Mountains and Moose Meadows - 2016 (pic heavy)

[604Stalker]

Forsure saw one on my first ever trip out.. Too bad the GO wasn't for 2 more weeks. Yep its all about time and timing.

[ElliotMoose]

We tried to get to bed early that night but all I could think about was that bull. 5 AM came quick and I woke up to the smell of fresh coffee brewing. Good thing one of us is an early riser. After a quick bowl of oatmeal and some fruit we were on our quads and headed our separate ways. I got to my road about 20 minutes before first light and let out a long soft cow call before I started slowly walking in. The wind was perfect, -3 degrees, clear and frosty... Moose hunting weather. As first shooting light hit I reached the end of the road and started to hike uphill to a little knoll that would give me a good view of the back side of the cut which was just through the trees from the pond where I saw the bull at the night prior. Once reaching the top of the knoll, I gave out another cow call. This is the view from my calling spot. The pond would be in the bottom left corner of this photo through the trees a couple hundred yards.




Once the sun came over the mountain tops it really started to warm up and I had to shed a few layers. All I saw that morning was a lone cow feeding her way up the hillside to my right about 1000 yards away. This was the view to my right and she was walking right up where the cut line ends and the trees start

[monasheemountainman]

good read so far Elliot!

[HarryToolips]

Great read so far, and nice whack o`bull moose btw....

[ElliotMoose]

I headed back to camp at about 11 when the sun was really beating down. Not discouraged, I decided I would come back to the same spot that evening. One of the boys saw a spiker mulie that he let walk and the other one saw a cow with twin calves. 4 moose on the opening morning is a good start! After a short nap we headed out for the evening hunt. I again positioned myself on the knoll that evening and called until dark. It was a warm evening until the last hour of light and at very last light Im positive I heard a bull grunt coming from the deep corner of the cut. It sent a chill down my spine. I knew I had to come back the next morning. My brothers went out together that evening and saw the same cow with twin calves that one of them had seen that morning. They also saw a pile of hunters cruising the roads and it seemed like everybody had a moose draw.

We were in bed early and up at 5 ready to get back in the field. I was at the same road again before first light and walked in slowly while cow calling towards my knoll. Before I reached the deactivation, BOOM!!! I hear a shot from the back end of the cut. Im pretty damn sure my brothers went the opposite direction? I tried sending a text - "Did something die?" - But I had no service. The shot came from the direction of the pond but not in the cut I was hunting as I walked in on the only access road and would have seen a vehicle parked. It was killing me sitting at the top of that knoll not knowing so I packed it in early after not seeing anything but a couple mulie does by 9 30am. Curiosity got the best of me and I headed down the next road which led to those new cuts and the pond that the big bull was in the night before the opener. What I saw when I got to the pond sucked the life out of me in a matter of seconds.




I should have just hunted that road but It was such a well travelled road and with all the road hunters I figured that bull would have for sure been pushed back into the cut I had been hunting. Hindsight is always 20/20 though and I headed back to camp with my tail tucked between my legs

[dmaxtech]

Awesome story so far. I sure hope it's got a good ending cause that just sucked.

[ElliotMoose]

Discouraged, I sat by the fire at camp with a plate of bacon and eggs in my lap debating what to do. By this time we must have had 15 vehicles go by our camp including a couple guys in a side by side with a nice little palmed bull in the back. We chatted for a bit, congratulated them and invited them to stop by for beers later. They still had one more tag for their group draw. We decided to load up the quads and the meat bucket and head deep into the mountains. We know of a pretty hidden quad trail that follows a series of mountain meadows and takes you back almost into alpine. We were almost certain nobody would be back there.

We pushed our way back through the trails having to stop and buck up windfall quite a few times. We poked our head into a couple swamps along the way and saw a good bunch of sign but no moose. With only a couple hours of light we decided to head back to camp and hunt along the way back. We wanted to focus on this area so we said that night we were going to google earth it and each pick a swamp to walk into the next morning. We made it back a lot quicker than I thought seeing as we didnt have to cut any trail so we figured we would each walk into a couple adjacent old growth cuts that we knew of with meadowy benches. I made it to my parking spot 200 yards from the cut with 45 minutes left of light. Turn off the quad, load my rifle and started heading down the old overgrown skidder trail.

I slowly approached the entrance of the cut and glassed it for a second before entering. After seeing nothing, I let out a long soft cow call. I waited 5 minutes and didnt hear a response so I kept moving as the sun was beginning to drop fast along with the temperature. 100 yards or so farther down the trail I spot movement below me in the cut. I see it's a moose right away so I bring my binos up and take a peak. It's a big mature cow. Weird she doesn't have a calf? Wolves are thick up here though. She has me pinned. I do something that an old indian fellow taught me elk hunting in the EK one time that actually seems to work. I lower my head as if to feed for 5 or 10 seconds and after I repeat this a couple times she loses interest and resumes feeding. I take 10 more steps and all of a sudden 50 yards to the left of the cow a big black body appears that had been tucked behind a clump of trees so I couldnt see it. Without even looking through the glass I see bone. I drop to a knee and shoulder the 300 wsm. He is standing perfectly broadside 150 yards away and hasnt even flinched. Safety off, behind the shoulder, breathe, steady, BOOM! The bull lunges forward and takes off behind an island of trees 20 yards from where I shot him. The cow starts running and next thing you know a big calf comes out of the bush and follows her. They make it to the far side of the cut and I still haven't seen the bull. They then both stop and stare back at the island of trees. They stare for 10 or 15 seconds before trotting off into the bush. Did I get him? I had to have!! Otherwise he would have been right on the tail of that cow calf, right? I start to get excited. I must have got him. I give it 10 minutes before starting my way down the hill in this nasty overgrown cutblock and the only thing I can think of is how shitty the packout would be.

Im almost able to see around the island of trees when it catches my eye. There sticking up from behind a patch of tall grass 30 yards in front of me is the distinct shape of a moose paddle. I let out a yell of excitement. A perfect sub prime bull that will taste fantastic!










By this time my older brothers quad had came screaming down the skidder trail and he parked right where I shot from. He turned off the quad and waited for me to say something. "Bull down!!" I screamed and he let out a holler louder than mine when I first walked up on the bull. He made his way down to me and we took a couple pictures while we thought about how we were going to get this thing out of here.

Me with my bull




Brother with my bull

[kennyj]

Beautiful bull!! Awesome story and photos. Thanks for sharing your hunt.
kenny

[Chopper333]

Awesome story. Thx for sharing.

[two-feet]

Nice moose buddy! Mooses I mean.