Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Other Big Game => Topic started by: HillHound on June 19, 2025, 02:24:00 PM
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My son drew an Early huckleberry any bull moose tag. :IBCOOL: :IBCOOL: :IBCOOL:
He is super excited and I am just as excited. He drew with 11 points and wasn’t even on his radar of being a possibility. We were just hoping his 10 cow elk points would get him a tag, which they didn’t. And now we are glad so he can use all his free time away from work this fall hunting Moose. I got a 49degrees north bull in 2018 and My brother and I got moose on a self guided Alaska float hunt last year and we can’t believe we get to go moose hunting again! We thought it would be years before we even got to tag along on one. The plan is to be there the first week at least and then a couple long weekends followed by another week at the end if needed. We have shot deer and bear in the unit so we do know our way around some of it. But if anybody has any pointers they want to share or real time sightings during the season please send me a PM. I will update this post as we start our scouting trips. Good luck to all those OIL tag holders out there
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Congrats on the draw! Should be a great time for all involved. Good luck and keep us posted at the end how it went.
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My son drew an Early huckleberry any bull moose tag. :IBCOOL: :IBCOOL: :IBCOOL:
He is super excited and I am just as excited. He drew with 11 points and wasn’t even on his radar of being a possibility. We were just hoping his 10 cow elk points would get him a tag, which they didn’t. And now we are glad so he can use all his free time away from work this fall hunting Moose. I got a 49degrees north bull in 2018 and My brother and I got moose on a self guided Alaska float hunt last year and we can’t believe we get to go moose hunting again! We thought it would be years before we even got to tag along on one. The plan is to be there the first week at least and then a couple long weekends followed by another week at the end if needed. We have shot deer and bear in the unit so we do know our way around some of it. But if anybody has any pointers they want to share or real time sightings during the season please send me a PM. I will update this post as we start our scouting trips. Good luck to all those OIL tag holders out there
Haven't done a lot of scouting this year myself
If I see anything during season,getting firewood,I'll hit ya with the coordinates.
Heck ya, congrats....goodluck!
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Thanks. I would appreciate that hunter399
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Thanks. I would appreciate that hunter399
No big deal.
I've seen a few small bulls ,so far this year in your unit.
I haven't been in the unit this year ,as much as other years.
Was in 49 yesterday, fishing.
If I see a giant or something in your unit.I'll let ya know.👍
I fish now ,instead of trail cams .....lol
I go up there for firewood,target shooting,few things.
There has been an explosion of people up there.
Just a lot of peeps recreation. That's ok or whatever.
Usually hunting wise ,I'm not in the unit too much.
I can't walk far enough up there,to get away from everyone....lol
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I spend a good amount of time in that unit. I will send you a PM.
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Thank you.
We got it paid for today over the phone to make sure to beat the price increase.
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We are starting the process of figuring out Moose Camp 2025. :IBCOOL:
All the planning, prep, and anticipation is almost as much fun as the actual moose hunt. We have a motorhome and a camp trailer that I am trying to decide which I should bring, or if I should bring both depending on how many people end up coming for Support. When I had my 2018 tag, I had found a guy that let me leave my camp trailer over there so I didn’t have to pull it back-and-forth for all of the scouting and hunting trips. He has since built a house and shop on the large gravel pad he let me park at so that is not an option anymore. We will probably drive the motorhome and the truck pulling the side-by-side each trip. If I can find somewhere or somebody that has a spot I could use or rent to store it between trips I may pull my trailer over there in August or September to go scouting as well as some bear hunting and archery deer hunting. Then leave it there to be picked up for future scouting trips and moose camp.
So if anybody has any leads in the Springdale,Chewelah, Addy area let me know. Looking for somewhere hopefully the tires will still be on it and the windows not broke out when we get back to it. I have a couple ideas on camping spots We have used in years past, but if anybody has any great ideas on that front, I would also be interested in case someone beats me to my first couple planned spots.
