GMU 113 Selkirk Moose 2023

[RB]

Part One

   The year was 1993, standing in the Mill Creek regional office filling out permit applications for the up coming seasons. One by one filling in the required information for each species and then writing a check for each one. Moose was the one that was wanted most, but the fees had to paid upfront in order to draw, for the average blue collar hunter it seemed expensive, but it kept the odds better. Was in my mid 20’s at the time and joked with the others around that got to play to win, and maybe sometime in my 50’s a tag would finally be drawn.
   Lots of changes since 1993 personally and with the health of the Ungulates in Washington State. Fast forward to 2023 and waiting patiently like everyone else for the draw results. The usual NOT SELECTED was the theme as usual for all categories, but as the list was almost done there it was, an anomaly, first pick for Moose (Kettle Range-East Okanogan) NOT SELECTED, second pick Moose (Selkirk) big green check mark SELECTED! Holy cow it finally happened! Believe all the neighbors on the block heard the shout, the wife thought something was wrong and just about jumped out of her chair. To say it was an exciting moment would be a gross understatement.
   Some of you know me and know that this is my second Washington OIL (Once In a Lifetime) tag, drew Mountain Goat in Boulder River North in 2016. To me the Moose tag is the holy grail of tags and have been applying for every year since 1993. Yes, there were a couple years of just points due to career change and kids, but every year an application went in. Last few years the itch to get a Moose was getting me, and not getting any younger didn’t help. Already had feelers out looking into Canada for 2028 for my 60th birthday because I wanted a Moose, but that was put on the way back burner now.
   After the reality set in that I had a Moose tag in my pocket, the planning began. Several from here reached out on the forum and personal message to congratulate, as well as, give out pearls of wisdom of how to fill the tag. Every shred of information was used and stored to help increase the odds of filling this tag. Past stories, personal messages, and other information went into a word document for reference throughout the entire process. For those that replied either personal, or on the forum, thank you!
   One of the first items ordered was maps, several of them. The one that seemed to work the best though was Rams Maps, the GMU 113 map worked good for scouting. At the advice of a few on here the adjoining Idaho maps were ordered in case we needed to make access from there. National forest maps, mytopo map, even a trails map from a really nice ranger we ran into while scouting. Just like most on here OnX was used a lot to look at areas found on the maps. After maps were secured it was time to look at gear.
   One of the longest debates was which rifle to use. Talked to a lot of people about it and googled a bunch. Have seen the statement more than once on here that Moose die fairly easy with a good shot, but talking with those that have shot Moose before the general consensus was, as Robert Ruark would say “Use enough gun”. Have gone back and forth with 30-06 and 300 WinMag over the last 30 years, but in 2021 when planning for a Brown Bear hunt in South East Alaska the decision then was to get a .375 H and H, and be able to be proficient within 200 yards. So, sitting in the safe was my 1990’s vintage Winchester Model 70 Stainless Classic in .375 H and H, topped with a Leupold 1-5 Fire dot scope, and several boxes of 300 grain Nosler Partition, all ready to go Moose hunting.
   After getting dialed in with the maps, and some shooting, scouting was next on the menu. Looked all around Newport for places to stay and found a nice house on the Pend Oreille river just up from the Idaho border. This was our base camp for five days for the first scouting trip. We headed over in mid August to start running roads and get the lay of the land. We started on the south end of the unit and ran into the hills for most of the first day we were there. It was hot, near 100 so knew we would not see much, but the biggest item that needed to be done was to know where roads went and what the terrain looked like. Day two was similar, but it went down hill from there. Day three we woke to smoke in the air, by the end of the day we were getting emergency alerts to evacuate, but the fire was not near us.
   The Gray fire was several miles away, but the smoke was getting bad in Newport. We discussed packing up and going home but I did not want to lose out on scouting the roads. We live 370 miles (6-hour drive) away so it is not easy to just drive over for a day to scout. Even with the toxic air quality we could still drive and check roads, and that was the plan. Unfortunately, the smoke became too bad to even leave the house. We checked the weather and the air quality was 500! At one point we could barely see across the river and as soon as you stepped outside it made you cough. No Moose seen after five days, but we did see one Bear, one Bull Elk, a handful of Deer, and more Turkeys than I have ever seen in my life. I believe that Pend Oreille County must have an ordinance that states every house must have at least three Turkeys in their yard, those things were everywhere down by the river.
   September was my second scouting trip and this was for the northern half of the unit. We rented a VRBO called the “Hidden Moose Lodge” in Tiger for three nights. Ultimately this is where we set up Moose camp as well. My good high school friend and I spent four days doing the Moose 1,000. In those four days we laid down 1,100 miles over half was gravel mountain roads, scouting and getting to know the area. Once again, many miles and glassing done, but zero Moose seen. Headed back home to be prepared for the hunt opener in a couple weeks.
   Lots of preplanning was key for this hunt. The biggest decision I had to make was what will I be satisfied with. This took me weeks to really wrap my head around. Several items were deliberated on including time of the hunt. I really wanted to hunt the rut and did not want to hunt after the modern firearm Deer opener, so knew there was a two week window to start. If there was not success the first two weeks the next window would be the first and second week of November to try and get some snow, and my hunting partner could hunt Deer too. Where to stay was easy since the second scouting trip, really liked the Hidden Moose Lodge so that was booked as soon as we got home. Finally, the decision about the Moose. My biggest and really only requirement was I wanted visible paddles. Had seen some trail cam pictures from a local of a fork Moose in one of the areas we scouted and knew I did not want to shoot that unless it was the last hour of the two month season.

