Day 2 and only 15 minutes in we had our moose down...
Big shout out to Steven "Srupp" for sharing his years of knowledge with a new moose hunter, the information you shared was a tremendous help and once we put everything together the trip could not have gone any better.
On Sept 9-11 a friend and I made the drive up to 5-2 for a scouting trip to scope out some locations for my up coming draw. This was a huge help as it narrowed down locations for us and got us a huge head start for our planned hunt from Sept 23-Oct 3. We were able to pick 3 key locations that we would focus on when we came back up providing they still showed fresh sign come later Sept. On our last day of the scouting trip (Saturday 10th) we bumped a moose (not sure if it was a cow or bull) from an area we wanted to hunt. We decided to back out and come back in the evening to see if we could get a look or even better connect as my tag was now valid as of that day. While waiting it out that evening on the edge of a small swamp we heard some splashing around on the opposite end. Not wanting to go after it with light fading to dark within minutes we backed out again. Up bright and early into the same location, after confirming from tracks/trails that what we heard was a moose our spirits were high and we started feeling more confident about our trip coming up.
With work that Monday it was back to the truck and on the way home. Counting down the days like a kid waiting for Christmas...
Friday Sept 23rd my friend and I both managed to get out of work early and were on the highway by noon. After one more stop for fuel we were off the highway and headed towards our designated area. We arrived at our camping spot (Thx again Steven it was void of mud, lol) around 7:30pm and went to quick work on setting up the wall tent, wood stove and cots. After a nice dinner it was off to bed for an early start in the morning.
Up before first light and a quick breakfast shake we were ready to go. Rather than take the quad we opted to go for a walk as the first location we planned on hunting was only about 1.5kms from camp. As it was only day 1 we wanted to focus on finding our spots that we would hunt hard rather than driving all over the area. We wanted to make a plan, and stick to that plan.
Upon entering our first location we immediately saw fresh sign and the game trail we knew of was being heavily used. Not wanting to blow out the area we devised a plan, took note of the wind and hung a scent. We quickly got out of the area and moved onto spot #2 which was a few kms up some spur roads and down in elevation of our first area. Again upon entering the area we found more fresh sign, this though appeared to be a cow/calf combo walking side by side. Knowing there was moose in that location we made another plan and mapped out the area, spot #2 was now in the back pocket for Monday.
Around noon we decided to walk back to camp and finish setting everything up and if we had time make a drive in the evening to check spot #3. On our way back we ran into another HBC'er (forgot his username) and had a good chat. He was going onto day 6 without any luck at all. After some talk we found out he was sleeping in his truck box and using that as camp so he could move around locations easier. We offered him to come by our camp later on for some food and a beer if interested.
It took a little longer to set up than expected but we weren't worried as it was only day 1 so we still had plenty of time. Around dark our new friend Joel came by and we sat enjoying a few beverages and some food into the evening. Before heading to bed he asked if it was ok if he crashed in his truck at our camp as he planned on hunting a location nearby in the morning, of course not a problem for us.
Day 2 Sunday Sept 24....
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Originally Posted by Gone_Fishin_
