Where I hunt, it takes about five years to get a tag for a bull moose, and this year was the third time I had been drawn, the other two seasons I never got a shot off at a moose. I figured that I would try with my bow, so that I could gain a two month advantage, and somehow get lucky. Dad had been seeing a big bull (40"+) hanging around a section of land we farm during harvest, so two weekends ago I finally had time to get down and check things out. I had never had the chance to actually get out hunting with my bow prior to this, or any experience calling/stalking moose up to this point, but in the morning I headed out with my gear to see how things would play out. After two hours of calling with no real action, I took a stroll through one arm of the bush, which was really more of a slough at this point from all the rain we had this year. With nothing doing there I went home. Later in the afternoon I decided to head out and walk the main bush hoping I might see something. Well luck was on my side (sort of), and about halfway through the bush, I saw the big bull about 100 yards a head of me standing there. I side stepped behind a tree, nocked an arrow, gave a grunt, and stepped back out, only to see him running away. He was the biggest bull that I had seen in our area, to be fair I might see one bull a year, but he was big, and I never bumped him again.
Fast forward to Nov 1, opening day of rifle season! I decided that hunting was much more important that work, duh!, and took the day off. We had freezing rain, snow, hail all night, and it made the almost two hour drive to my parents a little more interesting than usual, but as soon as I pulled up, dad was running out and we were off. We headed to the usual section of land, fresh snow to look for tracks in, and it took about ten min to see a young bull standing in a slough bottom not concerned by us at all. We sat watching him, as I tried to make up my mind with what to do. We decided to keep on truckin', as we were 15 min into opening day. We toured around a few other hot spots we know of without seeing anything but a cow and a couple white tail doe's, and decided to head back and check out that bush a little more. We picked up the bulls tracks and followed then across a road and into another piece of land where we bumped him, and again decided to pass. We figured our best bet was to walk the bush and see what came out and go from there. My dad saw another young bull run out, but I saw nothing, but there were big tracks that were maybe from earlier in the morning in the bush, and I checked all around, they never came out. We decided to track the smaller bull that came out and followed him for a mile or so to another piece of land we farm. There is a bush in the corner that is small and hell to walk through, but always seems to have a moose of some sort in it. Dad said he would push it, so I set up on the other side and waited. It didn't take long for two cows and a young bull to come running at me, but I let them pass. Shortly after that I saw another bull run to the edge, stopping dead in his tracks. I was hoping this was the wise old bull just from the hesitation, and then he ran out, proving to be a younger bull, but bigger than the ones we had come across so far, so I decided that a beer in hand is better that two in the fridge. I dropped him in his tracks with a neck shot from my .375 H&H and it was all over! This was the first animal I have hunted with the rifle, and I have to say the more I shoot it, the more I love it!
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Recovered 250gr TTSX, weighing 241.9gr.
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