My best friend and hunting partner Sean was lucky enough to be drawn for a NH moose permit this year. 675 permits issued with over 16,000 applicants! A few years ago I convinced him it was something we should do, try to get moose permit that is, and then put one in the freezer. After only three years of trying, Sean was one of the lucky 675 permits drawn (with me to be his sub-permittee) for the 2007 hunt and we lucked out even more being drawn in our #1 WMU choice. We were going to get to hunt perhaps the best unit in the state for our moose, WMU A2. The only catch, and neither of us cared, was that he received an antlerless only permit. But we figured a moose was a moose and this might be the only chance in our lives we get to hunt moose, so we were pretty pumped up.

Summer came and so did all the information: we read up on moose and their habitit, received the moose hunt regulation packet from fish and game, the instructional DVD on moose, moose hunting and field dressing, along with loads of additional info. And during the summer we attended the free seminar offered by the fish and game department on moose and moose hunting (which I must say was time well spent).

We both had pretty hectic schedules this summer but managed to plan a scouting trip to the north country (where our WMU was) to get a feel for our unit and see if we could find some moose and fresh moose sign.

We arrived in Pittsburg, NH in late August for our abbreviated scouting trip. (We were fortunate that my in-laws have a camp right in the WMU we were hunting so we had a place to stay, clean up, fix meals etc.) We knew ahead of time this was likely going to be our only chance to scout so we were planning to make it a gorilla style scouting trip. Drive the log roads, check the cuts quickly for sign and then move along to the next one. We had spoken to some folks that had hunted the WMU previously and they gave us some good information on where to begin. We took the ball and ran from there. We drove at least 110 miles of dirt/log roads the day we scouted. We were up with the sun and didn't make it back to the camp until well after dark-thirty. But we got a lay of the land and found some good spots to check and made a plan to hunt around this one mountain opening morning.

Jump ahead to Friday, October 19. We headed north again to the camp. Sean arrived at camp a little while after me. It was fairly late when he got there so we briefly talked about the opening morning plan and then called it a night. Both of us pretty excited about the next day and the prospect of seeing some moose.

Day 1: Up well before sunrise on Saturday, we loaded the gear in the truck and began the hour long drive to our #1 spot. We arrived at our spot with the sun. We were 18+ miles in off the pavement but hadn't seen any moose on the roads on our way. We parked the truck and got our gear together and headed up into the cut. We hadn't been out of the truck for more than 20 minutes when we spotted the first 2 moose of the day. A decent bull and his travelling companion, a spike bull. We watched them for a minute or two before they decided to meander off away from us. We'd have been pleased with either of them, but we were looking for a cow. So on we pressed. Up through the cut and into the surrounding woods. As we hunted, we noticed a ton of fresh sign, beds, droppings etc. And we worked our way around the edge of the cut. About 2-2.5 hrs into the day we jumped moose numbers 3 & 4. They crashed off through the brush with us in hot pursuit. We hadn't actually seen anything but brown fur so we had no idea what it was, bull or cow or both and figured we best try and get after it. We stalked toward where we thought they went and were peaking around some evergreen trees, Sean to left and I to the right when I said to Sean "it a bull man, a HUGE bull!" His reply to me, "no it's a cow." I knew I wasn't nuts, so we both scanned a little more and about the same time realized we were watching 2 different moose. A huge bull and his girlfriend a big old cow...GAME ON!

We watched the two of them feed for a couple minutes and formulated a plan. During that time, the bull had wandered off and out of site but the cow was still feading 50-60 yards away from us. Sean was hunting with his long bow at the time and I was to be back up with my 308. Sean was heading off to try and get in front of the cow and I was going to stay put and observe from where I was standing. We had agreed that early in the week, it was his permit and he'd be the shooter. If things got desperate late in the week (it's only a 9 day hunt), whoever got the best shot was going to be the shooter. Anyhow, as he tried to close the distance, the jig was up and Mrs Bullwinkle headed for other ground. The remainder of day 1 was pretty uneventful. Although Sean did decide to switch to his rifle after that encounter with the big cow. Being our first and maybe only moose hunt ever, he decided (with me in agreement) we wanted a better chance to get the job done. So out came the BLR in 358 Win.

