This story starts about 6 years ago when my wife and I went on a moose hunt at moose lake with a different outfitter. Our guide was named Mike Witt, he is the type of guy that you stay in touch with after a hunt. We hunted for 10 days and seen two spikes and one small 4x3 Bull with no paddles. We went home empty handed. This really hurt because we had saved for about two years to go on that hunt
Anyhow Mike and I have stayed in touch since then. And 4 years ago he took over rainbow mountain outfitters which was previously run by his wife and her family. He invited me up last year I just could not make it work. Then a few weeks ago he emails me about a cancellation hunt. He goes on to say he has run 100% success since he has been running the outfitt. Two guys had canceled from Louisiana due to there houses being flooded in August of this year from a storm that made national news. So I jumped on the chance.
So three weeks later I make a 13 hour drive from Moses lake to Nimpo lake. I meet up with Mike and his wife and 4 year old daughter. Then we dive up to are hunting area and then ride into camp.
Day one we ride are horses around and set up and call in a few meadows. We had a Bull answering and he came in pretty close but circled down wind then he stopped calling.
Day two we take off at daylight with the plan of not coming back until after dark. About 30 minutes into the ride we hear three shots from one of the other hunters in camp. So we ride all day calling in meadows and slow hunting timber and brush patches. We seen three cows and a calf during our 25 mile plus ride. We spent 10 hours in the saddle and probably three hours calling in different meadows. We cut grizzly tracks three times that day. Then we ran into a wolf den along the way as well. We set up in area where we had seen 5 fresh piss pots. The wind was blowing about 30 miles an hour maybe more. The guide set up 75 yards behind me in the trees and started calling. After about a half hour I walked back to him and said I heard about three calls from him. He just laughed because he had been calling a lot more than that. But due to the wind and timber swaying back and fourth you could not hear anything. He said well let's saddle up and slow hunt this swamp out and you never know. Well about ten minutes to dark I thought I seen a moose in a meadow between two trees. It was facing me with its head down. I could not seen horns and just assumed it was another stump moose like the 100 others I had seen that day and kept riding. About 30 feet later Patrick the guide stopped and turned. I knew the way he acted it was a moose. He said get your gun. I hand him the rains and hoped off my horse and chambered a shell. As I did I could see in the corner of my eye part of a paddle and the bulls face. I figured he was a 35" type bull with tall thin paddles. And I'm like that's a good bull he's a shooter for this area. Now that I'm on the ground I can only see the top of the bulls back and he has his horns layed back and is walking broadside to me. The brush was 6 feet tall and thick enough I was looking for a clearing he may walk to. He was walking pretty fast but not running. I found a clearing and as he entered it I took I'm guessing a 75yard off hand shot with my 7mm RUM at his front shoulder while he was walking and kind of quartering to me. He takes off running for about 20 yards stops. I jack in another shell and was getting ready to shoot again when he jumps straight up and did a back flip and lands on his horns and back. This was truely impressive to see an animal as big as a moose do a back flip. I bet his front hoofs where 12 feet or more off the ground as he did this. I truly wish it was on video
Then as I walk up to him I realize this bull is nothing at all of what I thought I was shooting. I'm like wow he's a giant!!! Patrick told me this is in the top three moose he has seen in 20 years of guiding and growing up in this area.
I think this Bull will be real close to the all Time Boone and Crocket awards for the Canada Moose. Time will tell
