My 2025 Once In a Lifetime Shiras Moose hunt. Recap

[RaggedHunter]

On May 27th I received the news we all dream of during draw season. I got a notification that my card had been hit for $375.97.. I couldn't believe it. I anxiously updated my email inbox and finally received the email confirming that I had been drawn for my once in a lifetime shiras bull moose tag. To this day it is still hard for me to believe that I actually drew this tag and had the opportunity to hunt a moose in my home state of Colorado, something I have dreamed of doing as long as I can remember.

Of all the years to draw a tag of this caliber, this made for an extremely challenging year to put the time into the tag that I felt it deserved. I have a young family, and it is a strain on my entire family for me to be away from home. But my wife knew how much this tag meant to me and she selflessly manned the fort to allow me as much time as possible to make good on this tag. I am forever grateful for her and all she does day in and day out for myself and my family.

As soon as I drew the tag I buckled down getting ready. I cleaned up my diet, I cut out all sugar, I cut out all alcohol, and I ramped up the workouts & cardio. From the day I drew the tag to opening day I dropped 25lbs.

Scouting trips were tough to pull off. I wanted to be in the unit scouting every free second I had. But The unit I drew was about 4 hours from my house. And it was already asking a lot of my family to be away for extended periods of time during the season, to add multiple weekends throughout the summer on top of that was tough. I had to get creative to squeeze in scouting trips. Some weekends, I would put my kids to bed, help the wife cleanup the house. Then I would drive to the unit in the middle of the night. I would sleep in the back seat of my truck for a couple of hours then wake up and hike to glassing knobs. Once everything was bedded for the morning, I would drive home so I could spend the afternoon with my family. Some weekends I was able to spend multiple days backpacking and scouting. And luckily I had a handful of great buddies that set aside time in their busy schedules to help me scout. This goes without saying, but I am forever grateful for all the friends and family that went out of their way to help me out, from scouting, to hunting and everything in between.

I will go through a day by day breakdown of my entire hunt journal including scouting trips etc. It certainly lived up to everything I could have hoped for on a once in a lifetime tag, it was filled with ups and downs and is no doubt one of the most memorable adventures I have ever embarked on. I hope anyone reading will enjoy following along as I take you through it.

 

[RaggedHunter]

Scouting day 1: July 12th.
- I finally got to set foot in the unit. I had done tons of looking over onx and google earth and all the research possible. I had a list of areas to start checking out. A quick summary of this trip will suffice. I did not see a moose on this trip, but I did learn a number of roads and glassing points. I learned where the very limited camping areas in the area were located.

Scouting trip #2. Friday August 1st.
- the first evening glassing session I saw 1 young bull in the first area on my list of places to check. This was encouraging. But not a bull I wanted to focus on.
- the next few spots I checked I saw a couple of cows & calves but no other bulls.
- On Saturday My good buddy Josh arrived and we backpacked into a basin that was high on our list. We glassed that basin that evening and again on Sunday morning. Only saw 1 very small bull several miles down the drainage. This basin was a bust and concluded this scouting trip.

Scouting trip #3. August 23rd.
- I drove over in the middle of the night. Arrived at the trailhead around 2:30am. I slept in the backseat for a couple of hours. About 430 am I woke up and hiked out to the glassing knob I wanted to be on at sunup. Once the sun came up I was busy behind the glass. I had a huge area I could look at.. But after about an hour of glassing I had yet to turn up a single moose. Bust.

- I decided to bail of of this basin and try to make it over into the next basin before it got too late in the day. I got over to the next basin around 9am and started glassing. It didn't take long and I had moose spotted. I could make out what looked to be a good bull, but I was several miles away. He was bedded, so I moved around the basin to get a closer look. Once I got to within about 800 yards I could see the bull well. He definitely had my interest. He was a pretty nice bull, he had multiple brows on each side and definitely one I wanted to keep an eye on. Glassing the willows around him I turned up 2 cows, and then I caught a glimpse of another bull.. This one was a dandy. Bull #2 only had single brows, which I knew would hurt his score.. But man he sure looked impressive. I knew the first bull would likely score better, but both were good bulls and got me very excited.

