Soooooooo, I’ve spent the last few mornings and evenings chasing the elusive Kenai Peninsula moose. So far with just a half-hearted attempt at hunting due to current regulations of spike/fork, four brow tines or over 50 inches or two penises, on a roaring wheeler, not far off the beaten path I’ve seen five bulls and various cows and calves. That includes one 30-inch to 40-inch ish, one spike/fork but the spike had a bump on it so I let it walk and three large bulls somewhere between 48 inches and 52 inches.
Yep, there’s a question in here. How in the holy heap of Aunt Martha’s undergarments is anybody supposed to distinguish the difference between a 48- and a 52-inch moose at 200 yards with your heart pounding and looking through a hole the size of a quarter?
For that matter, try counting brow tines at that distance through a scope. They could have five tines on each side and one growing out their butt and you couldn’t tell it on a bet.
Folks, I come from a long list of homesteaders. My grandparents came here in 1956. My father has lived here nearly 60 years. I’ve lived here for 45. There are more moose here now than I’ve ever seen before. I have anywhere from three to five that sleep in my yard on any given night. There is no shortage of moose on the peninsula. Again, I saw five bulls in just a little bit of looking while riding a roaring four-wheeler. It’s like dodge ball trying to drive anywhere at night around here and rarely can I go to town without seeing residual moose splatter on the road somewhere.
The rules are ridiculous. If the rule guy wants to regulate and conserve in a positive manner let us shoot whatever we want with horns every other year or something reasonable like that. There are a lot of people that count on a moose every year to subsidize their budget and feed their family.
We don’t live here year round because we love break-up and 30 below zero in January. We live here year round for the summers and freedom that Alaska has to offer. Otherwise most of us would be golfing in January somewhere else, not freezing our butts off to remain Alaska residents to enjoy what it has to offer including successful hunting and fishing with a somewhat reasonable expectation of success and somewhat intelligent regulations by our rule guys and elected officials.
Crash Davis
