Post by: worktohunt on October 17, 2011, 01:44:00 PM
On to Courtneys hunt, she had the youth Mt Spokane cow tag. When I brought mine home her best friend Ky'lee came over and saw it and decided she wanted to go along on Court's hunt. On Thursday morning the 13th at 5 am we headed out arriving at Colby's around noon. After unloading, eating, and putting on our hunting clothes we headed out. We had scouted her tag in the summer on a family camping trip to Idaho so we knew where we wanted to be. We got to our area around 1:30pm and did some driving around to try and figure out where the most sign was. I had bought the girls a bag full of junk food for munching on and after a couple of hours of that and sitting all day they wanted to go for a walk and I was ready for them to burn some energy. I had remembered a place that looked like a good one to walk into from our scouting trip so we headed there and started walking. Almost immediately we were into very fresh tracks. All the sugar was kicking in and I had to reel the girls back in and slow them down, these moose have to be close by. As we rounded a corner about 150 yards later we hear a whoof and look to our left and there stands a really nice bull and a cow at 60 yards. I get her on the shooting sticks but she cant see because the brush is to high so I tell her to shoot off hand if she gets a chance.
The bull steps in front of the cow and blocks her for no shot. About that time the cow spooks and it sounds like 5 or 6 moose take off down the hill sounding like horses running. One of them lets out a bull moose call along the way so I figure there are 2 bulls. The bull still stands there so I do my best Jim Shockey imitation and put my hands over my head and sway them back and forth as we walk at him up the trail. At about 40 yards he has had enough and turns and walks up the hill. Great, we have a cow at 50 yards and don't even get a shot. I check the wind and its still in my face and I can hear them running around below me so I think what the heck and decide to try and mimic the bull call I just heard. As I do it the girls look at me like I'm crazy but before I can say anything to them we hear a moose running our way from about 150 yards below. It is coming in fast and sounds like a horse running at us, next thing I know I have 2 girls hiding behind me with saucer sized eyes. I'm like wait a minute, you have the gun and this thing isn't going to run us over so Court steps up beside me and I tell her to shoot it if its a cow. At about 30 yards we can see the brush moving and it hangs up so I call again and it starts coming again. At about 30 feet it stops again right before we could see it and I call again and I see ears step out, sweet its a cow, Court can't see it cause shes not tall enough. The cow sees and hears us and starts walking down the hill, Court has the gun up and as I am thinking about moving cause we can't see her she shoots which scares the crap out of me. I ask her what she was shooting at and she gives me this look like really dad? She says she could see the cow through her scope and had it on her shoulder when she shot. That 2 feet between us gave her the angle and not me. I step to the left about 5 feet and there she is at 60 yards broadside in the open looking at us, I pull Court over to me and show her the cow and tell her to shoot her again which she does but the cow just turns and walks down the hill. She is shooting a 30-06 with 180 grain bullets and this cow acts likes its a bb gun. By now the cow is out of sight so we walk to the road in case she crosses it and start working back towards where we last saw her. As I am looking up the hill Court says there she is right in front of us and I can just see her butt sticking out of the brush at 80 yards and nothing else. She had crossed the road out of sight of us. I put her on the sticks and tell her to shoot her right in the butt, we need to get her down! She shoots and hits right in front of the hindquarters through the back breaking it and dropping her right there. Holy crap she did it! The bruch is moving and after a few minutes we decided to head up there and finish her off if she could get the shot. At about 20 feet the brush got really thick so I started walking on it to knock it down until I was about 5 feet away from her and could finally see her at which time she lifts her head and looks at me. I have Court come over beside me and tell her to shoot her in the neck so she won't suffer anymore. Unknown to me the first 2 shots were not felt by Court but the 3rd one rocked her and the scope hit her forehead so she wasn't to excited about another shot but told me later that she had to do it so the cow wouldn't suffer any more. At 8 feet she shot her in the neck looking through the scope which I am surprised at that range she could see or hit anything but it worked and she had her first moose down. Ky'lee had been right behind us every step of the way and got to watch it all. Both girls had such an adrenaline rush that they couldn't stop shaking for 20 minutes, it was awesome, better than I could have ever hoped it would turn out. Ky'lee called her Dad and told him she wanted to start hunting as we were taking pictures. I was able to drive right to her and put a choker on her and drag her out to the road where we took pictures and gutted her. The girls helped with the gutting and got an anatomy lesson after they were out. They were both super interested in everything I showed them. They both did awesome, way better than I could have hoped for, I had no idea how they would react as they watched the cow take her last breath being girls and new to seeing that but they both did extremely well and I was proud of them. It did not diminish their excitement at all. Colby and his 2 boys showed up to help us load her and with the kids in the back of the truck holding on for dear life and Colby and I dead lifting her up an inch at a time we got her loaded whole which is still hard to believe! She is the envy of all the boys at school right now! Between these 2 hunts, my Utah elk hunt, my spring bear hunt, and the hunts we have left this is the best season I have ever had. Watching Courtney shoot that moose is definetely one of the best moments of my hunting memories!
