3 Moose in 3 weeks

Turkeygetpwnd38 · Jul 21, 2022

After dropping my dad off, I had about a week to kill and hunted my MT general license. It was a good week of hunting, got in a four day chess match with a herd bull but ended up coming out empty handed. Lesson you learn when chasing big antlers, had several opportunities at others so cannot complain. Also had a bit of a freak miss on a really nice bear. I'll replay it for a long time in my head just like the wolf. A few pictures from that week.

Turkeygetpwnd38 · Jul 21, 2022

Wyoming cow moose:
Next I was heading to Wyoming for a cow moose tag I had drawn in 2020. I went to WY that year to hunt the tag, but got in a fight with a cooler and ended up with a concussion. Also, the majority of my hunt area was on fire, because of that, I had the option to return the tag. I exercised that option and headed back in 21.
My wife, son, and mom were all flying out for this week, I was excited to have them there but also stressed about balancing the hunting/family time. I would typically go out in the mornings alone or with my wife, get back to our airbnb around 11, do family stuff and then we'd all go out last bit of light and drive and glass. The first three days were pretty uneventful. We covered a lot of ground but just weren't coming up with many moose. We found plenty of elk and non stop bugles, a couple of bulls, but no cows. It was a lot of fun though sharing a bit of hunting with my son (3) and my mom who had never been.
There was one area in particular I wanted to kill a moose in. It is a unique terrain, anyone familiar with WY will likely recognize it, and always thought it would be fun to hunt. We'd been covering this area a lot and one evening while driving/glassing an area I had previously found a lot of sign in, we spot a cow moose up the road. My mom actually spotted the moose, everyone was in the car, I was looking way off and it was right there. I backed the truck up a bit, told them to hang out in the car and let me check it out. I get my rifle and head up the road where the cow was. After about 200 yards, I veer into the woods into a canyon with some cover. I go in about 100 yards and spook the cow. She takes off in a trot and I take off running paralleling her and a bull. The way the landscape was laid out, I knew they would have to cross a fence at a pinch point about 200 yards away. I run as fast as I can and get there right as she is crossing. She looks back at me, I take a second, aim, shoot, she drops in her tracks. I wait for a minute to make sure she doesn't get up, the bull is nowhere in sight, and then head back to get my family to share in the recovery. They are all already out of the vehicle, heard the shot, and excited to come.
We get back to where I shot the cow from and there is a massive bull moose standing over her. We are at about 75 yards and he will not budge. Another cow moose and a one horned bull walk up as well. My family were beyond thrilled, seeing three moose that close, one likely a B&C bull, but it caused some problems. My mom got a little over zealous and kept inching closer to the bull, talking to my dad on FaceTime trying to show him, she had never seen anything like that before. I am yelling at her to stop, physically pulling her back and thinking in my head how I am going to explain to the warden why I shot this trophy bull when it inevitably charges. She gets a hold of her senses and gets back, my wife and son are behind me and a big tree because she realizes it could turn into a dangerous situation. I am yelling at the bull, making as much noise as possible, go so far to shoot in the air twice to try and get it to leave. It won't move and inch. I don't want to leave the cow overnight because it was only getting into the high 40s, but end up having no choice. Every time I tried to get closer the bull would put its head down and start my way.... nothing would scare it off. We back out and plan to return in the morning at first lite, just me and my wife, to process it.
We get there while still dark in the morning, wait till the faintest light, and head in. When we get to the cow there is no bull to be found but I'm still on high alert. We start laying our gear out to process and I hear a large branch break. I tell my wife to run to the nearest tree while I grab the gun. The large bull was coming from down below us fast. I shoot at a tree beside him at about 50 yards and he stops. I back out towards my wife and he continues through. He stands over the cow, occasionally bending over to lick her, then wanders off again. We wait a few minutes and then get back to work. While processing, I feel like something is watching us, look up and about 70 yards away through the trees, the one horn bull and cow are watching us. They never made any move towards us, so we just kept on. The cow I shot was in heat, and I think the 1 1/2 year calf of the cow. The other cow was considerably bigger, but this cow wasn't this years calf, as she was old enough to be in heat. That is my guess anyway based on all the behavior. We get it cut up, put into bags without any more incidents and I start packing it to the truck. It was only about 300 yards from the road, but uphill and it is still a moose, so it took some time.
Got all the meat deboned at the airbnb, spent the next day or so hiking and doing family stuff, and then started the trek across the US with 3 moose. I rented a one way uhaul trailer just for the meat! It was a great trip and even better to spend it with family.