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Originally Posted by bearhuntr



[Linked Image]


Clearly out of range...call him about 20 yards closer! grin


Sometimes, the air you 'let in'matters less than the air you 'let out'.
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Not only out of range, but out of season! You know that the sucker wouldn't be around for any of the "calling" trips I made for him in September that year, don't you. grin

best,
bhtr


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Westcoaster;
I hope that this finds you and your fine family having a wonderful Christmas Season. Thanks for the wonderful photos that you've shared too, I never tire of seeing the wonders of creation that our home province has to offer.

One aspect of moose hunting that Klikitarik and I have discussed several times in the past is that all moose aren't created equally in size.

The bulls that some of the Alaska/Yukon and northern BC crew show will be double the carcass weight of what we'd consider a good Okanagan bull moose.

As examples, the spike fork that I killed on the mountain just east of our house went pretty close to 380lbs into the cooler, which seems to be about middle of the road for immature bulls in these parts.

My friend who now resides in the Yukon used to hunt right on the northern BC border and has killed some dandy big bulls on both sides of that imaginary line as a resident in both places.

I can still recall the time he called me one evening to ask if I could help cut up "a couple of pieces of moose"...which ended up to be the hind legs. laugh

If memory serves we did up 8 or 9 "party sized" roasts from them and then ground two 5 gallon buckets of burger from the trim. They were indeed pretty fair sized hind legs. wink

Then too it occurs to me that for instance in your bottom photo, if that happens to be you, then that bull would appear to be a different size than if it was for instance me in the photo. laugh laugh

Anyway, I really just wanted to say a hello to you and wish you and your family the best of our Lord's blessings in 2013. Hopefully you and the family get down to our part of the world this year again and we can get some more shooting in again as we very much enjoyed our time with you and your daughter.

Dwayne


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Need more moose pics!!! One of my most favorite threads ever. I've got like 14 pts here in Washington. My son has 8pts. We have some very big bulls here. Next year I'm gonna put in with him as a group. It will be a slam dunk as I lived amoungst the moose for 24 yrs of my life and my friends are still there. Can only hope we get lucky soon!!! Good work guys!!!


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Shag;
I hope that this finds you and yours doing well this Boxing Day morning sir and that you all had a good Christmas.

Seeing as nobody is showing signs of wanting to do much besides veg at our house today I thought I'd cobble together the story of my sole Okanagan bull thus far.

As I've mentioned in a few previous posts I grew up eating Saskatchewan moose and although I'd hunted for them once there had not been successful in killing one.

After both of our families had moved west here to BC, between my late father and me while we hunted Okanagan moose for a few years we never connected with a bull.

I'll add here that in the years when we began chasing moose here there was no season to the east of us and of course that's where we saw more moose than on the west side where the season was. Then they gave us a LEH season on the east side, but it was and remains a highly sought after and small number of tags, so neither Dad or I was ever drawn for a mature moose tag there.

My father's health eventually deteriorated to the point where he couldn't even ride along and finally he passed on about a decade ago - about the time they gave us an immature bull season on the east side. An immature bull here is defined as no more than 2 points on one side.

Anyway I'd found this spot that was dubbed "Missed Moose Meadow" after I grazed the back hair from a little spike bull there in 2002 I think it was. It's one of the travel corridor spots I like to look for where one can run into whitetail, moose, elk, mulies or black bears on any given day.

On that September morning in 2004 I'd had a particularly poor sleep - I've struggled on and off with insomnia for much of my adult life - and was feeling flatter than a snake through a ringer when I left the truck at full dark to begin my 45 minute trek to the spot I like to be at first light. To say I felt simply wretched would be putting it right and I repeatedly asked myself just why I was out hunting....

Like the pull migratory birds must feel though, every fall the mountains call to me and I just have to answer, so there I was trudging up the hill in the dark.

At first light I glassed a cow and then a small bull in the willows, immediately beginning to close the distance between us and trying to figure out if the right antler fork had 3 tines which would disqualify the bull.

