Last Day Moose

[DrMike]

I managed to get out to hunt this last day of moose season. I managed to tag a fork-horn bull at last light. Nothing like stretching out the season. Alas, no pictures. However, I'll give a complete account of the hunt after a good night's sleep.

 

[SJB358]

I managed to get out to hunt this last day of moose season. I managed to tag a fork-horn bull at last light. Nothing like stretching out the season. Alas, no pictures. However, I'll give a complete account of the hunt after a good night's sleep.

Congrats Mike! Very happy for you buddy! What a way to take the hunt right to the end! Scotty

 

[DrMike]

Mule deer opens tomorrow. I'm cleaning my gear this evening in hopes that I can make a morning mulie hunt. However, I have to deliver a moose to my meat cutter. It is -1 this evening, so I'm not terribly concerned to let him lie in the truck. Friends joined to help me gut and skin him before driving home.

 

[FOTIS]

Good luck Doc!

 

[Elkman]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!, after a long tough season you managed to pull it off. good going, am waiting patiently for the narrative. !!!!

 

[Guy Miner]

Congrats on the moose and best of luck on the mule deer!

 

[gerry]

Congrats on the bull Mike, looking forward to your story, it was only 2 1/2 months later than you were expecting

 

[DrMike]

Knowing that the season was winding down, I spent every morning looking over moose. During the past ten days, especially, I counted at least five cows in one valley, each with calves, and at least three bigger bulls. However, none of them had the proper point count. There were plenty of moose, just not legal bulls. As I pulled down into the first valley at first light, I could make out a herd of mule deer. Beyond them, about 400 yards, were three dark objects. I thought they could be moose. I had seen a cow with two bulls, one of which appeared to be a fork-horn, a couple of weeks ago. I thought it possible that this was the same group. I stopped my truck behind some cover and quietly got out. Moving into position, the mule deer began to move away. One stotted, and the others joined in the mad melee. However, they stopped just short of the treeline and began to feed again. They were wary, but unalarmed as they were now about 350 yards away. I wondered what effect their hurried departure would have on the moose. I picked them out of the early morning gloom, and saw that they were alert and watching the mule deer, but seemingly unaware of my presence. As I studied them, I noted it was a cow with two two-year-old calves--a heifer and a bull. During the next ten minutes, the small group fed closer to me, cutting the distance between us to 216 yards on the young bull. The wind was gusting to about 7 m/s (about 15.5 mph or 14 knots). The wind was strong enough to push me around if I wasn't careful. What is worse, it was blowing from about 90 degrees. I waited until the young bull had fed away from his sibling (the cow was standing about thirty yards to their right and slight behind them). I felt good about my shot, but to my amazement, other than being startled, the animals simply began to mill about in confusion. I hurried another shot, and in utter astonishment saw the bullet strike ahead of the bull. I had not allow such such strong winds and these moose were not going to give me another opportunity to pull the trigger. I tracked moose for six hours with a friend who came to assist. I couldn't find any blood, but I felt certain that my first shot had hit the animal. I had to admit that I had seen no reaction and there was no indication when it ran away that it was hit. What was fascinating was that I lost sight of the animals momentarily as they ran through a draw. When they reappeared briefly, I could only see the cow and the heifer disappearing into the bush. The bull had not been with them. Out of sight while I ran parallel to them to attempt to get a shot, he could have turned down a hill into a draw or he could have outrun them and made the bush before they did. I searched the draw and a steep creek below for over two hours without finding blood or evidence of recent, hurried departure. I trekked through the bush the area into which the cow and heifer had disappeared. I found their tracks crossing a road about a mile away, and followed them for about a mile until they turned into a logging block, where I lost them. I had hoped that the bull might have taken a different track and joined them. Alas, that was not to be. All this consumed almost six hours of tracking and looking. I was supposed to take my wife to dinner, but I phoned her and told her that I couldn't be 100% certain I didn't have a wounded moose. Thus, I would be in the field until dark, as least.

I searched a couple of areas where I had seen moose previously, but other than some deer, these areas were quiet. So it was that at four o'clock, I set up an ambush. If the bull came back, I would be in position to intercept him as he moved down into the valley. I stayed until almost five thirty, but other than a mule deer doe was was curious, I saw nothing. It snowed on me a couple of times, the sky alternating between bright sunlight and dark clouds. At five thirty, it was beginning to get dark. I opted to make a trip down into the valley. As I topped the rise, I saw a moose at the far side against the treeline. It was a bull, but I couldn't get a good point count. I knew that if I tried a stalk from where I was, I couldn't make it before dark. Having little to lose at this point, I chose to carefully drive along the side of the rim to see if I could get closer without spooking the critter. I managed to get to within 350 yards and park behind some cover. However, between me and the moose were a couple of big mule deer bucks. Of course, these bucks had me pegged. As soon as I appeared from the bush, they moved away. I was praying that they wouldn't spook. I walked slowly from cover to cover, avoiding looking directly at them and trying to move away from them. My stratagem must have worked, as they moved off about 150 yards and returned to feeding. Now, I had to work my way into position to assess the moose and attempt to get a shot.