Thanks
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My son got his Moose tag in the mail today. He is super excited to have it in his hands. Definitely feeling real now
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We are going to swing through the unit for a day next week on our way to Montana. Probably hang a couple cameras in a few spots I’ve hunted before and maybe check out a new spot or two that a couple members have PMd me. If anyone knows any farmers in the huckleberry unit with big bull moose causing them fence or crop issues let me know. I would love to get in contact early if there is any so I can see if there is anything we can help them with, or if they like spring chinook or a favorite whiskey, etc in exchange for access.
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Anybody else on here have or know someone who has the huckleberry early or late or cow tag? Seems like huntwa members got 75% of the 49 degrees N tags but crickets on any other huckleberry tags. Would be nice to exchange contact info in case one of us needs a hand packing meat or sharing moose intel if your hunting cows or tagged out early.
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Does anybody know if inland Empire or the other private timber companies will come open the gate and take you in to retrieve animals like Weyerhaeuser, port Blakey , etc. used to do? How about anybody with pack horses for hire in the huckleberry unit? I’m hoping we have enough packing help but who knows how many people actually show up. Sure they say they will now but once October comes life gets busy and everyone else has hunting seasons going too
Thanks
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Does anybody know if inland Empire or the other private timber companies will come open the gate and take you in to retrieve animals like Weyerhaeuser, port Blakey , etc. used to do? How about anybody with pack horses for hire in the huckleberry unit? I’m hoping we have enough packing help but who knows how many people actually show up. Sure they say they will now but once October comes life gets busy and everyone else has hunting seasons going too
Thanks
The gates that are open can be driven. The locked gates you need a pass and then you get a key. I believe.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Does anybody know if inland Empire or the other private timber companies will come open the gate and take you in to retrieve animals like Weyerhaeuser, port Blakey , etc. used to do? How about anybody with pack horses for hire in the huckleberry unit? I’m hoping we have enough packing help but who knows how many people actually show up. Sure they say they will now but once October comes life gets busy and everyone else has hunting seasons going too
Thanks
inland would be the only one that might. Others you’ll be packing. Plus there’s a couple timber companies that don’t allow any access whatsoever
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Inland says in their rules, "Gated or blocked roads are closed to motorized traffic and
will not be opened for packing game out."
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We have been over twice now. We have seen six moose, one bull that wasn’t anything to write home about. Lots of grouse, turkeys, and deer. A few of my old stomping grounds have been logged in the last couple years so that switched up a few plans on spots I was going to hang cameras. I did get a half dozen out on some good sign so hopefully a few don’t grow legs and we have some pics to look at when we go back this weekend. Going to be pulling cards and scouting a different area than I have been in for a while on this trip so our hopes are high for finding some good moose sign and maybe even spotting another bull if we can get the cooler temps forecasted. PM me with any big bull or large groups of cows spotted in the Huckleberry unit.
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Haven’t seen him this year…..hope the wolves didn’t get him. The unit has a few nice bills still running around, but the wolves are moving the around pretty good. We had another stud bull in our area for a couple years…..then the wolves showed up and he left town. Never seen him again.
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If this guy is still alive…..he would be an absolute stud. He was approx 6 years old when this was taken and the wolves ran him off 3 years ago.
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Dang that is a nice one. Let me know if he or his off spring show back up
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Have seen that bill, or one very similar, a couple times this year. Unfortunately he's always on the vaagen posted property when I've seen him.
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The first pic or the second pic. They are different bulls. Have you seen the wolves lately.
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If you see one that looks similar to either remotely close to land we can hunt please PM me. Lots of people have leads on where they see moose but many turn out to be where there is no open ground to hunt them on. Sounds like I need to find someone who has an in with the Vaagen Bros
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LFG!!!
Your tag, a few years ago.
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Great looking bull, man i miss moose hunting!!
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Please send grouse waypoints lol.
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About nine out of 10 Creek bottoms I’ve been in between Home and Northeast Washington have had good amounts of ruffed grouse. And I have ran into quite few blue grouse on the ridge tops. Of course it’s a bit easier to find them now with all of the ripe berries they are concentrated on
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Right on. Well didn't mean to derail the thread haha. If i see a moose while grouse hunting i'll report back.
