Moose Hunt -What would you do?

[Miles1996]

I flew into Fredericton last Wednesday morning. My brother-in-law picked me up and after some lunch at Tim’s we headed to the hunting camp about an hour north of Fredericton. My dad, my 83 yr. old grandfather, and a couple of my uncles were waiting for us at the camp.
My dad had drawn for moose and the hunt was about to start!
Now, NB is way more regulated than we are here in Alberta. For instance, you cannot carry any firearm in the woods unless you have a hunting license. Getting drawn for a moose tag is an event. Last year, I believe it was about a 10% chance of getting a tag. If you get a tag, you can designate a second hunter that is also permitted to carry a gun. My dad had a tag, and he had designated my b-i-l as the “second gun”. Moose hunt also only lasts for three days, Thursday-Saturday. That’s it.
When we arrived, they were all there at the camp and dad, asked the b-i-l when he wanted to shoot his moose. When? Yes, when do you want to shoot it? Well, the story was that they were out scouting on Monday, and had come across a cow moose laying down on a trail in the woods. The watched it for a bit from a distance, and left the way they had come.
Tuesday, they were walking down this same path again, and she is still lying there. That’s weird. They went closer and saw that she was stuck in the mud.
stuck cow 2.jpg
So, there was a moose, just waiting for us. Well, we weren’t too sure about shooting and tagging her, but we had to go see her. So we jumped on the quads, rode through the woods to the trail, walked down the trail and checked her out. She was sitting in a mud hole and couldn’t get out. As we approached, she started clambering to get out. It looked like the mud was too deep for her to be able to step out. She was stuck.
So now it is Wednesday afternoon and she has been there since Monday, maybe longer. My dad, as the one with the tag, was feeling the pressure. Six guys out for a hunt, moose sitting there, hunt only lasts three days, they’ve seen some sign around, but not a lot. We had a decision, do we try to help her out of the mud, do we keep her as a backup in case we don’t get one that’s walking around, or do we walk away, hunt another moose and let nature take its course with this cow? Or another alternative perhaps?
I'll let you know what happens next, but first, what would you have done?

[colour86]

i don't think I could shoot her. Not ethical in my mind, and just against my morals to shoot a stuck animal. Would be the same to be as if something was swimming across a lake or whatever. Depending on how stuck she was I might try to help get her out, but thats it.

[HighWildnFree]

Hooooo boy, yer gonna get it

[Pixel Shooter]

X 2

Originally Posted by colour86

i don't think i could shoot her. Not ethical in my mind, and just against my morals to shoot a stuck animal. Would be the same to be as if something was swimming across a lake or whatever. Depending on how stuck she was i might try to help get her out, but thats it.

[Scotty P.]

I have to agree with Colour86, in my mind it doesn't seem like fair chase. I would help her out if possible. Now if getting here out is impossible and she is going to die anyway, that might be a different story. Anyway just my 2 cents.

[podman]

Originally Posted by colour86

i don't think I could shoot her. Not ethical in my mind, and just against my morals to shoot a stuck animal. Would be the same to be as if something was swimming across a lake or whatever. Depending on how stuck she was I might try to help get her out, but thats it.

x2

[HighWildnFree]

Id tear a strip off you myself, but Ive had enough battles tday as it is. And its time to go hunting.

[Nait Hadya]

winch her out and set her free...

[sparkster]

I stopped reading when I read that he gave your B I L the partner tag... get rid of him is my answer! joking of course


*Personal opinion*

I would have tried to get her unstuck. Have had this problem before with cows on the farm. it can be done but with a wild moose it could be very dangerous as well. I would have made the attempt. If I got her free I would have let her go and if she was fine and healthy and I came across her again the next day I would have used my tag on her. For me and many I"m sure the hunt is about the "HUNT" and not just about baggin an animal. If I could not get her unstuck my mind would probably lead me to think that this moose is suffering and would suffer a grousom death from starvation or predators, and as a ethical person who respects wildlife and mother nature I would put a bullet in her. Now the ethics would come in wheather I would use my tag on it, chances are if it is stuck, it could be a weak or sick moose. The meat may be terrible and if half the body is stuck in muskeg anyways it could be both difficult to get out and be tainted. My first action would be to call the fish and wildlife and council with them as I would want to do both the ethical and legal thing although those two in my mind are not always the same.
Luckily, I hunt with a few other great level headed guys and I'm sure together we would come up with the right answer. I don't have it by anymeans.

