Big Year - Chelan Butte Ewe and 49 Deg Early Bull Moose

[KP-Skagit]

Well as all could probably deduce from the timing of this post with the start of this season I have a success story to tell.

My dad and I both ran over to the unit Friday the 29th. Just before the season the cousin of a good family friend offered to meet us and show us some areas he had seen bulls in during September. The morning of the 30th he met us at our temporary camp at about 6 oclock and we headed into the spot he made in mind. It was in the southern part of the unit and nowhere we had been into during our scouting. It became immediately clear why he thought it was a good spot to check out, fresh moose sign all over, bulls tracks, rubs, etc. It was a fairly open area with a mixed of reprod, clear cuts and timber. Seemed ideal. We checked out some other areas that afternoon but concluded in the morning we would walk in behind a gate where we had found fresh tracks and try to call one out of the reprod.

That next morning we were up bright and early and headed up the hill. Our friend who had helped us with the sheep hunt also came that morning to muzzleloader hunt and look for moose. Our family friend stayed for the opener, he was an experienced caller and we felt like it might come together. However, after a few sets of calls we didn't hear a peep in response. I hiked up the other grade we were calling off of and found a fresh rub and scrape that clearly had been that evening. He must have been sleeping up there. All the while we heard rigs rumbling on the road below us. With that we pulled out and decided to cover some ground and see if we could find fresh activity. In driving the couple miles of the road system we spoke to 3 other tag holders and saw parked vehicles for another 3 we met later in the hunt. We also saw one rig loaded down with the nice bull headed out. Awful busy for such a huge unit, that said, the abundance of fresh sign was hard to argue with and I was sure that is why everyone was there. The plan that evening was for my dad to head back up to where we called from and try again while I hiked out further behind the gate to see what was what. I didn't find anything promising but that evening as we left after dark I heard two bull grunts in the vicinity of where my dad called from..... Just missed him.

The plan for the next morning could not be clearer, we were going to call that sucker in. However, 30 seconds before we left camp a rig drove by and we followed him all the way to the gate. Asked him his plan and it was to hunt exactly where we were hoping to. This was a different tag holder than we had seen the day before. With that we drove the roads up a road system that took us on top of the reprod the bull had been in. The plan was the same, just a different angle. My dad did several calling sets, found another scrape while I hiked into some other areas. I found where several moose had walked a cat track in the fresh clear cut above the reprod. After a while we drove some more and ran into the hunter who bagged his bull on the opener. He was about my age and said he was 3 miles in where he had gotten his bull and there was another one in there. My dad had severely blistered his feet on the sheep hunt and that was flat out of range for him. Or I should say, he could do it, but he knew if he shot a bull I would do all the packing and that is not the experience he wanted. On the course of our drive we met several other tag holders and for a while I felt like we were in a moose hunting parade, all hoping to have him step out in front of us rather than the next guy. We regrouped at camp and I suggested we try some adjacent areas that we had scouted over the summer and my dad was thrilled to do so. We putted our way over seeing some older moose sign but noted the road was much less traveled. Eventually we tied into a mainline road with several beautiful clear cuts we wanted to glass over.

I took a wrong turn and went the opposite direction of the cuts, when all of the sudden my dad shouted. Moose! Bull! I stopped, he hopped out of the truck, loaded the gun and stepped off the road just in time to watch the moose move off into the dark timber that bordered a swamp below. We pursued him slowly and heard him continue to move off into the depths, away from where we coud continue to chase. All the while we were left wanting just another second. We never got a good luck at his horns, just that he had them, but for my dad that was the goal. We spent the remainder of the day covering those clearcuts and in the process ran into two additional rigs hunting moose.

[KP-Skagit]

That said, despite not getting on that bull we were energized, for the first time in our scouting and hunting in this unit we had seen a moose. The plan that morning was to edge down to that swamp and try to call him out of there. My dad had unbandaged his feet the evening before and they were healing nice. He was a man on fire in the woods, still hunting his way down to the edge of the swamp where I did a couple calling sets including some raking with a scapula I had found during scouting. After all that we didn't hear a peep and backed out. For the remainder of the day we covered the roads, seeing fresh sign, all the way up to near the ski resort. We did not see anything during this drive but did find a gut pile being worked over by ravens. Noted. We also did not run into any other hunters which was a welcome change of pace.

That evening the bull up in the reprod was starting to bother us again, we still hadn't gotten the chance to repeat the calling my dad had gotten him to respond to and that morning we left EARLY to make sure we beat everyone there. Unfortunately, after several calling sets all we had heard was the sound of rigs driving the roads below us. The area was littered with fresh sign the same as always, including moose that had been flat out running I assume in the night. On the way back to camp we ran into several of the other hunters we had met earlier, no one had seen a moose, even a cow.

