So, I was pretty happy with that turn of events... it was a fun deal! Nice bull at 7 yards, nother nice bull at 35 earlier... and a dink at like 9 or 10... Not to mention many other bulls spotted.
Things went pretty well... on Sunday I hiked up in the mountains and saw some elk and heard some bugles and that was good! Saw two dink bulls up there too... 9500 feet! There were places in the spruce forest up there that the ground was just completely covered with moose crap... But, we didn't see jack for fresh sign...and we were about 3 1/2 miles further from the truck than where we'd been seeing most the bulls!
On Monday morn I glassed and glassed from several good points until my eyes burned and my brain hurt. The country looked so good... but a moose wouldn't show himself. After a bit, I told Dad I was going to spend the evening down by the Windmill, grunting. It took that last bull a good 20 minutes to get to me from 300 yards out... well, I was going to play it like whitetail hunting, calling, rattling... I was gonna go find a likely spot and just call and call and see what showed up!
Well, we ended up driving down to a likely looking spot, you could see a pretty wide bottom... and the first thing I saw, about 600 yards away, was a moose. We were "near" the spot I had called the bigger bull into, the one that spooked in the pics above, so I thought maybe it was him. I looked through the binos and said, "well, its a bull" and moved directly to the spotting scope. One second of looking told me it was "him"... I couldn't pass this bull up. It was the last full day of an 8 day hunt... I didn't know how easy it was going to be to get back and for how long I could stay...
I through my 06' over my shoulders, sling across my chest style, no handed... and grabbed my longbow. If I muffed a shot or whatever, this guy was going to die.
Back into the calf to thigh deep water and mudd and muck.... in about 300 yards of slogging I was just about to the opposite willow edge where I'd get a look at him and decide how to go about getting within 20 yards... I stepped into a little opening and two cows and a bull are bedded looking directly at me. The cow jumped up, appeared startled, but didn't run.
I just knew I had blown it...they were between the big guy and me... if I spooked them, they were going to run right through, likely alarming him... and he'd hit the "sea" of willows and could be gone for who knows how long...
I kept my rifle on my back and backed outta there, trying to skirt around the 3 moose so if they jumped, they wouldn't run through him. I made it, the bull spooked from my scent at that point...the two cows had worked far enough north that they didn't get my scent... but they saw the big bull...they moved towards him...he towards them. He was bellering like a dam black angus... if I was a more confident caller...and the 3rd cow, 4th set of eyes and ears for the bunch hadn't been there, I may have kept that longbow in my hand... but I didnt' want this guy to find the cover...not ever again.
Well, he was obscured with willows, mostly dead willows... he was doing all sorts of carnal things to these two cows, while another cow watched... I was a little jealous really... but I wasn't jealous knowing that this was his last bit of action...
I steadied my Brownings forearm on some dead willows and watched him through 6X in the Loop.... It was an easy shot...I was 90 yards (estimated)... he finally moved into the clear and I wholloped him in the chest, broadside... he just humped up and stood still. He was dead but didn't know it. Well, I decided to hit him again... He just stood there... one more wouldn't hurt right? THis time I pulled forward and put one in the front shoulder. Not "really" sure why I even shot... but...I did. He dropped.
Wow... got my moose. He's not the biggest in the state, but he's plenty big and he's one of those ones that you just cant pass up...even if you really want to!
My Dad made the hunt, saw the whole thing...so That was really cool too!
Couple More...
I love his massive eyeguards!!!
Packin out the cape and head...right at 100 pounds....
Finally back at camp!
