This story will be relatively short because the hunt was short...really short. The friendship and circumstances that preceded the hunt go back years though.

I think it's been a little more than a decade ago now that Tim (TDN) and I met here on the Campfire through a bullet purchase. We had a shared love of Model 70s and just sort of hit it off. He has graciously hosted me for a whitetail hunt on his family's farm twice now. The most recent being last fall when my son (Rowdy) joined in on the hunt and we were both lucky enough to tag a buck. Those two hunts on Tim's family farm are the only two out-of-state hunting adventures I've ever been on. Our family budget is modest, which made the opportunity that much more special for my son and I. Tim's family and friends are some of the best people I have ever shared a beer with, and that last trip with Rowdy was truly a magical experience to share with my son.

I hosted Tim for an elk hunt a couple of years ago, and to my utter astonishment we were able to get him on an a pretty fair, OTC bull within the first 30 minutes of opening day. It NEVER happens that way for us, and yet it did. Tim had a sufficient amount of fun that he decided a return trip was warranted. We talked about it a bit and decided he'd apply for a Shiras moose tag this time. I've had a good run on Moose hunting here in Idaho. I killed my own, once-in-a-lifetime bull almost 20 years ago, and have served as a guide to more than a half-dozen friends and family in the same area since then. We've been 100% successful, so I was confident if Tim could draw the tag we'd find him a bull.

The odds of him drawing were stupefying low. Someone has to draw the tag(s) though, so why not him? He put in last spring, and I more or less forgot about it in the weeks that followed. One random day in June I believe it was, I received a phone call from a VERY excited Tim. He was talking a thousand miles an hour so I only caught about every third word, but I managed to piece together he had been notified by IDFG his name had been drawn for one of the bull moose tags! In the weeks that followed we landed on a block of 8 days that worked for both of our schedules. To say we were excited is an understatement.

IDFG has cut bull tags by 75% since I drew some 20 years ago. They will tell you moose numbers are WAY down across the state. Maybe that's true...I don't guess I don't really know. I'm not a wildlife biologist. All I can tell you is we would see 13 bulls in a 24 hour span in the area we were hunting, and over 30 moose in total. I digress though.

Tim flew in to Boise late on a Thursday night. My lovely wife made out the hide-a-bed for him in the guest bedroom/office, and we quickly called it a night. Tim didn't need to be woken the next morning, as I could hear him shuffling around the kitchen as I jumped in the shower. I had everything loaded and ready to go of course, and we were on our way for the 6-hour drive in no time. The miles passed quickly as we talked guns, kids, and life in general. It was great to catch up with my old friend. I decided to take the long way in to our intended camping spot with the thought that it would give us a better look into the area we'd be hunting for the next week we intended to hunt. We stopped to look over the country a little bit, and were both immensely pleased to see a cow moose staring back at us within the first 20 seconds of getting out of the truck. The last 10 miles seemed to CRAWL by, as the excitement to start hunting was building with each mile. We finally arrived at our intended destination, and hastily threw up the wall tent and unloaded the ATV.

I think we left the campsite at 4:00 pm, knowing it would be a brief, evening hunt as we only had about two and a half hours of daylight left to work with. A few rough miles and an hour later, we parked the ATV and started hiking towards my favorite glassing spot. "I wouldn't be surprised if we see one in the little draw below us" I said as we started walking. Just as we came up to the little shelf I like to sit, I looked down and sure enough a small bull was standing there a couple of hundred yards below us! If you look closely, you'll see the little fellow just off the end of Tim's finger....



He wasn't a bull either of us were particularly impressed with, but it sure was a good start to the hunt. We quickly sat down and broke out the glass to survey the surrounding area. It took me all of about two minutes to spot another bull across the drainage from us. Tim was MUCH more excited about the second bull...



He was just "okay" imho, but Tim very much wanted to chase him. In addition to being a bit "marginal", I was also dubious we'd be able to get on him within the limited daylight we had left. "Besides" I argued, "We're FIVE minutes into the hunt. How about we take a minute and just enjoy this thing!". That was easy for me to say of course, as my kids are both older and self-sufficient. In fact mama and my daughter were off in North Idaho visiting Rowdy in college. Tim wasn't quite as fortunate in that regard. He has three kids under the age of 12, and Covid had just made it's way through his young family the week prior. I was honestly a bit shocked Tim's lovely wife had allowed him leave the mess of it all with her as he pursued moose with me in Idaho. I would have gladly hunted for the entire week I had taken off, but I also understood the family benefits for him of getting his tag punched sooner than later.

