# The Unlucky Bull



## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

Ever since December 2019, I was not really looking forward to my fall 2020 hunting prospects. Work really was going to cramp my style. I had to cancel my sheep and caribou hunting plans in August as I had to have a 3 week hearing run through the middle of it. But I had plans with some buddies to do a nice moose hunt 9/18-25 in my favorite hell hole that I've written about before. Then because of COVID-19, in June the hearing dates got moved and was set for 9/8-25. I was pissed. It was too late to get a drop flight put together to try to do a sheep hunt, and now I had to cancel my moose hunt. I ended up getting COVID-19 in late July and that kept me quarantined until after the opener of the caribou hunt I wanted to do&#8230;and even after I was cleared to leave the house, I was in no shape to try to hike the way I would need to in order to go on that hunt before it closed. Johnnycake was pretty pissed, needless to say.

But then, on 9/16 my hearing wrapped up way ahead of schedule. I had my opening, and moose season was just starting to get good in my unit. Thursday morning (9/17) I messaged a good friend from law school to let him know I was going moose hunting Sunday-Wednesday. Next thing I know, Zach has tickets to fly in Saturday evening (9/19), and return to SLC Thursday 9/24. What a frickin' stud!

If you've read some of my exploits from prior years, you might recall that I have had rotten luck with scopes on my .300 Weatherby Mag. In fact, after the mishap last fall when I first found the bull bison I ended up taking, I haven't even touched the gun since. This left me with a few choices and limited time: 1) buy a new scope(again), mount it to the .300, sight it in, and pray that it doesn't screw me over for a 3rd time; 2) use the iron sights on the .45-70 my dad keeps up here with me, and stick to close range shots; or 3) use the .270 I used to borrow from my Grandpa each season before he passed away, that I then inherited. I'm a firm believer that shot placement is what matters, and having killed many elk with that gun I decided it was time to take Grandpa's .270 out on its first Alaska hunt. I hadn't used it in 5 years, but that rifle has never failed me-not once. In my hands, it has dropped over a dozen big game animals from pronghorn to elk and none of them required any tracking.

I had purchased a 2012 Polaris Ranger Crew 800 xp back in 2017 and literally have only used it 4 times, each time for less than 5 miles. I had hoped to change that on this trip---but unfortunately, try as we might to be creative, we could not fit it on top of my Jumping Jack--the wheelbase is just 12" too long. It only took us 5 hours on Sunday to concede our defeat. Oh well, it probably would have broken down in some swamp on me anyhow. I just need to sell it and embrace my life as a foot soldier.

We got out to my moose hunting area Sunday evening with a few hours of light left. After a minor mishap of trying to drive my truck on a seemingly mild muddy patch and getting stuck, we got some help from a mining rig that was headed past us and were able to get back to the task at hand. In order to be legal in this area a bull has to meet one of these criteria: antler spread that is at least 50" wide measured in a straight line; have at least 3 brow tines on one antler; or one of the antlers can only be a spike or a fork. We made it to my favorite vantage point and I quickly I glassed up a group of 6 moose with a couple of big bulls, at least one small "tweener" bull (sub 50" but with paddles), and some cows. The two big bulls were very clearly well over the 50" wide mark. Based on what I could see through the binos, the one was easily over 60" wide. They just happened to be several miles away. Across a giant canyon. At the back of a 2-mile-wide swamp. With no way to get there but on foot and two hours left before dark.









This was just holding my phone up to my binos on my truck door to help Zach see where I was looking. The moose are technically in there in the last clearing below the skyline in the upper right.

So naturally we hopped in the truck and raced to where I knew we could hike up the canyon wall and get to the swamp. We actually made it within about a mile of where those bulls were before we had to concede to the fading light.










Monday morning, we got up early but then felt a bit lazy and decided to explore. I had in my head a few ideas for a new route up the steep canyon to try to access the swamp closer to where I thought the bulls were headed. I figured they would all entail some bushwhacking and trail blazing but that is why I had the DeWalt cordless saw, 2 batteries, and a bunch of blades stuck in my pack. We lucked out and found a nice footpath, loaded up the gear we'd need for the day and started to climb. The morning was gorgeous. The chilly 27 degrees from pre-dawn quickly warmed up into the mid 40s, with no wind and a bright blue sky overhead. Just incredible.

