Couple fat dump bears on the go this evening. Problem bears.
Skinny and cut up 3 bull caribou after supper before I started the bears. Busy day.

Nice grizzly Ryan and congratulations on the caribou !

A guy I met the other day went into his barn and came face to face with a grizzly about the same size .
Fortunately for it we can't shoot them yet as they're still listed as endangered .

Ryan when you have a bounty of meat like this do you guys have a format for bringing the extra to the Elders that can"t make it out anymore?

Elders are well taken care of during hunting season for sure. 3 caribou doesnt go far with a family like mine. A real bounty of meat is more like 8-12 caribou. I make sure my grandparents have full freezers before i think about filling my own.

Ill put it this way, for every 6 i get i keep 1. Ill take two moose at a time too when theres no caribou around. My mom has 9 sisters and i hunt for EVERYONE.

Sounds like a busy enjoyable time. Thanks for the pictures.

Ryan, getting to where your post are about all i really read in tman. This and the wilderness forum.

My boy.

Second day was a repeat of the first. 3 and 3. Bobby knocked the antler off a big bull the night before and I had to take over so when he got his chance for redemption on this young bull he made it right. Big smiles from the little hunter

Awesome!!! Tell him GREAT JOB!!! WTG

Great job! Love your posts.

Congratulations Ryan and Bobby for bringing home some good eating !

Bobby don't worry about knocking the horn off one everyone starting out had a bit of a stumble when starting out but you redeemed yourself very well !

Thank you for sharing with us !

Ryan and Bobby good job!

What is Bobby shooting ryan?

Tikka 223 with 4-12x40 diamondback HD

Nice,Thanks!

Really enjoy your posts. What is the processing like on caribou and what cuts? Ground, steaks, roasts, stew meat, etc.

Thanks. For caribou it’s All of the above plus we dry a lot of it. It’s not chewy like jerky (which we also make) but more dry and brittle I’d say. Dry meat is Really good when smoked too. I eat it with a little butter and seasoning salt but the old timers used to make grease by boiling the caribou bones for their drymeat topping. When my grandma was in good health she made use of everything from caribou. She used to make us trail grub with shredded over roasted meat mixed with small crispy fried cubes of caribou fat and sometimes fried marrow and/or cranberries depending on preference. Roll them into balls and freeze them. You could thaw it out in your inner parka pocket or throw them in a frying pan. Eat a couple and you’d get Crazy energy and stay warm on the coldest winter days.

This one here came to check us out when we were tagging char last week.
Curious young bull made us stop fishing for a bit. That happens from time to time. Crazy part is that I was looking for a bull about this size every day after work that week.

I’ve been with my grandparents the past two weeks and every weekend since mid July. Lots of family at home visiting my grandma right now.

Just me and Bobby are here right now from my own little clan so once we have our daily time with grandma we have been out cruising the delta just to see what we come across. No real high expectations but a gun for every opportunity and just a chance to get out and get our daily on the land therapy even if it’s just for the last 2-3 hours of daylight. Having fun calling out the moose but I’m in no hurry to shoot a greasy looking muddy bull right now.
Yesterday I called in a shooter young bull from across a big grassy lake.
Bobby and my cousin Pat were with me and I was going to get Pat to shoot his first moose. He came in to about 70-80 yards before he wind switched and he was all of a sudden directly downwind which made him come to a dead stop. There was a dip in the ground behind some high willows that didn’t make for a clear shot and then after about 10 minutes of quick glimpses he just disappeared without a sound. I had a quick chance for a neck shot but didn’t take it with the hope Pat still got his chance but it didn’t work out and we still came home with smiles on our faces along with a good story for the family and a little moose buzz to go along with it. Adrenaline level 5/10.

Todays adrenaline level was a bit higher. Maybe a lot higher depending on whether you ask me or bobby.

