this morning.
I was sitting in the field behind my house, figuring to get a hour or so in before I built up some fencing for the pigs who have been escaping for the last few days. Just about to leave when I spot a cow moose at the back end of the quarter. I hug the fenceline and get within 150 yds of her. Go prone, aim behind the shoulder and thumped her good with a 165 grain Corelokt .280 Rem. She ran to the edge of the field and stopped at the fence -- thumped her again. She hops the fence and goes just inside the woods. I give her 10 and approach. I get to within 50 yds and she gets up and starts going. I can't get her in the scope.
I back off and wait for 30 minutes pick up the blood trail and start following -- not a huge amount of blood. I track for 100 yds and then hear her moving off through the bush -- I find where she had been standing and there is a lot of blood but she obviously had not lain down. I wait another half hour and track again and move her off again and again finding where she had stood. Blood trail thins out to pinhead sized droplets. I'm worried I'll push her off the quarter and into taboo land so I leave and call my buddy to come out and help. He's hunting the Forestry so I leave a message and wait at home.
I'm sick to my stomach knowing I killed the moose but that she might not die in an area I can recover her. I fence the pigs and drive around the perimeter of the section checking to see if she has crossed the road anywhere.
I shot her about 8 a.m. and it is 12:30 before my bud can get to me to help. I place him at the cutline that borders the taboo land and I go back to the last sign of blood. I start tracking and find where she had stood all those hours -- blood everywhere but she still hadn't gone down. I am still tracking when I hear barb wire fence screeching. She's hit the fence and is about to be over it and into forbidden land -- then I hear a boom-thump. I run through the brush to the sound and find my buddy. The moose had hit the fence but so sick she couldn't jump it and started moving down the line to find a low spot, when it had turned broadside to jump again, he figured he had to shoot to keep it from being lost. The moose had turned and ran back into the bush. We wait a bit and then walk up the cut and just see her topple over and thrash a bit. She's down and I breathe a big sigh of relief.
My two shots hit her high in the lungs and the blood was pooling in her chest but not fast enough. My friend's shot hit the liver and that bled her out fast. I lost her and found her and narrowly missed losing her for good. The thickness of a barbed wire saved the day.
Interestingly a couple of trespassers ("Black Truck Brigade") I encountered a few weeks ago had told me they'd arrowed a moose in the lungs and were tracking her that day. This cow has a partly healed wound on the top of her hump. Wonder if it's the same moose? Long way from the lungs boys.
I was sitting in the field behind my house, figuring to get a hour or so in before I built up some fencing for the pigs who have been escaping for the last few days. Just about to leave when I spot a cow moose at the back end of the quarter. I hug the fenceline and get within 150 yds of her. Go prone, aim behind the shoulder and thumped her good with a 165 grain Corelokt .280 Rem. She ran to the edge of the field and stopped at the fence -- thumped her again. She hops the fence and goes just inside the woods. I give her 10 and approach. I get to within 50 yds and she gets up and starts going. I can't get her in the scope.
I back off and wait for 30 minutes pick up the blood trail and start following -- not a huge amount of blood. I track for 100 yds and then hear her moving off through the bush -- I find where she had been standing and there is a lot of blood but she obviously had not lain down. I wait another half hour and track again and move her off again and again finding where she had stood. Blood trail thins out to pinhead sized droplets. I'm worried I'll push her off the quarter and into taboo land so I leave and call my buddy to come out and help. He's hunting the Forestry so I leave a message and wait at home.
I'm sick to my stomach knowing I killed the moose but that she might not die in an area I can recover her. I fence the pigs and drive around the perimeter of the section checking to see if she has crossed the road anywhere.
I shot her about 8 a.m. and it is 12:30 before my bud can get to me to help. I place him at the cutline that borders the taboo land and I go back to the last sign of blood. I start tracking and find where she had stood all those hours -- blood everywhere but she still hadn't gone down. I am still tracking when I hear barb wire fence screeching. She's hit the fence and is about to be over it and into forbidden land -- then I hear a boom-thump. I run through the brush to the sound and find my buddy. The moose had hit the fence but so sick she couldn't jump it and started moving down the line to find a low spot, when it had turned broadside to jump again, he figured he had to shoot to keep it from being lost. The moose had turned and ran back into the bush. We wait a bit and then walk up the cut and just see her topple over and thrash a bit. She's down and I breathe a big sigh of relief.
My two shots hit her high in the lungs and the blood was pooling in her chest but not fast enough. My friend's shot hit the liver and that bled her out fast. I lost her and found her and narrowly missed losing her for good. The thickness of a barbed wire saved the day.
Interestingly a couple of trespassers ("Black Truck Brigade") I encountered a few weeks ago had told me they'd arrowed a moose in the lungs and were tracking her that day. This cow has a partly healed wound on the top of her hump. Wonder if it's the same moose? Long way from the lungs boys.
