1st Moose - updated with story and a few more pics

Having a fantastic trip with a first class outfitter (our own Chicoltin Hillbilly - Doug McMann).

Story to follow in a few days when I get time to write it up but I wanted to post some success pics because I am pretty stoked.

Gonna name this the Double Piss Bull...he went 41 3/4.

“Moose”… did I just hear Doug say moose.

“Moose” I think he just said it again.

At the moment Doug and I are standing about 15 feet apart on opposite sides of a two to three day old moose gut pile taking a leak. After two years of planning, I have my you know what in my hand and my guide is telling me he sees a moose…

I contacted Doug in the summer of 2014 to book a moose hunt for 2016. After working through the details, we decided on the first week in October during prime rut time. So after the two-year wait, I loaded up all my gear including my Browning BLR in 30-06 topped with a Leupold 2.5x8 Vari-X III and a box of handloads comprising of H4350 (the 30-06 powder in my opinion) and Barnes 168 grain TSXs. I was sighted in for 2.5 high at 100 which puts me about 7.5 inches low at 300.

The 1000 mile road trip from Boise to Tatlayoko Lake, British Columbia was uneventful. The first day I drove to Ashcroft, BC and overnighted and then made my way the final six hours to Doug’s home. Upon arrival I was greeted by Doug and his lovely wife Julie. Their home is on a gorgeous wooded 40 acres of hillside with stables and kennels for Doug’s bear and cat dogs. Up the hill further from the main house are three guest cabins. Julie also runs summer camps during the summer for foreign students to learn English. The food and accommodations are first rate.

After getting licenses settled and having lunch and even though the first official hunt day was tomorrow Doug said grab your rifle, we can check zero, and get in an afternoon hunt. I have to say this always impresses me when an outfitter does this. The client is always chomping at the bit and it shows me the outfitter wants to work hard to fill the tag. So we went and checked zero on the rifles and then off for an afternoon hunt returning at dark for dinner. I have special dietary considerations and Julie was more than accommodating which I greatly appreciated.

Gourmet no carb lunches.

We were up at 6am for breakfast the next day and out into the field by 6:45 am. The day would consist of moving to various points looking for moose tracks cutting the logging roads. Stopping at honey holes and going for walks into the woods and calling. We cut one good set of bull tracks the first day just before noon but nothing responded to a cow call. It had been an odd year so far in that it was almost mid-October temperatures were dropping but the rut had not really kicked in or if it had the bulls were certainly not being vocal about it. We hunted both lower and upper elevations (where there was lots of snow) in the afternoon but had to call “no joy” for the day.

We returned to a feast at Doug’s place where Canadian Thanksgiving Dinner was underway with turkey, ham, and all the trimmings. The company around the table was quite delightful and Doug and Julie clearly have many quality friends in the area.

The next morning, we were headed back in the field early and Doug decided to head to one of his “honey holes”. We headed up into the heavily timbered hills that were interspersed with large sections of clear cut logging areas. We were headed down a skid road that had been logged on both sides when Doug saw a recent large gut pile. The road had lots of fresh moose tracks so we decided to take it to the end to get a quick recon of the area. We went to the end and turned around and Doug was formulating a plan. As we approached the gut pile again, I suggested we stop to check to see if it was moose or large mule deer because we really could not tell from the road and I had to take a leak. We get out and could quickly see it was a moose kill from about two days ago. Doug and I are both relieving our bladders looking in opposite directions when I think I hear the word “Moose”.

“Moose” he just said it again.

I turn and look at Doug and he says there is a cow about 200 yards away on the opposite side of the skid road down the slope. I put up my binoculars and am about to say there are two cows when Doug says “I can see two cows.” Then “No one is a small bull.” We move to the truck grab the rifle and the shooting sticks. As I am getting set up, I see the bull but immediately realize there must be two bulls because I can clearly see nice palms with my naked eye. I get the binos up and laser him at 165 yards and Doug confirms there are two bulls and the second is really nice. The smaller one trots off and the bigger bull is staring right at us straight on. I feel pretty comfortable on the sticks but not so sure I want a straight on shot. Later on we surmised that the bigger bull was annoyed with younger bull and poked him in the rump and that is what caused the small bull to trot off because none of the other moose left when he did.

