Ltbullken
11-09-2010, 01:14 PM
My buddy and I had a successful moose hunt around Tunkwa Lake near Kamloops. But it was tough hunting and conditions were warm and clear. We planned to be in the week of Nov 1 -8, as our Any Bull LEH started Nov 1st for all of November. So all day Saturday Oct 30 was spent running around on errands, food, supplies, etc., for the hunt. Sunday, we head out to our camp and spent the day getting it ready, setting up the tent trailer, getting the drying tent set up, bucking and chopping fire wood and of course, digging the latrine. My hunt partner had to work his final shift in Kamloops on Sunday night and after I did my Halloween duties at home, I head out to camp for the night.
Well, 5:45 Nov 1st comes and I'm up and getting ready. I put a lantern on the table and put my head lamp on and start getting my gear together. But, out of the corner of my, I catch glimpse of shiny green saucer-like eyes, 3 sets of them, watching me in the dark. This is a story on to itself and I'll come back to that but suffice to say it had to be Halloween eve!
After that brief interruption, I got gathered my gear and rode out on my first day of moose hunting with light just starting to break in the west. I went to a marshy area covered in willows. I parked far enough away that it took me about a half hour to quietly walk in. Did some calling but nothing. I returned to camp to meet up with my buddy and we discussed my ‘morning’ and plans for the rest of the day.
There were a lot of areas I had recce'd prior to the season and many looked promising. The weather forecast was not what I thought was ideal though, cool and clear nights and moderate days. I thought this might have the animals moving around more nocturnally. Anyway, we tended to focus on wet areas with some regen around it and swamps with willows. We did this for a couple days but only saw the occasional deer but moose sign was in abundance. Yet no moose after 2, 3, 4 days into the hunt!! We were starting to wonder if maybe the season had waned, pressure forced them into deep timber or there were simply damn few moose in the area!! I was particularly discouraged by day 4.
Anyway, the days were warm with cool clear nights. There was a skiff of snow higher up. Having eliminated as many possibilities as we could, we thought we needed to check out the high country, 5000' +. We were generally hunting the 4000' - 4400' level. I emailed my brother, the erstwhile wildlife biologist, for his thoughts and he agreed that we needed to go higher up and focus on prime feeding areas.
With that in mind we set out on day 5 and quickly found some more promising areas with fresh sign, which I would check out better the next day. We discovered a block that was 15 yrs old, with a bog covered in willows, young poplar and alder brush. My buddy had to go back into town that night so I would have to catch up with him later the next day.
Day 6 - it was cold, damp, overcast and at times foggy and drizzling. I got out at the cut at about 7:30AM, parked the quad about a kilometre away and quietly walked in. I found a small rise in the block that was about 150 meters from the timber line that afforded great views yet had good cover to screen me and I started cow calling. About an hour later, I heard some rustling to my left and saw some branches move. I slowly raised my binos and sure enough saw fur! It moved some more, snaking towards me. It stopped just long enough for me to see moose antler through the brush. 30 meters away. I slowly, quielty open the scope covers and release the safety on my Tikka T3 300WSM, shouldered the rifle and waited for an opening to take a shot. The moose steps in the clear and BOOM - into the boiler works!! It steps forward into cover, I quickly move right to get another clear shot into the boiler works, BOOM. Still standing and moving towards the tree line, BOOM into the same spot. Brass is flying! It stumbles but surges for the tree line, magazine is empty, so I grab a round from the stock-mounted cartridge holder, drop it into the chamber and close the bolt... BOOM - high shoulder shot, the bull shudders, drops... done.
By 9:30, the immature bull was dressed and I headed back to camp, pumped and relieved that I had finally harvested a moose! My buddy had yet to return so I got some breakfast going, knowing that we had a full day ahead of us. Just as I was about to jump into my scrambled eggs and sausage, my buddy shows up and asks the same question he does all the time when we meet up in the field... "Is there blood on the knife?" ... Hell yah!!
We gather some extra equipment, rope, saws, chain saw, axes, and a come-along just in case we need them. My Kawasaki 300 4x4 has low drive and a winch so we should be okay. As it was, the moose was only 75 meters off the logging track. We got to the moose, got to work on the path. That took us 45 minutes. I put the quad in low and drove on. We had it out by 11:30, on the truck bed by noon.
The moose was skinned and quartered in a cooler by 4 and we returned to camp for a dinner of chops from last year's deer and a camp fire.
The next day would be spent checking another cut that looked promising but alas, nothing. Back to camp, struck it and home by 3PM! Dog tired, beat but stilled juiced over having taken a moose. The family was totally excited! My great white hunter status guaranteed for another year!
Now, to return to day one and those green eyes in the night...
