Hunting ministik lake bird sanctuary
Well I’m glad I saw you’re going to Ministik, I hunted moose for over 20 days in there just last season. For starters, I’ll say this- during archery season you will be one of the very few people in there, I spent almost all my days in there during archery.. The first day of rifle season, you’ll be one of maaaaany people in there- and the whole ATV rules are total BS. I chose to hunt moose at ministik last year because I wanted to hunt somewhere that was foot access only and close to the city. Well I Soon learned that foot access only is only just a guideline. It’s also not enforced by F&W as they do not have jurisdiction in there, it’s regulated by the county and the county also doesn’t enforce it. I was told by F&W and the county that “it’s ok to take a quad in there to retrieve your downed animal”..... well that’s certainly interpreted differently by different folks. Like I mean it only is a disadvantage for everyone who hasn’t got an animal and who actually wants to entirely hunt on foot. A couple weeks into rifle season and the trails are all hammered out by ATVs. I had multiple trail camera pictures of guys on quads, sometimes dragging animals out and sometimes just riding around with buddies. So that’s that...
Secondly, there’s lots of nice animals in there, and it’s a nice place to hunt. There are some places you can’t get atvs into and that’s where I eventually got my moose after 3 days during November, but like mentioned above, getting a moose out of these areas is no easy task. It took me and two friends several Hours to get mine back to the truck, we completely broke it down on the ground, used two jet sleds and one frame pack. In one gruelling trip over deadfall, up and down banks- we earned every inch. It was a lot of fun and an awesome adventure.
Like all hunting trips, you learn more than anything else. Mostly about yourself and the areas you venture into, but also the good the bad and the ugly. Hopefully I’ve shed some light on what to expect as I google searched my face off for info on ministik and no where did I find information on the reality that I found myself in on November 1st 2019.
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