Day 2: Once again, up before the sun and headed toward the same spot as the day before. But things changed in a hurry on the way in. About 14 miles in, we had a good size cow jump out of the woods onto the road in front of us and then quickly back into the woods. We parked the truck, grabbed the gear and headed into the woods. We never did see that cow again but we did spook up another cow and her calf. But with them on the run and no good shot for Sean, they were quickly out of sight. We looked for a while and finally after 45 minutes or so, headed back to the truck planning to head to our intended destination. But as we hit the log road, I noticed the moose tracks from the cow and calf. Tricky critters...they headed DOWN THE ROAD! So we got in the truck and followed the tracks. About a quarter mile down the road, they cut back into the woods. So we parked again and headed into the woods after them. We walked down an old cart path for well over an hour looking for them (that seemed to be their travel direction). But we never did catch up with them again.

At that point we decided there was no sense in seing the same mile and half or two miles of woods we just walked through, so we decided we'd make a loop up on a small ridge and head toward the truck. Of course, neither of us, in our haste to get in the woods after the moose, had bothered to take a way point on the GPS back at the truck but we did know what direction we went in so off we went to see what we could find.

We worked up the ridge and got into some fresh sign. We followed the good sign into a big bog/swamp and worked the edge of that area. It was so thick you could hardly see in front of you at times. But we did the best we could and finally agreed, we needed to look for a spot to jump out of the swamp and back in the woods. After a couple more minutes, we found that spot and headed up through the thick evergreens and just as we popped out into an old, small logging cut we heard a crash off in the distance. We went to check out the area the noise had come from and found fresh sign including a good set of tracks! And the best part, they were headed the same direction we wanted to go. The moose had headed right down the ridge and in the general direction of the truck. We followed the tracks with Sean taking the lead and me following 30 or so paces behind him. After a good 30 minutes, and Sean hot on the trail, I spotted something through the trees. At first, I was thinking, "boy that's a funny looking tree, I wonder what the huge buldge is?" when I grabbed the binocs and looked it was a moose and SCORE! a cow moose at that. Sean still hadn't realized she was there and being far enough ahead of me I didn't want to yell. So I just dropped to a knee and got the moose in scope just in case he got a shot (when he saw her) and needed a backup. Within a few seconds, Sean turned and was going to signal to me he saw the moose when he realized I was already on her. But he had no shot, neither did I and a few seconds later, she decided the 2 hunters walking behind her might be trouble and she was off again.

Back on her trail and after another 20 minutes of following her as she wandered through the hardwood trees, we spotted her again. This time things looked a little more promising. Sean had seen her first and signaled to me. I got a lock on her and began watching the remainder of the scene unfold through the binocs. As she fed, head down, Sean would stalk closer. This game went on for what seemed like an eternity but was probably less then 2 or 3 minutes. And the whole time, each time she'd raise her head, I'd be thinking "stop Sean, she's looking again!" It was pretty cool because in the frame of my binoculars, I had the moose on the left and I could see Sean on the right. It was almost as if the scene was unfolding on a TV screen in front of me. Finally, Sean was in close and got the shot he wanted. As she made one final step, the 358 barked once, then again and she dropped. An easy tracking job and a confirmed down moose! Whoa! That was exciting.

But now the hard work began. We'd managed to kill our moose, but we still weren't exactly sure where we were in relation to the truck. We needed to go grab all the butchering gear because our plan was to skin her, quarter her and get her out in pieces. So we got a tag on her, took a way point and headed out toward the truck marking our trail while we walked. As luck would have it, she'd walked right toward the truck and I mean almost perfectly! We had gone maybe 200 yards when we spotted the log road, got onto that and another 100 yards down the road was the truck. Here's a picture of Sean with our moose. Congrats Sean! Next time, I get to be the shooter...