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We were back over for a couple days and saw 4 moose and a bear. Tried to get my wife on the bear but he saw us first and was on the move. Found some more promising area, scratched some off the list. Still no big bulls spotted
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Nephew reminded me of the big bull they saw a couple times last fall on the top area of Locke road south of where it connects to Addy/Cedonia road. Don't know if you've looked around that area yet. Can't find the pic he sent last fall,but it was a nice bull.
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Thanks, I have been up around there. I will keep it on the list of places I should be scouting
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Could also add it's very unusual to go wandering around above Fruitland early in the am without seeing at least one or two moose. Can't say I've seen any bruisers but see them virtually every time I go up that way.
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Thanks. We have been down that way on our first trip over and plan on revisiting it on our next trip over. Although this heat still makes it tough to do much but look for fresh sign and learn roads. Might catch a moose out in the first or last couple hours of light and then they bury themselves in the willow draws. Saw one last trip only because we jumped a bear that ran into a draw and the moose came running out in front of him.
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If you get in a bind I have 20 acres just north of Hunters I could probably let you park your trailer. Locked gate entrance. Probably be kind of a boon docking thing, but I have available water.
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Awesome! Thank you. For now, we do have a place we are keeping our trailer so we don’t have to tow it back-and-forth every time. It is about 45 minutes from where we plan to camp, but still a lot shorter than pulling from the house every time. We were over for the weekend and saw a few moose. One okish bull, that was exciting. Only one month left!
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Ran into this guy up Harvey Creek
Not sure if he'd do or not
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That's a nice bull. :tup:
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Dang, that would definitely do. I am assuming last hunting season since he has no velvet?
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Yes, that pic is last fall, but pretty sure I saw the same bull (I think) up there last week. Just got a quick look before he popped back into cover. Same general area and looked like could be the same bull. Another one with him but couldn't get a good look at it, but seemed smaller.
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Made it back over for a few days. Only cows spotted this trip and one small bull on camera. We are Finding sign in lots of areas we have gotten pm’s on. There are Lots more people out chasing elk now, none of them had any intel or sightings to share that we talked to. The pressure is definitely building. For some reason I feel more on me trying to ensure my son gets a decent bull than I felt when I had my own moose tag in my pocket. We have taken a lot of camp stuff and one trailer over already so that should make the trip over to stay for the first week a little easier. I am going to be there 4 or 5 days before season, my Son will get there the day before and can hunt the first 7 days and then has to head back to work for at least part of a week, then back over for 3-4 day intervals if necessary. We will have my brother there to help that first week and my brother in law and a friend from Idaho we met on our Alaska moose hunt there to help that first weekend. Along with the wives and my sons girlfriend so we should be eating good the whole trip. If we happen to fill the moose tag in the first couple days we are still staying the full week. There will still be half a dozen bear tags in camp, a couple muzzleloader elk tags, a stack of turkey tags, and a few cougar tags if the unit is still open. We could have a chance for a good old fashioned meat pole picture. Then we will be on our own if there are more trips. I did pack my Washington moose out on my own so I know we can do it, but I would much rather share the experience, and work, with everyone while they are here. Pm me if you see a good moose between now and hopefully when we are posting the one my son gets.
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I have a crew of family and friends coming over for the muzzy hunt. They are very familiar with the area and I'll text immediately if they spot anything.
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We were back over this week. Had a good thunderstorm that actually dropped a significant amount of rain and got the animals out moving earlier. Saw some more cows and ran into the guys with one of the raffle moose tags starting their pack out. Apparently we were in the right area but a day late and a dollar short. I’m sure there will be more nice ones around when our season starts. Still haven’t connected with any other tag holders in the unit.
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We were back over this week. Had a good thunderstorm that actually dropped a significant amount of rain and got the animals out moving earlier. Saw some more cows and ran into the guys with one of the raffle moose tags starting their pack out. Apparently we were in the right area but a day late and a dollar short. I’m sure there will be more nice ones around when our season starts. Still haven’t connected with any other tag holders in the unit.
was that raffle tag bull huge??
