Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game A Good Friend's 2008 Wyoming Moose (Pic heavy)

I'm not much of a storyteller but I'll give this a shot anyhow. I was lucky enough to draw a Wyoming moose tag in 1993, but then did it again last year too! The area I hunted last year was near Kemmerer, WY, but it only has 5 tags total. 3 of those go to resident max preference point holders, one to a nonresident and one goes into the resident general drawing. I drew that lone tag last year. An old friend of mine had not been faithful in applying or buying preference points and was about to give up on applying. I encourage him to apply as I had in hopes that he would draw that lone tag. He called me after the draw results were out this past spring and told me he drew. Knowing Mike like I did I called bullschitt, but he reassured me he had drawn. So a plan was made to kill a moose! The season opened on a Wednesday so we made plans to arrive on Sunday, set up camp and spend 2 days searching for a bull. Doggone weather was hot! Not typical October weather for the area as it was in the hi 70's and low 80's. The moose were tucked away in the willows during the day and came out at night to feed. On Monday we spotted a cow moose bedded down in the shade tight under a willow. Not much else except for a lot of antelope, coyotes and a few mule deer. On Tuseday we didn't see any moose at all. But we were glassing from the edge of the valley and did not want to get in the willows for fear of bumping one out and moving him out of the area. We had 3 contiguous ranches to hunt. Not much sleep occurred the night before opening day and 5 AM came dragging along. We got out long before daylight and set up to glass an area we hoped contained a large bull we heard about. Nothing! So we moved down the ridge about a 1/2 mile stopping to glass ahead as we could see each new piece of cover. I finally spotted an antler sticking out of a willow and pointed it out to Mike. We had to move up a short distance to get a better look. We swung out wide behind the shallow ridge and came back up to the edge. There was a cow with the bull which we had not seen ealrier. I don't know if she winded us or caught sight of us but she bolted for the willows. Mike was able to get ready pretty quick, but I was worried the bull would soon follow. As luck would have it, he just walked along but got behind another set of willow bushes. The bull was 250 yds out and about 50 feet below us. Mike waited for him to step out and shot him through the lungs. He was shooting a Kimber Montana 300 WSM sporting a 2.5 x 8 Leupold and Berger 168 gr VLD's. I told him as long as that bull is moving keep shooting. We DO NOT want him getting into the river or willows. He finally expired about 20' from the river!

A pic from the place the shots were fired


A dead moose in the center of the picture


One happy hunter! (he really is!)

Nothing better than helping a friend!

Nice, very nice!
Congrats!

Sounds like a good hunt, nice pics, how'd the Burger work out?

Dober

Dober,

Complete penetration. Never recovered a bullet.

He worked up the load the week before we went. Max load of IMR4350 according to Quick Load under that Booger Booolit. It shot 4 shots into one hole and the 5th was out about an inch. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while!

Keith

Thx

Could you get the truck reasonably close?

Dober

Very cool, never think of moose and Wyoming.

That's pretty cool! Like Steely was saying, kinda hard to think of moose and antelope running in the same country!

Dober,

We were able to get the truck right up to the moose. The rancher had all his hay cut and didn't mind as long as we were careful. We were able to do the same thing to mine last year.

Just darn thankful he didn't expire on an island or in the river!

Keith

oh yeah, there are a surprising number of them - and they show up in the damndest places.

this one was only a few miles from 76's hunt surrounded by miles and miles of sage



Congrats to your friend! - and it's always nice to get one on drivable ground!

Saw a few N of Jackson Hole awhile back.

Keith, Congrats to you and your friend! Pics of the area take me back to my recent lope hunt. I've never had Moose meat, is it typically tasty? You guys are livin large! Thanks for sharing.
Mark

I always get a kick finding moose scat up as high as 8,500' +.

Congrat's to your friend... one of these years I'll drop the hammer on a bullwinkle (If I keep saying it I'll draw - grin).

I take it he plays a lot of poker. My buddy is the same way, on the best buck he got he was estatic and the photo looks like the Dr. just told him he is getting scoped'.

Good looking Rubber Nose, How many times did he shoot him?

He shot 4 times and hit the moose 3 times. From what we could tell, the 3rd shot went under the moose. Other 3 went through the lungs behind the shoulder. 1st shot killed him, he just didn't know it. Moose in the water are no fun at all! Another friend had to get his across the river out there. A water logged moose is heavy he said!



I like moose better than elk. A co-worker offered me 2 lbs of elk for every lb of moose I would give him in trade. I declined!

That's awesome. Congrats.

Outstanding. Congrats to both of you.

Saw a nice bull west of Sheridan a few years ago. Site seeing in Late July

Great job, glad to see guys using the rare draw tags and not letting them go to waste...

Pretty good story telling too.