Moose trip 2011. Luck in the last hour.

[untilthelastbeat]

Just got home from the moose trip on sat. So good to be back at it again for another year. The hunting was realy hard this year, especialy because we left with such high hopes and confidence.
When we got to narrow lake area (7-06) on the 24th the weather was great but after setting up camp the wind began to roawr so hard it was lifting our a-frame off the ground. This went on for about 3 days until it started to ease off a bit. The moose were moving and we were seeing sign but no moose sightings and no answeres to calls.
After a few days me and my dad were walking a thick, deactivated skidder trail, 10 min apart from eachother. As i was walking i thought i heard something so i stopped, and right after that i heard 3 deep grunts off in the distance. I waited about 30 seconds and let out a long cow call... nothing. I waited then grunted a few times then instantly he returns 3 times. Then back to nothing... So i cow call again then wait for me 3 returns. this goes on for 15 minutes until hes 30 yards into the brush and me and my dad are side by side waiting to double tap a great big bull. I tell my dad to cow call away from the bull. He calls and nothing for the minutes and then one single grunt back... The bull is not giving us any slack. Until finaly he had enough and turned and walked away.
From here on out the next week and a couple days got worse every day. We saw a few cows and one imature run across the road with no time for a shot before he was in the thick. It had been a great trip but by day 11 and 12 we were all pretty sure we were going home with LEH soup. So the moods kept going up and down like a roller coaster thinking we could always fluke out but we had hunted haard for 12 days and seen little to no action.
Until finaly it was the last night of the trip when my dad said, "i know neither of you may be into it but i have to go out for two hours in the mourning then we'l break camp and get out of here." Instantly i knew i was going and after a little pep talk and some convincing my uncle marc was in aswell.
So 5a.m. rolls around quickly and were up and out the door. Driving up to one of our lookouts onto a massive swamp just at first light we decide not to stop and call. Nothing was answering and we wanted to cover ground in the little time we had. Half an hour later were driving and turning a corner through the dark morning cloud i see a massive bull moose standing striaght infront of the truck! me and my dad yell MOOSE and im out of the truck slamming the clip in my 300 win mag. My dad yells "hes huge!" as i run down the road hoping hes still there. Once i turn the corner the moose is running just about to turn into the thick brush on the side so i grunt loudly and he stops and turns for just enough time to steady on his chest and squeeze... I let a 180 gr barnes tsx fly and it slams through both lungs dropping him 10 yrds later. I screamed at the top of my lungs "HES DOWN!!!" as me and my dad run up to him. In the last hour of our hunt we did it, dropped the biggest bull of my life. So then ofcourse we had to deal with the moose break camp and now drive all the way home, through the night back to victoria. Wich meant getting to the ferrys at 6 am and catching the 7 :) ... hey nobody said hunting was easy! But 2 weeks, over 3500 kilometers, and 94 hours in the truck later we got lucky.

[moose2]

Good story I was wondering if you took any pictures.
mike

[375 ultramag]

Great hunt!!! Your right ...no one said it would be easy, BUT the tough ones are the ones you remember the best. Congrats.

[kennyj]

Thats a well earned bull. Way to keep at it. Any pics?
kenny

[untilthelastbeat]

Yea sorry guys i just finished writing the story last night as i was falling asleep on my key board so im loading the pics onto photo bucket right now and il get some up here.
And thanks for the comments so far, its always nice to share the hunt with everyone!

[MRBucks]

Right on! Congrats!
All to often, the last day of our hunting trip was the only successful one.:rolleyes:.
Great that we had meat to return home with, but I sure missed the great feeling that you get hanging around camp, with some meat already hanging..The campfires seem so much warmer, and the drinks so much tastier then..:-D

I would prefer to tag out a few days into the hunt, and then relax for a few before up packing for home....now if I could only convince the moose of that.:wink:

[untilthelastbeat]

He ended up measuring out at 48 1/2 inches. By far the biggest bull iv ever seen in that area. Still kind of rattled that i got him :)

http://i1211.photobucket.com/albums/cc434/untilthelastbeat/2011%20Moose%20Hunt/IMG_2886.jpg
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http://i1211.photobucket.com/albums/cc434/untilthelastbeat/2011%20Moose%20Hunt/IMG_2910.jpg

