I got drawn for a moose tag here in idaho. the season started 09/15 and goes until 12/1. I have been taking my 338 edge and my hoyt each time I go out. i live in the foot hills and have been heading out every evening after work. getting into the moutains by 530 and having the last hour before dark. we have been seeing bulls almost everynight, but until tonight, everything has been pretty small. I am addicted to longrange, but also to bowhunting. My goal is to get a nice bull with my bow and to get the hunt on video. this has proved challenging but so far could have made it happen on a couple of small bulls. My will power was tested tonight and I just thought i would share the events. Across the canyon there he was broadside. a very nice bull, guessing over 45". I laid down, ranged him at 1007 yards, plugged it into my kestrel and dialed in. had the cross hairs on him, absolutely no wind and.... got all the gear together and made an attempt to get within bow range. on the way, another knob offered a 541 yard shot at him still in the same clearing, still broadside. I finally got to within 130 yards of him and tried to call him in. Did this until it was to dark to see. I have been taking the edge with me dreaming of getting a shot like this and i still cant believe i let it go. The only thing that stopped me is that I have wanted to get a moose with my bow for as long as i can remember. Tonight I almost gave in. The whole thing was unbelievably exciting. thanks for reading!
long/short range moose hunt
- Thread starter lamiglas
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Slopeshunter
Well-Known Member
Sounds like you are having an exciting season! Also sounds like you should leave the edge at home? What state are you hunting in?
Hmmmm I would leave the stick and strang @the house! You had the shot of a lifetime at 1007 but that's just my opinion I get all warm and fuzzy when I hear of shots or in this case shot presentations like you had.
Good luck with the bow or edge
Bigbuck
Good luck with the bow or edge
Bigbuck
flyin lizard
Well-Known Member
What I think you should do is alternate weapons,set your standards for each and go for it.
winmagman
Well-Known Member
Well....I'll give you credit, you've got more will power than I do. I could not have passed up that shot. Nice read though.
Chris
Chris
HUAINAMACHERO
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lamiglas,
nice story, it looks like you are more interested in the bow hunt than in the long range hunt as for now. You only get what you put into it, keep up the good work you are doing and show us the picture of that old bull with the bow for now, and with your edge on your next big game kill after it.
I would not have passed neither shots you had, you have to be very disciplined to do that. Keep us posted
nice story, it looks like you are more interested in the bow hunt than in the long range hunt as for now. You only get what you put into it, keep up the good work you are doing and show us the picture of that old bull with the bow for now, and with your edge on your next big game kill after it.
I would not have passed neither shots you had, you have to be very disciplined to do that. Keep us posted
yesterday began at daylight watching some natural clearings on the opposite mountain. i was out of my moose unit and we were elk hunting. a big bull moose came into the clearing and we watched him for quite awhile, while we were watching him an elk appeared. i ranged and then dialed for 480 yds and held on its shoulder waiting to hear the word bull. It was a super white animal but we just couldnt paint horns on it. Two cows walked out the clearing. Bummer, cow season doesnt open until next week thursday. 1 hour later, 2 cows came down the clearing moving pretty fast. an hour later yet, around 930 i saw a cow come out from the left side, i ranged it at 800 and dialed in for it. i held on the shoulder of approx 13 cows as they came through mostly one by one but sometimes two or three at a time. the last cow went through all the openings and stopped and looked back. My spotter said, ones a small bull, but before i moved to look, i moved my scope back to where the cow was looking and there he was. My spotter said that bull is over 300 easy are you on him? I said yes, and i had the crosshairs on his shoulder and followed him as he walked through each opening. I said stop him now and my friend bugled and he stopped in the opening with only a very small tree covering his front shoulders. he then took a few steps and stopped again also with a little brush covering him. i stayed on him with the bipods down and the sandbag in place as he walked out of the clear cut. If he had just stopped in one of the several openings we would still be carrying him out. almost all the cows stopped and could have been shot. This was my first long range elk hunt and although a shot wasnt fired, it was one of my most memorable hunts ever.
we came home and went after moose behind twin lakes that evening. had a decent bull at 45 yds but was waiting for dad and the camera. Then on the way down the mountain we spotted a huge bull but no shot opportunities. We have been seeing a couple bull per night on average. Sorry such a long post guys and again thanks for reading.
we came home and went after moose behind twin lakes that evening. had a decent bull at 45 yds but was waiting for dad and the camera. Then on the way down the mountain we spotted a huge bull but no shot opportunities. We have been seeing a couple bull per night on average. Sorry such a long post guys and again thanks for reading.
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Troutslayer
Well-Known Member
Nice. My shiras hunt was probably the most fun hunt I've ever been on, it was not easy. I ended up putting 21 days in the field for it and I finally shot a good one. I didn't feel like if I saw a good moose there was a 100 percent guarantee that I would see him again so the ones that I passed on were difficult. When I finally found the one I wanted I didn't hesitate. Hope you can find that bull again if you don't find a bigger one.
Are they responding to the calling? I found that grunting was pretty effective but I could never get them interested in the cow call, though I was hunting a few weeks later in the year than it is right now. Can't wait to see some pics and a video. It is certainly a lot easier to make P&Y than B&C, however, I really feel like the wolves have the moose acting very un-mooselike. They are a lot more wary than they used to be so stalking into bow range is probably a challenge.
I still haven't had mine professionally scored but I scored him over B&C by an inch or so.
50"
Are they responding to the calling? I found that grunting was pretty effective but I could never get them interested in the cow call, though I was hunting a few weeks later in the year than it is right now. Can't wait to see some pics and a video. It is certainly a lot easier to make P&Y than B&C, however, I really feel like the wolves have the moose acting very un-mooselike. They are a lot more wary than they used to be so stalking into bow range is probably a challenge.
