325 wsm
10-08-2009, 04:05 PM
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To start off with I'd have to say that this season was one of the toughest ever to find moose for me. The weather was quite hot and dry on the river systems I guide on and I think that kept the moose back in the big timber. Also the main river we hunt has been cutting a new channel upstream of our camp about 3 miles. With a majority of the water going into the new channel it made for super low water levels on our already bony river, and the new channel has large log jams on it that are unpassable. I only got to hunt the main river for a few days and only found 1 small bull before it became to dangerous to travel on due to the logjams, strainers and sweepers. Good news was that one of the other hunters had tagged out on another small river 5 miles away and were seeing quite a few decent bulls. So that's where I headed with my hunter to finish the hunt.
On the first mornig I called in a bull. It came through the tall willows and stood on the bank of the river just across from us about 40 yards away. It was a nice bull, I estimated it to be between 50 and 55 with lots of points but not as big as I thought we could get. It did make some nice video footage though. After another 2 days without any bulls showing up we came across another 1 of similar size but much closer to camp. I once again told my hunter it was almost a shooter but we should hold out for something bigger in the remaining 4 day's. On the next evening we came across the same bull again only a few corners downstream from where we had seen it the night before. With only a couple days left in the hunt my hunter was becoming edgy and I reminded him that there were bigger bulls than that around. Later that evening at camp we reviewed the video and realized that it had been the same bull all 3 times and that it was quite a decent moose. I caved in and told him that with only 2 days left he could shoot it if the opportunity presented itself again.
Low and behold the next morning we were as far up the river as we could get (big log jam) and started drifting downstream when around a corner the same bull is standing on the edge of the river. Well after 3 shots from a wobbly boat infested with an excited guide and even more excited dog the bull tumbles into the middle of the river and dies. We hook a short rope around his horns that my hunter holds onto and after a few bends in the river manage to get him into a shallow spot. After pics it took about 3 hours to get it quartered, deboned, cape and head off and into the boat. I love my neoprene chest waders in situations like that.
Well this was the 4th time we had encountered this bull and time was running out so we took him and he was a little bigger than I had first estimated. He went 55 wide and grossed about 200 B & C.
The 2nd hunt started In the same spot but now 2 of us had to try get a moose each out of an area we had just hunted pretty hard and had not seen any huge bulls on lately. About noon on the 3rd day we were almost back to camp when all of a sudden I see the willows 20 yards off to my left explode as a big bull gets up and starts running down the shore in front of us. I kill the motor and lift the leg. The moose is almost parallel with us now walking at a fast pace 10 yards back from the shore and all we can see is bits and pieces of him going through the big timber. I have already told my hunter it's a shooter and to take the shot if he has chance. Kaboom.....moose runs away with the 2 of us and my dog in hot pursuit shortly after. 10 minutes of running later and we are at another corner of the river downstream. We see where the moose has gone out onto a sandy point and crossed into the big timbers on the other side of the river. there was no blood sign and the tracks the moose left in the sand for 50 yards said he was running with a healthy gait. After returning to the point where the moose was when he shot we determined he must have hit 1 of 3 large trees (24 inch diameter and bigger). Damn...
Back at camp I notice the shell casing in the bottom of the boat but it looks weird. 300 win mag case but shoulder is blown out to 30 degree angles and the neck is very short. After talking with the other guide we determine it looks like a 300 wby case with an extremely short neck. I ask my hunter what caliber gun he is shooting and he replies it is a 300 win, that he has been using it for 5 years and has shot a bunch of deer with it in that time, and that it is a tack driver. I ask to see his gun and when I look at the stamp on the barrel it says 300wby. He had been using 300 win ammo in a 300wby chamber for 5 years and didn't even know it. WTF.
After 2 more days we had seen what appeared to be a large bull but had no opportunity at it through 30 yards of thick willows for a brief second or 2. Now the time in the hunt was running short and neither of the hunters had tagged a bull yet. I decided to go back up and try the bony river X again. The next morning found me pulling the jet boat up the river X in a few shallow spots as well as having to be extra careful about my lines. If I didn't take the right route in some spots I risked hitting stumps or logs, or sucking up gravel and debree into the impeller and possibly losing enough thrust to float back under some of the logpiles.
Finally after getting about an hour upstream we run into a cow about 150 yards up from us. Right away I pull the boat over to the rocky shore and it scrapes up onto the beach. The cow that was feeding, head turned away from us, heard the noise, looked at us a few seconds and started to wander off quite quickly. I cow called and 15 yards from her a big bull stood up. I told him to shoot it. A few seconds later...BOOM... I wasn't sure if he had hit it and neither was he, but right after he shot it ran from the willows and into the big spruce trees. We crossed the river in the boat to where he had shot at it and then into the trees. It looked like a big stump at first the way it was laying 5 yards in the trees, but it had fallen down right where we had last seen it.
The trip down river with the moose loaded in definitely wore some paint off the bottom of the boat. There were also several times we had to line it from shore in the bad spots. And yes he did shoot it with a 300 win mag cartridge out of a rifle chambered for 300 wby.
