hoopscoach
Active Member
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LAST EDITED ON Oct-15-11 AT 09:38PM (MST)[p]Well, this represented my 5th weekend in WY trying to find a good bull moose. I had seen multiple bulls daily but most were yearlings or too small. Generally, I was glassing aspen pockets from the next ridge over or glassing a particular willow patch on state land where I was seeing a lot of cows. Thursday night I drove through the night and arrived at my hunting area at 4:00 am. I slept for about 2 hours in the front seat of the truck and at dawn, I checked out the willow patch and found only yearling bulls and cows. There was one bull that looked pretty good, but he was on the adjacent private property. It was recommended by the local game warden that I take my ATV up some of the forest service roads that go through the timber because he had been seeing quite a few bulls in that way. I took his advice and had driven to the end of a two track road and was hiking around when I ran into an elk hunter that I had talked to earlier in the day. We spent about 20 minutes chatting about an area he thought I should check for moose so I hiked back to my ATV and headed back the way I had come. After going about 200 yards, I looked up and there was a bull moose trotting down the road in front of me! I moved into the trees where I had a better view of the clearing he trotted into. I could see the bull in the meadow looking my way about 75 yards out and I decided he was a shooter. He moved down the hill and I could see a cow standing beyond him. I moved laterally about 10 yards for a better angle in case I shot through the bull, it wouldn't hit the cow. The first shot hit him in the lungs and he moved down the hill about 10 yards. I decided to keep shooting until he was down so I hit him again, this time in the heart. He walked about 30 yards and piled up.
I shot him at 2:00 pm and finished caping, quartering, trimming and boning the hind quarters at 7:00 pm. Thank goodness I didn't have far to pack him. It was dark when I finished packing all the meat, cape and head, unboned front quarters and gear onto the ATV for the 8 mile trip back to camp. Unbelievably, I was able to pack the entire moose on the ATV and get him out in one trip.
Like an idiot, I used my drinking water to clean the blood off the bull for photos so by the time I got back to camp, I was dehydrated, hungary and incredibly tired. He isn't a monster bull but he's respectable and a hard earned trophy as far as I'm concerned. Overall, I had a great time, saw some pretty country and met a lot of really nice people in Wyoming. I can't wait to go back! Thanks to all the MM members that gave me great advice, it was another incredibly successful DIY hunt!
Hoopscoach
"Rather fail with honor than succeed by fraud"
I shot him at 2:00 pm and finished caping, quartering, trimming and boning the hind quarters at 7:00 pm. Thank goodness I didn't have far to pack him. It was dark when I finished packing all the meat, cape and head, unboned front quarters and gear onto the ATV for the 8 mile trip back to camp. Unbelievably, I was able to pack the entire moose on the ATV and get him out in one trip.
Like an idiot, I used my drinking water to clean the blood off the bull for photos so by the time I got back to camp, I was dehydrated, hungary and incredibly tired. He isn't a monster bull but he's respectable and a hard earned trophy as far as I'm concerned. Overall, I had a great time, saw some pretty country and met a lot of really nice people in Wyoming. I can't wait to go back! Thanks to all the MM members that gave me great advice, it was another incredibly successful DIY hunt!
Hoopscoach
"Rather fail with honor than succeed by fraud"
