Moosings - Idaho - 2019

[olmos1010]

Congrats on a great bull.

[Flatlander]

Ok, now that I have had two nights sleep and the meat is in the coolers (3 100 qt filled to the brim with boned out meat) and the head is at the taxidermist , now I can write this down.

On day 7 right before dark, with two minutes of legal shooting light left, I found the skylined bull standing majestically on a ridge 350 yds away staring down at a cow. In 10 minutes he never moved. Just stood on the skyline taunting me. I quickly grabbed my rifle and rangefinder and tried to get setup but the objective on the rangefinder wouldn’t gather enough light for me to see the moose. I could get a range of the general area on the hillside, and at approximately 350 that was probably good enough. But then I could make out just the silhouette of the bull, no detail of the shoulder or the rest of the body. I had glassed these moose up from 2+ miles away and then threw a Hail Mary and drove the 8 miles around to get where I thought they might end up and somehow all of that worked perfectly, except the light. After 7 sub freezing nights in a tent without a fire, after 7 dark moonless mornings eating a cold breakfast by headlamp light, after fighting the snow and the rain and the mud and the wind after grinding almost non-stop from dawn until dusk, after all of that my goal was within reach and sitting a chip shot away from me and I had a decision to make. I was alone and although I would never get setup in the two remaining minutes of legal daylight it was unlikely that anyone would know or care if I stretched that out by a minute or two. Without a spotter it would be tough to tell what kind of shot placement I made or how the bull reacted... but on the other hand here was a great shooter bull standing broadside right in front of me. Knowing this was one of those moments that can define a hunt, I snapped a few photos gathered my gear and got out as quietly and discreetly as possible. It was going to be a long night of hoping that bull would stay in that canyon. He had a cow so I was hopeful that he would just follow her around for 12 hours and in the morning I could sneak in there and give him a forever home.

Well my long night was made longer when I realized that in my haste to get my gear loaded up I had left my rifle sitting by the side of the road. I liiterally forgot my gun. This is when it became clear to me that I was starting to crack. The pressure was getting to me and now I was getting erratic and jumpy. So instead of hitting my nice warm bed at my in-laws home 40 miles away, I picked up my youngest son and we made the hour plus drive to go find the rifle which was fortunately sitting right next to the road, and slept in cold sleeping bags at camp. Daylight could not come fast enough.

Day 8

There was no need for an alarm I was up an hour before I needed to be. After waking up Nash we jumped in the truck and waited for it to get light. At the first break of gray in the sky we parked the truck above the canyon and slipped in to find the old beast. It didn’t take more than a few minutes to confirm he wasn’t where I had hoped he would be. The canyon was just as cold and empty as every other time I had glassed it in the past week. Hoping he would be just over the ridge where he had come from the night before we went hiking. We did a 3 mile loop calling and glassing for that bull and never turned up more than an old, frozen track in the soft dirt in a creek bottom. He was nowhere to be found.

Dejected we pulled out at 9:30. I was tempted to go grab a nap and decent breakfast at camp but instead off we went to go check all of the areas where I had located cows regularly hanging out. This has become my daily routine. While the bulls were amazingly nomadic roaming all over the country with their giant strides covering miles in minutes, the cows were homebodies hanging in the same willow and aspen patches day after day. I could almost always turn up these cows and most days there was a bull of some kind hanging around. Usually it was the same yearling or two year olds following a few hundred yards behind the cow and hopelessly angling for a piece of the action. However, with the mature bulls cruising for cows, an occasional collision of our courses was inevitable or at least that’s what I kept telling myself. Most of these cows could be found by glassing from a distance but some required me to hike into a creek bottom and see what was around. Regardless, they were reliable and I could almost always count on finding some kind of bull in the area. 

The first place I headed had been my most reliable. It was a piece of leased state property that was put into CRP. With big quakie aspen stands scattered throughout. This was where on the second morning I passed up a bull that I didn’t get a lot of time to size up but to this point had been one of the better opportunities that had emerged. So like a diligent mail man I headed there to start my rounds. As I came over the hill to look into the first draw it was like an instant replay of morning two. There was a bull standing in the waist high grass and he was headed into the timber, but even with only a quick look I could immediately see he was much bigger than the bulls I had been seeing in this area. Typically when I found a bull I would immediately reach for my 15’s to start judging him. But this was a no doubter first glance bull. Unfortunately it was a matter of seconds before the bull disappeared into the woods. We immediately pulled over grabbed the packs and headed in after the bull. We had only gonna couple hundred yards when a cow came crashing out of the woods where the bull had gone moments earlier. I dropped to my butt and swung my pack around in front of me. I told Nash he would be coming out and he settled in to watch. Soon the bull was trotting across the field behind the cow. I have a quick grunt and he stopped. In the spirit of fair chase I gave him one warning shot and the second one found its mark with the 180 grain accubond expending all of its energy in the vitals before settling under the hide on the offside shoulder. He was down in seconds and some big high five’s and hugs ensued. It was an amazing moment with my son by my side as I fulfilled this life long dream. It definitely wasn’t what I expected and the challenge of turning up a big bull was definitely formidable. I think a lot of that had to do with the weather, with alternating rain, snow, sleet and sunshine I think the animals were left unsure whether to hunker down or go looking for a date. However, eventually these animals are going to do what it takes to pass on their genes and I hope this guy got the chance before we took him home.

