag the hinds...

Breaking down a moose alone is quite a job. If you've done gutless on a few elk, you could do a moose too. I would guess that it would take me 4-6 hours to completely break down a moose.

When we hunted, we left ALL the meat on the bone. Our area required most of the meat to be left on the bone. But we left it all on to minimize the number of cuts and to minimize the number of surfaces that would dry out.

We had the following 11 pieces: antlers, neck, mid spine, back spine, left ribs, right ribs, brisket, front leg, front leg, back leg, back leg. It took 9 loads to get him to the river. The hike was about 1 1/2 miles. It took 3 of us one long day to get it back to camp. One guy was a beast. He took 4 very heavy loads.

This little saw will break down a moose.

Also remember that in Alaska, the antlers must come out LAST. All meat must come first.

I shot one that ended up in the water and would not have been able to get it out solo.