Alaska Bound

[tim]

Thousands of hunters have gone through Alaska and bad weather with good old wooden stocked and blued barrels and have done just fine. Just remember that if it gets wet to take care of it before a problem shows up.

very true, I was one of them. that is why I would take the stainless, but use the gun you are most comfortable with. my buds moose was 2 shots with a 300wsm, mine was one shot with a 338 wm. it rained for days and I was not worried about my rifle one bit. bikini scope covers are a must though. it does not matter what rifle if you can not see thru the scope.

 

[JimP]

The rifle that I have for fowl weather is a Weatherby MkV with a fiberglass stock and stainless barrel. It survived 5 days straight of rain up in British Colombia and came out unscathed. But I still took care of it once we were back at camp and never did put it away for the night wet.

But then some don't know how to take care of a firearm when it gets wet, so stock swell, and barrels rust. They then wonder why their shot was a foot off of the mark when they pull the trigger.

 

[tim]

the funny thing is, when I lived up there, I had a blued rifle.
once I moved out, I won the ultimate Alaskan rifle, a stainless with a synthetic stock and 338 wm.

 

[JimP]

the funny thing is, when I lived up there, I had a blued rifle.
once I moved out, I won the ultimate Alaskan rifle, a stainless with a synthetic stock and 338 wm.

My caliber of choice was .340 Weatherby, but if I won it I'd take the .338 Wm

 

[AKaviator]

Either of your rifles will be great. I'm not sure I'd bring the .44 but never hurts to have one. My favorite moose gun was a 35 Whelan.

 

[sneakypete]

Took my moose one shot 7mm, and my son finished his off with my 7mm with one shot. Only because he forgot his extra shells in camp. Shot placement. Right Bob!

 

[Team Kabob]

I’m packed! Only two more days of work. Only two more days of work!

 

[Hatchet Jack]

Starting to get packed. Got the blued/ wood stock .300 Wby rubbed down with 2 layers of Johnson's paste wax. Got the 180 grainers hitting three inches high at 100 yds and hitting just about zero at 300 yds. Got some hard cast Double Tap 320 grainers for my 44 Mag. Boy do they have some recoil. Ouch!
We fly out a week from today. Gunna be a long week at work for me.

 

[AKaviator]

Getting anxious to hear how your hunt went!?? I drove thru Tok a few days ago and saw where a non-resident hunter had his large moose antlers stolen from his pickup truck. What a bummer! I hope it wasn't yours!

 

[Hatchet Jack]

Nope. Wasn't ours. We had a good hunt but no moose were killed or injured by our party. We saw a few bulls but nothing of legal size. We camped between Northway and the Yukon border next to Gardiner Creek for about 5 days. We packed back in a little over a mile. Got a little tough sleeping on the ground with a cheap Wal Mart sleeping bags inside a cheap Wal Mart tents. (We were going to ship out our camping gear until we realized it would be cheaper to by our gear at Wally World in Fairbanks and just donate it when we were done.)
Beautiful country but not a whole lot of moose or sign in the area we camped in. A couple of the natives where not to happy about us being in that area and one of them was quite vocal about it. One guy in our camp would hike out to our rented truck camper each day to check on things and make sure nothing was messed with.(We had written down the vocal guy's tag number just incase.)He was hollering something about how his ancestors have been hunting that area for ever and we didn't belong there or something like that.
The other half of the trip we slept in the truck camper and hunted south of Tok a little bit below the Little Tok Creek.
We saw plenty of guys who got lucky with some big beautiful moose and horns. Most of them were locals who had good gear, good machines and good honey holes.(God Bless them)
Me and one of the guys drove up the Taylor Highway to Chicken one day. I had been there with my family a few years back. Did not realize the town would be shut down when we got there this time of year. Good thing I topped off the tank before heading up. We saw lots and lots of hunters and machines along the Taylor. Looked like a great place to hunt if you had the means to get way back in. We decided to hunt other areas just to get away from the crowds. A few places we hunted south of Tok had lots of others hunters and machines zipping around as well.
Over all it was a good time and hunting experience. I would do it again if given the chance. The two things I won't miss however are the mosquitos and trying to walk thru the tussocks.

 

[AKaviator]

Sorry that you didn't connect with a bull. That's tough country to hunt without good 4-wheelers or Argos. Most of the close in bulls are already zero'ed in on by the locals and fall in the first volley on opening day!
Hunting the Taylor can be good for Caribou at times. if you don't mind lots of company.
Mosquitos are fairly easy to find in that area too!
I hope you're able to come back sometime and take home a nice bull...and all the mosquitos that you can carry!

 

[Hatchet Jack]

Sorry that you didn't connect with a bull. That's tough country to hunt without good 4-wheelers or Argos. Most of the close in bulls are already zero'ed in on by the locals and fall in the first volley on opening day!
Hunting the Taylor can be good for Caribou at times. if you don't mind lots of company.
Mosquitos are fairly easy to find in that area too!
I hope you're able to come back sometime and take home a nice bull...and all the mosquitos that you can carry!

Thanks. Yes, I am hoping to make it back sometime. An Alaskan Bullwinkle has been on my bucket list for a very long time. May have to change hunting methods and go with a fly in or river float in the future. Was hoping it would be OK to PM you to pick your brain and get some advice in the near future.???

 

[AKaviator]

H.J. You bet, feel free to get in touch anytime. I'd enjoy helping out with your planning.

 

[Hatchet Jack]

 

[Hatchet Jack]