Alaska DIY Moose Hunt

I am in the planning stages of Alaskan do it yourself mainly moose hunt. Any helpful tips would be appreciated especially if you have done this type of hunt. Thinking of maybe renting a skif and running the river banks type of hunt. Thanks for any advice.

Dwight I'm trying to plan a similar trip. I have been using onxmaps and the reg book to get an idea of what units I'm interested in then calling air taxis, rental companies ect. Given that there aren't many roads in Alaska my gut is telling me that any waterways you can put a skiff on you are going to see lots of other hunters unless you are willing to do a lot of driving up river.

My brother and I are also doing a drop camp for moose in AK this fall. I'd be interested to know if anyone has heard of butchers/processors that will air freight a lot of meat for cheap. I heard Remi Warren on a podcast say he got a whole moose back from AK for under $200. Anyone know a guy that can do that?

Good luck to you two guys!

You guys should brows previous threads. There are a bunch of them on planning moose hunts and logistics in AK.

A "skiff" as in ocean skiff? or do you mean a river boat? Not many rental places that I know of that rent river boats. Any river access with decent water, near/crossing the highway has as much traffic as the nearest ATV trail. YMMV. Most rivers are either glacial/silty full of log jambs or pretty shallow. Without prior knowledge you could be in for a rather torturous adventure.

Getting a whole moose back for $200, maybe just air freight for the meat. That would also depend on origin and destination, could be possible... A whole moose, would be 400+/-lbs cut/wrapped. Alaska Air cargo is about $0.50-0.75/lb from Anchorage/Fairbanks to many hubs down south. Getting it coordinated on both ends could be a bit tricky. You also have to get it to Anchorage/Fairbanks. Many of the larger villages have commercial flight services that will ship for about the same rate /lb.

Processing is pretty cheap here. $0.50-60/lb most places. Don't expect fast turn around and that price though. Expedited is usually about 2x as much. There are not a lot of processors, and when the season is going, they are slammed. Some have a 4-6 week processing time. They freeze it, then thaw and cut. So if your meat is not well cared for, it gets to marinate for a month before they trim it and clean it up for you.

There is a guy that runs a reefer truck back in September/Oct to a shipping hub somewhere in the midwest and he'll transport meat/antlers. I think he's pretty reasonable. I've seen him advertise on various message boards in the summer/fall.

D&C Expediters makes an antler run in October to Butte, MT. I think he gets $150 for a rack and maybe $250 for rack/cape? Haven't looked at his prices in a while.

If you want to piss a bunch of Alaskans off, just mention that you have a $5000 hunt budget, but can't afford $2-300 to get the meat home.

My plan is to ship my backpack full of gear home, check my rifle, then carry on a rolling suit case full of meat in trash bags and then as a personal item take on a yeti rambler. I figured I could get an entire caribou on this way. For a moose I might do the same and then pay extra baggage fees on a couple of extra coolers. Trying to end my hunt on a friday fly home on a sunday and find a person in fairbanks with a freezer I can put my meat in for a day to get it nice and cold.

I did a diy moose trip 2 years ago out of Galena.Transporter there will drop you back a hundred miles for a river float hunt.The guys that did that were VERY successful.I did a lake hunt and killed a nice moose.There is a driver that will pick up your meat/rack in either fairbanks or Anchorage and he goes as far east as eastern Ohio.I think he was only a few hundred.But,and a big but,it cost $900 to fly meat back to Galena and I think another grand to get it to fairbanks.So it was over 2k to get meat from bush to my home.I can help with any questions.Larry Bartlett is a good guy to get in touch with for raft rental

Yea that's a little bit of the same conclusion I'm coming to. Sounds fun but the hunting pressure is going to be high I believe

Great info I will definitely check into this!

Dwight M said:

I am in the planning stages of Alaskan do it yourself mainly moose hunt. Any helpful tips would be appreciated especially if you have done this type of hunt. Thinking of maybe renting a skif and running the river banks type of hunt. Thanks for any advice.

Click to expand...

Some units require packing out meat on bone including ribs,
"meat of the front quarters
and hindquarters must remain naturally attached
to the bone until the meat has been transported
from the field or is processed for human consumption,
and in Units 13, 21, 23, 24, and 25,
the edible meat of the ribs also must remain
naturally attached to the bone"
other transporters (super cubs) require all meat boned out.
Big difference in terms of packing weight and number of trips to pack out.

I recommend four items for any moose hunt not on the ridge tops:

1) rope winch with at least 100 yards of rope.
2) waders
3) plastic sled for working on quarters in waders.
4) mosquito repellent (mosquitoes can be dense on warm afternoons while butchering)


It is not unusual to shoot a bull and have him walk and die in water.
A bull can weigh over 1,000 pounds, so mass is something to consider.
My partner shot a bull that died in the middle of a lake, and we winched
him to shore using 2 rope come alongs.

I shot my bull alone and he died in knee deep water (marsh)
but I was able to butcher him solo in 4 hours
because I had a rope come along, waders and a plastic sled.

Most newbies are not patient enough and do not appreciate how much time it takes a
bull to respond to calling. I am a big fan of the 3-day calling strategy:
https://www.alaskaremote.com/my-3-day-strategy-for-moose-hunting-success

Most rivers are too crowded and noisy with boat traffic for my taste.
I haul a canoe and drag it over beaver dams to go up a smaller channel that is not accessible
by boat, then I hike in with a sled and backpack and find a hill to glass and call from for the next 3 days.

Older bulls typically circle downwind so I locate a hill I can call from with a lake or big meadow
downwind from my calling location.

There are ALOT of smaller streams you can have a transporter fly you to and float your way out.I would want to be at least 100 miles in and plan to hunt till season ends.I would spend ALOT of time going over maps and Google Earth for good stopping/calling points.Small lakes are plentiful and it would be worthwhile to hike into those to call from.There were no high points in my area to glass from,but plenty of good moose habitat around.I trimmed alot of meat off the hind quarters so they were manageable and the wardens had no problem with that.Moose dying in the water is a real problem,and almost a guarantee if you don't drop them quickly.That's their safe place and 1st place they run to when shot.I agreen 100% that some sort of wench/come along is a necessity.Along with waders,the best rain gear you can afford,and bug spray
It's an incredible trip and I think everyone that hunts should try it,but it's not easy in ALOT of ways.I'm so glad I did all 3 of my Alaska trips.I'm a firm believer in living your dreams,and don't want any regrets on my death bed

did you guys have any luck in Alaska?

No expert here, but I've done one DIY moose hunt using an outfitter that dropped us in a single location that we hunted from.

After some consideration, we decided that a float hunt is NOT the way to go. Besides crowded rivers and sandbars and more bears and beautiful scenery, it seems that you will spend more time rafting from one camp to the next, tearing it down and rebuilding it the next day. And after you shoot a moose, you have to pack and up pack and hang that every night too. You may spend more time moving camp that actually hunting.

I'm really glad we did the drop camp/no float trip. We are looking to do it again.

Anyone that got a WHOLE MOOSE back from AK for just $200 must be either really really old when $200 meant something or a bit of a tall tale expert. You can't turn around in Alaska but what it costs $200. Getting antlers back cost more than that.

I have heard of a guy that would drive from Anchorage to the central USA city or two where you would meet him to pick up your meat. He drove a semi with a reefer loaded with game, but it cost more than that, AND you had to get it to Anchorage (many hundreds more than likely) and a few other things. It was a nonstarter when I looked into for 2015.