This process must have taken at least 10 minutes and even though I was stalking a bull moose I still wasn't feeling tops. In fact when I bumped into a whitetail butt sticking out of some brush, I silently prayed that if the Good Lord allowed it to be even a spiker I'd be happy with that.

The whitetail however was a doe, a very well mannered one as it turned out, who ghosted away after spotting me rather than waking up the neighborhood with snorting like they are wont to do.

Anyway in the fullness of time I closed on one of the moose and as I figured out that I was looking at the cow, in my peripheral vision I spotted another moose beginning to leave.

I glassed him as he swung his head and about 100yds or a bit more I ascertained it was a legal spike by two. He was breaking into a trot when I hit him with a 220gr Hornady RN out of my "lucky gun" a Ruger 77 Liberty that I'd had rebarreled to .308 Norma.

While the hit rocked the bull, he simply found another gear and from somewhere down deep inside I did as well, as I was sprinting after him looking for another opening for a shot. There was a break in the timber he'd have to run through, so I utilized that advantage and hit him a second time, this time rocking the bull even more visibly, but he remained on his feet and running.

I resumed the chase and was running on what remaining adrenaline was left in me when I heard a crash ahead of me.

The bull was down, but not quite expired, so I replaced the next in line 220gr with a 173gr cast bullet loaded to about 1000fps and put him down for good with that.

How do I articulate the emotions that went through me then? I slumped down in the bush beside the bull, took off my pack and laid my rifle and hat on him as I'd worked up a fair lather in the process. I prayed a quick prayer of thanks to God for allowing my shots to count and then I recall looking up and saying, "Hey Dad, I finally killed a bull!"

I took a quick couple of photos from a cheap hunting camera I carried then and with apologies for the scan, here's what he looked like.
[Linked Image]

Since I've recounted before the wee rodeo that ensued packing him out I'll cut that short in saying only that it was 4 heavily loaded trips on the Dead Sled to get him to an old skidder trail that I was eventually able to run the truck up to, but was still not really that close to the bull's carcass.

For the those of us who are inclined towards what Dober calls "ballistic gack" I'll offer the following bits.

The first bullet creased the right scapula, broke a rib, traversed the lower lungs, broke another rib and cracked the offside scapula where it was found. It weighed 110gr.

The second bullet broke 2nd last rib, then ripped a hole in the liver, then the lower left lung lobe ( I think) and then broke another rib where it was lodged. It weighed 126gr.

I'd have to look at my hunting log to see if I've got which bullet was which entirely correct, but they're pretty close either way.

Here they are shown with one of the unused box mates for comparison.
[Linked Image]

Anyway Shag, with apologies to you and all out there who took the time to read this, that's the story of my Okanagan bull.

All the best to you and yours in 2013 Shag and good luck on your upcoming hunts, especially your moose hunts.

Regards,
Dwayne


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Shot this one in 07 somewhere along the Chandalar River. 52"er taken with a Winchester model 70 in 375 H&H
and 300gr Federal Vital Shok Nosler Partitions.

[Linked Image]

Took this one in 2009 2 days after I took a dall ram. Shot him with a Winchester model 70 in 270
and 150gr Federal Vital Shok Nosler Partitions.

[Linked Image]

Hunting rutting bull moose is one of my favorite past times.


That's ok, I'll ass shoot a dink.

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Originally Posted by BC30cal
Shag;
I hope that this finds you and yours doing well this Boxing Day morning sir and that you all had a good Christmas.

Seeing as nobody is showing signs of wanting to do much besides veg at our house today I thought I'd cobble together the story of my sole Okanagan bull thus far.

As I've mentioned in a few previous posts I grew up eating Saskatchewan moose and although I'd hunted for them once there had not been successful in killing one.

After both of our families had moved west here to BC, between my late father and me while we hunted Okanagan moose for a few years we never connected with a bull.

