Mt. Spokane south youth hunt here we come!

[MHWASH]

Taking my 11yo son out for his antlerless moose this weekend. We did some scouting just before the season and saw two bulls. We'll most likely start at Thompson ck and go from there.

[billythekidrock]

Good luck!

[gunboats]

Good luck. Try outside Mt. Spokane state park also.

[jackelope]

Good luck to the kid and you, Matt. Hope to see him kill a whopper cow!

[MHWASH]

Good luck. Try outside Mt. Spokane state park also.

We did see a good size bull there when we were scouting.

[Annette]

Thompson creek might work out for you. Take the first right and check out the clearcuts. Be there at daylight...do some walking..IT"S going to be fun!! Thompson creek is inundated with weekend people riding bikes, cutting wood, and just fourwheelers...Take the kid out of school and get there before the weekend.  teach him things they don't teach in school!

[starbailey]

Good luck and have a great time with your boy.

[gunboats]

Any luck yet?

[MHWASH]

No luck. We saw two bulls on Saturday, and three running cows on Sunday. Nothing on Monday. I've never seen a place so busy with "hunters". All they did was drive around, driving through clearcuts right a dawn. We learned of a bull that was killed, and went to check it out. We got a tip from one of the guys to be back there at dawn because he had watched moose use this clearcut at dawn for the last two weeks. Well we showed up at dawn and started walking the road throught the clearcut. We had just started through when a truck came driving out. He had to have drivin in in the dark! And was there when the guy told us to be there at dawn, and we said we would! About 1 minute later we spot 3 cows running through the clearcut and into the timber.

[gunboats]

CRAPPY! Keep at it.

[C-Money]

Good luck!! Keep after it!!

[carpsniperg2]

Keep at it and good luck.

[MHWASH]

We're getting after it again Fri & Sat, and then again the following weekend.

[MHWASH]

We headed back up on Friday the 15th hoping there would be less hunters on a week day. If there were any less hunters we could not tell. We got fogged out at our prime location, so we moved to lower ground and started cruising around hoping to find some sign or animals. Spotted one small bull and found very little sign. We had gotten a tip from Lingcod to try up by Mt. Spokane State park. So about 10 am we loaded and headed to the top. By the time we unloaded at the top it started spitting a mix of snow and gropple. We spent about two hours cruising around and we were seeing alot of moose tracks in the snow. About 3 O'clock the weather was so bad we could not see where we were going. We had a real good idea where to start in the morning and we were in high spirits. The next moring we were up and headed out in the rain. By the time we reached the State Park there was 14" of fresh snow. We talked to one of the workers at the station and he told us if we waited a30 minutes they would have the road to the top plowed out and we could head up. After a bit he told us to head on up, that the grader operator was waiting for us, and knew we were on our way up. Well about half way up we meet the grader. There was no where to go because the snow burm on either side was 4' high. He told us there was no where to go up at the top and that we needed to turn around! While we chained up, he widened out the road for us enough to turn around. Around 9 O'clock we arrive at the Thompson Creek gate, along with a hord of deer hunters, and about 6" of snow. We cruise around for about three hours with out even seeing a single moose track in the fresh snow. Because of other obligations we loaded up and headed home about noon.

Again we arrive at the Thompson Cr. trail head @ 6:00 am on Saturday the 23rd. Our spirits are high because there were no open Big Game seasons open, and it was pretty cold, 15 degrees or so. We figured we'de have the spot to our selves or close to it. As it turn out we were right we saw a total of 4 vehicles. We head up the road to the right where there was a couple of clear cuts, also because this is the area where we saw the last moose. The clear cuts are empty so we turn around so we can run out the "second" road. It's a nice clear cold morning so we can see a really long way. Once we get turned around we have a clear view of the clearcut at the top, bout two miles away. Chris quickly spots a moose in the bottom of the clearcut, then I spot a moose closer to the top. We batten down the hatches and take off towards the top as fast as the roads would allow us. Because the weather had warmed up early week and then refroze the roads were in terrible shape and would not allow for a very quick run to the top. About 30-40 minutes later we show up at the top clear cut, we get off the ATVs and grab our gear. We get about half way though the clear cut and spot a bull moose above us. We continue to the end of the road and see no more moose. We know there was atleast 2 when we spotted them earlier. I slowly creep to the edge of the road and right there if front of us at 50 yards is a cow moose! She doesn't see us, and we get Gavin set up on the shooting sticks. Unfortunatly there is a bush covering her vitals. We watch her for atleast aminute before she notices us. She just looks at us and goes back to feeding. Then she decides to just walk off with out giving s a shot! Unbelievable, we just thought for sure this was it.

[jackmaster]

well tell gavin he did a great job by not just puttn lead into the moose, i am sure he will be rewarded for that, i am sure you will get into something, sounds like you guys have some desent weather over there for huntn anyways, good luck, looking forward to some cow moose pics 

[C-Money]

Oh man! So close!! How much longer do you folks have till the end of the season? Hope you guys can connect!! Thanks for the update.