We got the tools we needed, grabbed the game cart and headed back for the task at hand. All of this and it was only 10:30 am. After some careful field dressing (there are requirements in NH about what parts of the moose must be brought to the check in station) we had all the required female moose parts and began to skin her. All told the skinning and quartering took a while and by the time we had her in pieces and in the truck it was well after 5 pm. We sat on the tailgate with a beverage and chatted a little before heading back to camp with our moose in hand. Mission accomplished!

The next morning we brought her to the check in station where we gave them the parts they wanted and they estimated her at about 6.5 years old and about 600-650 lbs. A pretty good cow! We were both extremly satisfied. It was too warm to let the meat hang so we spent the next couple of days doing the butchering.

We enjoyed our hunt a lot and hope to have another opportunity to do it again some day. Next time, we'd like to get one with some antlers for the wall!

Again, congratulations Sean! I had a blast hunting with you, as usual. And thanks to all for reading.
Rob

Very nice, I enjoyed your story. Thanks for the report.

Congratulations!

CONGRATS!

I drew NH Unit M in 1997. A guy I used to trap with here is a CO up there, so when I asked him for advice, he told me where to go and added, "Shoot the FIRST one you see!".

I got up a few days early and saw a few small-midsized bulls, plus a decent one.Even got treed by a spike after trying some calling!

Opening morning I came upon a bedded cow at about 50 yds.My brother and I debated it,and decided that since we had seen some bulls, decided to pass. She eventually got up, got downwind, scented us, and took off! Quickly followed by BOOM,BOOM!

We walked over to see, and when we told them we had passed on it, the responded, "You shouln't hadda done that!" We spent the rest of opening morning helping them,and the next 8 days LOOKING for another.

I drew Maine in '99 and tha tstory had a happy ending!

Congrats again, and thanks for the story!

quote:

Originally posted by DaveP:
CONGRATS!

I drew NH Unit M in 1997. A guy I used to trap with here is a CO up there, so when I asked him for advice, he told me where to go and added, "Shoot the FIRST one you see!".

I got up a few days early and saw a few small-midsized bulls, plus a decent one.Even got treed by a spike after trying some calling!

Opening morning I came upon a bedded cow at about 50 yds.My brother and I debated it,and decided that since we had seen some bulls, decided to pass. She eventually got up, got downwind, scented us, and took off! Quickly followed by BOOM,BOOM!

We walked over to see, and when we told them we had passed on it, the responded, "You shouln't hadda done that!" We spent the rest of opening morning helping them,and the next 8 days LOOKING for another.

I drew Maine in '99 and tha tstory had a happy ending!

Congrats again, and thanks for the story!

Unit M has the most deer and the least moose of any unit in NH. I've been hunting at my sister's land in unit M for many years and see deer all the time but have only seen 2 moose the entire time. Unit I2 where I also hunt has more moose than deer it seems some time.

Nice job with the hunt, Rob. How are the steaks?

Nice job on you and your buddy, Rob! I fish and hunt in Pittsburg; been going there for 20 years. Gorgeous country up there, and the area is just filthy with moose.

You now join an elite group: one of a very small population who knows now both where they are located, and has personally surgically removed a moose's ovaries. They make it very clear in the video (free CD they send upon request in lieu of the in-person informational lecture; pretty neat thing) and paperwork that anyone checking in a cow MUST bring the reproductive apparati with them, and WILL make you go back and get them if you do not. I got my bull up in D2 (my 6th choice of units-A1 and A2 where you guys hunted were my first, and pretty much everyone's) around Twin Moutain last year. We certainly weren't blessed with decent weather (looks pretty nice and sunny in your pic!), but it was the most incredible hunt experience of my life...Actually, I just last week got my moose coat after a year's wait. It's nicer by far than my highest expectations, and I'm extremely happy with it.

Anyway, congrats again on your collective success, and enjoy the meat; it's fantastic (I'm down to 20 lbs or so ).

KG

P.S. Did you eat Buck Rub Pub Grub?