As I said, I was getting my gear together to head out when I saw 3 sets of eyes in the dark. At first, I thought maybe coyotes but the eyes were too big so thought this was a family of lynx. I walked slowly towards them to get a better look but the shadows from the lantern and the head lamp were making it hard to see. I settled on lynx because in the dark, it looked cat like. They were up wind of me. Well, slowly, one starts coming in towards me. I figured it was curious so I walk towards it and shout a bit to get it to back off. It crouches but comes no closer.
I go back about my preparations when two of them start moving to the left along the tree line to go behind and around the camp. I figure they're moving off now so no issue. One remains in the original location upwind and one now stops to the left of the camp and the other appears to melt into the forest...
They're moving off now I think, so I hop up on my truck get the quad started and then move it off the truck and as I wheel it around I see another set of eyes and the animal itself at about 15 paces downwind of me. Clearly a cat! It had circled around to get behind me I thought... curious... Well, I want the animals to move off as I don't believe this amount of curiosity of humans is good - animal/human conflct, etc. So I run at it with the quad, the animal quickly shifts to the right to my flank... and as it does, I see a LONG TAIL! THAT IS NO LYNX! IT'S A COUGAR... 3 of them and I now realize that I am surrounded by one downwind of me, one to the left and one up wind and to the right! And the cat downwind only comes closer even when it gets a whiff of human! They should be gone if they smell human! I'm being stalked I conclude. The cat behaviour in my books is pure predatory.
I quickly hop off the quad and go grab the camp gun (a 30-30 that sits loaded up against the table) and start shouting at the cougar that has been approaching and circling me all along. It crouches down and even moves closer!! Enough is enough! I pop off a round in its direction and it runs off in a hurry. The other two join it slowly....
My heart is in my throat and there is a slight weakness to my legs now... In discussion with my hunting partner and others afterwards, the consensus is that the cougar was demonstrating predatory behaviour and as it was a human encounter, it was even more concerning. The prevailing opinion is that I should have shot the aggressive cat. I believe it was a mother cougar with two youngsters and she was teaching them how to hunt and that it was okay to hunt humans. Having never encountered anything like this before, and having now experienced it, I don't think I would hesitate again on my options. Needless to say, I have a slow realization that just perhaps, I dodged one that night... And you guessed it... it was Halloween night!
And that, my friends, is how our moose hunt went in 3-18!!
Here are some pictures.
The Camp.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/IMGP0399.JPG (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=21025&size=big&cat=recent&limit=recent)
Antler rub we found.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/IMG00112-20101105-1658.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=21030&size=big&cat=recent&limit=recent)
Moose country...
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/IMG00118-20101106-1310.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=21027&size=big&cat=recent&limit=recent)
Finally, a moose!!
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/IMG00116-20101106-0907.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=21028&size=big&cat=recent&limit=recent)
A successful drag to the road.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/IMG00117-20101106-1247.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=21029&size=big&cat=recent&limit=recent)
Well, 5:45 Nov 1st comes and I'm up and getting ready. I put a lantern on the table and put my head lamp on and start getting my gear together. But, out of the corner of my, I catch glimpse of shiny green saucer-like eyes, 3 sets of them, watching me in the dark. This is a story on to itself and I'll come back to that but suffice to say it had to be Halloween eve!
After that brief interruption, I got gathered my gear and rode out on my first day of moose hunting with light just starting to break in the west. I went to a marshy area covered in willows. I parked far enough away that it took me about a half hour to quietly walk in. Did some calling but nothing. I returned to camp to meet up with my buddy and we discussed my ‘morning’ and plans for the rest of the day.
There were a lot of areas I had recce'd prior to the season and many looked promising. The weather forecast was not what I thought was ideal though, cool and clear nights and moderate days. I thought this might have the animals moving around more nocturnally. Anyway, we tended to focus on wet areas with some regen around it and swamps with willows. We did this for a couple days but only saw the occasional deer but moose sign was in abundance. Yet no moose after 2, 3, 4 days into the hunt!! We were starting to wonder if maybe the season had waned, pressure forced them into deep timber or there were simply damn few moose in the area!! I was particularly discouraged by day 4.
Anyway, the days were warm with cool clear nights. There was a skiff of snow higher up. Having eliminated as many possibilities as we could, we thought we needed to check out the high country, 5000' +. We were generally hunting the 4000' - 4400' level. I emailed my brother, the erstwhile wildlife biologist, for his thoughts and he agreed that we needed to go higher up and focus on prime feeding areas.
With that in mind we set out on day 5 and quickly found some more promising areas with fresh sign, which I would check out better the next day. We discovered a block that was 15 yrs old, with a bog covered in willows, young poplar and alder brush. My buddy had to go back into town that night so I would have to catch up with him later the next day.
