A Northern Yukon moose hunt is a dream that dates back 30 years looking through hunting magazines with my uncle, Elmo. Having grown up in a hunting family, I learned early on what an amazing gift nature provided. Hunting and the outdoors have always provided an escape from everyday life that can heal any soul.
Over a decade ago, I met who would become a very good friend, Logan Young. His family owned and operated Midnight Sun Outfitting in the Yukon. It didn’t take long to realize our passion for the outdoors would eventually bring us together for many epic adventures up north. However, this was the year I had been anticipating for so long. I finally had the time and resources to book a combo hunt with Logan’s family and couldn’t have been more excited for August to roll around. In anticipation for the hunt, my bags were packed and my rifle was zeroed well before our departure.
Upon arriving in Dawson City, we met up with Logan and toured the area, learning much about the rich history in the gold industry. This is when I was made aware of a bull moose that we later named “Goliath” who had been seen several miles from base the day prior. After seeing a distant picture of this amazing animal through a spotting scope lens, there was no hesitation when deciding to dedicate my entire hunt to this bull or go home empty-handed.
The following day, we made our way up to Mayo where the next leg of our journey would be via floatplane into base camp. The flight in was quiet, and then it was game time. We were going to put in every effort needed to reach the mountain range Goliath had been spotted in days before.
Immediately after dropping into camp, we started consolidating packs for what we expected to be many days in the backcountry on horses, trying to get eyes on this massive bull. With such long days in the Yukon, we had a full afternoon to make headway and wanted to get up to where Goliath had been spotted as these bulls were starting to show signs of pre-rut and would undoubtedly start moving more after shedding their velvet. The crew saddled up the horses, and after a good meal, we set out on the trail. After several hours on horseback and the sun quickly fading, we made it within only a couple miles of where this bull had been previously spotted. It was time to get off the horses and start glassing the endless brush-filled valleys and steep slopes that spread as far as the eye could see.
It wasn’t long before we spotted a great bull down in a swampy bottom and my heart started racing. “Is it him?” After looking him over, we realized that although this was a world-class bull anyone would be happy to harvest, it wasn’t our Goliath. Everything in me wanted to pursue this amazing bull as it was larger than anything I had seen. I had to stay strong and remind myself we were on a mission for a specific bull and could not settle. We passed on this bull and continued making our way into what ended up being the start of our epic encounter with Goliath.
After trekking close to four miles on foot, tirelessly glassing the area where our bull had previously been seen, my guide, Arlis, spotted what looked like a really good bull about half a mile down the drainage. As fate would have it, we soon realized that it was Goliath. Not only was it him, but there was another bull we thought to be well over 60". With less than an hour of daylight, it was time to make our move. As our crew closed the distance, the bulls continued to work downstream away from us. We could not get close enough for an ethical shot before losing daylight. We decided it was best to back out and come back early the next morning.
With the weather closing in, it was getting extremely cold, so we opted to hike back to the horses and make our way back to basecamp for a couple good hours of sleep, hoping and praying this big bull would still be around the following day. We finally reached camp at around 2 a.m., filled our bellies, and bedded down knowing the next day was going to be a physically demanding, emotionally driven day to close the distance.
The next morning came without much sleep, and we were all chomping at the bit to get back on the trail to see if we could put it all together. After a little breakfast, we got the horses saddled up and hit the trail. The journey in to where we had seen Goliath the day before seemed so much longer as the anticipation continued to build, but we finally made it in. It didn’t take long to realize the bulls were either bedded in the endless brush below or had moved off to another area. After glassing for well over six hours, our wrangler, Jaycee, spotted a massive bull in the distance that had finally got up out of his bed. It was the bull we had seen the night prior with Goliath! In our minds, it was only a matter of time before our target bull followed suit and got up for a late afternoon graze. After what seemed like hours, we spotted two other moose close by, a cow and a young bull. Still no Goliath. Then another cow, still no Goliath. We were starting to lose hope thinking the massive, old bull had moved on when out of nowhere he stood up between all of the others. It was time to make our move.
Having so many other moose around him, it made the stalk extremely difficult. I knew that we had one chance to make it come together, and against everything, my racing heart was telling me I needed to calm down and make a slow, methodical stalk in. It took about three hours to work our way down the mountain range to get into position, and at only 400 yards and darkness approaching, it was time. It seemed that every moose around our bull presented shot after shot, but Goliath continued to hold back in the thick brush where we only caught glimpses of his massive horns.
With less than 30 minutes of shooting light, he was finally making his way to a small opening where I would be able to get a clear shot. As he approached, I set up for the shot. With so many variables running though my head, it was difficult to maintain calm. He finally walked into the opening, and I squeezed off. The shot hit its mark, and Goliath was noticeably hit but working away from us. I chambered another round and sent it. A second hit. The bull went down! The whole team erupted with so much excitement and a huge sigh of relief, but we had to gather ourselves and quickly decide how to make our way down through the thick brush to locate him before it was too dark to see.
While everyone else stayed back to keep an eye on what we knew was bull-of-a-lifetime, Arlis and I made way down to where the bull was thought to be. Everything looks so different when dropping into the endless swamps and 15' brush thick enough to lose a school bus. We had separated to cover more ground, and when I heard a yell coming from my left, I knew Arlis had stumbled across my bull. We met up only 50 yards from where this massive bull was, and everything inside me wanted to run over to get my hands on Goliath, but we opted to wait for the rest of the team and approach him together. It was a team effort from the start, and I wanted to share it with the amazing people around me. After about 45 minutes, the crew made it down to our location where there were many hugs and high fives.
As we approached my bull, it was so much more than I ever could have expected. The horns were incredibly large, but the body on this bull was like nothing I had ever walked up on before. The amazing white marbling throughout his massive velvet horns, the front brow palmation that seemed to never end, and so much more that made this animal, this harvest so special, so unique.
There were many tears of relief, laughs, and bonds formed for life that evening. It’s a memory that can and will never be replaced or replicated. It was close to 3 a.m. before we had Goliath field dressed and ready to start processing off the bone for saddle packs. Being so far from camp, we decided to sleep under the stars next to him for a couple hours and await the troops the following morning with pack horses. I’m not sure any meal has ever tasted better than the fresh moose meat over an open fire that night, looking up at the stars and thanking God for what had turned out to be one of the most incredible hunting journeys in a lifetime of hunting. I’m so thankful to have shared this experience with my amazing girlfriend, Hannah, lifetime friend and cameraman, Drew, and the unparalleled crew up at Midnight Sun Outfitters.
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