View Full Version : I'm Too Old for This- Pics
SUAFOYT
10-19-2009, 08:11 PM
So I get a call on Friday afternoon just as I'm sitting down to hopefully watch the Yankees get beat and a friend calls. Are you up for some work he asks- I say what do you have in mind. He says my son bagged his first moose and I could use a hand. So I ask where and the wife and I gather some gear and head up to meet him. They caught this guy on the river bank, and as 15 year olds will do they think they can do anything. The main thing is it's not gut shot but it's on the other side of the river and it's getting dark fast. The young fellow wades the river and attaches a rope to now dead moose and we run about 500' downriver to a snatch block and straight up 200' to the road and trucks. We've done this before many times in various cutblocks with great success so we figure why should this be different. WRONG! The sand under this moose is the finest stuff out there- we can't budge him. After several failed attempts we decide to call for reinforcements. I call up friend with a quad and see if he's up for it. He says sure, this baby will go anywhere- winches on front and rear and all the goodies. Hour and a half later he follows us into the bush. No problem getting to the river bank and water in the river extremely low and he crosses the river on the quad with no sweat. Hooks the rear winch line to moose and away we go? Not. Can't move him at all. We now use the rope to his front winch and use a tree as an anchor point. With myself and the shooter's Dad we are just able to get him moving. We get him to the river and he sails across until he hangs up on the other side. No matter what we do we can't move him. As you can see, the rack on this puppy isn't huge but the body on him was real big. We now realise that we have to gut and cut him in half right there. There was no way a single person could pack those quarters out on their back. It's darker than a hooker's heart out so more fun in the water and sand. We hook the front half to the quad and try to get it up a steep bank. Get it most of the way but now the quad is acting up- too much winch work and it's not charging. We decide to use the quad to drag the hind quarters to the bottom of the hill, drop them there and get the quad owner back home. We now run a double line to the hind end and it's all we can do to get it up the hill. After much grunting, we get it done and it's back to my place to hang and skin. I hit the pillow at 4:30 Saturday morning, and the father and son leave at 6:15 after skinning. I know there's probably lots we could have done differently, but we're 45 minutes from home so we figure how hard can it be? This moose is big- he's going to the butcher's tomorrow and I'm going out on a limb and say he's 700+ on the hook. For those of you out there that have chainsaw winches I'm all ears. Pros and cons please. I'm way too old for this!
http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq108/suafoyt/IMG_1138.jpg
http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq108/suafoyt/IMG_1142.jpg
http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq108/suafoyt/IMG_1136.jpg
Rattler
10-19-2009, 08:18 PM
Nice bull, congrats. Sounds like quite the adventure...
Steeleco
10-19-2009, 08:19 PM
If your looking for Sympathy!!! Never mind LOL That's one big bull. Good time to have friends HUH???
coho456
10-19-2009, 08:20 PM
nice job ,its nice to see the young guys out hunting
Bow Walker
10-19-2009, 08:21 PM
Second pic looks like the moose got the last laugh...
He'll be good eating and you should be in line for some of it, at the least.
SUAFOYT
10-19-2009, 08:22 PM
Second pic looks like the moose got the last laugh...
He'll be good eating and you should be in line for some of it, at the least.
I keep hearing about the nose roast:mrgreen:
bcsteve
10-19-2009, 08:32 PM
Nice bull and a rack with some character. Congrats to the young hunter. First thing I can think about is why didn't you guys gut him before trying to drag him? You'll save yourself alot of weight right there.
SUAFOYT
10-19-2009, 08:37 PM
Nice bull and a rack with some character. Congrats to the young hunter. First thing I can think about is why didn't you guys gut him before trying to drag him? You'll save yourself alot of weight right there.
You know, we've used this rope method for years and have always dragged out to a landing or a road or something before gutting. No mess in the body etc but you're right in this case. We had to give in to old age and basic physics.
f350ps
10-19-2009, 08:44 PM
Wow, you sound like me after the last Bull we had to pack out of a swamp. Last 3 Bulls have come out with a chainsaw winch and not one sweat bead. Try it and you'll never leave home with out it. Nice Bull that young fella shot. K
I have to agree, I would have gutted him first if I couldn't move him.
A method I have used in the past is to put the forward hooves above the antlers ( this takes some work but is worth it in the end) then a loop around the neck behind the head and a half hitch or two around the nose then attach your main line to this. As you pull the nose is lifted and the front legs don't get snagged up as easy on stuff. Clear as mud?
