I had a good hunting year

[Buckmeister]

Well it looks like I won't get out hunting again this year as we are getting ready to leave to go stateside in a few days. So I thought I would post up how this year has gone overall. I did make a few posts previously this year that some of you have already seen, but I am going to do a re-cap of those stories and pictures, along with new stories and pics.

So the year started this spring when my University bound son stated he wanted some bear meat for his freezer. Having not really hunted bear before, we both got a tag each, got some general advise about how to find bears, and then headed out. On our second outing we ran across this fine specimen and my son put the one-two punch on him. We found him milling about in a small cut, and while he did startle at our presence and start to run, he stopped at the edge of the cut and hoisted himself up on a uprooted stump to get a look at us, presenting a great broadside shot. My son put one in him and he started to crawl off into the trees. My son caught up with him shortly and finished him off. Not bad for a first bear, he scored just under book.





My son and I and a friend put in for a bull moose Oct LEH in our area and we got it!!! Yeehawwwww! Never looked so forward to October before.

September rolled around soon enough however with deer season opening. I knew I wanted to dedicate some serious time for the Oct bull hunt without distraction of wanting a deer, so I decided to put down this 4x4 Whitey on a farm I have permission to hunt. Not a big one, but nice enough to put in the freezer early season. I was hunkered down in a small draw with tall grass and bushes as a blind. This fellow came out in the evening with several other deer to feed. Double lung broadside shot from about 80 yards. He ran but was down a short distance later. Had a funny growth/wart over his eye.





TO BE CONTINUED...............

[walks with deer]

good start have seen these growths before on all three species of deer occurs normally in higg density spots

[Buckmeister]

October was nigh, so my son and I took a scouting trip on the last day of September to see where the best sign was in the area we planned to hunt. Thankfully we already know the area fairly well so it was just a matter of checking into a few spots. The next day we were out bright and early. The weather was pleasant but the animals were scarce. It was getting to be just after lunch when we happened across another nice black bear. This dude was less than a hundred yards away and didn't seem to concerned about our presence. He was smaller than my sons bear but still a good size, but I passed on him because I was there to hunt moose and not bear.

We continued to check other areas and found nothing. I was starting to feel a bit disappointed and decided it was time to head home, there was after all a lot of month left. My son however had limited time to hunt as he was headed back to school the next day. He put his eagle eyes to work scanning into the trees next to the road as we started to drive home. MOOSE! Not 30 yards into the bush was two moose, hiding out in the trees. They did not stick around for long and booked it out of there pretty quick. But we did get enough of a look to see it was a small cow with what looked to be a unicorn!!! (2x3) We quickly tried to do an end run around on them as we could easily access a parallel road that ran about 250 yards further back. But they never materialized. We went home empty handed but glad we found what we were looking for.

The next day my son returned to school, but our other hunting partner was able to join me, so by daybreak we made sure we were at the area we saw the unicorn. We still hunted and did some calling. Nothing. I suggested we drive up higher and check some other areas. Just as we were passing the exact spot my son had spotted the moose the day before in the trees, I pointed the spot out to my hunting partner. I said to him, "We were just passing this big tree and looked in and saw this.........HEY, THERE'S A MOOSE!!!". Sure enough, not 30 feet from where the moose had been standing the day before was the cow, and a little further in hiding behind more trees was the unicorn. We knew we were busted, but we quickly loaded our rifles anyways and headed in carefully, hoping to find a shot. Both moose ran away again, and the forest only got thicker.

We spent the next hour trying to do the end run around thing again but to no avail. We heard a cow bawling somewhere up the hill in the thick stuff, but we knew it was a lost cause. I suggested we go back to my original suggestion and try out some of the higher areas. We got back to the road and headed up. About 130 yards up the road from where we spotted the young pair, there was a side spur that took off to the right. My hunting partner saw it first, not 50 yards up the road was another unicorn!!! (2x2 this time) This one just stood there and didn't spook. Bad mistake on his part cause less than 20 seconds later he was laying on the ground. Score ONE for the team! Buddy cut his tag while I went for the trailer, this would be an easy retrieval.

I apologize for the bit of gore in the picture.

[markomoose]

I like gore !Keep it rolling!

[Buckmeister]

Well, now the pressure was off, but this WAS a 3 person group hunt that allotted us TWO moose. I was itching to get back out there and get our second one, but on the suggestion of my wife I put on the brakes for a week or so until my son could rejoin me for another hunt, she thought he might get disappointed if I got a moose without him being there. My other hunting partner could not join us as his wife was very due to have a baby any day, so we hunted on with his blessing. We decided to try a mountain that we were not too familiar with, but is known to hold a healthy population of moose. Sure enough, the first cut block we found contained a cow and a bull (a small 4 or 5 point). We were just skirting the edge of the block back in the trees by about 20 feet when the moose materialized right in front and below us (there was a bit of a drop off). I could clearly see one was a cow, but from the brush I couldn't ID the bull right away. My son however could see the bull and said, "It's a bull" and he took one knee to line up a shot. Meanwhile the moose started to spook and ran straight away from us. My son did not want to take a running shot and risk a wounded moose, but he was also aware that I was just standing there without my gun at the ready. I wasn't at the ready because I wanted my son to kill this moose on his own. So while the moose was running away, thinking I didn't hear him the first time he turns to me and says louder, "It's a bull!!!!", and sure enough thats when the bull stops dead broadside at about 80 yards. I said, "I know. SHOOT HIM!!! He's standing right there". So my son turns back and tries to line up a shot, but the bull bolted again and was gone. GRRRR.

Lesson for the both of us. For him: don't take your eyes off the prize and don't hesitate. For me: be ready just in case the other guy isn't.

We didn't find any other moose, but we did learn some great terrain and I returned many times over the next few weeks. I would find cows only. I put some of SRUPPS moose hunting advise to use, setting out scent and staying put and calling, but also to no avail. I did however spot this smallish black bear not far from where we saw the last bull.



He sat roughly 100 yards away up in this small belt of trees on the hillside just minding his own business. I told myself I was hunting moose and left the area. But as I was driving away I thought about how my wife would likely scold me for not putting more meat in the freezer (even though it was starting to fill up now), so I turned around and returned to the bear. I found he was still hanging out in the trees, non too concerned about my presence. It was sitting up behind a small stump. I lined up a shot on his shoulder, but when I think back to when I squeezed the trigger I recall it feeling a bit 'heavy' and I believe I pulled the shot and hit the stump in front of him. He got up and ran up the hill a short ways and stopped, looking around warily, I had no second shot. He slowly continued up until he disappeared over the brink, but he really didn't look wounded at all. Up behind and to the right was a bare knoll, and he was heading to the left of it. I waited for several minutes before I started to walk in, hoping to find a blood trail and a dead bear. I got to the bottom of the small group of trees when I got a bad feeling and felt the need to turn around. So I did and returned to where I had fired my shot, which turned out to be a good vantage point for the whole hillside. That's when I spotted movement over to the right of the knoll. The bear reappeared and I glassed him as he made his way along downed trees and around bushes. This bear walked normal and was showing no signs of being wounded. He made his way right back to the stump and nosed around a bit, then walked about 10 feet up the hill and sat down again. That is when I took the above picture. I wished him luck and told him it was indeed his lucky day.

About 5 days later I returned to the same spot and found the bear sitting in the small group of trees, camped out behind that same bullet proof stump without a care in the world. I waved hello and went on my way. The next day I returned and saw him again. On the third day, and 4th sighting of him, I decided enough was enough and his time was up. I tried to line up a shot, but like before, that dang stump was partially in the way. So I thought, "what the heck" and I called out, "HEY BEAR!!". That got his attention a little bit and he sat up a little higher. I let a bullet fly. This time I could tell that I hit him as he struggled to get away. But he didn't go far and paused in an opening and I let a second shot go. Down he fell and rolled away. I could hear him flay around and see the bushes moving, then all went quiet. I waited a good 15 minutes or so and walked in and found him expired. Even though the terrain was a little nasty, it wasn't too hard to get him out.

In this picture you can just get a glimpse of black sitting behind the cedar branch in the center of the picture.



This bear turned out to be pretty small, but I'm still happy as this was a first for me.

