Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Other Big Game => Topic started by: Willey on October 30, 2008, 03:09:32 PM
-
I'm looking for some tips on good areas to try and bag a Big Bull. Work restrictions and other huntin committements, namely my hunting partner's (wife) Wyo elk tag have not allowed me the time that I would normally allot for scouting. I've been over twice for a total of 5 days huntin and hundreds of $ of Diesel without a lot of luck. Have passed on several bulls up to 40" all behind gates. Due to deer, elk, and wood cutters I have done little traveling in the unit to avoid the circus. Due to other hunts drawn in Mont, Wyo, and a Margaret Bull tag starting Sat. I will not be able to get back over until a few days before Thanksgiving which will allow me the last 5-6 days of the season. Am I an Idiot to wait that long on this precious tag? A few guys I've spoke with have stated that the big timber bulls will be down in the mid-range country in the clear-cuts and which will allow me a great opp to score on a monster. I'm new to the site and would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks
-
Wow what tag do you (and group) not have? Two washington premo tags and other states... Sound pretty busy. have fun in the margaret!!!!
-
Willey, with limited time on your hands you should be spending any hunting time looking for that moose :twocents: That is a OIL tag and should be treated as such, you can draw that elk tag several times, this is your only chance at a moose.
-
Personally I would have turned in the Margaret bull tag and focused solely on the Moose. So yes, I think your crazy to wait that long to get back over there to hunt for the Moose. You will probably do just fine, but I would personally be having a stroke waiting to get back here for that tag.
-
I have to agree with the other guys, that moose tag would be my number one priority. The several hundred dollars in fuel would not discourage me because if you waste this moose tag your next one will be well over a thousand dollars in another state by the time your done with a tag and liscense. It does sound like you drew some nice tags good luck on whatever you choose to do.
idaho moose tag 1759.50 + 141.50 liscense
wyoming moose tag 1402.00 + ? liscense
montana moose tag 755.00 + ? liscence
-
I have made 4 trips from Tacoma so far and at this rate will make 4 more tirps before I'm done.
-
I will PM you
-
give me a call might be able to point you in the right direction. names Brian 509-998-0268
-
Nice of you guys, I sent him some info as well so he should be set between all of us.
-
I really appreciate all the help from you fellas. Will let you guys know how I did later in the month. The Margaret Elk hunt was great this wk end. Passed on several bulls, haven't found the big boys that I scouted this summer yet. Will probably spike in to another area come Thursday. Gotta work thru Wed-Damn
-
Good luck on the hunt, actually all of them. You'll get a nice one but even Mr. Money that bought the Auction tag and had a ton of guides ( the whole football team :o) was able to arrow a 48 inck bull this year. :dunno:I haven't seen the movei yet but Look forward to it. :rolleyes: My bull was up by Callisbell Mt. Which is a good area. We saw 14 bulls in 6 days. It will be fun :IBCOOL:and like the rest the boys said..forget the rest of the tags :'( and get your 1 moose! ;).
-
Forget elk man and get that moose! I think that has been said, but not sure oyu are listening. Skinzer, you forgot to add te 141.00 for the ten years you apply and don't get drawn and all theo "convienence fees". and the deer tags and elk tags you buy to try to take advantage of that 141.00. ;)
-
ray bunny bought the gov. moose tag and my uncle was his guide. my uncle is a bull *censored*er don't listen everything you hear he is a friend and my uncle didnt charge anything ray is a family friend. The bull they shot My first cleint passed on the 2nd day. nice bull but no monster 9 on one side 6 on the other. had broken tines and a single brow on one side still very nice for a bow kill.
-
I will try to post the story of my moose adventure in the next week. To busy catching up on work to do it right. I never did find the big boy, but still got a nice one (a 7x9 with tri-guards) on the morning of the 29th-the last day I had planned on huntin. Thanks for the advice Brian-Hope you got the pic. I got a great 5x6 bull in the St Helens and 2 nice mule bucks in Wyo and Montana. The Mont buck was a 28" typical 4 pt with guards a real beauty!
-
Wow nice work man, can't wait to hear the stories and check out some pics
-
Nice Willey!! I will look forward to the stories and pictures. Congratulations!! :tup:
-
Get those pics up, congrats.
