Gonna getta moose

[the nikster]

Going out this morning for the first time this year. My wife drew a moose tag in a short range weapon area near Idaho Falls. With her skill and my luck, this could happen quickly. We have to leave town for business late next week just to add a bit of pressure. Gonna try the muzzleloader cuz her upper body strength never quite got to the point where she trusted her bow past 25 yards.
Anyway, good luck to anyone hunting today, be safe.

 

[el unit]

Awesome! Good luck. Looking forward to reading/seeing a report back.

 

[elker]

Hope you get a nice bull! Sounds like a great hunt. PM sent

 

[Gr8bawana]

Good luck to you and your wife.

 

[prhunter]

Good luck

 

[duckhunt]

Good luck

 

[7mm08mo]

Lots of luck!!

 

[the nikster]

Quickly report then off to bed....
Coulda been done by 9am but my wife wants a big bull. 30" wide with 2 browtines per side was too small. No plink a dink for her.

 

[ppowell32]

Good luck! Hopefully they will start rutting soon.

 

[Sask hunter]

Good luck. They are really crushing around looking for cows here

 

[Deputydog!]

Good luck to you and your wife Nick!!

 

[mixedbag]

Good luck to your wife Nick.Hope all is well with you and the family

 

[the nikster]

Thanks folks.
Today was another hard day but no shots fired. Tomorrow is an off day, I'll get a decent recap going in the morning.

 

[LopeHunter]

Good luck! I had to return after the leaves fell but then finding bulls got easy in the unit I hunted in SE ID last year. The ranchers still had not rounded up the black cows though was well past the deadline. When I am king, black cows will not be allowed in moose habitat at any time during the year.

 

[MT_elk]

Good luck!

 

[the nikster]

It ain't over. Day 1 was pretty fun. On our way in to the area I was just telling my wife to 'keep your eyes open' when this guy put in an appearance.
We got really excited for a few moments, excited enough that I loaded the muzzleloader but did not put a cap on, not yet. He zigged and we zagged. He gave her a frontal view and a view from both sides. He stuck around for almost 30 minutes before he swam a canal and was forever gone from my freezer.
My wife had her eyes open for sure. Just minutes before we saw the young bull she snapped this pick of the sun rising.
After we watched the young bull we went for a couple of walks. We covered a half a dozen miles and saw a lot of beautiful sights. Once we got a bit excited when a little cow stood up out of the grass at 50 yards. We scooted around her in a semicircle trying to kick up any suitors she might have but she was apparently a loner.
With temperatures climbing near 70 in the late afternoon we decided to find some shade and do some calling.
I think the salmon colored camo must have given me away as we headed home about 45 minutes after sunset with memories but no moose.

 

[the nikster]

Day 2 was a complete failure, almost. We walked in to a seductive looking little spot. We got there about 30 minutes before sunrise. The rising sun was fantastic.
I got my wife situated in a nice little spot out of the wind where she could shoot across the water if a bull should appear
We made a couple of calls before the sun came up but heard nothing. A little while later I moved a bit higher to make sure nothing was sneaking in on us. I made a couple of calls and HOLY COW! The trees right across from us opened up with a really hot cow and a bull grunting in attendance. I was so sure it was about to happen that I took, what I thought would be, the last photo of my wife before she shot a moose.
We called back and forth for an hour or so but nothing ever appeared. I made her sit there for almost 3 hours, poor girl. As we got up to leave I snapped 1 last photo of the moosy looking island.
The remainder of the day was spent learning how difficult the rest of the area is to access without a boat. Many, many roads that appear on maps are all posted. Gates all say no trespassing. We put about 20 miles on the truck trying to access the river from the south side with nothing to show for it but bad attitudes. That evening we got an invitation to float the river from a member of this forum. We took the next day off to re supply and prep for an upcoming trip. I met with Bob, from Hunttalk, for lunch. We agreed to meet on Wednesday morning at his place. My wife and I went to bed with visions of sugarplums in our heads!

 

[the nikster]

Don't know why this time it rotated pics. Imagine the sun setting in China....

 

[fishing4sanity]

Looking forward to more and hoping that tomorrow is the day, good luck!

 

[Joe Hulburt]

This is going to be great I can already tell! Good luck. I just got back from Eastern Idaho helping a buddy try and find a moose and it was tough. Never saw a moose but he will get it done.