As we were climbing, we heard the sound of a bull whacking his antlers on a tree in a deep, nasty canyon on the wrong side of the ridge from the truck. Not having any sort of visibility, we opted to press on ahead.



















An hour and a half later and just over a mile from the truck we hit the edge of the first meadow, less than ½ a mile from where I think the big bulls from the night before were headed. I say "meadow" but in reality, that is Alaska for "grass and moss growing on top of 4-96" of watery muck so don't stand still for too long or you'll probably fall through and die." Potato, potahto.



















We started creeping along the edge of the meadow, with our eyes on a little ridge ½ a mile 
away that should let us glass several different +1000yard clearings and forest edges.










We made it 600 yards when I turned around to talk to Zach. I get mid-sentence when I see a moose step out of the woods into the meadow, exactly where we had just done the same a few minutes earlier.

"Zach! There's a moose-it's a bull!"

At first glance it was obvious that he was not huge, I guessed he would be under 40" wide. Even knowing that it is pretty rare for such a small bull to have 3 brow tines, I dutifully raised my binos to verify.










"He's definitely not even close to 50" but let's see if he has brow tines."

I gave out a grunt to try to get the bull to look our way. It worked.

"Holy crap! I'm pretty sure I see three brow tines on his left! Definitely only 2 on his right though. I need to get closer to verify" I whisper to Zach.

"Yeah I think I see three too. Look man, if you want to hold out for a bigger one that is totally cool with me, ok?" Zach replied. In hindsight, maybe he was getting cold feet about just how far from the truck we were now that he could see the sheer magnitude of a bull moose and the work it would entail.

"Look man, I really do appreciate it. But even though it is the first day-he's pretty close to the truck for the way I do things, if it is a legal bull we're going to kill him. End of story."

"Sweet, let's do it!" Zach replied, naively.










The bull was walking due south across the meadow, slowing grazing along the way. I started walking at a quick pace with my dog Ava on heel at my side, trying to intersect the moose's path. Every minute or two I would let out a grunt to stop the bull, and try to get a closer look at his left-side brow tines. Finally, at 300 yards it was crystal clear-he did indeed have three brows on his left. He was a legal bull. By this point, the bull had crossed most of the width of the meadow and was 15-20 yards away from the edge of the spruce forest. Since I was using the .270, I wanted to get as close as possible before firing. I let out a nasally cow moan to see if he'd respond.

Instantly the bull turned 90 degrees and started walking towards me, grunting softly with each step. I crossed my trekking poles to make a stable rest, loaded a round and knelt down. The bull was quartering towards me with his head to my left. I didn't want him to be able to make it to the trees, and I also didn't want to risk the bullet punching into the gut, so I opted to go for an anchoring shot and placed the crosshairs on the junction of his hip and spine. I squeezed the trigger and the bull collapsed, but then quickly got up on his front legs and was trying to lift his now paralyzed back end. I quickly worked the bolt, and now that I had a clear broadside sent the second round into his shoulder dropping him for good.














































After some celebration and pictures, I could see the wheels start turning in Zach's head.

"So, uh&#8230;what do we do now?" Zach asked, his voice dripping with trepidation

I just laughed. I got to work breaking the bull down, asking Zach to hold a leg every now and then, or to start peeling a section of hide off somewhere. It was just a stunning day, with Denali in the background, cool fall temps, and a light breeze to keep the bugs away for a bit (although they still managed to eat us alive).










A couple of hours in Zach confessed that he was feeling a bit guilty for making me do all the work by myself.

"Honestly Zach, it is no big deal. You'll make it up to me during the pack out-you can carry way more meat than I can."

That might have been the moment that Zach realized why I was so happy to have him be my victim on this outing. I mean friend.

After 4 hours I had the moose broken down: 4 legs (hide on for protection, bone in for structure on the packs; ~80-90lbs for each shoulder and ~110-120lbs for the hinds), a 35lbs bag with the backstraps, tenderloins, and heart, and two ~50lbs bags with with all of the boned out neck, ribs, and other moosellaneous meat cuts. Although I wanted to keep the whole skull for a euro mount, I didn't want it bad enough to have to make an entirely separate pack job for the head, so I just cut the skull plate off. Maybe next time. In Alaska, the trophy has to be the last thing that is carried out, so the tank was pretty empty at that point!




























