Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game A Campfire moose hunt in Idaho

Awesome!

If I was a critter living in Idaho, I'd consider moving to a neighboring state. Ain't nothing safe living there as long as Dave lives there......😳

Great story, can't wait for the ending.

SO awesome!

Wonderful story on so many levels!

Great write up, Thank You sharing. Good shooting Tim!

Nice

Dave. What’s the details on that rifle???

iddave, keeping the coals of the Campfire burning bright. Looking forward the rest of this story.

continued....

After a round of high-fives and mildly awkward man-hugs, we began the hike down to the bull. I don't know how you lose an animal as black as coal and as big as a Volkswagen, but we did...at least for a few minutes. In our haste and excitement to lay hands on him, we'd walked down the wrong little draw. We stumbled around for a couple of minutes in a mild panic until we finally bumped into him. "My goodness that's a large animal" was the first thing Tim said as we walked up for a closer look. He was right of course. I've been a part of extracting a half-dozen or so bulls now, and this one was bigger bodied than any of them. If he wasn't 1,000 pounds, I'll kiss your azz.




Here is a VERY happy Tim after we wrestled him into position for a photo or two...




He was exactly what I thought he was in terms of his rack. He'd tape 43", with nice eyeguards and weak(ish) palms. We've killed bigger bulls in there, but we've killed much smaller ones too. Tim was as happy as could be, which is all that really matters. He was a fine old bull, and Tim had done some excellent work with the rifle to make it happen.

We quickly realized we had neglected to bring game bags in our haste to get out for the evening hunt, so we made the decision to just gut him and let him lay for the night. It was already cool out, and the forecast was calling for temps in the teens that night. It was comical watching Tim work on the bull. Tim has processed a million deer in his life I'm sure, but the scope and scale of a moose that large was throwing him off of his game. "What is THIS?!" he said at one point, while extracting an organ that bore a passing resemblance to a small Alien. After a good hour of cursing and laughing, we finally had the job done. Tim gave me a knife as a "thanks" after our first elk hunt together a couple of years ago, and it seemed very fitting to be using that same knife to process his bull moose that evening. We were also pleased to find one of the bullets. It had traveled through about 36" of moose, and was resting against the far hide.








Our hearts were light as we began the trek back up the hill to the ATV. It started spitting snow just as we left for camp, but we made it back roughly an hour later without incident. We enjoyed a warm fire in the wall-tent, and shared some more laughs as we sipped on the Pendleton until our eyelids grew heavy and we retreated into our sleeping bags..

We slept in until daylight the next morning, and headed back in for the first load after a good breakfast. It had snowed 4-5" overnight, which made the ride in a bit treacherous. It also made for some wet hiking down to the bull. Soon enough though, we had four quarters and the trimmings peeled off and bagged up for the pack that awaited us. It wasn't nearly as rough as my elk hunt two weeks prior, but it still wasn't fun. Moose quarters are HEAVY. Here I am coming out with a front...



The pack would be largely uneventful. It would ultimately take us the entire day to get the bull extracted, but all things considered that really wasn't so bad. The worst part of it was trying to keep the ATV upright with Tim, myself, and half a moose strapped down on the final run back to camp. We came SO close to rolling that damn thing at one point, but would eventually make it back to camp unscathed. We also got to lay eyes on another dozen moose throughout the day. Some were closer than others.



Roughly 24 hours after pulling into the unit, we had Tim's bull quartered and back to camp with us. Not a bad day's work all things considered. The following morning we got up early and began breaking down camp. It didn't take long and an hour or so later we were loaded up and ready to head to town to pick up the rental car Tim had arranged for to transport all the meat and his rack back to Michigan.

Here we are about to head out. Man what a fun 36 hours...



A couple of hours later and we had the rental car aquired and the meat loaded up and on ice....in a fashion. The local Wal-mart was sold out of the larger coolers, so Tim had to make do with what was available and just ice things down. He said he drove most of the way back to MI with the windows down and the car at a balmy 40 degrees. I don't know what the car rental place had in mind when they handed him the keys to that minivan, but I bet it wasn't this....



The hunt has been over a week now, and we are both safely back to the comforts of our home. It was short hunt for sure, but one that will stay with me for a long time to come. Fantastic hunt with a fantastic guy. Hopefully the Campfire brings a hunting partner and similar memories to all of you in the years to come as well.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

Dave

Outstanding!!!

You guys just keep the hits rolling! Good on you two!

Tremendous, thank you for sharing.

Another fun read! Congratulations to TDN.

How long did it take Tim to drive from Idaho back home to Michigan? Fly in, drive home with an ark full of meat. Love it.

🦫

Ole Tim owes his wife big time too for being a trooper and handling all the problems at home. A lot of women would not of stepped up like she did. Mb

Nice work brother Dave. 👍

Yep, Pretty freakin awesome!

Todd

This is a great story. Glad to read it.




I must say though, after killing 2 shiras bulls and being a part of a few more hunts for them I too have noticed that they're built "different" on the inside than deer or elk. I almost always go gutless, but fishing around for the heart, tenderloins and trimming rib meat off still gives a guy a good look at what is in there.

Alot of work, but also alot of fun I'm thinking! Hunting Moose was always something I wanted to do! But the years went by and I'm to old and poor to do it. Just Happy to read about others getting it done!

Excellent!!

Nice. I can relate. Spent several occasions with family and friends on moose from Idahos north. Now I see them only occasionally and elk are also hitn/miss.

I did that outta Wyoming 1 year. Partners couldn’t travel so I flew, figuring I’d do the same as Tim. Got lucky and got a bull. Got a ride from Afton to Cheyenne, spent an overnight with a buddy, who took me to Denver to rent a small SUV. Beat feet back to Va. if you got a buddy with camp, it isn’t a bad way to roll.

Love these sorta hunts!