Well, the final fur chase each season for me is springtime rat hunting,... and if there's something more enjoyable than, I don't know what it is. Even as a kid,... there was nothing better on this side of heaven than to have Dean Wilson show at our place and say,... "Hey Dave,... grab your rifle & let's go rat hunting,..." I'd about pee in my pants I'd be so excited,... it's a wonder I ever hit anything. I don't live in any good rat country, so I have to go somewhere else to find much of anything,... but spending a calm, beautiful night going after muskrats is something that I haven't grown out of,... even after more than 40 years of chasing them around,...

As soon as the ice goes out is the time to start,... even before it's all gone. Some of the places I go have snow & ice right to the end of the season in June,...

There's all kinds of other things to run into as well while rat hunting,... from birds to bears,...

and beavers to moose,...

It can still be kinda cold on the clear-calm nights,... but everything comes to life then, while most people are missing all this,...

The worst thing about rat hunting in the spring is that when this is over,.. it really is all over,... so now I have to figure out to kill off the next 4 months of mud, mosquitos, & motorhomes as fast as possible,... until the next season of gathering fur can start again,...

Truely an amazing experience! Thanks for sharing it with us!

Great pics Dave. That does look like fun. Have ya figured out what you are gonna do for the summer?

Really nice ! It even made the bugs go away while I looked at the pix.

Great pics, thanks for sharing

It looks like a fun time for sure

Awesome pics, thanks for sharing.

Looks like a blast how do you like the mokai?

Awesome sharing as usual Dave. What fun!

Dang that rig looks fun, is there a dealer for them in Alaska? Nice Job Scrat hunting!

Thanks JR,.. yours are great too. Looks like I'm gonna be running a landing craft up in the Arctic Ocean here in a couple weeks doing some exploratory/seismograph mapping of some unknown areas of the ocean for possible future oil/gas production. I still get calls every day about halibut fishing,... and kinda feel like a lost puppy now,... but this should be a new adventure doing/seeing stuff I've never done before.

This is the coolest rat-hunting buggy they've ever come up with. I can go up the smallest creeks, too narrow & brushy for anything else, including airboats. If you come to a log jam or a beaver dam,.. you just drag it up & over & keep going. I used to hunt with canoes years ago,... but this Mokai lets me cover a whole lot more area now, and cheaper than paddling. On a typical night, running from around 9pm - 6am, I usually burn maybe 2 quarts of gas. I'd have to spend more on sandwiches & candy bars & energy drinks paddling all night than this thing uses in gas. It only tops out around 13-14mph,... but that's fast enough for what I need. It doesn't have a whole lot of room for carring much stuff, but the tub I have strapped to the back will hold about 35 rats, which is about as good as I could do in a night in my areas anyway. Or, you can tow a canoe or pack-raft if you want to carry more stuff. I towed/drug 2 bull caribou last fall for several miles with the thing no problem. You can pull the engine out in less than a minute, with no tools, if you'd need to for some reason. Very tough plastic hull,... very simple, very dependable,... only issue that can be a hassle at times, is like with any other jet boat, you have to stay out of the weeds,.. it'll plug the intake grate,... but in clear/rocky bottoms, it'll run in about 4" of water. And of course, it's fine in big rivers & even on the saltwater if you pick your days. No Mokai dealers anywhere,... you have to get them from the factory direct, unless you can find a used one. www.mokai.com

Thanks for sharing!

Way cool, those are some great pics, I especially like the one towing the caribou. Are they more stable than a standard kayak?

when i see stuff like yours that truely is amazing and beatiful . i know why i love checking out t man . WOW! thanks for sharing. that is one cool boat and way to hunt. now i have to google that boat and tosina and to see where in the state that is. our muskrat are few and disapointing here. yours look much better. and no i won t be competing , just curious.

What do you have for a motor in that boat of yours

I have been looking into them since seeing this thread, the pull start model has a 6hp Honda and the new electric start model has a 7hp subaru.

I see one on anchorage craigslist for 2500, be cool but budget won't allow for now. After seeing this i am interested in one. How was the shipping to anchorage? I think it'll be cool for looking around where my prop would not get to. i have some places i really wanna check out sometime. Also be cool to be the only one around with one :-)