Buckmeister
01-25-2011, 01:44 AM
I just received the pictures back today. I was waiting to post this until I got the pictures.
Back in October a buddy of mine invited my son and I to join him and his son on a Moose hunting trip up in the Nachako river area. He had drawn an LEH any bull tag and was unsucessfull on his previous trip with his regular hunting partners and wanted to give a second try. So we left on a Thursday and came home on Sunday.
All I could do was hunt 2 point Moose so my job was to act as lookout for my buddy. We had some action on Friday, I spotted a moose in a clearing over 2 kms away, my buddy says he saw a flash of antler paddle when he looked through his spotting scope. We found a way in to the site and snuck up to the clearing, but all that was there was a cow moose. Later that evening, we happened upon 2 more moose, a young bull and cow. The bull dissappeared quickly. Strike two.
Early Saturday morning, we headed up an unfamiliar road. It eventually ended near the top of a mountain in an old but replanted cut. The trees there were healthy and thick and about 6 to 7 feet in height. The boys stayed in the truck and my buddy took the skid trail to the left while I took the one on the right. Just minutes and a few hundered yards later, I spotted something black in the trees dead ahead. At first I thought it was a burned stump, but then I saw that it was black hair moving and then I saw 3 points sticking off of a paddled antler.
I had left my radio in the truck so I quickly hoofed it back down the trail and up the other trail. I saw my buddy standing near the top of the other trail. I didn't want to break the silence but I had no choice as time was of the essence. I yelled at him, he looked at me through his binos and I made a big "come here" gesture and then I put my hands near my head to imitate antlers and then I pointed in the direction I had just come from. He came to where I was and I told him what I saw. He said i should go back to the truck to get the radio I left, and he headed up the trail towards the moose. By the time I caught up within sight of him again, he was at the spot where I had originally spotted the moose. He was stopped and looking. He looked back at me and gestured that there was two moose there. Then he took a knee and fired a shot. By the time I caught up with him he fired a few more insurance shots. Both moose where directly ahead about 100 meters plus and standing in a small clearing in plain sight. The big guy went down. I looked at the other moose with the binos and was almost positive I could see just 2 points, but he was swaggering his head around and wouldn't sit still. Then he decided to book it out of there and I lost my chance to bag him. Had I headed up the trail at the same time as my buddy, I would have had lots of time to indentify and confirm the second moose. Oh well, thats what happens sometimes.
All in all it was a great trip. I ended up bagging a grouse later that night and tried for some rabbit too. It was quite chilly up there but the lake we stayed at was beautiful. I was glad we brought our boys along as both of them are new hunters as of 2010 and they could experience a harvest with us. Also bumped into Spudge and few other HBC members up there.
We had some excitement in camp too. A neighbouring camper/hunter had a cow/calf draw and had bagged a calf. He was just warming up his stove in his camper in preparation for lunch and was standing outside talking with our boys. I walked over to inspect his moose and as I passed the door of his camper I had to take a double take cause I saw large flames shooting up from his stove. His stove had flared up and caught the curtains and a calander on fire. I yelled, "we have a fire here", and stepped inside. He joined me and together we threw the burning pieces outside and killed the rest of the flames. Had I not walked by when I did, his whole camper would have went up in flames. Disaster avoided. :-D
Anyways, a great trip was had by all, and we are already planning a moose trip and possibly an elk trip for this year.
My boy:
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/Sterlings_Moose_1.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=22443&size=big&cat=500&ppuser=6086)
His boy:
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/Sterlings_Moose_4.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=22445&size=big&cat=500&ppuser=6086)
The happy hunter:
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/Sterlings_Moose_2.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=22444&size=big&cat=500&ppuser=6086)
The unlucky moose:
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/Sterlings_Moose_5.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=22446&size=big&cat=500&ppuser=6086)
Back in October a buddy of mine invited my son and I to join him and his son on a Moose hunting trip up in the Nachako river area. He had drawn an LEH any bull tag and was unsucessfull on his previous trip with his regular hunting partners and wanted to give a second try. So we left on a Thursday and came home on Sunday.
All I could do was hunt 2 point Moose so my job was to act as lookout for my buddy. We had some action on Friday, I spotted a moose in a clearing over 2 kms away, my buddy says he saw a flash of antler paddle when he looked through his spotting scope. We found a way in to the site and snuck up to the clearing, but all that was there was a cow moose. Later that evening, we happened upon 2 more moose, a young bull and cow. The bull dissappeared quickly. Strike two.
Early Saturday morning, we headed up an unfamiliar road. It eventually ended near the top of a mountain in an old but replanted cut. The trees there were healthy and thick and about 6 to 7 feet in height. The boys stayed in the truck and my buddy took the skid trail to the left while I took the one on the right. Just minutes and a few hundered yards later, I spotted something black in the trees dead ahead. At first I thought it was a burned stump, but then I saw that it was black hair moving and then I saw 3 points sticking off of a paddled antler.
I had left my radio in the truck so I quickly hoofed it back down the trail and up the other trail. I saw my buddy standing near the top of the other trail. I didn't want to break the silence but I had no choice as time was of the essence. I yelled at him, he looked at me through his binos and I made a big "come here" gesture and then I put my hands near my head to imitate antlers and then I pointed in the direction I had just come from. He came to where I was and I told him what I saw. He said i should go back to the truck to get the radio I left, and he headed up the trail towards the moose. By the time I caught up within sight of him again, he was at the spot where I had originally spotted the moose. He was stopped and looking. He looked back at me and gestured that there was two moose there. Then he took a knee and fired a shot. By the time I caught up with him he fired a few more insurance shots. Both moose where directly ahead about 100 meters plus and standing in a small clearing in plain sight. The big guy went down. I looked at the other moose with the binos and was almost positive I could see just 2 points, but he was swaggering his head around and wouldn't sit still. Then he decided to book it out of there and I lost my chance to bag him. Had I headed up the trail at the same time as my buddy, I would have had lots of time to indentify and confirm the second moose. Oh well, thats what happens sometimes.
All in all it was a great trip. I ended up bagging a grouse later that night and tried for some rabbit too. It was quite chilly up there but the lake we stayed at was beautiful. I was glad we brought our boys along as both of them are new hunters as of 2010 and they could experience a harvest with us. Also bumped into Spudge and few other HBC members up there.
We had some excitement in camp too. A neighbouring camper/hunter had a cow/calf draw and had bagged a calf. He was just warming up his stove in his camper in preparation for lunch and was standing outside talking with our boys. I walked over to inspect his moose and as I passed the door of his camper I had to take a double take cause I saw large flames shooting up from his stove. His stove had flared up and caught the curtains and a calander on fire. I yelled, "we have a fire here", and stepped inside. He joined me and together we threw the burning pieces outside and killed the rest of the flames. Had I not walked by when I did, his whole camper would have went up in flames. Disaster avoided. :-D
Anyways, a great trip was had by all, and we are already planning a moose trip and possibly an elk trip for this year.
My boy:
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/Sterlings_Moose_1.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=22443&size=big&cat=500&ppuser=6086)
His boy:
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/Sterlings_Moose_4.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=22445&size=big&cat=500&ppuser=6086)
The happy hunter:
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/Sterlings_Moose_2.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=22444&size=big&cat=500&ppuser=6086)
The unlucky moose:
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/Sterlings_Moose_5.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=22446&size=big&cat=500&ppuser=6086)