-As I was watching the bulls and eating some lunch. All the moose suddenly jumped to their feet and bailed into the timber. As I watched, I saw 2 big grey objects bolting through the willows chasing after them. My first thought was "Wolves!" I got a closer look at them, and they sure did look like wolves.. But upon closer look I thought I could make out collars.. Then I could hear a guy yelling.. He was standing on the ridge calling after them.. Turns out the hiker was walking through the basin with his 2 big "wolf like" dogs, and they saw the moose and took off after them. I was pretty irritated with this. I decided this basin was blown out and I would have to check back in a couple of weeks to see if the moose returned.

- That evening my good buddy Travis came up and we went to check a couple of other basins. We saw 6 different bulls this evening. 4 were young bulls. 1 was another really nice single brow time bull. and 1 was a really big split brow bull. But the big bull was in a location we knew we couldn't hunt him, so we didn't spend much time on him. But he sure was cool to see.

- I had to drive home late this night. Travis stayed up and did some more looking on Sunday. On Sunday he was able to relocate the big single brow bull that the dogs had chased the day prior. The bull had moved about a mile away and was feeding in a big patch of willows. He then moved over and looked into another basin we had not yet looked at. He caught a brief glimpse of a bull. He sent me a grainy photo from a long ways off. He said he only got a brief look, but he said this bull looked really good, and he was definitely worth a closer look.

This was the first bull I spotted with multiple Brows.

This was the first big single brow tine bull.

This was the second nice Single brow bull.

 

[RaggedHunter]

The following weekend myself and my buddy Garren made the trek back to the unit for more scouting. This was the weekend before season opener. We left late that evening and got to a spot to throw out a pup tent around 2 am. Our first priority was to try and get eyes on the mystery bull that Travis had spotted the weekend prior.

We got a couple quick hours of shuteye then got up well before sunup to make our way to a master vantage point that should give us a good look into the basin the bull had been spotted in. As day broke, glassing was limited. Everything was fogged in, at times visibility went to virtually zero. We waited out the storm and would frantically glass in the brief windows where the fog would break. We spotted a moose very close to where the mystery bull had been seen, but we had yet to get a good look at him. Then we spotted another moose not far from the first. But with all the fog and rain, we could not tell what either moose was..

Finally the weather broke and we were able to get a good look at both moose. Both were bulls and good bulls at that. I recognized the first bull. It was the split brow bull that had been chased by the dogs a week prior, he had bumped into this basin after being buggered. The second bull was the mystery bull. It took a while for him to give us a good look, but when he did, I knew this was an exceptional bull.. He had it all, he had split brows, long paddles and an absolutely enormous body. We decided to call these 2 bulls Big John & Lil John (YEEEEAH!). Hoping some of you that grew up in the nineties and early 2000's catch that little gem..

We watched these bulls all morning learning their patterns. That afternoon we moved and checked out 2 new spots and struck out in both locations. By this point I had decided that Big John was the bull I wanted to put all my effort into. So we headed back to the basin they lived in and planned to watch them again on Sunday morning, trying to learn their every move.

We located both bulls again Sunday morning, feeding in a willow patch about half a mile from the one they had been in on Saturday morning. Big John was stripping his velvet. We watched him all morning as he raked and stripped his antlers. This was incredible to watch and experience.

We watched them until they bedded. Marked bedding locations on onx. And then headed for home. It was back home for 3 days, then I'd be heading back over to set camp and then hopefully baby sit Big John for a couple of days until the opener.

Big John

Big John

Big John & Lil John

Big John Stripping Velvet.

 

[RaggedHunter]

The next 3 days were grueling. All I could think about was getting back on the mountain. I was nervous that since Big John was already stripping his velvet. That he was going to move out of the basin and into the timber. I was worried that since archery deer and elk seasons started 4 days before moose season, that deer or elk hunters might bump them out. I was worried that some hippie with wolf dogs might decide to hike through that basin... Needless to say, I could not wait to get back up there.

Thursday finally arrived, I loaded up the truck and hit the road. My good Buddy Josh met me on the way up and together we made our way to where we were going to camp. We got there about mid day and got camp setup. We got a quick bite to eat, then made our way up to the glassing knob to glass for the evening. The anticipation was killing me. I was hoping and praying with everything I had, that they were still in there.

It didn't take us long before we had them located. They were right in the same exact willow patch where Garren and I had seen them the previous Sunday. What a huge relief.. We watched them until dark, and then made our way back to camp. We ate some dinner and turned in for bed.

