Moose Hunting 2010

Well my 2010 moose hunting season has come and gone. It was a beautiful week, fairly mild temperatures, not too much rain, full moon, and crisp mornings. It felt good to get out and experience the bush, spend time with family friends and fellow hunters. Although we weren't successful, I did have an encounter with an eleven point buck that was priceless. I had just arrived at my stand for the morning and noticed a fresh deer bed right where I was going to stand. Within minutes I caught a nose coming around a large Hemlock to my left, I remained motionless and this huge Whitetail emerged broadside at 15 yards. he was dark, huge, and had a sticker tine about 8 inches off his left side. He very cautiously continued to get closer; all of a sudden he stopped and looked directly at me, he knew there was something there, he just couldn't figure out what it was, he dropped his head and quickly raised it again trying to catch me. We played this game for about five minutes, I never moved. At the closest point he was 10vyards away, this moment made my hunt, even though I never saw a moose. It's great to experience such a magnificent animal in his domain.

Firewood

This past weekend I spent up north at my parents property cutting firewood. Saturday wasn't the nicest day , however any day spent in the bush is better than a day spent behind a desk. It was a nice get away, lots of sign; moose, deer, and even happened upon a bear den.....with lots of steam coming from its depths. The winds in the fall and over the winter provided more than enough downed wood for a weekend of cutting. We didn't stress ourselves too hard, but still managed to cut a fair amount of wood.

Bow Moose Hunting

Now this guy has a lot of courage, I'm not sure I could stand there for that long..........never mind not laughing my ass off.......

Don't have to wander to far....to shoot a moose

There's one good thing about being a little older when moose hunting. That being you spend less time in the bush and more time sitting in your favorite chair by the fire. This was an actual experience during the 2008 moose hunt in Ontario. My father and a friend of his went out early opening day of the moose hunt.......returning to the house for coffee and a rest. Early in the afternoon my fathers friend decided he wanted a drink of pop, so he opened the back door of the house stepped out on the porch; looked up and 40 yards from the house ........there stood a bull. Very calmly he turned , walked back into the house and said, "Someone should get a gun and shoot that bull moose standing behind the house." So my father got up picked up his 32 special, loaded two shells stepped out on the porch and dropped it. Hunt complete........ya gotta love it!

This Moose is hilarious

Watch this clip of this Moose, you'll never believe what you're watching.

Calling Moose

My first experience at actually even attempting calling moose happened while I was living in Northwestern British Columbia. One of my fellow Forestry officers had observed a large bull moose up on a cut block in mid to late July. Our hunting trip took place September 20th; and was just one of those last minute ideas....hey lets go wack a moose tomorrow.ok, be at your place at 6:00 a.m. Well he arrived at 8:00, we got up to the cut block at about 9:00 a.m. parked the truck walked approximately 1 mile on an old skid trail and looked around observing large tracks lots of sign but old. I decided to stand up on a log and call, I had read and listened to calls so I attempted to mimic that sound. Much to my amazement he answered. This bull was over 2 kilometres away but I could clearly here his low gutteral grunt. I said to my partner do you think he'll cross that lake? No, we'll have to go around the other side. Well I kept calling the bull kept answering and you could tell he was getting closer to the far side of the lake. So I said well lets just walk back to the truck and I'll call him right to the truck. 45 minutes later he was standing broadside to me at 30 feet, 54 inch rack.....two shots with a 338 and he was down. So we turned the truck around, slid the plywood out to make a ramp, hooked a winch to his horns and winched him up into the box. Hunt complete, hunt successful and my partner shaking his head in absolute disbelief. So don't worry about sounding stupid it works, and its not hard to do. Remember though that moose lock into your position from your first call and can locate you like they have an onboard GPS unit in their head. Give it time as sometimes smaller bulls will come in silent worried they are going to get their butts kicked by the big boy. Good luck give it a try, but also be careful, I have had numerous bulls charge me. The moose in the photo is not the one I shot, but I thought I should include a photo.