Alaska Moose Hunts Sucess

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Alaska Private Guide Service

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Smokey Don Duncan,
Master Guide #136

2007 Alaska Moose Hunting Results

We had 9 hunters total in 3 areas. 5 were guided and shot 4 moose averaging 61 inches. 4 hunters were outfitted and unguided. They shot 2 moose, one of which was 62 inches.

2007 Alaska Moose Hunting Results Narrative

In 2007, all four of the K1 camp guided hunters were moose and bear combination hunters. At the new non-permit moose hunting area we did not have any bear hunters, but they did see some dandies while moose hunting. Of the 4 K1 camp hunters, 3 moose were taken: two 62” and one 59”. All the hunters concentrated one moose first before hunting bear.

All of the K1 camp hunters ( 4 guided ) were moose and bear combo hunters. We did not have any bear hunters at the new non-permit moose hunting area but they did see some dandies while moose hunting. At the K1 camp, along the river system where we use the jet boats in the moose permit area; we had 4 hunters take 3 moose. Two - 62" and one 59 incher. All the hunters concentrated on moose first. We had 3 good bulls to pursue opening day. We got soft answers from 2. The evening of the second day, I called in Buck's big bull from from a good ways off. He got to with in 20 yards and hung up in the open except for the brush between us and him. He was aggressive and pissed. Ready for a fight. If I called him through the brush he would be too close. The wind had been shifting back and forth. We opted to run into the clearing beside him, grunting and scraping as we went. We were about 10 yards away from him and he turned, head down to fight. You could see the surprise in his eyes when he realized we weren't another bull. At first glance I could tell he was plenty big enough and gave the legal advice to shoot. He ran into the open and Buck shot him. We got the bull skinned, butchered and hung that night and packed out the rest the next morning.

On the 10th, Buck's Son Brad and guides Wayne G and Dave were headed upriver to hunt when they ran into a bull walking along the river bank. They parked the boat and walked around to where they could see him. Brad planted him on the high bank next to the slough. They pulled the boat up and ascended the bank to find Brad's 59 inch moose and a 54" winter kill moose right next to the dead bull. So Brad got 2 sets of moose antlers with one shot! Buck and Brad both shot brown bears. Buck's bear was 9 foot 6 inches with a 26 + inch skull. The big bear had found the 9/6/07 (Buck's) kill site, fought other bears and commanded the moose kill site. On the morning of 9/10 (opening day for for brown bear) Buck, and guides Smokey and Jimmie walked in. 2 smaller bears had followed our moose pack trail back to the boat landing on the river. The big bear track was seen half way in. The final approach had limited sight distance. Buck and Jimmie saw the bear stand up and look from behind a brush line. I heard him. He charged. Tearing up, shaking the ground and flattening the brush. Buck's first shot was at 7 yards. The bear died at 7 yards. The other bear was taken by Buck's son Brad. It was 8 foot with a 24 + inch skull. On opening day of moose hunting we found a bear trail going from a fishing hole on the river to the tundra berries. Brad and guide Wayne G. saw the bear on berries about 2 miles out. They hiked over, (3.4 miles walking) and eventually found the bear walking straight at them at 75 yards. Brad killed it. On the last moose hunting day (Sept 15), the hunter, Jeff Kirkpatrick, along with guides Brad B. and Smokey got an answer from 2 bulls. They would not come to us so we went back to the boat and went around them for a better wind direction. They did not answer at all from there, but we did find rut holes and rubs from 2 bulls, one bull was big. In the evening we went back to where we got the answers in the morning. Nothing happening. We decided to keep going in and calling. About halfway across, Brad offered to go back and run the boat around to the other side and wait for us there. Soon after he left the bulls began to answer aggressively. They began to merge towards each other with us just aside from the middle. One bull, probably a smaller one, shut up and left us as the only challenger. The big bull circled and we had to run twice to cut him off and then eventually charged him to cut him off again and see him. Plenty legal at 62". Jeff shot. The bull went down twice but got up a third time. The last shot was in the neck and dropped him in mid air as he began a leap into a high, steep banked POND! It took us until the 7 am the next morning to butcher and hang the moose and the next day to get it out to camp, so Jeff didn't get to hunt bear except the last night and no bears had hit his or Brad's kill sites. The one unsuccessful hunter, Jerry, got on more moose (moose answered calls) but only got a wolf. Jerry, hunted Buck's moose/bear combo kill site the16th and the morning of the 17th before leaving camp. A huge bear, as big as the 9' 6" bear, was feeding on the bear carcass. We had heard him fighting with other bear/s while we were working on the midnight moose. I think he killed them about 300 yards from the moose/bear kill site. At least the ravens indicated so. We never saw the other big bear. We figured he was nocturnal but it may have been he was on the other kill site and time ran out before we figured it out completely. The night of the 16th, Jerry, got a huge male wolf, blondish with some black, while sitting near the kill site. He has already booked for next year. No one will ever forget the bears roaring that night. In my 32 years in Alaska, I never heard anything like it or as loud. And we were 1.2 miles away!

At the new "KK" camp in the no permit needed area; we had 3 hunters. 1 guided hunter and 2 outfitted/unguided hunters all aquainted. This is a fly in and walk to hunt camp. That means, to benefit the most, you should be able to walk at least some distance. Legal moose could have been shot fairly close to camp. Guides and hunters alike were impressed with the number and size of the bulls they saw. Gerry Mumfrey, the guided hunter saw enough legal and just sub legal bulls, and saw the dedication, support, and honesty of the outfitter to recommend this hunt to a friend. Gerry's minimum was 60+". His first encounter was on day 2. He looked good enough on the one side, surely legal, just could not see both sides. Some more run ins did not pan out. On the 14th he saw the one he would shoot but respectfully did not under the circumstances. Him and guide Andy went back the last day, located him, and Gerry bagged him. Long shot.

