Hunting Pictures and Stories

Dana asked if there were going to be hunting stories on my blog. Of course there are. I thought I'd start with the biggest moose I have killed. He is also the last moose I shot, four years ago. Our preferred method of moose hunting is "spot and stalk." Sometimes we spend days, one year 8 days in a row, just sitting looking through spotting scopes from sunup to sundown, trying to find a legal bull. Where we hunt a legal bull must have a rack 50" wide, or three brow tines on one side or have a simple spike or fork on one side. The moose tend to get up and feed at day break, midday and evening. The best time to catch them is at midday because then you have all afternoon to stalk them. I spotted my moose when he stood up at lunchtime and walked from behind one hummock to lay down behind another 50 feet away. He was only in the open for a short minute but I just happened to be looking his way. I was pretty sure he was at least 50". He was way above timberline, across the river and at least a mile away. Two and a half hours later we slowly closed in on where we had last seen him. My hunting partner and I were standing on a small rise looking into the shallow gully where we had seen him disappear. No moose. After a few moments I did a bull moose grunt. Instantly he climbed to his feet about 75 yards away at the far end of the gully. He was staring straight at me, standing in the open. A quick glance through the scope made me sure he was legal and I dropped him in his tracks with one shot from my 300 Win Mag.