I started out to bowhunt for Moose near Athabasca the last week of September. After a little side track with a cranky quad, and fast arrangement to borrow another one from the Father-in-Law, I was on the way.
The wall tent took a little while to put up by myself. Particularly, when I threw the chain on the husqvarna and had to finish cutting poles with my swede saw and hatchet. Old school or what? Quick text message and old pro hints from buddy got the saw back running and operational.
First day out in the bush was a bust in terms of moose, but I did get pretty close and personal with a mamma bear and her curious youngster. Fortunately we resolved that with no one getting pepper sprayed or nibbled on. Later that day a three year old black bear showed up to see what kind of moose was making all the strange sounds. He was sort of hunting me I guess. When he figured out what I was (or wasn't) he cleared his own cutline booking it out of there. Hmmmm? No moose but I seem to be making a real hit with the local bruin population.
Second day was about the same as the first. No moose, but lots of sign the rut was kicking it into high gear. I put on a good 2 hour hike back into a creek with some beaver ponds and spent a sunny morning sitting and calling. Nothing but a few deer and geese. Evening was about the same and I did manage to collect a grouse with my bow for supper. Hunting partner finally showed up for the rest of the trip.
Third day was a rushed breakfast and plans made of who was hunting where. Buddy headed up onto his favorite ridge above the lakes while I went back into the big swamp where I saw the bears on the first day. I arrived at the big ridge over looking the beaver slough and sat for awhile as the sun started to light up the surrounding bush. I heard a faint bawl off to the west that sounded like a cow moose, but I wasn't sure so I slowing headed in that direction. It got louder as the sun came up. Still I wasn't so sure it wasn't another hunter. Eventually, the calling turned into the full out bark of a mad cow moose and I pretty much decided it was the real McCoy with a small bull that she didn't want around. I kept quiet and moved in looking for the moose.
Around 9:30 the calling had all but stopped and I started to wonder where the heck my moose had went. I had spent the last hour trying to circle down wind of the opera, but now I was getting worried they had moved out. Then she barked again to the North and I closed the distance to about 70 yards and saw a cow and calf moose feeding in a grass slough. Keeping hid, I started to move a little closer to get a better look and off to my left I saw another moose looking in my direction. I was pretty sure it couldn't see me, but most likely saw a little movement or heard me. A quick check through the bino's confirmed it was a young bull. I ranged him at 65 yards, but the angle was wrong and too far for a quick kill shot. Keeping a big grove of small spruce between us I moved a little closer. When I got to where I was 15 yards from the trees and the moose was about the same distance on the other side.....I thought great what do I do now? He thinks I'm another moose, but I can't get around for a clear shot without spooking him.
That's when he solved my problem for me. Curiosity was his undoing. He made a soft little grunt. I answered with the same tone and sound. That was more than he could take as he made a loud "Ker Glunk" and started to move slowly around the little spruce. I came to full draw and he was broad side for a second, but to my chagrin the little twerp immediately turned to face giving me the worst possible angle for a clean bow shot. "Glunk" goes the moose and now we are about 18 yards apart. At this point I have been at full draw for close to 90 seconds and my muscles are starting to give and shake. I have to let down.
After all this, bullwinkle decides that the weird moose in front of him may not be a playmate after all and he starts to move nervously around the tree's again. I come to full draw again but he is behind the spruce before I can shoot and starting to trot away.
As he clear the other side of the little spruce trees I give another bawl and he stops. My instinctive range finder goes 40 yards! I put the 40 yard pin sight behind the moose`s shoulder and let fly. The fletching disappeared in the sweet spot and I heard the solid whump and then whack of an arrow passing through a moose and connecting with a tree on the other side. The moose lurched off and piled up within sight under another small bunch of spruce. It was over in seconds and I don't think I could have done it quicker with a rifle. I checked my GPS and BONUS! A main cutline was only 135 metres off to the North. Close proximity and no underbrush was going to make retrieval a breeze.
That was the fun part of moose hunting. Now it was time for a pile of work. I made it back into Camp around noon and found my buddy had received my text message and was ready to go. He actually had a fairly exciting morning when he walked right into the middle of a pack of timber wolves. Cool experience, but pretty much guaranteed a moose void in his favorite spot for awhile. We saddled up the quads and headed in with a tub trailer. Two hours of hard work, sweat, and sand flies saw my moose skinned, quartered and hauled out the 6 miles to camp.
We dined on moose tenderloin and fresh vegetables grilled over open coals that night and polished off some well earned beer. The coyotes gave us a pretty good serenade and the night cleared off and the breeze made sure several hundred pounds of delicious moose would cool out.
The next day we packed up and headed home for the cooler. We could have hung my moose in a tree and kept hunting for other game, but we decided we had more than enough for two families to eat. Most rain of the entire trip fell while we were pulling down the tent and I had a complete mess to clean and dry when I got home but I guess you can't have it all LOL!
2013 Bow Season Wrap
Congrats on a successful season.
God job , great shooting...and fine dinning...
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