A MT Moose update

In addition to telling us about your line of work that lets you spend a month and a half hunting, I'm curious what your inner monologue was during that time that let you not get discouraged or think "I shoulda killed that bull,yesterday, last week, last month"?

So to answer the first question of my line of work. I own and operate a billboard company in Montana. Great gig, not gonna lie. Not going to get rich doing it but people sometimes get caught up in the money side of life and we make just enough money to get the expenses covered and have a little extra for kids and hunting. SO many people don't understand the value of time until you have it. I used to be a project manager for a large company and worked 70-80 hours a week and rarely saw my kids. Took a 50% pay cut to do what I'm doing now but I can pretty much run my schedule exactly how I want. I can bust extra time out in August to take Sept, oct, and November pretty much off.....I will always encourage anyone I can to take opportunities to allow them more time away from work even if its less money.........the value of time is priceless for the opportunities it creates.

Second question......everybody has their own goal of what they want to make of a hunt. was there a time or two, that I saw a real nice bull and said.........dang, maybe I should have shot that one. But quickly it was overcome by the fact that I had still had a moose tag in my pocket and I know there would be no way to shoot a big one if I notched that tag on one that I had to think about. My theory on most big game animals anymore is this. If you have to sit there and really think about whether its big or not.........it probably isn't. WHen you see one that hits home, you usually know it right away. Case in point was my bull moose. I didn't get a great look but the little bit I saw told me this was the next class above anything I had seen all year. Therefore, without even getting a spotter on him or anything, I knew I would be happy with this bull. And for me, this hunt had some pretty incredible experiences along the way, probably the most was the attached video for those who didn't get to see it. Not because it was cool for me (although it really was) but that I got to share that experience with my 8 yr old son who I guarantee will never forget that moment as long as he lives.

Even my son at 8 yrs old got to learn that you don't always have to shoot one to have a very successful hunt and that the only way to shoot a big one is to let the smaller ones go. By the way, that little sucker came home last night excited as heck and says this " Wow Dad that is really cool......you really think that one was big enough". He says he would have waited:) LMAO......coming from the kid that begged me to shoot the one on video:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvX_MqBns0I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oDC_AlgoXE
 
Great story and awesome bull. You took full advantage of the tag thats for sure. Congrats!
 
Who likes moose meat???:)

Matt, you have to make this recipe at least once with the moose, I promise you won't be disappointing (low and slow, one pot meals always win right?). Not to mention the leftovers are killer and you can make the order as big as your biggest pot.

We often don't even bother with the csipetke, sometimes we just cheat and buy pre-made gnocci from the store and roasted potatoes work fine too.

http://honest-food.net/2012/01/03/hungarian-venison-goulash/
 
Matt,

Great bull and way to make the most of the tag. IMO, you made the right decision as some of the bigger bulls will begin dropping antlers in the next few weeks.

I think getting to spend 46 days hunting moose is the real trophy.

Great job.
 
You have a great perspective on life Critter. You can always make more money but you can never make more time. You had a good hunt.
 
Here is the bull I killed alive and well in 2012. He didn't change much. But it makes it a little easier to see why he is a hard bull to let go.

Pretty neat that a guy took that last year and sent it to me last night.....

Did you shoot him relatively close to where this picture was taken? Just curious how far he might have ventured since last year.
 
So to answer the first question of my line of work. I own and operate a billboard company in Montana. Great gig, not gonna lie. Not going to get rich doing it but people sometimes get caught up in the money side of life and we make just enough money to get the expenses covered and have a little extra for kids and hunting. SO many people don't understand the value of time until you have it. I used to be a project manager for a large company and worked 70-80 hours a week and rarely saw my kids. Took a 50% pay cut to do what I'm doing now but I can pretty much run my schedule exactly how I want. I can bust extra time out in August to take Sept, oct, and November pretty much off.....I will always encourage anyone I can to take opportunities to allow them more time away from work even if its less money.........the value of time is priceless for the opportunities it creates.

Second question......everybody has their own goal of what they want to make of a hunt. was there a time or two, that I saw a real nice bull and said.........dang, maybe I should have shot that one. But quickly it was overcome by the fact that I had still had a moose tag in my pocket and I know there would be no way to shoot a big one if I notched that tag on one that I had to think about. My theory on most big game animals anymore is this. If you have to sit there and really think about whether its big or not.........it probably isn't. WHen you see one that hits home, you usually know it right away. Case in point was my bull moose. I didn't get a great look but the little bit I saw told me this was the next class above anything I had seen all year. Therefore, without even getting a spotter on him or anything, I knew I would be happy with this bull. And for me, this hunt had some pretty incredible experiences along the way, probably the most was the attached video for those who didn't get to see it. Not because it was cool for me (although it really was) but that I got to share that experience with my 8 yr old son who I guarantee will never forget that moment as long as he lives.

Even my son at 8 yrs old got to learn that you don't always have to shoot one to have a very successful hunt and that the only way to shoot a big one is to let the smaller ones go. By the way, that little sucker came home last night excited as heck and says this " Wow Dad that is really cool......you really think that one was big enough". He says he would have waited:) LMAO......coming from the kid that begged me to shoot the one on video:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvX_MqBns0I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oDC_AlgoXE


Let's make this an all-inclusive Q&A session, tell us more.
 
Way to get the most you could out of that tag! You spent a ton of days in the field, saw a lot of moose and ended up getting a big one you seem really happy with, congrats!
 
Did you shoot him relatively close to where this picture was taken? Just curious how far he might have ventured since last year.

Within about 6 miles.............And I've learned one thing about moose for certain. You see a bull one day, he could literally be 6 miles away by morning. those suckers cover ground. I have a picture of one bull that I took in Mid october, took another picture of the same bull 2 weeks later 11 miles away.........

This is one thing that makes them so hard to hunt!
 
Within about 6 miles.............And I've learned one thing about moose for certain. You see a bull one day, he could literally be 6 miles away by morning. those suckers cover ground. I have a picture of one bull that I took in Mid october, took another picture of the same bull 2 weeks later 11 miles away.........

This is one thing that makes them so hard to hunt!

That's interesting. I don't know why, but I always assumed they lived a relatively sedentary lifestyle.
 
Congrats Matt, looks like a great bull. Do you think its bigger than that one you said was your target bull on page 1 of this thread?
 
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