The next morning we made our way back to the glassing knob. And as soon as it was light enough to make out anything through the glass, we had them spotted again. This time they were back in the Northern willow patch where we very first located them.. I was noticing a pattern.. The bulls seemed to be alternating between the northern and southern willow patches every day. I told Josh, I bet you those bulls are back in that southern willow patch tomorrow morning.

We watched the bulls until they bedded. Then decided to peak over into the neighboring basin to see if the big single brow bull was still around. It didn't take us long and we had a bull located. We moved around to get a closer look, it was not the single brow bull, but rather an even bigger bull with split fronts.. this was a very nice bull. I would have been more than happy with this bull, but I already had my heart set on Big John. We took some photos of him and decided to keep him in our back pocket.

Around mid day, the rest of the guys rolled into camp. Garren, my father in law, my grandpa, Garren, and Curt all showed up. We all made our way up to the glassing knob and watched big John & lil John until dark. They were still in the northern willow patch, but seemed to be working their way to the south.

I doubled down. I told the guys, that my bet was they would be in the south willow patch at first light.

It was a long sleepless night. The anticipation the night before opening day is always high. But this was more so than I have ever experienced.

Back Pocket bull in neighboring basin. (Can't see the split fronts from this angle but he was split).


Big John: all cleaned up night before opener.

 

[Jbehredt]

Hopefully lil Jon doesn’t give no lip to Big John.

 

[Acorn]

Just gonna leave us hanging?!

 

[RaggedHunter]

Opening morning. We were all up well before light. We made our way up to the glassing knob. The plan was for us to lay eyes on the bulls, confirm which patch of willow they were in, then me and Josh would take off and get into position. The rest of the guys would stay on the glassing knob and keep eyes on the bulls and give us direction if we needed it. I had a pretty good idea of these bulls patterns, and had already thought through the best approaches, so I doubted we would need much direction.

No sooner could we start to see through the glass than we had 2 moose spotted in the south willow patch. GAME ON. Josh and I grabbed our packs and started covering country. We made great time and covered the distance in less than half an hour. We checked in with our spotters and they confirmed the bulls were still feeding in the willows where we had last seen them.

There was big rock knoll between us and the bulls. We dropped our packs at the bottom and eased up to the top. We could see the bulls feeding in the willows below us. They were within range, but I did not have a clear shot through the trees in front of me. I ranged the clearing I figured they were going to feed into where I had a shooting lane. It was a steep downhill angle and my leica range finder will give angle but not corrected distance. I calculated the angle and looked at my cut chart I knew I needed to subtract 4 yards for my cut.

We waited and watched the bulls feeding. When the bulls started to move, it soon became clear that they were not going to move into the shooting lane I had figured they would. But rather they were moving across a bit further out on the hill. I ranged Big John as he stepped into an opening, it was a further shot than the spot I had originally been planning on, but the angle was not as severe and he was still within my effective distance. I decided to cut 2 yards off the range rather than the 4 I had calculated since the angle was not as steep.. What I failed to take into account was the fact that even though the angle was not as steep, the further distance still called for a 4 yard cut..

I drew back and found my anchor. I had my nerves under control and I felt solid. I settled the pin and the shot broke clean. The arrow flew in slow motion and I saw it connect. My first impression of the hit was that it was a little high, but given the downhill angle I thought it should do the job.

The bull ran out onto the next hill and stopped. He was out of bow range at this point so I observed him through the binos. The hit was definitely a bit higher than I would have liked, but From the elk and deer I have seen hit with similar shots, I still felt like it should get top of lungs. The bull had good blood running down his side. When the bull started to walk away, is the first moment I started to get a bit concerned. When he would step with his right leg, the fletching appeared to be moving in accordance with the shoulder. The bull slowly worked his way into the timber. Both us and the spotters lost sight of him when he hit the timber. We sat down and ate a snack and gave him some time. When the spotters confirmed they had not seen anything come out the timber, we picked up his track and started trailing him. We had pretty good blood at first, and his tracks were easy to follow when he was running. But when we got into the timber he had slowed to a slow walk. The tracks became very difficult to follow, which was amazing to me that such a huge animal could leave such little trace. We were able to stay on his tracks for a good 3/4 mile. the blood was slowly petering out. We eventually found a spot with good tracks and blood, there were a few forks in the trail from that point, and from that point it was not clear which direction he went.

