2012 Idaho Moose Hunt

[Jason Stafford]

After several years of studying Idaho's moose harvest and drawing statistics I finally decided to apply in 2012. A couple weeks later while mowing the lawn I received a text message from a friend in Idaho inquiring if I drew a moose tag or not. Later that evening I pulled up the draw results and saw that I drew. Man was I excited. My tag was for the Northern Panhandle area of Idaho. If you haven't been there it is a heavily wooded jungle.

 

[Jason Stafford]

One of the first calls I made was to my dad. I had enjoyed a great moose with him when I was a young boy that is forever ingrained in my memory. Dad, who is now retired immedately committed to spending the entire hunt with me in Idaho.



Here is dad my chief guide on this hunt leading us into the jungle

 

[Jason Stafford]

I posted on a couple of Hunting Forums looking for additional information on the unit I had drawn. As expected I was bashed on several forums for applying in an area where I had never been. I talked with several previous guys that had hunted my unit, as well as the area's moose biologist. From what I was being told I had done my homework well while studying harvest statistics. I had two positive responses from the various hunting forums I had posted on. Both were from Rokslide members Josh Lander and Ryan Avery.



This was the area recommended by several previous hunters.

 

[Jason Stafford]

In late July my daughter Baylee and I made the eight hour drive to the unit for a long weekend of scouting. It was very hot, so I knew the chances of seeing moose were kind of slim, but I wanted to get to know the area's roads and find a good camping spot for the hunt which was going to be October 1-14.

We spent lot's of hours glassing some of the clearcuts in the area.



With little success

 

[Jason Stafford]

We found several sets of fresh moose tracks on the soft dirt roads.

But unfortunately we found more wolf tracks than moose. We heard wolves howling every night and morning even though we never spent a night in the same place.

 

[Jason Stafford]

We found a clearcut that was overrun with ground squirrels. Baylee spend hours flinging arrows at them.

While I tried to figure out what area to scout next.

 

[Jason Stafford]

Our last morning of scouting we awoke to this fabulous sunrise. We saw five cow moose over the weekend, but no bulls. I didn't get any photos of the cows just video.


Leaving the area I had a good feel for the road system, where I wanted to start the hunt and where camp would be established.

Ryan Avery was going to try and make it down for our scouting weekend, but got busy with work commitments.

 

[twintips16]

Hurry hurry!

More pictures LOL.

 

[Jason Stafford]

Over the next couple of months I stayed in touch with Josh Lander and Ryan Avery. My plan was to arrive a few days before the hunt to do a little more scouting. Dad and I arrived in Idaho three days before the season and setup camp.

Camp was set near this huge mineral lick.


As before it was extremely hot and we only found moose tracks without any sightings.

 

[Jason Stafford]

The day before the hunt was to begin my co-work Blake arrived. Young, eager and strong as an ox, the perfect moose packer

The first morning of the hunt we worked our way along this dead end road calling.


Within minutes I called a bull in close, but we never saw him due to the thick cover.


We moved to another area and heard a bull grunting like crazy, but the wind swirled sending him to parts unknown. The rest of the day was uneventful and hot.

 

[Jason Stafford]

Chief guide (dad) making elk sausage for breakfast.
and then doing what he does best, a little napping.

 

[Jason Stafford]

Day two broke hotter than day one. Not good when you are looking for moose. We spent most of the day hunting around the area of this pond.


I called in a lone cow moose to 15 yards, but that was all the action we had.

 

[Jason Stafford]

The morning of day 3 was freezing cold in the low teens. Perfect, or so I thought. It was a very sloooow morning, with no moose heard or saw. We decided to head to some new country, which was actually where Baylee and I had scouted. By about 10:00 a.m. we were in the area that I thought looked good while scouting in July. It didn't take long to find two fresh sets of moose tracks in a light skiff of snow. It was obvious that the tracks were from a bull and cow. We setup and called where the tracks entered the timber and immedately heard the bull grunt. A little more calling and he was on his way. He stepped out at 50 yards, froze to look at us, but it was too late. I was already at full draw when he stopped. I centered by 50 yard pin tight to his shoulder and let the arrow fly. It impacted with a perfect pass through of his lungs. He spun, headed back to the heavy cover but didn't make.

 

[Jason Stafford]

We spent the rest of the day taking care of the meat.


That night we celebrated around a huge bonfire and relived past hunts.

Thank you to Roksliders Josh Lander and Ryan Avery for your input it was greatly appreciated.

 

[weaver]

Cool story and pics

 

[twintips16]

Awesome story!

Been fun following it.

 

[bounds]

Great story Jason! Keep it coming!

 

[wolfman]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing!

 

[muleman]

Congratulations! Nice write up.

 

[Ryan Avery]

Thanks for sharing Jason. I am super pumped about my Moose hunt this fall.

Dandy bull! What was the outside spread?