Hirshey's Moose 2014

[hirshey]

Alright... so I'll try to do this amazing hunt justice and share a few photos of my adventure... I am still in shock, so my writing may be slightly less eloquent than usual.

[jackelope]

 
Bring it...

[hirshey]

So as many of you may know, I make a living as a wildland firefighter out of Central Oregon for the summers, but was raised in Central Washington. My father has been putting in for a moose tag for me before I even truly probably understood what a moose was... and after roughly 20 years of applications, I received the coveted "selected" status for the East Okanogan/Kettle Any Moose tag. This is an area I have some knowledge of, because for the few years I spent out of fire, I worked as a research forester for the Pacific Northwest Research Station and spent many a night in the Prospector Inn in Republic. I had seen a few moose over the course of my time there, and although it wasn't a tag any of my mentors had experience with, I was excited.

[gaddy]

patiently waiting, you always share great stories.

[Boss .300 winmag]

  Go getum!

[hirshey]

Fire season started off slowly; we normally head to New Mexico and Arizona in May and don't return until the monsoons push us north back into Utah, Idaho, and Oregon... but this season was unseasonably wet and we waited, poised and ready, in Oregon. Once fire season arrived, the work was steady. I was unable to break away from my helicopter rappel crew to do any scouting; I was gone the entire month of August and 14 days in September. Moose hunting, and the opener, were coming on quickly. 

[hirshey]

Fire season ended abruptly for me, with a September 30th performance evaluation, exit interview on the season, and a 6.5 hour drive to Chelan with all my belongings packed tightly into my Subaru Forester. I drove into my home town at midnight with heavy eyelids. Sleeping didn't come easy, even though I was tired. I unpacked my vehicle the next morning and threw in the essentials for moose... my "kill" bag, map, muzzleloader, .270 (and accompanying ammunition), sleeping bag, clothing, water, coffee, homemade fruit rolls (thanks mom!), locally grown apples, and chocolate milk. All a girl needs, really. 

[jackelope]

Been waiting for this thread....
Keep it coming!

[3nails]

 Tagging along. This should be good!

[hirshey]

So at this point I was moose-bound, with the main notion of scouting some of the areas I had inventoried in 2011. My parents and I also drew the Clockum muzzleloader antlerless tag that started today, so they were counting on me taping my trigger finger to my palm and just "window shopping". I called one of the members on this site that had contacted me about some local knowledge, and he was out muzzleloader hunting so his wife kindly invited me to call back in the evening to chat with him. I made it to the unit and the area I had wanted to revisit, trying to clear the fog from my memory and recall which road system and particular area I had seen moose those three years prior... I drove around reacquainting myself with the area until dusk, making friends with two deer hunters from the Tri-Cities and Anacortes, and readily listening to their suggestions for "moosey" areas in the vicinity before heading back to town and cell coverage to call the Hunt-Wa member previously discussed. He asked where I was concentrating, and I told him. With enthusiasm and local knowledge, he pointed me to a road system roughly 2 miles from my nightly scounting endeavors. I thanked him heartily, and sandwich in hand, headed back out to the area and slept in my car under the half moon and brisk skies, dreaming of tomorrow's possibilities.

[Emptyhanded]

Tag

[hirshey]

My alarm quietly hummed Alison Krauss's "The Lucky One" just before daybreak, but it wasn't needed... I was up and ready. As daylight broke I was giddy to find the road I was traveling to be familiar... this is where I had worked and seen those moose in previous years... the small silver tag nailed to the bottom of the tree alongside the road known as the "reference tree" at the Research Station confirmed it. I pulled into a narrow road I had never traveled before, grimacing as the brush announced my presence as it whined down the side of my vehicle. I stopped and decided to take my muzzleloader and camera for a walk, and no sooner than I had made the decision was I rewarded with the view I had wanted the most; those dark, tall bodies working the far edge of a small swamp.

[hirshey]

As I got closer and worked myself into a small opening in the brush, my heart pounded at my chest wall; those paddles! The color! A bull!

He was beautiful, and broadside at less than 70 yards trying to push a calf off of a cow. It was decision time: was this my moose, or not?

[Elkaholic daWg]

Congrats on the "selected" hirshey . Now go get em! Kinda sounding like you did!

[hirshey]

I knew he was big... I knew he was a very respectable bull for Washington, but something inside of me said "shoot it with your camera, not your gun..." and I had to obey. I shouldered my Thompson Center Black Diamond and uncapped my camera, and proceeded to take photos of this magnificent critter for over 30 minutes as a raked the brush, grunted, and played King of the swamp. A smaller bull (I presume) stayed in the willows on the periphery wondering how he could get at that cow. Finally, the clicking of the camera caught the attention of the small calf, and all three animals walked back into the depths of the swamp and out of sight as the bull pleaded, grunting into the crisp morning air.