I traveled to Edmonton Alberta with my good friend Mark Toso to hunt moose with AWGS ( Alberta Wilderness Guide Service his web page is
www.ihuntalberta.com . We flew From Minneapolis on 9/22 to Edmonton Alberta, met up with our outfitter the next day and drove to the main lodge for a pre hunt breifing. I have hunted moose previously but this pre hunt meeting was extreemly informative especially the talk given by one of theguide for shot placement. I never knew the top 1/3 of a moose was entirely out of the kill zone. The 8/8 rule for shots was to be strictly adhered to( 8 inches behind the front leg and 8 inches up from the bottom of the mooses belly.). After this meeting we drove another 90 minutes to the spike camp
Sunday hunting has just recently be reinstated in Alberta ( what a dumb law to begin with) And we we quickly headed out for a first nights hunt.
We had a sneaker come in that first night. He wouldnt talk and most likely was a juvenile afraid of the local breeder bull. Never saw him but clearly heard him walking and cracking sticks. At 40 yards out he just walked off and I was all ready impressed with the quides calling ability. The next five days were WINDY! one day we had sustained winds of 25 miles per hour. Calling a moose is impossible in the wind. Either they can't hear you or you can't hear them. We took lots of lunch breaks waiting for calmer winds.
After 5 days the guides were stressed but on day 6 we awoke to clear,cold and quiet skies. Every one was pumped. DAve and I did did three different calling sets, each 1/2 mile apart but by 9 am we had yet to get a response of any kind. We decided to have an early sandwich and sat down on the edge of a meadow of low growing willows. I had just finished a ham snadwich and Dave had a granola bar inhis mouth when SNAP CRACK went a tree to our right. We snapped to attention. Suddenly 20 yards away with nothing but a low willow bush in between us stood a good three year old bull. I rolled forward onto my knees, Dave choked on his granola and hissed to get ready. Dave somehow slipped into the trees behind me with out the moose picking up on the movement and gave a love moan. The bull imediately cut the distance between us in 1/2 and with loud grunts started taking apart the willow directly in between us! I told myself to hold it together and to wait until I had the right shot. Dave moaned again the bull went instantly into a trot. I was afraid he'd run past me, I drew, watched for his leg to go forward and drilled the 8/8 spot. He spun crashed into the willows with my guide on his heels. I thought Dave was nuts chasinghim but he was jumping and dancing and shouting he is down , he is down!
my arrow went thru the left lung, then his heart, under the right lung and into the meat of the far leg.
I used a fox breed take down, 50 at 27 and heavy arrows. CE Heritage 150's loaded with a 100 grain brass adapter and 145 grain steel force two blades. My total arrow weight is just in excess of 600 grains. If you can't pull alot of weight, shooting a heavey arrow is a very good idea.
Topic: My Alberta Adventure or a Moose up close (Read 5124 times)
