Trad Gang

Well I am finally ready to start to tell the story.  I will give ya a day or two at a time and try to include the pics.

Day one Sept. 4, 2005 - Jason and I spent the entire day in airports.  Our flight out of Dallas was on time and the weather good up to Chicago.  We got there and called home and John in AK.  When we got to the connecting flight it started to unravel. The flight was delayed 1 1/2 hours for maintenance problems.  Oh good!! We are going to fly over the remote wilderness of the great white north in a "maintenance problem" plane.  Well the 1 1/2 hours came and went and we were informed we were changing planes.  So off we went back across Ohare in search of the new plane.  Well it wasn't there yet.  So we were delayed another hour.  Finally we boarded and took off.  The captain comes on and says that we took on extra fuel and were going to make up some time.  Off with go at mach .82 and make up over an hour to Anchorage.

John met us and we gathered our stuff.  It was now after midnight AK time and 3 am for us Texans.

A short nights sleep at the red roof inn and we started gathering the stuff we forgot.  Two trips to Walmart and Fred Meyers along with a food stop and we were on our way to Tok.

Man it is beautiful country, big mountains, clear streams, glaciers and spruce trees everywhere and that was just in Anchorage.

Lunch time!! be back in a little while.

Mike

Mike,
Don't keep us in suspense!  Can't wait to hear about your time in the Tok area, as I used to live in Wrangell-St Elias Nat'l Park, just south of there.  Hurry up!
L8r
Gary

hmm, man that was a tease and I LIVE here  ;) !

C'mon! This is my dream hunt, so let's go!!

Ok, sandwich down and here we go.

Off we head with the 14 ft Uhaul full of camping essentials on our way to Tok.  It was about 10am before we hit the road so we stopped for lunch down the road 100 miles or so.  This is where we thought till sometime later that Jason picked up food poisoning. (don't eat the chicken)

We soon came to a glacier off in the distance and stopped for our first kodak moment.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/glacier.jpg)

We stopped for gas and one more time for nature (glassed sheep while peeing)

and soon we arrived in Tok.  Checked into the motel and went to Fast Eddies for dinner.  That's where we ran into the other Tradgangers.  We were pretty drug out from lack of sleep and adrenaline lows so I'm afraid we weren't very socialable.

It was nice to see Steve again and here about the hunting up til this adventure.  If I remember right they had already tagged caribou, goat and sheep.

We got our gear checked out by the air taxi service and confirmed the need for a couple of extra loads or one 747.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/gearload.jpg)

Gotta go work on laundry and dinner.  be right back.

Mike

M

Am I the only one, or is the suspense here almost palpable...    :eek:

It took an hour and a half for a sandwich...no tellin how long a full "dinner " is gonna take!

Glad you guys are back safe and at least in one piece.  Sorry to hear about your knee.  Hope isn't injured too bad.

Bobby

Sounds like fun so far, it's not very often you get to glass a peeing sheep!

wake me when its over.

I need another cup of tea or 12 ..this is gonna take awhile ain't it?   :rolleyes:  

Glad you guys are home safe and sound.

After having suffered food poisioning in Atlanta awhile back on the way to piggy hunt I can definitly sympathize with Jason. Death would have felt better.  

Come on! I could have grown a chicken and BBQ it by now   :D  

More Story! More Story!

  :readit:

I love Fast Eddy's, can't stop in Tok with stopping in there. Can't wait to hear the rest of the story, making me homesick.

Dave

Coooome on wingnutty.If'n I lose power again with Rita I won't find out what happened for days.Have a heart man,there's only so much a guy can take  :p  


CB

OK, I figure that I'm off to a meeting that figures to last a couple of hours, I hope that I can at least get the next installment when I get home.  Pleeeeaaaassssseee?????


David

Dang,

This is like reading a mystery thriller.....one page at a time...and the guy is mailing it from around the world. Come on, you're killin us.....  :readit:

Well with dinner out of the way in Tok and our gear officially wieghed in we hit the rack.  About midnight it hit Jason back and we were up most of the night hitting the porcelin friend.  Not good!!  We are supposed to fly at 0700 in the am.  It's not going to happen and we rushed Jason to the clinic as soon as it openned.  He was very dehydrated and needed two IVs to get back in the game.  By evening he was human again and we were on schedule for 0700 again.