I still haven't had mine professionally scored but I scored him over B&C by an inch or so.
50"
Thats a great bull. I would be on cloud 9 to get a bull of that class.
your right, it has been hard passing them up. however, we have been seeing so many bulls (more than cows by far) that so far i havent felt like i regretted it. i do however hope to have another chance at the big ones. I took the day off but will go out again in the moring.
As far calling: i have watched videos etc, but dont really know what i am doing. I can mimick what i have heard (i think) but so far it has seemed to work. i have heard they were easy to call so i will keep trying if i get the opportunity.
also, you are right, they are alot spookier (sp?) than they are normally. over the years i have walked right up to tons of them and they never run. now that i have a tag i think they can smell it or something.
your right, it has been hard passing them up. however, we have been seeing so many bulls (more than cows by far) that so far i havent felt like i regretted it. i do however hope to have another chance at the big ones. I took the day off but will go out again in the moring.
As far calling: i have watched videos etc, but dont really know what i am doing. I can mimick what i have heard (i think) but so far it has seemed to work. i have heard they were easy to call so i will keep trying if i get the opportunity.
also, you are right, they are alot spookier (sp?) than they are normally. over the years i have walked right up to tons of them and they never run. now that i have a tag i think they can smell it or something.
Troutslayer
Well-Known Member
I saw 17 moose on my hunt. The biologists said that there were 30 or so in my area. I may have been seeing the same cows a couple of times. There was one rub that I just knew was made by a large bull, I sat on it multiple times and never saw that bull. I saw a few very young bulls and a few that were in the mid 40" class. That one in the pic was by far the biggest that I encountered and there was another one with him that was pretty respectable as well, but not as big.
Everyone thinks that a moose hunt is like meat in the freezer but if you want a good one you've got to really look around.
Good luck. I got Shockey's video where he is calling in monster bulls up in the Yukon. I called at bulls that had no idea I was there and I knew they could hear me. They didn't respond at all like the video- they were not interested in my call and I think that the rut was completely over. They did charge me when I let out a WUH! WUH! at them. If not charge me, they at least stopped running away, and turned. I had these visions of hot bull moose running at the sound of my call and that was not the case. I hope you get a monster. I lived in N. Idaho for the last year and I saw a lot of moose, one that I saw up by Priest Lake was bigger than the one that I shot. I would hunt them every year if they would just give me a tag!
I glassed a bull and cow from about a mile away. They were milling around the only patch of trees in a large open bowl. I waited for them to go into the trees and bed down and at the time I was convinced I would take that bull. I walked down there. It took me half the day. I started creeping up to where I thought I'd have a shot. The snow was very crunchy. They both got up and I realized that I was on the wrong side of the timber patch. I thought they would hold tight so I started quickly making my way to where I would have a shot at them. I had to go around the outside of the timber where I could not see them. I later found out that they had made their way 1/2 mile across completely open country before I was able to position myself to shoot towards where they were. Before that happened you could never tell me that a moose would outsmart me.
Everyone thinks that a moose hunt is like meat in the freezer but if you want a good one you've got to really look around.
Good luck. I got Shockey's video where he is calling in monster bulls up in the Yukon. I called at bulls that had no idea I was there and I knew they could hear me. They didn't respond at all like the video- they were not interested in my call and I think that the rut was completely over. They did charge me when I let out a WUH! WUH! at them. If not charge me, they at least stopped running away, and turned. I had these visions of hot bull moose running at the sound of my call and that was not the case. I hope you get a monster. I lived in N. Idaho for the last year and I saw a lot of moose, one that I saw up by Priest Lake was bigger than the one that I shot. I would hunt them every year if they would just give me a tag!
I glassed a bull and cow from about a mile away. They were milling around the only patch of trees in a large open bowl. I waited for them to go into the trees and bed down and at the time I was convinced I would take that bull. I walked down there. It took me half the day. I started creeping up to where I thought I'd have a shot. The snow was very crunchy. They both got up and I realized that I was on the wrong side of the timber patch. I thought they would hold tight so I started quickly making my way to where I would have a shot at them. I had to go around the outside of the timber where I could not see them. I later found out that they had made their way 1/2 mile across completely open country before I was able to position myself to shoot towards where they were. Before that happened you could never tell me that a moose would outsmart me.
yesterday morning i drew on and passed two small bulls before 8 am and We ended up seeing a total of 10 moose. I found out the area i am hunting will be gaited here soon so I decided I would no longer be as picky. My dad and my wife came along for the evening hunt and we were on an old fire trail. we walked around the corner and there was a mature bull feeding on some brush. he went around the corner an and we followed him. we all go to the corner not knowing if he would be there. the way he went around the corner i expected him not to be to close so i set my sights at 50 yards. my wife had the camera and my dad a rangefinder. he was 56 yards so i held a few inches higher than i wanted to hit and let her fly. perfect hit! he ran 10 feet, walked another 5 feet and then got dizzy and fell to the ground! not a huge bull,but i got it with my bow. got most of it on tape and best of all my wife and dad got to be there. the other best part is that we winched him in whole to the back of the truck! 36" wide and a trophy to me. i did see some real monsters but all and all this worked out just perfect.
royinidaho
Well-Known Member
Wll there ya go! Clean livin' pulls through again.
Congratulations on meeting your goal!!!
Congratulations on meeting your goal!!!
Troutslayer
Well-Known Member
nice work lamiglas, let's see some pics!
