MRoy10
10-06-2009, 07:14 PM
Opening day of Immature bull moose .. A hunting buddy of mine and I headed up to one of our favorite hunting spots unfortunately it just so happens to be about 100 other hunters favorite spot on opening day...:???:
As younger hunter we let most of the traffic pass and just drove the road slowly until we reached our turn off driving slowly into the first cut slash a glimpse of black caught my eye and i turned to see none other than a ellusive (moo) cow.... after a quick heart jump we continued up the road and not 50 yds to the left of the truck was a nice cown moose... No antlers and no Immature in pursuit. well time to turn the truck around and head up to higher grounds on the way up we spot one more lone cow moose and spooked a couple of mule deer does... as we get to the top of our next cut slash we get out to have a quick coffee and a leak.. gun shots are heard and we turn to see 2 men in a small ford ranger knocking shots of at god knows what maybe 500 yds up the slash from us ... well there goes that idea well might as well take a walk . Riley heads up to the left and i take a well padded down game trail to the right as i turn around to look back at the vehicle i notice a small black lump at the bottom of this slash closer examination with the binos revealed a Bull moose cant quite see what it is , I whistled at my hunting partner trying to get his attention he finally looks and i try to do my best gesture of a immature bull moose pointing to the bottom of the slash, He finally understands and comes bolting down the trail towards me we start making our way down wind of him we glassed him at 350 yds with another cow and a calf finally determined that he was a immature .. i got out my range finder and ranged him at 298 yds downhill i load my 300 wby i make shots like this at the range no problem but today was different because as soon as he was within my cross hairs my heart started to pound every breath seemed like forever and you couldnt controll anything ... scope going all over the place... i finally managed to place my cross hairs at the top of his back yes top.... and squeez one off not thinking that a down hill shot will not have the same bullet drop... we hear a large SHWACK.... i definately thought i had hit him but as we watched him walk off without a hitch in his step my heart sank , By the way this was my first moose i have ever shot at and first immature i have ever seen .... either way we went down to check for a blood trail to no avail... later looking and finding that i had nailed a tree directly behind him creating the impact sound trying to think of things i could blame it on.. oh my gun must be off i didnt have a good lean i opted for the truth i had clearly missed and messed up on this oppurtunity..oh well back up the mountain for another shot at him if someone else has not claimed him yet...
As younger hunter we let most of the traffic pass and just drove the road slowly until we reached our turn off driving slowly into the first cut slash a glimpse of black caught my eye and i turned to see none other than a ellusive (moo) cow.... after a quick heart jump we continued up the road and not 50 yds to the left of the truck was a nice cown moose... No antlers and no Immature in pursuit. well time to turn the truck around and head up to higher grounds on the way up we spot one more lone cow moose and spooked a couple of mule deer does... as we get to the top of our next cut slash we get out to have a quick coffee and a leak.. gun shots are heard and we turn to see 2 men in a small ford ranger knocking shots of at god knows what maybe 500 yds up the slash from us ... well there goes that idea well might as well take a walk . Riley heads up to the left and i take a well padded down game trail to the right as i turn around to look back at the vehicle i notice a small black lump at the bottom of this slash closer examination with the binos revealed a Bull moose cant quite see what it is , I whistled at my hunting partner trying to get his attention he finally looks and i try to do my best gesture of a immature bull moose pointing to the bottom of the slash, He finally understands and comes bolting down the trail towards me we start making our way down wind of him we glassed him at 350 yds with another cow and a calf finally determined that he was a immature .. i got out my range finder and ranged him at 298 yds downhill i load my 300 wby i make shots like this at the range no problem but today was different because as soon as he was within my cross hairs my heart started to pound every breath seemed like forever and you couldnt controll anything ... scope going all over the place... i finally managed to place my cross hairs at the top of his back yes top.... and squeez one off not thinking that a down hill shot will not have the same bullet drop... we hear a large SHWACK.... i definately thought i had hit him but as we watched him walk off without a hitch in his step my heart sank , By the way this was my first moose i have ever shot at and first immature i have ever seen .... either way we went down to check for a blood trail to no avail... later looking and finding that i had nailed a tree directly behind him creating the impact sound trying to think of things i could blame it on.. oh my gun must be off i didnt have a good lean i opted for the truth i had clearly missed and messed up on this oppurtunity..oh well back up the mountain for another shot at him if someone else has not claimed him yet...