First Successful Moose Hunt!

I crawled out of our tent in the dim chill of the morning to visit a bush, the treeline still a dark shadow against the glow of the sun's first rays, when one of the shadows snorted... a moose sounds just like a horse when it clears its nose. But the immensity of the antlers is much more startling than a horse, and when they turn and face directly toward you, it scares the pee right away. I waited until he decided the foliage was more interesting than whatever was crouching in the bush and I snuck back to Chadd who was still sleeping more soundly than I ever do camping. "Chadd! There's a bull moose right behind our tent!" He jumped up much faster than when I say it's time for church. And proceeded to stalk this guy...

He visited us a couple more times before we left.


It was SO serene and beautiful. Five days with just me and my husband in the middle of wild country that beckons adventure. My mom flew up and had a blast with our beloved sons and while we rumbled our pair of four-wheelers 25 miles back in over large rocks, swampy mud, deep creeks, and seemingly impossible terrain. Fortunately, I didn't flip one this time, and each time we got stuck we did eventually get it out... even when the mud was above the top of the wheel. I don't think experience is ever going to take the challenge out of getting back in that country.

The second day we hiked the equivalent of climbing Pioneer Peak- which Chadd and I summitted this summer- scouting through his awesome hunting scope to carefully count the brow tines of many bull moose antlers and estimate the inches of the span of their rack. In this area of Alaska their are VERY strict laws for hunting moose. Unless you have a specialty tag, a legal moose has to have a rack over 50 inches in width or 4 brow tines, or it can be a spike or fork. One hunter we spoke with on the way out reflected the challenge well, "When have you EVER seen a moose with FOUR brow tines?!" And if you get an illegal moose? You risk getting all equipment used in harvesting that moose confiscated forever: guns, fourwheelers, truck, even your plane if you used one. So, if you thought a moose rack was probably 48 inches but were 99% sure, would you risk it?! We decided to keep our wheelers this year.

Now, many of your wives have men that hunt and might bemoan the addiction. But I had a blast! Picking while blueberries for breakfast while Chadd glassed for moose, climbing amazing peaks, the fresh still quiet of the vast valley, I'm sold. Hey gals, get a great work out, husband bonding, and a break from kids at the same time! Talk about adrenal recovery :)
It's times like that which remind me why I live in Alaska.

We were headed out the last day and Chadd decided to drive up one last hill just to look- and right when I was fixing lunch there he was, a fork! I don't enjoy the killing process- but it's healthy food! And sure is a LOT of work. We didn't eat or drink from breakfast till 10pm. And then the processing took 3 more days. But it's finally in our freezer. Thank you God for your favor!

Meat! We passed up so many huge rack
bulls for this LEGAL guy.
I know Chadd's tongue looks diseased,
but its an Alaskan tradition on your first kill
 to grab whatever was last
in the moose's mouth and stick it
in your own....
kidding...! 
It's a Cliff bar ;)

So we've had an offer accepted another house. It's a neighborhood house close to town. I can't wait to avoid the 45-60 minute drive from our current rental in Big Lake. It'll be great to own a home again.

Cyrus and Darius crack us up and challenge us every day. Cyrus is turning into such a little boy. I take him out ptarmigan hunting with his BB gun. He's so serious about it, stalking and scouting, while Darius chimes in "Ssshhhh" from my back.