We arrived at the plane as they were getting them warmed up.  Jason and John loaded into the cubs for a direct flight to our ridge while I jumped into a 206 for a flight to Chicken, AK.  

 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/jasontakeoff.jpg)

Half way to Chicken we got the bad news, Wind and plenty of it on the ridge.  The Cubs headed for Chicken and met us there.  We spent the day hanging out while the Cubs flew on and got more hunters into other locals.  We did hike up to the cafe and have a nice lunch and get out of the black flys for a little bit.

At 5:30 the cubs were back, but one needed a mechanic so they started ferrying us one at a time, John first, then Jason and finally me.  When I arrived I couldn't believe we were going to land on a 2-1 slope up a tabletop.  But we did and the pilot headed back for the gear loads.

Abot the time I hit camp, Jason's flu bug hit me.  Not good!!  Especially for Jason, because John had head over the hill for water and he ended up carrying all 300# of gear into camp.

The night was not friendly for me with many trips down the hill in a hurry.  By morning, I was pretty sick and sent the guys out hunting while I stayed in bed.

They did spot a legal moose (over 50") about a mile from camp and came back excited.

Tehy poured fluids into me and I took the meds we had for what was giving me the most trouble.

By evening I was ready for a short walk to the spotting area the guys had found and we got a look at four bulls.  One was huge and the other three were over 50" easy.  As darkness fell we settled down for some chow and hit the rack for a better night.  Only had two trips to the tree.


more later!

Mike

I'm waiting with baited breath.This is worst than the Mervins commerical,(open,open).

Sounds like the first few hours of your hunt was more exciting that our whole trip......

ah common Stevo.  People dream of what you and I do on a yearly basis.  I did notice Mike said you killed a sheep.....where in sam heck was my phone call on that one  :)

I love em when they get drug out!!!

Just like when I was a kid watching Bat Man!!!

"Tune in tomorrow....Same Bat Time, Same Bat channel"   :thumbsup:

Wouldn't give no cares about NO moose if I woulda killed a ram!  Unfortunately not the case.  Goat and caribou is correct.  Sheeps next year!

Alright, got a visual on the first outing.   :thumbsup:

Visual of what, I've got no idee.  :knothead:

Three parts per day, this will take as long as the trip. Oh well, the master storyteller is slowly building his suspenseful tale of derring do in the far north woods.

PS. Thanks for breaking up the pics for us dial up folks, especially those webtv diehards with dial up. (like me) :-)

AAAAAAARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!
I feel like Charlie Brown and Lucy (played by wingnut) just yanked away the football again!!!

HEY MIKE!!!!!!

Wake up and git on wid man!!

Come on lets have some more....

Going away for the weekend, expect the next installment will be posted by the time I get back ha ha

Going to Bear Bay for the opener this weekend... can't remember if we've had that cable modem installed yet    

c'mon - how 'bout one more installment and one more pic before this afternoon?????

Looking good, Wingnut.  Keep it coming Brother!!!

Next morning we were up early readyto go after one the the bulls on the hill opposite camp.  Only problem was he was no where in sight or any of his buddies.  We glassed for hours with no luck only spotting a couple of cows, a small yearling bull and a calf.  Well back to camp for lunch.  John was taking his turn with the flu and decided to sit the afternoon out. (sleep)  Jason and I went out and finally saw the big bull again just before dark about 2 miles from camp.  We headed back with a plan for the am.

Morning broke with other plans, high winds hit camp about day break and we spent the day fortifying our position.  Big rocks were packed in to anchor the tent stakes and we sat out the storm warm and dry until a big gust (50 +) folded the stove pipe in half.  We quickly put out the fire in the stove and assessed the damage.  Temps were mild so we stowed the stove and settled in for the night.

Gotta find the journal now as the memories are runnign together.

