smallfry14
10-08-2016, 02:59 PM
After applying for 8 years for a bull moose draw close to home, I finally drew the tag this year. To say I was stoked is an understatement. September was a busy month for me so I never really got a chance to scout the unit for moose, so the first day I got out there was Oct.1 , opening day of the hunt. After hunting all morning we finally drove past a swampy open area where I looked over and saw a cow moose. Seeing as how it was rutting season, that was all the scouting I needed. This was where I was going to be calling for bulls every chance I got.
The next day we were up bright and early to go back to same meadow and set up to call for a few hours. After letting a call or 2 rip I realized that we were not there on our own. There was another guy calling a little further down the valley and I could hear trucks and machinery moving about all through the valley. We sat for about an hour deciding what to do, and eventually decided to get out of there since the other fella must've beat us in there anyway. On our way away from that spot we drove past a white truck with a man and a woman inside, but decided to go up where they came from as it was late in the morning anyways and anything can happen. We hunted till noon and decided to leave. On our way out, that same truck was pulled over on the side of the road with another truck. Turns out they shot a bull in the exact same opening we sat on all morning, it couldn't have been more than 10 minutes after we left. Interesting. :evil:
I wasn't able to hunt for a few days after that, but ended up getting out again on the 7th of October. This time I was solo, heading out to the same valley in the dark and pissin rain. I got to a very moosey-looking opening in the same valley I'd hunted the week before and parked the car just as it got light out. I went up the bank on the opposite side of the clearing and sat my ass down behind 2 small pine trees in the pouring rain. This is where I'd stay until either lunch time or a bull came in. After about 45 minutes, I heard some machinery start up maybe a km away. There was active logging not far away and it was making a ruckus to say the least. At this point it was too late to go set up somewhere else so I decided I better ride this one out for at least a couple more hours, calling every 10 minutes or so. I called a couple more times and was just sitting and waiting when I saw a leaf fall off of a tree on the far side of the clearing, maybe 130 yards away. I put my binos up and realized that "leaf" was a moose tine, and there were 2 paddles coming out of the timber.
Seeing as how the last call I let out was a good 10 minutes ago anyways, I figured I should call again. I let out some of the sweetest cow talkin' I've ever heard come out of my own mouth and just waited. He disappeared in the bush off to the right a little ways but he was angling towards me, there was no doubt about that. I got the camera out and started filming with one hand, while holding my loaded rifle in the other. Just like I thought, he popped out of the bush about 80 yards to my right, angling to the left and slightly towards me. I had no shot as the timber was too tall and he was comin in hot, so I just kept filming. As he stepped out into a small clearing at about 60 yards i let out 2 (horrid) grunts to stop him. He stopped dead and looked straight at me. I put the camera down, the rifle up, some crosshairs on fur, and the rifle barked. My first moose draw was over.
The video is far from WildTV quality, but considering i had the camera in one hand, rifle in the other, severe buck fever, and cold, wet, stiff fingers, I feel like I can be cut some slack. My grunts in the video also sound pretty silly, but trust me when I say my sweet-talkin before the video was much much better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deQXtpjL79U
The next day we were up bright and early to go back to same meadow and set up to call for a few hours. After letting a call or 2 rip I realized that we were not there on our own. There was another guy calling a little further down the valley and I could hear trucks and machinery moving about all through the valley. We sat for about an hour deciding what to do, and eventually decided to get out of there since the other fella must've beat us in there anyway. On our way away from that spot we drove past a white truck with a man and a woman inside, but decided to go up where they came from as it was late in the morning anyways and anything can happen. We hunted till noon and decided to leave. On our way out, that same truck was pulled over on the side of the road with another truck. Turns out they shot a bull in the exact same opening we sat on all morning, it couldn't have been more than 10 minutes after we left. Interesting. :evil:
I wasn't able to hunt for a few days after that, but ended up getting out again on the 7th of October. This time I was solo, heading out to the same valley in the dark and pissin rain. I got to a very moosey-looking opening in the same valley I'd hunted the week before and parked the car just as it got light out. I went up the bank on the opposite side of the clearing and sat my ass down behind 2 small pine trees in the pouring rain. This is where I'd stay until either lunch time or a bull came in. After about 45 minutes, I heard some machinery start up maybe a km away. There was active logging not far away and it was making a ruckus to say the least. At this point it was too late to go set up somewhere else so I decided I better ride this one out for at least a couple more hours, calling every 10 minutes or so. I called a couple more times and was just sitting and waiting when I saw a leaf fall off of a tree on the far side of the clearing, maybe 130 yards away. I put my binos up and realized that "leaf" was a moose tine, and there were 2 paddles coming out of the timber.
Seeing as how the last call I let out was a good 10 minutes ago anyways, I figured I should call again. I let out some of the sweetest cow talkin' I've ever heard come out of my own mouth and just waited. He disappeared in the bush off to the right a little ways but he was angling towards me, there was no doubt about that. I got the camera out and started filming with one hand, while holding my loaded rifle in the other. Just like I thought, he popped out of the bush about 80 yards to my right, angling to the left and slightly towards me. I had no shot as the timber was too tall and he was comin in hot, so I just kept filming. As he stepped out into a small clearing at about 60 yards i let out 2 (horrid) grunts to stop him. He stopped dead and looked straight at me. I put the camera down, the rifle up, some crosshairs on fur, and the rifle barked. My first moose draw was over.
The video is far from WildTV quality, but considering i had the camera in one hand, rifle in the other, severe buck fever, and cold, wet, stiff fingers, I feel like I can be cut some slack. My grunts in the video also sound pretty silly, but trust me when I say my sweet-talkin before the video was much much better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deQXtpjL79U