Drew a very coveted and hard to draw moose tag here in Montana. After flying the unit in a helicopter, spending endless days scouting and not turning up many moose I was a bit nervous going into the season. I knew the area well from previous years of elk hunting but hadn't hunted in the area in 3 years but felt confident in being able to turn up moose. I talked to a couple previous tag holders that gave me some contacts but was unsuccessful in getting much access on private land.
The season opened the 15th and I hunted the mountainous areas in the beginning but it was hot and couldn't turn anything up. I figured I'd go check the other side of my unit which was a confluence of 3 rivers and being an Alaska boy, it looked like prime moose habitat to me. My first evening out there proved very productive as I saw 5 bulls and 2 cows. The one bull was a very mature old bull but not quite what I was looking for antler-wise. I managed to call this bull from 800 yds to about 100 yards. I also caught a glimpse of another bull that was worthy of a second look. I returned to this spot 6 nights in a row and saw numerous other bulls but not the big boy. I thought the big bull might be hung up on the private land next to the state land I was hunting so I went and knocked on the door (Friday night) asking for permission to hunt and explaining how coveted the tag was but was told that if I put in 12 miles of new fence for her I could hunt it. That seemed a little ridiculous to me so I told her I would keep it in mind, left my number and went back to the state land and saw some deer but no moose. Saturday morning I was wanting to go elk hunting but my partner said no way in hell we were doing that when I had a moose tag in my pocket so instead we returned back to the area I had been seeing moose. Right away we see what looks like the good bull on the private land and I started cow calling to it. It didn't act like it heard me but headed in our general direction. 45 minutes later he appears in an opening about 300 yards away but neither myself or partner got a good look at him. So I kept calling and got in a prone position just incase he was a shooter.
What seemed like forever but was probably only another couple of minutes he popped out again but was on the move I settled in behind the scope and asked my partner to let me know if he was a shooter or not. (Being from AK all shiras look small to me so I was having a problems judging them, where as my partner has been on numerous shiras hunts and knew what to look for). Rob my partner was himming and hawing about not being able to see his other paddle but said his one side looked good and his fronts looked good but couldn't get a good look at him and was telling me to hold off. The moose was not stopping and we were about to loose him into the brush when he turned just slightly enough to give Rob a good look and without question or hesitation said "172 yards, Kill him", without thinking twice I touched off my first shot from my tikka T3 270WSM. He soaked up that 140gr accubond and didn't skip a beat, I followed up with a second and third and he went down like a sack of potatos. He was dead after the first shot but didn't want him going anywhere as he was on a gravel bar but if he would of made it off he'd of either gone in the water or into some extremely thick alders. All three shots where in a group about the size of baseball behind the shoulder.
So the Rob and I went to cross the river to get to him and quickly realized chest waders weren't going to get us there. So we made some phone calls to friends with little aluminum boats and floated down to him, Gutted him, cut him in half and loaded him up and floated down to the next take out. Overall the easiest moose hunt I'd ever been on and had him loaded in the truck by 1PM. He hasn't been officially scored yet but is well into the Montana record book requirements and is going to be just shy of B&C.
So come Sunday I'm laying around relaxing and get a phone call from the gal who's private property I was trying to hunt (that wanted a new fence) where this big moose was hanging out and she said her offer still stood and that she had been seeing a big moose every morning. I asked her if she had seen it this morning and she paused for a minute and said "well no I guess this is the first morning in 3 weeks I haven't seen him" and I said "Yeah because I called him off your place Saturday morning and killed him" there was an awkward silence and she just hung up on me...
The season opened the 15th and I hunted the mountainous areas in the beginning but it was hot and couldn't turn anything up. I figured I'd go check the other side of my unit which was a confluence of 3 rivers and being an Alaska boy, it looked like prime moose habitat to me. My first evening out there proved very productive as I saw 5 bulls and 2 cows. The one bull was a very mature old bull but not quite what I was looking for antler-wise. I managed to call this bull from 800 yds to about 100 yards. I also caught a glimpse of another bull that was worthy of a second look. I returned to this spot 6 nights in a row and saw numerous other bulls but not the big boy. I thought the big bull might be hung up on the private land next to the state land I was hunting so I went and knocked on the door (Friday night) asking for permission to hunt and explaining how coveted the tag was but was told that if I put in 12 miles of new fence for her I could hunt it. That seemed a little ridiculous to me so I told her I would keep it in mind, left my number and went back to the state land and saw some deer but no moose. Saturday morning I was wanting to go elk hunting but my partner said no way in hell we were doing that when I had a moose tag in my pocket so instead we returned back to the area I had been seeing moose. Right away we see what looks like the good bull on the private land and I started cow calling to it. It didn't act like it heard me but headed in our general direction. 45 minutes later he appears in an opening about 300 yards away but neither myself or partner got a good look at him. So I kept calling and got in a prone position just incase he was a shooter.
What seemed like forever but was probably only another couple of minutes he popped out again but was on the move I settled in behind the scope and asked my partner to let me know if he was a shooter or not. (Being from AK all shiras look small to me so I was having a problems judging them, where as my partner has been on numerous shiras hunts and knew what to look for). Rob my partner was himming and hawing about not being able to see his other paddle but said his one side looked good and his fronts looked good but couldn't get a good look at him and was telling me to hold off. The moose was not stopping and we were about to loose him into the brush when he turned just slightly enough to give Rob a good look and without question or hesitation said "172 yards, Kill him", without thinking twice I touched off my first shot from my tikka T3 270WSM. He soaked up that 140gr accubond and didn't skip a beat, I followed up with a second and third and he went down like a sack of potatos. He was dead after the first shot but didn't want him going anywhere as he was on a gravel bar but if he would of made it off he'd of either gone in the water or into some extremely thick alders. All three shots where in a group about the size of baseball behind the shoulder.
So the Rob and I went to cross the river to get to him and quickly realized chest waders weren't going to get us there. So we made some phone calls to friends with little aluminum boats and floated down to him, Gutted him, cut him in half and loaded him up and floated down to the next take out. Overall the easiest moose hunt I'd ever been on and had him loaded in the truck by 1PM. He hasn't been officially scored yet but is well into the Montana record book requirements and is going to be just shy of B&C.
So come Sunday I'm laying around relaxing and get a phone call from the gal who's private property I was trying to hunt (that wanted a new fence) where this big moose was hanging out and she said her offer still stood and that she had been seeing a big moose every morning. I asked her if she had seen it this morning and she paused for a minute and said "well no I guess this is the first morning in 3 weeks I haven't seen him" and I said "Yeah because I called him off your place Saturday morning and killed him" there was an awkward silence and she just hung up on me...