They are huge animals a unique skeletal composition. When the spine is exposed the hump above the shoulders looks like something off of a dinosaur. The waddle under the chin can come and go throughout the life of the animal, often freezing during winter and falling or being pulled off as a result. The biggest difference is in the front quarters. There is a ton of shoulder meat on these animals that you won’t find on an elk. Fortunately we were able to get the truck into the field where the bull was so packout was 0. I think this is the first time in 15 years that I didn’t have to put an animal in a pack to get it out. From shot to shutting the tailgate was about 3 hours. We did a full gutless, cape and removed one slab of ribs to smoke before we head home. The back straps were more than 48” long!!!

This was an amazing adventure and I learned a ton both about moose hunting and about myself. I would be lying if I said I never lost any sleep about this hunt beforehand. Between the weather, my inexperience and trying to know how I was going to recover an animal that big my head was a mess and I had a knot in my stomach when I headed out. But through this I reminded myself that I am  of far more than I usually think. It was great that he died where I could get to him with a vehicle, but if he hadn’t I would have lived through it. So my advice to everyone out there is to go live your dreams. Start working now to make “someday” become today.

Thanks everyone for following along and I hope you enjoy some more pics.

 

[Outdoor Writer]

29 minutes ago, Flatlander said:

 In the spirit of fair chase I gave him one warning shot …..

🤣 

Nice write up, Andrew. Stars were definitely aligned for you. 

[DUG]

You were ready when the moment arrived. Well since you went and found your rifle..... lol!!! Great story and congrats on a great hunt with your son!

[Heat]

Top notch Andrew!  Super bull, great pics, cool story and best of all you got to share the experience with your son.  Way to go man!

[Zeke-BE]

This is so awesome!!  Congrats Andrew

[Arizona Griz]

Great adventure and bull moose. Congratulations.

[wish2hunt]

8 hours ago, Flatlander said:

Ok, now that I have had two nights sleep and the meat is in the coolers (3 100 qt filled to the brim with boned out meat) and the head is at the taxidermist , now I can write this down.

On day 7 right before dark, with two minutes of legal shooting light left, I found the skylined bull standing majestically on a ridge 350 yds away staring down at a cow. In 10 minutes he never moved. Just stood on the skyline taunting me. I quickly grabbed my rifle and rangefinder and tried to get setup but the objective on the rangefinder wouldn’t gather enough light for me to see the moose. I could get a range of the general area on the hillside, and at approximately 350 that was probably good enough. But then I could make out just the silhouette of the bull, no detail of the shoulder or the rest of the body. I had glassed these moose up from 2+ miles away and then threw a Hail Mary and drove the 8 miles around to get where I thought they might end up and somehow all of that worked perfectly, except the light. After 7 sub freezing nights in a tent without a fire, after 7 dark moonless mornings eating a cold breakfast by headlamp light, after fighting the snow and the rain and the mud and the wind after grinding almost non-stop from dawn until dusk, after all of that my goal was within reach and sitting a chip shot away from me and I had a decision to make. I was alone and although I would never get setup in the two remaining minutes of legal daylight it was unlikely that anyone would know or care if I stretched that out by a minute or two. Without a spotter it would be tough to tell what kind of shot placement I made or how the bull reacted... but on the other hand here was a great shooter bull standing broadside right in front of me. Knowing this was one of those moments that can define a hunt, I snapped a few photos gathered my gear and got out as quietly and discreetly as possible. It was going to be a long night of hoping that bull would stay in that canyon. He had a cow so I was hopeful that he would just follow her around for 12 hours and in the morning I could sneak in there and give him a forever home.

Well my long night was made longer when I realized that in my haste to get my gear loaded up I had left my rifle sitting by the side of the road. I liiterally forgot my gun. This is when it became clear to me that I was starting to crack. The pressure was getting to me and now I was getting erratic and jumpy. So instead of hitting my nice warm bed at my in-laws home 40 miles away, I picked up my youngest son and we made the hour plus drive to go find the rifle which was fortunately sitting right next to the road, and slept in cold sleeping bags at camp. Daylight could not come fast enough.

Day 8

There was no need for an alarm I was up an hour before I needed to be. After waking up Nash we jumped in the truck and waited for it to get light. At the first break of gray in the sky we parked the truck above the canyon and slipped in to find the old beast. It didn’t take more than a few minutes to confirm he wasn’t where I had hoped he would be. The canyon was just as cold and empty as every other time I had glassed it in the past week. Hoping he would be just over the ridge where he had come from the night before we went hiking. We did a 3 mile loop calling and glassing for that bull and never turned up more than an old, frozen track in the soft dirt in a creek bottom. He was nowhere to be found.