LOL

Mike

:knothead:    :banghead:  

Dang, thu suspense is killin us! Next thing ya know Wingnut is going to withhold the last chapter till he receives 10 bow orders.   ;)

That's NOT FUNNY Ray,,,,,,,,geez, don't go ta givin' him any idears.

Bulletman

HMMMMMMMMMMMM! 10 bow orders would be nice.  LOL

Mike

Grizzley!!!!

Dang we were sitting on the hill minding our own business and I see something moving down by the pond.  Through the glasses it was a BEAR.  Not big as Griz go but enough to get the blood running around the pipes.  Then the fierce eater of bowhunters proceeds to jump in the pond and chase ducks around like a lab for 30-45 minutes.  Man it was cute and we all wished that we had it on video.  It finally gave up on the ducks and got out, shook off and walked into the spruce trees.  We kept the pistols close to the pillow from then on.

Mike

:thumbsup:

Man this suspence is killin me....

In the morning we were back on the hill glassing with no results.  After lunch we were back at it and soon spotted a 65" bull on the far hillside.  Now we had a plan for the am.  We decided to take the proactive/stupid approach and go to him instead of trying to call him to us. We would hike around the basin (1 mile) and call in the bull.  

As morning dawned we were packed and ready to go after the bull.  Hitting the trail we made our way to the other side, stopping once to shoot at some ptarmigan.  They proved to be just as hard to hit as grouse and we shot 0/4 only taking a few feathers for the stew pot.

When we arrived at the rock outcropping, the bull we had glassed the evening before was nowhere to be found.  We set up and called for a while with no results so we glassed the surrounding hills.  By golly there was another bigger bull on the next hill down the valley. Off we went like we had sense with a plan of just going over the next ridge to get a better look.  Well one ridge turned into three and finally we were in position.  The wind was fickle and we setup cross wind from where we had last seen the bull.  John did his best cow in heat imitation and Jason was soon looking at a very large bull above him in the trees.  It stopped head-on at 65 yds and slowly looked over the situation.  Finally it turned and headed in my direction or so Jason thought.  How the heck does 1600 pounds of animal disappear.  We tried to setup a couple more times but the wind switched and we knew we had been had.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/bigbullspot.jpg)
(the little lump in the middle is where the bull was.  Pic is from camp.)

We took out the GPS to get a read on how far we were from camp.  (1.75 miles as the eagle flies.)  More like 3 miles as the fat man walks.  The three on us headed back by cutting down to the creek and following the centuries old caribou trail up the valley.  It was good going for a while with only a couple of crossings.  We did encounter a large grouse as we spooked it from a tree that scared the heck out of us. We also saw a set of shed antlers that were huge and looked like they were dropped at the same time.

We traveled the first mile and found ourselves at "bear pond".  There was lots of moose sign in the bottom and we were now at the base of the climb to out newly named "Bent pipe ridge"

The hill climbed through the berry bushes and willow for 50 to 100 yards at a time and now it started to rain.  Great!  We climbed and rested and climbed and rested.  Jason led the way and seemed to get a lot more rest then John and me.  We would climb for the same length of time but he would cover twice as much ground.  Then stop and wait for us to catch up.

Product review:  We were fueled on this climb by Slim Fast diet bars, which were both tasty and hearty. Unfortunately there was an unpleasant side effect to these bars, they gave the three of us horrific gas, I'm not talking about little toots, I'm talking about deep from within the earth out gassings, stop the rotation of the earth blasts, if there was a fire near by the northern hemisphere would no longer exist explosions, harvest the methane and power a small country for a year. And there were a lot of them.  From here on out these bars shall be named "Fart Bars".

Half way up, I ran out of gas and needed another bar or two to make the top.  It took a total of 3.5 hours to travel the distance and when we reached the tent in the rain we thanked the bowhunting gods for not letting Jason shoot the big bull.  We would have spent the rest of the trip hauling meat.  LOL

More later,

Mike and Jason

Chad, a good story takes time to tell.   :bigsmyl:  Go on Mike take your sweet time I got all day  :banghead:    :D

you did say STOVE PIPE?  Jeesh this sounds like roughing it 101  :D !!!

