KHunter 2022 ID bull and CO cow moose hunts

Khunter

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western Colorado
Well, this year I drew 3 lottery odds tags, Bull moose, cow moose and antelope.

NM archery antelope, discussed in another thread

Idaho bull moose Season is Aug 30 to Nov 23 and is short range (bow/smoke pole/pistol) weapons only hunt as it is in potato farming country. I plan to hunt with a bow but my brothwr @abq will be bringing a muzzleloader on the trip for possible reserve duty. Idaho lets you hunt river bottoms from high water mark to high water mark regardless of land ownership, so I could see using the muzzleloader if we find a bull we want that we need to drop in its tracks, lest the bull run onto forbidden pvt ground after the shot. There are some area landowners who flat out told me if my moose drops on their land I am out of luck as they will not allow retrieval. Vast majority of the unit is pvt land with strips of BLM and state land sprinkled along the river corridor. Interestimg twist, I habe a ton of dispersed irrigated potato farmland and hay fields I can hunt away from the river corridor as the biggest farming family in the area said I an welcome to any moose on any of their 50+ parcels. Thank you Onx for making those prcels easy to identify.

Colorado archery cow moose (my 3rd Colo cow tag after a bull tg back in 2001)

I will share stories and pics of the Idaho and Colo archery moose hunts in this thread.

My last Colo moose hunt ended like this back in 2016 after 7 hard days of hunting and I drew the same tag this year. Saw bulls daily but never saw a cow till day 6.

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Leave for Idaho this Friday, Aug 26 to scout Sat/Sun/Mon and hunt the opener on August 30th till perhaps till labor day, Sept 5th if needed and depending on hunting conditions we encounter. It is a 9+ hour drive so lose a day coming and going.

The follow up trip, if needed, will be Sept 23 till Oct 13th or so to take advantage of the rut. Dand sound like a lot of time when see it in print!

Colo moose may get short shrift depending on how the higher priority Idaho moose hunt pans out. Plan is to hunt Sept 9-11 for Colo cow moose Hunt unit is only a couple hours away but reserving a ton of vacation time to the Idaho hunt.

The Idaho hunt should mostly consist of partial day floats along the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River with periodic stops for calling sessions and trying to spot bulls. Know nothing of boating or boat hunting so will learn a ton and hopefully keep the watercraft right side up and 5e bow out of the river. Will used a borrowed 15 foot skiff with oars and also have a borrowed Alpaca Mule pack raft. May even luck out with a local who offered to at least tour us around n a jet boat during a scouting day. Have not floated this river befor but did do a 4-day scouting trip to learn the area and river access points and to knock on doors to gain some key pvt land permissions I hope will be productive.

Fun will be had in generous portions and hopefully the coming photos/videos and stories bear that out over time.
 
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It should largely be a float hunt.

have a 15 foot skiff with a 4 horse motor that I’m borrowing from one of my brother’s good friends in Jackson hole Wyoming, which is just a 90 minute drive from the unit. My brother is picking that boat up tomorrow morning as he showing up even before me, the tag holder. Pretty awesome as it is a 15 Hour drive for him to get there. it’s about a 9 hour drive for me.

Also have this alpacka mule raft, borrowed from a badass female bowhunting and work colleague that I’m really looking forward to trying out. Pretty slick it has a big zipper on one end and you can shove stuff sacks full of equipment inside the tubes instead of having all of it piled up on top. I appreciated being able to see one of the @Big Fin videos about these very rafts. if he can make it down some Rapids I think I can handle that meandering Henry’s Fork, LOL

I’ll probably refrain from stacking broadhead arrows inside the raft. LOL.

i’ll be on the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River and for my hunt unit that stretch is really pretty calm water so even as a guy who knows nothing about hunting on water or boating or anything it should be pretty manageable.

Took the alpacka out for a little test run on the Colorado River here in Colorado this week. Even had a few rapids that made me a little nervous but turned out to be no big deal as the raft seems quite stable. Can’t overstate what a dryland terra firma Hunter I am, I just never spend any time on the water doing anything so this is all new and exciting for me.

My brother @abqbw hunted Idaho moose in a very different unit a couple of years ago and he’s my rafting expert because he used a larger raft many days solo on his hunt on much rougher water. he’s bringing a borrowed alpacka forager a raft with him for this hunt, so I guess we have 3 boats in the rotation.

There’s a local guy that lives about an hour from my unit who killed a couple of moose in there that has offered to run us up and down the river on a scouting day in a jet boat I’m thinking that’ll be a great way to get a river view of all that the moose habitat we will be hunting and getting a better look at the public parcels sprinkled about AND the private parcels I garnered permission to hunt through a lot of internet sleuthing and knocking on doors during the June 4-day scouting trip.

