Alaska Man Monday - Moose Buggies and Fat Bears

Of the many ways Alaska is different than places like Arizona or Florida is our climate, which even in mid-summer is cool and wet. In moose season, it’s apt to be downright boggy in lots of prime moose habitat, which can make hauling a half-ton of moose meat out of the bush downright challenging.

That’s where Alaskans resort to something different in regards to transport: The moose buggy.

Moose buggies!

In Alaska, we take moose hunting seriously. Up here, many families still don’t buy meat from the store and moose meat is an important staple of our daily diet. But Alaska is vast, and getting a moose out of the backcountry can be a ton of work. When you kill a bull, it’s often in a remote area, and the terrain makes access extremely challenging. But that doesn’t dissuade moose hunters. To hunt and fish in Alaska you need a creative mind and some know-how. For decades, folks here have combined their creative and industrial talents to build out their own moose hunting rigs. Although ATVs and UTVs are more capable than ever, some hunters go the extra mile to engineer machines that perfectly fit their needs.

Most folks rely on boats or ATVs, and for the latter, a thing made of stainless steel and called a “meat trailer” is often pressed into use. But you just don’t get much more Alaskan than a moose buggy.

Alaska Man score: 5 moose nuggets for creativity.

But there is some sad news this week as well. We look forward every year to Fat Bear Week, this year’s event was delayed by a sad but natural event – one of the contestants ate a member of the competition.

Fat Bear Week was delayed after a bear was killed on camera.

In a shocking live broadcast, one of Katmai National Park’s celebrity bears killed another — just before the start of Fat Bear Week. Viewers from all over the world watched via the live nature cam network explore.org.
The attack took place at the mouth of the Brooks River at roughly 9:30 a.m. Monday. Video footage shows bear number 469 attacking bear number 402 and apparently drowning her after a struggle. He then dragged her body to shore, presumably to eat.

No score on this one, as it’s just sad. But Fat Bear Week carries on:

Fat Bear Week voting begins.

Organizers introduced this year’s contestants on Tuesday — a day late — because one anticipated participant, a female known as Bear 402, was killed by a male bear during a fight on Monday. Cameras set up in the park to livestream footage of the bears all summer captured the killing, as they also captured a male bear killing a cub that slipped over the waterfall in late July.
“National parks like Katmai protect not only the wonders of nature, but also the harsh realities,” park spokesperson Matt Johnson said in a statement. “Each bear seen on the webcams is competing with others to survive.”

The world may be troubled in any number of ways; wars, poverty, disease, overbearing governments. But in Alaska, we have fat bears, and we are forever grateful for that much.

Alaska Man score: five moose nuggets for carrying on with this proud Alaska tradition.

We also have moose.

‘Dang it, moose': Young boy in Alaska is adorably angry after moose eats his pumpkin https://t.co/LFchAgmLA5 via @ABC
— Ward Clark (@TheGreatLander) October 4, 2024