Interested to hear other peoples honest answers. Not a situation I would like to be in.

[Sledhead71]

Personally I would have exhausted all my resourses to free her...

[Badgoodguy]

Personally thats a no brainer I would try to getthe cow out and let her go but thats my opinion

Steve In GP

[depopulator]

Originally Posted by Nait Hadya

winch her out and set her free...

x2

[diamonddave]

I would get her out if possible, if not she is going to die a slow painfull death. Starting from the tender back end, then up threw the belly.... Prety tough call...

[Rhino81]

I would have tried rot belly wrap the animal and winch her out. Have done it many time with cows stuck in sinkholes. If that did not work I would have called the fish cops to see what they say. Why kill it? You still have to pull it out when it's dead. Tough call.

[Sooner]

If she has been stuck for that long wouldnt she be stressed and the meat taste horrible because of it. I would have tried to pull her out and let her go. Hopefully she can recover. I couldnt shoot her and be happy about harvesting that moose. Hell, I have passed up sure thing elk hunts on farmers land because I want my first elk to come from big bush crown land. I want to feel like I earned what I harvest. Not a gimmie.

[G Kenworth]

Do what i could to set her free without injuring myself. Set her free, meat would be awful.

[BigRackLover]

i would have called SRD (or whatever they are called in NB) and helped free her.

That's not fair chase.

and now .... for the rest of the story ....

[SonnyJ]

You're dad should have called fish and wildlife on monday when he first found her.
Why let her suffer like that?

[KN12313]

That moose would be so stressed. Does boot leather come to mind!!!!!!!!!!

Help her only if it is safety to do so, or get help, or let nature take its course.

[flyguyd]

Poor thing wouldnt be fit to eat anyhow. Id much rather eat my tag, if shooting that stranded cow was the only way to fill my tag it would go empty. Theres a reason why the sport is called hunting instead of killing. just my two cents

[bb356]

After looking at the pic ................ I would of shot the poor suffering moose and kept on hunting !!!

[SEADOG]

haul her out and set her free would be the only thing to do in my opinion! then continue hunting. dont think it would be too hard to get her out. I wouldnt even consider shoting her for consumption. good luck

[Miles1996]

So Wednesday afternoon we are standing around this moose. The decision wasnt very difficult. No one in the hunting party felt good about shooting her. At this point the quality of the meat is not even a concern. The b-i-l and I, with the younger legs, hiked back to the quads and found some ropes and straps in the boxes and brought them back.
We ended up looping a short starp with D-rings on each end around her neck. We then looped a rope through the d-rings to pull on. We wanted to be sure that the strap on rope would pull free from her when she got out, and took off. As some have mentioned, we were aware of her long legs, and their potential to kick out, and two, her likely exit route.
With the strap around her neck, we ended up pulling on her. Sideways worked better than forwards, as it convinced her to lay on her side, an kicking and thrashing she somehow rolled herself out. However, she did not run away, she lay there, exhausted.

Helping cow1.jpg
Helping cow2.jpg
exhausted cow1.jpg

We stood back and watched her for about 15 minutes. We wanted to see that she was off though so we eventually got close enough to her to agitate her. She tried to get up and kept failing. We noticed that her left front leg was never straightened out in front of her. As she was lying there, it was also at a weird angle. We concluded that it was broken.

At this point, we decided to leave her, and give her the opportunity to survive on three legs (unlikely). Keep in mind that since this was Wednesday, it was illegal for us to have a firearm in the woods, so we couldn't shoot her.

We made sure she could get some water from where she was lying, and then we left her.