We had our spotters come down and meet us and we all started hiking and gridding the entire area. Nothing. Not another single drop of blood. We all scoured that area the rest of the day hoping to find the next clue as to which direction he went. We searched till dark that day, and never got another clue from that last blood.

I called My buddy Travis and he said he would come up the next morning with his blood tracking dog. By this time I was thinking the hit was non lethal, based off the distance he had traveled and the blood petering out. It was becoming very clear that I had hit probably an inch or two too high, and got the scapula. I looked at a bunch of moose anatomy pictures and compared my hit to the anatomy pictures. A similar hit on an elk or deer would have no doubt took out the top of lungs, but the hump on a moose makes it very deceiving how low the lungs actually sit.

I still thought maybe there was a sliver of a chance I caught high lung and he was bleeding internally. So at first light Travis met us at camp and we took the dog up to last blood. We spent half the day up there with the dog, but the dog didn't have any luck either. We never picked up anything definitive from that point of last blood.

I was devastated. it was a real punch to the gut. I had pushed all my chips in on this bull, and blown it.

 

[RaggedHunter]

I didn't know what to do. Part of me thought I should try and get on one of the other bulls before they moved or were killed. But I was not ready to give up on Big John yet. I couldn't even think about going after another bull.

We have multiple great opportunities to go after Lil John we actually had him relocated the same day, and he was back to his routine by the next day. But I couldn't bring myself to go after him.

We got word from some deer hunters that the back pocket bull 1 basin over had been killed opening morning, so we knew he was out of the question.

I thought of all the other great bulls I had seen scouting. But I didn't want any of them. I only wanted John.

We continued to go to the glassing knob and other vantage points trying to relocate John. But all any of us could find was Lil John.

As the weekend closed out the friends and family that had came up to help one by one had to leave and make their way back home.

Monday night, it was just myself, Josh and Garren left at camp. We had went to our vantage point and seen Lil John again right where we expected him to be. I contemplated going after him.. and probably should have.. But I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

We decided we had enough light left to work the road all the way to town. The basin we were in was essentially a funnel straight down to the nearest town. The road we were camped off followed the creek all the way up. The tracks we had been able to follow of Big Johns were going in a straight line down the valley.

We figured it was worth working the road all the way to town just before dark. Mind you that several of us had already walked this creek all the way to town both along the road and on both sides of the creek, multiple times over the last couple of days.

I was riding in the back seat, Garren and Josh in the front. I was feeling pretty sorry for myself and not feeling the least bit of optimism. We came around a bend where the timber opened up to a small patch of willows on the opposing hill. And I caught a glimpse of a large dark object on the edge of the timber. There was a stump in this same opening that had got us excited more than once. But I told josh to slow down so I could take a look. Totally expecting to see the same stump we had seen in this opening several times before, I was pretty lackadaisical about pulling up my binos. No sooner had my eyes hit the glass, than i recognized Big John standing there feeding on willows. My heart jumped out of my chest, I could hardly get a word out, but the guys could tell by my excitement and scrambling that I had spotted him.

He was 180 yards away across the creek. and I knew I only had about 10 minutes of light left. The creek was running enough that he had no idea we were there. I grabbed my bow and darted down the hill to get within range. I got to the creek, and could not see him. If I had more day light I would have waited here for him to feed out into a clearing as I was within bow range. But with light fading, I decided to push it. I crossed the creek and eased towards him. Suddenly I caught movement. I could see the tops of his antlers, 29 yards. Problem was, I was downhill from him and the brush was covering him.. As he stepped through what should have been my shooting lane, all i could see was the top of his back and tops of his antlers. No sooner had he got through the opening, than I felt the wind hit the back of my neck and he took off down the creek.

Darkness set in and I backed out and met back up with the guys. I was revitalized now. I knew my shot opening morning was not lethal, I knew the bull was alive and still in the country. And I had came incredibly close to getting him this evening. I was feeling optimistic again.

What was mind blowing to me, was where we saw him feed out of the timber, ended up being the very first patch of willows on the other side of the timber that we tracked him into and lost blood in. He had not gone more than a 1/2 mile from last blood. We had scoured this area with multiple people and even a tracking dog and never stumbled into him.

But here he was 2 days later. I was feeling optimistic that come morning we could catch back up to him.