Yesterday was a crappy day for moose hunting. The location I had been calling at was much too windy.
So I basically was going on an exploring trip.
Driving an oilfield road, I cut fresh moose tracks crossing the road.
Stopped and checked them and they were smoking fresh. I knew at the most 20 mins old.
So I grabbed the crossbow and went down into the bush, where this moose had gone.
Perfect clearing down in the bush, absolutely ideal calling site, the clearing had about a 40yd perimeter.
Long story short, I called him in in maybe 10 mins from my first call. Cow calls.
He was grunting pretty much right after my first calls, but you know how a moose grunting can fool you? Did I just hear a bull grunt or not, type deal.
Anyway, he came in grunting all the way, came into the clearing and turned to his right, so was coming across in front of me at about 30 yards.
I never attempted to stop him, just took the shot as he was moving.
It's all on video... I mounted a camera on my crossbow scope.
Perfect shot, center of the lungs, arrow went in between ribs and went out the other side right between ribs, and it just blew right through him.
I could not find the arrow.
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"Placed correctly Swift A-Frames will reliably kill big bears. So will North Forks, Nosler Partitions, Barnes TSX, Kodiaks, Woodleighs, GS soft points, Hornady Interbonds and Speer Grand Slams - and if I missed your favorite bullet -it probably will too.
It's time to go hunting and quit all this ballistic masturbation."
Just some scraps from somewhere off the front end cuttings, fried with onion, butter, salt & pepper.
Wow! I've never had a better tasting moose!
Absolutely delicious!
__________________
"Placed correctly Swift A-Frames will reliably kill big bears. So will North Forks, Nosler Partitions, Barnes TSX, Kodiaks, Woodleighs, GS soft points, Hornady Interbonds and Speer Grand Slams - and if I missed your favorite bullet -it probably will too.
It's time to go hunting and quit all this ballistic masturbation."
"Placed correctly Swift A-Frames will reliably kill big bears. So will North Forks, Nosler Partitions, Barnes TSX, Kodiaks, Woodleighs, GS soft points, Hornady Interbonds and Speer Grand Slams - and if I missed your favorite bullet -it probably will too.
It's time to go hunting and quit all this ballistic masturbation."
Congrats to all the successful hunters and also to those who may have not killed anything yet. Those are the years we seem learn the most about the game we pursue.
Here's a bull I killed on Sept 10th. I followed a bull for a couple kms until I found myself immersed in a herd and ended up calling this bull in twice. Sucks to admit but I made a poor shot angle choice, he was quartering towards me more than I thought. A day of tracking and all the thoughts about "Man!! Why did I take that shot". It was a hard lesson learned! No shots on an animal that's quartered towards at all!! Proud of my tracking though... The blood almost completely dried up after about 100 yards. I just went by foot impressions, bent blades of grass, and easiest route. He ended up circling back to within 500 yards of where i shot him in roughly 1km of distance traveled. He was bedded down so I snuck to about 15 yards and finished him off when he stood up.
Just back from Moose Camp! On the second day I said to my hunting partner that I feel like this could be the day....(but don't we all) We parked the truck and started to walk in. It was a clear crisp morning well before daylight, with no wind. While walking along this pipeline, you could see the fog in the cutblocks and it was dead quiet. Once settled and after legal light, a cow call resulted in no response. We moved on to the next spot. A call from this spot garnered some antler action on the willows just a little further up the pipeline. This bull had a cow with him. He wouldn't leave her, so we started moving in. We played cat and mouse for a little while until he had had enough of us. With the decoy and grunting, he postured up, started rocking his head and that stiff walk and started coming in. I have hunted moose before, but never had I experienced the head rock, slow stiffed legged walk that I was seeing now. This was the real deal. I could barely nock the arrow I was shaking so bad. We had good cover and thought maybe he would walk in a certain direction and of course he didn't. He presented a broadside shot at 14 yds. I'd like to say that my shot was perfectly placed, like I had been practicing for, but I can't. How do you miss something that was probably 12 to 15 hundred pounds walking in front of you that close? After I sent it, I knew it was a little far back. It was almost a complete pass through and I was certain I hit the liver. He took off and stood aroung the corner of the bush from us and grunted a couple of times. We stood silent, one of us feeling kinda sick about the shot. It wasn't long and we could hear some walking, then some crashing and what was a final wheeze. We waited what seemed like forever until we started in. He had gone off the pipeline into the thick stuff. The blood trail did not last long, but we felt confident that he was down close by. After only a short search, we found him. Then came that sense of relief that many of us have, knowing we have found our animal and the end was quick. I'm sure many of you have had this same experience, but it was a first for me. This will be a memory of an incredible hunt. Sorry for being long winded.