Post by: vandeman17 on October 17, 2011, 01:52:02 PM
Post by: Hornseeker on October 17, 2011, 01:58:28 PM
And.... Double Cool!!! :tup: :tup:
Post by: MtnMuley on October 17, 2011, 02:02:03 PM
Post by: boneaddict on October 17, 2011, 02:18:34 PM
Post by: bucklucky on October 17, 2011, 02:19:52 PM
Post by: carpsniperg2 on October 17, 2011, 02:35:19 PM
Post by: Machias on October 17, 2011, 02:37:39 PM
Post by: Tony on October 17, 2011, 02:39:00 PM
Post by: rebal69972 on October 17, 2011, 06:34:23 PM
Post by: 724wd on October 17, 2011, 07:44:42 PM
Post by: SirSpencer on October 17, 2011, 07:50:22 PM
Post by: Jason on October 17, 2011, 07:55:38 PM
Post by: Hyde on October 17, 2011, 11:36:11 PM
Post by: bearpaw on October 17, 2011, 11:50:47 PM
Post by: SniperDanWA on October 18, 2011, 12:03:58 AM
Post by: Michelle_Nelson on October 18, 2011, 12:10:32 AM
Post by: splitshot on October 18, 2011, 10:16:27 PM
Post by: blacktailer on October 19, 2011, 08:30:31 AM
Post by: 250savage on October 19, 2011, 10:50:06 AM
Post by: Rooster1981 on October 19, 2011, 10:57:30 AM
thats really cool congrats for you and your daughter.
Post by: HUNT on October 20, 2011, 09:38:47 AM
Again - congrats to you and your daughter! I bet you are real proud!
Post by: worktohunt on October 21, 2011, 10:08:59 PM
Post by: Jerome on October 21, 2011, 10:16:36 PM
Hey everyone! This is Courtney, Thank you for all the congratulations. i had the best time it was the best hunt of my life, i was glad to have two very important people there to experience it all with me step by step! i have only shot a deer in the 4 years i have ever hunted and to be able to kill the moose i killed was just amazing. my best friend ky'lee had never been hunting and it just got her so excited that now she is going to get her hunting license like my dad said in his story:) like my dad said thank you for the people who helped us with where to go im very thankful
Nicely done. I was pumped up for you and your dad when he called and said you had a big cow down. Congrats.
Post by: losdaddy7 on October 21, 2011, 10:24:15 PM
Post by: Buckhole on October 22, 2011, 07:37:01 AM
Post by: Mark Brenckle on October 22, 2011, 11:53:22 AM
Cool :tup: Cool! :tup:
And.... Double Cool!!! :tup: :tup:
:yeah: AND you got a 2nd young person involved in hunting, great job!
Post by: Ripper on October 22, 2011, 05:16:48 PM
Post by: BOWHUNTER45 on October 23, 2011, 01:26:20 PM
Post by: 6BUDS on October 26, 2011, 01:55:45 AM
Post by: worktohunt on October 26, 2011, 07:04:33 AM
Post by: Bob Williams on October 27, 2011, 07:10:09 PM
Post by: Guy on October 27, 2011, 11:25:31 PM
Bob Williams - that's wrong and disturbing. Moose don't drink & drive!
Post by: mebco09 on October 28, 2011, 04:14:30 PM