[untilthelastbeat]

Right on! Congrats!
All to often, the last day of our hunting trip was the only successful one.:rolleyes:.
Great that we had meat to return home with, but I sure missed the great feeling that you get hanging around camp, with some meat already hanging..The campfires seem so much warmer, and the drinks so much tastier then..:-D

I would prefer to tag out a few days into the hunt, and then relax for a few before up packing for home....now if I could only convince the moose of that.:wink:

ahaha yess its all so true!!! but il take a bull on the last day instead of nothing, especialy a nice one! the exitement of the kill was so intense because we all thought we were going home with nothing so that was cool. but hanging around camp with meat and a big rack is always an amazing feeling.

[835]

Nice bull!
like the simple camp setup too.

[Philcott]

Damn nice bull you got. Well worth the wait now I would bet.

Are you cutting it up yourself? I'm doing my last quarter this evening on our bull.

[Philcott]

You'll have to bring that rack to the victoria HBC christmas get together.

[untilthelastbeat]

Damn nice bull you got. Well worth the wait now I would bet.

Are you cutting it up yourself? I'm doing my last quarter this evening on our bull.

yea well the last few days we would have been more than exited to get an imature so leaving with that was unbeleiveable. and no we drove straight home from PG and right to the butcher. cant wait to have a freezer full again.

[untilthelastbeat]

You'll have to bring that rack to the victoria HBC christmas get together.

when, what, and where is this???

[untilthelastbeat]

anybody else know what the deal is for this HBC christmas get together? iv never heard of it

[markt308]

great looking bull man!

[thetackdriver]

Awesome looking bull! way to stick it out to the last minute. wondering if you tried catching any kokanee at narrow lake?

[islander7mm]

Nice work Joel.
Andy and I were wondering if you'd been out hunting.
Great Bull for sure.
HBC south island Christmas get together will be happening I'm sure just watch the forum. The more the merrier!

[untilthelastbeat]

Awesome looking bull! way to stick it out to the last minute. wondering if you tried catching any kokanee at narrow lake?

no you cant get down to narrow lake. we usualy camp there but there is a huge washout at the begining of the (driveway) and aparently another one further down. so nobodys been down there for a while

[untilthelastbeat]

Nice work Joel.
Andy and I were wondering if you'd been out hunting.
Great Bull for sure.
HBC south island Christmas get together will be happening I'm sure just watch the forum. The more the merrier!

yea it was a great way to start my season. havnt done much deer hunting yet but il be out soon. what about you guys? any bucks down or any trips underway?

[Brew]

Outstanding bull. What a beauty. I like your determination and persistence to giver on your last few hours after almost 2 weeks in the bush without much action. Way to go. You deserve it.

[untilthelastbeat]

Outstanding bull. What a beauty. I like your determination and persistence to giver on your last few hours after almost 2 weeks in the bush without much action. Way to go. You deserve it.

well its funny you say that because for the last 3 or 4 days we kept telling eachother it can happen at any minute. its like one guy would get down and the other two would pick him up. and this went on for a few days then finaly one guy just gave up on the last night. he said im so done i dont know what were doing wrong and i just said listen, come out for 2 hours in the mourning, thats all! "what would you do if we shot one and you werent there after 2 weeks of hunting!" and he was in after that. and he was very happy he decided to come the next mourning when we downed that bull. and we were happy he was there to experience it.

[180grainer]

Excellent bull. Well done. Just imagine what a 60 incher would look like.

[untilthelastbeat]

ahh id go insane. when i started moose hunting 3 years ago i decided my moose mision is to get a 50+ incher at some point in my life and this guy was 48 1/2 so the mision lives on.

[cariboobill]

Hello and congrats. Nice Moose and you got to love the 180 grain TSX, they are incredible for moose and any animal. I use Barnes for everything from grouse to Moose. The 180 TTSX has a way better Ballistic Coefficient than the TSX if you really want that 300 Mag to perform or buy the new long range Barnes 180 grain.