@ttankster, that's a great moose and a really cool story!
@Z7Extreme, impressed that you could seal the deal by stalking that bull elk and getting a second finishing shot into him.
That takes skill and determination.
"Placed correctly Swift A-Frames will reliably kill big bears. So will North Forks, Nosler Partitions, Barnes TSX, Kodiaks, Woodleighs, GS soft points, Hornady Interbonds and Speer Grand Slams - and if I missed your favorite bullet -it probably will too.
It's time to go hunting and quit all this ballistic masturbation."
Sunday morning called in a cow out of the herd and the bull followed to get her back. She stopped 5 yrds from me and was looking overtop, the bull followed into 12-13 yards… cow eventually bolted back to the herd. When she did it gave me a chance to draw and before the bull knew what was up he had an arrow through both lungs and went 65-70 yards and dropped. Solution 70#, 29.5” DL, Victory Vforce 300 with a TOTA 100gr 1”, 450gr total weight. Smashed rib going in and going out, quartering to shot off my knees, exit looks back but caught both lungs. Weather here had activity messed up, very happy to have the opportunity this year.
"Placed correctly Swift A-Frames will reliably kill big bears. So will North Forks, Nosler Partitions, Barnes TSX, Kodiaks, Woodleighs, GS soft points, Hornady Interbonds and Speer Grand Slams - and if I missed your favorite bullet -it probably will too.
It's time to go hunting and quit all this ballistic masturbation."
Called this young Bull in to 20 feet my first day out. Double lung shot at 15 yds. He made it about 45yds and fell in sight. Still in rehab after shoulder surgery in March. (Two torn tendons, one complete) Used my Bear "B" mag Riser 40# at my draw w a mouth tab. Pix taken in the farm yard after pulling him out with a quad. My 10th Trad Moose.
@ Gun, that's enough to impress the heck out of me.
Congrats on the moose and kudos for being a legit tough guy.
__________________
"Placed correctly Swift A-Frames will reliably kill big bears. So will North Forks, Nosler Partitions, Barnes TSX, Kodiaks, Woodleighs, GS soft points, Hornady Interbonds and Speer Grand Slams - and if I missed your favorite bullet -it probably will too.
It's time to go hunting and quit all this ballistic masturbation."
Great photos everyone. Keep 'em coming. I hesitated on a whitetail my first time out this year, and haven't had an opportunity again. Oh well, that's how it goes. I have bagged a few chickens..
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Proud member of the Boom and Crockpot and Poke and Yum Clubs - Eating tomorrow's trophies today.
"Placed correctly Swift A-Frames will reliably kill big bears. So will North Forks, Nosler Partitions, Barnes TSX, Kodiaks, Woodleighs, GS soft points, Hornady Interbonds and Speer Grand Slams - and if I missed your favorite bullet -it probably will too.
It's time to go hunting and quit all this ballistic masturbation."
Congrats to all the successful hunters and also to those who may have not killed anything yet. Those are the years we seem learn the most about the game we pursue.
Here's a bull I killed on Sept 10th. I followed a bull for a couple kms until I found myself immersed in a herd and ended up calling this bull in twice. Sucks to admit but I made a poor shot angle choice, he was quartering towards me more than I thought. A day of tracking and all the thoughts about "Man!! Why did I take that shot". It was a hard lesson learned! No shots on an animal that's quartered towards at all!! Proud of my tracking though... The blood almost completely dried up after about 100 yards. I just went by foot impressions, bent blades of grass, and easiest route. He ended up circling back to within 500 yards of where i shot him in roughly 1km of distance traveled. He was bedded down so I snuck to about 15 yards and finished him off when he stood up.
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Great job following him through what was probably the longest walk you ever took with everything playing over in your mind. Very happy you located him and finished him. Beautiful bull!!
2022 Elk
Sunday morning called in a cow out of the herd and the bull followed to get her back. She stopped 5 yrds from me and was looking overtop, the bull followed into 12-13 yards… cow eventually bolted back to the herd. When she did it gave me a chance to draw and before the bull knew what was up he had an arrow through both lungs and went 65-70 yards and dropped. Solution 70#, 29.5” DL, Victory Vforce 300 with a TOTA 100gr 1”, 450gr total weight. Smashed rib going in and going out, quartering to shot off my knees, exit looks back but caught both lungs. Weather here had activity messed up, very happy to have the opportunity this year.
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