Montana Moose 240

[mmw194287]

Once the reality of the situation set in, my thoughts and emotions started unravelling despite having been preparing for this moment for months. It was a struggle to keep a clear head. I ran back up to my overlook, and quickly ate a snack, drank some water, and packed up everything except for my tarp, headlamp, stove, and a cache of food and drinking water (in case I needed to spend the night). I returned to the animal and took a few pictures—unfortunately, this was literally the first trip I’d taken in months without hauling along my camera. I’d realized that I had forgotten it when I was ten minutes out of my driveway, but I figured I had my cellphone with me and I doubted that I’d be taking pictures of anything but scenery. After checking that it had a self-timer (you know…just in case), I decided not to turn around for the camera…go figure.






After some quick photos, I took out my kill kit and a bottle of water and hauled the rest of my pack to the trail ¼ mile away. At that point I was beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed with all of the excitement, adrenaline, and my total disbelief that it was all happening. In my confused state, I couldn’t figure out what the best course of action would be—go get help immediately, or get started on the meat—even though I’d spent lots of time planning for just this moment. I couldn’t gut the bull to cool him down without making a huge mess because the slope of the hill and another log would prevent me from pulling his guts clear of the work space (his bottom leg was also tucked up under his abdomen and I couldn’t get it clear). I also knew that if I decided to go get help--which I would need to do eventually--, it would be at least several hours before we could get back to the kill. After changing my mind three or four times, I realized I had to compose myself and start making decisions. I decided to cut by myself for two hours, get as much meat cooling as possible, and then go get help.

 

[mmw194287]

I love this picture...my face says a lot about my mental state.



I pulled the hide off of his exposed side and managed to get half of the bull butchered by myself using a system of paracord rigged up on some deadfall to lift the legs as I cut. I bagged the quarters and trim and hung them nearby. In hindsight, I must have been working with some serious adrenaline to move that meat around like I did, because once I had help we had a pretty hard time lifting and bagging the quarters with two of us. It was around forty degrees and there was a pretty good breeze, so I felt good to make my run out. I jogged down to the car with my camp and rifle, hauled ass down the twenty mile road to hit cell reception, chugging Gatorade and eating some snacks I’d left at the vehicle. The drive down was an emotional roller-coaster and I found myself choking up, thinking of all the time, money, effort, worry, and hope that I’d invested in this hunt.

Once my phone showed a signal, I immediately called my fiancé. The first words out of my mouth on the phone to her were “I love you…it happened…I did it.” That was about all I could say. Then, I called the outfitter who I’d been planning to hunt with, as I knew that he lived within a few minutes of the bottom of the canyon. He was ready to go within 15 minutes and met me back up by the trailhead in an hour. We hiked back in with frame packs and a heavy duty utility sled. Once we finished butchering, we hauled all of the meat and the head to the trail, which took about 2.5-3 hours. The going wasn’t terrible, but the footing was uneven and there were lots of downed trees and hidden potholes. We took our time and moved carefully. Once all the meat was to the trail, we had a little less than two hours of daylight left, so we built a little platform out of logs and left just enough meat to carry out in one shot in the morning. We loaded the remainder into two full packloads and filled the sled, which must have had about 250-300 pounds. Working that sled down the trail was absolutely brutal, but it saved us at least two trips. We hit the truck right at dark.

Found the first bullet in the hide on the opposite side:




We decided that I would stay the night at the outfitter’s house, and then hit the trail at first light with empty packs, grab the last two loads, and be back at the truck well by mid-morning. After a couple beers and two large pizzas, I finally took off my boots and sat down. I didn’t sleep at all that night, just flipping through pictures, responding to phone calls and texts, and reliving the events of the day. Even under an eighty-pound load, the hike out the next morning felt like a victory march and the meat we’d left looked great. I dropped the meat at the processor, made my way home, and spent the rest of the day unpacking, cleaning, talking on the phone, and drinking a few more beers. The soreness didn’t set in until the following day.

Still, a week later, I can’t believe it all actually happened. I’ve never hunted a “marquee” species, and I still haven’t killed an elk despite chasing them for five years now. As a result, I had some very serious doubts about my prospects for success, despite all of the time and effort I put into my preparation. By no means am I the type of person to consider an unpunched tag a failure, but it was incredibly rewarding to finally encounter and harvest this animal that had occupied my imagination for so long. The interpersonal aspect of my hunt--the assistance and guidance I received along the way from the kindness of strangers; the patience of my fiancée as I interrupted countless dinnertime conversations with my latest thoughts on the moose chase; the words of support and encouragement from my parents and friends—was perhaps the most remarkable. The past few months have been a truly special, exceptional time in my life. Too many stories like this end with tired clichés, but I don’t know how else to sum up my hunt: it was a dream come true, and I feel incredibly fortunate for the experience.
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Thanks for reading...hope you enjoyed it.

 

[Arbutusbucks]

Awesome story, great job!

 

[Jesse Minish]

Nice congrats!

 

[Shrek]

Thats a great story ! Congratulations ! Aii the great people who helped and all the work that I put in makes it all the more sweet a personal accomplishment. Your mount will be a really big time capsule of great memories . When the whole world is letting you down and the task at hand seems hopeless you can look up at your moose and be reminded that there a lots of good people and the impossible can happen.

 

[Vandal 44]

Nicely done on a well deserved. Great write-up too.

 

[c5mrr270]

That's a cool looking moose.

 

[mmw194287]

Thanks all...

Cmrr270--yea, he is a really unique looking moose, for sure. Everyone that has seen him has said that they've never seen a rack like his (even the taxidermist, who does a lot of moose). Truthfully, when I shot him I thought he was paddled on both sides--I couldn't tell that he was split on the left side like he is.

 

[Browtinemt]

Sweet looking Shiras! Congrats and thanks for sharing an incredible animal and experience.

 

[bowinhand]

Awesome!

What bullet did you use?

 

[mmw194287]

I hate to admit it, but I've always shot standard 180gr. CoreLokts out of this rifle (700SPS in 300WM). I bought it two and a half years ago and picked up a box just to get the feel for the rifle, and they grouped better for me than any other rifle/bullet combo I've owned...so I figured I could either try to find a premium bullet that performed similarly, or I could buy a TON of practice rounds for $24-26 a box and shoot as much as possible. I don't reload, so being able to burn up 20 rounds here and there without sweating the cost has done a lot for my consistency/confidence as a shooter.

 

[RamDreamer]

Great write up and the wording and associated photos do an amazing job sharing your emotions of the whole event. Congrats again!

 

[tstowater]

Enjoyed the article and pictures. The writing clearly showed your passion for the hunt. Great job and congrats on the moose!!!

 

[HUNTMAN]

Congrats. What a great story. I saw the bull at Steves shop. Very neat moose. Congrats again. HUNT

 

[DWarcher]

Great write up man...congrats on a cool bull.

 

[Trr15]

Congratulations! Awesome story, awesome accomplishment,

 

[mtluckydan]

Nicely done - enjoyed reading about your hunt. Hard work pays off in great memories. Enjoy the freezer full of meat as well.

 

[BackcountryMT]

Way to go, that's an insanely hard unit to hunt moose in!

 

[Liv2Hunt]

Congrats!

 

[mmw194287]

Thanks again everyone. It's been so satisfying to share this story with people who really "get" it.

Got my meat back the other day--it was a considerable project just to load and unload the coolers! Ended up with 497 pounds, and one of the guys from the processor came up to me to tell me how impressed he was by the condition/cleanliness of the meat. That felt great! Earlier in the week I found a second freezer on craigslist for 85 bucks, and we filled it to the brim. We won't be buying meat for a while...