10 Day horseback moose hunt in BC

[Blind Squirrel]

Hope y’all enjoy this one.

 

[RCL]

Congratulations and thanks for sharing.

 

[EdP]

Long but interesting watch. Some awesome scenery. Showed the emotions we all go through as a hunt progresses. I also see in it a cautionary tale with regard to the outfitter. Leaky tent, repeated failure to keep the horses secured in camp, green stock, and failure to secure the moose head at the base camp. I think they had caped out the head before a bear dragged it off (I hope so), and it was recovered, but that shouldn't happen. I was also surprised by the unsecured food in the spike camp with bears all around, or at least what appeared to be unsecured.

 

[Blind Squirrel]

@EdP 100% agree. Our guide, Ty, is in the process of buying the outfit from his father. New gear such as this particular tent and new horse tac are one the list to be bought before next season. We had an additional tarp we put over the tent on the end we slept on, had no leaks after. This tent was older and still an adequate tent. The leaks we experienced before using the additional tarp were drips at the seams, and my bed was under that seam . Hopefully the video didn’t seem like the tent wasn’t functional, but as a client, I do think a tent in perfect condition would’ve been better. I was initially concerned about our food storage and bears. I asked why we didn’t need to secure the food some other way, the guide said they’ve been doing it like this for 40+ years and never had a problem. Hard to argue with that.
The horses were the biggest headache I had on this whole hunt. It was very frustrating that they got away during the night despite being hobbled or tied on a picket. Usually they didn’t go far and didn’t have a huge impact on our hunt, but there was one day they pretty much cost us the entire day. Back at the lodge, I spoke with other hunters, and they had zero issues with their horses. Horses are just….special. I haven’t spoken to many people who’ve been on horseback hunts. I have a couple friends who used to guide with horseback outfits. They were laughing the whole time hearing my tale, and basically just said, “yup, that’s horseback hunting.”
Again, hopefully the video didn’t portray the outfit in a bad light. Just a realistic picture. They’ve been in business more than 40 years and have mostly repeat or word of mouth clients. The week after us, two brothers were coming in for their 30th hunt with Stu. That doesn’t happen if you aren’t doing something well. I would book a hunt with Ty again in a heartbeat.

The most important thing was that i always felt safe. The scariest situation we were ever in was when coming back to camp with the moose. When the horse fell over in the stream, in the dark, and all the horses were on edge, Ty jumped in (literally), calmed all horses, and got the situation under control.

Thank you for watching. I’m shocked people have watched the whole thing. It’s really more of a family home video with a hunt than it is a hunt video.

 

[EdP]

I enjoyed the video.

The guided hunts I have been on, just 2 of the 4 with horses, the outfitter had a spike camp already set up with tents and corals. Not everything was perfect, but they were completely prepared to provide good food, a warm dry tent, and seasoned horses that were not allowed to leave whenever they wanted. It sounded like there was another spike camp nearby where 2 of the horses went to one day/night. I wonder why you were not there. Was it to have a better experience with your daughter? She definitely seemed to enjoy the experience.

Another issue that bothered me was having to take the moose meat into town. With two hunters with tags you should not have to lose 2 hunting days dealing with the meat of a downed moose. Could you not have had a meat pole to hang the meat from at your camp, or one at the other spike camp only an hour or so away?

It seemed to me that Ty dealt with all the issues with competence, patience, and good humor.

 

[Blind Squirrel]

I enjoyed the video.

The guided hunts I have been on, just 2 of the 4 with horses, the outfitter had a spike camp already set up with tents and corals. Not everything was perfect, but they were completely prepared to provide good food, a warm dry tent, and seasoned horses that were not allowed to leave whenever they wanted. It sounded like there was another spike camp nearby where 2 of the horses went to one day/night. I wonder why you were not there. Was it to have a better experience with your daughter? She definitely seemed to enjoy the experience.

Another issue that bothered me was having to take the moose meat into town. With two hunters with tags you should not have to lose 2 hunting days dealing with the meat of a downed moose. Could you not have had a meat pole to hang the meat from at your camp, or one at the other spike camp only an hour or so away?

It seemed to me that Ty dealt with all the issues with competence, patience, and good humor.

Yes. A coral would be the best way to keep horses secured. Due to the area we were hunting (a Canadian national park), pretty sure that would be considered a “structure” and not be allowed. I’m. It positive. But you make a great point. If I go on another hunt like this, I will ask how the horses are secured at camp. A coral would definitely be best. I knew very little about horses prior to this hunt and had no clue they could be so difficult.
The other camp the horses kept trying to go to, was an area that had been used for camping trips throughout the summer. We didn’t use that area because most of the grass around there had been eaten. It was closer to a burned area and the horses loved eating whatever was left there. There were no other people anywhere near us during the hunt.
You also make a good point on the transit to get the meat out. If I went with this outfit again with an additional hunter, I would insist on two additional horses being in the pack so the meat from two moose could be brought out at one time.