2004 Moose Hunt

At the end of Aug. I hit the road, dragging our camp trailer, and was off on my Moose, Bear & Deer hunt up at Horsefly Lake in British Columbia. The trip took us through Utah which has probably the worst roads in the nation. Do you remember the weight loss machine from the 1950-60s. You know the one that you put this strap behind you aroun your butt and it shook the pounds off. That is how the roads are in Utah. I tried to read some but all the letters were bounced and mixed up. Anyway finally made it out of that state to where better roads prevail. After being on the road for 4 days I made it to Fall City, WA to see some friends and got to meet Bob the Yak along with about a dozen Water Buffalo.

From there, we crossed the border into Canada where the border guards checked my paperwork for importing firearms and I had to pay the $50.00 filing fee. They didn�t even want to see the firearms they seemed more interested in collecting the the fee. Most of the Canadian Border Patrol were very friendly but there is always the one exception. And we found him. It ended up we spent a total of 16 days in BC. It didn�t rain on the first day there and on the day I left, but it did on every one of the other 14 days.

Months before I left for the hunt I asked the outfitter for Wildlife Adventures if he would see about getting me a disabled permit so I could shoot from a vehicle or should I take care of that for my self. He said that he would take care of that. When I arrived at the lodge none of that was done. I can�t blame the guides at all because they only work for that outfitter who is in Florida. The guides went out of there way to help accommodate me and make my hunt truly enjoyable. I was also told again by the outfitter that the Lodge was wheelchair accessible, it wasn�t. The bathroom door was narrow enough to just barely get my wheelchair in and only then if I propelled my self by pushing on the top of the tires or get more busted up knuckles. To get into the bedroom it took so major maneuvering and even then I scraped the door jam. The steep stairs made getting into the dining hall impossible if not for the help of both the guides and the fellow hunters pushing me and pulling me up a portable ramp that I took along. And even then it took 3 men because of the stairs steepness it was a good 8 ft. from ground to the porch.

But regardless of my difficulties I thoroughly and completely enjoyed my self. The meals were great and again the guides went out of there way helping me. My permits were for Moose, Bear and Deer but I only filled one tag. There were size limits on the Moose and Bear. The Moose had to be a Bull with at least a 36 inch spread and the Bear had to be at least 5 1/2 ft. from nose to tail and couldn�t shoot a Grizzly bear. And of course the Deer had to be a buck and I set my own size limit. The deer had to be at least a 3 pointer or larger. On the first day of the hunt we saw a cow Moose, a Bear that was to small and several Mule Deer but they were mainly Does, Spikes or Forkies. During the rest of the week we came on a cow Moose and her calf, 3 Whitetail Deer, some Sandhill Cranes, also saw a Eagle catch a fish, a Red-tailed hawk get a rabbit and we chased a porcupine down the road. Plus the salmon were just starting to run. But didn�t have time to go fishing but that�s another story.

The area is heavily forested with Lodgepole Pines and is clear cut for a square kilometer. The loggers haul out 1200 truck loads of logs out on weekdays and 500 loads on weekends. When everything is cut they then dig a hole about 2 ft. cubed to catch rain fall and replant the trees about every 12 inches. The nearby power generating plant is run by the saw dust from the mills and some of the small hills around William�s Lake are piles of logs. The forest is so thick it makes you wonder how anything could maneuver in it. It looks foreboding and is so dark that a flashlight is needed.

The temperature dropped and snow was on the way and my guide, Arne, told me that the bulls should be going into rut and how sharp their hearing is. On the second to the last day we seen a legal Bear at about 300 yards. It was a good 6 1/2 or 7 foot Bear but my shot would have been fouled by a tree stump and I didn�t feel comfortable taking a shot. On the last a bull Moose came into sight. He was standing half hidden behind a pine tree about 230 yards off the road. We watched him through our binoculars for a good 20 minutes before we could properly identify him as a legal bull. That challenged Hunter permit would have been right handy then. I could legally shoot from a vehicle if it�s at a dead stop and the motor is not running. Thanks to the help from my guide, Arne, for helping me out of the truck and leaning me up against the fender so that I could shoot over the hood. After alott of maneuvering I finally I got my shot. The bullet punctured his lung and he ran about 100 yards back towards me. Because of the rough terrain it took 8 men, 2 chainsaws and a Argo with a winch from 7:30 in the morning until 1:30 that afternoon to build a road from the bull up to the truck to load him. His largest spread is 41 1/2 inches and weighed right around 1200 lbs. I was told the largest from last year was a 40 incher. I had it�s head mounted but it probably won�t get here until next Sept. or Oct. We also put a additional freezer in the camp trailer so I could transport the meat home.

The customs coming back into the United States did a very through inspection which I was glad to see to insure our Homeland Security. Wanting to physically see both the firearms and their paperwork. My hunting license and the permits to transport the meat. Besides they were all friendly unlike their Canadian counterparts.