Hunting Washington Forum

  I Decided to ride back to camp and get my cart and some other butchering items. When I got back, I got to work. It was crazy how big and heavy everything was. His hide was so thick and tough.  I managed to get all the meat off one side of him. By the time I’d got that done my back pain was back in full force. I was happy and thankful of how long the back lasted though. I got all the game bags of half the moose hanging in trees.  It was now 8:30 pm and had been dark for about 2 hrs. I’m not going to lie and say I never thought about the wolves that were howling that morning and the mystery roar that I heard the night before. LOL I let off a few courtesy shots every now and then while cutting him up. LOL
  That night Jake and Brian pulled into moose camp around 10:30pm. My brother Rowdy arrived at 7am. It felt like the ''over 50yr olds calvary'' had just shown up.  By 7:30 we were on our way back up to get the rest of the moose taken care of and get him packed out.

Nice Bull!

Fair amount of deck space, especially with the top down or off. The 8hp kicker does have electric start, but no power trim. The main engine is the 115/80hp 4 stroke.

   Thursday October 16th    day 16
Got up feeling pretty good. My back was definitely getting better.  My plan was to head for some clearcuts 3 miles back, check the cameras on the way. 
 About 50yards shy of my camera I see what must have been an epic bull fight. The gravel road was frozen, but still gauged up by hooves and there was tuffs of moose hair all over the place. This was right where I’d heard the bull grunt and walk off with a cow the morning before.  I hung there for about 20 minutes rubbing brush with the scapula bone from Derek’s archery Roosevelt 5x5 he’d shot a month earlier.
 I Checked the camera thinking I’d have a bunch of good pics, but unfortunately there wasn’t  anything at all. The camera was about 50yards from the fight and apparently they didn’t walk by it.
 I continued towards the clear cuts.  While glassing the first cut, I heard the wolves howling down the valley somewhere. After about an hour I moved on up the road to the next cut. Everything was really quiet, I didn’t see any deer or anything.  I felt like I was wasting my time and should be back watching that area near the bull  fight, but I hadn’t been all the way back to the last cut here and I figured I’d check that out before going back down and sitting on that stretch of road where the fight was.
   The farther I moved up the road the more moose scat and tracks I found. I parked my bike and decided to walk slowly the rest of the way.  Soon I started finding small trees that were tore up, so as I walked past these trees I would thrash them with the scapula bone. I kept this up as I continued along the road. 
  About halfway through one of the clear cuts was a small creek. When They logged it, they left a strip of timber along the creek that blocked site of the other side of the clear cut.   Before I went into the timber, I really tore into a tree that he had been rubbing with the scapula. Instantly I heard a grunt. He was getting closer with every grunt, so I got setup with my trekking poles right in the middle of the road. The tree line was about 35-40 yards from me and I was expecting him to walk through at any moment. That didn’t happen. Lol
 He decided to be difficult and hang up on the other side of the trees.  I had only one tool in my moose calling toolbox and that was the elk scapula. I decided my cow calling and grunting noises I attempted were horrible. I sucked at it and had no faith in them at all. LOL So I started rubbing the tree again and he started grunting again and getting closer. He was inside the trees now, I could actually hear his paddles sliding through the hemlock branches, but he just wouldn’t come out.  (Man, I wish I would have practiced bull grunting more during the summer.)  I felt like a kid getting ready to shoot my first buck…major adrenaline rush.  The fact that I hadn’t even seen him yet added to the anticipation. 
 This went on for about 20 minutes or so.  I hadn’t rubbed the tree since I heard his paddles sliding though the branches because I figured he was in a spot where he could see through and was looking for the bull messing with his trees. Then I felt the wind hit me in the back, (*censored*).  He went quiet, but I didn’t hear him walk away or anything. I wasn’t sure what to do at that point. I felt like I was blowing this deal big time.
 After another 10 minutes I figured I better do something. I got up and slowly headed toward the timber line. I was expecting to see him at any moment running away. I got through the timber and the creek (they dug out the culverts at all the crick crossings).  I didn’t see him anywhere. I was starting to think I missed a big opportunity. but was still pretty pumped about the cool experience.
  There was another freshly destroyed tree right next to me, so I raked it halfheartedly.  That was instantly answered with a loud crashing of trees and brush down about 70-90 yards in the clear cut.  The adrenalin was back on.  I still hadn’t seen him yet, but what I did see was a little intimidating. I saw a 6’’-8’’ diameter log about 15ft long fly through the air. He had hooked it with his antler and launched it.  Then I saw him finally, he had his head in a brush pile thrashing brush. (I’ll never forget that scene.)   I had My gun up waiting for him to turn broadside. When he did, I hit him twice in the left shoulder and a 3rd in high back rib and the 4th in the left back leg…. He went down.  I started putting another shell in, then he started getting up. Out of the Moose fever that was running rampant in me, I ejected the shell I had just put in the chamber LOL. I pulled another out of my pocket and shot him in the left paddle, I dug another out and I believe I hit him in the ear. He finally quit moving and I finally quit shooting.    Dam!!! LOL

    Turns out that the first shot was all that was needed, but I wasn’t taking any chances. I heard horror stories of bulls being shot and getting away into the thick stuff and not being found until days later or not at all.
  I’ll never forget walking up to him. He was so big! Awesome looking animal.  I just hung out there while checking him out and taking it all in.  The weather was awesome, there was no wind or rain, and it was dead silent.  From the first grunt until that moment was about 50 minutes.  The scene went from loud awesome chaos to dead calm quiet.   
After taking pictures, I sat down on a stump and tried sending a message out to my son Errett back home on the N-reach.  I was wishing that I had been paying closer attention when he ran me through how to use it before he left. On top of that I didn’t have glasses so I could barely see what I was typing. Finally, though I managed to get a message to him. BULL DOWN!  Within 10 minutes he responded that my brother, Jake and Brian were heading my way. That message was sent at 1:15pm.  They had a 6-1/2 hr drive, I wasn’t going to see anyone until late that night. 

Score!