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Alaska Hunting

Alaska caribou

These are the most efficient hunters of Alaska's wild places. Unlike the picture painted by some misguided souls, wolves are opportunists. They live and hunt in family units called packs. The number of animals in a pack is determined by the amount of available food in their area. Wolves do not live on mice and rabbits as some people would have you believe. In Alaska they live or die, depending on the availability of moose or caribou. While they will take the sick and lame, they are by no means limited to this type of prey. They can and do "test" each

animal they come across and this "testing" can be quite severe. If the prey animal shows weakness or if they can get it down, it becomes food. They have even been known to take dogs out of people's yards near Fairbanks when the food supply is low. A dog, any dog, is no match for a wolf. They are killers, born to the hunt. Extremely intelligent, they are merciless to both prey and those of their own kind who become sick or injured. There is nothing inherently evil in a wolf, it is their nature. God made them this way to insure their survival as well as their rightful place in His creation.

The picture painted by "animal rights" people is one of a benign, loving, noble animal. The truth is that they are neither benign nor evil, they are just trying to survive the only way they can. Nature is many times cruel, and wolves, by human standards, can become a part of that natural cruelty. One of the things that would be considered cruel, if it were known, is the manner in which they make their kills. It is never a quick, clean kill. Wolves are not capable of killing a moose or other large animal outright. They will chase it until it can run no more; then there is a considerable time of tearing and ripping flesh until the animal finally falls. Even then death is not fast, the wolves will immediately begin to feed while the prey animal is still living. By human standards this is cruel, but by natural law, it is simply survival. It is "real world" and not what is imagined by idealists.

These next photos were taken by my good friend Mark Middleton. The lovely lady doing the posing is his wife, Bonni. While Bonni has been in Alaska for many years, she has never shot a moose before. This past hunting season she more than made up for it. She took a moose that many seasoned hunters would be proud of. She made a one shot kill with a Marlin .444 at 150 to 200 yards.....very impressive Bonni!

Mark and Bonni asked permission to use my hunting camp this past season. I was glad to have them stay there because I was not going to be able to get there this season. This is the same camp that is described on the previous page, it is an excellent area for moose, situated on a 'feeder slough'. I have taken a moose here each season that I have hunted from this camp. Bonnie is still so happy about her moose that she absolutely bubbles with excitement when she talks about it. It was hard to tell who was the most excited about this hunt......Mark or Bonnie. She told me that it was one of the greatest moments of her life and that she would never forget it. I would not hesitate to agree with her.......she convinced me! These two friends are very good examples of what it means to practice good hunting manners, they asked first, and when they were successful they remembered to share.......Thank you Mark and Bonnie. Not only was this a beautiful trophy, but it was delicious too!!!

This next section is devoted to my good friend, Helio Zwi. Helio has been a source of amazement to me, he is Brazilian, and lived in the largest city in Brazil, Sao Paolo. Helio came to Alaska from California, he had lived all of his life in large cities. The amazing thing is, that he took to Alaska's wilderness like a duck to water. He worked with me, so we had many opportunities to get out and enjoy nature. He especially loved the times we could take a whole week and just relax in hunting camp while waiting for a moose. One of the first things Helio did upon arrival in Alaska, was to purchase a .44 mag. S&W handgun and a 30.06 Remington hunting rifle. He practiced and became very proficient with both. The following photos were taken in 1997, on a moose hunt at my hunting camp. There is an interesting story about this hunt that I will include here.

We had hunted the first week of the season from this camp and had not seen any moose at all, not even a cow. We were out of time, as far as taking more time off from work was concerned. We decided to hunt evenings and weekends for the remainder of the week, which would end the moose season for this year. On the last day of the moose season we made one more trip up to hunting camp in the airboat. As we pulled up to the riverbank, our eyes immediately focused on the shapes of two moose at the upper end of the slough, which lies at a 45 degree angle from the river. What had caught our attention were the large antlers that had been polished from rubbing. Both bulls attention was riveted on the airboat, but they made no move to leave at all. Most people will tell you that an airboat will scare off moose, I have found out otherwise. Very often, they just stand and stare, as these two where doing. They were about two hundred yards from the boat at this point. The moose on the right was standing behind a large birch tree and facing us, the tree blocked any shot from this position. But the other moose was in some light brush and presented a good opportunity for a shot. He was facing us and quartering away to our left. I asked Helio if he though he could take the moose from where we were, he said he thought so, and braced his rifle against a branch for a shot. When he shot, I could hear the bullet hit and the moose flinched noticeably. He turned and stepped out of sight before a second shot could be taken. At the sound of the rifle firing, the other moose ran in the direction of the first one. We decided that the moose that Helio had shot had been hit hard, so we would wait a bit before trying to find him.
Trying to follow a moose too soon usually results in a long chase. By waiting, we were giving the moose plenty of time to lay down, instead of forcing him to build adrenalin and keep moving. As we waited, watching the spot where the moose had been, we noticed some movement. A moose stepped out of the brush where the two moose had been. Now we were really confused, was this the moose Helio had shot, or was it the other one? If it were Helios' moose we should shoot again to insure that he did not get away. But if it was the other moose, we didn't want to shoot because we certainly did not need two moose. We decided to not shoot, and the moose stepped back and disappeared again. We waited for about a half hour before trying to follow and find the moose.
Upon arriving at the place where the moose had been when Helio shot, we found a blood trail but it soon disappeared. We attempted to follow the tracks but the whole area was a maze of moose tracks. We began quartering back and forth while moving away from the spot where the moose had been until we were about 300 yards from the spot.......no moose! Walking back to our starting point, we again began looking for any sign of the moose or where it had gone. As he was looking around, Helio saw what looked like the tips of an antler, he called to me and we walked over and found the moose. He had been lying in a depression in the ground that could not be seen until you were right on top of it. We had walked right by him a number of times. He was a very nice moose, not huge, but nice none-the-less.

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