Mother and Daughter Musk Ox

Every year around mid- February, my husband Pete, daughter Nicole (13), son Michael (12) and I anxiously anticipate the results of the Alaska big game hunting draw. One of the tags I put in for was a fall musk ox hunt on Nunivak Island, Alaska. My husband wanted me to put in for the spring tag, which he had hunted about 20 years ago, but I prefer a little warmer weather than minus-50F! When the draw results came out, I was ecstatic that I drew the tag! In addition to that tag, our family of four drew 10 other big game tags. As a family, we were on cloud nine. And knowing this type of situation was once in a lifetime, we made our new mission for the year to be successful on each hunt.

Planning for 11 hunts that are mostly compacted into a two-month window is difficult, but when you work together, it is achievable. We started taking Nicole and Michael hunting when they were just 2 years old. They both have a strong foundation relative to Fair Chase, firearm safety, equipment care and the ability to harvest meat for survival.

In August, the state of Alaska’s data on musk ox revealed a larger than normal population on Nunivak, and 15 additional tags were given out. My daughter, Nicole, was one of the lucky recipients. This gave the family a very unusual draw of 11 tags to fill! She was very excited about the draw and relieved it was not the spring tag during freezing cold temperatures! With three of our hunts completed by mid-September (my son Michael’s goat, caribou and Nicole’s moose), we started to plan the musk ox hunt. Nicole and I spent time studying musk ox to ensure we harvested bulls and not cows (cows also grow horns).

Our garage turns into a full-on hunting planning room in the fall, with each of us having our piles of gear. The kids are well-versed in making sure they have their own gear, equipment and food (Mountain House chili mac, here we come!) sorted out. On September 25, 2018, my birthday, we took off from Soldotna, Alaska, to the small village of Mekoryuk, Alaska, on the island of Nunivak. Due to no hotels or services in the village, this tag requires that you hire a transporter to get into the field. They also offer room and board every day, but we chose to make our own base camp in the field to be closer to the game. When we arrived at our transporter’s house, who also transported my husband on the spring hunt 20 years ago, his lovely wife fed us a warm dinner before we loaded up the four-wheelers and headed out.

It was late evening when we were dropped off at the base of a mountain to set up camp. We were about eight miles away from the town’s airstrip, in beautiful tundra with vast flat distances and rolling hills. We set up our four-man Big Agnes tent, cozied up in our sleeping bags and discussed the plan for the next day. With the four of us in a tent, we always have lots of laughs and talks bringing us closer together.

We woke up to a crisp, clear cold morning, had a nice, hot breakfast and loaded up our packs to start the hike. We went up and over the mountain behind our camp and glassed into a deep valley for a few hours. Seeing nothing, we side-hilled the back side of the mountain and glassed the expanse of tundra ahead. The distance perspective changes a lot when glassing across vast distances. Things seem a lot closer, but they end up being miles away. We continued our walk without seeing any game; the majority of the five miles had been through a boggy swamp. Finally, I spotted a group of five or six musk ox that were out of range but seemed to be only a few miles away. After putting the scope on them, it was clear there was at least one bull in the herd. It was late in the afternoon, but we felt good on time, so we made the decision to go after them.

Home away from home.

We walked and walked…and walked some more, weaving in and out of the bogs. The weather turned warm and sunny, and the musk ox were still in sight. We were not giving up. As we got closer, Nicole stepped right into a deep hole of water that looked like every other step of bog covered with tundra. Of course, being a mom, I went right in after her! Pete and Michael turned around thinking we both had decided to go swimming for fun. They fished us out, and thankfully we had a few blessings on our side—nice, sunny weather, light wind, and we were prepared. We took a break to dry out, swap some clothing, have lunch and watch the musk ox. Nicole was a total trooper and insisted we keep moving ahead!

We had walked in about six miles at this point, and dusk was approaching. The musk ox were moving and grazing slowly, but we realized they were further away than we thought. We still did not want to pass up the opportunity.

Looking at the overall picture, we decided as a family that we know our landmarks and where we are at, we have a sat phone, and there are no predators to be concerned about. We decided that if it was after 5:30 p.m. and we had not harvested a bull, we would go back to camp.

We continued the trek for another few miles through swamp and stalked the group of musk ox. Nicole and I had a deal that if she liked the first bull spotted, she would shoot first. Well, she liked the size of the bull she spotted! Nicole, carrying her favorite rifle, which happens to be mine, a 7mm Winchester Short Mag., fell in behind her dad for the stalk. She pulled up on the musk ox using a bog pod and waited until he started to turn.