It’s interesting because regardless of who owns the land, in Idaho, you can apparently hunt and kill a critter anywhere between the Highwater marks of the river which also includes the extensive vegetated islands throughout the Hunt area. Might be a little dicey at times to decide whether some big old bull is at the high watermark just below the high watermark or outside high watermark in some situations. planned to be conservative and presume a bull is outside the legal hunting area rather than the obverse. That dynamic could also be the deciding factor on whether I pick up my brothers muzzleloader or use my bow as planned. losing a bowl bowl because he runs up and over the high watermark on to private land with unwilling land orders were totally ruined this hunt experience so I just might get off my bow hunting “high horse” for the right bowl

test drive.
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Here’s my Jack Russell Oscar misbehaving, a little bit, during the scouting trip:

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Almost sounds like too much fun for one guy in one season!
Wishing you the best!
Keep us poor working folk updated as you go!

*I'm no expert, but it might be easier if you don't kill them big critters in four feet of water 🤷‍♂️
I guess if you're hunting between the high water marks, there is a chance water may be involved, though?!
 
It should largely be a float hunt.

have a 15 foot skiff with a 4 horse motor that I’m borrowing from one of my brother’s good friends in Jackson hole Wyoming, which is just a 90 minute drive from the unit. My brother is picking that boat up tomorrow morning as he showing up even before me, the tag holder. Pretty awesome as it is a 15 Hour drive for him to get there. it’s about a 9 hour drive for me.

Also have this alpacka mule raft, borrowed from a badass female bowhunting and work colleague that I’m really looking forward to trying out. Pretty slick it has a big zipper on one end and you can shove stuff sacks full of equipment inside the tubes instead of having all of it piled up on top. I appreciated being able to see one of the @Big Fin videos about these very rafts. if he can make it down some Rapids I think I can handle that meandering Henry’s Fork, LOL

I’ll probably refrain from stacking broadhead arrows inside the raft. LOL.

i’ll be on the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River and for my hunt unit that stretch is really pretty calm water so even as a guy who knows nothing about hunting on water or boating or anything it should be pretty manageable.

Took the alpacka out for a little test run on the Colorado River here in Colorado this week. Even had a few rapids that made me a little nervous but turned out to be no big deal as the raft seems quite stable. Can’t overstate what a dryland terra firma Hunter I am, I just never spend any time on the water doing anything so this is all new and exciting for me.

My brother @abqbw hunted Idaho moose in a very different unit a couple of years ago and he’s my rafting expert because he used a larger raft many days solo on his hunt on much rougher water. he’s bringing a borrowed alpacka forager a raft with him for this hunt, so I guess we have 3 boats in the rotation.

There’s a local guy that lives about an hour from my unit who killed a couple of moose in there that has offered to run us up and down the river on a scouting day in a jet boat I’m thinking that’ll be a great way to get a river view of all that the moose habitat we will be hunting and getting a better look at the public parcels sprinkled about AND the private parcels I garnered permission to hunt through a lot of internet sleuthing and knocking on doors during the June 4-day scouting trip.

It’s interesting because regardless of who owns the land, in Idaho, you can apparently hunt and kill a critter anywhere between the Highwater marks of the river which also includes the extensive vegetated islands throughout the Hunt area. Might be a little dicey at times to decide whether some big old bull is at the high watermark just below the high watermark or outside high watermark in some situations. planned to be conservative and presume a bull is outside the legal hunting area rather than the obverse. That dynamic could also be the deciding factor on whether I pick up my brothers muzzleloader or use my bow as planned. losing a bowl bowl because he runs up and over the high watermark on to private land with unwilling land orders were totally ruined this hunt experience so I just might get off my bow hunting “high horse” for the right bowl

test drive.
View attachment 235735


Here’s my Jack Russell Oscar misbehaving, a little bit, during the scouting trip:

View attachment 235743
Oscar with the spot and stalk cred...
 
Damn…that’s a great draw, not to mention all in one year. Good luck to you, my moose hunts were my favorite hunts of all time. Hoping to draw ID one of these days. Looking forward to hearing the stories. Be safe!
 
Man I love your adventures and stories thank you so much for sharing good luck!
 
I wish you could take big game between the high water mark in Montana! I look forward to hearing how this one pans out for you.
 
Fantastic! We floated the Henry’s fork years ago on a fishing trip and had a bull moose cross the river and pause while the current seemingly was about to carry us between his legs. So they’re in there! Good luck and thanks for taking us along
 
Spoiler alert, cover your eyes if you do Wordle…

The word on Tuesday is gonna be MOOSE. There, you can get it in one on August 30th, opening day of moose season in Idaho. You are welcome. 😆


update to above, received below test minutes after posting, 😆
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Headed to Jackson Hole to pick up our limo (boat) for the hunt. Right after stop by to fix an almost flat tire at Discount discovered as I loaded up.
 
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And so it starts!

had a moose? in camp middle of night hufing and stomping around. Did. not like my smell laid out on a cot in under the stars perhaps.

sounded like a deer sounds when they’re blowing when don’t like the smell or look of something but a whole lot more air a whole lot more nasal.
D19B4F32-60A8-4CB6-91D0-FC0648C2C393.jpeg
 
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