Charles “Tate” Moots’ Alaskan Moose Hunt

Just off the Trident Glacier (south of Fairbanks, Alaska,) Charles “Tate” Moots hunt in the Land of the Midnight Sun was incomplete. Although Tate’s goal had been fulfilled, his father’s dream of a moose was not. So with a few extra days and a discounted rate, he headed back to Alaska.

“A friend of mine, a retired guy, worked out a deal with the outfitter,” said Moots. “So I sold a lot of my guns, got the ticket, and headed out to Alaska. I work for the government and will never be rich, so without this deal, I’d never be able to go on such an excursion.”

With the help of Alaskan outfitter Rick Kinmon, Tate and his party made their way back up the Trident Glacier to find a moose. Luckily they found more than one.

“We were pretty far out when we spotted the first legal moose,” explained Moots. “To be legal, the antlers must have a 4 by 4 brow tine or be at least 50 inches wide. The rack on this moose measured 54 inches with ten points on one side and eleven on the other. It was amazing.”

Using a DPMS rifle equipped with Hornady 338 RCM ammo, Leupold optics and Warne scope rings, Tate zeroed in and took the shot. After the party made their way down to the fallen moose, they were dumbfounded by the size of the beast.

“I laid down on the moose with my feet at his front hoofs and my head at his shoulders,” said Moots. “There was still a good foot and a half to his shoulder blades. That made him over seven feet tall at the shoulders or about twelve feet tall including the antlers.”

With the hunt complete, the tough part would be getting the harvest back home. Living by the credo of eating what he kills, he shipped the backstraps and hindquarters back home … leaving the rest for the locals. Now what to do with the rest.

“We cut the skull cap in half because it was so enormous,” explained Moots. “They folded them over each other in a 5 by 5 by 2 foot box and checked that at the airport. The ram horns I kept in my personal luggage … even though it almost put me over the 100 pound limit. The hide was prepped by an Alaskan taxidermy outfit and shipped back New Mexico. In 18 months, I’ll have a new half-life Dall Sheep and a shoulder mounted Moose for the wall. Then all I’ll have to do is find a place for them.”

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