bowhuntrben
Lil-Rokslider
- Joined
- May 1, 2017
- Location
- Minnesota
I joined this site a few years ago and did an intro, but life got busy with moving several times, doing work on a new house, and having another baby, and I haven't posted much. I really like this site and think there is a lot of good content here, so I want to become more active. I have been more active on another forum, so most likely if you are on said other forum, you will see me posting my experiences there as well. With that said, I'd like to share my moose hunt from this past fall.
Hunting for moose is something that I’ve dreamed of ever since I was little, but it was one of those things that I never really thought there was a possibility of, just something that would be awesome to do.
In my younger days, we didn’t know anything about point systems (and not sure we would’ve had the money to dump into them anyway). When I was in college, my cousin in Colorado invited us out to visit him and to go hunting (he is not a hunter, but we’d go camping together, and my dad and I would hunt while he fished). This was the beginning of my knowledge of point systems. With that knowledge and now the motivator to actually go hunting out west, I started applying for moose in Wyoming. I later started in Utah and New Hampshire, and have applied in Idaho as well as doing the lotteries here and there. Knowing what I know now about point systems, I’m not sure I’ll ever actually draw a tag for moose. If I do, I will be an old man, and my dad will likely not be around anymore. In hindsight, I wish I had started building points in Colorado rather than Wyoming since I might at least have some chance of drawing a tag (though still not a good chance).
Every time we’ve gone hunting out west in moose country, we’ve seen loads of moose. This pushed my desire to hunt them through the roof. My dream was to be able to do this with my dad. I wanted to have this experience with him…not to just go and shoot a moose…but to have the memory of a great time with my dad. Finally one year, my dad said after our elk hunt that we should just book a hunt and go for moose. 2 years later, here I am writing this story. It was an expensive hunt, but it’s the place my dad was willing to go, and I’m glad we did it as it’s a memory I will have the rest of my life.
This is the first guided hunt I’ve ever been on, so I didn’t really know what to expect going into it. I really like doing DIY hunts where I have to do all the planning and figure out where I’m going to go and how I’m going to hunt. I didn’t have that aspect of fun on this hunt, but I still found the hunt to be an amazing experience. When my dad and I were in camp, there was just one other hunter after elk. All other hunters had already tagged out and headed home. My dad was along as an observer, and I had the tag. Our guide and the elk hunter’s guide were both amazing people that I really enjoyed sharing company with. There was also a camp chef that was great to have around, and we had some great conversations (not to mention, I’ve never eaten that well while out hunting before!). I think the best part of all was that the guides and chef were people of faith, and it showed in the way they did things. I really enjoyed the thoughtful prayers before meals and the acknowledgement that He is our provider. I didn’t expect this, but it was a blessing.
On to the hunt. It was a short and sweet hunt.
The first morning of the hunt found us on a point overlooking a valley. We were just about to move on and go to a new location when I thought I saw a black dot in the distance. There were some cattle out there, so I figured that’s what it was but took a look through the binoculars anyway. When I looked, I saw the light colored legs and knew we had a moose. The guide got out his spotting scope, and we took a look. Sure enough, it was a bull! I took a look, and it appeared to have 8 points on one side and 6 or 7 on the other. He had a double browtine on one side but only a single browtine on the other. I was really hoping to get one with at least double browtines on both sides, so I decided not to go after him. It was a very difficult decision, though, since this was the first moose tag I’ve ever had (and could likely be the last). With the bulk of my away-from-home adventures being on OTC tags, it’s not been my experience to let things go, so it was really difficult. Being that it was the first morning, I just couldn’t bring myself to go after one that quickly, though, unless he would be huge. We also ended up seeing a cow while looking this guy over.
Here’s a view of the first glassing spot:
Here is a screen shot from a video the guide shot with his phone through the spotting scope.
While glassing at another location on our morning hunt, we saw a small bull elk. We headed up by him and called to him just to get the experience. When we got there, he had disappeared into the timber. When we called, we heard a deep raspy bugle and knew immediately it wasn’t the same bull we had seen. We called for a little while, and he would respond to every noise we made. We could hear him tearing trees up…he was pissed! Eventually we saw the small bull come out again, and he chased the cows into the woods towards the bigger bull. We left the bull alone since he was in a great place for the elk hunter to have a chance at him. After the morning hunt, we told the elk hunter and his guide about this elk. Apparently within about a half hour or so of when they went up there that afternoon, they shot the bull we heard. It ended up being a very mature 5x5 (I didn’t get pics of it). It was a pretty cool experience since I haven’t really been into bugling in my DIY adventures.