All righty then... this tale's got legs.  :cool:

Sickness, remote air travel,weather, critters and grizzz.  It's unrolling like a fine epic adventure.

Come on Mike...get on with the story. (note to self...never get within 100 miles of a slimfast diet bar...or Wingnut after he has downed a few)   :D

Well I thought I would check in to see if ya'll got a moose yet or just still fart'n your way up the mountain.  ;)

Hey, I am loving this...

maybe you could eat a few bars and call in them Ducks...

That night we all slept very well. . .until the rain picked up in intensity and started coming though the sewthoughs in the top of the tent.  John woke up first and got me. . things were getting wet fast and so we through tarps over everybody and went back to sleep.  The storm continued thoughout the day and Jason and I reengineered the smoke stack(duct tape) and got it back in operation.  Thing dried out fast and we were back to normal by sundown.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/bigbullspot.jpg)

The rain quit in the night and we were back at the rock outcrop glassing in the morning.

We spotted a single palm on the far hillside about a mile off.  While watching it, I saw it move and we were off.  On the way, we got held down in the brush by a cow for about 30 minutes and we think she took the bull with her as she wondered off.  On the way back I twisted my left knee and was in a world of hurt as we worked our way home.

We did encounter this critter that gave us a good deal of enjoyment.  He sure had trouble figuring out what we were.  LOL

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/weasel.jpg)

mike

Mike

ermine are cool little critters.  Had one come up to to me sheep hunting a number of times to within a hiking stick length of me, appx 4 feet.  First time I've ever seen one alive in the wild this fall, saw two both on the same hunt.

Just started watching this saga unfold. Sorry about you guys getting the flu. Hate to tell you but it was going around Tok. I was in the recovery stages when I met you at eddys. Hope that in our 5 minunites that I didn't infect you guys. Keep the story coming. Art the end I'll have a few questions. Oh did you fly out on 2dg? I know that plane.

Steve H - If you are following. Too bad about the hunt. If you had returned early I would of sent you up to my cabin in progress site. There were some bulls hanging around. I was busy building and just waiting my time. A couple of friends, gun hunters, came up and shot two. I was sorta of hoping to get them towards the end of the season after I got some building done. Oh well he who waits...! And there are grouse around.

Wow this is taking even longer than i thought it would.

Well with two days to go, I was outta the game.  My knee wasn't just twisted and I had a hard time getting around.  My new duties were behind the spotting scope and providing semifore directions to Jason and John.  We had one more chance on the hill across from camp.  Jason and John went after a real nice bull as I watched.  After over an hour of hiking they moved into position about 150 yds from his hidehole.

As John started to call the bull went nuts.  He tore up the place and did mock battle with a willow tree.  Finally he turned and headed at the guys. As he closed the distance his attitude changed and he got a lot less brave.  I think he had his butt kicked a couple days ago and wasn't in the mood for it again.  John showed him the fake antlers and instead of charging in to chase off the little guy, he turned and went and hid in the brush.  The guys never saw him even though he had closed to about 75 yds.

They decided to head back and took an easier though longer route around the rim.   I headed for camp and got a fire started and some coffee on.

We spent most of the afternoon packing gear and hauling our stuff up to the strip for an early morning pick up on the 17th.  A restless night with wind and rain broke calm and cool.

This was it, if the guys were going to be able to land now was the time.  Unfortunately in an hour, the winds had come up and were blowing the wrong way.  They made four or five passes to try to get in but ended up flying off into the building clouds towards Chicken.

It is a loanly feeling when your plane flys away.  We constructed a quick leanto to hold off the wind and waited.  An hour later the sky openned up and we decided to pitch the small tent.
We spent all day in the tent as the storm whipped the rain with 30 mph winds.  We got a brief calm just before dark and took advantage to make some chow.

The morning of the 18th was perfectly calm and clear.  We called for a pick up and were told they were on the way.  We quickly broke our small camp and had just finished when the two planes crested the horizon.  They made one pass and came right in.