Although it took Gerry until the last day to get the moose he desired, it could have happened much sooner if things had worked differently. The legal moose, several, he turned down are next year's 60" +. Then it comes to getting the moose out. Gerry volunteered to help. He carried 5 loads. When you book this hunt it will make a difference if you can walk and help, if not, book a river hunt. One of the unguided hunters wounded a bull early on and great amount of time and effort was expended trying to find it. The other unguided hunter, John, had hunted with me 4 times and taken 3 moose. He told me he saw 8 different bulls, several well over the minimum of 50" and the biggest bull he had ever seen. 70+ he says. After that it was the big one or nothing. He had somewhat of an opportunity, close enough but a bad shot angle. He didn't get one.

The general advice from everyone at the KK camp was that, you need to be able to walk to get the most out of this area. Most of the moose were around 1 mile or less from camp and no one walked more than 2 miles out from camp. We have several places/camps to hunt but everyone liked what they saw from the base camp. It is not mountainous, but rather, rolling, low, flat tundra ridges interspersed with open, broken spruce and short willows in the creek drainages. John said he liked the increased sight distance over the average sight distance on the river. And the larger creeks do have some fish, though no one fished them. Probably grayling, rainbows, dollies and some salmon.

3 moose taken from the K1 camp Sept. 2007. Brads moose. Notice the boat just behind Brad and Buck. Buck's big brown bear opening day. 7 yards. -- top

2006 Alaska Moose Hunting Results Narrative

006 was a bad year. The rut was 2 weeks late. The % success rate for the area as a whole and pretty much the entire state was down. The permit area where we hunt was less than 13% success at last report. The bulls would answer, but not come to a call. Warm weather coupled with constant wind and rain blowing sideways 4 of 11 days didn't help. We talked to more bulls than ever. When we went at them, they faded away. The ones we did call in close were either too small or not a good bow shot. The good news is, we left plenty of bulls for 2007, including 3 in the 70 inch range that got away alive. One hunter got a moose at 7:30 pm the last day and he got a 8 1/2 foot brown bear on the gut pile a couple days later. Look at this 2006 picture again. What looks wrong? Notice the redness of the palms. This is Sept 15. They should be brown and polished. This bull has just lost his velvet. Usually that happens by Sept 1! The leaves are still on the trees even after 2 sever blows that would strip green leaves. I think the bulls weren't yet in a "fighting rut". They would answer a call, and we heard them mating but they would not come to a bull challenge call or a bull with cow call. And cow calls didn't do much better. They would mate but not fight for a mate or defend the rut area. We saw 3-70 inchers that did not get shot for various reasons. I know the big boys are there, we saw some and heard many. So I think 2007 is going to be one of our best years ever. 2003 will be tough to beat but 2007 may be just the year to do it. -- top

2005 Alaska Moose Hunting Results Narrative

7 moose taken in 11 days in 2005

All of these moose pictures anywhere on this page, were moose hunters who contracted with and were guided/outfitted by Smokey Don Duncan's "Alaska Private Guide Service". If you see them on anyone else's web site or brochures they are lying to you! There are lying scum bags out there.

2 bulls from K2 and 2 from K3 4 of the 7 moose taken in 2005.

In 2005; I had 11 moose hunters. 8 hunters had the river corridor permits. The biggest moose taken was 63-1/2". 8 permittees killed 7 moose. 2 hunters were residents and did not need the permit. They were after 60 inch plus moose. They came close but didn't succeed. They did see legal 50+ inch moose. The last hunter was from Italy and we could only find 1 (maybe a legal bull) outside the 2 mile permit corridor. That was unusual. Plus they killed 5 bears.

In 2005, of the 11 moose hunters , 8 had brown bear tags. They killed 5 bears. Plus, a "bear only" hunter got one for a total of 6 bears. At least two of the three "no bear hunters" could have and should have gotten a bear. The biggest was 8 1/2 foot. And 2 hunters got wolves! The new regulations book said wolverine was closed; it was a misprint! 2 hunters had wolverines on the gut piles they could have shot. While we have had many years with a better success rate for moose and bear, you must consider the weather patterns we had during this season. Wind, rain, warm weather ( no frost) late onset of the rut made moose calling and hearing difficult. The high water opened up moose country but shut down the bear feeding areas. I did not here of anyone else anywhere close to us do anywhere near as good as we did. I did hear that several guides and outfitters got no legal moose. -- top

2004 Alaska Moose Hunting Results

Success Rate 13 Hunters took 10 moose in 11 days. 3 hunters ( who have hunted with me several times) were outfitted and unguided. 2 took moose. 3 hunters were between 63-73 years old. All took moose. The buzz around the departing airports was mainly about a poor moose season with a late rut. Those that did manage to get a moose did so the last 2-3 days. A small number of guides were lucky to get 50% while most were well below 50%. And some didn't get 10%. We got 10 moose in 11 days. The biggest was 65". Not Bad! -- top

2003 Alaska Moose Hunting Results

Success Rate - 11 hunters took 10 Moose in 11 days. With 3 moose 68 inches or larger and 5 between 55"and 63" and two for 2 for bow hunters. -- top

2002 Alaska Moose Hunting Results

Success Rate - 11 Hunters took 10 Moose in 11 days, with three between 63" - 68", and six between 56" - 60". -- top