Another 49 degrees N (117) moose hunt.

[Buckhole]

 Alright, got some time to finally post my moose story. I have to give credit to this forum first of all since I got about 90% of my info from reading past moose hunt stories and tips from all you guys! Almost all of my leads were from doing a search and most all my questions were answered from people asking questions I had. I did get some advice from HuntNW, and of course the biologists from that area, so that gave me a great place to start.

 Now, on to the story. I took my nephew who's 31 and in prime shape to help locate and lump meat from the woods were I to actually take a moose. I had drawn an any moose tag with 13 points and was planning on holding out for at least a 40"+ bull, but what do I know? My standards could certainly drop if I wasn't getting in on bulls at all. We left early Friday September 30Th to find a place to camp and check out the area. Being from the wetside and the long drive over, gas prices, etc. I wasn't able to scout the area like I would have wanted. I was hoping for a hunt/scout trip and hopefully get in on a moose I could put my tag on. Total DIY hunt. We got over there in the afternoon and set up camp. That evening we went out to scout some areas and after a short hike past a gate we looked over a clearcut and within a few minutes heard the grunts of a bull. I was able to locate a cow and then I could see a small rack sticking above some brush. There was the bull! Not a big one at all, but a bull nevertheless. I would definetely be back in this area in the morning for the opener, not for this bull, but to find his pop or grampy.
The next morning we headed out in the dark and went beyond where we had spotted the young bull to check out some clearcuts that looked really good we had seen the night before. We continued up the logging road and about a mile in we heard some noise in some reprod. We heard grunts, but couldn't see the bull through the thickness.
(To be continued)

[jrebel]

REALLY..... TO BE CONTINUED....

I hate these types of threads.  I am so impatient I can't wait for pics and the rest of the story.  New rules for posting stories.....Pic first then story.
Kinda like having desert first.   

HURRY UP!!

[Ripper]

  Come on, get on with it.

[boneaddict]

Fair warning, your crowd is one of the most impatient on the planet. 

 

[BOWHUNTER45]

yeah WTH This type sheet should be banned from this site 

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

****hole ! 

[Tman]

****hole ! 

[Austrian Hunter]

C'mon  hurry I don't have all day!   

[Buckhole]

Guys, I apologize and be with the starvin' pygmies down in New Guinea, amen. The kids came over and I wasn't able to finish my story, then I went pheasant hunting this morning and just got back.

Okay...where was I...ah yes. We heard a bull grunting in the trees and never caught sight of it. There was a skid road that was more of a trail at this point that meandered up the hill. It was loaded with moose tracks and crap. About a half-mile up that there was a single grunt below us and I could see the back of a moose and a small set of antlers. He was heading uphill toward the skid trail so I backtracked about 30 yards and he popped up right in front of me about 10 yards away staring back at me. I was a bit nervous, I didn't want to take this bull remembering the advice of not getting trigger happy as we should be able to do better I hoped. I was so close, I wasn't sure what the bull was going to do, but he ended up sauntering off back down the hill.
Over the next couple days the weather was pretty warm and we were only able to spot one decent bull about a mile away and a few smaller bulls.

[Buckhole]

Finally on October 4th we got some slightly colder weather and it started pouring rain. Up until this point the moose were holding tight to the timber and we were lucky to see them at first light or dusk. Now with this rain coming down we started seeing moose moving about. My nephew saw some moose moving through the timber but we couldn't see if there were any bulls. I tried calling to no avail.
I had figured the moose were still in rut since our weird weather seemed to delay the onset of it and we had been hearing cows moaning and bulls grunting around. Just then I looked down at a clearcut with the binocs and thought I saw a moose. It moved, so I looked harder and could make out it was at least a cow. It was about 1200 yards away. I told my nephew to look and he finally spotted it as well. Not far from the cow I could see another moose, but this one definetely was a bull. I could see paddles, but couldn't judge the size. We needed to close the distance.

[Buckhole]

The cow and bull were standing in the clearcut below the lowest logging road, so we had to work our way down and around the road we were on to get to the lower road. It took us a good 25 minutes and I worried the bull would be gone. We got down to a lower road, but were still above where they were last seen. Finally we got to where we could see the clearcut fully and he was still there! I laid over a logpile and judged him about 350 yards away. I turned to my nephew and we both agreed he was a shooter.
There wasn't a clear shot at him and he was moving away. We got up, moved down the road and tried to set up again. At this point I was directly above him about 200 yards and could only see the top of his head and the antlers. No shot! Crap! Both moose were now getting closer to the timber and I could see this opportunity sliding away. I tried slipping further down the road to open my viewpoint, but at that angle I couldn't see him anymore. Medium size trees growing in this clearcut was causing me grief!

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

...

[Buckhole]

I had to move to get a clear view of the bull and that meant exposing myself in the open. When I moved into where I last saw the moose they were gone...went into the timber. We both looked over the whole clearcut and that was that. We blew it.
My nephew Matt had to take a leak, and I mentioned hearing a cow way down in the ravine, too far away to be the cow we had just seen a bit ago. I told Matt that maybe the bull would be greedy and give up on his cow and take to my call. Not that I believed it, but it was a last resort. I gave a cow moan and followed with a few bull grunts. I heard our bull just in the timber respond!!! I told Matt that the bull wasn't far, just in the timber and maybe he'll come back. One more cow moan from me and here comes the bull charging out of the timber right for us! I turned to Matt and yelled that he was coming! Matt literally pissed himself as he hadn't finished his business half turning around to see the bull hurrying our direction. I grabbed my shooting sticks and readied for a shot. The bull was about 300 yards and coming head on!!!

[Buckhole]

Steadying my rifle in the sticks, the moose kept coming and stopped 200 yards out. I waited for him to turn and when he did I squeezed a shot off putting one into his shoulder. I quickly jacked another one in and put another into him right where the first one hit. He seemed to be taking it without so much as a flinch! He turned and gave me a nice shot to his opposite shoulder and I touched a third one off. This one shook him up and he started rocking. Matt said that we was gonna go down and I agreed, but in all the excitement I admit I couldn't help but give him one more since I couldn't believe that he wasn't eating dirt yet.
The bull took a few steps and crumpled!!! We got down to him and as I had read here, the size of a moose up close is something to behold. I got my moose!!! Oh man, now the work begins! After some pics, we got to work on the bull and started packing meat. The bull was down about 9am and we made pack trips until dark and returned at first light the next morning to get the rest out. We made a killer pack out in the high buck last year, but this one was heads and tails more ass-busting.
Not a monster bull by any means, but I'm very happy with it.

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

That is a great moose !
one of these years....