| James_B |
10-14-2019 10:33 PM |
Thanks everyone. They truly are a different kind of animal to hunt in the rut. Here is a low down on the story leading upto the kill....
My dad arrived in camp and set up for the long haul. We set out for the evening, driving a muddy goat trail- we arrived to a point where the weather was getting too harsh. We decided to pull out and go to another area further East. Leaving the original spot, we stopped to glass a cut block. We spotted this bull September 27th at 5pm in a cutblock milling around with 2 cows at the top of the mountain for the evening. Using the Vortex Razor spotting scope and Phoneskope, we obtained some stellar footage from a far. The rut was in full swing and love was in the air. (This is when "20 hours Later" would be coined for the video later.)
We made a game plan and headed up the mountain with the wind in our face. Working slowly through the willows and creek bottom towards the golden aspen stands. We dropped our packs at a base of a tree that would provide shelter for our gear when the snow started flying. I sprayed my ultimate predator moose decoy with a half bottle of moose ****, I kid you not! I Also doused dad and Morgan, which I'm sure they weren't impressed, but hey, were going to kill a moose.
We slithered up the road making our ascent closer to the eastside of the cutblock. Checking the wind, face on, GAME ON! Once we slipped into the timber, our camo made us like ghosts in the forest. The fog and snow began to accumulate as we pushed on slowly stopping and glassing the cutblock from within 30 yards inside the timber. As we neared 6 o' clock, we layed eyes on the bull and 2 cows along some falling timber in the cut block. Dad fell back 30 yards and Morgan and I found ourselves blocked by some big tree trunks within 50 yards of the action.
Wind was coming from the East and the activity picked up dramatically. The bull was chasing cows all around us, grunting loud and intense, pushing them from 35-70 yards in front of us. With no shot opportunities we watched them from afar, giving them space for over the course of an hour. We were just a distant shadow lurking in the forest. Another cow came in from our upwind side of us, but wasn't alarmed. We waited patiently observing and being completely included in the herd.
The hope was the bull was going to push the cows past, while he trailed behind. But, it just didnt work out that way. So we continued to watch and wait. The last 15-20 minutes of legal light, we had a decision to make and so, the time came to fire him up and make him come to us. With the bull on one side of the cows, and us on the opposite side, we started grunting, soft cow calls and raking- we surely ruffled his hide. Big old herd bull moose believed we were stealing a cow or 2. He came charging from below us
I turned to morgan and nodded "hes coming." He's walking towards us grunting every step, definitely on a mission to kick some ass. I'm ranging him as he's walking and finally stops broadside at 45 yards. I drew back and leveled, anchored, breathed, released.....green nocktural lit up and sailed through the air and smoked him a little far forward. He bucked up like a bucking bronco and took off running, suddenly turning and standing there for a moment.
Dazed and confused, gushing blood internally, he started moving back towards us taking massive stumbling steps, we knew he was severely hit and he would be going down. With time passing slowly, he takes 2 more knee dropping stumbles, where he comes crashing down, taking a dirt nap. I was looking at Morgan shaking like a leaf after reality was starting to settle in. I was in disbelief knowing I just killed my first archery moose after 11 years of applying on public land. 🏹
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