| about 100 yds from my tree. It was all I could do to keep from trying a long moving shot at this bull. I kept the scope on him and waited. It seemed like it took forever and finally the bull stepped into the tall grass in the ravine where the cow had crossed. I removed the safety and put the cross hairs right behind his shoulder. I pulled the trigger and the rifle jolted me back. I looked in the scope and the bull was standing there. He turned and was standing toward me at an angle. I shot again, putting the cross hairs on his brisket, 5 seconds later he dropped. I heard the radio, it was Steve asking what was going on. Candy said get back to camp. I knew she had figured out what had happened. Nobody had heard any shooting in this hunt to this point It was almost dark when I got back to my 4 wheeler and started climbing to where the bull had dropped. Dan and I had traveled up the ravine when he was there. I had an idea what it was like. After a little trouble I found him. I was again amazed at the size of the animal. His rack was 46 inches across so not a big bull but a good meat bull. I left and headed for camp. I met Candy, Steve and Loren headed towards me on smith creek. It was dark. The moose I had just shot was about 200 yds off the creek and up a ravine. We all went to the place he laid in the tall grass and started skinning and quartering the meat. Candy stood guard with a 12 gauge shot gun with 00 brass plated 3-inch magnum bear shells. No bears showed and we had the meat packed in game bags and started picking our way back to the creek. Loren and Steve walked ahead and pointed out the best trail to follow. Back at camp we took off our bloody clothes and put them in sealed garbage bags and cleaned up in the creek, we froze our behinds off. We got a big fire going and lit both kerosene lanterns and a Coleman to light the area up. I was tired but very thankful that Candy, Steve and Loren were there to help. Candy and I would take the moose meat out tomorrow and leave Steve and Loren in camp. Wednesday the 8th, We loaded the trailers with some of the supplies, the moose meat and antlers. Steve and Loren would help take supplies out but would stay in camp. Candy and I would take the meat home and cut and wrap it Thursday. We met Dan in the gravel pit and unloaded the trailers and said good bye to the guys. They headed back to camp. Candy and I made the long trip home with Dan following. I was glad to be home and sleep in my comfortable bed. We hung the 6 bags of moose meat on our meat pole and cleaned up. We spent Thursday cleaning Moose. Tiff, Dan and the kids pitched in. Friday, the 10th, we packed our gear and headed back to 70 mile. Candy and I plan on going in to finish the hunt. Steve and Loren will meet us at noon at the pit. We made the 100-mile trip back to the pit. The Steese was getting pretty rough to travel. It was full of mud hole and wash board and made traveling slow. We arrived at 70 mile at around 11:45. We sat and watched the entrance to the trail, waiting for Steve and Loren to show up. At first sight of them coming we knew something was up because they had the meat trailer in tow and a blue tarp was covering something big in it. Loren had bagged a big moose a 55 inch, just upstream from camp. This would change our plans. Candy took the meat back to our house. Dan would help her hang it. I went back into camp with Steve and Loren. Loren hung around camp while Steve went hunting for his moose. I went to my tree stand to try and get a grizzly bear. There were grizzly tracks in the area but nothing had been to my moose carcass. The evening hunt was uneventful. I decided to head out the 11th and help with cutting up Loren�s moose. Saturday the 11th, I left camp and loaded some of the excess gear in the Ford pickup and headed for home. This would leave Steve and Loren without a truck in the pit for one day. I got home just in time for the moose cleaning party. Dan, Tiffany and the kids were there, helping. We spent the afternoon cleaning and wrapping meat. Sunday the 12th, Candy and I headed back to the pit to drop off the Ford truck Steve and Loren planned on meeting us at around noon in case we needed to take out another moose. Again we arrived a little early and were watching the entrance to the trail. Our first glimpse of them coming had us thinking, � another moose?� They had two trailers in tow and were making quite a racket. Steve and Loren were tired and had been up all night on a bear watch. They took down some of camp and wanted to call it quits. Steve had gone hunting up stream that night and just before dark a big grizzly had walked past him and headed for our camp. Steve had to walk back to camp through a lot of brush in the dark. They made a big fire and had all the lanterns going. Steve decided he didn�t want to hunt anymore. We spent some time going back to camp and cleaning up the area, then headed for home. We had a great time and harvested two Bull Moose. One 46 inch and one 55 inch. |
| HUNTING 1999 PAGE 3 |