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Scouting trip

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Continued

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Last couple of scouting

[RB]

PART TWO

   October 1, finally the hunt was on. We had gone over on September 30 and set up at the lodge with enough food, ammo, and beverages to last two weeks. Maps and GPS laid out with binoculars, rifle and ammo ready to go for the morning. Day one up before daylight, breakfast, coffee, lunches packed, and out the door. We had picked a spot on the southern end of the unit to start and were hopeful to find a Cow or young bull to at least finally see a Moose. Set up on a side road at the bottom of an older unit and tried calling. We also took a wooden boat paddle to rake on the alders. I called, my hunting partner raked, and his fiancé was the third set of eyes and ears to help locate anything. We stayed for about an hour with no luck. We moved to another area and did the same. We did this till about 4:30 PM and decided to start down the mountain which worked out well since we pulled into the lodge about 30 minutes after dark. Day two we went a different direction and started about the middle of the unit. Same as day before drive, stop, glass, call, rake, repeat. I had several spots marked from scouting, but also worked with Bearpaw and purchased his DIY Moose map for the unit, I wanted to have as much intel as possible to make sure this tag was filled.
   On our way out day two we finally found a couple Grouse and the Rossi Tuffy Turkey .410 worked amazing. Finding the Grouse actually was the piece that set the stage for the rest of the hunt. On the way back to the lodge there was a barrel for collecting Grouse wings so we pulled over to drop them off and a Pend Oreille County Sheriff was parked across the road. Went over and talked with him for a few and told him was looking for Moose. A voice from inside the cab said “hey can you hear me?” the officer said it was his partner on the phone, I said yes, and he asked me “you ok hunting in thick brush?” I replied yes of course I grew up on the west side hunting Blacktails, and have hunted Southeast Alaska for Sitka Blacktails too. “Great” he said, “find the thickest spot you can find, wade into it and call, the Bulls will come in this time of year.” Both of them gave me a good spot to try the next day and we went back to the lodge.
   Day three, up and out before daylight again heading to the spot the officers had told us about. It was beautiful and we saw some really cool country, but as we approached the spot there was already someone else parked nearby. We turned around and went to another spot to start calling. We spent the rest of the day doing the same as before drive, stop, glass, call, rake and move on. The day was beautiful blue sky, sunshine, about 60 degrees and hardly any wind, perfect for being outdoors, not so much for Moose hunting. We headed home a little earlier that day, three 16 plus hour days we wanted a good meal and a hot shower. After dinner the maps came out and the word document with all the notes that had been taken was pulled up. We talked over drinks for a bit then decided on a spot for day four.
   Day four, two days prior we had shot a couple Grouse and after thinking about it there was some area near there that was really thick brush. The spot was between one we had marked during scouting and a spot Bearpaw had place on the DIY map. We headed for the area with the same anticipation as all the other days. When we arrived we immediately saw three Whitetail Deer in a unit by the road, cool finally some movement. There was an old side road at the base of the unit off the main road with thick Alders growing on it, this is the spot. Just like we had been doing for the last three days we gathered the paddle, binoculars, rifle with shooting sticks and waded into the thick. As we picked our way through the Alders there was some old sign but no rubs of any kind. We went about 150 yards down the old road and set up to start calling, had told my hunting partner there was no way we were going any further than 200 yards from any road.  The 2000 foot spool of Mule Tape in the truck would help with this. We called for about 20 minutes when my hunting partners fiancé got my attention and pointed to her ears and mouthed excitedly “I hear something!” Well after many years of running machines, loud music and guns my hearing is not as good as it used to be, did not hear anything. Called again and raked with some Alder branches in my hand, suddenly all three of us heard rustling in the Alders about 100 yards out. We glassed and waited but nothing happened. We stayed put for over an hour but nothing happened and we never heard anything again.
