THE FOLLOWING IS A TRUE STORY, I SWEAR TO GOD THIS IS HOW IT WENT DOWN...
1st bull moose, watched him in a logging cut for 20 minutes, it wasn't legal shooting light yet, I kept his attention with some super faint cow calls so he wouldn't run off but at exactly legal light he had almost made it to the tree line. Had a broadside shot(95 yards) but there was a slight hump in the terrain blocking the lower half of his vitals so I had to aim a touch higher than ideal. Long story short I was waiting with my rifle aimed at him, watching the time tick away on my phone. The second it was legal I hit the trigger, my hands had been shaking and heart beating 200bpm the whole time. Dropped him in his tracks... Called my dad on the radio for the recovery. Dad's first words were "don't move, wait for me, I'll be there in 10 minutes" so I immediately took off to go see my bull. I get maybe 30 yards from my stand and the big boy jumps up. I immediately shouldered the rifle, take aim and nothing happens, the adrenaline, nerves, excitement either way I never ejected the empty case. Then I got all flustered, ejected the case short stroked the bolt and somehow jammed my next round. A little cursing snd fiddling and i popped out the jammed round, racked the bolt just in time to see him disappear into the brush.
Dad shows up and with one look at me knows that something bad has happened. We tracked the moose for close to 250 yards before I lost the blood. I'm at the last drop of blood, withmy dad holding position at the last known blood sign, I'm concentrating on the ground in front of me, my dad screams "he's right there!" I look back at him, he's staring right at me in shock, I turned my head and no word of a lie. The bull was under a pine about 8-10 feet to my right, I was so concentrated on the floor I never saw him. But I sure saw the mother stand up...just about ruined my pants right there. Lifted my rifle, with my last round and popped one off point blank. I only saw black/brown in my scope so no idea where I hit him in the panic. He buckled but didn't fall took 2 steps towards me. I was out of ammo, so I got the hell out of the way and my dad put him down from about 25 feet before he could try charging me. Just to be sure my dad walked up point blank and shot him again. We both sat there for about 15 minutes after he fell, hands shaking from the adrenaline.
Lessons learned(in no particular order)
1 - never leave your extra ammo in the stand.
2 - when in doubt send another one at the target, one shot one kill is great but don't be a hero put another one in him.
3 - wait before running up to your animal, they can mess you up right quick if you let them
4 - sometimes you should listen to the old man, I guess