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Thread: My 2019 longtime dream moose hunt!

  1. #1
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    Oct 2010
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    My 2019 longtime dream moose hunt!

    I should probably start this off by going back 8 or 9 months to when all this planning had started. It has always been on my bucket list to go up north and do a moose hunt. So after last deer season in about January or February the planning for a moose hunt finally started. I started by talking to everyone I knew who had experience hunting moose followed by tons and tons of E scouting and reading about moose hunting as well as watching tons of videos on moose. As my girlfriend always says hunting has consumed my whole life. Nowadays if I’m not hunting I am planning a hunt or talking about hunting or watching hunting videos or reading about wildlife, basically it's all I do and think about haha. So back to the planning!!.. After analyzing google maps and getting access maps and looking up oil and gas maps I called my hunting mentor and good friend Steve (srupp). As always he did not hesitate to offer help and guidance. After a bunch of phone conversations and emails going over maps and accesses as-well as different terrain and areas we thought would hold moose, I finally had a spot picked out that we both figured would hold some game and give me some good opportunities at a bull. Fast forward to Sept 26 which is the night we planned on heading out on our adventure. It was my brother and I, as well as two of our best friends. We had two trucks loaded to the max and were all set to head North. Since two people out of the group had to work that day we had planned to leave at 11pm to hopefully be there by midday the following day.













    Sept 27


    After driving all night and day we had finally arrived at our destination. Where we had planned to stay at a rec site was full of other hunters, which I expected would happen but luckily there was one spot left. We had maybe a few hours of light left to set up our camp and get settled till we started our hunt in the morning. So after a few hours of setting up and getting organized we finally had our camp set up and ready to go after a quick deer stew for dinner. It was time for bed to be up in the early am to hunt moose finally after all the planning we were here and it was time I couldn't believe that the day had finally come!



    Last edited by bchunter181; 10-15-2019 at 03:37 PM.

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  3. #2
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    Re: My 2019 longtime dream moose hunt!

    Sept 28

    Since none of us had ever been to this place hunting before never even close to this far north actually. We decided to set the alarms a little later in the morning till day break so we could explore some areas in the light and dedicate a day or two towards scouting where we would want to hunt, as the area always looks different than google maps shows(old maps, overgrown blocks, 15 foot tall reprod growth). So we woke up had breakfast and split into 2 groups to divide and conquer.



    We found lots of great moose area and seen tons of sign specially with a couple inches of fresh snow wasn't too hard to see the fresh bull tracks in the area. After reading about this area it definitely lived up to what everyone had told us lots of predators and tons of bears. We all had bear tags in our pockets and fully planned on taking out some predators while we were there. We seen an ok black bear that we could have harvested no problem as he just stared at us for 10 mins with no care but we decided not to end our first day of scouting and continued on with our day. After the first day i was excited at the sign we had found but never seen a moose at all.




    Last edited by bchunter181; 10-15-2019 at 05:00 PM.

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
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    Williams Lake, BC Canada
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    14,168

    Re: My 2019 longtime dream moose hunt!

    Hmmmmm great start mr. B...YOU EARNED THIS BULL..homework..mapwork..legwork..
    Congradulations my friend
    Steven

  5. #4
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    Re: My 2019 longtime dream moose hunt!

    sept 29

    again we got up early and started out in our 2 separate groups looking for bulls.after being down lower in the swamps the previous day we decided to try high and dry the second. Put on alot of km's with the quads the second day and again lots of sign but no moose to be seen more bears and even ran into a grizzly with 2 cubs. When we first saw the grizzly all we seen was one bear by itself on the road and it looked like a decent sized bear instantly could tell it was a grizzly but something seemed to bother it to the left in the willows. At this point we were 200+ yards from the bear when all of a sudden the huge mother ran onto the road and stood on her hind legs! We gave them space and waited for mother to do her thing but she seemed very upset by us being there. Than from standing on her hinds legs she quickly got to all fours and started to run at us, she ran for maybe 15 yards and stopped and just than another cub ran out of the willows between us and the mom and i had now realized what happened. Once she knew where her other cub was she gathered them and ran for the hills and although it got the hearts pounding a bit was quite the sight to watch! couple pictures i got of them. That was all the excitement for the day and saw nothing else that day.