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Yep. Definitely raffle tag worthy. Hopefully it shows up on here or one of the other forums
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Moose are starting to rut.
Anyway looks that way to me.
Find a hot cow, you'll have bulls close by.
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Awesome! We are headed over today to get camp set up and have a few days to hopefully find Mr. big before opening day
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Awesome! We are headed over today to get camp set up and have a few days to hopefully find Mr. big before opening day
You see any cows ,really be looking into the nearest cover.
Mr.big probably not to far away.
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Well months of anticipation, planning, buying/prepping gear, and scouting is all in the rear view mirror.
We made half a dozen trips over scouting from August 3rd-September 23rd. Picked out our number 1,2, and 3 camping spots in case someone beat us to them we had a backup. I had 8 trail cams out from one end of the unit to the other. We networked as much as we could with fellow hunters on here as well as my wife and brother reaching out on Facebook and other hunting forums.
Our last scouting trip over found our #1 spot still vacant. We were seeing moose on every trip over and had seen a few bulls but nothing but last trip shooters. We had some intel of where a couple good bulls had been but had yet to lay eyes on them while scouting the areas they were in.
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CNELKs brother could probably finish this story for you if you dont have time! :chuckle: :chuckle: :chuckle:
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Yep, here’s a small bull we had on camera
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Another
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One more. Can’t get multiple to post as once for some reason
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My wife and I got to camp the Friday before season opened with the motorhome, truck, and four wheeler. To get everything over, we had stored our camp trailer and trailer with the side-by-side, freezer, etc. At a friend of a friends place in the unit, who I would now call a friend of my own. It’s still crazy how much friendlier people are in small towns and how willing they are to go out of their way to help complete strangers. The #1 spot we hoped to camp was open and we made one trip up to grab the side-by-side Friday night and went back to grab the camp trailer Saturday morning. We were just in time as there was a group of trailers that pulled in and turned around just a couple hours after we got there and set up.
Once camp was set up, I headed out to scout and Check/pull the last of the cameras I had out. There was nothing big on any of them, but I decided to try calling up the Valley from one that we had regular pictures of lots of cows on. I almost immediately got a response. There was a bull, grunting and raking down the draw from me. As he worked his way up towards me, a cow came down the hill behind me into the draw he was headed up. I got glimpses of the bull through the thick brush and could tell he wasn’t huge and didn’t have much for paddles, but he eventually got down wind of the cow and headed towards her. While this was happening I could hear another bull further down the valley grunting. I moved down towards him and did some more calling. This is when I saw a much larger bull up on the ridge with a bedded cow. He was walking circles around her poking her in the butt each time he came around trying to get her up. I stopped calling, the other two bulls continued, and the big one wanted nothing to do with it. He eventually got his cow up and worked up and over the hill out of the valley. I messaged my son, who was stuck at work still and let him know the rut was on and a possible first day shooter was spotted. He could not wait to get into camp
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tagging
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Tagging along as well!
