Against all odds: my 2023 season

[txco]

No sightings today either but we did see 2 bull and a cow elk. Cant believe Im seeing more bull elk than moose. Planning to hunt 1-2 more days at this point then I have to get home.

 

[OverlordBear]

Keep it up this was a great thread to stumble on after a long day at work! I am hoping to draw a bull moose tag sometime in my life. However I usually get a roadkill moose once a year thanks to careless drivers. You can’t beat their meat and I always stop for moose meat.

 

[txco]

Idaho Recap - The Bad, The Good (!), and my observations on moose hunting in general

The Bad - It felt like all my luck ran out in Idaho. As I tried to prepare for this season and realized how stretched I was going to be while maintaining my family and job, I decided to hire a guide for Idaho. I didnt think I could get friends to help me in Idaho, it would allow my to fly up there on miles cheap saving two travel days, it would simplify logistics and gear and the local knowledge was supposed to keep the hunt from dragging out. The unit was a decent one but these bulls were more mountain bulls hanging with the elk than loafing in the willow flats. I talked to a few previous tag holders who gave me some valuable insight but it also made me realize trying to this in a week on my own would be tough. This whole semi live thread started when I was trying to understand the peak of the moose rut to time my hunt and save late season for mule deer. So I picked the last week of September in front on the full harvest moon and went in looking to enjoy my first moose rut hunt for 5 days. The outfitter had 100% success rate on moose and my guide himself had lived there his whole life and been a part of over a dozen moose kills. I felt very confident and was even hoping to get a bear and do some fishing.

 

[txco]

The 5 day hunt lasted 7 days. It was a big mental grind. We saw a cow moose on day 2, a cow moose in the dark on day 6 and our first bull on day 7... We did 14 hour days covering ground by truck, glass, voice/calling, and hiking. The weather was overall pretty crappy with lots of rain and fog. It felt like every moose just went into a hole. We even chased a few ghosts from trail cams or phone calls. A couple days we never saw a living game animal. Honestly, if I didnt already have my Colorado bull I would have been freaking out about a missed opportunity. Of course I also would have had more time to hunt too without that tag. The guide was at his wits end and we were really scraping the bottom of the barrel at the end. I tought about going solo in a different part of the unit on my extra days because the guide area didnt cover the whole unit. In the end I felt it wouldn't be worth it to try and go learn a new area solo. So I shot a couple grouse and we kept after it.

My wife said she had things under control where I could extend a couple days as long as I was home Sunday. She wins MVP for this trip and the whole fall to be honest.

@BAKPAKR was a major source of positive energy along with some of my friends back home. That takes us to Saturday, day 7.

 

[txco]

Day 7 started with a calling session and no response. Then we hiked about 2.5 miles down a network of gated old roads calling and glassing into a burn. A bull had been seen in the area but all sign looked a few days old. Rain and wind picked up and we saw nothing. So we kept working a loop where moose historically hung out. Some parts of the route had years of moose scrapes, rubs, and pits. We only saw one fresh rub all week. In fact, we also had multiple elk bugle to our moose grunts.

 

[txco]

On one stop above a steep drainage, we call again for the ten thousandth time and the guide hears a grunt back. I eventually hear it too. Its the first grunt we for sure heard all week. The bull gets worked up and the dance began. I tried to move down to get a look into a fold but nothing. We eventually realize hes across from us, not below us. The guide gets him worked up and we start dropping into the ravine. We think the bull is coming to us but then goes silent. The wind was swirling and I thought he blew out. Turns out he was still coming, just shut up crossing the deep thick bottom of the ravine. Once he crosses he's grunting and breaking brush and coming up to us. We're half way down a severe slope covered in alders, berries, bear grass and a couple fingers of trees. We can hear him coming and I was not about to be picky on a bull.

 

[txco]

I catch my first glimpse at about 100 yards. He coming through the brush but hes swallowed up by how tall it all is. I see a nice paddle and keep maneuvering for a shot. I eventually get one at about 60 yards while the guide is raking uphill behind me. I shoot my 300 win mag once and the bull lunges behind another bush. I cant get a clear shot but within 30 seconds he flips over backwards on the slope and rolls about 50-60 yards like a mountain goat dowhill until his antlers get tangled in the only pine tree on the ravine.

 

[txco]

Thank goodness he caught the tree or he might not have stopped until the bottom. We cheer loudly in relief and start slipsliding our way down there. Its still rolling fog and spit raining. We get down there and he was bigger than we thought. This great paddle is sticking up and so we get really excited. Then we realize theres only one antler we can see. So we thought he broke it off in the fall. Turns out he had a crazy nontypical left side! Unbelievably unique trophy!

