shedneck
Active Member
- Messages
- 590
I’ve received help from the people on this forum and I’ve helped others on this forum. I’ve ended up meeting people from this forum who are great friends and remain my hunting buddies. I’ve given and received a fair amount of criticism, but little or any of that offended me. All in all, I’m thankful for this forum and the friends I’ve met.
After a long wait - admittedly not as long as some - I was fortunate enough to draw an antlerless moose tag as a non-resident. As I understand it, one of only two antlerless moose tags available to a non-resident.
As you all know, the Utah antlerless draw results are among the last to be posted. With a full hunting schedule, fortunately, time was limited to hunt. We chose the dates, and stuck with it. The weather was hot and dry. The number of people was shocking, but looking back it shouldn’t have been. It was a beautiful time to be in the mountains. That valley is loaded with people, and I can’t blame folks for wanting to be exactly where I was.
As with most early fall hunts, the first hour of shooting light and the last hour of shooting light were the most likely times to have a reasonable chance at seeing a moose. Or so I thought.
We left for the hunt really early in the morning and arrived at camp an hour or two after shooting light. After setting up camp, we started looking for moose around 9 am. Within 15 minutes or less of looking we had a cow moose 20 yards off the road. Seemed like the ultimate wish, but it wasn’t. When I saw her, my heart didn’t beat harder; I didn’t feel that familiar “buck fever” feeling; I didn’t want my long-awaited hunt to be over so quickly, and having never hunted moose before, she looked young to me and I wasn’t interested in shooting an immature cow. I didn’t shoot.
Regret later? A little, only because we went a while without seeing another cow. We did see, however, more people than I’ve ever seen in my life on a hunt. We saw people pulling campers, driving cars, driving vans, driving atvs, driving utvs, driving motorcycles, and whatever else on some rough dirt roads. Not complaining, but it was a bit shocking. I later learned, at least based on my limited experience, that moose are less bothered by that activity than I’m used to with all other big game.
The last full day of hunting was a little stressful. All self-imposed. As you all understand, especially as a non-resident, these opportunities don’t happen often. On top of that, I love moose meat. Needless to say, I wanted to fill this tag even though I’m perfectly fine not filling some tags.
We were at a glassing point before we could even see. After an hour or so we didn’t see a moose. Knowing it was my last full day, my mind immediately went to “I have to go on a death hike no matter what it takes to pack a moose out and no matter what it takes to get away from people.” A buddy and I went. We went until I reached a clearing in some of the thickest stuff imaginable. As I walked at a pace that would suggest I was running from a ghost, I glanced to the side and saw a cow bedded down (still fairly early) only 110 yards away. The trees and brush made a resting shot impossible. As I readied for an off-hand shot, she stood. She walked. I fired. I missed. My nerves were
out of control. I can honestly say that I was more amped up than all three of my rams. I don’t know why. As she walked away I shot twice more - both true. She went down as quick as any ethical hunter would appreciate.
A call to the guys who weren’t there for the shot, and a ton of work later, we had all the meat on ice extremely quick.
Moose are amazing critters. Much respect for them and the land they live on. So many thanks to my friends who made all of this possible. You know who you are. Of course, special thanks to my family for holding things together while I chased dreams. My dad was by my side - that means the world to me. Some may see it as a cow hunt. I saw it as a dream come true and an experience of a lifetime. There aren’t many North American animals that I haven’t harvested, and this hunt ranks among the top.
Thank you, Utah. I’ve seen the criticism of Utah wildlife management, and I’m not agreeing or disagreeing with any of it because I don’t get to hunt there often. What I can say is this - Utah allowed me the opportunity to hunt an animal that I’ve never hunted and I loved every minute.
After a long wait - admittedly not as long as some - I was fortunate enough to draw an antlerless moose tag as a non-resident. As I understand it, one of only two antlerless moose tags available to a non-resident.
As you all know, the Utah antlerless draw results are among the last to be posted. With a full hunting schedule, fortunately, time was limited to hunt. We chose the dates, and stuck with it. The weather was hot and dry. The number of people was shocking, but looking back it shouldn’t have been. It was a beautiful time to be in the mountains. That valley is loaded with people, and I can’t blame folks for wanting to be exactly where I was.
As with most early fall hunts, the first hour of shooting light and the last hour of shooting light were the most likely times to have a reasonable chance at seeing a moose. Or so I thought.
We left for the hunt really early in the morning and arrived at camp an hour or two after shooting light. After setting up camp, we started looking for moose around 9 am. Within 15 minutes or less of looking we had a cow moose 20 yards off the road. Seemed like the ultimate wish, but it wasn’t. When I saw her, my heart didn’t beat harder; I didn’t feel that familiar “buck fever” feeling; I didn’t want my long-awaited hunt to be over so quickly, and having never hunted moose before, she looked young to me and I wasn’t interested in shooting an immature cow. I didn’t shoot.
Regret later? A little, only because we went a while without seeing another cow. We did see, however, more people than I’ve ever seen in my life on a hunt. We saw people pulling campers, driving cars, driving vans, driving atvs, driving utvs, driving motorcycles, and whatever else on some rough dirt roads. Not complaining, but it was a bit shocking. I later learned, at least based on my limited experience, that moose are less bothered by that activity than I’m used to with all other big game.
The last full day of hunting was a little stressful. All self-imposed. As you all understand, especially as a non-resident, these opportunities don’t happen often. On top of that, I love moose meat. Needless to say, I wanted to fill this tag even though I’m perfectly fine not filling some tags.
We were at a glassing point before we could even see. After an hour or so we didn’t see a moose. Knowing it was my last full day, my mind immediately went to “I have to go on a death hike no matter what it takes to pack a moose out and no matter what it takes to get away from people.” A buddy and I went. We went until I reached a clearing in some of the thickest stuff imaginable. As I walked at a pace that would suggest I was running from a ghost, I glanced to the side and saw a cow bedded down (still fairly early) only 110 yards away. The trees and brush made a resting shot impossible. As I readied for an off-hand shot, she stood. She walked. I fired. I missed. My nerves were
out of control. I can honestly say that I was more amped up than all three of my rams. I don’t know why. As she walked away I shot twice more - both true. She went down as quick as any ethical hunter would appreciate.
A call to the guys who weren’t there for the shot, and a ton of work later, we had all the meat on ice extremely quick.
Moose are amazing critters. Much respect for them and the land they live on. So many thanks to my friends who made all of this possible. You know who you are. Of course, special thanks to my family for holding things together while I chased dreams. My dad was by my side - that means the world to me. Some may see it as a cow hunt. I saw it as a dream come true and an experience of a lifetime. There aren’t many North American animals that I haven’t harvested, and this hunt ranks among the top.
Thank you, Utah. I’ve seen the criticism of Utah wildlife management, and I’m not agreeing or disagreeing with any of it because I don’t get to hunt there often. What I can say is this - Utah allowed me the opportunity to hunt an animal that I’ve never hunted and I loved every minute.
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