Very thankful to have drawn a 2018 Selkirk Bull Moose,

[Machias]

Wohoo, nice job!!

[lastmk8]

I killed a bull one hour into opening day. It was a bull we had found on one of our scouting trip. I will post pics and the story when i get home and have better internet service.

Nothing like saving six weeks of vacation and dropping the hammer in the first hour..... look out Deer and Elk, somebody still has plenty of time off this hunting season!!  Congrats also.

[Widgeondeke]

   

Nothing wrong with the actual hunt only lasting 1 hour. We know you spent days scouting and hours processing 

Congrats 

[jennabug]

Congrats! Looking forward to pictures!

[wheels]

congrats

[BullMagnet76]

Congrats, cant wait to see pics

[teanawayslayer]

Pics 

[elkrack]

Another bump for pics!

[Pathfinder101]

Looking forward to seeing him

[Wanttohuntmore]

Pics!

[blindluck]

Come on, not cool. We neeeeed pics.

[Roobugsdad]

I am trying to get it posted. Spent the last hour and a half typing and trying to select photos. Not being user friendly.

[carpsniperg2]

Probably need to resize them a bit. I do mine in paint program take it down like 50% and they should post up.

[Roobugsdad]

Its telling me I posted it. But nothing is showing up. I am leaving tomorrow for a week deer hunting. Still have lots to do for that trip and people are getting restless. Hope it post. I am trying and hear you guys. 

[Roobugsdad]

I apologize for the delay, between processing moose meat and doing what needs to be done around the house and work for a couple days before I am gone for another week deer hunting, I have been a little busy.

Thanks to many of you on this sight and a few people I met while scouting, I was fortunate enough to get what I set out for.

When I drew this tag, I didn't have any idea how much this tag would mean to me..both as a hunting opportunity and an opportunity to spend valuable time with my dad.  My Dad is the one who taught me everything I know about hunting, he helped me develop the passion and love I have for hunting and the outdoors.  I believe I will cherish the time with my dad more than the memory of the actual hunt. We don't get to spend as much time together because life keeps us very busy.

I started this journey in early August with my first scouting trip.  My wife and I set off to Ione for a weekend camping trip with my in-laws.  Our goal was to get a lay of the land and explore areas I read about in my research.  I then returned 2 more times to narrow down the area I would focus on during the hunt. 

During my 2nd scouting trip, I was lucky enough to take a nice black bear while out looking for moose sign.  While skinning the bear, we met a gentleman who was bear hunting.  He found out I had a moose tag and he gave me all kinds of information about the area we were in and made all kinds of marks on my map.  We exchanged information and later he emailed me several Google Map locations of moose sightings and wallows.  He also told me the local loggers were a good source of information.

On our 3rd trip over scouting we got into the hills and caught the loggers as they were heading out of the woods for the day.  They gave me information and told me of a nice bull they'd seen hanging around their landing for several days.  They had pictures of the bull...he was an alright bull.  They offered to help load the bull into the truck if I happened to take that bull during the hunt.  I cannot say enough about how nice the people were and how open they were to share information they had about sightings or known whereabouts of moose or names of individuals with information that would help me. 

On the last scouting trip my Dad and I found what I thought was a very nice bull in an old clear cut.  We spotted the bull at first light on Sunday morning and did not want to push him out of the area so we moved on, but kept in the back of our mind that this might be the area we'd want to start with on opening day.

After all the scouting trips, I decided I would spend the first part of the hunt around Bunch Grass Meadows.  We went over early Friday morning before the opener to set-up camp.  While scouting with my Dad on the previous trips we discovered using mountain bikes behind the gates was a much better way to get around then on foot.  Saturday morning before the opener, my Dad, Brother-in-law and I, rode in behind a gate and found many scrapes, wallows and rubs in an area.  The bull tracks in the area did not appear to be as large as other bull tracks we'd seen in other areas.  With that in mind, we decided to go after the bull we found on our last scouting trip.

Opening morning, the 3 of us sat in the truck drinking coffee anxiously waiting for 6 am to roll around.  We headed in behind the gate, on bikes, a half hour before shooting light.  We got into the area we last saw the bull and there was no sign of him.  We were getting ready to go in a different direction when I decided to let out a cow call.  No sooner did I finish the cow call, we heard a deep grunt coming from down over the hill at the edge of the timber. This excited all 3 of us!!  I spent the 3 nights before the opener looking at Shiras moose on the internet trying to judge what a nice bull looked like.  My Dad and Brother-in-Law promised to be my conscious, not letting me shoot a small bull the first few days of the hunt.

I worked my way down into position to get a better look at the bottom of the clear cut.  I let out a couple more cow calls and the bull responded immediately!  I spotted a cow standing at the timbers edge, but did not see the bull.  I let out a bull grunt and he responded.  I found him off to the side standing between 2 large fir trees.   I gave my brother-in-law my video camera and asked my dad to range the bull.  I set up on my shooting sticks and looked the bull over with my binoculars.  It was the bull we spotted the week before.  He was at about 200 yards.  I looked back at my dad and told him I was going to shoot the bull.  He smiled at me, nodding, giving me the thumbs-up! 

The bull was facing towards me so I continued to call and rake brush, drawing him closer to me and presenting a better shot.  I shot the bull at 163 yards, quartering towards me with one shot.  It was 7:28 am, 58 minutes into my once-in-a-lifetime hunt!!

The bull had everything I told my wife I was looking for when I drew the tag.  Nice paddles, lots of long points and at least a fork on one side.  He is by no means the largest moose in the Selkirk, but he is a very nice representation of a Shiras moose.

As we took pictures and celebrated, my brother-in-law told me he was so excited about the moose, he forgot to push the record button on the camera!!  I told him he was lucky I loved him and I was just glad he was so excited and that he and my dad got to share this experience with me.  We then quickly learned how large a moose is as we skinned and quartered him to pack him to the truck.  We reached the truck at 4:30 pm.

I cannot thank the people that I met during this journey and the people on this forum enough for all the information they gave me to help fill this once-in-a-lifetime tag and make so many great memories.  As everyone has said, it was absolutely awesome!!  Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!  And if anyone has any side-work I'm looking for taxidermy money...a bear and moose aren't cheap to mount.