Twice, the bull looked up forcing me to freeze as I was trying to move into cover. Either time, he moved a little and returned to feeding, giving me opportunity to move a little closer. It was just at last light when I was about 90 yards from him. I studied him and saw that he was legal. Now for the shot. I was carrying my 270 WSM, loaded with 130 grain E-Tips. I launch these at 3250 fps and they give me 0.25 inch groups. I was confident in the load, but still somewhat shaken from the morning adventure. I waited until he gave me a broadside. At the shot, he wheeled and ran. He only made it about sixty yards when he stopped and began to wobble. Though I could see him, I didn't have a clear shot at that point. However, at that point, he toppled over and weakly raised his head. By the time I reached him, it was over. The shot was a perfect double lung, with complete pass through of the bullet. It was the same bull that I had shot at in the morning, but there were no bullet holes in him. He had been separated from his sibling and dam, spending the day near where he had first run away. To the best of my ability to reconstruct, he had turned left after dropping down out of my sight and run down the hill and through the tall grass, doubling back into the thick bush that we searched. However, because he was uninjured, he easily avoided us. We were searching for a wounded moose, and he was quite hale. However, at evening, he returned to the scene of his last encounter and began to feed.

Interestingly, as I began to dress him, a large bull accompanying a cow with twin yearlings dropped down into the same area and began to feed about 325 yards from me. They seemed utterly unconcerned with my presence. That is moose hunting. I am quite sore and stiff this morning. I am grateful for ASA and Acetaminophine.

 

[JD338]

Mike,

Congratulations on your bull moose. Great story, thanks for sharing it with us.

JD338

 

[bullet]

That is great Mike, I am so glad you tagged one and I enjoyed reading about it. I really like that. :mrgreen:

 

[DrMike]

I regret that I have no pictures (none of my whitetail doe, either). However, it was quite dark and I was hurrying so I could get home. I left at 6:30 in the morning and didn't get home until 11:30 in the evening as I stopped at the house of some friends to enjoy a bowl a soup and a cup of tea before driving about sixty kilometers back to town. It was a good night driving back. The northern lights were hanging in the sky over Dawson Creek and the temperature had dropped to -1. All was well in my world. Obviously, I didn't go back out for a mulie buck this morning. I can't believe how stiff these aged joints can be from dressing one moose.

 

[bullet]

I regret that I have no pictures (none of my whitetail doe, either). However, it was quite dark and I was hurrying so I could get home. I left at 6:30 in the morning and didn't get home until 11:30 in the evening as I stopped at the house of some friends to enjoy a bowl a soup and a cup of tea before driving about sixty kilometers back to town. It was a good night driving back. The northern lights were hanging in the sky over Dawson Creek and the temperature had dropped to -1. All was well in my world. Obviously, I didn't go back out for a mulie buck this morning. I can't believe how stiff these aged joints can be from dressing one moose.

ADVIL my man ADVIL :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

[C.Smith]

Wow, Dr. Mike that was quite the adventure/hunt. Impressive. Hopefully the wife is not too upset with you for missing your date. Congratulations on finally getting your tagged filled.

Corey

 

[6mm Remington]

Nice account Mike and congratulations. Those "E-tips make that 270 WSM seem/act bigger than it is!" Sound familiar! :mrgreen: :grin:

 

[DrMike]

My wife is a real gem; she was cool with me missing our date. She understands the lure of the hunt and grants me a lot of freedom in that realm. I'm not at all displeased with the performance of the E-Tip. It has accounted for two moose, an elk and a whitetail doe from this 270 WSM. My sole regret is my own "moose-stake" in not doping the wind and missing on the first shots, necessitating a day of somewhat extreme exercise.

Mike, I'm currently on an ASA regimen for advanced arthritis in my feet; I begin a course of ibuprofen tomorrow. I rotate between several antiinflammatory medications to permit continued mobility. It ain't no sin to grow old, but it is sure inconvenient.

 

[gerry]

Mike I would be worried if you weren't sore after getting mine out of the bush I was sore for a couple of days.

"moose-stake" thats a good one

 

[DrMike]

Wrestling a moose is exhausting. It seems to get more demanding each year, Gerry. I am pleased to have this one down. I was beginning to think that I would have to get a "fender licence" for moose this year.

 

[wvchevy3]

Congrats Mike . Great story you shared with us , you do have pictures! The pictures of the great hunt etched into your memory! , Lee :grin:

 

[DrMike]

You do have pictures! The pictures of the great hunt etched into your memory!

You are absolutely correct, Lee. Unfortunately, my linguistic abilities fail to adequately convey the challenge of the hunt and the joy when it is concluded successfully.

 

[Greg Nolan]

Not everyone can track down the same moose that got away previously. You've become the new "Nanook of the North". Thanks for sharing the hunt with us and congratulations on some fine meat. I never had a doubt you'd get one.
Greg