I'll add here that in the years when we began chasing moose here there was no season to the east of us and of course that's where we saw more moose than on the west side where the season was. Then they gave us a LEH season on the east side, but it was and remains a highly sought after and small number of tags, so neither Dad or I was ever drawn for a mature moose tag there.

My father's health eventually deteriorated to the point where he couldn't even ride along and finally he passed on about a decade ago - about the time they gave us an immature bull season on the east side. An immature bull here is defined as no more than 2 points on one side.

Anyway I'd found this spot that was dubbed "Missed Moose Meadow" after I grazed the back hair from a little spike bull there in 2002 I think it was. It's one of the travel corridor spots I like to look for where one can run into whitetail, moose, elk, mulies or black bears on any given day.

On that September morning in 2004 I'd had a particularly poor sleep - I've struggled on and off with insomnia for much of my adult life - and was feeling flatter than a snake through a ringer when I left the truck at full dark to begin my 45 minute trek to the spot I like to be at first light. To say I felt simply wretched would be putting it right and I repeatedly asked myself just why I was out hunting....

Like the pull migratory birds must feel though, every fall the mountains call to me and I just have to answer, so there I was trudging up the hill in the dark.

At first light I glassed a cow and then a small bull in the willows, immediately beginning to close the distance between us and trying to figure out if the right antler fork had 3 tines which would disqualify the bull.

This process must have taken at least 10 minutes and even though I was stalking a bull moose I still wasn't feeling tops. In fact when I bumped into a whitetail butt sticking out of some brush, I silently prayed that if the Good Lord allowed it to be even a spiker I'd be happy with that.

The whitetail however was a doe, a very well mannered one as it turned out, who ghosted away after spotting me rather than waking up the neighborhood with snorting like they are wont to do.

Anyway in the fullness of time I closed on one of the moose and as I figured out that I was looking at the cow, in my peripheral vision I spotted another moose beginning to leave.

I glassed him as he swung his head and about 100yds or a bit more I ascertained it was a legal spike by two. He was breaking into a trot when I hit him with a 220gr Hornady RN out of my "lucky gun" a Ruger 77 Liberty that I'd had rebarreled to .308 Norma.

While the hit rocked the bull, he simply found another gear and from somewhere down deep inside I did as well, as I was sprinting after him looking for another opening for a shot. There was a break in the timber he'd have to run through, so I utilized that advantage and hit him a second time, this time rocking the bull even more visibly, but he remained on his feet and running.

I resumed the chase and was running on what remaining adrenaline was left in me when I heard a crash ahead of me.

The bull was down, but not quite expired, so I replaced the next in line 220gr with a 173gr cast bullet loaded to about 1000fps and put him down for good with that.

How do I articulate the emotions that went through me then? I slumped down in the bush beside the bull, took off my pack and laid my rifle and hat on him as I'd worked up a fair lather in the process. I prayed a quick prayer of thanks to God for allowing my shots to count and then I recall looking up and saying, "Hey Dad, I finally killed a bull!"

I took a quick couple of photos from a cheap hunting camera I carried then and with apologies for the scan, here's what he looked like.
[Linked Image]

Since I've recounted before the wee rodeo that ensued packing him out I'll cut that short in saying only that it was 4 heavily loaded trips on the Dead Sled to get him to an old skidder trail that I was eventually able to run the truck up to, but was still not really that close to the bull's carcass.

For the those of us who are inclined towards what Dober calls "ballistic gack" I'll offer the following bits.

The first bullet creased the right scapula, broke a rib, traversed the lower lungs, broke another rib and cracked the offside scapula where it was found. It weighed 110gr.

The second bullet broke 2nd last rib, then ripped a hole in the liver, then the lower left lung lobe ( I think) and then broke another rib where it was lodged. It weighed 126gr.

I'd have to look at my hunting log to see if I've got which bullet was which entirely correct, but they're pretty close either way.

