Blk Arrow
11-01-2009, 06:01 PM
Our LEH for moose in region 5 ran from Oct. 1st to 14th. The downside of having a 15 year old in school meant we could only hunt Oct 10th to 14th days without him missing too much of his studies. The third member of our party met us at 10:00pm some 20km off the pavement on Friday night and we set up camp in -14C temperatures. An eye opener for my son already. Adrien, who has known Red Arch since he was 4, had already scouted for 2 days and seen a total of 1 moose. The cold temperatures bright moon and lack of snow made locating moose a challenge. Early Saturday afternoon Red Arch spotted a bear feeding on rose hips. The adults debated taking the bear or not with Red Arch voting yes with a bear tag burning a hole in his pocket. I ranged it at 146 yards. Junior found a solid rest while I loaded my .308 to cover the situation. He took the shot with his grandfather’s pre-64 model 70, 30-06. The bear took off immediately after the shot. We waited 5 min. and found the bear not 30 yards from where he shot it. The 165gr Hornady Interbond cut a massive wound channel through the heart. The bear was only a 5 footer but it has a beautiful thick coat.
Later in the evening we saw 2 cows in a recent slash. While hiking back to the truck, a rifle lands just in front of me that I recognize. My son had tripped over a rock the barrel struck him in the back of the head and then landed on the skid trail. The next morning
we scouted several locations that had produced for us and others we know. Along the way we found a place to check the rifle. Good thing I packed lots of shells and some targets. The 1st shot at 25 yards was 3 inches left. We spotted 1 cow moose in the morning and mid afternoon attempted a stalk on a large 4 point mulie which performed a reasonable impression of David Copperfield.
Later that day we dropped Adrien on a small road leading toward a marshy area. I took Red Arch and we parked at the top of a slash and glassed the south facing slashes. We could see several slashes out to about 5 miles. We finally saw 2 moose at 6:00pm in a slash. 1 was a bull. We also saw 2 moose in a second slash further away. I called Adrien on the radio and we pickup him up. We could now see 3 moose in the second slash and only had a vague idea how to get there. We got to the second slash as the sun was setting and dropped Adrien where we had seen 2 of the moose. Red Arch and I continued about 200 yards when Red Arch said “moose”. He checked with the binos and said “it’s a bull”. I confirmed while Red Arch bailed out and stuffed some shells in the 30-06. The bull was at 80 yards but he did not care for the sudden attention and took off.
I grunted at him and he stopped at about 160 yards. Doug pulled the trigger and the moose went off to the left and up a steep knoll. I continued to grunt and the moose stopped again. This time Red Arch squeezed the trigger and we heard a load smack. The bull took 2 steps and fell down the hill towards us. We later ranged this at 182 yards. Adrien joined us and we congratulated Red Arch on his first moose. He said he heard the 1st shot hit but we didn’t. The first shot was quartering away which was a bit back. It punctured the cud, the diaphragm and lodged in the brisket bone. The second shot also quartering away somewhat took out both lungs and the right shoulder blade. After some quick pictures we ran out the rope and dragged the moose whole to the road where we dressed him out. This is where things got interesting. We were preparing to put the front quarters in the truck at about 8:30 when I hear my son land on the road. I turn around with my headlamp and he was flat on his back. I asked if he is okay and all we got was moaning. He was out cold!! He was out for about 10 seconds and we don’t know if he tripped over the chainsaw in the dark or fainted from lack of food. He last ate at noon. He was nauseate and wanted to go to sleep. It took about 25 minutes before his voice was normal and not mono tone. We arrived at the Emergency ward just before 11:00pm were the admitted nurse asks what happened, confirmed that the blood on my face was moose and not my son’s and asked for his Care Card number. I told her his card was at home with his mother in Langley. She asked me to phone and get it were I said “ I’d rather not call her” and the response was “ you’ll have to tell her sometime!”
I woke my wife from a deep sleep, informed her that her son got his 1st moose and asked for his card number. Fortunately she heard his voice in the back ground and I heard her tell our daughter. “He’s going to be fine!!” That meant I was going to live.
We had 1 more opportunity at the bull I spotted in the 1st slash 2 days later but he bolted when we attempted to get to a better shooting position that didn’t have brush in the way.
All in all it was an interesting few days.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/PA105706.JPG
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/PA115717.JPG
Later in the evening we saw 2 cows in a recent slash. While hiking back to the truck, a rifle lands just in front of me that I recognize. My son had tripped over a rock the barrel struck him in the back of the head and then landed on the skid trail. The next morning
we scouted several locations that had produced for us and others we know. Along the way we found a place to check the rifle. Good thing I packed lots of shells and some targets. The 1st shot at 25 yards was 3 inches left. We spotted 1 cow moose in the morning and mid afternoon attempted a stalk on a large 4 point mulie which performed a reasonable impression of David Copperfield.
Later that day we dropped Adrien on a small road leading toward a marshy area. I took Red Arch and we parked at the top of a slash and glassed the south facing slashes. We could see several slashes out to about 5 miles. We finally saw 2 moose at 6:00pm in a slash. 1 was a bull. We also saw 2 moose in a second slash further away. I called Adrien on the radio and we pickup him up. We could now see 3 moose in the second slash and only had a vague idea how to get there. We got to the second slash as the sun was setting and dropped Adrien where we had seen 2 of the moose. Red Arch and I continued about 200 yards when Red Arch said “moose”. He checked with the binos and said “it’s a bull”. I confirmed while Red Arch bailed out and stuffed some shells in the 30-06. The bull was at 80 yards but he did not care for the sudden attention and took off.
I grunted at him and he stopped at about 160 yards. Doug pulled the trigger and the moose went off to the left and up a steep knoll. I continued to grunt and the moose stopped again. This time Red Arch squeezed the trigger and we heard a load smack. The bull took 2 steps and fell down the hill towards us. We later ranged this at 182 yards. Adrien joined us and we congratulated Red Arch on his first moose. He said he heard the 1st shot hit but we didn’t. The first shot was quartering away which was a bit back. It punctured the cud, the diaphragm and lodged in the brisket bone. The second shot also quartering away somewhat took out both lungs and the right shoulder blade. After some quick pictures we ran out the rope and dragged the moose whole to the road where we dressed him out. This is where things got interesting. We were preparing to put the front quarters in the truck at about 8:30 when I hear my son land on the road. I turn around with my headlamp and he was flat on his back. I asked if he is okay and all we got was moaning. He was out cold!! He was out for about 10 seconds and we don’t know if he tripped over the chainsaw in the dark or fainted from lack of food. He last ate at noon. He was nauseate and wanted to go to sleep. It took about 25 minutes before his voice was normal and not mono tone. We arrived at the Emergency ward just before 11:00pm were the admitted nurse asks what happened, confirmed that the blood on my face was moose and not my son’s and asked for his Care Card number. I told her his card was at home with his mother in Langley. She asked me to phone and get it were I said “ I’d rather not call her” and the response was “ you’ll have to tell her sometime!”
I woke my wife from a deep sleep, informed her that her son got his 1st moose and asked for his card number. Fortunately she heard his voice in the back ground and I heard her tell our daughter. “He’s going to be fine!!” That meant I was going to live.
We had 1 more opportunity at the bull I spotted in the 1st slash 2 days later but he bolted when we attempted to get to a better shooting position that didn’t have brush in the way.
All in all it was an interesting few days.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/PA105706.JPG
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/PA115717.JPG