MacMtnHunter
09-27-2013, 10:13 AM
After going for several seasons with no moose draw I decided to change it up a bit. My brother-in-law and a co-worker recently got their CORE and were interested in obtaining some meat for the winter, so with a couple new hunting partners added to the mix we thought we might have a better chance of some draws getting draws. I put in with my co-worker and my wife put in with her brother, thinking that we might get at least on moose tag. Well turns out that with a little beginners luck and applying for lower odds zones we got lucky and each group drew a tag. Myself and Mike pulled the early season tag southeast of Mackenzie and my wife and her bro drew a coveted 7-30 late season tag to things were looking good!
August 15th rolls around and I'm pumped, out there the first weekend with my bow in the 26 degree heat hoping to tag a bull! Well from then on out we hunted every weekend and between 2-5 week nights looking for a bull high and low in every possible spot we could think of. Luck was not on our side... With only a week left on our tag Mike and I decided that we would try one of the original spots we had been interested in hunting. It was way at the end of our area and only gave us a couple hours of hunting after work once we got out there... but what the heck, let's change it up a little since the masses were starting to move in an all we had seen so far were a lone cow/calf pair.
We skipped off a half hour early from work and left straight for the bush. Things were looking great as it had rained hard the night before and the clouds had covered the moon and the temp was even dipping a little. Pretty pumped to be out there, it was FINALLY starting to feel like hunting season! We got to the spot, Mike dropped me off at a block where the road into it was a little grown in...likely that had kept the quad hunters out. He peeled back a little further to a good spot off a lake that we had hunted before and seen some decent sign in. Things were looking up! I beetled my way into the block, it looked real good, just the right height trees for critters to hide in, lots of older crap and a ton of scrapes and rubs along the old block roads. I climbed a knoll and got to calling. Nothing much was making noise, just diesel trucks and quads in the distance. Likewise, Mike made his way into his block and began calling, but similar to where I was, nothing was coming in or responding. This time of year the light starts to fade pretty quick so I started making the couple km walk back to the pick up spot.
We had about half an hour of light left when Mike picked me up which was good because we thought a little road-troll could be good just before dark. Hoping back in the truck we were feeling a little dejected... we only had a few days of hunting left. Mike decided that he should drive since he was new to hunting and not as quick on the gun. Something about it just felt right... the moose gods were aligning the stars because we were in the truck down the road for less than thirty seconds when we rounded a corner and THERE HE WAS!!! The first moose that we had seen in a month and a half of hunting! We come face to face with this bull and he has a typical moose reaction, turns and runs straight back down the road. At about 100 yards I cow called him and he stops and turns ever so slightly. At this point we are freaking out, I'm out the door with bullets and gun loaded in record time. Like I said, the moose gods were on our side and gave me just an extra second to get lined up and touch off a shot before he was gone! The first shot hit him hard in the shoulder, and he bolted up the bank off the road. Thinking that we could loose this bull in the thick timber I moved up the road quick to where he disappeared to find him standing at the timber edge. Another quick shot with my grandpa's trusty '06 and we was down!
What a feeling of relief... as much as I hate road hunting and with all the effort that we put in floating rivers, hiking into new areas and calling for a bull, I wasn't going to pass this one up on the road. What a great bull to introduce a new hunter to as well! He's none too impressive in the antlers but he sure had a big body which was nice. Now the work began... we had nothing in the pickup to deal with this bull and he expired just far enough in the timber that we needed a quad to help get him out. After snapping some photos and gutting him, we made a quick trip back to Mackenzie to grab another pickup, quad, ropes and gear. After all was said and done we had him hung in the carport and had a beer it was 2:30am! Work was going to suck the next day. We are pretty stoked to have pulled a bull out of our area. I am even more pleased to have finally taken a moose with my grandpas old '06, he is an old moose hunter from Vanderhoof years ago. He'll be pretty happy about that! Now, on to the next moose...
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/1268846_10153298000640445_1991204871_o.jpg
https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/1235282_10153298000780445_945297091_n.jpg
https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/1272822_10153298000805445_97433885_o.jpg
August 15th rolls around and I'm pumped, out there the first weekend with my bow in the 26 degree heat hoping to tag a bull! Well from then on out we hunted every weekend and between 2-5 week nights looking for a bull high and low in every possible spot we could think of. Luck was not on our side... With only a week left on our tag Mike and I decided that we would try one of the original spots we had been interested in hunting. It was way at the end of our area and only gave us a couple hours of hunting after work once we got out there... but what the heck, let's change it up a little since the masses were starting to move in an all we had seen so far were a lone cow/calf pair.
We skipped off a half hour early from work and left straight for the bush. Things were looking great as it had rained hard the night before and the clouds had covered the moon and the temp was even dipping a little. Pretty pumped to be out there, it was FINALLY starting to feel like hunting season! We got to the spot, Mike dropped me off at a block where the road into it was a little grown in...likely that had kept the quad hunters out. He peeled back a little further to a good spot off a lake that we had hunted before and seen some decent sign in. Things were looking up! I beetled my way into the block, it looked real good, just the right height trees for critters to hide in, lots of older crap and a ton of scrapes and rubs along the old block roads. I climbed a knoll and got to calling. Nothing much was making noise, just diesel trucks and quads in the distance. Likewise, Mike made his way into his block and began calling, but similar to where I was, nothing was coming in or responding. This time of year the light starts to fade pretty quick so I started making the couple km walk back to the pick up spot.
We had about half an hour of light left when Mike picked me up which was good because we thought a little road-troll could be good just before dark. Hoping back in the truck we were feeling a little dejected... we only had a few days of hunting left. Mike decided that he should drive since he was new to hunting and not as quick on the gun. Something about it just felt right... the moose gods were aligning the stars because we were in the truck down the road for less than thirty seconds when we rounded a corner and THERE HE WAS!!! The first moose that we had seen in a month and a half of hunting! We come face to face with this bull and he has a typical moose reaction, turns and runs straight back down the road. At about 100 yards I cow called him and he stops and turns ever so slightly. At this point we are freaking out, I'm out the door with bullets and gun loaded in record time. Like I said, the moose gods were on our side and gave me just an extra second to get lined up and touch off a shot before he was gone! The first shot hit him hard in the shoulder, and he bolted up the bank off the road. Thinking that we could loose this bull in the thick timber I moved up the road quick to where he disappeared to find him standing at the timber edge. Another quick shot with my grandpa's trusty '06 and we was down!
What a feeling of relief... as much as I hate road hunting and with all the effort that we put in floating rivers, hiking into new areas and calling for a bull, I wasn't going to pass this one up on the road. What a great bull to introduce a new hunter to as well! He's none too impressive in the antlers but he sure had a big body which was nice. Now the work began... we had nothing in the pickup to deal with this bull and he expired just far enough in the timber that we needed a quad to help get him out. After snapping some photos and gutting him, we made a quick trip back to Mackenzie to grab another pickup, quad, ropes and gear. After all was said and done we had him hung in the carport and had a beer it was 2:30am! Work was going to suck the next day. We are pretty stoked to have pulled a bull out of our area. I am even more pleased to have finally taken a moose with my grandpas old '06, he is an old moose hunter from Vanderhoof years ago. He'll be pretty happy about that! Now, on to the next moose...
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/1268846_10153298000640445_1991204871_o.jpg
https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/1235282_10153298000780445_945297091_n.jpg
https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/1272822_10153298000805445_97433885_o.jpg