I got invited this year to join some friends on their annual Moose hunt in Reg 6 (BC), so naturally I jumped at the chance.
We had 2 "Veteran" hunters and myself and another "newbie".
The vet's decided that the 2 newbs would pair up on the Saturday prior to opening day to do some scouting and get to know the area. We headed out around 9:30AM to check out a few of the local roads, etc. We came across a nice open area with hills about 300yds apart and decided that that's where we would spend opening morning and then proceeded out again to do some more reconnaissance.
We ended up heading down 1 road at about 5:30 that evening as we worked our way back to camp, approx 3Km in I spot a cow moose on the road ahead of us, she books it into the 10' pines so we continue on only to find she was standing waiting for us just around the corner. My partner and I stopped, tried to get some pics, and just watched her for a couple of minutes not 20yds from us and our quads. It's starting to get dark by this time so we decide to make our way back to camp for the night.
Opening day:
My partner and I head into the spot we had agreed on the previous day, well before light. We sit from 6:30 until about 10:30 and nothing is moving so we figure we should find a few other roads to check out for the remainder of the afternoon. We spotted another cow but nothing else that day.
We did come across another spot that afternoon that was close to camp and looked like it would provide a nice shooting opportunity if something were to wander through so we made the decision that we would spend the morning there on day 2.
Day 2:
We pull into our morning spot, get to our predetermined sitting positions and wait for the light (and hopefully a nice bull). Well 8:30 rolls around and I can feel that I need to make a visit to the loo back at camp (this was not going to be a quick one, may have had something to do with the copious amount of Gibsons from the night before
) so I radio to my partner that I need to leave, pack up my stuff and head off back to camp. Since we were only about 1K away it wasn't much of a bother to head back to a nice comfy outhouse.
I do my business, grab a couple of Pepsi's, some food, etc and head back out on the qaud, I radio to my partner who is still sitting on the hillside that I was going to check out another area rather than making a racket coming back onto the hill. I made the decision that I would head into where we had seen the cow moose on scouting day, and told him to head down that way when he was bored.
I head into the road nice and slow checking the cut's and tree lines along the way for any sign of movement or dark shadowy figures. Just before the spot where we saw the cow on scouting day there was a grassy spur road off to the right, I contemplated whether or not I should check it out now or wait until I was on my way out. I got a few meter's past the road and something came over me to stop, back up and take that road. I headed in slow, came to a fairly off camber and steep deactivation that I had to maneuver the quad through while avoiding the logs on either side which had been previously cut by someone just wide enough to allow a quad through.
I got past the deactivation and the road goes into a cut block with 5-6' pines and it's all up hill. "What a great spot" I say to myself, I get about 50m past the deac and something catches my eye about 100m away and about 20m to the right. It's ears sticking out either side of a small pine. At this point it has'nt dawned on me yet and I think to myself "It's a deer", I put my binocs up and I see antlers. "It's a shooter" I say in my head. So I start getting excited about this and then it picks it head up from the tree and I see huuuge nostrils.....again to myself "IT'S A MOOOOOOSE"!!!
At this point my heart starts thumping, I slowly get off the quad, get my rifle off the back, get the magazine into the gun and get one in the chamber. This moose just kept eatting the whole time I was getting ready and didn't seem the least bit interested in anything I was doing. So I pulled out the bipod legs, got into a good steady shooting position and just watched him, heart still pounding and my mind racing a mile a minute.
As I watch him eat he looks up and turns his head to look to my left, I think to myself "Do I dare take a head shot?" I think about this for what seemed like minutes when in all actuality it was probably only a few seconds. I make the decision that if he turns his body he gets one in the boiler room but if he turns his head I will take the head shot. I knew I was comfortable and stable with the bipod and sure of my shooting ability at this distance even with the adrenaline coursing through my veins.
A few seconds later he turns his head to look to my right, already lined up and ready to shoot I let one go from the .270. He walks 20m onto the road and stops, I chamber another and let a follow-up go and then one more for good measure. He is standing there like nothing happened.....I can see blood is pouring from his head but I start putting more rounds into the magazine just in case. As I get the 4th round into the mag he starts to wobble, sidesteps about 15m and piles up on his side against a log.
I unload the rifle, grab a smoke and a coffee and try to calm myself from the adrenaline buzz I am now experiencing. I find my radio and call out to see if my partner is anywhere within radio range. He answers back with a "Copy" and I hit the mic and say "Dude, get your ass down here ASAP, I just got a Moose". He must have been close because a few seconds later I can hear his quad roaring down the road towards me. He scoots up behind my quad and says "Where's the Moose?". I point and say "He's about 100yds down on the left hand side".
We both walk up together with big smiles on our faces, we look at the size of this thing and say "Now how the f&^% do we get it out of here?" (Neither of us had really comprehended the size of a moose until this point in time).
Well, with a little ingenuity, some burnt drive belt on my quad and the use of both my winch on a tree and a recovery strap on the moose, we managed to get him through the aforementioned deactivation and out to the main road. It takes me (us) about an hour to gut this thing, I get cleaned up and head back to camp to grab the truck and trailer so we can get it back and start skinning it, hoping that we could have it done by the time the Veterans got back for the evening. Well it's a good thing the vet's were at camp when I got back because it was a 4 man job getting him into the back of the truck, alongside the fact that they had a generator and a sawzall in their truck which made halving the beast that much easier.
The Veterans ended up getting their Moose on Thursday night.