We shuttled the meat back along the ridge towards the truck for the next several hours. We got the last load to the final stretch with an hour of light left. It was ~500 yards down the side of the slope with mixed grassy spots and little pathways through the alders to drop 500' elevation, and then another 100 yards alongside a creek to the truck. As tired as we were, we just decided to call it a day and marked the drop spot where the meat would spend the night. We'd roll the legs down the hill in the morning (which is why I chose to keep the hide on them and not bone them out-I really hate walking down steep, wet, grassy slopes with tangly branches hiding unseen while I have +100lbs on my back). Zach grabbed a moosellaneous bag, and I grabbed the "goodies" bag and all of the gear, and we headed to the truck in the fading light.

At 6:30 am the next morning, a bunch of ptarmigan flew into camp and woke us up with their chuckling. It is a testament to how tired we all were when all Ava and I could do was muster the strength to sit up in bed and think about throwing on boots and grabbing the shot gun for an easy morning bird hunt. I like to think that since Ava didn't jump out of bed that she really wasn't up for it, and that justified me going back to sleep for a couple hours. I'm sure she'll forgive me eventually.

We made it back to the meat the next morning by 9:30, and nothing had messed with it. After a few quick slides and rolls we were back to the truck before 11 and back to Anchorage by 6pm. The bull ended up taping out at just over 34" so I have lots of room for improvement on my next one! And now that I have this access spot identified, I feel a lot more comfortable pushing even farther back in the swamp. But I might need to make some new "friends" first.










Zach decided he wanted to see a bear so early Wednesday morning we left town and headed to my favorite place to chase black bears. I have helped lots of folks kill bears, and packed a number of them out, but to this day I still haven't shot one of my own. We ended up getting really close to changing that on two occasions yesterday, but couldn't quite seal the deal. But we saw 6 black bears, some more moose, and a ton of ptarmigan (willow, rock, and whitetail-but Zach for some reason didn't want to carry a shotgun with birdshot while I was trying to kill a bear. Ava was not happy. Zach might not have been too happy either as we did +8 miles and at one point gained 2500' elevation in a mile and a half. But he was already talking about next time, so who knows?


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## Packout (Nov 20, 2007)

Nice story. I really like to hunt moose. Not so much on packing them out though. 
I read it while eating 8 day dry aged tenderloins from a calf elk my daughter shot. Thought that was fitting.


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## CPAjeff (Dec 20, 2014)

So awesome - congrats!


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

So Cool!


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

Packout said:


> Nice story. I really like to hunt moose. Not so much on packing them out though.
> I read it while eating 8 day dry aged tenderloins from a calf elk my daughter shot. Thought that was fitting.


Nice! I enjoy moose hunting, and I love/hate packing them out. Moose have to be the dumbest big game animal I've ever played with though. This guy let me walk straight at him for +500 yards in the wide open while I was wearing a gray t shirt. And I was upwind of him the whole time.


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## Airborne (May 29, 2009)

Great job Johnny! Man I love these pics and stories! I really need to make a trip north to shoot ptarmigan! Thanks for posting!


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## 7mm Reloaded (Aug 25, 2015)

I'm afraid if I went there I'd never want to leave. Nice job! save some ptarmigan for me


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## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

Oh ya! The land where dreams come true! Love the story and congrats on the "hard work"!


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## BigT (Mar 11, 2011)

Very cool!

Absolutely beautiful there! Thanks for the write up with the pics!


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## turkinator (May 25, 2008)

I've been waiting for the story. Thanks for sharing! Let me know next time your accepting friend applications. I'm always open for some outdoor punishment especially if it is outdoor punishment in Alaska!


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

I love seeing the pictures. It sure makes me want to go back and spend some time driving around interior Alaska. Denali is beckoning...



Johnny -- do you mind telling us where you were hunting? If you don't want to say, I understand.


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

PBH said:


> I love seeing the pictures. It sure makes me want to go back and spend some time driving around interior Alaska. Denali is beckoning...
> 
> Johnny -- do you mind telling us where you were hunting? If you don't want to say, I understand.


I don't mind at all--I find that very few people are truly dumb enough to chase moose where I like to. We had a few groups of hunters stop by my camp Tuesday while we packed up, and when I told all of them where we killed it they looked at us like we were genuinely deranged. Then I told them where I shot my last bull and that removed all doubt! This bull was 10x easier than my last bull, and this time I only had one idiot along to help me.

