The trip into the Yukon bush had been long and hard. West Virginia to Toronto, then to Vancouver, then to Whitehorse, followed by a truck ride to base camp in the small town of Mayo, and, finally, an hour plane ride to the hunting site. What I didn’t know was that getting to my moose hunt was the easy part.

I have been an avid bowhunter for 28 years, hunting everything from deer to turkey, elk to bear. I am also an IBO Men’s Open Semi-Pro class shooter. But last September’s trip was definitely “The Hunt of a Lifetime."

It started months earlier when my boss and friend, Jay Swigart, came to me and said, “I want to go on a moose hunt.” He asked me to go along, and I took him up on it.

So on September 8, I arrived at the base camp of Jim Shockey's Hunting Adventures/Rugh River Outfitters, located in the northern area of the Yukon Territory. They don’t get many bowhunters; it’s such a big animal. But once you’re there, the Jim Shockey people do a heck of a job getting people into territory that’s so remote that no one hunts there, not even the locals. To our surprise, Jay and I each had our own guide and would be hunting 15 miles away from one another.

Hunting The Yukon

My guide was the very experienced, hard-hunting Chris Locke who, like all Yukon guides, completed rigorous guide training and licensing. First, moose are big and dangerous. Second, Canada respects its native peoples, who worship moose, so it’s a protected species in many ways. I was in good hands.

Our float plane landed in an undisturbed, remote area on the Stewart River. My home for the next week would be a canvas wall tent. Chris had already been there a week setting things up and scouting.

Thick timber stands as much as 60 feet tall, with thick undergrowth up to 14 feet high from the floor. With such short sight lines, you have to pay attention, as grizzlies can appear at any time.
The Yukon is amazing territory, and it dictates what you’re going to do from day to day. The Stewart river can fluctuate 4 feet in depth from one day to another, forming the “sloughs” where water backs up off main river and goes off into the bush—sometimes as far as two or three miles in. If the river isn’t high, then the slough dries up. The moose feed on the grass on the sandbars in the sloughs.

Elsewhere the terrain varies. Along the Stewart River you will see lots of debris piled against the 6-foot-steep banks. Over the river’s banks are marshy flats, thick timber, burned-out sections, and 300-foot cliffs. The marshy flats have open grassy areas and patches of thickets standing as tall as 10 feet. These flats can cover a 1-square-mile area or more.

As far as trees go, they call it the bush, not the woods. Everything is surrounded by tall trees, and you can’t see more than 30 to 40 yards. Thick timber stands as much as 60 feet tall, with thick undergrowth up to 14 feet high from the floor. With such short sight lines, you have to pay attention, as grizzlies can appear at any time. Once in the timber areas, you might hike upland 1,500 feet sometimes.

For bowhunters there are two ways to hunt moose. One method is to select a 3- or 4-square-mile area. Each day you set up and work a small portion of that area about two hours at a time. You make cow calls, then move 300 to 400 yards, set up, and repeat calling. Each day you work the same area doing three to four setups. During the pre rut, this will attract bulls.

The other method is a version of the spot & stalk approach. Without the range of a rifle, bowhunters must focus on smaller, thicker areas, like riverbanks or the slough banks. Moose are very curious animals, so you can float along thick areas making noise with your boat paddles, which very well could draw a curious bull.

Hunt Diary

“Home” for the river-based hunt was a well-stocked wall-tent camp that allowed easy access to miles of prime moose habitat.

Sunday