Gonna have nightmares...

[Daz]

I'll start a somewhat dragged out recap of my 2012 moose hunt...
(I thought i should share the pain).   :D

We left on the 28th of September, and drove north for the next 20 hours straight. We ended up at our location at noon the next day, and set up camp. For those map-inclined we were on the Eastern Side of Williston Lake.

An evening recce showed that moose were moving down into the river bottoms, but not yarding up yet. This meant bulls would be on the move looking for cows.  

Sunday and monday were cool, but windy. Bulls were seen every day, and were beginning to respond to calls, but none were legal. The zone we were hunting is an OTC bull zone, but it has to be a deuce,tri or ten.

Simply put, an immature bull with only two points on one side (forkhorn), a mature tri-palm bull (three points on one brow tine), or a bull with ten points on one side. A point has to be a full measurable point of one inch above the paddle contour, not a ripple or wave in the paddle.

[Daz]

Tuesday i arrive back in camp to pictures of the little five point bull that was called right into camp at mid-day by my dad and another partner. Yup. RUT IS ON!

Wednesday night is when the snow hit. Six inches of snow. The snow and subsequent melt made the going cold and damp for the next few days, and it served to consolidate moose into pockets: A good news/bad news scenario. Bulls with cows become a different animal to call to.

The next few days had a few sightings across meadows and along willow draws, but nothing to get the blood really pumping.

Yet.

[Daz]

Saturday October 6th.
The temps have increased a bit, so the days are sluggish.

I decided to try a different area that afternoon, so i got dropped off at the head of an old logging spur and headed up into a draw that was situated in what on my map looked like a good bet.

The wind was doing the "crazy twisty" as i started to move through an old trail that paralleled a small drainage creek heading out of an old cut adjacent to a swamp.

I moved in about 300 yards and there it was! The smell of bull moose. I spent the next 20 minutes trying to dope the wind, and ponder a plan...

[Daz]

Well, when you don't know what you are doing, don't do anything.

I guessed at the prevailing winds for the rest of the afternoon (it was now 3:30pm), and hunkered down in the timber.

4:30pm-some timber breaking in the old cut 100 yards out.

5:25pm- an antler raking a spruce tree-same direction..

[Ben Maher]

[Over&Under]

So far so good:)

   

[stocker56]

Darren, no matter the outcome of your success, the HUNT is what it's all about.    

[rastaman]

i hope you add some pictures also!  Good story so far!

[Maxx Black]

Darren ,
I hope the wind settles down and gives you the opportunity to take the animal of choice. Your being out and about is the main thing . I'm one province over and experiencing the same . Maxx

[Daz]

I waited until 6 to be sure the wind would hold until sundown and then began a series of soft cow calls.

The raking started again, and i could hear the bull moving slightly uphill moving quatering to wind.

I quietly repositioned to a spot with enough cover and some clear shooting lanes and began some soft raking of a spruce sapling.

This brought the first challenge grunt and more movement in my direction. I answere with a challenge grunt of my own, and then waited.

The footsteps coming through the regen were now in a steady cadence and seemed to be on track to where i wanted this bull to come in.

[Daz]

Forty yards out, the first flash of tines above the regen spruce. Clear, long tines on top of the left paddle. Looking good.

He started to veer slightly uphill again, so i grunted to swing him down. As he covered the last 25 yards he was in cover that prevented a good look at the rest of his rack.

[Daz]

There!! As if he had read the script he stepped out at (a later confirmed) fourteen yards and stopped. A slow headswing towards me, and i looked for a tripalm...two on the front of both.

Up with the binos to count points. He's still standing there, unable to scent me or see me. So close i can see clearly into his eyes. No matter how i looked, and how i counted, there were only seven above on each.

Nine!!!! Nine on both!!! NOT LEGAL!!!!

I stood and watched him for another full minute before he finally slowly turned and headed nose into the wind.

[Daz]

I stood there chuckling to myself for a few minutes, and then packed up and started the hike out as darkness began to fall.

I hunted for another two days, seeing solo cows that had already been bred, and a few small bulls (plus a herd of Caribou with a SPECTACULAR bull in it). The hunt was cut short due to a medical situation with one of the other guys, but hey, still a great ten days.

A solid A+ for technique and effort, but another year of moose tag soup...

I'll post pics tonight, so everyone can see some of that spectacular moose country.

[Daz]

And a special thanks to all my Canadian Brothers for the kind words and support.

[huntnmuleys]

wow thats a crazy hunt! been waiting all day to see the rest of this story and am anxious to see the pics as well....

[SheltonCreeker]

Great hunt! Thanks for sharing. Thats a bummer he wasn't legal!

[V I Archer]

I feel your pain. Same thing happened to me last year around Dawson Creek area

 
under 15 yards and no way I could grow a 3rd brow tine on either paddle.  2 years before that it was a cow at 5 yards in Vanderhoof - immature only.

Oh well, the fun is in the chase, one day we'll connect!

[D.Ellis]

Good to see a few more BC guys on here.
You had better luck than I did, I didn't even see a moose. But the late, "any bull" archery season is yet to come.
You'll get im next time!  
Darcy

[Daz]

Some pics as promised...
A lonely girl...
     
     
       
     
   

Home for the trip...
   
 
Tough to feel sad with this view...

   
   

Thanks again for coming along and sharing in the pain!

[stocker56]

Man, Darren, that's some spectacular country. Thank you for the tag along.