Great pics. Great to have the experience with your Dad.

CB

[M.Dean]

I've said many many times, hunt the last day of you hunt with the same intensity as you had on the first day! It's very hard not to get down and disappointed after seeing very little game for that long, but my hat is off to all you guys for giving it your all and coming home with one Hell'va fine Bull Moose!

[islander7mm]

Been out alot but the bucks have been scarce. It'll pick up though.
We're going for mulies at the end of the month. Should be good.
Again well done on the moose, I'd love to bag one of those in the future.

[untilthelastbeat]

Hello and congrats. Nice Moose and you got to love the 180 grain TSX, they are incredible for moose and any animal. I use Barnes for everything from grouse to Moose. The 180 TTSX has a way better Ballistic Coefficient than the TSX if you really want that 300 Mag to perform or buy the new long range Barnes 180 grain.

Great pics. Great to have the experience with your Dad.

CB

thanks! and yes this was my first time hunting with the tsx bullets and i was very impressed. i recovered the slug and it still weighed 180 grs. and i would also rather use the ttsx or mrx but i just bought the 300 mag before the season and i havnt started reloading for it yet, so those were the only loaded barnes bullets i could get before my trip. i will definatly use the ttsx or mrx when i get 300 dies and start loading.

[guest]

Nice Bull,
Congrats but next time try to put em more on the dotted yellow line eh!

CT

[ravensfoot]

Great job. Perseverance pays off!!

[Jagermeister]

That is one of the nicest bull that I have ever seen taken in that area. Congratulations on the moose.
I too have an 7-06 LEH and found the moose to be pretty scarce in the area. I was anticipating more moose, but could not find any high or low aside from one cow that I watched munching in a swamp until she moved off 45 minutes later. Kept hoping a bull would come out of the forest to follow her, but alas, that was not to be.
Did see lots of old wolf scat about with moose hair interlaced in it. Did not see fresh sign of wolves or hear any either, which is unusual. Think they all moved into 5-15 and 5-02 where apparently there is a abundance of moose.
I was hunting to the south of you, but I do like that Narrow Lake area.
Contemplating going back for another go at it but will go more toward the end of the season when the snow is sure to drive the bulls from the mountain tops.

[lightmag]

yea well the last few days we would have been more than exited to get an imature so leaving with that was unbeleiveable. and no we drove straight home from PG and right to the butcher. cant wait to have a freezer full again.


no hang time?? big bull like that needs 7-14 on the hook?? great bull!! congrats!! way to keep with it, all it takes is one second for a freeze to go from empty to full ;)

[ydouask]

Beautiful Moose, well done. The moral of the story.... always listen to your father !

[untilthelastbeat]

no hang time?? big bull like that needs 7-14 on the hook?? great bull!! congrats!! way to keep with it, all it takes is one second for a freeze to go from empty to full ;)

my butcher will hang him for over a week atleast.

[untilthelastbeat]

That is one of the nicest bull that I have ever seen taken in that area. Congratulations on the moose.
I too have an 7-06 LEH and found the moose to be pretty scarce in the area. I was anticipating more moose, but could not find any high or low aside from one cow that I watched munching in a swamp until she moved off 45 minutes later. Kept hoping a bull would come out of the forest to follow her, but alas, that was not to be.
Did see lots of old wolf scat about with moose hair interlaced in it. Did not see fresh sign of wolves or hear any either, which is unusual. Think they all moved into 5-15 and 5-02 where apparently there is a abundance of moose.
I was hunting to the south of you, but I do like that Narrow Lake area.
Contemplating going back for another go at it but will go more toward the end of the season when the snow is sure to drive the bulls from the mountain tops.

Thanks alot! i figured he was one of the bigger bulls in the area. we actualy think my dad might have called him out from that same area the year before.
but yea hunting there was hard at the best of times this year. too much cover. theres still lots of moose but too hard to hunt them. if you live around there its alright but when your limited to you 2 week trip its hit or miss. your right though. wait until the snow hits and go back. they will all be in their certain areas getting ready for winter. good luck to you and i hope you knock one down! LEH soup is a chewy and bitter dish.
cheers