We are afraid to untangle him so he doesnt slide down the mountain. Some of the guides friends are camped nearby who had offered to help us. So we climbed out and went to get them. We ended up the 5 of us having a moose party on the side of this ravine in the rain. It was a ton of fun with great laughs and made a difficult job much easier with all the help. These guys had killed several moose in Idaho and Washington amongst their camp love the opportunity to be around a moose. Given the wet slope, it would have been very tough just the guide and I. I cant imagine trying to do it solo especially on that slope.

 

[txco]

 

[txco]

Moose drool and mountain dew for the win

 

[txco]

 

[txco]

 

[txco]

I had 3-4 points of contact heading uphill to the road. All the folks were rockstars and a pleasure to share the experience with.

 

[txco]

I didnt think Id be able to make it back to Idaho for a late season hunt. Maybe a 10% chance. I had to get home to my family as we're moving this week and get caught up on work. So I was incredibly thankful and fortunate to take this unique bull. I love freaks and love this bull. He was the only bull I saw or heard the entire week. The rut and the moose were just shut down. I was thankful to also see one get called in. I hope all the other hunters in the field have an epic week this week chasing grunting bulls!

 

[Cattleman]

Congratulations @txco
2 for 2 with just the mule deer tag to cap off a phenomenal season !

 

[txco]

So after hunting 2 shiras moose this season here are a few thoughts and observations-

• "Moose are everywhere around here" I heard this more times than I can remember. I saw 3 bulls total on my 2 hunts and shot 2 of them. I saw another 6 cows total. Thats with 11 days in the field. Moose are low density animals in general. Weather matters even though we cant control it. Heat shut them down in Colorado it seemed and the rain/fog/moon (maybe even some wolves) made Idaho hard. Be ready to not see much. And they can hide better than you think. I also will say, dont get frustrated if you dont see any. They're still there and we just have to play the cards we're dealt.
• Game bags- I bought 4 kuiu moose bags and used an additional 3 elk/deer bags I already had. The kuiu large moose bags probably are better suited for Alaskan size moose but worked nice. I think you could get away with large elk bags on a shiras quarter, or at least 2 if you didnt want to buy new ones. If you dont cut the ribs out, I think you could get away with 6 total bags. Or just spread the loose meat out a little more. I think both my bulls were around 900 - 1,000 lbs and 4-6 years old. Looking forward to hearing from the states on ages.
• Moose are big. I know people do it solo, especially in Alaska and my hats off to them (I cant imagine a 1500-2,000 lb bull). Breaking one down and packing it out solo or even with two people is hard work. Its exponentially easier having multiple people, not just linear. Not to mention if they go down in a suboptimal spot. Preplanning recovery equipment/buddies is crucial.
• I asked a lot of forums and hunters about rut timing. Sounds like moose start responding to calls mid September and the rut heats up the end of September/Early October. Based on my very limited experience, shading to the later dates and being flexible with weather would be better. But bulls are still called in throughout September. I think the outfitter in Idaho is going to always recommend the first week of October after my experience. It was a toss up on which I came up and we guessed wrong.
• My 500 grain arrow had a clean pass through. My 300 win mag was double lung. Both moose were down in less than 60 yards (not counting rolling downhill). Luckily neither got their adrenaline going.
• Take your time. If I only had one tag, Id have been prepared for 2 5-7 days hunts or at least spending 10 days or more hunting one. I just did not have the time or ability to be gone that much on both tags. A victim of my own success there.
• I bought two 120 quart igloos max's and had a 75 quart yeti. Those worked perfectly with ice for the meat on my bulls. The larger coolers were needed for the bigger quarters.
• I bought some cheap 45q walmart coolers in Idaho for bringing meat on the plane. The extra baggage fees were much cheaper than any quote I got for next day air or refrigerated truck shipping.
• A comealong, ratchet straps, sawzall, extra rope, a tarp and hatchet were all good tools to have in the truck for breaking down the moose. Since I forgot my sawzall blades, the hatchet worked great on the ribs. I kept all these in one bag so if a buddy had to go to the truck while breaking the moose down, he could just grab the whole bag.
• My wife gave me the gerber double knife with the tendon tool. I also was looking forward to the bigger stiff knife blade instead of my normal replaceable blades. The knife came very dull and I cant get it sharp. I gave up on it halfway through just splitting the hide on the back on my first moose. We did both moose with havalons or outdoors edge knives. Im frustrated enough I plan to call gerber about it.

If anyone has any other questions on moose or moose hunting Im happy to share my thoughts. The rest of my gear was just like any other September elk hunt.

 

[Dave N]

Yep, that's a cool looking bull!

 

[BAKPAKR]

I am glad you were able to extend your stay and get a pretty darn cool bull. Congrats!

 

[Wild Bill]

Wow. What a cool bull. Glad you were able to get it done and kudos to you for passing on what you learned for others to use!

 

[huntandfly]

Thanks for documenting this experience, it’s great to see the successes and hear about what it takes to be successful even on tags that many think might be a “slam dunk”