Anyway, here are a few pics from the days events.
We had 2 "Veteran" hunters and myself and another "newbie".
The vet's decided that the 2 newbs would pair up on the Saturday prior to opening day to do some scouting and get to know the area. We headed out around 9:30AM to check out a few of the local roads, etc. We came across a nice open area with hills about 300yds apart and decided that that's where we would spend opening morning and then proceeded out again to do some more reconnaissance.
We ended up heading down 1 road at about 5:30 that evening as we worked our way back to camp, approx 3Km in I spot a cow moose on the road ahead of us, she books it into the 10' pines so we continue on only to find she was standing waiting for us just around the corner. My partner and I stopped, tried to get some pics, and just watched her for a couple of minutes not 20yds from us and our quads. It's starting to get dark by this time so we decide to make our way back to camp for the night.
Opening day:
My partner and I head into the spot we had agreed on the previous day, well before light. We sit from 6:30 until about 10:30 and nothing is moving so we figure we should find a few other roads to check out for the remainder of the afternoon. We spotted another cow but nothing else that day.
We did come across another spot that afternoon that was close to camp and looked like it would provide a nice shooting opportunity if something were to wander through so we made the decision that we would spend the morning there on day 2.
Day 2:
We pull into our morning spot, get to our predetermined sitting positions and wait for the light (and hopefully a nice bull). Well 8:30 rolls around and I can feel that I need to make a visit to the loo back at camp (this was not going to be a quick one, may have had something to do with the copious amount of Gibsons from the night before
) so I radio to my partner that I need to leave, pack up my stuff and head off back to camp. Since we were only about 1K away it wasn't much of a bother to head back to a nice comfy outhouse.I do my business, grab a couple of Pepsi's, some food, etc and head back out on the qaud, I radio to my partner who is still sitting on the hillside that I was going to check out another area rather than making a racket coming back onto the hill. I made the decision that I would head into where we had seen the cow moose on scouting day, and told him to head down that way when he was bored.
I head into the road nice and slow checking the cut's and tree lines along the way for any sign of movement or dark shadowy figures. Just before the spot where we saw the cow on scouting day there was a grassy spur road off to the right, I contemplated whether or not I should check it out now or wait until I was on my way out. I got a few meter's past the road and something came over me to stop, back up and take that road. I headed in slow, came to a fairly off camber and steep deactivation that I had to maneuver the quad through while avoiding the logs on either side which had been previously cut by someone just wide enough to allow a quad through.
I got past the deactivation and the road goes into a cut block with 5-6' pines and it's all up hill. "What a great spot" I say to myself, I get about 50m past the deac and something catches my eye about 100m away and about 20m to the right. It's ears sticking out either side of a small pine. At this point it has'nt dawned on me yet and I think to myself "It's a deer", I put my binocs up and I see antlers. "It's a shooter" I say in my head. So I start getting excited about this and then it picks it head up from the tree and I see huuuge nostrils.....again to myself "IT'S A MOOOOOOSE"!!!
At this point my heart starts thumping, I slowly get off the quad, get my rifle off the back, get the magazine into the gun and get one in the chamber. This moose just kept eatting the whole time I was getting ready and didn't seem the least bit interested in anything I was doing. So I pulled out the bipod legs, got into a good steady shooting position and just watched him, heart still pounding and my mind racing a mile a minute.
As I watch him eat he looks up and turns his head to look to my left, I think to myself "Do I dare take a head shot?" I think about this for what seemed like minutes when in all actuality it was probably only a few seconds. I make the decision that if he turns his body he gets one in the boiler room but if he turns his head I will take the head shot. I knew I was comfortable and stable with the bipod and sure of my shooting ability at this distance even with the adrenaline coursing through my veins.
A few seconds later he turns his head to look to my right, already lined up and ready to shoot I let one go from the .270. He walks 20m onto the road and stops, I chamber another and let a follow-up go and then one more for good measure. He is standing there like nothing happened.....I can see blood is pouring from his head but I start putting more rounds into the magazine just in case. As I get the 4th round into the mag he starts to wobble, sidesteps about 15m and piles up on his side against a log.
I unload the rifle, grab a smoke and a coffee and try to calm myself from the adrenaline buzz I am now experiencing. I find my radio and call out to see if my partner is anywhere within radio range. He answers back with a "Copy" and I hit the mic and say "Dude, get your ass down here ASAP, I just got a Moose". He must have been close because a few seconds later I can hear his quad roaring down the road towards me. He scoots up behind my quad and says "Where's the Moose?". I point and say "He's about 100yds down on the left hand side".
We both walk up together with big smiles on our faces, we look at the size of this thing and say "Now how the f&^% do we get it out of here?" (Neither of us had really comprehended the size of a moose until this point in time).
Well, with a little ingenuity, some burnt drive belt on my quad and the use of both my winch on a tree and a recovery strap on the moose, we managed to get him through the aforementioned deactivation and out to the main road. It takes me (us) about an hour to gut this thing, I get cleaned up and head back to camp to grab the truck and trailer so we can get it back and start skinning it, hoping that we could have it done by the time the Veterans got back for the evening. Well it's a good thing the vet's were at camp when I got back because it was a 4 man job getting him into the back of the truck, alongside the fact that they had a generator and a sawzall in their truck which made halving the beast that much easier.
The Veterans ended up getting their Moose on Thursday night.
Anyway, here are a few pics from the days events.
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