On first day as Alaska resident, man shoots moose in driveway and plans to return home to California with trophy

Palmer resident Duane Poseur, who harvested a bull moose in his driveway on September 1 on his first day as an official Alaska resident, plans to return home to California after fulfilling his Alaska hunting dream.

According to neighbors who witnessed the event, Poseur dispatched the moose with 17 shots from an AR-15: one in the lower gut, one in the rear hindquarters, one on the rear right hoof, the remaining 14 shots missing the animal.

When Poseur arrived in the Mat-Su valley 365 days ago from Chico, California, he knew he was in for a long, cold winter.  He arrived on August 31, one day before the opening of the general season for moose in the area. 

He suffered through a full year of unemployment and separation from his wife while awaiting his Alaska resident status, and exactly one year later on September 1, Poseur harvested a bull moose munching on his wheatgrass crop in the backyard garden.

“I went from having two taco trucks and a boba shop just around the corner on my block back home, to having to drive six miles through the snow just to get to the grocery store,” he said during an interview on his back porch, a U-Haul truck partially filled nearby.
“It was all worth it though. I didn’t even have to put my pants on to take down that swamp donkey. He’s gonna look good on the rec room wall above the pool table.”

When reporters arrived to Poseur’s home, the dead moose lay in the driveway without further processing. Poseur said he just called a local hunting guide on Yelp who was en route to process the animal for him.

Poseur plans to depart Alaska before the roads get too snowy, having completed his one-year contract as a political campaign consultant and reality TV show producer.

Neighbors are encouraged to come pick up meat from the animal, as Poseur is primarily interested in the head mount. Neighbors may not take back straps or tenderloins though; those are prime and not for sharing, Poseur said. However, when pressed, he could not identify where on the moose these cuts were located.