[arees]

Thanks for keeping us updated.  It is always great to hear about young hunters working hard to make it happen.

[MHWASH]

Well it's about 9-9:30 by now, we still have lots of daylight left, and like I stated earlier the weather is perfect for moose hunting. We get about half a mile down the road and find a PU stopped in the middle of the road. We talk and find out the wife has a cow moose tag also. Seems they were having just as hard of a time finding a cow. As my front tire on my ATV drops down of the frozen wheel rut, the tire pops of the outer bead! We try wrapping a ratchet strap around the tire to pop it back on, but no luck. We can get the tire 3/4s of the way on the bead, but not all of it. I have a CO2 tire inflater, but there is just not enough pressure to pop the tire back on. It holds some air, so we slowly limp back towards the truck, 5 miles away. The tire pops off two more times. With the last two CO2 cartriges, we hope that that is enough to pop the tire all the way on the bead. Well you guessed it, no luck. It's still holding air, so we continue to limp away. We finally get to the truck at 1:00 pm. The tire is still holding pressure, so I hook up my 12 volt air compressor and start eating lunch. About half way through my sandwich, I hear a load pop as the tire seats it's self on the bead! Boy are we relieved! Now we can get back to the hunt.

[MHWASH]

We have just enough time to run back out the right hand road, and then take the "second" rd out to where we saw the bull last week. We have already decided to be back at the clear cut on top where we saw the cow, a half hour before dark hoping she would come out to feed. The "second" rd appears to be perfect moose habitat. It was selectively cut about 10-15 years ago and has lots brush in it that the moose like to forage on. We are about a mile out the road when I look back to my right at the ridge we just passed when I spot two moose standing together. I pull over, grab the shooting stick and the gun and start loading it. I have Gavin take off his helmet and walk to the side of the road. While were getting set up for the shot, I ask Chris to look and make sure that one of them is a cow. He confirms that both are cows. Both moose are standing pretty much broadside to us, but the moose on the right, the larger of the two, is standing with its brisket covering the back side of the moose to the left. I tell Gavin to hold on the right moose, so when they separate he can take the shot. After what seems like two minutes the moose haven't moved. I really didn't want Gavin shooting at the moose on the right because if he pulled the shot there was a chance of him hitting both moose, or even hitting the one on the left in the hind quarters. I start to worry that the moose might just decide to leave the ridge without giving Gavin a shot. All they have to do is take two steps and they would be out of sight. I tell Gavin that the moose on the left is smaller, but that if he wants he can take a shot. He says he wants to go ahead and shoot the one on the left. It is slightly quartering away from us so I tell him to aim for the far shoulder. He says he's ready and asks if he can take the shot. I tell him to go ahead when he's ready. Through my binos I see the moose react to the shot, it then walks to out left, out of sight. Just as quickly it walks back into sight. I tell him to shoot again. He shoots a second time and the moose collapses. We give high fives, and hugs and watch the downed moose for a minute or two to make sure it is down. When we walk down to the moose Gavin keeps saying " I can't believe how big it is". Luckily we only have about a 300 yard pack up to the ATVs. Gavin shot his moose @ 1:50, and we are packed up and ready to roll back to the truck by 4:00.
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[BullMagnet76]

Congrats!!!!!!

[jackelope]

Awesome, Matt...happy for you guys. What did he shoot it with?

[dewandgin]

Congrats. Nice eats there.

[MHWASH]

Awesome, Matt...happy for you guys. What did he shoot it with?

He used a Marlin youth XS7 in 7-08. I loaded up some Barnes 120 TTSX chronyed @ 2900.

[sebek556]

  way to go! congrats and that's some karma reward rough hunt, easy pack 

[mkcj]

  7 years ago my youngest son shot his fist big game animal (a cow moose, he was 12) in the same location Gavin shot his cow and I can still remember it like it was yesterday. Congratulations to Gavin and yourself and a season the 2 of you will never forget

[buck man]

That's awesome! Congrats!

[JLS]

Good for Gavin!

[arees]

Congratulations on sticking to it and getting your moose.

[jackmaster]

way to stick with it kid awesome job to the both of you, sounds like an awesome time.... congrats kid

[250savage]

congrats. Great memories.

[carpsniperg2]

Congrats to him

[C-Money]

Very Nice! Glad it worked out! Congrats to the young hunter!

[Annette]

 
How FUN.. great Story! Congrats Gavin!!

[gunboats]

AWESOME!!!!!!! Way to go! Glad you guys got it done!

[Lingcod]

Congratulations!!!! I'm glad your boy got his moose. Good eats this winter!!!

[runningboard]

very nice! good job young man! 

[WhiteDove]

congratulations to the young hunter 

[E-man32]

Congratulations! Nice job! 

[Biggerhammer]

Well done! One fortunate young man.

[elkoholic1]

    congrats!!