Post by: Duckhunter14 on August 28, 2017, 03:07:53 PM
This story starts out like many hunts, with a visit to the Department of Fish and Game website to check the results of the Idaho OIL drawing. Once again I saw unsuccessful next to my Bighorn Sheep application. My best friend was out of service on a fishing trip so I had to wait until that evening to hear whether he was successful in the moose category or not. About 9:30 that night his brother and I got a group text that read "we're going moose hunting boys!" The three way call and yelling and screaming commenced.
The planning started immediately and we ran down every lead we could think to obtain information on the hunt. My buddy is a resident of Montana and only lives a few hours from the unit so he was able to get boots on the ground with several scouting trips throughout the summer. I gave him a couple of my trail cameras and he got 5-6 cams up as well. After getting the kill locations from years past we marked up Google earth with past kills, potential glassing spots, meadows to check, camping locations, trails heads to check out, etc.
Its been a whirlwind since we found out we had finally drawn an OIL tag. We've been talking about drawing a premium tag since we were kids and this is the first OIL. Although this is an OIL tag it will not be a walk in the park. Which we knew going into the draw; the unit is not what it used to be and the moose are scattered throughout the unit. But we look forward to the challenge, cause hey we get to HUNT MOOSE!
In addition to figuring out information on where to find moose we also needed to learn more on "how" to find moose. Neither of us has ever attempted to call in a bull moose before, other than when we would see them on deer/elk hunts in Montana and attempt to emulate (poorly I might add) the guys we have watched on the hunting channel! So we watched YouTube videos, and ordered DVD's on moose calling. I saw several videos on using a moose scapula for scraping so I was on the lookout when another buddy and I ventured into Idaho for a Spring bear hunt. Luck would have it that we headed down a side road and bam, dead cow moose laying in the road. Got my scapula. I cleaned it up, boiled it, bleached it, clear coated it, and then used some leather shoe lace and a bear claw to make a lanyard for it. I gave it to my buddy along with a fiberglass moose call tube for his birthday in June. He was pretty excited.
Well after months of planning the day is finally here. I leave after work tomorrow to head east and we are heading out for the opener. We have 6 days planned for the first hunt, then another 10 planned for the first week of October for the rut if he has not punched his tag yet. He is going to attempt to harvest the bull with his bow, but I will be packing his rifle just in case. We also have wolf tags just in case too.
Attached I included a picture of a bull he has his eye on and a picture of the scapula scraper I made him. I wish everyone else luck on their hunts this fall. Hope you can follow along and enjoy the progress. Fingers crossed we will hear the sizzle of moose back strap before the fall is over. If not, we're going to have a heck of a good time trying and exploring some new country in the process.
Clint
Post by: Bob33 on August 28, 2017, 03:19:10 PM
Post by: Timberstalker on August 28, 2017, 03:30:17 PM
Post by: carpsniperg2 on August 28, 2017, 04:00:09 PM
Post by: coop2424 on August 28, 2017, 05:05:34 PM
Post by: meatwhack on August 28, 2017, 08:00:48 PM
Post by: G-S on August 28, 2017, 08:16:07 PM
Post by: ffbowhunter on August 28, 2017, 08:29:21 PM
Post by: lewy on August 28, 2017, 08:38:30 PM
Post by: cmiller85 on August 28, 2017, 08:54:33 PM
Post by: tchoutacabouffa on August 28, 2017, 10:17:00 PM
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Post by: bowhunterforever on August 28, 2017, 11:01:59 PM
Best of luck, keep the story going! I cannot wait to see how this hunt goes.:yeah: :tup:
Post by: Gringo31 on August 29, 2017, 08:38:06 AM
Post by: boneaddict on August 29, 2017, 09:28:12 AM
Post by: DOUBLELUNG on August 29, 2017, 09:38:30 AM
Post by: Duckhunter14 on August 29, 2017, 10:03:30 AM
Post by: RB on August 29, 2017, 10:09:43 AM
Post by: Duckhunter14 on September 03, 2017, 10:57:41 PM
Post by: Mark Brenckle on September 04, 2017, 04:59:04 AM
Post by: meatwhack on September 04, 2017, 07:03:21 AM
Post by: Timberstalker on September 04, 2017, 07:19:13 AM
Post by: dewandgin on September 04, 2017, 09:10:22 AM
Post by: Duckhunter14 on September 04, 2017, 09:40:19 PM
After getting our tents sent up we headed to glass the lake for the afternoon, hoping he would step out in the same area where Eric had got him on the trail cam. While soaking in the views and glassing I noticed there was a electricity in the air. I looked to the west and noticed a dark skyline headed our way. Within minutes the canyon we were in was filled with dozens of lightening strikes with the thunder getting louder and louder. We tied down the guy lines on our tents and tucked into them just as the rain started. The thunder and lightening and rain kept up for over an hour. We were so relieved it wasn't a dry storm and no more fires would be started and kick us out of the country.
