I was hunting Small Lake north of Thompson Manitoba. For the first 2.5 days I didn't have much luck. I never saw a moose actually. But moose hunting is either hot or cold, and I knew that going in. I did see plenty of sign, so I knew there were moose around. Two of the other guys in camp actually got their bulls on those first 3 days. On day 4 the weather turned more favorable for moose hunting. It started raining and got colder. That morning we spotted what was a definite shooter, probably a 50" wide bull. We tried to make a move in on him but he just disappeared. While it would have been awesome to get on this bull, it definitely lifted my spirits just seeing a huge moose.
On day 5 we spent the morning working an area near where we had seen the big bull. We hiked in with the wind in our favor and my guide Tyler did a bunch of cow calls and bull grunts. Alas, not one response! Finally after several hours we called it quits to get some lunch. After lunch we headed back out with a plan to hunt a different area. As we were cruising along in the boat, Tyler spotted a bull up on top of the hill where we had been hunting all morning. We knew it was a different bull, but he looked to be a shooter. We eased the boat into a place on shore to get the wind in our favor. Since we didn't get any responses to our calls in the morning, we decided to go in quiet and make a stalk. We walked right next to each other, so we would sound like one animal (hopefully a moose). Once we got within 80-100 yards of the bull we could hear him grunting and raking trees. There was not a lot of time to set up. Tyler moved to a position 15-20 yards behind me. He never called once, he just did some raking with his moose scapula. The bull was very agitated with this! He was swaying back and forth and came in on a zig zag pattern. Stopping every 10-15 yards to rake the trees and was grunting the whole way in, swaying back and forth with drool running out of his mouth. He got to about 10-15 yards and I was trying to figure out how to get a shot off. Tyler is telling me to draw my bow, but he cannot see I have no shooting lane from where I am standing. I tried to move a step forward for a clearer shot, but this seemed to alert the bull. Finally he then turned the other direction. He walked perfectly broadside and this time I drew my bow back. Once he stopped at 12 yards I put my pin right behind the shoulder and let the arrow fly. I cannot say for sure if my arrow was deflected or not, but it would be hard to get a clean shot through these branches. The shot was not great, I ended up being about 3" too far forward (and a little high). My arrow caught the back of the shoulder blade, so I only got one lung and did not get a pass through. The shot was taken at 4:15PM. At around 6:00PM we were able to locate him still alive. He was laying down but still moving his head around and coughing. I was standing at 30 yards from him when he stood up and I was able to get off another shot, but that completely missed due to all the branches in the way. Luckily he fell back down so I could get closer. At 10 yards away and he stood again. This time I put my arrow through both lungs. Blood was pouring out of him and he was not a happy camper. He looked like he was going to charge us, but luckily he just started walking sideways and keeled over dead!
Needless to say my guide did an awesome job. He actually got 3 moose killed in 4 days. (He guided the other two guys in camp first and then took over with me when they tagged out.)
From start to finish it took us about 6 hours to get the bull out of the bush. We were about 250 yards from shoreline and we used a chainsaw to cut a trail in. This made it much easier to pack him out. The moose was caped and deboned in the field.
All in all it was an awesome hunt! By far the most exciting hunt I have ever experienced. It felt surreal, because it was everything I could have hoped for. He was not a huge bull, actually I think he was the smallest killed this year by this outfitter. But he was the only one killed with a bow. My bull was 39" wide. The other bulls taken ranged from 40" to 57", all rifle kills. To be honest the quality was much higher than I expected. Every other hunter there this year killed, except one other guy who bow hunted the week before me. I guess now I have a reason to try to go back for a bigger one someday .
I think I am going to be on cloud 9 for a while after this. It definitely makes me want to get out there and kill another moose, Elk, Caribou, or any big game animal really. The type of hunt where you go after the animal is so awesome!
IMO, there's not anything much more exciting than watching a bull posturing as he comes into the call!
I'm betting that it won't be long till you are back up there chasing moose again.
Best of Luck, Jeff
I'd rather shoot just a nice size one like yours with your experience than a big one in a clearing. Anyways shooting a moose is awesome no matter what. Great job.
Awesome!
Mark
We had some tenderloin last night, it was soooooooo good!
Please describe your equipment list - bow, broadhead, boots, raingear. Include any comments you might have on how the gear performed. Temperature of your hunt? Thanks.
A bear had broken into the cabin there and chewed into all kinds of stuff. That's why we leave the "welcome mats" outside the windows and doors ha ha!!
Nice job again, big congrats, and thanks for sharing the story! (Walleye and pike fishing is also insane on that lake)
APauls - Tyler is pure gold, a great guide and hunter. I learned a lot from him. Mike Reimer guided me for the first 2.5 days. He was very good too, and is also a great guy. It just did not come together for us and I would not even count the first day because it was like 75 degrees outside. I guess that is why you do a 7 day hunt. Conditions were great for moose hunting on probably 3 of the days. (Cold and calm). One thing I will say is both Tyler and Mike were always more worried about getting me on a moose than "what happens after". Mike and I hiked way into a spot on a river one evening and I was asking him "what happens if we get one back here?" He told me, you don't worry about that just stick one. Luckily when I finally did kill, our pack out wasn't too bad. It was awesome that they were willing to go after the moose and not just drive around in the boat (we did some of that too.)
Hopefully my comment about going back for a "big one" is not taken the wrong way. My moose is plenty big for me! I couldn't be happier with him or the hunt. Just trying to come up with some excuse to do it again, lol.