Day 6 - it was cold, damp, overcast and at times foggy and drizzling. I got out at the cut at about 7:30AM, parked the quad about a kilometre away and quietly walked in. I found a small rise in the block that was about 150 meters from the timber line that afforded great views yet had good cover to screen me and I started cow calling. About an hour later, I heard some rustling to my left and saw some branches move. I slowly raised my binos and sure enough saw fur! It moved some more, snaking towards me. It stopped just long enough for me to see moose antler through the brush. 30 meters away. I slowly, quielty open the scope covers and release the safety on my Tikka T3 300WSM, shouldered the rifle and waited for an opening to take a shot. The moose steps in the clear and BOOM - into the boiler works!! It steps forward into cover, I quickly move right to get another clear shot into the boiler works, BOOM. Still standing and moving towards the tree line, BOOM into the same spot. Brass is flying! It stumbles but surges for the tree line, magazine is empty, so I grab a round from the stock-mounted cartridge holder, drop it into the chamber and close the bolt... BOOM - high shoulder shot, the bull shudders, drops... done.
By 9:30, the immature bull was dressed and I headed back to camp, pumped and relieved that I had finally harvested a moose! My buddy had yet to return so I got some breakfast going, knowing that we had a full day ahead of us. Just as I was about to jump into my scrambled eggs and sausage, my buddy shows up and asks the same question he does all the time when we meet up in the field... "Is there blood on the knife?" ... Hell yah!!
We gather some extra equipment, rope, saws, chain saw, axes, and a come-along just in case we need them. My Kawasaki 300 4x4 has low drive and a winch so we should be okay. As it was, the moose was only 75 meters off the logging track. We got to the moose, got to work on the path. That took us 45 minutes. I put the quad in low and drove on. We had it out by 11:30, on the truck bed by noon.
The moose was skinned and quartered in a cooler by 4 and we returned to camp for a dinner of chops from last year's deer and a camp fire.
The next day would be spent checking another cut that looked promising but alas, nothing. Back to camp, struck it and home by 3PM! Dog tired, beat but stilled juiced over having taken a moose. The family was totally excited! My great white hunter status guaranteed for another year!
Now, to return to day one and those green eyes in the night...
As I said, I was getting my gear together to head out when I saw 3 sets of eyes in the dark. At first, I thought maybe coyotes but the eyes were too big so thought this was a family of lynx. I walked slowly towards them to get a better look but the shadows from the lantern and the head lamp were making it hard to see. I settled on lynx because in the dark, it looked cat like. They were up wind of me. Well, slowly, one starts coming in towards me. I figured it was curious so I walk towards it and shout a bit to get it to back off. It crouches but comes no closer.
I go back about my preparations when two of them start moving to the left along the tree line to go behind and around the camp. I figure they're moving off now so no issue. One remains in the original location upwind and one now stops to the left of the camp and the other appears to melt into the forest...
They're moving off now I think, so I hop up on my truck get the quad started and then move it off the truck and as I wheel it around I see another set of eyes and the animal itself at about 15 paces downwind of me. Clearly a cat! It had circled around to get behind me I thought... curious... Well, I want the animals to move off as I don't believe this amount of curiosity of humans is good - animal/human conflct, etc. So I run at it with the quad, the animal quickly shifts to the right to my flank... and as it does, I see a LONG TAIL! THAT IS NO LYNX! IT'S A COUGAR... 3 of them and I now realize that I am surrounded by one downwind of me, one to the left and one up wind and to the right! And the cat downwind only comes closer even when it gets a whiff of human! They should be gone if they smell human! I'm being stalked I conclude. The cat behaviour in my books is pure predatory.
I quickly hop off the quad and go grab the camp gun (a 30-30 that sits loaded up against the table) and start shouting at the cougar that has been approaching and circling me all along. It crouches down and even moves closer!! Enough is enough! I pop off a round in its direction and it runs off in a hurry. The other two join it slowly....
My heart is in my throat and there is a slight weakness to my legs now... In discussion with my hunting partner and others afterwards, the consensus is that the cougar was demonstrating predatory behaviour and as it was a human encounter, it was even more concerning. The prevailing opinion is that I should have shot the aggressive cat. I believe it was a mother cougar with two youngsters and she was teaching them how to hunt and that it was okay to hunt humans. Having never encountered anything like this before, and having now experienced it, I don't think I would hesitate again on my options. Needless to say, I have a slow realization that just perhaps, I dodged one that night... And you guessed it... it was Halloween night!
And that, my friends, is how our moose hunt went in 3-18!!
Here are some pictures.
The Camp.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/IMGP0399.JPG (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=21025&size=big&cat=recent&limit=recent)
Antler rub we found.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/IMG00112-20101105-1658.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=21030&size=big&cat=recent&limit=recent)
Moose country...
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/IMG00118-20101106-1310.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=21027&size=big&cat=recent&limit=recent)
Finally, a moose!!
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/IMG00116-20101106-0907.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=21028&size=big&cat=recent&limit=recent)
A successful drag to the road.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/IMG00117-20101106-1247.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=21029&size=big&cat=recent&limit=recent)