This was located just south of Denali National Park. The park boundary is about 10 miles north of where I shot my bull. In the 2nd "as he lay" pic you can actually just see the tip of Denali


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

Great story, I just wish that I was 20 years younger to go on a adventure like this. 

As for where you shot him, I have always said that if you want to be successful in the hunting field that you have to go where the animals are at. It's gotten me into trouble a few times but I got my animal 

Sent from my SM-J737V using Tapatalk


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

I spent a summer working just outside the entrance to the Park. I fished a ton near Cantwell, and across the Denali Highway. Messed around a bit fishing near Talkeetna. 
Took a couple trips down to Valdez. Man...I wish I could go do that again!

maybe in a few years when I retire I can talk my wife into spending another summer up there...


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## AF CYN (Mar 19, 2009)

I love your write-ups. I was born in Alaska and dream of going back....until I read about your hikes. :shock:


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## caddis8 (Sep 10, 2007)

awesome story. Love the scenery. Way better than my scenery....hence no pictures!

Want to see what you do on the dry age moose. Elk Ribs just smoked now slow cooking to tenderize.


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

caddis8 said:


> awesome story. Love the scenery. Way better than my scenery....hence no pictures!
> 
> Want to see what you do on the dry age moose. Elk Ribs just smoked now slow cooking to tenderize.


Lol, idk if I'm going to do any of that this time around. Temps are still up in the mid to high 50s most days. And Mrs. Cake wants a house this fall so adding in a move on top of baby sitting controlled spoilage might be too much to chew.

But I did bring the femurs out so I have some fun plans for roasted marrow


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

This is my favorite thread.


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## caddis8 (Sep 10, 2007)

johnnycake said:


> Lol, idk if I'm going to do any of that this time around. Temps are still up in the mid to high 50s most days. And Mrs. Cake wants a house this fall so adding in a move on top of baby sitting controlled spoilage might be too much to chew.
> 
> But I did bring the femurs out so I have some fun plans for roasted marrow


So question after I thought about it for a bit. I don't doubt the strategy of anchoring it with the hip and spine. With a critter as big as that what did the .270 do for meat damage where you shot it?

Currently eating an elk pastrami and swiss melt.


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

The hip shot took out about a 5lbs chunk of the one hind leg, and then the shoulder shot took out about 10lbs (seriously massive trauma on that shot). I really have no hesitation to use my .270 with 150gr bullets on just about anything in North America.


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## middlefork (Nov 2, 2008)

I've only been involved with one moose. Never been tempted after that. Congrats on a great hunt.


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## 3arabians (Dec 9, 2014)

Congrats Johnny!! I’d shoot that one on my OIL Utah moose tag. 

To bad I’ll never REALLY know what it feels like to ACTUALLY draw the tag.


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## scott_rn (Sep 11, 2007)

Right on. Unit 16 is definitely swampy, I know a lot of folks who consider it Argo country.


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

scott_rn said:


> Right on. Unit 16 is definitely swampy, I know a lot of folks who consider it Argo country.


You know it! I like to push back to the mountains a bit so that I am not 100% in the swamps, but there's really no avoiding it in 16.


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## bowgy (Oct 10, 2007)

Awesome, congratulations, you deserved it after fighting off covid.

Great story and great pics. I would have loved/hated helping you carry that out.


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

bowgy said:


> Awesome, congratulations, you deserved it after fighting off covid.
> 
> Great story and great pics. I would have loved/hated helping you carry that out.


Thanks.

COVID undoubtedly kicked my butt--hard. I'm ~7 weeks "recovered" and am forcing myself to get out and climb mountains, but I'd be a liar if I didn't admit that I'm still struggling for air and energy more than I "should" be. And I don't know if pushing my limits is the "right" thing recovery wise or not, but hot [email protected] if it doesn't feel good mentally and emotionally to get out and do it anyways.


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## colorcountrygunner (Oct 6, 2009)

Nice story, and great photos as always Cakes. I'm glad you were able to defeat the rona and get out to kill a moose. You better get Ava on some ptarmigan stat before she disowns you.


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## dawsdeezy (Dec 1, 2020)

Very good detailed story!!


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