 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/plane2.jpg)

 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/plane1.jpg)

We loaded Jason and me into the planes and made a hasty take off.  The fog was climbing the ridge behind us and I didn't realize it but it flowed over just as Jason got off the ground.

They took us directly to Tok, where they were grounded for the next four hours.  John was in thick fog on the ridge and put the tent back up in case he had to spend the night.  Jason and I got a much needed shower and waited for the skys to clear.  Finally about 1 pm John called and said his ridge had cleared and to come get him out.  The pilots headed out again and almost turned around seeing the area until the last turn when they saw "bent pipe" ridge glowing in the sun.  They took advantage of the break and got John and all our gear out in the two planes.  They looked like the truck from the beverly hillbillys when the landed.

A quick shower for John and a stop at Fast Eddies for chow and we headed down the road to Anchorage.

No moose in the bag but a great hunt with high adventure.  Total we saw 10 different bull moose with 8 of them over 50".  The ridge was hard to hunt because the bulls didn't come to our side and were always at least a mile by gps from camp.
Seeing the griz was cool and the ptarmigan owe us a hit or two the next time we cross paths.

 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/jasonandme.jpg)
Jason on the left and me

 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/johnandme.jpg)
John and me
Sorry it took so long to tell the story.  LOL

Mike

As anyone that hunts much knows it is not about what you get.It is about the adventures that unfold during your pursuit.It sounds like you guys got some nice trophies in the form of memories.Both the good and bad ones. :)  Good story! thanks

Great story and great pics! Thanks, it really makes me want to get out of Iowa!

Mike, Sounds like you guys had a great hunt.  Glad your all back safe and sound.

Sounds like a great time, cept for the knee. How's your knee doing now?

Great stories and pictures, thanks Mike and Jason for sharing your adventure with all of us. Dang, sorry to hear bout the knee. It'll be all healed up soon and ready for another go at the land of the midnight sun.

Great pics Mike!  Atleast yall seen some bulls.  So far I havent a single antlered moose in months.  I do have to ask, who is who in the last pics?

I added some captions to the pics

Mike

It sounds like you guys had a great hunt, even though everything did not go exactly as planned.  It seems that you guys had a good time and that is all that matters.  Congratulations!!!

Wingnut - The knee thing is a bummer! Even though you didn't connect on a moose atleast you had some opportunties, saw some wildlife and all. The weather was typical fall except a bit warm with stormy winds, for & rain but it could have been snow. Just by chance was that u haul trailer hooked to a green pickup? I noticed that it was still parked saturday night but gone by late sunday. Liked those pictures of you guys. Makes it look as if your standing on clouds.

Would you come back to Alaska to hunt moose again??

John,

Yep we had a great time.  The knee will be good after surgery. . .again.  Gotta wait til Oct 11 to see the cutter though.  I think he went hunting somewhere.

And yes we will be back for moose. . I'm going to get one if it kills me. . .and it might.  LOL

We will probably be hunting a bottom next time though or a flat.  The ridge top hunting is for younger guys with flat stomachs and iron legs.
We had fat stomachs and rubber legs.

Mike

I like the critter-less "hero pics"...I gotta whole lot of those.  Your hunt was full of adventure and fine fellowship no doubt.  Thank you for sharing it with us.

wingnut...thanks so much for sharing. What an adventure and a wonderful hunt. The pic of your son and you is the greatest. As my son often tells me thats why it is called hunting not killing. That moose will be there waiting for you next time. Man I would love to chase moose in Alaska, that has to be my all time dream hunt.

Wonderful story and pics.  Thanks  :wavey:    :thumbsup:  ....Van

Cool story Mike..... Thanks for taking us along...

PS..... I'm glad I wasn't there. Ya didn't have Gil along to grunt when that stovepipe fell over..   :D   Terry

Sounds like a good hunt,Mike. I can do without a kill for good company and different scenery.  :)

Great to read about your hunt. What a positive attitude!!! Hats off to ya!! With that attitude, a successful hunt is always achievable. Sorry to read about the knee, I can understand as I'm fixing to have mine operated on. Enjoyed the pictures as well. Looks like a beautiful place to hunt, I hope I get to go there sometime.