I told him 40" was kind of my base-line for a good bull before we ever left Boise. The bull we were looking at was a beautiful animal, but would fall a couple inches short of that. We argued for a couple of more minutes before I finally convinced him I could turn the bull up in the following couple of days if we didn't find anything better. A few minutes later I was glassing off to the west when I noticed a long tine sticking up through the sagebrush. "I think I see another bull" I said. I couldn't get a good look at him as all I had was a side-profile of him. Tim soon glassed him up and suggested we, "Go get a better look"....my man was EXCITED.

The bull was at about 900 yards when I first spotted him, and below us about 500 vertical feet. We began angling down towards him, mindful to keep the wind in our favor. At about the 500 yard mark we broke out the spotters for a better look. I could tell he had really long eye-guards and weaker palms, but not much else as we still just had the side profile. Finally, he rotated his head and looked up at us as I gave a soft coyote "bark". When he did, it was apparent he was over 40". I think Tim was already in motion before I pulled my face away from the spotter. I scrambled to keep up as we descended another 100 yards or so to get in a better position for a shot. I say that because any notion I had that we might pass on this bull was dispelled by the speed at which Tim was moving down the hill.

The bull was still bedded and seemingly oblivious to our approach as we closed in the last few yards. We managed to get Tim in a prone position and comfortable as I ranged the bull for him. The rangefinder read "375" and Tim quickly dialed the appropriate distance on my .300 WSM. As he settled his breathing and motions, I leaned in and whispered "Take just one second and enjoy this moment. The hunt is about to be over in a flash". He grinned up at me, and we shared a quick laugh as he settled back in and flipped off the safety. Seconds later, the .300 barked and the bull floundered to his side. I think we were both a little surprised to see him slowly gather himself and get his front end under him. "Hit him again" I said. Tim had already worked the bolt and responded by squeezing the trigger for a second time. Again I heard the bullet find it's mark. Again the bull floundered a bit, but kept his feet under him. To Tim's credit, he kept calm during all of it. He would ultimately absorb four shots, and all were well placed. He only made it a grand total of about 5 yards from his bed, but it was still pretty amazing to watch him absorb 800 total grains of ELD-X before he finally tipped over.

Here is Tim just after the final shot....




to be continued.....

Hell yes! Awesome story and hunt!

Congrats and great write up. Look forward to the next chapter.

Very nice, looking forward to reading more.

Superb. The power of the CF to bring like minded folks together for a great time - looking forward to part 2.

Excellent!

That is a great story and so cool the way it played out. Congrats to Tim and to you for guiding.

Damn Dave you the man. Mb

LIKE !

I was wonderin' when this would make it to story form.

That's cool as hell. Damn, man – you've lugged an awful lot of meat this year.

Yet another epic iddave thread - you are spoiling us this year with your mad adventures!! Congrats to you both - waiting patiently for more pictures:)

Good deal. Luv it...

A 6 hour drive from Boise and country that looks like eastern Idaho....Palisades area? Lots of moose in there.

Keep bangin til the meats hangin!!!

Dave, hurry up and post the story....I’m wearing out my refresh the page button on my iPad.

LOL

🦫

Anticipation.....

My partner and I got our Idaho bulls close to 20 years ago. We drew our 1st try. At that time the drawing odds were very high, 2 to 1 in the area where we drew near Yellowstone. It's MUCH harder to draw now. In the unit closest to me with moose, unit 54, there were only 3 tags available this year and 295 applicants.

And.......

Awesome write up and pictures from a couple of good guys . Well done for you both !

were is the rest of the story . congrats to both of ya'll

What he do sell his rifles to fund a plane ticket?? Congrats on the moose..

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!

Well done ... both of you!

