DMD
09-26-2014, 02:39 PM
Well I have been lurking on here for quite some time. Being a total hunting newbie I guess I haven't had much to contribute until now. I always enjoy reading peoples stories of their hunts and I now have a pretty good one to share.
I was lucky enough to get a local leh moose draw this year. However, work has been very busy and I hadn't been able to get out either scouting or hunting. Tuesday afternoon a good friend contacted me. He had seen a bull in my zone at around 3pm. He played around with it and it was super responsive to cow calls. The bull was across the river and even tried to swim across to the calls twice. I deaked out of work as soon as I got the news and we headed out. We called a bit in a cut block above where the bull was seen, but no response. We headed down to the river and low and behold the bull was still standing behind some bushes on the bank where it was earlier, only about 90 yards away. I got a rest and when in position my friend cow called. The bull immediately turned towards us. He started grunting an licking his lips. At this point he was facing head on. I was very nervous and wanted to wait for a broadside shot. The bull kept advancing, getting closer to the river and a much steeper bank. At this point my friend turned from cow call to yelling at the bull to try and get it to turn. He was having none of it and still approaching. It was now or never so I took aim and pulled the trigger. The bullet entered a bit high on the chest, took out part of the heart/lungs, liver and broke the bulls spine just in front of the pelvis. He lunged forward and crumpled up, however he made it far enough to unfortunately fall down the bank into the river. My heart sunk.
He landed in a large deep eddy. Once it was clear that the moose was dead, I put down my gun and ran up. My partner had already ran up, and at this point was tearing off his shirt. It appeared as though he was planning on jumping in. Before he could the moose disappeared underwater. I felt sick to my stomach. It resurfaced, however it was now in the main current and heading down river. I began running down after it. The bank turned from sandy to large riprap. Around 300m later the moose was about 3m from shore. I jumped in and grabbed onto the antlers. The water was about shoulder deep. I did my best to guide the moose over to shore and eventually got it wedged under a large boulder. The body was underwater with the head out.
The moose was more or less secured and we reconvened. I was so thankful that the moose did not get away from us. We were both very excited after the previous crazy events. After calming down we surveyed our situation. We had a LOT of work ahead of us. We tied the antlers off, head back to town for a come-along, rope, anchors etc. 6-7 hours later and 4am we had managed to get the moose out of the water and gutted. We left to return the next day with a boat, quartered him up and got him out. A huge effort! I always knew moose were huge but I guess you never really understand until you have to move one around.
Bull is in the butchers now and everything is cleaned and dealt with. I'm beat. A great experience and I'm very appreciative of all the help from some great friends.
I was lucky enough to get a local leh moose draw this year. However, work has been very busy and I hadn't been able to get out either scouting or hunting. Tuesday afternoon a good friend contacted me. He had seen a bull in my zone at around 3pm. He played around with it and it was super responsive to cow calls. The bull was across the river and even tried to swim across to the calls twice. I deaked out of work as soon as I got the news and we headed out. We called a bit in a cut block above where the bull was seen, but no response. We headed down to the river and low and behold the bull was still standing behind some bushes on the bank where it was earlier, only about 90 yards away. I got a rest and when in position my friend cow called. The bull immediately turned towards us. He started grunting an licking his lips. At this point he was facing head on. I was very nervous and wanted to wait for a broadside shot. The bull kept advancing, getting closer to the river and a much steeper bank. At this point my friend turned from cow call to yelling at the bull to try and get it to turn. He was having none of it and still approaching. It was now or never so I took aim and pulled the trigger. The bullet entered a bit high on the chest, took out part of the heart/lungs, liver and broke the bulls spine just in front of the pelvis. He lunged forward and crumpled up, however he made it far enough to unfortunately fall down the bank into the river. My heart sunk.
He landed in a large deep eddy. Once it was clear that the moose was dead, I put down my gun and ran up. My partner had already ran up, and at this point was tearing off his shirt. It appeared as though he was planning on jumping in. Before he could the moose disappeared underwater. I felt sick to my stomach. It resurfaced, however it was now in the main current and heading down river. I began running down after it. The bank turned from sandy to large riprap. Around 300m later the moose was about 3m from shore. I jumped in and grabbed onto the antlers. The water was about shoulder deep. I did my best to guide the moose over to shore and eventually got it wedged under a large boulder. The body was underwater with the head out.
The moose was more or less secured and we reconvened. I was so thankful that the moose did not get away from us. We were both very excited after the previous crazy events. After calming down we surveyed our situation. We had a LOT of work ahead of us. We tied the antlers off, head back to town for a come-along, rope, anchors etc. 6-7 hours later and 4am we had managed to get the moose out of the water and gutted. We left to return the next day with a boat, quartered him up and got him out. A huge effort! I always knew moose were huge but I guess you never really understand until you have to move one around.
Bull is in the butchers now and everything is cleaned and dealt with. I'm beat. A great experience and I'm very appreciative of all the help from some great friends.