My 2025 Once In a Lifetime Shiras Moose hunt. Recap

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

Mrs RaggedHunter must be a happy lady if this is his normal level of foreplay.

 

[intunegp]

Mrs RaggedHunter must be a happy lady if this is his normal level of foreplay.

Got me wondering if there's a new Rokslide influencer program where he's getting paid for the amount of time we spend refreshing this thread waiting for the next snippet

 

[RaggedHunter]

Finally the bulls stopped fighting. They stood there facing each other, I could see their chests heaving as they were staring one another down. The light cape bull was on my right and the all black bull was on my left.

I settled in behind the gun and put the fine crosshair from the williams globe sight behind the shoulder of the bull with the light colored cape. I took a deep breath and exhaled, the crosshairs settled and I began applying pressure to the trigger. KABOOM!

White smoke filled the air. I could make out the 2 dark moose bodies through the smoke. The one on the left was looking around in confusion. The one on the right was stumbling around trying to keep his balance.

As the smoke lifted, the bull on the right lost his balance and leaning back onto his back legs, front legs coming in the air he crashed over. A huge wave of water shot up when the bull crashed down.

The other bull ran about 10 yards and then sat there looking around. He couldn't figure out what just happened. He stood there for several minutes.

I was overcome with emotions. I couldn't believe what had just happened. I said a quick prayer and thanked god for this incredible experience.

As I was standing there in a state of shock. I could hear voices shouting and cheering from the timber behind me. Turns out, Josh and Travis had both received my message and were both already nearby. They had just got to the spot where Josh was set to pick me up that evening, when they heard me shoot.

I hiked back and grabbed my pack, and waited for my friends to get to me. Up to this point I realize that I have been only referring to Josh and Travis. Up to this point I have not mentioned that Travis's wife Becki was with him. So once they all made it to me, we all walked up to the moose together. As we walked I was trying to recap to them everything that had unfolded. I was having a hard time speaking, my nerves were still through the roof.

Not only was this one of the coolest experiences I have ever had in the woods. But as it turns out, the bull also died in a spot with the most incredible back drop with all the fall colors on full display.

I cannot put into words the amount of gratitude I feel. I thank everyone who helped me achieve this life long dream.

 

[RocketRob16]

Awesome story and congrats on a once in a lifetime bull!

 

[BigNate]

Congratulations! You did great telling the story also.

 

[dreamingWest]

Congrats man!
(Tagging this so I don't forget to come back and read the hunt story.)

 

[Moosehunter]

Amazing story!
Had me in suspense for sure.
Great bull!

 

[RaggedHunter]

We worked late into the night breaking down the bull and hauling him out of the marsh. We were all soaking wet, but we were immersed in the experience. I wouldn't have had it any other way. Breaking down a moose in the middle of a swamp just felt right, like the way a moose hunt should be.

Not sure what I was thinking, but I couldn't decide what I wanted to do with the cape. I had the idea that maybe a full body rug would be cool. So the final load was the full body cape with the head and horns attached. Mind you this cape was completely saturated. I have packed my fair share of heavy packs over the years.. I have never felt a pack anywhere near that heavy before.. That amount of weight walking through knee deep water in the dark was an experience I will never forget.

We finally made it back to camp and got the meat hung up around 230am.

One of the highlights for me was calling home to tell my wife and kids I had got a bull. By oldest son was elated, and kept asking me when I was going to be home so we could eat some of the meat. My middle son who is just learning to talk just kept saying (and I will translate for anyone that doesn't speak toddler) "big stinky moose!?".

When I got home my oldest boy couldn't wait to get a picture with the bull. And his pose of choice for his picture was to show off the guns.

A big thanks again to everyone involved.

 

[CTXhunter]

Awesome story, thanks for sharing. Glad I found it when you were done, I don’t think I could have taken the suspense to those of you with the hilarious memes and comments, thanks as well

 

[svivian]

@RaggedHunter you gave me the cheap hooker version and have been holding out this whole time!

 

[RaggedHunter]

@RaggedHunter you gave me the cheap hooker version and have been holding out this whole time!

Had to build that suspense amigo!

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

Not sure what I was thinking, but I couldn't decide what I wanted to do with the cape. I had the idea that maybe a full body rug would be cool. So the final load was the full body cape with the head and horns attached. Mind you this cape was completely saturated. I have packed my fair share of heavy packs over the years.. I have never felt a pack anywhere near that heavy before.. That amount of weight walking through knee deep water in the dark was an experience I will never forget.

My buddy got a moose and I skinned it out, which the hide so thick it was easy not to knife through it. He wondered about getting it tanned, I said sure but you have to carry it. He started rolled it up and lifted it and said "naw nevermind", I can only image it wet....


You guys have much issue dragging it out of the water?

 

[RaggedHunter]

My buddy got a moose and I skinned it out, which the hide so thick it was easy not to knife through it. He wondered about getting it tanned, I said sure but you have to carry it. He started rolled it up and lifted it and said "naw nevermind", I can only image it wet....


You guys have much issue dragging it out of the water?

Man your exactly right! That hide is so thick, it was easy not to poke through it. By far the best cape job I've ever done with regards to that, not a single hole through the hide!

I wish I had thrown everything on a scale so I could give a legit number to it. I hate to even speculate what it weighed. But I have packed entire mule deer quartered with head and cape, I have packed half an elk (front, hind, and loose meat) plus all my optics and gear in single trips several times.. I consider those packs quite heavy.. Those packs were not even in the same ballpark as the weight of this.. It was truly mesmerizing just how heavy it was.

It was heavy enough that I had a legit fear of falling forward in the water and being pinned underneath it. One of my buddies actually walked behind me to help keep me balanced and to roll me over if I fell.

Luckily dragging him out of the water wasn't as bad as we thought it was going to be. Where he died was about knee deep. He was just buoyant enough that the 3 of us were able to drag him over to a spot where the water was only ankle deep.

 

[ETtikka]

Awesome !, thanks for sharing