The 3rd hunt saw my hunter and I flying into a lake that hadn't been hunted for many years. It looked like awesome country but after 4 days of seeing 1 dry cow 4 times we flew out to a different river. 5 more days of boating and hiking and calling and glassing and and.... we were skunked. 4 small bulls under 40 and about twice as many cows appeared but no shooter bulls.
http://i457.photobucket.com/albums/qq293/mountaindog68/KLO2009037.jpg
http://i457.photobucket.com/albums/qq293/mountaindog68/KLO2009083.jpg
To start off with I'd have to say that this season was one of the toughest ever to find moose for me. The weather was quite hot and dry on the river systems I guide on and I think that kept the moose back in the big timber. Also the main river we hunt has been cutting a new channel upstream of our camp about 3 miles. With a majority of the water going into the new channel it made for super low water levels on our already bony river, and the new channel has large log jams on it that are unpassable. I only got to hunt the main river for a few days and only found 1 small bull before it became to dangerous to travel on due to the logjams, strainers and sweepers. Good news was that one of the other hunters had tagged out on another small river 5 miles away and were seeing quite a few decent bulls. So that's where I headed with my hunter to finish the hunt.
On the first mornig I called in a bull. It came through the tall willows and stood on the bank of the river just across from us about 40 yards away. It was a nice bull, I estimated it to be between 50 and 55 with lots of points but not as big as I thought we could get. It did make some nice video footage though. After another 2 days without any bulls showing up we came across another 1 of similar size but much closer to camp. I once again told my hunter it was almost a shooter but we should hold out for something bigger in the remaining 4 day's. On the next evening we came across the same bull again only a few corners downstream from where we had seen it the night before. With only a couple days left in the hunt my hunter was becoming edgy and I reminded him that there were bigger bulls than that around. Later that evening at camp we reviewed the video and realized that it had been the same bull all 3 times and that it was quite a decent moose. I caved in and told him that with only 2 days left he could shoot it if the opportunity presented itself again.
Low and behold the next morning we were as far up the river as we could get (big log jam) and started drifting downstream when around a corner the same bull is standing on the edge of the river. Well after 3 shots from a wobbly boat infested with an excited guide and even more excited dog the bull tumbles into the middle of the river and dies. We hook a short rope around his horns that my hunter holds onto and after a few bends in the river manage to get him into a shallow spot. After pics it took about 3 hours to get it quartered, deboned, cape and head off and into the boat. I love my neoprene chest waders in situations like that.
Well this was the 4th time we had encountered this bull and time was running out so we took him and he was a little bigger than I had first estimated. He went 55 wide and grossed about 200 B & C.
The 2nd hunt started In the same spot but now 2 of us had to try get a moose each out of an area we had just hunted pretty hard and had not seen any huge bulls on lately. About noon on the 3rd day we were almost back to camp when all of a sudden I see the willows 20 yards off to my left explode as a big bull gets up and starts running down the shore in front of us. I kill the motor and lift the leg. The moose is almost parallel with us now walking at a fast pace 10 yards back from the shore and all we can see is bits and pieces of him going through the big timber. I have already told my hunter it's a shooter and to take the shot if he has chance. Kaboom.....moose runs away with the 2 of us and my dog in hot pursuit shortly after. 10 minutes of running later and we are at another corner of the river downstream. We see where the moose has gone out onto a sandy point and crossed into the big timbers on the other side of the river. there was no blood sign and the tracks the moose left in the sand for 50 yards said he was running with a healthy gait. After returning to the point where the moose was when he shot we determined he must have hit 1 of 3 large trees (24 inch diameter and bigger). Damn...
Back at camp I notice the shell casing in the bottom of the boat but it looks weird. 300 win mag case but shoulder is blown out to 30 degree angles and the neck is very short. After talking with the other guide we determine it looks like a 300 wby case with an extremely short neck. I ask my hunter what caliber gun he is shooting and he replies it is a 300 win, that he has been using it for 5 years and has shot a bunch of deer with it in that time, and that it is a tack driver. I ask to see his gun and when I look at the stamp on the barrel it says 300wby. He had been using 300 win ammo in a 300wby chamber for 5 years and didn't even know it. WTF.
After 2 more days we had seen what appeared to be a large bull but had no opportunity at it through 30 yards of thick willows for a brief second or 2. Now the time in the hunt was running short and neither of the hunters had tagged a bull yet. I decided to go back up and try the bony river X again. The next morning found me pulling the jet boat up the river X in a few shallow spots as well as having to be extra careful about my lines. If I didn't take the right route in some spots I risked hitting stumps or logs, or sucking up gravel and debree into the impeller and possibly losing enough thrust to float back under some of the logpiles.
Finally after getting about an hour upstream we run into a cow about 150 yards up from us. Right away I pull the boat over to the rocky shore and it scrapes up onto the beach. The cow that was feeding, head turned away from us, heard the noise, looked at us a few seconds and started to wander off quite quickly. I cow called and 15 yards from her a big bull stood up. I told him to shoot it. A few seconds later...BOOM... I wasn't sure if he had hit it and neither was he, but right after he shot it ran from the willows and into the big spruce trees. We crossed the river in the boat to where he had shot at it and then into the trees. It looked like a big stump at first the way it was laying 5 yards in the trees, but it had fallen down right where we had last seen it.
The trip down river with the moose loaded in definitely wore some paint off the bottom of the boat. There were also several times we had to line it from shore in the bad spots. And yes he did shoot it with a 300 win mag cartridge out of a rifle chambered for 300 wby.
The 3rd hunt saw my hunter and I flying into a lake that hadn't been hunted for many years. It looked like awesome country but after 4 days of seeing 1 dry cow 4 times we flew out to a different river. 5 more days of boating and hiking and calling and glassing and and.... we were skunked. 4 small bulls under 40 and about twice as many cows appeared but no shooter bulls.