Thunder Nugget!

SS!

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Snuck out with both the dogs to hit some local stuff. You’ve met Nugget but here is the newest member of the household, Thunder:

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He’s pitbull/lab/Australian cattle dog mix. And he loves to chew on antlers. The potential is there and today was his first big hike.

The spot we decided to go to was fringe winter habitat for moose. Living in a town of over 300k it’s a sure bet all the easy good stuff has been walked already. I had confidence this spot would have antler though as you have to hike up over the top and back down to get to the little 5 acre piece of moose browse. The dogs were excited and the hike was on:

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Love hiking ridge tops:

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Winter is hanging on and there was a lot of snow still where the antlers should be. Nevertheless we continued on and on the 2nd glassing spot I spotted a brown paddle in the bottom! We dropped down weaving around the snow where possible but busting through most of it. On the way down Nugget took off and pulled an old antler out of the snow. Antlers don’t last long here, the bears chew them up fast. All that was left was the brow and base. I was still very proud of Nugget!

We got to the antler I spotted and used it as a training session for Thunder:

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Small brown with great genetics! We will take it! It didn’t take long to find another brown but this one was bigger:

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With two antlers to match up the search began! Only 10 mins in I saw Nugget staring at me. I told him to go get the antler and he took off through the brush. When I caught up with him he was standing on the match to the first one:

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It was very hot so we went and chilled in the snow for a bit. Happy dogs:

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Thunder is making short work of the antler Nugget pulled out of the snow:
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We looked for a couple more hours but no more antlers found. Pretty sure the match to the one is under snow. We did spot a very nice antler for a different day and route. The way we came in to this spot was long and steep. You couldn’t beat the views but it took a lot of time. A message sent to the wife that I was going to miss dinner. No surprise on her end.

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Thats awesome!! Miss the shed hunting on elmendorf when I was stationed there. Got lucky not to run into any brown bears while going out alone. Think I was the only person crazy enough to do it on base. Did find a big 60+ set side by side one year they called grandpa.
 
Thats awesome!! Miss the shed hunting on elmendorf when I was stationed there. Got lucky not to run into any brown bears while going out alone. Think I was the only person crazy enough to do it on base. Did find a big 60+ set side by side one year they called grandpa.
That’s awesome! What years were you stationed here?
 
First time 2002-2006 and again 2009-2015 when we retired. Loved Alaska but the cost of living and crime in the valley helped in moving back to mtn home id.
 
First time 2002-2006 and again 2009-2015 when we retired. Loved Alaska but the cost of living and crime in the valley helped in moving back to mtn home id.
Nice! If you still have those moose sheds laying around send me a pic.

It sure is expensive living here. 100k a year isn’t what I would even call middle class...
 
Still got those sheds but they are serving as base on the shelf for all my elk brown singles. Think the original pics are on the wifes photo hard drive. The browtines on the one side are as big as a 2 yr bull here. Think one side weighed 22lbs and the other 23. Thats with a 4inches missing on the top of both paddles missing due to chewing. Found that brown set in sept while hare hunting so goes to show those guys dont last long in alaska.
 

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