Mike and Jason were great hunting companions.  I truly enjoyed the experience of moose hunting in God's country with them.  My tipi and stove really bit the dust in both the wind and the rain, but their steady companionship made a fantastic experience even better.  

As an aside, I think the moose that got pretty close to Jason would have been meat in the freezer right now if it hadn't smelled the dead wolverine in Mike's hunting clothes!

Good friends and great companions are what make memories, and I can truly say I was fortunate to spend this time with "Wingnut" and "Yellargnome".  

Also, I'm glad to say that the "fart bars" didn't have the same effect on me as they did on Mike.  What tiny amount of effect I felt was more like April in Paris than dead wolverine.  It was FOUL!!! riding drag on the herd while hiking back up the mountain.

It doesn't get any better than this.

John

Thanks for sharing Mike...hope all goes well with the knee after you see the doc.

Bobby

Sounds like you boys had a great time. Sorry to hear about the knee,Mike. I love the scenery pics from the far north. I don't get to see much country like that in ohio.

Mike
Great story and pictures. Thank you for sharing it with us. Good luck with your knee and thanks for the tip about the Fart Bars. I'm getting some to level the playing field in deer camp this year!

Even on a Alaska Moose hunt the fart game still rules I guess.  Ever since we were kids it never changes.  But how come my wife dont get it.  Mike thanks for the story and pics.  Really enjoyed them.  Next time man, next time.

Now John I know I spent a good deal of time following you up the hill also and that wolverine was in the air for sure. LOL

John was a ball to hunt with and he knows moose.  We had a great time telling stories and talking bows.  Even the challenges thrown our way made for great memories.  And the tipi and stove do need a little engineering work.  LOL

Now about the Fart Bars, they are not recommended for hunting camps that include open flames.  But we are working on a renewable energy source to eliminate the need for oil.  Anyone know how to plumb a car seat to the engine?

I have a bunch of cool scenery pics that I'll post a few at a time.

BTW John thanks for the invite and a great time!

Mike

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/mooseattheendofrainbow.jpg)

Moose at the end of the rainbow

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/valleyoffog.jpg)

Valley of fog

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/interestingskyline.jpg)

An interesting skyline

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/theneedforspeed.jpg)

I feel the need for speed!!

Thanks for sharing Mike, enjoyed it  :thumbsup:    :thumbsup:

Sucking in air (WHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO)  Those last pictures took my breath away. Absolutely Beautiful!!! Thanks!!   ;)

LOL!!! Im glad you guys survived. By the look of the pics, you were hunting a very cool place. Glad yall made it home safe. The pic of Jason in his travel hat is funny.  CK

Glad you guys made it back safe, & had a good hunt.  As has been said, the hunt should be measured in memories & time spent with friends just as much if not more than the game taken(at least that's what I always say when I come home empty handed ;-)  ).
My mose season had the same net result as yours as far as the freezer goes, but I hunted alone so I missed out on the richest part.
Your pics remind me I'm glad I live here.
Even if the hunting is better in Montana ;-)
Glad you enjoyed our state!

Great story and great hunt Mike.  As you know successful hunts aren't always measured by game killed, there are memories there that you will never forget.  How many people can say that they have done what you just did?  Think about it, how you guys were left alone in that kind of country to fend for yourselves, it is an experience that will remain with you forever.  I know that I think about my time in Alaska all of the time, and hope to make it back someday.  Good job!  :thumbsup:  

David

Mike get that dang knee fixed once and for all will ya? Awesome territory!

Liked the pics. Especially "Top Gun Yellargnome" ha ha! We got high speed over the weekend. Brian installed it while Dianne and I were gone. Come home and get to see pics loaded instantly...what a relevation!!!

Oh Oh Mickey has DSL.  LOL

He'll be looking a pics and video all night.

Mike

I'd loved to have gone with ya.  Sounds and looks like some beautiful country.

High speed and a dvd player? Man you decided to join the 21st century finally.LOL

Great story and awesome pictures. It sounds like you had a great time minus the injury.