Okay, Yay! You got your moose, but it's in a swamp a km from the road. Now what?

we're not talking about shooting swimming animals here.
the 3 times I've had to retrieve from water. Cow moose, shot once and fell out of sight. when we got over in the vicinity, the other side of her, out of our view was a super deep beaver pond and she just keeled over and splooshed right into it. 2nd one was a young bull that took a solid heart lung but still managed to go 100 yards.... straight out of the willows and into the water. Last one was the moose I pictured earlier in the thread. Shot on the banks of the lake opposite our camp. Used the 12ft tin boat and the 9.9 to float it over to camp, worked awesome hehehe
 
Superbrad said:
Interesting.... And Ontario has the same law..... But I hardly see how an animal with four feet planted firmly in ground is "swimming"......
Click to expand...

Yeah, no chit!

A shot moose can float pretty well in water that it can stand in and eat, and it's still not swimming. Dunno how 'knee deep' figures into it either, as they couldn't get wet enough to cool themselves on a warm day, let alone swim, in 'knee deep' water.

A buddy of mine whacked a pretty nice cow with a bow, South of Edmonton a few years back. Obstinate thing went out into the middle of a small lake there to die. He managed to get her ashore and gutted, propped open to cool, by about 3 in the morning. We went in and hauled her out on his quad the next day. That one wasn't knee deep either.

Really liking the capstan winch idea. A spool or two of 1/2 inch rope is pretty cheap insurance and you can get a LOT of distance out of it. Way better than skipping from tree to rock to tree with a 30 or so foot cable on a chainsaw winch or that like.

Have seen the cable come-alongs at KMS Tools, I suspect they are pretty commonly available. Not cheap like your basic cable onna spool type come-along, but far more practical.

My Dad taught me pretty early on, that having a good look around before you pull the trigger is a wise idea. He learned that by shooting a pretty nice buck at about a hundred yards across a gully. It rolled down the hill into a gawdawful willow swamp, and it took him six hard hours to get the buck up the near side, to where it was shot from.

I know guys that won't even shoot a moose beside the road, unless it's on the uphill side from the truck, eh. Wisdom there! :)

Cheers
Trev
 
45ACPKING said:
I get it hehehe :)

last week I got my cow elk right at the end of the opening. we had to get it about 600 yards out of the bush to the quad. dressed and quartered at killsite, game bagged and then we used a lodge pole and lashed on a quarter, each shouldering one end of the pole and walking them out one by one. Shot the elk 1/2 before sundown, sat down on my cot in the tent after a job well done at 3a.m. LOL sometimes no matter what tools you have at hand.... physically carrying pieces is the only way ;)
Click to expand...

I've done the Ho Chi Min pole trick...once. Much rather put a quarter onto a good pack/meat hauler. Far easier IMO and you can take a quarter each. :)
 
I usually carry (in my truck anyway) a 3/4 ton rope puller w/ 100' rope, 4000lb cable puller (tirfor) with 50' of cable, 3000' roll of 2500lb mule tape, snatch blocks, cheap Canadian Tire come along, and a variety of straps. If I'm in my canoe I'll just bring the rope puller, mule tape, some straps and snatch blocks... doesn't take up much room.
 
FOr years I wondered why they were called Tirfor's, (everyone pronounced it TURFER) but nobody could tell me.

Years later when I was about 25 my dad (who had spent some time in Quebec) was up helping me build my house and we needed to move a big log and so I said I'll get the TURFER and he chuckled and said in a Quebec style accent " you mean the TIRER FORTE!" It means PULL HARD in French!"

I had noticed him getting smarter the last couple of years, but this really impressed me.;)
 
Gatehouse said:
FOr years I wondered why they were called Tirfor's, (everyone pronounced it TURFER) but nobody could tell me.

Years later when I was about 25 my dad (who had spent some time in Quebec) was up helping me build my house and we needed to move a big log and so I said I'll get the TURFER and he chuckled and said in a Quebec style accent " you mean the TIRER FORTE!" It means PULL HARD in French!"

I had noticed him getting smarter the last couple of years, but this really impressed me.;)
Click to expand...

Makes sense Gatehouse,
Kind of like the distress signal MAYDAY M'AIDER or help me in French.
 
