So it all started pulling a Kootenay bull moose leh draw with my kids and Brambles son. We knew the area really well. Brambles pulled the draw several years ago and despite his best efforts he and his moose partner only killed one bull in their shared hunt. We knew it was a tough draw and was going to take some serious effort to get a bull let alone two. Well how little did we know then how much effort it was going to take.
Scouting started in July and on our first trip out Brambles and I spotted a nice 40” bull. Hopes were high. We put out a few cams in our moose spots and let them soak for almost a month. We checked cams and no moose, just elk which was good Intel regardless.
Brambles and I both purchased crossbows for our kids and we had them dialed for the opener. We covered a lot of ground for the first three days and nothing to show for our efforts. Good times had nonetheless.
A couple more days during the first week turned up very little. I spotted a lonely cow one morning and watched her for over an hour but no bull showed.
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Brambles and I decided to hunt a high mountain lake. We split up and decided on a meeting place. I hiked into my spot and spotted a cow bedded along a wet marshy area. I made a stalk with the crossbow and got within 75 yards and lost sight of her. I called but nothing showed. I was in the process of getting closer when all of the sudden elk cow calls. Next thing I know the cow busted out of her hiding spot and left the country. I watched her leave and unfortunately no bulls showed. Turns out Brambles made his way to the lake and did some cow elk calls that spooked this moose.
We made plans to hunt elk during the rut and left moose hunting till the first week in October. I should state WK moose are archery from Sept 1-Oct 14 and rifle from Oct 15-Nov 15.
After a successful elk hunt I turned my attention to moose hunting. Over the next month we called, hiked and drove many km’s and had spotted zero moose. I really thought our best chances were calling in a bull moose during the rut but that didn’t happen.
November 2nd now and Brambles and I we’re hard at it for the last 13 days. We finally spotted a bull high in a block but the fog rolled in and we were forced to hike in not knowing exactly where he was. Well the fog saved that bull as we walked right by him. Doh!!
I took my son out on a snowy Friday (ProD day). We saw a bull but he was on to us and spooked into the timber before we could get our rifles off our backs.
A good buddy called me that night with some moose intel and Brambles and I made plans to head into this spot. We loaded the quads and headed in at first light. We arrived where my buddy saw the bull and after 5 or so minutes I spotted a moose bedded down. A quick check through my spotter confirmed he was a bull.
We assessed our options and quickly realized our best bet was a long shot. This bull was bedded in a brushy area with no chance for a closer shot. We anticipated a longer shot so Brambles brought his 338 Edge powered with a 22x nightforce scope shooting a 300gr burger bullet. We finally found our best shooting spot and I practiced dry firing. Having shot this rifle previously I knew the recoil was less than my 300wm. I was comfortable with the shot which was 610 yards. I should mention we practice long shots and I have watched Brambles shoot this rifle out to 900 bang on. Brambles acquired the wind speed which was zero, humidity, pressure, bearing etc... and dialed the turret for the shot.
The bull finally got up to feed and presented a quartering away shot which I confirmed was brush free and decided this was it...I placed the crosshairs behind his front shoulder a squeezed the trigger. After the shot I will never forget seeing that bull go ass over tea kettle. I quickly reloaded and found the bull struggling to get to his feet. I squeezed off a second shot and the bull disappeared behind a wall of brush.
We loaded our packs and headed for the moose. Well we were in for a surprise, a rather large stream was between us and the moose. I eventually found a sketchy log to cross. Brambles cut down two small trees and we used these as poles for stability. We slowly crossed the slippery frozen log with much doubt on how we were going to cross fully loaded.
We scrambled up to where the bull was and discovered he got to his feet and was headed downhill. Good news we thought, less distance to pack. We followed the blood trail for 70m or so and lucky for us the bull died a few feet from the river, but he didn’t cross it, so it still left us with our sketchy log crossing. We high fived and to say we were elated was a major understatement.
We quartered the bull and loaded our packs and realized we could get this bull out in two trips. This is a two year old bull we estimated and thus didn’t have a huge body..perfect we thought!! I’m pumped because he should be an awesome eater.
We arrived at the log, took a break and I decided to go first. What a pucker factor 101 that was crossing that log fully loaded!! Our poles would drop down in the deep spots causing us to have to lean forward which with our full loads was super uncomfortable! Brambles crossed successfully and we were off for the second load. On our way back we decided to cross with our poles facing upstream. This was waaaayyy better!!
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