LAST EDITED ON Sep-27-11 AT 11:49AM (MST)[p]I'll try and get to some of the actual hunt and story now.
I had made several scouting trips starting in July, up until the hunt had begun and had not seen much as far as trophy quality goes, the only shooter moose I had seen was the one I ended up killing.
Anyways, in August I was given some great info from a guy that I didn't even know, he told me he had seen a large moose while out and about and eventually told me where he had seen it. I was very grateful for this information and started to focus on that area since I hadn't seen much in the other areas I had concentrated on.
I live a ways from the area so I figured my time best spent was to go up and look at night, sleep in the back of my truck and look the next morning then head back home. Needless to say, I spent a several nights in my truck this summer, but it made the most sense, time wise and costs wise.
I had made a few trips into this new area and seen moose, but not the one I was hoping for. Finally, I believe it was my third trip into the area, I caught a glimpse of the bull for about a minute. And I was lucky enough to get some video of the bull, although it was pretty crappy video, but nonetheless, it gave me something to compare it with others I may see.
Here is a picture off the video, it's not the best quality though.
Little did I know, this was the only time I would see this bull in all my trips. I made several more trips afterward but was unable to locate him.
I made it up two days early before the hunt opened and seen quite a bit of moose, including bulls I hadn't seen before, but still, not the bull I was after. All I could do is hope I got lucky and turn him up. I had no idea if he was still in the area, although I figured he had no reason to leave since he had all he needed in that area.
Opening morning came and it was windy and stormy. It had rained over night and I was actaully glad it did. I was hoping that if he was in the area and was soaked, he may come out of the thick stuff to try and dry off.
About the first 15 minutes of light we didn't see anything and then the fog rolled in, needless to say, I was not happy about that, we couldn't see anything! It broke for a few seconds is all and my brother and friends who were watching from a distance all jumped on the radio and said they see moose. After the spotters were put on them and the fog cleared enough to see again, they all said there was two bulls and they definately think it was the one from the morning before and a much larger bull. I was praying it was him. The only other guy with me who had seen him, confirmed it was him a few seconds later.
He was 3/4 of a mile straight up from me, so me and my two friends took off up the mountain while the others watched his every move and quided us up the mountain to his position. It took us an hour and a half to get up to his level and then we started making our way across the hill to him. Luckily, since it had rained most of the night and morning, it was very quite, the bushes didn't crunch like they had in the days before.
The hillside was so thick we had a very hard time seeing anything, luckily for me, my friends on the far hill could still see him and guided us right in to within 100 yards. We still strained our eyes to see anything, then finally, we cought a glimpse of a palm over the top of the brush. We had to wait until we could clearly see both bulls, with seemed like it took forever, to make sure I was gonna shoot the right bull. After a few minutes the verification was made and I was ready to shoot.
The bull gave me a head on shot at about 125 yeards and I was gonna take it since it was the only time his body had been visible the whole time.
I shoot a .338 EDGE pushing 300 grain Bergers at 2830 FPS, so I figured the chest shot was not a problem. I raised my gun and shot him off hand, sinking one of those heavy pills into his chest. He hunched up, and fell straight over backwards after about 2 seconds. I chambered another round but he never got back up.
We gave each other some high fives and then made our way over to him. The brush was so thick we actually had a hard time finding him, if you can believe that. How do you not find a moose at 125 yards? We basically didn't see him until we stepped on him. (it wasn't really hard to find him, just funny that we actually had to look for a moose!)
The other guys said they would be over in a while to help and about two and a half hours later made it over to us where more contratulations and high fives took place. It took the 8 of us 8 hours to get it all wrapped up from start to finish and back to the truck. We had him quartered and boned out, caped and loaded into the packs in two hours and was on our way down the mountain. Heavy packs and slick, steep hillsides don't make a good combo, it was a pretty crappy hike down, but we made it.
All in all I was happy and sad my OIL tag was done less than two hours after it opened. I got the bull I wanted though so I can't complain.
And to my family and friends helping me, thank you so much, I never would have got him without your help. My brother Beau, my dad, Shawn, Eric, Brian, Braiden, and Stefan, thanks a ton.
I didn't know Stefan before this summer, he helped me with my hunt quite a bit. He gave me the info on where this bull was and I invited him to come along if he wanted. Needless to say, he showed up opening morning and helped spot, then busted his butt all day long helping us get him out. He also caped the face off the bull for me since I didn't know how. He was a huge help and a great guy, one who I am glad I met and who is welcome at my camp anytime.
Also, there were several MM'ers that gave me tips and pointers along with info about sightings, as well as offerings to help get one out if I connected, thank all of you.
Here a few more pictures.