    Last edited by bchunter181; 10-15-2019 at 04:51 PM.

  6. #5
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    Nov 2018
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    Fraser Valley
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    Re: My 2019 longtime dream moose hunt!

    Ya nice start we all wanna hear more! Your probably cooking for the family LOL
    We Wait patiently

  7. #6
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    Re: My 2019 longtime dream moose hunt!

    sept 30 31

    The next couple of days went about the same way some sign and at this point more and more people started to show up at the campsite we were staying at. After talking to a some people at camp apparently a few weeks before we got there was 30 something people in where we were staying having an annual celebration and had taken quite a few moose out of the area. Not sure on how accurate it is but thats the info we were given by multiple people, So after a few days in there and the amount of people we decided to take a pickup for a couple days and check out some surrounding backup areas i had in mind. The next morning we got up super early and the four of us packed into a truck and set out. over the next couple days we took 2 black bears and seen 2 cow moose while driving around looking for at some new area.





    oct 3


    after a couple days of rain and scouting we had found an area we wanted to move to. It wasn't to far away but would take about half a day to get all situated. We woke up super early and started packing everything up, and headed off to the backup area.We arrived at our new location late morning and started setting up again.





    After setting camp up we had lunch and set out to try our new area.
    Last edited by bchunter181; 10-15-2019 at 05:48 PM.

  8. #7
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    Re: My 2019 longtime dream moose hunt!

    oct 3 night hunt

    we again decided to split up and check out this new area. There was a road that I really liked the look of from google maps that me and my buddy were going to try for the night. As soon as we got off the main road we were seeing fresh moose tracks bull and cow, fresh poop aswell. We slowly made our way down the road on quads where it would eventually end and open up into about a 100 yard diameter. we made our way to the end seeing tons and tons of moose tracks the whole way down the road. Once we got to the end we decided to walk around the opening and check it out. It was full of moose tracks and fresh poop in every direction, Looking at the map we were on top of a big bowled valley that went down to the river. So it seemed like this was a crossing the moose had been using to get down to the river and back to the thick timber. we stayed there for awhile and than a truck started to come down the road we talked to them for a bit and they left I decided to let out a few cows calls and wait. After 30 mins or so we didn't hear anything, we made the decision to go check out one other area before dark which by this point it was 5pm. As we got on ours quads and started back down the road I realized I had my trail camera with me, I stopped and said to my buddy we should go back and set up the trail camera for the night. We turned around and started heading back to the opening, we got off our quads and looked around for a place to set the trail camera up. So there we are walking around when all of a sudden I hear a loud bull grunt, I spin around and look at my buddy we lock eyes and run to the quads to grab are guns, As all we had in our hands was the trial camera haha. Guns in hand we run to 2 different spots of the opening were we can see down little cut lines and we hunker down and wait.


    What happened next was the best 2 hrs I have experienced in the woods. I cow called and grunted back and fourth with him the entire evening till dark it seemed as though he would get really close to us as the grunting would get louder and closer and closer then start to get further away. but a few times i heard a very blunt loud cow whine that would just be a second long than he seemed to back off and get further away. We played this game till it got dark and them set up some cow scent and decided to back out for the night. This would be the place we were coming back to before light tommorow morning.


    I learned a bunch of lessons that night one of which to not leave so soon after cow calling you must give it time for the bull to commit and come in. I knew this but my curiosity of what was around the next corner seemed to take over my common sense of what i had studied about moose for the past years.

  9. #8
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    Dec 2018
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    Re: My 2019 longtime dream moose hunt!

    Hell ya!! Can’t wait for the rest of the story! Steve is the best mentor a guy could have, very fortunate to have met him and can’t wait for the rest of the story

  10. #9
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    Re: My 2019 longtime dream moose hunt!