I was expecting Doug to say “wait till he turns” but I didn’t hear anything. I glance over at him out of the corner of my eye and see that Doug has his fingers in his ears. I figure that’s a clue. I shifted my stance and adjusted the pressure I was putting down on the sticks and the crosshairs went rock solid. I held a few inches up into his chest and saw my vertical cross splitting his snout down the middle and squeezed. The BLR cracked, I heard a thump, the bull shuddered and then walked to the right stopping as his head entered the edge of the trees with his chest and rear end still exposed. I had already cycled the lever, could hear Doug say “shoot him again”, and as the crosshairs settled behind his shoulder I put a 168 grn TSX through both lungs. The bull turned back around from where he came walked about 20 feet back into the opening and started to wobble and then tipped over. He kicked his legs a few times and then went still. Reality started to settle in and I think I broke out in an ear-to-ear grin. I had my first moose.

A few handshakes, “thank yous”, congrats, and nice shooting were exchanged and we said well we should go look. I started to walk down the slope and realized things were a little breezy and literally had to stop and zip up my fly.

We got down to the bull and I could not have been happier. A nice bull with heavy bases, big brow tines each with three tines, and nice main palms had 5 and 6 points, respectively. Doug estimated him at 39 inches wide and when we finally measured his width properly, he was 41 ¾ wide.

We started by gutting him, well I should really say Doug did all the work I just held a leg here and there. After we got the guts out, we did a quick necropsy and saw the first shot went thru the top of the heart and the second shot indeed punched through both lungs.

There were no exit wounds but we did not find either bullet in the field or when we finished processing the animal at the house. The frontal chest shot penetrated 5 feet of moose as we lost the wound channel in the right rear hip joint (a real testament to the TSX) and the lung shot must have been buried in the offside hide someplace. The tenderloins and heart were recovered and we skinned the neck and took out the neck meat. Each side of that bull’s neck must have produced at least 25 lbs. of meat. The neck meat, tenderloins and heart were set aside and would later go in Doug’s pack. The head came off and I carried the head and antlers up to the truck and brought back some rope.

Doug cut the legs off at the knees and the bull in half cross ways and we decided to see if we could make just two drag trips up the slope in the snow. We peeled back some hide, cut some holes, and made a good size rope loop handle and started the “heave-ho” process with the back half of the moose. Each pull netted about 1 yard and about a 130 yards later we stopped and then returned back to the kill and started the process all over with the front half. All in all, it wasn’t that bad of a drag but certainly a workout and I am glad we weren’t doing it in the dark and cold.

We then returned to the gut pile collected the rest of our gear and Doug packed out the neck meat, the heart and the tenderloins, I carried up out other miscellaneous kit and my rifle to the truck.

The next trick was the last 30 or so yards to the truck with the moose which included a steep embankment up to the roadbed. Doug had a huge heavy duty carabiner and applied a little bush engineering tying it to a stump to force a right angle into the rope line. He then tied the end of the rope to the truck and we used the truck to pull the moose onto the roadbed. We then used the same process to get the moose onto the uphill side of the roadbed so we could back the truck right up to the down slope and simple push the two moose halves into the bed of the truck. We secured and covered the bounty and headed back to Doug’s place.

That night we celebrated with moose backstraps and petite sirah.

The next day was spent checking wolf traps (Doug is authorized depredation trapper), de-boning the moose and putting it into the coolers.

Doug standing with the bounty

We also headed down to a local river spot which is a known hangout for grizzlies feeding on the salmon run. We counted 20 odd bears in about 90 minutes and got some great photos.

I got up early the next morning and started my 1000 mile drive back to Boise with about 400 lbs. of moose meat in two big ice chests. Both border crossings were very pleasant and both the Canadian and US authorities were pleasant, efficient and even welcoming.

A few things I learned or was reminded of:
• Moose are really big animals and a lot of work to field dress and pack out
• No such thing as waterproof leather boots and remember to carry bread bags as last layer of waterproofing over your socks
• The 30-06 is a very capable cartridge for big animals when loaded with premium bullets
• A carabiner, rope, and ingenuity can solve a lot of problems

If you are interested in a fun moose hunt reasonably close to the lower 48, I can strongly recommend Doug McMann and Skinner Creek Outfitters. He and his wife Julie run a first rate operation and the hospitality is wonderful.

Mike

What I have learned on AR, since 2001:
1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken.
2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps.
3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges.
4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down.
5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine.
6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle.
7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions.
8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA.
9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not.
10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact.
11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores.
12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence.
13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances.

Posts: 10057 | Location: Loving retirement in Boise, ID | Registered: 16 December 2003

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