-
I was able to get back to the 49 at 2 am on the 25th Nov. We caught about 3 hrs of sleep, had a quick breakfast and set up camp. I got my camper off the truck, got it leveled, loaded the quad in the back of the truck and gathered all my gear by 9 am. I was hunting with my good friend Deano and my huntin partner of 27 years, my wife Shelley. The first order of business was to check out an area that I had hunted in mid Oct where I had seen plenty of moose activity and had passed up several bulls. We hiked behind the gate all morning and only cut 1 cow track. I couldn't believe the lack of sign but I did see where another hunter had killed a moose during my absence. We hiked back to the rig to try plan B. I drove to an area recommended by a great guy off this site. We drove the perimeter of the area first to get our bearings and then hiked several ridges to glass. There was some old sign in the area we covered but nothing fresh. As we were driving out on a loggin spur and about to hit the county road just before dark, Deano, who hasen't seen a moose in the wild since his younger days in Idaho and half asleep says "There's a moose standing in the timber". I slam on the brakes and ask him if it's a bull. He calmly responds "yea but it's not very big". I leave the diesel runnin, grab my gun, get out, load up and walk back some 20 yards and I just about crap when here's the second best bull i've seen on the hunt (couldn't get a shot at the bigger one in Oct). The bulls standing less than 40 yards away feedin without a care in the world. I study him with my Swarov's and can count every bump on the rack. He's a 7x9 with triple brows and about 40" wide. Now remember, this is my first day back since October and I still have 4 full days of hunting left and looking for the elusive "Book Bull" I signal Shelley and Dean to get out of the truck and take a look at this bull. All the while this bull is looking up every now and then and actually walks toward us another 5 yards in curiosity. My wife takes one look at the bull and says "if I had the tag I'd shoot him in a heartbeat". I look at Deano and comment about the "small" moose that he has just spotted. Anyway, I him and haw for no kiddin like 15 minutes while the bull stands there like a statue. Suddenly, I here what sounds like a dirt bike and from around the corner here comes 3 guys on a motorcycle and 2 quads. They pull up stop and ask me if I'm hunting moose and proceed to tell me about the 2 big bulls they just jumped of the trail a half mile back. (I spotted the two bulls later and they were dinks compared to the one we were watching) I have to walk back to the truck to close my door in order to let the guys get by on their machines and walk back to Shell and Deano. The bulls still standing there! Finally I make the decision to pass him up in hopes of finding him later in the week if I can't do better.
The next day is spent up North of the Flowery with 1 small bull spotted with a cow and fogged in bad. We hiked behind several gates and mounds, put the miles on the leather but no luck. Thursday rolls around and I figure if I'm gonna get behind the gate up Boyer I'd better do it today because if I kill somthing up there it's gonna take us 2 days to get it out. We spend all morning hiking up on the Mt., walk up on one nice Whitie buck and then spot moose off on a distant ridge. I kick myself for not packing the spotting scope to save weight. The bull gets behind some brush and we decide to hike down the road and go straight up a steep skid road to access the upper spur. While we're hiking up the grade, Deano spots another moose going into the timber on the other side of the unit but we can't tell if it's bull. (Damn-no spottin scope) :bash: We get up on the upper grade, sneak in and spot a cow and calf at less than 50 yards. The cow gets antsy, starts to trot off and about that time a bedded bull stands up broadside. I throw the rifle to my shoulder and put the cross-hairs on a 30 incher. Damn! We leave that bunch and decide to go check out the timberline where we saw the other moose head. We cut his tracks in the snow and follow him to the timber where we come up with the bright idea of tracking him. :bdid: After fighting the blowdown and crunchy snow for 15 minutes we come across 4 fresh beds, all huge and determine that there is more than one bull. With 3 of us bangin around in the timber (my wife is wanting to film the harvest) I finallly decide not even a stupid ruttin bull would put up with this much noise we decide to back off and hike out. We shortcut back to the rig and about the time we hit the mainline where the truck is parked, Deano spots movement on the road and theres another bull standing there taking a drink from a small creek. By the time we get down there the bull has walked down the road a couple hundred yards and bailed off in the brush. :bash: It' about 1:30 in the afternoon and we're pretty much played out. I decide to travel up the North side of the Mt. to glass some areas before dark. We only spot one cow.