We woke up early the next morning and were glassing as the fog lifted off of the lake. We didn't want to go check the cams just yet. We figured the bull was living in the thick timber on the east end of the lake and would hopefully show himself eventually if we were just patient. We didn't want to barge in to the area and spread our scent around and kick him out of the area. All we glassed up that morning was a small whitetail buck feeding along the lakes edge.
The other three guys made it in to camp mid day and we let them know we hadn't seen any sign of the bull, but they brought a renewed sense of excitement for the hunt and we hiked down lake that afternoon after catching up and getting them settled into camp to glass until dark; still no sign. We rose in the dark the next morning to glass and had no luck so we headed a couple miles back down the trail to glass some good country we liked on the way in. We scraped and let out some cow calls with no luck. Two of the guys had to head back due to work commitments but Erics brother Danny was able to stay with us through the rest of the hunt. We sat in camp and talked through what we should do next. We were half way through day three and we had not even seen a moose yet. We were already discussing the Late September/October rut hunts as though we had no chance on this hunt. But we decided that we had to be patient and have faith that the bull was still in the area and would show himself eventually. He was the only bull that we knew about and Eric's buddy thought the bull would be about 40" wide and make the Pope and Young minimum based on the trail cam pics. We were dedicated on focusing on this bull until mid day the next day, then we would hike out and regroup at our base camp and roll the dice on a few other big meadows we had marked on the map.
After checking the trail cameras the air was let out of our sails when the moose was not on the cam. Only a few deer and elk. As we started down the trail I thought I heard splashing in the lake and stopped the guys. We heard it again and slowly approached the lake edge. The noise got louder as we approached and we spotted two 5 point bull elk playing on the south end of the lake. They were chasing each other up and down the beach, sparring, scraping the mud and wallowing and rubbing their antlers on trees. I got some awesome footage on the video camera. Our plan that night was to get more aggressive that evening and hit the tree line they were on to scrape and call. But fortunately the elk were doing the job for us. They weren't bugling but were making just the sounds we thought may get a bull moose curious enough to come check out the source. Instead of making our way down the far side of the lake like we had planned. We let the elk do the calling for us and we sat tight, hoping the bull would make an appearance before dark.
We watched the bulls make their way all the way down the lake to the other end; when Eric said "hey, did you hear that? It was either hooves on the rocks or a distant airplane." I didn't hear it and kept glassing. About a minute later I hear loud hooves coming down the trail to the North of our camp up to the lakes edge.
Its getting late I better finish this up tomorrow. :chuckle:
Post by: Duckhunter14 on September 04, 2017, 09:57:14 PM
Post by: 2MANY on September 05, 2017, 08:19:51 AM
Post by: Duckhunter14 on September 05, 2017, 09:05:28 AM
Tree Huggers?
When you're headed out on an 8 mile hike getting the legs and hips stretched out is a must. :chuckle:
Post by: Duckhunter14 on September 05, 2017, 09:07:02 AM
Post by: meatwhack on September 05, 2017, 10:08:50 AM
Post by: Duckhunter14 on September 05, 2017, 05:36:19 PM
I've heard a lot of people say that walking up to a moose is something you will never forget. Well I've helped pack out plenty of elk and I didn't think it would be much worse. I was wrong. Moose are just as big as everyone says! Good luck even moving them for pictures!
