Saturday, September 23rd
Woke up at 5:00 AM and headed out down along the Ruby River road at about 5:30 AM. We drove to the Vigilante Guard Station/campground and parked the truck and unloaded the ATVs and transferred some gear and rifles. I decided to take my rifle in case we saw a black bear and/or wolf. The Ruby River (main) road was muddy and just sloppy and slippery in spots. We traveled the main road and turned the ATVs up the Cottonwood Creek road, there we met a guy in a truck that had just turned around after cautious attempt up the hill. He decided that it was just too slick to try and get up the hill. The ATVs made it with little effort. We got up to the weather station where I wanted to use the binoculars to look over the large aspen stands.
As we head up Cottonwood Creek towards the campground and ultimately the area below Black Butte, it became apparent that we were the only people/vehicles past the campground. I thought this was a good thing, since I imagined we had the whole place to ourselves. The higher up, the deeper the snow. We were seeing a lot of deer tracks and then we cut a set of moose tracks. We parked the ATVs and started following the one set of tracks as they headed down into Cottonwood Creek. The snow in some areas was thigh deep with most being anywhere from a foot to six inches. The moose tracks followed Cottonwood Creek and then crossed in a very "swampy"/beaver pond looking area. We decided not to follow, because we were certain we would end up with water over our Schnees and/or gaiters. We climbed back up the hill to the ATVs (that turned out to be about a 2 mile hike) and continued up towards the Gravelly Range Road. We turned around just prior to reaching the top. We wanted to check out some other areas down below. The sun was trying to peak out as we descended back into the clouds.
When we got down to the main road, we turned south. As we would pass trucks or camp sites, I would stop to ask whomever if they saw any moose. We came across 5 other people that were also moose hunting, which made 6 including my son. Wow! We continued on and drove up three different "spur" roads and glassed and did some walking in to different areas. No moose ... a couple of reports of cow moose up so and so trail. By now the rain/snow had stopped and each "spur" road was tore up from the archery/moose hunters driving to end of each road. I was glad to have the ATVs as we could navigate the road easier and a little quicker. As we were headed towards the Eureka Basin road, we came across one of the sheep herders. I always like to stop and speak to them, as they live in the country all summer and into the fall. I asked the guy if he had seen any moose and he responded (in broken English) that he had seen a "big moose" up on top, yesterday. He asked if we spoke any Spanish and I told him my son spoke some (those two years. The sheep herder and he conversed a little more and my stated that he just said the same thing only in Spanish. We drove to the top along the Eureka Basin road (where you can get cell phone coverage) and parked at the cattle guard and walked in about a mile and a half. We had gotten back into the snow and there were human tracks everywhere. I think the archery hunters and a couple of "moose" hunters had tried this same area. We got to a vantage point and started glassing into Coal Creek. I spotted a guy on a horse with another (empty) horse following. The guy appeared to be combing a particular area (not sure why). No moose.
By this time it was about 3:30 in the afternoon and we decided to drive back to the truck and load up and check out one or two more locations on our way back to Alder. I had an area I thought may be beneficial that we would try in the morning (little did I know plans can change very quickly).
As we finished up loading the ATVs there was a three older (archery) hunters sitting in camp enjoying some beer. My son and I walked up and asked them if they had seen and moose and they said, "Yes, one big one ... a definite shooter". We got a description of where they saw this "big moose" and drove to the area. No "big moose". It became apparent that we were on the wrong road, so we got ourselves situated and headed for the correct area. As we got to the area, we came upon another truck with a man and wife. I stopped next to them and asked them if they had seen any moose and they said, "Yes, right back there about a mile and a half ... a cow and a big bull .... You drove right past them". I quickly figured out that the moose were on private property. We turned around with the goal being that we wanted to just see a moose and just how big is a "big moose"? We came to the location of the cow and bull and sure enough one big bull moose (I would guess 45"+) standing broadside, no care in the world about 150 yards off the road on private property.
We stood there looking at the bull for a good 10 minutes with the bull not moving an inch. I decided it would not hurt to go and start knocking on doors (I checked my GPS unit to check the ownership name). As we traveled a little distance down the road, we encountered a guy with a horse trailer doing something with the horses. I told him that my son had a moose permit and there was a big moose over the hill and if he was or knew who the landowner was. He stated he was not the owner, but knew where they lived. He said, "You had better get going since it will be getting dark soon". We drove to the house and knocked on the door and got invited in. We told the folks in the house my son had a moose permit and that there was a big bull moose on his property. He hesitated and stated that the "recreational" rights (outfitted) were leased out to someone else. The guy’s niece and nephew were sitting there and said to just call the guy and ask if he didn't mine us hunting a moose. Well, the guy got a hold of someone who had to get a hold of someone else who knew how to get a hold of the guy with the "recreational" rights. The landowner hung up the phone and told us we would have to wait a little bit, so we had some conversation (all the while I was looking at my watch as the sun is getting lower in the sky). The phone rang and the guy had a conversation with whoever was on the other end and the conversation ended with him say, "... well they're probably going to rip the hinges off my door when I tell them". Thank God for generous landowners, we got permission. The landowner wanted to come along to make sure we were describing his property ... when we got there ... no moose ... the landowner returned home and my son grabbed the rifle and we went looking for "Mr. Big". We were making our way through the willows (my son leading) and I spotted legs just off to our right in an opening and behind some large willows. We eased out from behind the willows and sure enough there was "Mr. Big" and his girlfriend. The bull was slightly quartering towards us at +/- 75 yards. My son didn't like the angle and was trying to get the bipod legs out to get a more steady shot and ultimately a more accurate shot. The bull was getting nervous and then shifted his body, so he was looking straight at us. My son did not like the shot and waited ... the bull turned quickly and trotted forward and got some willows between us and him/them. We advanced to another location where we figured that the bull may present another shot . . . . nothing . . . . gone. The bull and cow disappeared into the willow to never be seen again. We were a little disappointed with not getting "Mr. Big", but I was confident my son made the right decision not shooting the bull at that angle. We made a small loop through the willows and other openings hoping to see the moose, but it wasn't so. We made our way back to the road/truck and we walked up the hill to gain elevation to see if we could get a view of the area and maybe the moose. No such luck. It was now after shooting light. On the way "out" we stopped at the ranch house to thank the landowner and ask if he would allow us to come back in the morning to see if can spot the moose and hunt again first thing. He said, "Yes". Now we definitely knew what our plans were for tomorrow.
