jdurand

I am a new moose hunter heading to AK this year and I am trying to find a good resource to help in field judging; I don't want to make a mistake with this trip of a lifetime. Can anyone help? Thanks - JD

Howler

I assume that you will be with a guide, and he/she will be able to do the judging for you. If and when you see one over 60", you'll know it.
Good luck!! I went up there 2 years ago and got a nice one, big enough that I didn't need the guide to tell me "if" he was big or not!!

jdurand

Howler – Thanks for your help, as it turns out I am unguided and admittedly a bit frustrated with the lack of published information on the subject. The best I have found so far is what the AK fish and game have in the regulations. I am hoping to get a bit more educated than that. This issue for me is not whether it is a legal bull but is it the right legal bull.

I hope my luck is as good as yours and it will be an easy decision.

dayna0306

You can buy a video from alaska fish and game most likely you will be required to watch it depending on the unit.I hunted 17b twice for moose unguided shot a 58"er on the second trip my buddy got a 581/2" bull on the first one.Where you going,what unit and how are you getting there? I would learn to call, you can buy a video I bough on the net "love and thunder something",get back to me if I can help.

game4lunch

A lot of guidestry to use parts of the animal for judging size. For instance, a Moose's legscan beabout 6.5' long. So if thespread of the antlers are close to that, you may have a 60+ " Moose (5 feet!). Width would automatically come with huge paddles and lots of fingers. If the paddles aren't as long as say the Mooses face, then it would not be very big. Width from ear tip to ear tip (don't know inches) is another good measuring stick.
Good luck.

Howler

Funny thing is, on my trip, I told the guide I didn't care if my moose made the magical 60" or not, I set my goal at a/any legal moose. It just turned out, that one morning while the guide was cooking breakfast, I was sitting outside the tent glassing, when I spotted two bulls. One of them was still in velvet and small, the other was just out of velvet and turned out to be 65+"!!


You can still see the red from the shed velvet. By the way, this isn't the best way to carry large moose antlers. BUT, we didn't have to go through any brush. I was later told that the proper way to tie them on the pack is in the vertical position, so that they don't snag on branches/brush!!
Good luck. Awesome country and I can't wait to get back up there someday!!

dayna0306

Howler thats an awsomephoto and bull ,what unit were you in and did you see any carabou or bears tell us more about the hunt.My 3 tripes are the highlife of my hunting career , the 1st tripe I rented a suv in fairbanks and drove up to the tundra ,me and my buddy both shot nice carabou on the hunt, from Pa. for under $2000 what a deal.the potos are in my docunents on this computer how do I post them?

Howler

dayna, I can't remember the unit number, seems like 16 or 16A, BUT I can tell you we were 150 air miles west of Anchorage. We only saw about 10 caribou, one of which was a very nice bull that my buddy took. We saw around 10 black bear, but never took any of them, although we put the stalk on two of them, things just didn't work out to get them. Never saw any grizzly while hunting, but we saw them from the plane between camp and the lodge. We saw a total of 5 bull moose and 2 cow and one calf, one wolverine, several red fox, one wolf at a long distance.
Of the 5 bull moose that we saw, two others we legal! I ended up with just over 650#'s of boneless meat from my moose!!

KodiakArcher

I'd suggest looking at as many moose videos you can get your hands on. The best ones I've seen are "Love, Thunder and Bull I & II" and another called "Monster Moose". You may also find more info at these sites:
http://adfg.state.ak.us/
http://outdoorsdirectory.com