I have been moose hunting for somewhere around 40 years now, not every year, but maybe only missed six or seven years in that time.

Hunt in Northern Ontario - swamps and peat bogs. You can not use an ATV there (would lose it in the muck in most places severely limiting it usefulness), so we bring a come-a-long and a good hundred yards of heavy rope (just in case).

When we were young we "just had to get a moose" and dragged more than a couple out of a swamp or bog, got totally soaked and worn out in the process and suffered muscle aches for a couple weeks after.

Got older and wiser.

Now, we wait for an excellent broadside shot, at close range (moose will let you get really close if you don't go at them like a wild man) and take them when they are on "solid ground" - a stout bullet through the boiler room at 50 to 100 yards followed up with a shoulder or neck shot usually drops them where they stand.

And, no longer needing to prove how tough we are, we (hunt with one other guy, so only two of us) cut the moose into eight pieces after gutting it, cutting out the backbone and any other "un-necessary" pieces to get the weight down to a minimum (which is still a lot when you are talking about an animal that went 1000 pounds live - our last moose wrapped out at 490 lbs when the butcher got done with it - a lot to carry out).

Both of us have "passed up" many decent animals because either the shot wasn't right or the moose wasn't in the right place - that's part of the game.

We would rather go home empty handed than be up to our waists in muck and slime trying to get Bullwinkle out. Won't always work out, but if you are very selective before you pull the trigger you can make your life a whole lot easier.

The "easy part" is finding, stalking and shooting Bullwinkle - it's then the real fun starts :)
 
I can't believe the sarcasm and inexperience of so many previous posters. No wonder most people seem to just road hunt.

Moose hunting is a lot of work after the shot, but needn't be unrealistically hard. A packframe, saw or hatchet in addition to a good knife, meat bags, cord, and a pair of boots. that's what you need. And a good attitude. Thankfulness helps.

Moose come apart in 8 pieces. 4 legs, 2 rib slabs, neck/chest and the loins, or if you can keep the deboned meat clean, just 4 legs and the rest in a couple bags. Anybody who hunts moose without a plan to get them out, on their back if necessary doesn't belong in the bush.
 
I think the spirit of this thread was to get guys who "have" had to deal with a tough recovery to post up about their techniques and gear and how they would go about getting er done.
our use of the tirfor's and such is when they are needed to get an animal to somewhere we can work on it if it falls in a real sh*tty spot..... which happens from time to time LOL
 
After 15 or 20 Bulls out of tough spots, all I can say is; "How do you eat an elephant?"

Get out the knives, meat bags and buckboards and get to work.
 
I am with Pres27 and BCSteve. I picked up a Lewis winch in 2012 and it has been used to get 4 moose out of nasty spots so far.
Prior to the Lewis, moose extraction was more difficult by far.
I have been involved with extracting moose with pack boards, canoes, wheelbarrows, dragging quarters wrapped in tarps, quads, snowmobile sled, snatch block/rope/comealong and a 10 foot chunk of aluminum ladder with a motorcycle wheel mounted in the center/below and a guy on each end. No matter how you slice it , it is all big work. The Lewis winch is the best piece of rigging I have for getting moose out of nasty places and on to roadside or a trail that a quad can access.
 
rral22 said:
When you're young, you do silly things, like shooting a moose in some water. After a couple of times, the novelty wears off, and you may well decide to be more selective about just where, when, and with whom you are willing to drop a moose of any size. I will repeat here what my brother-in-law said as we looked at a very large moose in a very ugly spot," Nothing ruins a moose hunt quite as much as actually shooting one."

The older I get, the more I agree with him. I've also found it pays to hunt, as much as possible, with young, athletic men who are willing to get wet and dirty so the old guy doesn't hurt himself.
Click to expand...

I'd be glad to help !

[and if anybody is interested, I'm in the Kelowna area. I would gladly do what I'd be being asked, as long as it's... well, "reasonable".]
 
if your hunting on foot you need a good pack board on long hike you will need to debone your moose you would be surprise lhow much weight you save by deboning
 
The landowner we rent the land from has a timberjack and when we have a moose in the swamp he gives us a hand. Usually we use ropes, pulleys and ATVs though, then load it up in a trailer with a winch.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom