Friggin Cool!

[Deerslayer]

On the way home this afternoon from taking my father in law trout fishing in the snowy range...I spotted a Moose in a willow flat about 100 yards off the road. I had a 200mm lens but no movie camera, which sucks because this would have definitely made either America's Funniest Home Video or the Video of Asians being run down by wild big game animals some of you were talking about.

..anyway, I wanted some real good pix so I felt I should slip closer while leaving ol' paw and law on the road in the safe zone .....so I'm 50 yards.......he has no clue....I circle down wind......he is oblivious as he feeds on willows. This guy is big.......not as big as the Alaskan Yukons that go between 50-70 inches...but a lot bigger than the 24incher pug has mounted
...so now I am at 25 yards and closing...inching up only as he has his head knee deep in willows. This big guy has no clue....just me, him and enjoying nature at it's finest. Well, he has now looked over at me at 15 yards several times.....but he is not sure what the hell I am, as I too am knee deep in willows......so I start mimicking his gutteral grunts as best I can while I'm clicking away the whole time, hoping to throw him off just enough to get a close up of that tick in his earhole......just like the Asians who get trampelled in Yellowstone! I want to get just a tad closer, because paw in law is taking pix from above with his own camera capturing my closeness with the Moose ...and I want to make sure he captures the lack of ground between me and bullwinkle, right?.....so I get to withinn 10 feet and he looks dead at me...puts his head down and feed towards me....so I just freeze.......and after a few seconds I realize he is doing that head swaggering thingy they do just before they kick another bulls ass! ....I am clicking away with the old Nikon......a roll and a half by now.....and this phucker comes on a dead charge!......OH SHIT!!!!! ..I am hauling ass but loosing the race,shooting pix on the run.... and Paw and Law is screaming Run! Run! Run!......as my life flashes before me I bust my ass and hit the ground as this big Phucker comes piling in on me!...I'm crawling on all 4's up under the big tree beside me.....and this asshole is thrashing the limbs I'm under!....he holds me at bay for a good 5 minutes..as I jockey for position through to the other side..then make a break for it the last 100 yards to the truck.....Moosie hot on my ass and closing quick!...I fly over the guard rail and this guy come blowin' up to my Suburban with a vengance......the guard rail is the only thing that stopped him from trashing my truck. We watched this big guy from the saftey of the interior of the truck for another 45 minutes as he destroyed several small trees and pissed on his hocks while pawing the ground.......let's just say he was hormonally challenged! Ohhhh..... So that is why the Yellowstone brochure says to watch the big ones from the safety of the vehicle!!!

...should make for some intersting pix of a big bull elk for these parts.........just wish the video had been running.
DS

 

[Kraven]

Great story DS,you crazy fugger.

 

[Elkhunter]

Great story! Envisioning that story as I read it was funny as hell.

 

[KC]

Red Neck most famous last words

"Hey y'all watch jiss".

 

[Mojave]

Get em' developed Deerslayer, get em' developed quick. I wanna see these pics. Make sure you post them here with <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> Moosie hot on my ass and closing quick!... <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> as the topic. What an awesome story. Just as you were yelling "Oh Shit" in the story, I was doing the same in front of my computer. BTW <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Moosie hot on my ass and closing quick!... <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Bad Moosie we will need to talk to him about his chasing ways.

 

[Deerslayer]

I felt battered and bruised afterwards escaping with minor cuts and abraisons of my own doing from panicking and falling on my ass. I do realize I broke the golden rule and got to close, but he looked like a nice enough fella.....until he started that ruttin' shit!

Yeah...I shoulda named this topic "Moosie attacks DS" ......I bet that would get some interest!

It'll take me a couple of days to get the film developed......mine are of the Moose only....and paw in law is headin back to La...so it may be a while on the ones with me and the moose in the same frame. But I can give ya some point blank pix of a hormonal moose!
DS

 

[IndyJay]

Dammm Bro! Wish I coulda been there to see it. It's my turn to laugh my arse off at you now after the downhill gallop, riding sideways in the saddle, where's my buddy ride Austin gave me last month... where exactly were you? Coming down from Libby Flats to Encampment or headed down the other side?

Can't wait to see the pics!

Mark Sims, aka Deerslayer, aka Moose Whisperer!

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 08-09-2002 10:11: Message edited by: IndyJay ]</font>

 

[Deerslayer]

I was a couple miles back this way from where we caught the trout when you were here....back toward home.

The only whispering I was doing was ......"dear God, if you only get me outta this one, I'll do better, I promise! "
DS

 

[dgibson]

I saw a moose up there a couple of years ago...we were not too far from the highway on Mill Creek, if I remember right. I was walking toward the creek with this old guy and we saw him laying down under a stand of pines. The old guy thought he was a pack mule someone had tied up and went about his business. I didn't buy it so I started walking closer....I got within about 50 feet or so and he stood up. Unlike you, DS, I try to maintain my wits around big animals so I issued a "oh shit" and backed off. Mine was just a dink, though, no big bada$$ like yours.

 

[Deerslayer]

Darren.......I don't know about the one I saw not being a dink, as I have seen few bull moose to try and be a credible judge.....but if I had to guess, I would say he was between 30 and 40 inches......big discrepancy I know but I really was not concentrating on his spread...initially I was focussed on getting close and then I was focussed on hauling ass!

I'm sure we have some folks on here that will be able to look at the pix I took close up and get within a few inches of his width....
DS

 

[IndyJay]

Get this.... just got off the horn with the Moose Whisperer himself. Said the moose pi$$ed him off and he wanted to go back after him! What a set of stones! Fortunately he thought better of it and was content to keep his distance...

 

[dgibson]

Hey, bubba, they're ALL big when their breath is steaming up your sunglasses! Those in that area are Shiras moose, aren't they? Don't get that whoppin' big to begin with. Kinda like the brookies I always catch. 30 or 40 inches probably isn't too bad for them.

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 08-09-2002 14:22: Message edited by: dgibson ]</font>

 

[Ithaca 37]

DS, Next time try sprinkling some salt on his tail!! Glad you made it out alive!!

 

[Deerslayer]

Hahaha...yeah right! ...I do wish I would have kept my cool longer though...schit, I just panicked when he started that head wagging thingy and then the charge! I'm not sure he wanted to hurt me......hell, we may even could have become friends.....but I felt the timing was a little off and we got off on the wrong foot!

Ithaca...what's big for a Shiras?.....I hope he was respectable because I would hate to know I go abused by a dink

I'm going back in tomorrow with the movie camera and try to locate him and get some footage......with him rutting I think I can pull some schit on him......may even get ol' wild elk to lone me a burlap cow elk suit and see how well this bull two-steps!

I saw where he had been all over the wallows there for several days it looked like, so I figure he won't go far......I won't be getting no damn 10 feet to him though, I can tell you that!!!

DS

 

[Ithaca 37]

I think any Shiras over 35 inches is getting real good! Why don't you put a tape on him next time? Just talk softly and gently to him while you're doing it. They don't like to be startled!

 

[Deerslayer]

You got the runnin' part right...but instead of laughing I think I may have been shitting my pants! .......and the paw in law is a Baptist Preacher-man.....he's wearing the cloth so your right, he's not to be trusted
DS

 

[A-con]

Hey buddy, I forget to ask you about this on the phone. That bull didn't use you like a cow did he ? You can tell me the truth, I won't let your secret out, but I wouldn't trust that father-in law.
Thats a wild story, but knowing Mark like I do, I belive every word of it !
Hey Indy, can't you just see ol DS, running and laughing, with a hot bull on his heels ?

 

[IndyJay]

You're right, Anaconda... I can 'ol DS in his Lucky Leopards, smoking a Tiparillo holding on to his favorite hat with one hand and running his ass off!

I can also see you and me laughinging our asses off!

 

[Nut]

Cool DS!!

My 12 yr old son and I stalked up to a whitetail buck(in velvet) while Vipe watched in the car with the other 2 boys. We got to within 10 yards and was spotted. We froze and after a few minutes it went back to feeding. But I motioned behind my back for Vipe to move car and while she was doing that the buck spooked. For a millisecond I thought the buck was going to take the trail that my boy and I was on but luckily it went a different way. But it can't compare to what you experienced with that Moose.

Where are the pics?

 

[Deerslayer]

Sure it compares to the Moose incident Nut!...if that buck had run you down you would have shit your pants no less than I did!
..getting close on the pic upload and hosting....
DS