During the day, dad and I went for a hike while everybody else was in camp. We just couldn’t sit around. We didn’t see anything, but it was still nice being out there experiencing that place.
Hunting for moose is something that I’ve dreamed of ever since I was little, but it was one of those things that I never really thought there was a possibility of, just something that would be awesome to do.
In my younger days, we didn’t know anything about point systems (and not sure we would’ve had the money to dump into them anyway). When I was in college, my cousin in Colorado invited us out to visit him and to go hunting (he is not a hunter, but we’d go camping together, and my dad and I would hunt while he fished). This was the beginning of my knowledge of point systems. With that knowledge and now the motivator to actually go hunting out west, I started applying for moose in Wyoming. I later started in Utah and New Hampshire, and have applied in Idaho as well as doing the lotteries here and there. Knowing what I know now about point systems, I’m not sure I’ll ever actually draw a tag for moose. If I do, I will be an old man, and my dad will likely not be around anymore. In hindsight, I wish I had started building points in Colorado rather than Wyoming since I might at least have some chance of drawing a tag (though still not a good chance).
Every time we’ve gone hunting out west in moose country, we’ve seen loads of moose. This pushed my desire to hunt them through the roof. My dream was to be able to do this with my dad. I wanted to have this experience with him…not to just go and shoot a moose…but to have the memory of a great time with my dad. Finally one year, my dad said after our elk hunt that we should just book a hunt and go for moose. 2 years later, here I am writing this story. It was an expensive hunt, but it’s the place my dad was willing to go, and I’m glad we did it as it’s a memory I will have the rest of my life.
This is the first guided hunt I’ve ever been on, so I didn’t really know what to expect going into it. I really like doing DIY hunts where I have to do all the planning and figure out where I’m going to go and how I’m going to hunt. I didn’t have that aspect of fun on this hunt, but I still found the hunt to be an amazing experience. When my dad and I were in camp, there was just one other hunter after elk. All other hunters had already tagged out and headed home. My dad was along as an observer, and I had the tag. Our guide and the elk hunter’s guide were both amazing people that I really enjoyed sharing company with. There was also a camp chef that was great to have around, and we had some great conversations (not to mention, I’ve never eaten that well while out hunting before!). I think the best part of all was that the guides and chef were people of faith, and it showed in the way they did things. I really enjoyed the thoughtful prayers before meals and the acknowledgement that He is our provider. I didn’t expect this, but it was a blessing.
On to the hunt. It was a short and sweet hunt.
The first morning of the hunt found us on a point overlooking a valley. We were just about to move on and go to a new location when I thought I saw a black dot in the distance. There were some cattle out there, so I figured that’s what it was but took a look through the binoculars anyway. When I looked, I saw the light colored legs and knew we had a moose. The guide got out his spotting scope, and we took a look. Sure enough, it was a bull! I took a look, and it appeared to have 8 points on one side and 6 or 7 on the other. He had a double browtine on one side but only a single browtine on the other. I was really hoping to get one with at least double browtines on both sides, so I decided not to go after him. It was a very difficult decision, though, since this was the first moose tag I’ve ever had (and could likely be the last). With the bulk of my away-from-home adventures being on OTC tags, it’s not been my experience to let things go, so it was really difficult. Being that it was the first morning, I just couldn’t bring myself to go after one that quickly, though, unless he would be huge. We also ended up seeing a cow while looking this guy over.
Here’s a view of the first glassing spot:
Here is a screen shot from a video the guide shot with his phone through the spotting scope.
While glassing at another location on our morning hunt, we saw a small bull elk. We headed up by him and called to him just to get the experience. When we got there, he had disappeared into the timber. When we called, we heard a deep raspy bugle and knew immediately it wasn’t the same bull we had seen. We called for a little while, and he would respond to every noise we made. We could hear him tearing trees up…he was pissed! Eventually we saw the small bull come out again, and he chased the cows into the woods towards the bigger bull. We left the bull alone since he was in a great place for the elk hunter to have a chance at him. After the morning hunt, we told the elk hunter and his guide about this elk. Apparently within about a half hour or so of when they went up there that afternoon, they shot the bull we heard. It ended up being a very mature 5x5 (I didn’t get pics of it). It was a pretty cool experience since I haven’t really been into bugling in my DIY adventures.
During the day, dad and I went for a hike while everybody else was in camp. We just couldn’t sit around. We didn’t see anything, but it was still nice being out there experiencing that place.
