Wyoming Moose Hunt

[Dipsnort]

Ok, you guys seem to like moose stories so I'll tell you mine.

My brother and I considered the possibility of putting in for moose in Western Wyoming after noticing that we would usually see a handfull of them while deer hunting in a given year.  Although we had always wanted to do a moose hunt the license/tag cost for an out-of-stater was a whopping $1,000 which didn't excite me (the $ saver) as much as it did my brother (the $ spender).  But after watching 2 bulls shove each other around while a cow stared at us intently from about 40 yards one year the excitement was too much to bear so we started applying.  Seems like it took 4-5 years to get drawn and then when it finally happened the price had climbed to $1,200.  I guess you'd have to know me, but at that cost I was going to make damn sure I filled my bull tag!

We had carefully selected a location within the area our tags covered that was recommended by my uncle who lives in the general vicinity.  We had been to this particular area in passing but had never really scouted it sufficiently, so I poured over topo maps and lost a lot of sleep over the months considering the possibilities of this hunt.  Well, the day finally arrived and we found ourselves well before firstlight sitting on stand in the appointed location.  As usual on opening morning we were flooded with a rush of excitement.  Just the year before while sitting on stand for deer among the trees before sunrise, something had spooked nearby and it came running my direction, crashing through the trees.  It sounded like an elk but it turned out to be a cow moose and her calf.  They scared the holy bejeesus out of me as they got closer and the next thing I knew I was squinting, bending at the waist and covering my head with my arms in a desperate attempt at personal protection as they ran not 6' behind me!  But isn't that the way hunting is...hours and hours of boredom spiked by an occasional, very brief heart-pounding moment of excitement that has us committed to our craft until the end of time!?

As the morning wore on we were not seeing any movement, not hearing a thing, I began thinking about the years of waiting, the long road trip, the $1,200 for piece of paper, the limited number of days we would have before having to report back to work the next Monday.  And I started getting jittery.  We decided to sweep the mountain side, go over the ridge and sweep back.  But not a fresh sign of moose to be had anywhere.  Then we decided that we had best get back to the truck and take a drive to another location I had previously condidered.  I had no maps of this particular location, but as it turned out, we wouldn't need one.

Upon arrival, we walked down the ridge a ways and split up so we could cover a huge mountainside with our optics.  How difficult could it be to spot a huge black animal anyway?  From our experience, not very!  And then I peered down to the bottom of the valley, in a grassy field about a mile away and spotted my first moose of the trip, a bull, sunshine glinting off his antlers, and he was on the move!  Not having time to find my brother I decided to stalk this guy alone and soon found that catching up with a moose on the move is a very difficult thing to do.  He wasn't moving with any real purpose mind you, but being a mile away it was going to require that I run after him to catch up before he dissappeared into the forest.  Not something I would even remotely consider in plain sight of any other game animal, but with the eyesight of a moose, I figured I could risk it.

As I ran downhill the moose entered the forest and climbed the hill to my left.  Had I known how he would eventually circle around and walk within 300 yards of my original location I would have waited him out and gotten into position.  Fortunately, occasionally breaks in the trees allowed me to spot him from time to time as I continued to close the gap and then, just as I started losing hope of finding him again, I peered into the clearing I was approaching and our eyes met at 50 yards.

Oh crap, I have to pack for my weekend vacation!  I'll continue this when I get back on Monday.  Everybody have a great weekend!

[shanevg]

You're evil!

[Dipsnort]

Just kidding!!

Ok, now where was I?  Oh yeah, our eyes met.  He wasn't sure what I was but I must have seemed a threat because instantly he took off into the trees...but not before I quickly shouldered my 30.06 and put a round in his shoulder.  I have to tell you, moose think they are 10' tall and bulletproof, but they're only about half right.  He piled up like a sack of potatoes and was dead before he hit the ground.  Not huge by any measure but body wise he was bigger than any elk I have ever seen and would provide a whole lot of meat in the freezer, which is a story in itself.  I have since learned to take much more palatable pictures of my game animals after they are down, putting me in the shot and using a tiny tripod and a remote to snap a couple of pictures.  Too bad I didn't do that sort of thing at the time.



Although my brother had heard the crack of the rifle he didn't think it came from my gun so he ignored it and kept on glassing the mountainside from the next ridge.  Normally I'm used to boning out a deer, packing it up in a full-size pack and hiking out of the woods.  But I didn't have a full-size pack and this was a big animal.  Really big.  And carrying out the gutting, skinning and boning out duties would keep me busy for some time.  It was a warm day and I wasn't about to leave the bull in that kind of weather to fetch my brother.  If only he would answer the dang 2-way radio I called him on every so often.  About the time I began the boning duties he called to ask if I had seen anything yet.  "Um, yeah..."

By the time he had found my location I was well underway with the boning and he started taking meat to the truck, which was only (are you ready for this) about 100 yards away from the site of the kill (woohoo!! ) up a very steep hill.



Back to the freezer full of meat.  I won't go into great detail but suffice it to say that while we were out hunting the next day my mom (bless her heart) who was staying at my uncles house with us for the week took it upon herself to take the meat designated for hamburger to the butcher shop (bless her heart), took the wrong coolers (the ones with the backstraps, tenderloins and several other sections I had planned to make roasts & steaks from--bless her heart) and directed him to grind it all into hamburger (bless her heart).  So anyway, to make a long story short, we had a whole lot of very delicious hamburgers over the next couple of years!

As the hunting week wore on my brother and I had usually separated to cover more area and the plan was to keep the radios on so if I spotted a bull I would call him to run over to my location.  Unfortunately, the week passed with me seeing 6 more bulls and him seeing none!  Each time I found one he was too late to arrive and they dissappeared.  Oh crap, he would eat his $1,200 tag!  But at least he got to fill his freezer with moose hamburger too.

Not wanting to eat his tag he flew out for another week a month or so later and took some of the family with him.  I was unable to make it due to work obligations, unfortunately.  But he ended up with a nice bull.  Remember how mine was 100 yards from the truck on a sunny day?  Well, here are the folks who got to pack his out 3 miles in deep snow.  I'm still laughing about that one.

[Craig]

Good story so far.

I'm a IDIOT. I stopped buying points in WY when they went from $7 a year to $75 a year for a point . If I Kept buying points I would have 9 moose points this year. 

[Buckblaster]

That moose meat is good isn't it. I will be going to Utah for deer this year with 11 points in the drawing. Next year I'll be hunting moose in Wyoming with 9 points towards that drawing. I love to deer hunt but a moose hunt sounds way better.

[agchawk]

Great story and a couple really nice lookin' moose!

CONGRATS!

[Ridgerunner]

I'm a IDIOT. I stopped buying points in WY when they went from $7 a year to $75 a year for a point . If I Kept buying points I would have 9 moose points this year.     

At least you have some points in WY.  I never bought any so I'm at ZERO!  Now I've figured out that moose hunting is fun, its time to buy points.

[whacker1]

Congratulations on two nice bulls

[bowhunterforever]

Sounds like an awsome hunt, Congrats!

[Aneoakleaf]

   Another great MOOSE Story!! Thanks and congradulations!