Alaska moose huge in every way

The moose commonly seen around Spokane and Coeur d’Alene are big, but they’re shadows to the Alaska moose that stand 6 feet tall at the shoulder.

One of the biggest bull moose killed by a hunter in Alaska this year is nothing short of huge in every way, with a total weight of more than 1,500 pounds.

It’s rare for a hunter to make Alaska’s 60-Inch Club, but Israel Payton’s bull had antlers measuring 80 inches wide in the field.

“This moose is among the biggest reported in Alaska,” writes Sam Friedman of the Fairbanks News-Miner.

The Wasilla, Alaska, hunter shot the bull with a 7mm Remington magnum, the same rifle cartridge he uses for hunting all of Alaska’s big game species.

Payton estimates the moose yielded 700-800 pounds of meat. The antlers and skull alone weighed 105 pounds. While the antlers were 80 inches across in the field, they’ve since shrunk to just less than 80 inches as they’ve dried, he said.

One way to compare this moose with past moose is by using the formulas used by the Safari Club International or the Boone and Crockett Club. Payton said he hasn’t decided whether he’ll enter the moose for consideration in the record books.

“(The rack) has it all, 80 inches wide, long and wide palms, and just enough junk. It is a couple inches thick in some areas of the palms!” said Wasilla hunting guide Aaron Bloomquist.

“I have been in the same room with Nos. 1-3 B&C (the top-scored Boone and Crockett moose) over the years and none of them come close to impressing like this thing!”

But by Alaska standards, Friedman said the only thing certain about Payton’s moose it that it’s sure to inspire a winter full of debate about how this moose compares with moose of past seasons.