Thursday morning, we were ready to start down the river (one of the sources of the Miramichi River# in canoes at legal light. I was paddling for my dad. We spend the morning in the canoes and on the river banks, calling. We ended fairly close to the opposite end #the river end# of the trail that the cow was stuck on. While dad sat on the river bank, I went up the trail to check on her. Not only was she still where we had left her, but she had dug herself another mud hole and was buried again.

Since we now had a rifle and were not too far from her, we should have ended it right there and then. However, my dad was in a dilema. He was not comfortable with just shooting her and walking away. That's illegal. He was also not comfortable with shooting her and tagging her. Dad has five guys there for a hunt and wanted concensus on what was to be done.
We all met up at noon for lunch. Dad was not enjoying this decision. No one was interested in the meat so he really did not want to tag her. But he could not bring himself to shoot her and leave her.
We left the lunch spot and passed by the trail where she was lying. We stopped and decided what to do. Dad was not going to shoot her unless she was tagged.

The next day, we started hunting on the river again. I was not in a canoe, but rather, was part of the logistics team. This involved taking the quads about 5 miles through the woods to a point downstream to pick up the canoes and the hunters. It involves killing a bit of time in the morning. While we where waiting, my uncle and I went and checked on the cow. She had been dead for some time from what was obviously a shot to the head.

Before lunch, we heard shots from the direction of the river.
My b-i-l had shot a young bull #with his own rifle). He weighed in at 500 lbs. They cleaned him, loaded him into the canoe and floated him to a trail which the quads could access. We then pulled him out of the woods on a trailer.

His rack was only a 2x2. But, I can testify that he was tender and tasty. We had the tenderloin the next night.

After the meal, I cleaned my dad's gun for him, and yes, the barrel was dirty.


Another interesting thing about my moose hunt in NB....you are required to register any moose that you shoot. We took the bull in to the ranger station in Fredericton, They weighed him and took his lower jaw. That's fine, but not what I found interesting, the interesting thing for me was seeing about 15-20 vehicles parked at the ranger station with folks just sitting in them watching the moose coming in and being weighed.
The largest cow of the year at that station was just in front of us. She weighed in at ~970lbs.

[Miles1996]

Originally Posted by SonnyJ

You're dad should have called fish and wildlife on monday when he first found her.
Why let her suffer like that?

On Monday, they thought she was just lying there. They watched her and left.
Tuesday it become obvious that she was stuck. Why they didn't help her out then? I'm not sure.
Wednesday, we helped her out and learned that she had a broken leg.
Thursday hunting season opened........
Friday we observed that she had been shot.

We did discuss calling Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and my uncle had a good chuckle. He was convinced beyond any doubt that they would not come out. The camp is out of cell phone coverage. (No running water or electricty either). We could have driven to a location where we had coverage, but we didn't believe it was worth the effort.

[happy honker]

Tough one. Good on the old man for ending it. Haven't walked in those shoes, so I'm gonna just leave it at that.
Poor girl.
hh

[BigRackLover]

that is a tough one....

I still would have called the proper authorities. Whether they came or not, I'd still feel like I covered my *****. But the Ralph Klein method also works (although you're not suppose to post it). I admire your courage to post a story like that for all of us to read and 'learn' from others.

[conan]

Originally Posted by bb356

After looking at the pic ................ I would of shot the poor suffering moose and kept on hunting !!!

I agree, put her out of her misery, its the only right thing to do.

[SonnyJ]

Originally Posted by Miles1996

[LEFT]

On Monday, they thought she was just lying there.

You're kidding me..right?

[Grizzly Adams]

Get her out of the mud, if possible, but could be a hazardous affair. Keep her as a Backup? Don't think I'd want to eat any of that carcass, if for no other reason.

Grizz

[exitwound]

hey you did the right thing by trying to rescue her. it didnt work out in the end and any outdoorsman in the right mind would have put her out of her misery as well. you did the right thing. it wouldve been a shame for wolves/coyotes/bears to start taking chunks out of her when she was still alive