My cousin, former resident of Boise, killed a nice bull moose up in the Island Park area several years ago. He was alone. Killed it about 10:00 A.M. It took him nearly two full days to clean and skin it, quarter it, and then pack out the meat and horns. He said he was happy to have killed the moose, but did not think he wanted to go moose hunting again, alone. Wonder why?

Thanks for the pictures and narrative.

L.W.

Very well done gentlemen. Thanks for taking us along.

Dave - as always - great writing!!

It was a helluva few days and some lifetime memories!

Thanks for the kind words fellas.
As you can tell from these stories year after year - Dave is the real deal. Generous, kind, salt of the earth, lifelong friend. I left Idaho bottoming out the rental van's suspension with over 450lbs of moose but with deep gratitude for the friends and opportunity to chase critters in beautiful country once again.

Things really came together logistically for this hunt. While I budgeted a week+ for the experience... I was just coming out of my contagious Covid window and we still had all three kids home from school... so part of me didn't thing this thing was even going to happen. But, my wife is INCREDIBLE and kept saying "you should go... just come home as soon as you can"

So, I was gone 98.5 hours from leaving the house for the airport to arriving home w/ meat + antlers I the rental van. (finding ANY rental car was a trick given the shortages, but especially one they'd let me take 1,700 miles!)

Great post! Enjoyed following along. Congrats on a successful hunt/adventure. Well done!

Congrats TDN & Iddave ! ! ! !

2 thumbs up iddave and TDN! Congrats on taking a great bull!

Absolutely awesome!

Great job you guys! That’s what I love about this place!

Congrats. Great hunt.

98.5 hours. You're a maniac!

How about a blow by blow on the 1,700 mile trip back to MI! You must have driven straight through.

What a great write-up of a memorable hunt! Congrats to you both and thanks for the enjoyable read.

Congratulations to both of you on a job well done!!

The Campfire is a special place that has spawned many friendships for me over the years, and some very close ones! I've shared amazing hunt's with incredible Men..........and enjoyed every moment of them!

Thank you for the recounting of your story.....it helps me get through these years that I've not been able to go hunting.....hopefully soon, with the move and new job, I'll be able to get back out into the Wilds again!

Again, great story about a fun adventure!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families as well!


Frog-----OUT!

Stories like this are what makes 24HCF great!

Most excellent!

Congratulations to both of you on an awesome hunt! Thank you for sharing your wonderful write-up of the adventure.

Well done Boyos !

That’s bad ass!!

Great hunt, great story, great friends, GREAT JOB!

Congrats Tim.. way to make it happen! You waste NO time! Proud of ya!!!
I challenge anyone to find a better author/storyteller on the www than my man Dave. It's an honor to hunt with the dude and call him my friend. The adventures he and I have had and will have will last a lifetime. I'm still "the okayest" (inside joke) but have been forced to keep up with this guy or get left in the dust. Thanks Buddy!

Great read! Congrats to both of you on an excelent hunt.

Iddave: Please pass along my congratulations to your Hunting partner (Tim).
And thank you for sharing.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Nice work guys!

if this isnt the very best of the 'fire, I dont know what would be.

attaboy to both of you on a great hunt. thanks for taking us along via the writeup.

great hunt. great story all around! Congrats!!!

Moose. Easy to kill. Takes em a long time to realize they are dead.

What I've found is that shooting extra shots for the most part just occupies the time till the animal falls. That said keep shooting if you want. I"ve no issue with it. I advise my clients to do whats best but I also tell them on the first shot if they need to shoot again or not. 2 shots is ok just insurance. More than that is just fun generally.

Over the years the TTSX bullet has killed as well as anything and we have yet to catch one. Even from the puny 308.. LOL

Again great hunt, great outcome. Enjoy the rewards this winter in fine meat. I"m jealous. I'm out of moose. Had 4 bulls clients killed this year and they flew every ounce of them back to Minnesota. I was hoping they would leave a bit. OTOH the bison other clients left isn't bad...

i enjoyed the story , pictures were great ,congrats and thanks for posting, Pete53

well done gentlemen, as always great write up Dave!

Great story - as always!

What a fantastic hunt and story, and awesome pics. Thanks for taking the time to post such a fantastic experience. Congrats to you guys, big time!