Here they are shown with one of the unused box mates for comparison.
[Linked Image]

Anyway Shag, with apologies to you and all out there who took the time to read this, that's the story of my Okanagan bull.

All the best to you and yours in 2013 Shag and good luck on your upcoming hunts, especially your moose hunts.

Regards,
Dwayne


Wonderful words, friend Dwayne. Thank you, and best to you and yours.

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This moose thread is epic! A great compilation of photo's, information and hunting stories.

I can only hope to add to it someday....

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I just like this photo.

[Linked Image]

This one not so much. eek

[Linked Image]




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Originally Posted by BC30cal
Shag;
I hope that this finds you and yours doing well this Boxing Day morning sir and that you all had a good Christmas.

Seeing as nobody is showing signs of wanting to do much besides veg at our house today I thought I'd cobble together the story of my sole Okanagan bull thus far.

As I've mentioned in a few previous posts I grew up eating Saskatchewan moose and although I'd hunted for them once there had not been successful in killing one.

After both of our families had moved west here to BC, between my late father and me while we hunted Okanagan moose for a few years we never connected with a bull.

I'll add here that in the years when we began chasing moose here there was no season to the east of us and of course that's where we saw more moose than on the west side where the season was. Then they gave us a LEH season on the east side, but it was and remains a highly sought after and small number of tags, so neither Dad or I was ever drawn for a mature moose tag there.

My father's health eventually deteriorated to the point where he couldn't even ride along and finally he passed on about a decade ago - about the time they gave us an immature bull season on the east side. An immature bull here is defined as no more than 2 points on one side.

Anyway I'd found this spot that was dubbed "Missed Moose Meadow" after I grazed the back hair from a little spike bull there in 2002 I think it was. It's one of the travel corridor spots I like to look for where one can run into whitetail, moose, elk, mulies or black bears on any given day.

On that September morning in 2004 I'd had a particularly poor sleep - I've struggled on and off with insomnia for much of my adult life - and was feeling flatter than a snake through a ringer when I left the truck at full dark to begin my 45 minute trek to the spot I like to be at first light. To say I felt simply wretched would be putting it right and I repeatedly asked myself just why I was out hunting....

Like the pull migratory birds must feel though, every fall the mountains call to me and I just have to answer, so there I was trudging up the hill in the dark.

At first light I glassed a cow and then a small bull in the willows, immediately beginning to close the distance between us and trying to figure out if the right antler fork had 3 tines which would disqualify the bull.

This process must have taken at least 10 minutes and even though I was stalking a bull moose I still wasn't feeling tops. In fact when I bumped into a whitetail butt sticking out of some brush, I silently prayed that if the Good Lord allowed it to be even a spiker I'd be happy with that.

The whitetail however was a doe, a very well mannered one as it turned out, who ghosted away after spotting me rather than waking up the neighborhood with snorting like they are wont to do.

Anyway in the fullness of time I closed on one of the moose and as I figured out that I was looking at the cow, in my peripheral vision I spotted another moose beginning to leave.

I glassed him as he swung his head and about 100yds or a bit more I ascertained it was a legal spike by two. He was breaking into a trot when I hit him with a 220gr Hornady RN out of my "lucky gun" a Ruger 77 Liberty that I'd had rebarreled to .308 Norma.

While the hit rocked the bull, he simply found another gear and from somewhere down deep inside I did as well, as I was sprinting after him looking for another opening for a shot. There was a break in the timber he'd have to run through, so I utilized that advantage and hit him a second time, this time rocking the bull even more visibly, but he remained on his feet and running.

I resumed the chase and was running on what remaining adrenaline was left in me when I heard a crash ahead of me.

The bull was down, but not quite expired, so I replaced the next in line 220gr with a 173gr cast bullet loaded to about 1000fps and put him down for good with that.

How do I articulate the emotions that went through me then? I slumped down in the bush beside the bull, took off my pack and laid my rifle and hat on him as I'd worked up a fair lather in the process. I prayed a quick prayer of thanks to God for allowing my shots to count and then I recall looking up and saying, "Hey Dad, I finally killed a bull!"