Nice animal by the way, I would have droped him too:smile:
kootenayelkslayer
10-19-2009, 08:55 PM
Nice bull. Sounds like you should've just had a couple pack frames handy and could've saved yourself a bit of hassle. Load the young fella up with some moose quarters, that'll teach him for shooting a bull on the wrong side of the river ;)
Good work on the bull.
SUAFOYT
10-19-2009, 08:58 PM
I have to agree, I would have gutted him first if I couldn't move him.
A method I have used in the past is to put the forward hooves above the antlers ( this takes some work but is worth it in the end) then a loop around the neck behind the head and a half hitch or two around the nose then attach your main line to this. As you pull the nose is lifted and the front legs don't get snagged up as easy on stuff. Clear as mud?
Nice animal by the way, I would have droped him too:smile:
I'm writin' that one down- thanks for the tip.
leadpillproductions
10-19-2009, 09:03 PM
Nice bull .....
Blainer
10-19-2009, 10:28 PM
Looks like a big ol' bull.
Can see why the young fella was not going to let this opportunity pass.
Good on ya to help.Karma
bridger
10-19-2009, 10:45 PM
a chain saw winch is a great assest. i never leave home without mine. a lot more powerful that a quad winch. i used mine last year to pull a 23 foot river boat with three elk, gear for four hunters and 60 gallons of gas off a gravel bar and back into the river about 100 feet slick as a whistle.
LeverActionJunkie
10-19-2009, 11:38 PM
Sounds like fun! :) I will never shoot a moose on the other side of a river again! ;);) I know what you went through man. Seemed like a good idea at the time.
hunter1947
10-20-2009, 05:34 AM
Thats a dandy bull you got ,sounds like you had a fun time trip ,congrats.
bowhunterbruce
10-20-2009, 06:02 AM
i ran into an old guy a couple years ago that was a logger most of his life and he showed me a method that works no matter where the animals dropped.
he had on his headache rack around 1000 ft of 3/8 cable like the kind on winchs,he would set up a high line to a tree above and behind the animal,while the highline was slack he would attach a pully wheel to the line then tie all 4 legs and the head to it and a pull rope if it was down hill from the vehicle.
from there the other end would be secured to his truck as he pulled his truck forward the line would tighten up lifting the elk or moose into the air,thenwith the aid of either his winch on his truck and a snatch block to a tree or his sons quad he would just pull the animal across the tightened high line literly right into the back of the truck.
this method worked even better if the animal was uphill as all he would do is drive forward with the truck and the animal would just slide down hill and he would just watch it in his rear view mirror until it got close to the truck then slacken the line by backing up to drop it back to the ground.
in his words "the older ya get the more you wanna be useing brain to work smarter not harder".
understanding his system i could see it working with relitive ease if one can pull that much steel cable.
bruce
boxhitch
10-20-2009, 06:21 AM
Good bull, congrats
Good idea bruce, but that would have to be one H of a highline to support the whole moose. 3/8" ? max load I bet
Load the young fella up with some moose quarters, that'll teach him for shooting a bull on the wrong side of the river :wink:
:)
willyqbc
10-20-2009, 11:34 AM
If you could get a quad to it you had er beat! What we always do is take my quad in to wherever the animal is, quarter it up and load it on the quad....drive right back to the truck. If you are quartering by taking everything off the spine instead of trying to cut the bone into four quarters you can be done with a moose in about an hour. Your bull would have required a couple quad trips but you would have been done much sooner I think. We took a big cow moose about 2 km away from a road last year and including the time it took to get the quad to her we were done and loaded in about 4 hours. I have found that using this method has also really increased my range in how far from a road i can go when hunting for the big stuff!
Chris
P.S. Dandy bull....congrats!!
Elkhound
10-20-2009, 11:42 AM
hell of a first moose. And he learned the first lesson.....after the first shot......the real work begins
Hydrojet
10-20-2009, 12:02 PM
nice bull!...my ol man would have come down to watch...beer in hand! I could see it now...."you shot it....have fun!"
I second the chainsaw winch....don't leave home with out it!
Toad Hunter
10-20-2009, 12:31 PM
Suck it up ladies.
Good work by the way!
GoatGuy
10-20-2009, 12:34 PM
Nice job, looks like another happy hunter.
Is the hunter from the Okanagan?
SUAFOYT
10-20-2009, 05:52 PM
Nice job, looks like another happy hunter.
Is the hunter from the Okanagan?
Region 3 hunter.
GoatGuy
10-20-2009, 06:27 PM
Region 3 hunter.
Good deal, he looks like a recent core graduate.
hunterkid15
10-26-2009, 03:30 PM
nope Ive had my licence for 3 years now
Nice moose kid!
but next time be careful on thoes cross river shots :mrgreen:
all things said i woulda blasted him too
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