Midday we got back to camp and we brainstormed where to go from there. We were both pretty demoralized but the amount of other folks in these areas, more than just the hunters, firewood cutters, UTVs, the area was really busy. We had spent most of our time scouting in the central part of the unit and we said screw it... Let's move camp. There were some areas we had really liked before, might as well check them out, at least we know over half the tag holders in the unit are busy elsewhere. As we packed to leave one of the other cow tag holders dropped by and warned us there was a lot of logging where we were going but our minds were made up, we were moving camp. We packed and headed out, stopping for fuel along the way.

The warning about logging activity proved accurate the second we left the blacktop and in the 12 miles or so we wanted to go in we encountered almost as many loaded down log trucks. The area simply did not look the same as it did just a couple months before. We scouted a few of the spots we wanted to try but all had active logging going on and safety zone signs hung in trees.

Now I have nothing against logging, and I was happy to see the USFS actually doing some of it. That said, I didn't want to moose hunt in these areas and was feeling pretty bad about our decision to move. That said, there was one final area that we wanted to check out from our summer scouting. We drove a little further south and confirmed that this area (which had been logged when we were there in July, had no renewed activity). That evening we covered the road till we lost light and found fresh tracks. Our plan for the next day was to do the same and hike out any promising gate, try to call as we could. Depending on what we saw we might be moving back to where we had came from.

[KP-Skagit]

The next morning came quickly but as we drank our coffee we were happy at what we didn't hear, other rigs heading up the hill where we planned to hunt. And better yet, our camp was in an area where we could see a moose anywhere, maybe even from camp. As it got light enough we hopped in the truck and started creeping our way up the hill.

All trip I had been dreaming of being able to call out a bull for my dead. The scenario would run through my head over and over again. What I did some calling, when I drove anywhere.

About a mile and a half from camp that dream became a reality. I caught a huge black shape cutting through the brush on an edge of a cut and I let out MOOSE! As my eyes focused I saw paddles. BULL! It was only about 50 or 60 yards from us. My dad was on it in an instant and repeated the process from a couple days earlier. That said, if the prior bull had given us 10 seconds, this once gave us 11.

The 300 barked and I saw the bull run off.. Completely unharmed. Are you kidding me Dad.... But as I got out of the truck I could hear stationary trashing and knew it was down. I walked behind him past where he had shot as he moved in to intercept the direction it had gone. As we got into the clear cut, I couldn't see the animal. My dad yelled out the same. surveying the land again, I noticed a weird stump about 30 yards in front of me. As I studied it closer, I realized in was a moose nose, the thing had found a hole and died with its paddles wedged in the dirt, its snout straight up in the air. I wish I had gotten and as it laid shot!

At this point the gun was unloaded and the hugs began. He had only gone about 40 yards, I still cannot believe how he was able to absorb that shot.

[KP-Skagit]

Some pictures.

The first you can see just how happy my dad was. As he has gotten older his goals have changed, his passion has always been bird hunting and a good dog. In terms of big game his last goal in life was a moose in Washington with me there to be a part of it. From the days of a starry eyed kid listening to tall tales of my dad and great uncle I had always wanted to hunt moose with the old man. Today, we both accomplished our goals.

I usually am not a rifle on the rack kind of guy. But today was an exception, a reminder of the third hunting partner who was just out of sight but closer in our hearts.

[KP-Skagit]

Be awesome if someone could rotate these pics...

There was a tradition in my Uncle Eds moose camp that on the day of the kill the Jim Beam comes out. Our friend who was muzzleloading had to head home the day before but left us some emergency supplies just in case.

[hunter399]

Congratulations on both hunts.
Great adventure for you and your dad together.
Enjoy it to the fullest.👍👏👍

[lewy]

 Congrats!

[KP-Skagit]

We were fortunate that this moose was mighty accommodating where it died and we were back to camp with meat hanging by 11 oclock. The rest of the day was spent with a lot of memories. We did pause to take a picture of the moose with a frame photo we had of Uncle Ed.

That evening we had tenderloin for dinner. There is a phrase among the hunters in Northern BC, perhaps other places as well, "a table moose", basically a good eating moose.

My dad had shot three moose prior to this one, two were table moose, one was not. To my dad, a table moose is the best moose. From where I am sitting right now, all indications are that this was a table moose. Fantastic flavor, very tender (ok it was tenderloin).

My dad could not have been more happy.

[KP-Skagit]

Also wanted to say thank you to everyone who shared information with us about hunting this unit. It's quite a daunting experience to get a tag like this and have to figure it out.

Anyone who has this tag is welcome to reach out to me and I am happy to share more specifics on areas.

[Boss .300 winmag]

Congratulations, that’s what hunting is all about.👍

[Basket Rack]

Great job!!  I have a tag as well and drove by your camp on what must have been the evening of the day you got it as I saw the head on a block of wood.  Congrats it has been tough hunting with the warm weather.

[Threewolves]

Thanks, I really enjoyed reading this story this morning. It's a great way to start out my day!

Sent from my SM-A426U using Tapatalk

[bearhunter99]

Congrats to your father again!  What an amazing year for him! 

[boneaddict]

I was hoping to co e back here to find success.   👍🏻 nice

[pianoman9701]

What a great animal. Congratulations to your dad.