   We headed back to the truck to move up the road a mile or so to another thick spot we had spotted on the way down. Just as we were getting out of the thick looked down and there was a fresh pile of Moose poop just inside the Alders. Was this here when we came in? We all knew it was not. Heck yeah we had called a Moose in, we did not see it but it had come in, spirits were high that we had fresh sign. We talked quietly the last 100 yards back to the truck making a game plan for the rest of the day. My hunting partner split off to the bushes to take a leak and his fiancé and I kept walking to the truck. When we arrived leaned my shooting sticks up against the truck pulled out the keys hit the button, unlocked the truck, looked up and 100 yards away looking around a big Cedar tree, MOOSE!
   Luckily my rifle was still on my shoulder, took off as my hunting partners fiancé looked at me funny as my arms were flailing to get my hunting partners attention. He was oblivious with his back to me so told her there is a Moose right there and pointed to tree it was behind. The Moose moved and she finally saw it. We kept walking to get a better look as it walked away. As I approached the tree it had been behind he stopped about 80 yards out, turned broadside and looked back. A quick look and he had decent paddles. Leaned the rifle against the tree placed the FireDot behind his front shoulder and touched off the .375, boom. He took off and ran up hill. First thought was how in the world could that have been a missed shot. Seconds later the obvious sound of a very large animal hitting the ground was heard, thrashing and grunting followed by the guttural wheeze of a mortal hit animal. Slowly worked my way up to where he could be seen and could not tell which way his head was turned. His head was under a small log behind a small fir tree, could really only see his hind quarters. His breathing became more labored and could tell he was mortally hit, but he was not done yet. His back legs started to move and he was able to move his head a bit. Then he started to try and move again and moved his head more, that is when his nose came into view and could tell where his head was. Clear shot could be seen between his paddles so put the FireDot in the middle of his head and off hand shot the 40 or so yards, boom, done!
   Waited several minutes, even though we knew the Bull was done, to walk up to him. As we approached him it became apparent his rack was partially stuck under a small log. After seeing this wondered if he had not gotten stuck if he would have gotten up. We finally got to him and moved his head around, and started to make the plan to get him moved. One thing noticed right away was the odor. Bucks and Bulls all seem to have a similar odor, but this Bull had more of a musk smell, like a horse, than any of the other Bucks, or Bulls that have been harvested over the years. Once a few photos were snapped the work began.
   As stated earlier the planning phase really helped with getting him out. Took the chainsaw up to where he was and cut the small log away that his rack was stuck under, to make a skid trail to the road. Hooked up the mule tape to his rack and was able to ease him down to the road. After we had him on the road he was pointing the wrong direction so used the mule tape to pull him around so his hind quarters were pointing downhill. Used two ratchet straps to hold his legs a part and the work began. A big concern was the weather, it was a beautiful day and in the high 50’s low 60’s depending on where the sun was hitting. We had a lot of yellow jackets and fly’s, so my hunting partners fiancé was constantly waving a shop towel to help keep the bugs away. One of the best pearls of wisdom was from a friend that had butchered Moose before, he told me to get one of the exchangeable blade knives (Havalon, or Outdoor Edge) because Moose hide is abrasive, he was not wrong. One of the pieces of gear that had been purchased was an Outdoor Edge and multiple blades. After we were done we had used four blades, used a bigger Buck knife to make deeper cuts, a Collins axe to cut through the chest and pelvis, and a meat saw to get the legs cut off.  Five hours after he had finally expired we were loaded and heading off the mountain.
   Was fortunate to find a meat locker to hang him for a couple days while we rested and made the logistics for how to get him to the butcher on the west side. Waited 30 years for this and am one hundred percent satisfied with how everything worked and how it all came together.

[RB]

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[RB]

Final fire and beverage the night before going home, what an incredible experience. Cheers!

[92xj]

congrats,  great write up!  Glad you were pleased with a great experience and animal!

[teanawayslayer]

Congrats and the bull. Thanks for sharing. Patiently waiting for my turn 

[Boss .300 winmag]

Nicely done.👍

[JBar]

Congrats great moose!!

[Sitka_Blacktail]

Looks lie a fun hunt. Nice bull!