I'll share a bit about my life before telling you my moose story so just jump to the tag that says MOOSE if you want my latest hunting adventure.
HISTORY
I had the privilege of growing up in a home where my dad loved hunting and fishing. At age 6 I was shooting grouse with a single shot 'rabbit gun'. At age 10 my dad bought me a 20 gauge to hunt ducks and at age 12 he got me a 12 gauge. I shot my first bear at age 12. I had the fortune to live in all 4 western provinces and take game out of each of them. I've been blessed with great success hunting big game and have only missed a few seasons in the later years of my life. I have had excellent partners over the years but for 1/2 of my hunts I was mainly a solo hunter, venturing into the back country and mountains. Carrying out heavy quarters over rugged terrain does take a tole on a person's body and has resulted in back surgery. My wife overheard me talking to friends about a couple incidents I had on a hunt in my early 60's and has insisted that from now on I hunt with someone else. One time I got between a griz and her 2 cubs. She was 25 yards from me. The next year I jumped a griz sitting on a kill and had to back off, and that same year I had hiked two hours back in the mountains hunting elk when a griz came charging out of the bush running up a cut line right at me. We parted as friends but I agreed with my wife that I will not hunt alone. The good Lord has watched over me in-spite of my many mis-adventures.
INTRODUCTION
My 2021 hunt was different than any other hunt I've been on. There were 6 of us. Me in my 70's, my friend in his late 50's and 4 young men in their 30's. Some newbies among them who have never hunted moose. It was an up year for grouse and it was nice to see covey after covey of them all over the trails. We shot a few when we were in the SXS's and had a 22 with us. We went to an area that non of us had ever been before and we went for the first week of Oct. to take advantage of the rut. Being with younger hunters, they were eager to do the things that I used to do but now only tolerate. 5 of them left the Island and arrived at my home at 8:00pm in Surrey. Although I had offered them all a place to sleep so we could get an early start in the morning the vote was to leave now. We took turns and drove non stop until we reached our destination around 3 in the afternoon. I can only give you a general location as that's what hunters do - draw a 100 km circle around Hudson Hope and we were somewhere in that area. lol Note - we did the same thing going home, driving all night so the others could catch the first ferry back to the Island.
SUCCESS
The bulls were very active and the first bull on the second day was a 49" rack with 4 points on each palm. Second moose was called in by a first time hunter - did an excellent cow call, followed by some bull grunts and a try-palm grunted his way right into a clearing about 60 yards from him. These were the only two moose we got but there were many other close calls.
MOOSE
My young partner who had never hunted moose was with me on my SXS. We went through a good 10K of terrible roads and arrived at a big clear cut. We drove through the cut and then started going up switch backs to get to the top as we wanted to see what was on the other side. We stopped near the top to look down and saw a moose standing about 500 yds below us in some trees that we had just driven by. My partner had his binoculars on it first and said that it was a monster - much larger than the 49" that was shot already. I got out of the SXS and looked with my glasses and said that it looked OK but that it wasn't that big. When I first looked it had tilted it's head back and I was only seeing it's brow tines. Then it lowered its head and I saw the most massive set of antlers I've ever seen. I said - It's a Yukon moose. I've seen well over a 100 bull moose over the years and have only seen 2 that I call Yukon moose. To me, a Yukon moose is one whose rack goes out very wide (with open spaces they tend to grow out and wide compared with heavy bush moose in BC that grow up and tall). We watched the moose for a few minutes and then made a plan. We drove the SXS back about 700 yards to the switch back going down and then stopped, hoping to close the 700 yard distance back to the moose on foot. No sooner than we had made a couple of steps, we caught sight of some movement in the brush below us at around 250 yards. My first thought was that it was a different moose. Both of us threw up our binoculars and within a few seconds it broke into a clearing about 150 yards in front of us - broadside - offering a shot on the largest moose I had ever seen in all my years of hunting. It stopped and looked at us. Down went my binoculars and without thinking, on auto pilot, my gun that were slung on my back was now on my shoulder. The moose broke into a run and trying to track him in the brush and get a shot off wasn't working. Then, at about 175 yards he came into a clearing again. It took him about 3 steps to clear it and get into the tall timber. I was lined up on him running straight away from me. I knew that I could probably shoot him in the hind quarter. It's amazing how much a brain can process in a couple seconds. Should I try to shoot him in the head, at a dead run, at 175 yards, free hand. Should I shoot him in the hind end to slow him down and hopefully get another killing shot into him. Should I let him go because everything in me and everything I have valued about being an ethical hunter over the years would end here if he was wounded and got away to die a painful death.
I guess the title says what I did - I passed. But for the last couple weeks, I have not been able to shake the picture of him standing broad side to me for that short moment in time. And to celebrate all that I have been blessed with and the beauty of living in BC.
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