    Oct 4


    Dreaming all night at what that bull would have looked like I didn't get much sleep. 4am came early we got all packed up and set out to get to the same road for first light, We got to the road and slowly made our way down as day break was just peaking through the trees. About half way down to the opening I catch a glimpse of a moose rear end going into the trees in a little opening to my right I jump off the quad and head in to check it out, the opening is about 40 yards in size than a row of timber and it opens again on the other side. I decide to hike up the road with my buddy as we come around the corner to the opening we see a cow standing there in the foggy morning, as our scent was blowing right to her she caught wind of us and darted into the willows we had a decent vantage point from where we were. We set up there and waiting about 30 mins, Then I decided to start calling and immediately a bull grunted back at us from down the road towards the opening from the night before. He grunted and I cow called as he got closer and closer he than turned and started trying to get downwind of us. Again at this point I have still never layed eyes on him as it was thick timber and tall willows. So my buddy stayed on the road and I jumped off the road down a cutline to try and cut the bull off from getting down wind of us, I could hear him grunting and getting closer and closer as I made my way down the cutline which had a steady incline and curve where you couldn't see more than 10 yards in front of you. It was also only about 15 yards wide, I finally got to a spot where I could see 40ish yards and stayed there not making A noise and sure enough the grunts got louder and louder. All of a sudden I hear a snap and a grunt and all I see step out 20 to 25 yards ahead of me is paddle. I was is shock I couldn't believe what was happening he was walking from left to right and all I could see was 2 brows and maybe 9 points on his right side. So I let him get to the middle of the cutline and I let out a grunt. He stops and turns towards me just staring, I look through my scope and can now see both antlers and count 123456789.... 10 no doubt he was a legal 10 on his left. I put the crosshairs on his shoulder and squeeze the trigger. he hunches up and hobbles away behind 1 single thick evergreen tree and into the opening. I run up 5 yards and to my left so I can see him all the way to the right into the opening he is about 30 or 40 yards at this point looking straight at me. I put up my gun and put it on the base of his neck and top of chest and squeeze again and he drops. Being a little excited I let out a little yahhhhhh( rookie move) and see him struggling to get up, than all of a sudden he gets up and runs off and my heart drops. I know i made 2 really good shots and he was obviously hurt cause the second shot dropped him for about 15 seconds. I stay there and wait than my buddy comes running up behind me not knowing what just went down(also its his second season ever hunting before I got him into hunting late last year needless to say we were excited). We back out to the road walk back to the quads and give it 45 mins, I text my brother and my other buddy that were down a different road to come help and track him. and we go to where I shot him while we wait for them to show up.





    after finding where I shot him and following some blood it went dry(also forgot to mention it was raining this day and all the blood we found was already washed thin. Once my brother and other buddy show up we start searching we get on his trail and start seeing more and more blood than see where he stopped and was bleeding out both sides I felt really good at this point. We start to see huge spots of blood and small trees covered in blood. We than come to a little wallow spot where it looked like he either bedded or fell down and there was a big chunk of lung in a pool of blood. We follow it for about 15 more yards and there he is piled up right on the edge of the opening I seen the moose rear end at about 2 hours ago. After the shot he went about 150 yards to where he piled up.


    Now I would like to thank everyone that passed any knowledge on to me this past few months or ever on this site you have all been a part in helping me harvest this amazing bull and feed my family! Aswell and achieve a personal goal that I didn't think was possible. This site is truly an amazing site with tons of people with great amount of knowledge in hunting!!

    Again I can’t thank Steve (srupp) enough for his selfless help and his willingness to share his extensive knowledge of hunting, he is always willing to help out other hunters accomplish their goals and get into game. This hunt probably never would have even happened if I had never went on Steve’s LEH moose hunt years back which is where I started gaining knowledge about these amazing animals. He is truly an inspiration for me both in hunting and life and im super happy to have met him and shared a few hunting camps with him. No words can thank you for what you have taught me and I can only hope to pass on some of this knowledge ive learned to the next generation. Truly an inspiration Steve!

    I Also couldnt have done it without the amazing group of guys I went with glad to call them all my bestfriends!!


    PS Hopefully we can do that fly in hunt we have talked about! Steve again thank you so much!













    My once in a lifetime bull!! Also my first ever bull!






    Last edited by bchunter181; 11-10-2019 at 07:45 PM.

  11. #10
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    kamloops,B.C
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    Re: My 2019 longtime dream moose hunt!









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