I took a quick couple of photos from a cheap hunting camera I carried then and with apologies for the scan, here's what he looked like.
[Linked Image]

Since I've recounted before the wee rodeo that ensued packing him out I'll cut that short in saying only that it was 4 heavily loaded trips on the Dead Sled to get him to an old skidder trail that I was eventually able to run the truck up to, but was still not really that close to the bull's carcass.

For the those of us who are inclined towards what Dober calls "ballistic gack" I'll offer the following bits.

The first bullet creased the right scapula, broke a rib, traversed the lower lungs, broke another rib and cracked the offside scapula where it was found. It weighed 110gr.

The second bullet broke 2nd last rib, then ripped a hole in the liver, then the lower left lung lobe ( I think) and then broke another rib where it was lodged. It weighed 126gr.

I'd have to look at my hunting log to see if I've got which bullet was which entirely correct, but they're pretty close either way.

Here they are shown with one of the unused box mates for comparison.
[Linked Image]

Anyway Shag, with apologies to you and all out there who took the time to read this, that's the story of my Okanagan bull.

All the best to you and yours in 2013 Shag and good luck on your upcoming hunts, especially your moose hunts.

Regards,
Dwayne



D,
That's good stuff right there! Congrats on that fine bull. Funny how shredded and mushroomed bullets mean so much to a guy. Thanks for the write up! I enjoyed it! Happy holidays to you and your loved ones too!!!

Chuck


Your Every Liberal vote promotes Socialism and is an
attack on the Second Amendment. You will suffer the consequences.

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Here's a few more for you shag.

NWT from this year

[Linked Image]

65" from the Yukon

[Linked Image]

Archery bull, Yukon

[Linked Image]

Big prairie moose. Saskatchewan

[Linked Image]

Getting them out, Yukon.

[Linked Image]

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64" nasty bull. Missing an eye, black and blue, hair missing this old boy had it

[Linked Image]

Bringing them home

[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]

Big fronts, Yukon

[Linked Image]

Still out there, NWT

[Linked Image]

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Sask Hunter, you have some beauties there for sure! How often do you draw a tag?

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Only ever killed one moose. The rest are the result of 6 seasons of living the dream.

My only bull from 2009. I'm back in super A pool which means I could draw next season.

[Linked Image]

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Oh man! killing me. Moose hunting pics and stories capture my attention like no other. 2 seasons ago the Moose hunting stories on huntingwashington were unreal. This years not quite as much but still moose hunting forums are my favorite.

Thanks for the pics!


Your Every Liberal vote promotes Socialism and is an
attack on the Second Amendment. You will suffer the consequences.

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Originally Posted by CLB
With applications going out to Maine, VT, and NH, getting a chance to kill a good bull is most certainly on my short list of animals to hunt.

If you can, post up some pictures of your hunt, talk about the terrain, conditions, etc. Oh, and obviously mention rifle, cartridge, bullet.

Not too much more exciting than seeing a big bull on the ground!




I've found Maine to be a very difficult tag to pull so far. Now VT and NH used to be far easier. I've held moose tags in VT twice and NH once. I've taken a bull and a cow in VT and a bull in NH. All three were mature animals. Trouble is VT and NH have been slashing the number of tags lately. They say the herd isn't doing well do to tick mortality and brainworm. It's getting downright hard to draw a VT or NH moose tag and when you do the success rates are way down. Ten years ago things were booming with moose in New England, now only Maine seems to be thriving.
I prefer the .30-06 with 220 grain bullets for moose hunting.

[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]

These are the two I took in Vermont. The bull I took in NH was a half rack but he was 9 years old.

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Last edited by Greenbrier; 12/27/12.
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Greenbrier,

Some really big bulls in Those photo's. You in Alaska?

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I am. I live in Eagle River.

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