We offer three different types of self-guided hunts. Our most popular unguided moose hunt is our fixed-camp hunt. We drop you off on a stretch of river where we can take off and land with a full load. You set up your camp and hunt from that spot with a boat and motor. You can realistically hunt approximately a five-mile radius from that spot. There are a lot of oxbow lakes and sloughs off the river that are excellent hunting, and water is always close, making your packing much easier than carrying moose meat out long distances on your back. What makes this hunt popular is that you are in one spot long enough to find where the moose are frequenting and spend time hunting and calling them and figuring out their patterns. You also only have to set camp up one time. You can hunt until dark every night and come back to a comfortable camp. You can also leave camp at daylight without having to break down camp before you leave. The most important advantage is that we can land there during your hunt and pick up your moose. That is what we are famous for. Our service and ability to do more than just drop you off and pick you up.
The second type of hunt we offer is a float hunt. Many people insist on a float hunt. A float hunt starts at one point and ends at a designated point downriver. Between the two points, we are unable to land and check on you. The advantages of a float hunt are that you are able to hunt much more area and sometimes an area that is more remote and less hunted. The disadvantages are that you have to set up and breakdown camp several times, usually in the dark, and every time you stop, you must unload your moose from the raft and hang it up. We are not able to land and take out your moose when you kill it. You must haul it with you for the entire float, hanging it up every night. Moose floats are 60-120 river miles. Floats can be very rewarding, but you must be able to stop and hunt for a couple of days when you see good moose signs, not just float all the time, hoping to float up on a moose and kill it from the raft. But if you want to hunt this way, you must break camp in the dark and be floating in daylight; then float for only a couple of hours, camp during the day, and start floating again about 2 hrs. before dark and float until it’s too dark to shoot. Then set up camp in the dark. This is an excellent way to hunt, but it is not for everyone as it can be very physically challenging. We are happy to book whichever type of hunt you like and would be happy to discuss the pros and cons of both with you. These hunts are based on a minimum of two people and are on an 11-day schedule, with day 1 and day 11 being fly-in/out of the bush days and 9 full days of hunting.
Willow Air is doing a limited number of Extreme float moose hunts. Our normal float hunts are in very good areas, and by offering an Extreme float, I do not want anyone to get the idea that our normal floats are not remote. For the most part, they are just as productive, if not more productive, than our Extreme floats. What makes these Extreme floats different is they are extremely long float that requires two extra days to complete. All floats are much harder than our boat and motor fixed camp hunts due to the fact you are constantly moving camp, and you have to get to a pickup point before we can pick up your moose. This Extreme hunt is even more difficult. You might experience very low water levels that require unloading a raft to get through some low spots, plus it is just an extremely long float that requires extra days to complete. Either way, you must be in good physical condition for this hunt and be able to work hard. These hunts have been very productive, with around an 80% success rate. All our normal hunts are 11 days with 9 days of hunting, but these extreme hunts are a couple of days longer due to the logistics of these locations. When you get closer to your pickup point, you could see someone, but by then, you should have your moose and be done hunting. This is truly one of, if not the best, self-guided moose hunts in Alaska, but with the remoteness and the logistics of getting in and out, it is a very expensive area for us to do, especially if we keep the hunters to a minimum. There are also black bears, wolves, and wolverines in the area.