Friday rolls around and I'm starting to get concerned. The second guessing on passing up the 7x9 is wearing on me and Shelley tells me "to quit whining-I had my chance!" :bash: I decide to head up an area I hadn't been after a tip from Brian who was gracious enough to answer my desperate cell calls. We check out some old loggin cuts and hike behind a couple gates for a total of who knows probably 8 miles and cut moose, bear, and cat tracks in the snow but nothing standin in them. :bash: I finally concede after lunch that I'd better get back and find the bull I'd passed up Tues before I'm forced to ingest tag soup. I start back to the area and her comes the fog and snow-great! We get back to the area, hunt all afternoon in the fog and snow and can't find even a fresh track. I decide to drive my truck up a steep grade that I had traveled on Tuesday to get up to where I can see the surrounding ground and hopefully spot a moose before dark. :bdid: Now I could have traveled 1/4 mile around the grade and drove up a much calmer slope, but in my haste with 2' of fresh snow I decide my truck in 4wd with the quad in back-no problem. Right! :bash: I get 2/3rds of the way up, spin out, start to slide backwards and end up half way off the road stuck. No problem, we pull the winch line off the truck about 150 ft. to a tree and hook up. I hit the switch to crank the winch in, it shorts out and quits working. :bash: It's dark now and we have to coil up the 150' of cable around my brush guard to get it the hell out of the way. We grab our headlamps, get behind the truck and check for stumps off the road. I decide to back the truck off the road and try to spin the front end around to get faced down hill. I tell Shelley to get out in case I roll it and she tells me she's ridin it out and to get in the truck and get it done. Oh Boy-sometimes. >:( I slam er in R cut the wheel and spool the rig off the road, dog the brakes and the front end swings almost perfect. I jockey the truck back and forth 4or5 times and somehow get the nose pointing down hill. Wow! I clean my shorts and creep back down the hill to the main road. Just as we're getting near the spot where I spotted the bull Tuesday, we notice fresh tracks in the snow crossing the road. We get out and determine that a bull and a cow were about a hundred yards from us while I was performing on top. I mention to Shell and Dean that if I wouldn't have spent quality time with the truck off the road we would have probably driven by that spot before the moose had crossed and missed the tracks. Smart thinking on my part after all! ;) We decide to come back to the area on Saturday for the last day of the hunt to try and track the bull down........To be continued.
-
Can't wait to hear the rest and to draw a moose tag of my own! Hope you laid the smack on one.
-
Great write up. Can't wait for the rest.
-
Sounds like you have had a great hunting season Willey . . . .now show some pics of the moose :chuckle:
-
Nice story Willey!! Don't leave us hanging too long for part 2. :tup:
-
So far it sounds like it was a great...if not eventful, hunt! Can't wait to hear "The rest of the story".
-
OK :drool:OK :o lets hear the rest of the story with Pictures. :rolleyes:
-
Hang on guys! :IBCOOL: Just finished cutting up primo meat all day today and haven't had time to finish up. Let er hang for 8 days in my buddy's walk in cooler. Need to get the pics togeather before I finish the narrative. I'll get back as soon as I figure out how to post the pics. Need to confer with Shelley on that part of it. :bash:
-
I use http://photobucket.com/ You load your pictures then Copy and paste it to your post.
-
i have pictures but dont want to spoil the story :chuckle: :chuckle: :chuckle: :kneel:
-
Your killing us here!! :chuckle: :chuckle:
-
heres the picture
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi9.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fa88%2Fbowhunter_4_life%2Fgigantic-moose.jpg&hash=4c8a1b79b799f810ce472ab6ebcc9ee74ac70251)
-
:chuckle:
-
NICE !
I guess we are looking at the new world record !
-
Hey, Where is the snow? ??? ???
-
:dunno: :dunno:
-
Ok, here's how it went down saturday morning. The snow had stopped during the night but the fog was nearly down to the ground. We got to the area at daylight and drove the perimeter of the unit to check for any sign of tracks. Finding no moose tracks we determined that the animals were in a thick pine flat that besides, a few old logging roads, was too thick to try a stalk. We went back to the spot where we had cut the tracks the night before and parked the rig nearby. I had Deano get on the tracks while Shelley and I put the wind in our face and snuck up an old grade in order to get above the flat where I could see a few small openings in the flat and a ridgeline about 250 yds from our location. Fresh elk tracks were everywhere and it took Deano a while to sort out the mess and get back on the moose. Just before we reached our desired location, Shelley heard something about 50 yards below us. We stopped and listened to a moose feeding and could tell by the brush rubbing on its rack that it was a bull. We stood there for at least 20 minutes but the bull would not come up the ridge far enough to get a shot. I considered trying to sneak in on him but it was so thick I was afraid I'd spook him and the jig would be up. I knew Deano was down in the flat somewhere following the tracks so I decided to wait and see what happened. About that time I heard the moose crash off down the draw and knew I needed to get up to the top of the grade as quickly as I could in order to have any chance of seeing the animal. We hustled to the top and hadn't stood there for more than a couple minutes when we could hear animals moving through the bottom heading for the small opening. Shelley spotted the first animal but it was moving just on the other side of the opening in the thick stuff and we couldn't tell if it was a bull. Then another animal followed the first but all we could see