So we were hunting moose in northern Sask, hadn't seen anything all trip. We were walking an old clear cut that had about 15ft tall solid brush, and a long straight 20 yard wide path through it. We were walking and came to a T where another path joined ours. Saw something black about 400 yards down the path. Initially thought it was a bear. Looked with the scope, it was a cow. Then we see the bull.
Massive. 50" easily. The wind was right and they were walking directly towards us. We got low and watched them get closer. They were walking close to each other and directly towards us and the bull didn't offer a clean shot. The cow and the bull were never more than a couple feet apart. They got about 150 yards away and stopped. I had the gun up, had him in my cross hairs, but it was raining and about +2 degrees C and I was cold and shaking(from the adrenaline too). I was standing freehand, went down on one knee to see if that would help, no, still too shaky. Couldn't hold steady enough to take a clean shot. Waited for him to give me more of a target, even a quartering shot and I would have squeezed one off. He turned into the bush and we never saw him again. Hunted the area for one more day, didn't see him again. I've never seen a bull that big. He was high and wide and had front points that looked like they were 3 feet long. Beautiful orange tinted rack. Amazingly beautiful. Haunts me.
Spent every night thinking about whether I should have taken the shot. I had him in the crosshairs, but there was such a small target when he was facing directly towards me and if I wounded him, he could have gotten into the thick bush and we would have had fun finding him. Talking to people who have done a lot more moose hunting than I have tell me that moose with a non-lethal shot will go a few yards into the bush and lay down, not run for miles like a whitetail. Most have said I should have shot. I think I did the right thing, but damn, I'm seeing that guy in my dreams. I remember thinking how small a kill shot is on a frontal shot and that if I was at home shooting at a target freehand at 150yds, and was freezing cold in the rain, I likely wouldn't make the shot, and if you can't make it in ideal conditions at the range without the adrenaline, it shouldn't be done in the field. Plus the cow was basically right beside him and with me shivering and shaking, even though they were slightly apart, hitting her was a possibility too. Add into that a gun that had been bouncing around in the gun boot on my quad for a week, were the sights still bang on?...these were the things racing through my melon.
Still wish I had made the shot or had some shooting sticks with me, but the less you have to carry in the swampy muskeg crap, the better. There was nothing I could have used for a rest, and if I had gone prone, I wouldn't have been able to see him.
Tell me I did the right thing....I can't stop kicking myself for not taking the shot.
Massive. 50" easily. The wind was right and they were walking directly towards us. We got low and watched them get closer. They were walking close to each other and directly towards us and the bull didn't offer a clean shot. The cow and the bull were never more than a couple feet apart. They got about 150 yards away and stopped. I had the gun up, had him in my cross hairs, but it was raining and about +2 degrees C and I was cold and shaking(from the adrenaline too). I was standing freehand, went down on one knee to see if that would help, no, still too shaky. Couldn't hold steady enough to take a clean shot. Waited for him to give me more of a target, even a quartering shot and I would have squeezed one off. He turned into the bush and we never saw him again. Hunted the area for one more day, didn't see him again. I've never seen a bull that big. He was high and wide and had front points that looked like they were 3 feet long. Beautiful orange tinted rack. Amazingly beautiful. Haunts me.
Spent every night thinking about whether I should have taken the shot. I had him in the crosshairs, but there was such a small target when he was facing directly towards me and if I wounded him, he could have gotten into the thick bush and we would have had fun finding him. Talking to people who have done a lot more moose hunting than I have tell me that moose with a non-lethal shot will go a few yards into the bush and lay down, not run for miles like a whitetail. Most have said I should have shot. I think I did the right thing, but damn, I'm seeing that guy in my dreams. I remember thinking how small a kill shot is on a frontal shot and that if I was at home shooting at a target freehand at 150yds, and was freezing cold in the rain, I likely wouldn't make the shot, and if you can't make it in ideal conditions at the range without the adrenaline, it shouldn't be done in the field. Plus the cow was basically right beside him and with me shivering and shaking, even though they were slightly apart, hitting her was a possibility too. Add into that a gun that had been bouncing around in the gun boot on my quad for a week, were the sights still bang on?...these were the things racing through my melon.
Still wish I had made the shot or had some shooting sticks with me, but the less you have to carry in the swampy muskeg crap, the better. There was nothing I could have used for a rest, and if I had gone prone, I wouldn't have been able to see him.
Tell me I did the right thing....I can't stop kicking myself for not taking the shot.
). I had to get closer but I was on a 10 foot wide skid road with nothing but rasberry bushes, dried branches, egg shells, potato chips, silent car alarms ect ect on all sides of me. So I start slowly walking down the road hunched over. I get what I *thought* was 300-350 yards away and he makes me and starts lumbering for the bush..."F*ck...I gotta make a move...no big deal, I got a pine tree to rest off, I can do this." And my shot *was* nice and steady...but I grossly misjudged the distance. I fired 2 shots and both fell short. 
.