At 5:00 p.m. September 26, 2018, Nicole harvested her first musk ox. Before we could all get excited about the beauty of the animal, one problem messed up the whole rest of the day, and even the rest of the year for Pete. After shooting the musk ox, he ran following a cow, and we saw water splash up. Just behind the herd of musk ox, was the Mekoryuk River, the only river on Nunivak Island. Pete and Michael went to make sure the animal was dead while Nicole and I gathered all the packs. They found the musk ox in the deepest part of the very shallow river. Its horn was lodged under a large rock, making the animal difficult to get out of the water.

Before we could all get excited about the beauty of the animal, one problem messed up the whole rest of the day, and even the rest of the year for Pete.

We struggled to get the musk ox out. We were very cautious about getting wet since we were about eight miles away from our camp. Pete stood on a rock above the animal’s head and tied some thick parachute cord around the exposed horn. Michael and I were on the bank pulling on the parachute cord, while Pete tried to get the horn free. Nicole went to the rock bar in the middle of the river and started to purify water for our four water bottles. Suddenly, the cord snapped, and Pete went flying into the river. He landed on his side, thankfully in the shallow area of the river. We waited for a few minutes as he grimaced in pain and then told us that he thought he tore his ACL. As a former college wrestler with a few knee surgeries under his belt already, he was pretty sure what had gone wrong.

Our family has a wall of family rules and two came to mind at that moment: “Work hard—then harder,” and “Can’t get ‘er, can’t stay.” With those rules in mind, we wrapped his knee up (Duct tape to the rescue), and even though it was tough, we pulled the body of the musk ox out of the river, and onto the rock bar. At that moment we thanked God for a few things: a huge musk ox bull, no bears on Nunivak Island, duct tape, trusty walking sticks and a tough family! It was about 6:30 p.m. when we decided to get walking. The weather was cooling off quickly, but there were stars in the clear sky making the walk a little brighter.

Since we did not walk in straight on the hunt due to the bogs, it was difficult to navigate our way back. Using our GPS and landmarks, we made it back to camp at 10:00 pm. At camp, we purified water, got some ibuprofen in Pete, and called our transporter to tell him the situation. He arrived the next morning with his wife and drove us as close to the musk ox as he could until his rig died. We spent the day skinning and dealing with the meat while the transporter tried to get parts into the field to fix his rig. The day turned to night and with it came heavy rain and wind. We left the meat and hide in the rig and walked back to camp through the muddy bog. The transporter went back to town and we hunkered down in our tent for the night.

After getting her musk ox out of the river, Nicole was able to admire her hard work. Her musk ox scores 107 points.

The next morning, the transporter and Pete went to retrieve Nicole’s musk ox. The kids and I spent the morning picking gallons of the biggest crowberries you’ve ever seen. In late afternoon, we could see a wheeler coming in from the field at a faster-than-normal pace. In my mind, I knew Pete had spotted another musk ox. Before he even got close, I had my binos and rifle ready and told the kids to stay put. I got on the back of the wheeler and sure enough Pete had spotted a huge lone bull coming up the ridge of the mountain behind our camp. We drove a ways, bailed off and started up the mountain. Pete was in pain and a bit behind me, but kept on going (wrestlers never quit!). As I got close to the top, the wind was sweeping over the ridge in steady gusts at about 30 mph, but the bull had crested the top and was walking along the ridge. I made a shot and the bull was hit well, but started to run. Pete was ranging my shot behind me as I stalked the bull. After careful and quiet stalking, about a mile over the other side of the mountain, the bull had stopped, I placed another shot and the bull dropped.

We thanked God for another amazing and successful hunt and headed back over the mountain to get the kids. Both Nicole and Michael are excellent at taking care of game and of course helping mom with hers! The transporter and his wife had arrived at our camp when we were gone and asked if they could take Nicole back to the village. She went with them while Michael, Pete and I headed back to the musk ox to start the cleaning process. It was late evening by the time we had the animal skinned and quartered. Back to a nice cozy tent, some Mountain House and sleep.

Tanya, Pete, and Michael pause and reflect with Tanya's musk ox after a successful trip for the whole family. Her musk ox scores 108 points.

The transporter arrived again the next morning and took us back to the village with our second trophy and our gear. We spent the day ogling over our trophies, fleshing hides and taking care of the horns. Nicole and I could hardly believe that we both came out with potential B&C bulls. When we initially scored the bulls, we knew they were possible book bulls. Regardless of that, we were both thankful for the opportunity and the meat we harvested.

To this day, we all talk about the lessons we learned on that hunt, and teamwork that made it possible. We thank God for the opportunity he gave and each other for the support during the hunt, particularly with Pete’s injury, which did require surgery. No one gave up. Nicole and I are honored to be listed in the 31st Big Game Awards Book, and to share our story with B&C readers. As a side note, we successfully filled nine of the eleven tags (one was canceled). Nicole, Pete, and I each harvested beautiful Kodiak Island brown bears and Nicole a nice bull moose! In addition to his caribou and goat, Michael also harvested a beautiful bison. It was an amazing and blessed year for this family.