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The next couple days was spent going other areas and calling/glassing trying to turn up more bulls. We saw cows and calves everywhere we went but no more bulls were spotted. My brother, son, and his girlfriend all got to camp on Tuesday. We got them situated in camp and headed out to try to find the one I saw A few days earlier. We spotted a cow in the same draw as all the action was happening but no bull around. We tried calling and after an hour and we were losing light we got a response. We never did see what it was before it got dark. Opening morning found us in the same spot. I immediately spotted the cow we saw the night before as the sun came up, then another an hour later both by themselves. We called off and on and eventually we heard a bull coming. We picked him out about 1000 yards away coming down the hill through the timber from behind us. My son got behind the gun and started trying to figure out where he was going to come out at. He popped out at 300 yards but was not what he was looking for on day 1. He stood there and drooled for 45 minutes staring at us before he decided to leave. We Stuck around for a while, then moved up hill to a different vantage point and didn’t see anything else
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We Headed back to camp and ate some lunch. We decided my brother would go a different direction that afternoon to see if he could turn up anything different for the morning. Me, My wife and son decided to go back up in the direction the bull I had seen days before had gone. I had cut bull tracks on Monday and from the direction they were coming from looked like they could’ve been from the one I saw Saturday, but it was headed down into a very thick and steep ravine that looked to be unhuntable. The plan was to try to get at the top end of one of the three very thick draws that had no roads into them and try to see if we could get something to come in or at least stand up while we called. We were about a half mile from where we planned on parking and my wife mentioned that we should stop and look down where the three thick draws come together. I had mentioned I had spent probably five hours over the last four days looking down into that area and hadn’t seen anything, and as I got that sentence out of my mouth, I finished it with except for that big bull moose and cow right there on that middle ridge!! And as moose hunting always seems to go in my experience it went from 0-100 in a second. I was out getting the spotting scope set up, trying to verify size. Although looking at it with a naked eye I could see it was a shooter. my son got set up behind the gun and had brush in the way. I broke off the sticks that were in his way and got my pack underneath the backend of his gun. He was on the bipod and had a very solid rest. We ranged it and it was 608 yards. From my experience Saturday, I knew we couldn’t call this bull away from the cow and the ridge being mostly covered in thick 10 foot tall willows except for the small area the moose were standing, There was no getting closer. I knew that the browning 300 win mag topped with my Burris scope pushing 200 Grain ELDX bullets would do the job at that distance if my son could. After a second of having to look away to recompose himself, he got behind the gun again and said he was good. His first shot just missed the front shoulder and destroyed the off side one. As the bull spun to go downhill, I saw his offside hoof come up above his head in the spotting scope. I knew the first shot was a solid hit. As he stumbled downhill, he took another shot, and I believe he missed, he took another one and the bull went down. Upon inspection, this round entered right behind the shoulder and ended up against the hide on the other side. After the two solid hits that took him down, he got up again this time facing us straight on. Before I could tell my son to wait to see if he fell or would turn he let another one fly and hit him directly in the chest, dropping him for a third and final time. I had him stay on it with the gun for another 30 seconds as we watched him roll his head around and finally stop moving. A wave of emotion took over me much stronger than I felt in a long time. Probably even more than when me and my brother got our moose in Alaska last year. a lot of time effort and planning had all come together. We stayed where we were parked in the middle of the road for probably 30 minutes hugging and high-fiving and reliving it. We got a hold of my brother and he headed back to camp to grab my son‘s girlfriend, pack boards, knives, etc.
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We got up to the top of the ridge he died on and started picking our way down what looked like an easy 6-700 yard walk. It was much thicker than it looked with willows that were 10 feet tall and dog hair thick along with burn blowdowns mixed in. We made it down and had the first round of pictures done by the time my brother and son’s girlfriend got to us. After more pictures and retelling the story That’s when it set in we had a couple hours till dark. The girls headed off to see if there was any way around to a far off skid road we could see, and there was not. My brother headed up with the first hind quarter we got off and it started to rain. He was gone for quite a while because he was cutting a trail on the way up and the way down and it just rained harder and harder. We were soaked because we had left our rain gear at the top, since it was not supposed to rain and we knew we would be hot coming out with heavy packs. We made the call to get the last of it cleaned up and tarp over with our sweaty clothes and hopes the animals would leave it alone for the night. we made it back to camp and got the meat we had hung up and maybe slept for four hours and then we were back out there as day broke. Luckily nothing had touched it and the tarp kept it all dry. we got the last three packs loaded up and up the hill as the girls got there to the truck with hot coffee
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He was a 40 inch wide 8x7. No world record but exactly what he was looking for and a bull that most guys twice his age wouldn’t have passed.
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Freaking stud, congrats!