was patches of black. They appeared to be heading for a skid road that went vertically up the far ridge so I sat down and and placed my scope on the skid road and waited for what I figured was going to be a quick shot as the animal passed through. No animals showed. :bash: We later determined that they crossed just out of sight where the skid road jogged just before it hit the top of the ridge. Suddenly, Shelley says , "I hear them running up the ridge." I jump up, run to my right and sit down where I can barely see the ridge because of the dense fog. The first moose that appears is a cow which stands there for at least a minute staring directly at us. I have no idea how she knew we were there with the wind in our face and over 200 yds away but she did. I can just make her out in my scope and watch her the whole time waiting for a bull to walk up in back of her. Then like a shot she whirls in a full gallop up the ridge and over the back side. I continue to keep the sight picture on the exact spot where she had just vacated when a nice bull comes blasting through the opening so fast that I have no shot. All I could see was a black vapor trail with antler in the fog. :bash: Knowing that the night before we had cut 1 cow and 1 bull track I cussed my bad luck thinking we had just blown our chance and now would have to try and track down a spooked moose. I'm still staring with my naked eye at the spot were the moose had just run through when out of the fog appears another moose which stops and stands in the exact spot where the cow had just been. I can tell its got bone on its head but how big I really had no idea. Shelley says "it's a bull but I can't tell how big but there's snow on his rack". At this point in time, any bull is a good bull and I know that I'm going to try and whack him. I put my scope up and all I can see is fog. I desperatly search for the animal but cannot find him. I pull the rifle from my shoulder and quickly wipe the scope off and remount the gun. I try again to locate the animal but there is so much fog between us that I start to panic. I look over the top of the scope and notice a tall pine just to the left of the animal and point the gun at the tree and look back through the scope. During this ordeal. Shelley keeps saying "I can't believe you can't see him, he's standing broadside, hurry up, he's gonna leave. >:( :bash: I find the tree in my scope, move the crosshairs right and find the black outline of the animal. I direct the crosshairs across the top of its back, get to a point to where I feel is behind the front shoulder of the animal lower the crosshairs and squeeze the shot off from a sitting position. I watch the bull buckle straight down through the scope and Shelley yells "You got him" :) I can see the bull laying on the ground and still moving so we hurry across the draw and up the ridge where I quickly put one behind his ear. The bulls antlers are piled up in the snow and brush and I really have no idea what he is assuming that it is one of the small bulls that we had spotted in the area on Tuesday (which would have been fine with me at that point). Shelley walks up to the animal, grabs its head spins it around and yells "Its Tri-guard-Its Tri-guard" :chuckle: I could not believe my good fortune. How lucky I was to be able to get another chance at the bull I had passed up Tuesday. I knew by pushing the envelope to the last day that there was a darn good chance that I'd be chewing on paper come night fall.
I'd like to thank Deano for bird-doggin the bull out of the thick stuff and giving me the opportunity. My wife Shelley for her support and always reminding me to quit whining and hunt hard. Thanks to all you guys, especially Brian for the info which helped me achieve my OIL Bull moose.
-
Sounds like an AWESOME hunt Willey!! CONGRATS
Surely a hunt of a lifetime! :drool: Can't wait to see the pics!!!
-
Great story, Willey. Good job. :tup:
:brew:
-
Help! Can't figure out how to post pics!
-
email them to me and i'll post them up...
benjamin_rj@msn.com
-
(http://)(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi467.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Frr31%2Fnwillet58%2FMoosePic3.jpg&hash=b17983644822c0e1541689e4ddbd0c7cb9e3a188)(http://)(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi467.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Frr31%2Fnwillet58%2FMoosePic2.jpg&hash=03320adf05686e4dc2f29a2a2ea5e0d95ec090ae)(http://)(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi467.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Frr31%2Fnwillet58%2FMoosePic5.jpg&hash=fc18209a2b99a191c5f31198083310cdf1413104)(http://)(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi467.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Frr31%2Fnwillet58%2FMoosePic1.jpg&hash=7daad219ab2febaa0e9868ef3f642f934a646a49)(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi467.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Frr31%2Fnwillet58%2FMTBuck2008.jpg&hash=72b6a29ebfbeaa5dc5b8f806e7393f972aa0c6e6)
OK...here's the pics...and a pic of my Montana buck, too!
-
AWESOME BULL! :drool:
Again, CONGRATS
Looks like a great year all the way around...the MT Muley is great!
-
beautiful...looks like you got the pics figured out.
good looking rifle too.
-
Sounds like a sweet hunt, good looking bull.
-
Nice8) way to go!!!!
-
Now that's what I'm talkin about!! Way to go Willey!! Congratulations to you and your whole crew!! :tup:
-
Congradulationd ! Great looking bull! :chuckle:Loved the story too!! :drool: Had me on the edge of my seat!! :yike:
STB
-
Congratulations!!! and thanks for the story and pictures.
-
Congrats, thats a dandy bull!
-
Outstanding!!! Congrats on a great year :brew:
-
:yike: looks like you had some fun this year. Well done.
-
:drool: great job good looking animals :rockin:
-
Congrats! Nothing like a full freezer ;)
-
Great season... nice pictures. :tup:
-
Great story Willy thanks for the props it was my pleasure, what a hunt! Stuff like that lasts a life time. Deano
