Went out to moose camp with my buddy and his son, our plan was to drop off some heavier gear to make the trip in next weekend a little easier. Our camp is around a 2 hour trip by quad.
About mid afternoon we decided to head out for a drive, mainly scouting for next weekend. I headed straight for my honey hole. I was there maybe 15 min when I drove by a cow in the poplar stand. She was pretty close to the trail maybe 25 yards. I stopped and watched her looking for others, another cow was there as well and after watching them a few minutes another cow came walking by further in the bush. It stopped a moment, and I noticed the silhouette of another moose behind some heavy bush, maybe 125 yards in. Only spotted it because that other moose was beside it, but it was well behind a tight stand of bush and I had no idea if it was a bull or cow.
Then the moose beside it started acting odd, it seemed to charge me, stopping about 20 yards away. This was very odd all the way around, but this moose was acting quite nervous and aggressive. I have watched lots of cows, never seen this before.
I simply sat there on my quad, trying not to look a threat and watched the one moose I couldn’t identify. I sat there about a half hour watching them. The three cows grazed away, didn’t seem to care I was there-but every now and then they perked up and looked scared/aggressive. I was half wondering if wolves were really close by and they knew it and I didn’t.
Meanwhile, the one moose I could not identify was staying put behind a small, heavy patch of bush, not moving a muscle. After about ½ hour it moved maybe 5 feet. Just enough that when it finally put it’s head down to graze, I could clearly see the tip of the antlers. Woo Hoo game on.
I could see antlers but no shot at all, so I waited, taking big deep breaths and trying not to get too excited. 15, maybe 20 minutes later he moved maybe 5 yards—and I had a shot.
All along I feared getting off the quad that that may spook him. So I now had to get off and load up and get off a shot. I stood and I could see how the angle was changing and he might be able to see me. So like a big clumsy goof, I slid off the back of my quad making sure a tree stayed between his eyes and mine. He never saw me and I could only see his antlers on the side of the tree and a dandy broadside shot between two trees, mind you I had to thread the needle through heavy bush to get it.
I had a few shooting alleys planned as I was watching so I got in position, then re-adjusted for some heavy willows in front of me. I was really nervous bush would deflect the shot, it was heavy, but I was certain I had the alley to shoot. Big wave of excitement came over me as I realized I had the shot.
I had top aim a little high as there was a V of two poplars in front of him, but I slammed him right where I was aiming. The rifle was a Browning A Bolt in 270 WSM, with a 140 gr Barnes TSX.
One cow buggered off right away, the other two stayed put and grazed away. The bull walked away, I didn’t hear any whack and after 5 yards he was out of sight. I watched through the bush and didn’t see any flash of black, so I was pretty confident he didn’t run off. So I waited, and pretty soon I could hear him moaning hard. I was certain he was down.
Then, the two odd acting cows decided to buggar off, but not before they faced each other and started boxing on their hind legs. I guess they were aggressive with me at all, they were aggressive with each other. That was pretty cool to watch while I was waiting.
Finally I gave up and waiting and it was time to go looking for him. I marked the tree he was beside when I shot and as soon as I hit that tree, I turned a corned and there he was maybe 10 yards from where I hit him, BUT lying down with his head up looking away from me. So I put a finishing shot in him.
So, tagged him and off to fing my hunting buddy, headed down the trail and he was coming my way, I figured he heard my shots. After a couple of awkward moments of conversation we realized we each had a moose down, and neither heard the other’s shots. His 14 year old had knocked down his first.
It was pretty exciting for a couple of minutes, and three days of heavy work since.
Nope, not a clue how to re-size pics
Young Fella's Moose
My moose
About mid afternoon we decided to head out for a drive, mainly scouting for next weekend. I headed straight for my honey hole. I was there maybe 15 min when I drove by a cow in the poplar stand. She was pretty close to the trail maybe 25 yards. I stopped and watched her looking for others, another cow was there as well and after watching them a few minutes another cow came walking by further in the bush. It stopped a moment, and I noticed the silhouette of another moose behind some heavy bush, maybe 125 yards in. Only spotted it because that other moose was beside it, but it was well behind a tight stand of bush and I had no idea if it was a bull or cow.
Then the moose beside it started acting odd, it seemed to charge me, stopping about 20 yards away. This was very odd all the way around, but this moose was acting quite nervous and aggressive. I have watched lots of cows, never seen this before.
I simply sat there on my quad, trying not to look a threat and watched the one moose I couldn’t identify. I sat there about a half hour watching them. The three cows grazed away, didn’t seem to care I was there-but every now and then they perked up and looked scared/aggressive. I was half wondering if wolves were really close by and they knew it and I didn’t.
Meanwhile, the one moose I could not identify was staying put behind a small, heavy patch of bush, not moving a muscle. After about ½ hour it moved maybe 5 feet. Just enough that when it finally put it’s head down to graze, I could clearly see the tip of the antlers. Woo Hoo game on.
I could see antlers but no shot at all, so I waited, taking big deep breaths and trying not to get too excited. 15, maybe 20 minutes later he moved maybe 5 yards—and I had a shot.
All along I feared getting off the quad that that may spook him. So I now had to get off and load up and get off a shot. I stood and I could see how the angle was changing and he might be able to see me. So like a big clumsy goof, I slid off the back of my quad making sure a tree stayed between his eyes and mine. He never saw me and I could only see his antlers on the side of the tree and a dandy broadside shot between two trees, mind you I had to thread the needle through heavy bush to get it.
I had a few shooting alleys planned as I was watching so I got in position, then re-adjusted for some heavy willows in front of me. I was really nervous bush would deflect the shot, it was heavy, but I was certain I had the alley to shoot. Big wave of excitement came over me as I realized I had the shot.
I had top aim a little high as there was a V of two poplars in front of him, but I slammed him right where I was aiming. The rifle was a Browning A Bolt in 270 WSM, with a 140 gr Barnes TSX.
One cow buggered off right away, the other two stayed put and grazed away. The bull walked away, I didn’t hear any whack and after 5 yards he was out of sight. I watched through the bush and didn’t see any flash of black, so I was pretty confident he didn’t run off. So I waited, and pretty soon I could hear him moaning hard. I was certain he was down.
Then, the two odd acting cows decided to buggar off, but not before they faced each other and started boxing on their hind legs. I guess they were aggressive with me at all, they were aggressive with each other. That was pretty cool to watch while I was waiting.
Finally I gave up and waiting and it was time to go looking for him. I marked the tree he was beside when I shot and as soon as I hit that tree, I turned a corned and there he was maybe 10 yards from where I hit him, BUT lying down with his head up looking away from me. So I put a finishing shot in him.
So, tagged him and off to fing my hunting buddy, headed down the trail and he was coming my way, I figured he heard my shots. After a couple of awkward moments of conversation we realized we each had a moose down, and neither heard the other’s shots. His 14 year old had knocked down his first.
It was pretty exciting for a couple of minutes, and three days of heavy work since.
Nope, not a clue how to re-size pics
Young Fella's Moose
My moose