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Great bull! Congrats :tup:
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Great bull. For sure a no doubt shooter in my book and earning it with hard work, a long shot and having to pack him out on your backs. Great story and amazing memories
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Thanks. I’m super proud of my son making the shot and holding his own packing his fair share of the meat out including a hind quarter. That might’ve been an accident as his pack got mixed up with his uncles, but What you don’t know until you get to the top of the hill Can only make you stronger. A friend from Idaho made it in for a night in camp on Friday and My sister and brother-in-law made it over for a couple nights too. He was able to get his first turkey and Saw a nice cougar, but we were too slow to get a shot. Me, my son, brother and brother in law spent the whole day in camp Saturday cutting roasts and breaking down muscles into manageable pieces to get steaks out of when we got home. We had coolers and a freezer at camp. we got back late Monday night and my wife and I along with my son and his girlfriend spent yesterday cutting and wrapping the rest of the meat. Just need to grind about 150 pounds of burger and get some pepperoni made now. And finish unpacking all of camp, of course
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Great ending to that hunting story! Nice bull.
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Excellent job
Great bull
Congratulations
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Great animal and shot! How much of bullet drop do you have at that distance?
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Can we swear just on this thread please!!!!???
F yeah!!!!! F’n loooove it! So freaking happy for all involved that got the chance to experience that, heck yeah!!! Huge congrats, soak it all in and welcome to the world of buying raffle moose tickets now!!! Awesome job, even better shooting!!!!
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Heck ya congrats 👏👍
Looks like a dang nice bull.
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Good job
Thanks for sharing
That's a good bull anywhere in the lower 48....
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Awesome bull. Awesome write up. Living the dream!!
Congrats to all involved.
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Nicely done, thanks for sharing, great bull.👍
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Congrats :tup:
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Congrats on a great bull.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Great animal and shot! How much of bullet drop do you have at that distance?
Oh just a bit, four and a half feet I think it was at that elevation.
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Congratulations to your son on his tsg and success! Thank you for sharing the experience!
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Fantastic bull and hunt. Memories that will last a lifetime.
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Great bowl and story both congratulations. Thank you for sharing.
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Congratulations on the hunt and the bull and what a fantastic journey shared with family and loved ones! That is really what it is all about! Memories and a freezer full of delicious dinners and snacks!!!
Well done to all involved! :IBCOOL:
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Congrats! You'll both have moose fever the rest of your lives, truly a fun hunt.
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Thanks everyone. I think my son still retells the story half a dozen times a day. And I’m sure he’s not getting tired of it yet. I sure don’t get tired of hearing it. Yes moose mania has definitely taken over. We got his cape dropped off at the Taxidermist just before modern deer start coming in so he thinks he should have it done in 9-12 months. Headed back over tomorrow morning to grab the last camp trailer we have there and do a couple days of deer hunting. I haven’t heard of anybody else that has this tag so if I see any nice moose while I’m there, I guess I will just tell the one member with the late tag who pmd me about access spots.
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Solid bull. Nice work and congrats :tup:
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He was a 40 inch wide 8x7. No world record but exactly what he was looking for and a bull that most guys twice his age wouldn’t have passed.
Great bull, congrats! 40 inches wide and double fronts, exactly what you should hope for!
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Congrats to you all on a great bull. Well done.
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Congrats on a great bull!
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Got a few summer videos and pictures of my sons bull from a local after he had seen our success pictures. The biologist we talked to said the wound on the top of his hind quarter was likely from a grizzly, about the only predator that’s going to go after a full grown bull moose and attack that high from the rear. When my son shot him This spot had no hair but was completely healed and you could tell nothing had happened when we skinned off that part. The picture in the wallow was 1 month before he shot him. Crazy how tough animals are and how quick they can heal.
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What a great experience for you all. Congrats on the nice trophy, and best of all the experience.
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There's a few big bears where you was camped and hunting..
Grizzly, I'd have to see a picture or something to believe that.
A lot of cats around that area, type of cats that only eat moose calf, muley fawns,few WT too,
Pretty much belly dragging cats, At least that's what I call them.
Pretty sure I did one call set up there,right after you left.
Couldn't pull any predators out the timber..
Very hard to call in stuff ,with all the hunting activities going on. Quotas being filled so quick.
I do agree , definitely some kind of predator. After seeing attack marks on your bull moose.
Should be a solid reminder, stay alert. Don't leave camp without a firearm..👍
