I was able to get back to the 49 at 2 am on the 25th Nov. We caught about 3 hrs of sleep, had a quick breakfast and set up camp. I got my camper off the truck, got it leveled, loaded the quad in the back of the truck and gathered all my gear by 9 am. I was hunting with my good friend Deano and my huntin partner of 27 years, my wife Shelley. The first order of business was to check out an area that I had hunted in mid Oct where I had seen plenty of moose activity and had passed up several bulls. We hiked behind the gate all morning and only cut 1 cow track. I couldn't believe the lack of sign but I did see where another hunter had killed a moose during my absence. We hiked back to the rig to try plan B. I drove to an area recommended by a great guy off this site. We drove the perimeter of the area first to get our bearings and then hiked several ridges to glass. There was some old sign in the area we covered but nothing fresh. As we were driving out on a loggin spur and about to hit the county road just before dark, Deano, who hasen't seen a moose in the wild since his younger days in Idaho and half asleep says "There's a moose standing in the timber". I slam on the brakes and ask him if it's a bull. He calmly responds "yea but it's not very big". I leave the diesel runnin, grab my gun, get out, load up and walk back some 20 yards and I just about crap when here's the second best bull i've seen on the hunt (couldn't get a shot at the bigger one in Oct). The bulls standing less than 40 yards away feedin without a care in the world. I study him with my Swarov's and can count every bump on the rack. He's a 7x9 with triple brows and about 40" wide. Now remember, this is my first day back since October and I still have 4 full days of hunting left and looking for the elusive "Book Bull" I signal Shelley and Dean to get out of the truck and take a look at this bull. All the while this bull is looking up every now and then and actually walks toward us another 5 yards in curiosity. My wife takes one look at the bull and says "if I had the tag I'd shoot him in a heartbeat". I look at Deano and comment about the "small" moose that he has just spotted. Anyway, I him and haw for no kiddin like 15 minutes while the bull stands there like a statue. Suddenly, I here what sounds like a dirt bike and from around the corner here comes 3 guys on a motorcycle and 2 quads. They pull up stop and ask me if I'm hunting moose and proceed to tell me about the 2 big bulls they just jumped of the trail a half mile back. (I spotted the two bulls later and they were dinks compared to the one we were watching) I have to walk back to the truck to close my door in order to let the guys get by on their machines and walk back to Shell and Deano. The bulls still standing there! Finally I make the decision to pass him up in hopes of finding him later in the week if I can't do better.
The next day is spent up North of the Flowery with 1 small bull spotted with a cow and fogged in bad. We hiked behind several gates and mounds, put the miles on the leather but no luck. Thursday rolls around and I figure if I'm gonna get behind the gate up Boyer I'd better do it today because if I kill somthing up there it's gonna take us 2 days to get it out. We spend all morning hiking up on the Mt., walk up on one nice Whitie buck and then spot moose off on a distant ridge. I kick myself for not packing the spotting scope to save weight. The bull gets behind some brush and we decide to hike down the road and go straight up a steep skid road to access the upper spur. While we're hiking up the grade, Deano spots another moose going into the timber on the other side of the unit but we can't tell if it's bull. (Damn-no spottin scope)
We get up on the upper grade, sneak in and spot a cow and calf at less than 50 yards. The cow gets antsy, starts to trot off and about that time a bedded bull stands up broadside. I throw the rifle to my shoulder and put the cross-hairs on a 30 incher. Damn! We leave that bunch and decide to go check out the timberline where we saw the other moose head. We cut his tracks in the snow and follow him to the timber where we come up with the bright idea of tracking him.
After fighting the blowdown and crunchy snow for 15 minutes we come across 4 fresh beds, all huge and determine that there is more than one bull. With 3 of us bangin around in the timber (my wife is wanting to film the harvest) I finallly decide not even a stupid ruttin bull would put up with this much noise we decide to back off and hike out. We shortcut back to the rig and about the time we hit the mainline where the truck is parked, Deano spots movement on the road and theres another bull standing there taking a drink from a small creek. By the time we get down there the bull has walked down the road a couple hundred yards and bailed off in the brush.
It' about 1:30 in the afternoon and we're pretty much played out. I decide to travel up the North side of the Mt. to glass some areas before dark. We only spot one cow.
Friday rolls around and I'm starting to get concerned. The second guessing on passing up the 7x9 is wearing on me and Shelley tells me "to quit whining-I had my chance!"
I decide to head up an area I hadn't been after a tip from Brian who was gracious enough to answer my desperate cell calls. We check out some old loggin cuts and hike behind a couple gates for a total of who knows probably 8 miles and cut moose, bear, and cat tracks in the snow but nothing standin in them.
I finally concede after lunch that I'd better get back and find the bull I'd passed up Tues before I'm forced to ingest tag soup. I start back to the area and her comes the fog and snow-great! We get back to the area, hunt all afternoon in the fog and snow and can't find even a fresh track. I decide to drive my truck up a steep grade that I had traveled on Tuesday to get up to where I can see the surrounding ground and hopefully spot a moose before dark.
Now I could have traveled 1/4 mile around the grade and drove up a much calmer slope, but in my haste with 2' of fresh snow I decide my truck in 4wd with the quad in back-no problem. Right!
I get 2/3rds of the way up, spin out, start to slide backwards and end up half way off the road stuck. No problem, we pull the winch line off the truck about 150 ft. to a tree and hook up. I hit the switch to crank the winch in, it shorts out and quits working.
It's dark now and we have to coil up the 150' of cable around my brush guard to get it the hell out of the way. We grab our headlamps, get behind the truck and check for stumps off the road. I decide to back the truck off the road and try to spin the front end around to get faced down hill. I tell Shelley to get out in case I roll it and she tells me she's ridin it out and to get in the truck and get it done. Oh Boy-sometimes.
I slam er in R cut the wheel and spool the rig off the road, dog the brakes and the front end swings almost perfect. I jockey the truck back and forth 4or5 times and somehow get the nose pointing down hill. Wow! I clean my shorts and creep back down the hill to the main road. Just as we're getting near the spot where I spotted the bull Tuesday, we notice fresh tracks in the snow crossing the road. We get out and determine that a bull and a cow were about a hundred yards from us while I was performing on top. I mention to Shell and Dean that if I wouldn't have spent quality time with the truck off the road we would have probably driven by that spot before the moose had crossed and missed the tracks. Smart thinking on my part after all!
We decide to come back to the area on Saturday for the last day of the hunt to try and track the bull down........To be continued.