Me and Bobby were planning to leave a bit earlier today to first walk a couple long river bends for rabbits before letting out a few calls to see what might answer. We ended up waiting to eat supper first because it just smelled so good and I didn’t want to mistake my own stomach rumblings for distance moose grunts later on either. We ended up leaving at 7 not 4 o’clock like we thought we would all due to chicken Alfredo from scratch with Greek salad and garlic toast but I have no regrets. It was worth it.
Anyways. We didn’t waste time after that and hightailed it for a spot I used to hunt rabbits with my grandpa at. While I’m at home I’m finally having time to go and check out a lot of the places i think of daily but haven’t hunted in years. All the better having my son with me to see it all. I seen a couple rabbits from the boat but when we started walking we didn’t see any at all. The light rain and the start of fading daylight killed the rabbit hunt so we b lined back to the boat and skidaddled for a not too distant grassy lake I had in mind. Once the ark was landed and tied up we walked along the grassy creek to where the lake opens up. First bay was empty so we walked to the timbered point that allows looking at the first and second bay plus a grassy willow bar straight across. One of my favourite all time calling places. I was already grunting as we walked from the boat but now from this spot I let out the first 3 good cow calls and then waited. Quiet.
Tried a Couple bull grunts then waited. Quiet again.
We walked out about 20 yards into the open away from the trees. I didn’t remind Bobby to walk lightly because I wasn’t worried about breaking twigs and little driftwood on the ground. A lot of times it’s that exact noise that first lets you know a moose is around and my grandparents also used to say that noise alone can make a bull come running. I let out another good long cow call and almost immediately heard the first grunt. Pretty faint but no mistaking the deep grunt from further inland. Didn’t sound very close but he started coming our way grunting every now and then. Out of nowhere we heard another grunt behind us. Sounded closer than the other guy. Not really close but still seemed more likely we would see him first. Especially since he was going to come out of the willow bar and not the thick timber the first grunt came from which by the way was still getting closer as we all grunted back and forth like the rut crazed behemoths we are. Haha. Jk
I didn’t like our position in the open so we quietly slipped into the trees again and kept calling. Then I didn’t like the limited visibly in the trees so I decided to quickly get closer to the boat to avoid HAVING to shoot 1-2 bull moose as opposed to CHOOSING to shoot 1-2 bull moose.
The original grunt sounded big. Deep. Last I heard of him for a bit was a loud tree limb or deadfall snapping like a tooth pick. I put one in the chamber and put on the safety in case I needed 5 shots to do my best as the two bulls were closing in from either side. As we walked along at a quick pace it was very obvious that the second bull was really close now. Then the river came into view and I could see big riffles. Something had just swam across Loud grunts were getting closer as we reached the spot I knew would give me the best options for shooting and safety especially seeing that I wasn’t dead set on even getting a moose at all. I had a view of the river except for the closest 50-60 yards of the beach due to the terrain and curve of the river bend but the way the grunts were coming could only mean this bull was walking along the narrow muddy beach below the 14–15 foot river cutbank Meaning he would likely appear too close for comfort if he was looking for a fight and I really more than anything didn’t want to be forced to shoot a Rutting bull in the soft mud. The original grunter was quiet for a bit and didn’t show yet when all of a sudden we again heard it behind us. It had slipped through the narrow strip of timber across the first bay while the moose at the river had our attention and was behind us again.
“Dad, this is a little bit scary but soooo awesome” bobby whispered to me in a slightly shaky voice behind a half smile that I’ll never forget. No mistaking that adrenaline rush.
Mission accomplished for the day I thought so I said let’s get to the boat. I knew we might end up close to the swimmer but the boat was just right there. As we got to The last 20 or so feet from the boat and more of the beach came into view it was looking more and more like we were going to meet head on. Sure enough we stepped onto the beach at the same time the bull came into view at about 25-30 feet soaking wet and covered in mud. Not a monster but the way he licked his lips and grunted across a short span of open beach as water dripped from the bell below his swollen neck made him plenty big enough. I wasn’t worried. Adrenaline was going but I have a lot of confidence in myself and my 270 and i save the shakes for later. At least now I do but I haven’t forgotten the old bouts of buck fever.

Staring contest for the ages.
A standoff.
Neither side budging until the moose twitched and I slowly raised my gun to full aim and flicked the safety.

“Say when” I thought. A good line from one of my old favorite movies “Tombstone” with Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday.

Luckily for everyone involved the bull decided not to be our huckleberry and turned tail and jumped back in the river at about the same time a real cow started calling and took the original bulls attention off of us. I finally looked at bobby, who was standing at my 7 the whole time, and I saw again the unmistakable look of fear and excitement. He smiled at me and I Said “I know man. And now you know why I love calling moose.”
We hopped in the boat and got a few quick pictures as the bull swam back across the river. Once he got to the far shore we let him go on his way. I told Bobby now he knows what to expect when adrenaline hits. Got to learn to control it or that’s usually when mistakes can be made.
I’m glad he got the experience today and I’ll chalk that up as a success.

As we closed up the boat cover to start back to town I asked him “what were you thinking when that moose was staring at you?”

“Holy chit man” was his honest reply. Lol.




I think I’ll go calling again tomorrow and this time not leave my phone in my jacket at the boat again.

Awesome story. It gets the heart pumping when those big guys are mere steps away. I called up a hawg a week after the season last year, we had a standoff at a few yards. Good stuff!