Moose hunt from 2009 (new story)

[Jehiah]

Im getting bored of hearing the lunatics and conspiracy theorists blab off about “antis” and governments. The only good they have done for this site is encourage guys like me (and there have been lots thus far) to drag old stories out of the dusty albums and share them for other’s enjoyment.

My Grandfather is a self professed moose doctor. He has numerous stories of his calling abilities and multiple bag limits over the years. The thirst for hunting only transferred to one of his sons (my uncle) however, and it was only a few years ago that he was able to organize a moose hunt that I was able to be a part of.

We made our way to camp with only minor traction issues and arrived to our destination in the late afternoon with enough time to build a shelter for cooking dinner and tucking into the back of our trucks for the night. The next morning we began to assemble our humble abode in which we would reside for the next 8 nights. We transported the poly in and out of camp. I was impressed with the warmth this little cabin tent offered with the one wood stove and three farting men. After a full day’s work and a quick evening drive around we were ready to start opening day of our LEH moose hunt in the morning.

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[Jehiah]

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[Jehiah]

We hiked roughly 2 km to our hunting spot – an open marsh still dry from the warm summer. The three of us split up to cover multiple pockets. I found a nice little island of trees to hide in that gave me a wide vantage point of the timber line and began to call. I did my best to imitate my grandfather but mixed in quite a few long cow moose calls over the couple hours of sitting. I thought I heard a distant grunt quite early in my calls but nothing showed – I resorted to observing the frost tickled grasses and attempting to drink from my camel pack that had frozen solid since sitting down.

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[Jehiah]

The sun broke over the hills and the warmth made the ground feel like down, and the stump like a soft pillow. It was about 930am and I was on the verge of napping.


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[monasheemountainman]

nice set up looking forward to the rest

[Jehiah]

I decided I would be diligent and make one more scan of the surrounding timber before conceding to sleep. I sat up slowly and gazed over to my right. Through the timber island I quickly spotted the unmistakable figure of a moose and, thanks to the sun, a set of glimmering antlers. I had about 50 yds of cover in my timber island to help close the 250yd gap. I slowly stood up and was immediately detected! Through the trees! The beast ran for cover just inside some willow wisps and watched me make my way to the end of the timber and brace my rifle against a pine tree.
It was one of my further shots in my short career and one of those where you have to use xray vision to determine where the boiler room is as all I could see was the neck and head peering out from behind the brush. I was surprised by the retort and remember kneeling there with adrenaline spurting into my heart thinking “I can’t believe I just shot at a moose”.
The animal ran as soon as I shot and disappeared quickly behind the dense foliage. I made a clear mental picture of where he was when I shot then picked up my shell and walked back to my pack to compose myself. After a few minutes I decided I would at least attempt to pick up the blood trail before my hunting partners arrived. I plotted out a course that would place me a few yards to the left of where I shot the animal so as to ensure I would cross the point of impact. On my first pass I could not see any blood nor could I pick out fresh tracks as the swamp grass grew in clumps a foot off the ground and obscured any tracks – at least to my eye. I regrouped and did my next pass about 5 yards further in the brush. Head down and scanning I got a distinct smell of blood and animal. I stopped in my tracks. Not more than 8 feet lays my first moose. He ran all of 10 yards before piling up. My shot hit him a little far back in the 10th or 11th rib but went through the rib fully sending bone fragments through his heart and lungs. I took a few pictures then went into the open to find my hunting partners.

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[Jehiah]

Now...funny story. That morning I was going off about how I would shoot any legal animal (explicitly including a grouse) if I came across one, and, our hunting group of three had but two radios. It turns out the two radios were already half way back to camp when they heard my shot ring off from a distance. They looked at each other and began their long walk back towards my shot vowing spittingly that if I had shot anything but a moose I would be hanging from the meat pole – banned from hunting for 24 hours. A few signaling shots later and they walked up on me sitting by my pack – decided to play nice and let them know that we had a moose down. They did not let themselves believe me until they saw it in person; which they soon did.

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[monasheemountainman]

sweeeeeet some good eats there!

[Fella]

Thank you for posting this story! It's nice to have something else to read aside from debates.

[Jehiah]

The pack back was made easier with the game cart but the rough terrain and two grunts tugging it wrecked the wheel pretty good.

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[#1fishslayer]

Nice....... Good read this morning. Thanks.

[Jehiah]

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This is a picture from the drive home.


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We had one more bull moose tag but did not fill it the rest of the trip. It sure was a lot of fun but have yet to “win the lottery” since.

Thanks for reading!

Jehiah

[Jehiah]

I want to bring up the OLD elk shed to the right of the gun cases in the 8th picture of the post. Check out the girth! I think we ended up dropping it off at the MOI office as its been a while since people have seen elk in that area. It would have been HUGE!!

[kennyj]

Great story and photos. Thanks for sharing your trip.
That is a massive elk antler!
kenny

[Jehiah]

Thanks guys!
I enjoyed re-living the memories more than you did reading them!
Try it out! Id know Id love to hear stories of some of KennyJ's crankers...

[Moosegetter]

Good story and pics thanks.

[finngun]

thanx about good story (http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/member.php?9755-Jehiah) Jehiah what region and what month of the year was you trip..? (http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/member.php?9755-Jehiah) oct?:confused:

[buckshot]

Just what the doctor ordered for this long dark day in the middle of winter: a happy, inspiring hunting tale with real people in it! Thank you. Good luck on the draws next year.

[BillyBull]

Absolutely great story and pictures of what looks to have been just a good ole fashion hunt with good company. Many thanks for sharing the adventure.

[hunter1947]

Nice story to read when I got onto this computer this morning very nice bull moose your hunting party got pictures tell me that this hunting trip was as good as you can get ,,lots of memories for ever ,,thanks for sharing your LEH trip and your pictures ,,congrats to all the party you all deserved getting this bull moose ,,,lots of work went into setting camp up and getting the moose back to camp..

[Jehiah]

This was our trip into 5-4 for an LEH draw. I believe it was mid oct draw but cant clearly remember.
We actually did see one other bull that trip but were all caught off guard as it was on the return trip to the downed moose and standing less than 50yds from the hanging bull! I was the only one with a rifle and I never even got the cross hairs on him.

[longstonec]

Great story and pics.

[longbowbc]

I really like your story and loved the pictures. Reminds me of what hunting is all about.

[d6dan]

Good times with family and friends..Great story and pics..Thanks for sharing your trip.:-D.