We took a few photos and then realized we had a long couple of days ahead of us so we got to work. It took us just over 3 hours to get him cut up and cooling next to the creek. We were whooped!
He has 7 points including fronts on one side and 6 on the other. His rack was still full velvet and he only damaged part of the velvet when he fell. We did everything we could to keep it intact on the pack out. It should be a really cool euro mount. As you can see from the above picture he ended up being 42" wide at his widest.
We were really happy that the bull was bigger than we had originally thought in the one angle we got on the trail cam (his fronts, paddles, and width were more than the three of us had guessed- shows what we know about moose), we were stoked that he was still in full velvet and lastly I am so proud of Eric for sticking with his goal of making the harvest with his bow. The bull stepped out at 70 yards and I had his 7 mag sitting 5 feet away. It would have been a no brainer for a lot of guys. But he stuck to his goal.
It was a truly awesome experience. We got our butts kicked for 3 days and thought that we were going to be grinding out the rest of the hunt and coming back for the rut to continue hunting hard, then in a matter of seconds all our luck changed. I think that's one of the things I love about hunting so much, things can change so quickly if you just keep pushing and stick to your plan.
I've been best friends with Eric since we were in Kindergarten and his little brother is like my little brother, we've been through a lot together and this hunt meant a lot to us. It was really cool that we got to experience this together and we were very thankful that it all went down with the three of us together. Hope you guys enjoyed the story. FINALLY here are some kill shots.
Clint
Post by: Duckhunter14 on September 05, 2017, 05:37:41 PM
Post by: Duckhunter14 on September 05, 2017, 05:41:28 PM
Post by: bowhunterforever on September 05, 2017, 05:41:58 PM
Post by: carpsniperg2 on September 05, 2017, 06:01:33 PM
Post by: elkoholic1 on September 05, 2017, 06:07:07 PM
Post by: cmiller85 on September 05, 2017, 06:19:13 PM
Post by: Timberstalker on September 05, 2017, 08:11:10 PM
Post by: Rainier10 on September 05, 2017, 08:46:47 PM
Awesome write up and great bull! Thanks for sharing.:yeah:
Post by: Pinetar on September 05, 2017, 08:48:37 PM
Post by: ffbowhunter on September 05, 2017, 09:43:59 PM
Post by: 2MANY on September 06, 2017, 07:13:30 AM
And now.................................The rest of the season!!! :)
Post by: elkboy on September 06, 2017, 07:21:23 AM
Post by: WALLEYEGUY on September 06, 2017, 07:23:12 AM
Post by: Brushbuster on September 06, 2017, 08:45:14 AM
Post by: trophyhunt on September 06, 2017, 09:24:51 AM
Post by: Rainier10 on September 06, 2017, 09:39:32 AM
Thanks so much for sharing this story and congratulations to all that were involved.
Post by: cbond3318 on September 06, 2017, 10:29:31 AM
Post by: Jpmiller on September 06, 2017, 11:42:26 AM
Post by: Gringo31 on September 06, 2017, 12:09:33 PM
Quote
I contemplated whether or not I wanted to share this adventure or not.
Thank you for sharing the best story of they year (so far)! :tup:
Post by: Rydonn on September 06, 2017, 12:56:56 PM
Post by: Brushcrawler on September 06, 2017, 01:19:22 PM
Post by: meatwhack on September 06, 2017, 02:22:28 PM
Post by: Machias on September 06, 2017, 03:12:35 PM
WRONG, you did a fantastic write up and kept me glued till the end! Congrats on a great hunt and THANK you VERY much for sharing the adventure and the photos!!!!
Post by: Duckhunter14 on September 06, 2017, 04:08:04 PM
Clint
Post by: RB on September 06, 2017, 06:10:57 PM
Post by: opdinkslayer on September 06, 2017, 06:51:36 PM
Vernon
Post by: takethetime on September 08, 2017, 02:55:20 PM
Post by: Ridgerunner on September 08, 2017, 04:19:14 PM
Post by: Duckhunter14 on September 14, 2017, 08:39:03 AM
Post by: HUNTINCOUPLE on September 23, 2017, 04:09:38 PM