Well I was a bit surprised to see my pic up top. I went back and retrieved a story I had written after the hunt. Thanks for all the great responses!
After a long flight Darryl Quidort and I were finally stepping off the plane. We hustled through the airport and spotted our Outfitter, Michael. I was eager to meet him and begin the hunt I had been dreaming about. After spending the night in a motel, we began an 8-hour drive, arriving at a large lake where a barge took our trucks across.
We finally arrived at camp, and after a quick introduction, we began setting up the wall tents and one large Tee Pee. Michael, the outfitter and our guide, had his wife and two sons in camp. His wife would prepare the meals, and she also home schooled their two sons, who were pulled out of school for a month during the moose season.
This was beautiful wild country. The land was full of bears and moose. Black bears seemed to be everywhere and grizzlies also roamed this country. The previous year they had a grizzly in camp that caused quite a stir. The outfitter’s wife went around and hung mothballs on the outskirts of our campsite to ward off any pesky grizzlies. I questioned this logic, but hey, what do I know?
Darryl, myself and Michael headed out the first morning. We stopped on top of a long ridge top and got out to listen. It didn’t take long and I heard my first Bull Moose grunt. The echo off the trees sounded more like a hammering noise, and I would never have guessed that to be a moose. The wind was not in our favor, and we were unable to setup on the bull. A few house later, I was looking at my first moose. A cow and a young bull were grazing among the Aspen along a sunny hillside. I was surprised how black they were and thought they were bears a first glance.
I learned more and more about hunting moose as the days wore on. For instance, they have incredible ears and sound is bounced off their antlers, allowing them to hear the slightest sound. They don’t encounter man very often, but live in fear of grizzlies and wolves.
Michael has an incredible knowledge of moose. He understands their calls and behaviors. He also has incredible hearing and will stop and listen for hours for the slightest sound. When he hears a twig break, he knows it is a moose since there aren’t any deer and bear don’t make any sound when walking.
Michael would use cow and bull calls. Quite often he would make challenging bull calls. When the bull challenged us back, we would go right after him. We would walk close together, so our noise would be in one area, like a moose. We would all step at the same time, and break any branches along the way to sound like the real thing. We would keep changing direction as the moose tried to come in from down wind. The bulls would go into a “trance” and walk stiff legged rocking their racks back and forth grunting every step. This is a challenging display that bulls use to “size” each other up before battle. Once in this trance, we would often follow Michael’s lead right up to the bulls. At this point they seemed to be convinced that we were moose, and were fooled by Michael’s posture and hand gestures.
The fifth day of our hunt, we worked a moose to within 40-50 yards, but no closer. Leaving the area, we soon spotted a few grouse. We grabbed the bows and judo tipped arrows and stalked up to the grouse. We had a few shots and I took a few feathers off one. Michael zipped an arrow through a grouse and it amazed us all as it took off flying and crashed 100 yards deeper into the bush. There were a few grouse sitting up in the trees, and Michael sent an arrow skyward to try and disrupt the grouse from his perch. The grouse flew and left his arrow 20 feet up, stuck in the tree! As we were looking for the fallen grouse and admiring the 20-foot high “bird perch”, Michael heard a moose grunt. We all hushed and we heard it again.
Michael began making cow calls and we followed close behind in his footsteps. The moose kept grunting and walking away. Then Michael started walking after the moose making Bull grunts. We followed along for a few minutes, and then the bull had enough and started coming our way. He was going to confront the bull that was challenging him. Michael pointed ahead a few yards, and motioned for me to set up. It was pretty thick in the conifers, and I was hoping the moose would come close enough. The sun was blasting directly in my eyes and the moose could be heard grunting and stepping close and closer. I knew it was risky, but I had to reach up and turn my cap around to block the sun. That movement panicked Michael, but the moose kept coming. Pieces of the moose appeared 30-yards away, and he was huge! I spent a lot of time shooting at life-size targets, but until you see them that close, you don’t appreciate their size. It was incredible. The moose was in his “challenging trance”, walking stiff legged and rocking his rack back and forth. He was going to pass at 10 yards. I slowly turned to my right as the moose continued his path, I was searching for an opening in the conifers to put an arrow through. Finally, I found it – the hole I was looking for. When the front brisket reached the edge of the opening, I let out a deep grunt to stop him. He stopped and looked right at me, but not after taking another step and sliding forward a bit too far. I was at full draw, and began leaning to my left to clear enough of the branches to put an arrow through his chest. I took my time, and sent the arrow on its way. The arrow disappeared into his rib cage, and no feathers were visible as he ran. Michael grunted to slow him down and the moose ran about 50 yards. Darryl could see his rack and watched as he walked in circles. Then we heard 4 to 5 loud deep breathes, as the air left his lungs, followed by a crash. I was speechless - it was a dream come true!
We came back 2 hours later with one of Michael’s young tracking dogs. This would be her first blood trail. The dog nosed around the area of the shot, and then proceeded in the direction the moose had traveled. We found the arrow within a few yards; it had cut all the way through and was hanging out the other side by its feathers before falling to the ground. We spotted the moose, and it was an amazing sight! It was truly a memorable moment. An event I will never forget!
Our Outfitter/Guide really knows how to call moose and I was amazed at the encounters we had. The day before that we called in a big bull to 40 yards across knee-deep grass and messed with him for a half-hour. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get him to come any closer. Darryl’s luck came a few days later, when he arrowed a large moose.
I was using a 56-pound Black Widow recurve with a 620-grain arrow tipped with a 150-grain Kinetics Silver Flame broad head. The German built broad head was like buying a good quality knife – expensive, but the quality and durablility are second to none. Packaged in soft foam cutouts and razor sharp out of the box, they are the most impressive broad head I have ever seen. My arrow passed through the moose and it still shaved hair off my arm.
Topic: Scott's Moose Up Top (Read 728 times)
