tikkat3
10-22-2008, 07:19 AM
I put in for LEH tags for the first time this year, and got a bull moose draw in 5-02B. My hunting "partner" backed out on me last minute, so The Hermit stepped into his spot. Lucky for me, I wouldn't have went otherwise. I had never went hunting before with someone I had never met, so it was an interesting situation.
Hermit comes over on the morning we are leaving (oct 14th), in a little truck that is absolutely packed with gear. He brought his wall tent, stove, tables, stove, bbq, dishrack, kitchen sink(!), and enough food for 2 guys going hunting for a week. I was literally amazed at all the stuff this guy had. We took my truck and quad/trailer, chairs, etc, and enough food for 2 guys. We had enough food for a 2 week hunt easy. After about 15 mins of gear transfer we were on our way.
After a 5 hr drive north, we wind up at Srupps house in Williams lake, and meet his wonderful wife and get some maps he makes up for me. Thanks to the both of you! Turns out the maps there were identical to a map my friend's brother gave me when I went up to the area to scout in the summertime. Feeling good about the triangulation of info, we head to the area. We get there, and someone else was in "our" spot. Oh well, we head down the road and set up camp there. After about an hour we are set up. A couple of drinks, and we are sleeping.
Now, the next 3 days, we see NO bull moose, or any male animal of any kind, probably not even birds or squirrels. We tried everything, sitting on game trails, road hunting, bashing bush, pushing animals up the hill, pushing animals around the lake, pushing animals through the swamp to a blind, sitting in a blind on a game trail, walking cuts/roads, nothing. Turns out on day 3 of our hunt, the guys in the next camp over who were exclusively road hunting, got a bull. We were hiking probably 7-10k a day and seeing nothing.
Once I find this out, I give up hiking all together and just cruise roads with the quad, and focus on swampy lakes instead of stumbling around in the bush. Then we see 2 cow moose in the bush. Alright! Hermit tries to sneak up on them just for fun to get pix. He gets within 50 yards, then gets busted. I drop hermit off on top of the mountain around there near snowline, where he hunts for a few hours, while I go road hunt. He sees no animals at all, I see a couple grouse I try to whack with a stick but they busted me.
On the last day we could hunt, we were doubling on the quad and road hunting. We went up a road we hadn't been up previously, and found some very fresh tracks, going up the hill into a recent clearcut. We are moving along and see a deer at the same time. I hit the brakes hard, and Hermit crashes into me. Excitement! He was about 100 yards up the hill on the treeline across a cut, looking at us. Hermit is looking at it making sure it's a buck, I grab the trusty -06, and he says
"I'm 95% sure it's a buck" he says
"I gotta see, and make sure" I say back, checking it out in the binos. I didn't want to shoot a doe by accident, and if it was a buck, it was a young one.
"Shoot, shoot, its a buck!!!" he says just as I see the little fork horns through the binos
I used the back of the quad as a rest, lined him up and squeezed the trigger. Nothing. I was politely informed by Hermit that this was illegal, later on. What a walking book of knowledge!
"****! nothing in the pipe!" I hurriedly cycle the bolt while this little buck looks at us curiously, trying to figure us out.
The next attempt was a success. I hit him with a 180gr nosler I had for moose in the gun. He went down like a bolt of lightning hit him, was dead before he heard the shot.
I do the happy dance, my first big game animal in 4 seasons of hunting.
I learned a few things about hunting this trip.
Road hunting works. Really well, evidently. Hermit is a well prepared guy, very intelligent, and friendly. We were a bit of an odd couple in this respect. I gotta say that he was great on this trip, he walked me through the whole gutting/skinning party that followed.
Wall tents are nice and cozy, and I'm thinking about getting one. They are a bit of work to pull down though. I also learned that bow hunting is the ultimate form of hunting, according to Bill.
Pix to come. I gotta go to work now
Hermit comes over on the morning we are leaving (oct 14th), in a little truck that is absolutely packed with gear. He brought his wall tent, stove, tables, stove, bbq, dishrack, kitchen sink(!), and enough food for 2 guys going hunting for a week. I was literally amazed at all the stuff this guy had. We took my truck and quad/trailer, chairs, etc, and enough food for 2 guys. We had enough food for a 2 week hunt easy. After about 15 mins of gear transfer we were on our way.
After a 5 hr drive north, we wind up at Srupps house in Williams lake, and meet his wonderful wife and get some maps he makes up for me. Thanks to the both of you! Turns out the maps there were identical to a map my friend's brother gave me when I went up to the area to scout in the summertime. Feeling good about the triangulation of info, we head to the area. We get there, and someone else was in "our" spot. Oh well, we head down the road and set up camp there. After about an hour we are set up. A couple of drinks, and we are sleeping.
Now, the next 3 days, we see NO bull moose, or any male animal of any kind, probably not even birds or squirrels. We tried everything, sitting on game trails, road hunting, bashing bush, pushing animals up the hill, pushing animals around the lake, pushing animals through the swamp to a blind, sitting in a blind on a game trail, walking cuts/roads, nothing. Turns out on day 3 of our hunt, the guys in the next camp over who were exclusively road hunting, got a bull. We were hiking probably 7-10k a day and seeing nothing.
Once I find this out, I give up hiking all together and just cruise roads with the quad, and focus on swampy lakes instead of stumbling around in the bush. Then we see 2 cow moose in the bush. Alright! Hermit tries to sneak up on them just for fun to get pix. He gets within 50 yards, then gets busted. I drop hermit off on top of the mountain around there near snowline, where he hunts for a few hours, while I go road hunt. He sees no animals at all, I see a couple grouse I try to whack with a stick but they busted me.
On the last day we could hunt, we were doubling on the quad and road hunting. We went up a road we hadn't been up previously, and found some very fresh tracks, going up the hill into a recent clearcut. We are moving along and see a deer at the same time. I hit the brakes hard, and Hermit crashes into me. Excitement! He was about 100 yards up the hill on the treeline across a cut, looking at us. Hermit is looking at it making sure it's a buck, I grab the trusty -06, and he says
"I'm 95% sure it's a buck" he says
"I gotta see, and make sure" I say back, checking it out in the binos. I didn't want to shoot a doe by accident, and if it was a buck, it was a young one.
"Shoot, shoot, its a buck!!!" he says just as I see the little fork horns through the binos
I used the back of the quad as a rest, lined him up and squeezed the trigger. Nothing. I was politely informed by Hermit that this was illegal, later on. What a walking book of knowledge!
"****! nothing in the pipe!" I hurriedly cycle the bolt while this little buck looks at us curiously, trying to figure us out.
The next attempt was a success. I hit him with a 180gr nosler I had for moose in the gun. He went down like a bolt of lightning hit him, was dead before he heard the shot.
I do the happy dance, my first big game animal in 4 seasons of hunting.
I learned a few things about hunting this trip.
Road hunting works. Really well, evidently. Hermit is a well prepared guy, very intelligent, and friendly. We were a bit of an odd couple in this respect. I gotta say that he was great on this trip, he walked me through the whole gutting/skinning party that followed.
Wall tents are nice and cozy, and I'm thinking about getting one. They are a bit of work to pull down though. I also learned that bow hunting is the ultimate form of hunting, according to Bill.
Pix to come. I gotta go to work now