[Buckmeister]

Well, back to moose hunting. October was wearing on and I was getting discouraged. The moose were starting to lay low as the rut was all but over. I continued to find excellent sign, spot cows, and busted a bull at full trot. Friday Oct 27th came and I tried back at an area that I had been avoiding because some forestry crews had been working in the area doing some thinning, but they were done now and I hoped the moose were hanging around there now. I was not disappointed as I found 7 moose in less than 15 minutes. Most were cows and calfs, but two were bulls. The first was a large bull (big paddles pushing about 50" I estimate) at about 250 yards, but no available shot. I tried to find a better vantage point, but he busted me and took off. The second bull I spotted about 300+ yards off raking some bushes (a small 4 or 5 point). I cow called to him and that got his attention. A few more calls and that got him moving in my direction. There was a gully between him and I that he had to pass through and I lost sight of him. I got ready for him to reappear....but nothing. I called some more. Then some more. Then I heard crashing off into the distance. That's when I felt the wind breeze past my face. The wind was all wrong and he scented me.

I returned the next day with my son. I sent him down a lower road, while I went up a little higher to where I had seen the BIG bull. I had 3 cows and one bull (the small one from the day before) show up, all at great distance and no shot. Turns out my son had pushed the bull and one cow up to me. In an effort to find a shot on the bull, I ended up spooking them (the bush was just way to noisy with all the dead foliage from the thinning) and they turned back the way they came, right to where my son just happened to be waiting. My son heard them coming and got ready. He took a knee and held his rifle at his chin. A moose appeared out on the road in front of my son at about 60 yards and stopped broadside. As the moose looked down the road in the opposite direction, my son could see it was the bull and started to lift the rifle up to look through the scope. A split second later the bull turned to look at my son, saw the movement of him raising his rifle, and the moose barreled over the bank and into the thick stuff with the cow following behind. No hesitation this time, just not enough time to take a shot.

We returned the next day, spotted a cow and bull in some tall willows, but no shot. At least we were seeing moose again. Plus, we were seeing signs of a second rut coming on with cows calling on the wind, and fresh rubs appearing overnight. I returned on Monday the 30th with our other hunting partner who was able to find one more day to join me. While trying to get to the area where we saw all the moose the previous days, we passed by a huge bull (the 50"er?) at 40 yards. We couldn't take him however as we were about 1/2km away from the MU we were allowed to hunt in. We saw no other moose that day.

TO BE CONTINUED.......(gotta take the kids to a Christmas light up in town)

[Rhyno]

Great so far, look forward to the rest!

[albravo2]

Good story telling Buck!

This is why HBC is great.

[Buckmeister]

Good story telling Buck!

This is why HBC is great.

Thanks! And I'm actually trying to give a shortened version so as to not be too wordy or length.

[Buckmeister]

So Oct 31 rolls around, Halloween day. Previous years hunting on Oct 31 (or Nov 1st) have proven to be special days while hunting, and I hoped this Oct 31st would be no different. Seeing as how I was seeing bulls the last 4 days in this one area with ever increasing sign, I figured it was the best place to be for my last chance at getting a bull. I first checked out the spot where I had seen most of the moose the prior few days, but found nothing. Instead of going further back, I decided at trying a little lower down the hill, that was the area I had seen most of the sign but fewer sightings. This area is actually pretty large, and while I could choose to walk the area, I opted instead of using my Honda ATV at very low speed as it is very quiet and tends to make animals curious rather than run away.

I was slowly making my way deeper in, scanning every nook and cranny for any signs of moose hair hiding behind trees or other cover. I was making my way along a road on the low side of a cut that sloped up to the right. The saplings here are 4 to 5 feet high and mostly larch, so with the recent thinning visibility was pretty good. I was approaching the end of the cut where there was a large man made bank on the right with a few trees on it that limited visibility of the tree line until the last few feet where an old skid trail made it's way up the tree line. As I was just starting to go past this large bank, I got a glimpse of what I was looking for! A saw a moose head with bone sticking out of it! Yes! I continued on for a few more meters cause the bank rose up a bit and blocked my view of the moose, but it also blocked the moose's view of me. Under the cover of the bank I quickly dismounted, leaving the ATV running (I find turning it off oftentimes spooks animals), and carefully yet quickly loading my magazine and chambered a round, opened up my flip up scope covers and held the rifle up to my cheek in a standing shooting position. With the rifle pointed in the general direction of uphill, I started to sidestep my way past the bank to where I had a view of the skid trail and hopefully a clear shot of the bull. The tree line did curve away in that spot, but I soon found a clear view of the moose between some standing timber of the tree line, he was about 70 yards away. I had a good view of his rear-end and left side as he was quartering away heavily, but very poor position for a vitals shot. He was looking over his shoulder at me so to speak, so I tried to line up a shot for between the eyes. However, I was shaking a bit and couldn't steady myself enough for such a small shot target........