Waiting for our departure day of September 26 was kind of like waiting for Christmas. We arrived, set up camp and went to take a quick look around. We went to a spot where we had seen some good action last year and immediately found a scrape and a rut pit. We also found at least 6 piles of fresh wolf scat. We should have packed up and left right then.
At the ready, now we just need some action.
The weather was unseasonably warm, but on the third night we got a heavy frost. The next morning I watched a Grizzly sow and her fat cub along a cutline. Not much of a picture, but they were about 1km away.
We sure didn't go hungry - prime rib steaks, lasagna, and on this night shoulder butt steaks:
One of the spots where I set up to call:
The moose were super quiet - we heard one grunt in response to 7 days of calling. A bull stepped out for my friend after he called several times in first light. He had snuck into the bull's turf - the area had many rut pits and scrapes - and started calling. The bull stepped out onto the trail at about 300 yards and immediately moved off into the bush. There was no opportunity to count points or brow tines (10 point on one side minimum or 3 brow tines on one side). The bull did not grunt or thrash about at all.
We kept spreading out in all directions and kept running into tons of wolf sign.
A few days later I decided to drive to a different area as the hunting was unbelievably slow. About 10km from camp I came across lots of fresh moose tracks - I mean so fresh that I was only a few hours, at most, late. A bull with two, or maybe three cows. About 2 km further and more fresh sign - a bull, cow and calf. This bouyed my spirits and I returned to camp, whereupon we made a plan for the evening. When we returned to the spot we found more fresh tracks - ones that were on my tracks from a few hours before. Things looked like they were picking up.
We settled into our spots - three of us spread out over about 4km or so. None of us saw anything and again, it was very quiet. We got back to camp and figured at least one of us would return to the spot before first light.
Our alarm was set for 5:45am, but around 4:30am I heard something walking right by my tent. At about 5:30am the wolves started howling in the river bottom right behind our camp - in the same area that my friend had seen the bull the morning earlier. They were all over the place, but you could tell they were converging. Some of them were quite close and they were barking almost like a big dog before various howls. The further ones started to get closer as well and we thought they had killed something as their howls converged and were climaxing in a crescendo like I have never heard before. Intermixed with the howls were yips, barks and other similar noises. I doubt they were more than 500 yards from us. Incredibly this went on for almost 1 1/2 hours.
We figured that area was done so my friend and I decided to drive back to the spot from the previous night, where we were certain at least two bulls were chasing some cows. As we got there we saw this right beside the moose tracks (7mm RM at almost 3.4" COAL for scale):
Great. At this point we had just about had the biscuit. We drove a bit further off and shot a few grouse. The number of grouse this year is simply incredible. At any rate we decided that we should probably head home - 2 days early. To be honest I was quite dejected. I come around the corner and notice a couple of odd looking ruts on the road up ahead. I stop and grab my binoculars - we are looking into the early morning sun. WOLVES! My friend hops out intantly and asks about range estimation, but by this time they had turned and were running away. He snapped the rifle up and fired, but given the rushed situation and distance he, very unfortunately, did not connect. I saw the shot was a touch low. I grabbed the range finder and they had been about 370 yards when we first saw them and about 400 yards when he took the shot. Both of us would have loved to see at least one of them drop. But given the short time frame, unknown distance and the fact that he had grabbed my rifle the result was a miss. These wolves were right beside the trail were the other member of our group had set up the night before - the spot where we saw the bull-cow-calf tracks. These wolves were relentless in their pursuit of moose.
They were huge block-headed wolves and this pretty much sealed the deal for us. We decided to head back to camp to pack up. So I guess the wait for next year starts now. Just like the morning after Christmas.
At the ready, now we just need some action.
The weather was unseasonably warm, but on the third night we got a heavy frost. The next morning I watched a Grizzly sow and her fat cub along a cutline. Not much of a picture, but they were about 1km away.
We sure didn't go hungry - prime rib steaks, lasagna, and on this night shoulder butt steaks:
One of the spots where I set up to call:
The moose were super quiet - we heard one grunt in response to 7 days of calling. A bull stepped out for my friend after he called several times in first light. He had snuck into the bull's turf - the area had many rut pits and scrapes - and started calling. The bull stepped out onto the trail at about 300 yards and immediately moved off into the bush. There was no opportunity to count points or brow tines (10 point on one side minimum or 3 brow tines on one side). The bull did not grunt or thrash about at all.
We kept spreading out in all directions and kept running into tons of wolf sign.
A few days later I decided to drive to a different area as the hunting was unbelievably slow. About 10km from camp I came across lots of fresh moose tracks - I mean so fresh that I was only a few hours, at most, late. A bull with two, or maybe three cows. About 2 km further and more fresh sign - a bull, cow and calf. This bouyed my spirits and I returned to camp, whereupon we made a plan for the evening. When we returned to the spot we found more fresh tracks - ones that were on my tracks from a few hours before. Things looked like they were picking up.
We settled into our spots - three of us spread out over about 4km or so. None of us saw anything and again, it was very quiet. We got back to camp and figured at least one of us would return to the spot before first light.
Our alarm was set for 5:45am, but around 4:30am I heard something walking right by my tent. At about 5:30am the wolves started howling in the river bottom right behind our camp - in the same area that my friend had seen the bull the morning earlier. They were all over the place, but you could tell they were converging. Some of them were quite close and they were barking almost like a big dog before various howls. The further ones started to get closer as well and we thought they had killed something as their howls converged and were climaxing in a crescendo like I have never heard before. Intermixed with the howls were yips, barks and other similar noises. I doubt they were more than 500 yards from us. Incredibly this went on for almost 1 1/2 hours.
We figured that area was done so my friend and I decided to drive back to the spot from the previous night, where we were certain at least two bulls were chasing some cows. As we got there we saw this right beside the moose tracks (7mm RM at almost 3.4" COAL for scale):
Great. At this point we had just about had the biscuit. We drove a bit further off and shot a few grouse. The number of grouse this year is simply incredible. At any rate we decided that we should probably head home - 2 days early. To be honest I was quite dejected. I come around the corner and notice a couple of odd looking ruts on the road up ahead. I stop and grab my binoculars - we are looking into the early morning sun. WOLVES! My friend hops out intantly and asks about range estimation, but by this time they had turned and were running away. He snapped the rifle up and fired, but given the rushed situation and distance he, very unfortunately, did not connect. I saw the shot was a touch low. I grabbed the range finder and they had been about 370 yards when we first saw them and about 400 yards when he took the shot. Both of us would have loved to see at least one of them drop. But given the short time frame, unknown distance and the fact that he had grabbed my rifle the result was a miss. These wolves were right beside the trail were the other member of our group had set up the night before - the spot where we saw the bull-cow-calf tracks. These wolves were relentless in their pursuit of moose.
They were huge block-headed wolves and this pretty much sealed the deal for us. We decided to head back to camp to pack up. So I guess the wait for next year starts now. Just like the morning after Christmas.
