- Nov 4, 2004
- 25,208
- 8,517
Well as some of you already know, Sue and I married back in June and decided to do a "Huntingmoon" Moose Hunt in Newfoundland. We booked our hunt in January with Eric Patey & Sons and counted the days.
We drove and made a stop in New York to see NYDAN,Tina and RolP. Talk about top quality people, they are the best! We hated to leave but we had to go get our moose.
Our hunt started on Oct. 10 and our first day out, we covered about 1.5 miles from one mountain top down through a black spruce thicket and back up another mountain to a big valley where we set up to call. After a series of calls, the guide said to me, There's a bull. Sure enough, 275 yards away stood a bull moose and a cow was laying down a few yards away. It was exciting to see him but he was not what I had in mind. I let the guide know that I had no intentions of shooting him and he asked me if my wife wanted to take him. Sue was with Eric Patey about 30-40 yards away watching a different direction. My guide George told me to stay put and he let them know about the bull that as in front of us. I was scanning the valley for other moose when George came back. My glasses went back to the bull in front of us who was now broadside at 262 yards when I heard KABOOM from Sue's Nosler M48 Heritage 280 AI. The bull flinched and I heard the whoump of the 160 gr PT making a solid hit. The bull just stood there and a few seconds later I heard a second KABOOM. The bull flinched again as I saw the bullet hit the same spot again behind the right shoulder and followed with a whoump of a solid hit. The bull stood there for a couple seconds and started to lean forward which prompted him to run about 30 yards and stop. He started to lean forward again and he started to run in a small circle which he stopped after 2.5 laps making him broadside but facing the other direction. KABOOM whoump and the bull fell where he stood.
I grabbed my rifle and headed over to Sue who was all smiles. The bull was dead on the first shot but the girl put 3 perfect shots into this bull off shooting sticks from the sitting position. (All the summer practice and rapid fire follow up shots off the shooting sticks at the steel gongs at 200 and 300 yards paid off)! Sue's bull is a 6 point and was aged at 3.5 years old.
The next morning Eric, George and I started out a few miles away. We hiked about 2 miles and had run into a small herd of caribou. The bull in this herd was just spectacular, and I was wishing I had a caribou tag in my pocket. We hadn't gone more than a couple hundred yards when Eric spotted a paddle in the spruce trees. The bull was bedded down about 125 yards away. We pealed off our back packs, checked the wind and I grabbed my shooting sticks. We inched our way closer to the bull and when we stopped at a good vantage point, there was a cow standing and facing us.
We moved a few yards closer and a second cow stood up and was new facing us. I looked a few yards to their right and I could see a paddle and what I thought was the other side. The bull was still bedded down. He turned his head and I thought, OMG, he is huge! At that moment, he stood up and was looking right at us. His neck and body was screened by spruce trees so all I could see was his head and rack. George was to my left and said "Shoot"! I said I didn't have a shot. George said again "Shoot! Shoot him in the shoulder!" I said I didn't have a shot. I realized his view was better even though he was six feet away from me. I inched myself about a foot towards him and I could see a portion of the neck and another hole in the spruce had more fur but I held my fire because I still didn't have a good shot even though they were no more than 60-70 yards away!
Well the big bull finally decided he had enough of this and started to turn to go away. When he did, I had his right shoulder right there. I flipped off the safety of my Remington 700 LSS 338 Rem Ultra Mag and sent a 250 gr PT on its way. At the shot, the bull went down. I had another round chambered instantly but it wasn't needed.
The bull was the dominate bull of the mountain. When we skinned him out, he was all bruised up from fighting. He was 10.5 years old, 48" wide rack and weighed 1100 lbs. He was the King of the Mountain.
JD338
We drove and made a stop in New York to see NYDAN,Tina and RolP. Talk about top quality people, they are the best! We hated to leave but we had to go get our moose.
Our hunt started on Oct. 10 and our first day out, we covered about 1.5 miles from one mountain top down through a black spruce thicket and back up another mountain to a big valley where we set up to call. After a series of calls, the guide said to me, There's a bull. Sure enough, 275 yards away stood a bull moose and a cow was laying down a few yards away. It was exciting to see him but he was not what I had in mind. I let the guide know that I had no intentions of shooting him and he asked me if my wife wanted to take him. Sue was with Eric Patey about 30-40 yards away watching a different direction. My guide George told me to stay put and he let them know about the bull that as in front of us. I was scanning the valley for other moose when George came back. My glasses went back to the bull in front of us who was now broadside at 262 yards when I heard KABOOM from Sue's Nosler M48 Heritage 280 AI. The bull flinched and I heard the whoump of the 160 gr PT making a solid hit. The bull just stood there and a few seconds later I heard a second KABOOM. The bull flinched again as I saw the bullet hit the same spot again behind the right shoulder and followed with a whoump of a solid hit. The bull stood there for a couple seconds and started to lean forward which prompted him to run about 30 yards and stop. He started to lean forward again and he started to run in a small circle which he stopped after 2.5 laps making him broadside but facing the other direction. KABOOM whoump and the bull fell where he stood.
I grabbed my rifle and headed over to Sue who was all smiles. The bull was dead on the first shot but the girl put 3 perfect shots into this bull off shooting sticks from the sitting position. (All the summer practice and rapid fire follow up shots off the shooting sticks at the steel gongs at 200 and 300 yards paid off)! Sue's bull is a 6 point and was aged at 3.5 years old.
The next morning Eric, George and I started out a few miles away. We hiked about 2 miles and had run into a small herd of caribou. The bull in this herd was just spectacular, and I was wishing I had a caribou tag in my pocket. We hadn't gone more than a couple hundred yards when Eric spotted a paddle in the spruce trees. The bull was bedded down about 125 yards away. We pealed off our back packs, checked the wind and I grabbed my shooting sticks. We inched our way closer to the bull and when we stopped at a good vantage point, there was a cow standing and facing us.
We moved a few yards closer and a second cow stood up and was new facing us. I looked a few yards to their right and I could see a paddle and what I thought was the other side. The bull was still bedded down. He turned his head and I thought, OMG, he is huge! At that moment, he stood up and was looking right at us. His neck and body was screened by spruce trees so all I could see was his head and rack. George was to my left and said "Shoot"! I said I didn't have a shot. George said again "Shoot! Shoot him in the shoulder!" I said I didn't have a shot. I realized his view was better even though he was six feet away from me. I inched myself about a foot towards him and I could see a portion of the neck and another hole in the spruce had more fur but I held my fire because I still didn't have a good shot even though they were no more than 60-70 yards away!
Well the big bull finally decided he had enough of this and started to turn to go away. When he did, I had his right shoulder right there. I flipped off the safety of my Remington 700 LSS 338 Rem Ultra Mag and sent a 250 gr PT on its way. At the shot, the bull went down. I had another round chambered instantly but it wasn't needed.
The bull was the dominate bull of the mountain. When we skinned him out, he was all bruised up from fighting. He was 10.5 years old, 48" wide rack and weighed 1100 lbs. He was the King of the Mountain.
JD338
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