Dejected we pulled out at 9:30. I was tempted to go grab a nap and decent breakfast at camp but instead off we went to go check all of the areas where I had located cows regularly hanging out. This has become my daily routine. While the bulls were amazingly nomadic roaming all over the country with their giant strides covering miles in minutes, the cows were homebodies hanging in the same willow and aspen patches day after day. I could almost always turn up these cows and most days there was a bull of some kind hanging around. Usually it was the same yearling or two year olds following a few hundred yards behind the cow and hopelessly angling for a piece of the action. However, with the mature bulls cruising for cows, an occasional collision of our courses was inevitable or at least that’s what I kept telling myself. Most of these cows could be found by glassing from a distance but some required me to hike into a creek bottom and see what was around. Regardless, they were reliable and I could almost always count on finding some kind of bull in the area. 

The first place I headed had been my most reliable. It was a piece of leased state property that was put into CRP. With big quakie aspen stands scattered throughout. This was where on the second morning I passed up a bull that I didn’t get a lot of time to size up but to this point had been one of the better opportunities that had emerged. So like a diligent mail man I headed there to start my rounds. As I came over the hill to look into the first draw it was like an instant replay of morning two. There was a bull standing in the waist high grass and he was headed into the timber, but even with only a quick look I could immediately see he was much bigger than the bulls I had been seeing in this area. Typically when I found a bull I would immediately reach for my 15’s to start judging him. But this was a no doubter first glance bull. Unfortunately it was a matter of seconds before the bull disappeared into the woods. We immediately pulled over grabbed the packs and headed in after the bull. We had only gonna couple hundred yards when a cow came crashing out of the woods where the bull had gone moments earlier. I dropped to my butt and swung my pack around in front of me. I told Nash he would be coming out and he settled in to watch. Soon the bull was trotting across the field behind the cow. I have a quick grunt and he stopped. In the spirit of fair chase I gave him one warning shot and the second one found its mark with the 180 grain accubond expending all of its energy in the vitals before settling under the hide on the offside shoulder. He was down in seconds and some big high five’s and hugs ensued. It was an amazing moment with my son by my side as I fulfilled this life long dream. It definitely wasn’t what I expected and the challenge of turning up a big bull was definitely formidable. I think a lot of that had to do with the weather, with alternating rain, snow, sleet and sunshine I think the animals were left unsure whether to hunker down or go looking for a date. However, eventually these animals are going to do what it takes to pass on their genes and I hope this guy got the chance before we took him home.

They are huge animals a unique skeletal composition. When the spine is exposed the hump above the shoulders looks like something off of a dinosaur. The waddle under the chin can come and go throughout the life of the animal, often freezing during winter and falling or being pulled off as a result. The biggest difference is in the front quarters. There is a ton of shoulder meat on these animals that you won’t find on an elk. Fortunately we were able to get the truck into the field where the bull was so packout was 0. I think this is the first time in 15 years that I didn’t have to put an animal in a pack to get it out. From shot to shutting the tailgate was about 3 hours. We did a full gutless, cape and removed one slab of ribs to smoke before we head home. The back straps were more than 48” long!!!

This was an amazing adventure and I learned a ton both about moose hunting and about myself. I would be lying if I said I never lost any sleep about this hunt beforehand. Between the weather, my inexperience and trying to know how I was going to recover an animal that big my head was a mess and I had a knot in my stomach when I headed out. But through this I reminded myself that I am  of far more than I usually think. It was great that he died where I could get to him with a vehicle, but if he hadn’t I would have lived through it. So my advice to everyone out there is to go live your dreams. Start working now to make “someday” become today.

Thanks everyone for following along and I hope you enjoy some more pics.

 

Great story and really great bull. But I think I would have left out the part about leaving your gun. 
Congrats man. 👍

[Chef]

Congratulations man!!

Wow, what an adventure you took us on.

Thanks for that, always look forward to your posts and successes.

[Flatlander]

Some more looks at the cleaned up skull. Chuck Hansen in Chester, ID really helped me out by getting this thing ready to be brought back into AZ. I wanted a skull to display until the shoulder mount is ready so he did what he called a quick and dirty euro on it. In the 48 hrs he had it he also capes the skull, turned the face and salted the cape to be ready to come back.

 

[stanley]

EPIC, Andrew!!!   In so many ways, just awesome!!!!!!

Thanks for sharing it all with the site!

S.

[firstcoueswas80]

That Accubond looks great! 300 win mag?

[Flatlander]

1 hour ago, firstcoueswas80 said:

That Accubond looks great! 300 win mag?

Yessir 

[WHT_MTNMAN]

What a great bull and super cool adventure. Looks awesome. 

[Brooktrout26]

well done!