Well 2 trips to our favorite haunts yielded 2 animals to our freezer!
My sister had her draws come through for this season, Bull Moose and Cow Elk!
Last week of September, the whole family was out, me, my wife, both my sisters, one brother in law and my parents and my dads hunting buddy and his wife. Big crew, 60% camping and socializing, 40% actual hunting! This was probably going to be one of the last trips my parents get up there (been hunting in the same area for 40+ yrs!) so we all wanted to make it special.
Second morning of our week long trip, the bull moose tag was filled!! I met a fellow up there last year who offered the use of a walk in cooler, so gave him a call and took it in!
Spent the rest of the week trying to fill the Cow Elk and our Bull Elk tags, but all we saw all week were curious spike elk and moose. Never have we seen so many moose! Every night around the fire we shared stories of the moose we saw.
Having one animal already, I don't think we were looking really hard
My sister and I decided we would go one more time to try to fold the Cow tag. I had seen tons last November, so we picked the weekend after Thanksgiving. I went up on Thursday to set up camp and scout. They were there, exactly where they were last November! My sister showed up Friday night and after setting her up in cook tent hit the sack. The next morning we came up with a quick plan, she would go were I saw them the day before, and would head a bit further south. I found my stand a half our before day break and settled in for what I hoped would be a productive morning. Then I heard a shot, no way! waited a few minutes then packed up and headed back to camp. 15 minutes later I arrived at her cutline, only to be greeted by a cow crossing 50yds in front of me! she didn't see me, I crouched down and slid a bit into some spruce and looked up the trail with my binos. I didn't know if my sister connected, or if she was shooting this way at this herd. I saw no movement at her blind about 200yds up, so I took a photo, and a vid of these cows. After that excitement I packed up and went to move out, and I saw a big bull standing there! I counted his spikes, 1, 2, 3, 4, that's enough grab the gun, but then not knowing exactly where my sister was, and whether or not there was an animal down already, decided I better not shoot. This guy was not in a rush, so made note of his location and figured I may be able to find him if I needed.
I walked up to my sisters blind, and sure enough there's flagging into the trees. I found her 50yds in already mostly done with the gutting
After pulling it out with a quad and quartering her out, we shared a traditional shot of Crown Royal and tried to figure out if we wanted to go after that bull too. We have a moose at home already, add this cow, then maybe a bull? How much is too much? We figured no, 2 animals is enough for our clan. The next day we packed up and headed back to the city.
By far the most productive and exciting couple trips our family has had!
I still have the first week in November booked off....maybe try again
Cow Elk Phone vid (poor quality, sorry)
https://youtu.be/XvgWbzOH_n8
Cow moose and twins from September
https://youtu.be/d0UXYPlF4PM
Very Productive Season So Far
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