finished up wrapping the loins and tender loins in clean white paper about 1:30 pm and had some much deservered lunch and a long nap.
now i'm ready for some story telling....
this has been a great tag for lots of nights on the mountain.
i figured so far i had spent 18 days horseback and covered 6 or 7 different areas and in the range of 300-325 miles.



up until yesterday i had seen 19 bull moose and 9 cows.
scattered and never more than 3 in a day,at least i was seeing moose.
the area i had drawn used to represent 5 different moose areas with a total of 25 tags.
that was pre wolf. the wyo. g&f combined the 5 areas and reduced the tags to 5.
early in sept the weapon of choice was my bow and i had been drawn on a great moose 2 different times @ 30 yds and didn't take the
shot....just wasn't sure of my abilities and couldn't stomach the thought of a wounded
and lost moose, so i held my fire and went home empty.
fast forward to late sept and thou i was packing my modern center fire telescopically scoped elk hunting rifle,i started carrying my mother's "ole' meat in the pot" model 94 winchester 30-30.
mom in her prime could handle this weapon,
levering,shooting and reloading like John Wayne
in a hour long shoot out with half the Sioux nation or a saloon full of black hat wearing bad guys.
it was her rifle of choice and she was deadly with it, head and neck shots out to 200 yds
was just normal.
i can remember sitting there when she tuned up the front sight with a fresh drop of "mother of pearl finger nail polish and the bluing on the barrel is worn thru, where the gun rack in our old family pickup carried the rifle for uncountable miles.
I have early memories of her stompin on the brakes of that old truck and shuckin the rifle as she exited and shooting the "funny looking dog" that was stumbling down our dirt road lane
foaming at the mouth. undeniably rabid.
i was still small enough i was standing up in the seat to see, must of been all of 5 or 6yrs old.
closing my eyes i can still see her working the lever after the shot and the brass ejecting over her shoulder,glinting in the soft evening lighting of a wyoming summer.
the smell of dust and rifle smoke wafting thru the cab.
when i crawled in my truck yesterday morning, i did so with this 30-30 and a extra box of shells.
i had pulled in to my place the night before at 5:00pm and was crawling back into the truck @ 5 am the next morning.
a cup of coffee and the "weak link" bear dog, i made a stop for fuel and hit the road to check out another "moose report."
my nephew had been seeing a bull,cow and calf as he searched for 8 cow/calf pair, missing since they had gathered and brought the cows off the Mt. lease in early oct.
his words were,"he's got wide paddles and lots of points"
waiting for dawn in the old burn/clearcut, i finished the coffee and loaded my backpack with the needed items for the day.
the drainage i was hunting was parrelled by a 2 track Mt. road and with a stiff upslope wind i pointed my nose downcountry and started easing
along glassing from the high points.
before leaving the truck i had jacked one in the chamber and set the hammer to the half cock
safety postion as i had been in here earlier in the season and seen a big sow grizzly and her 3 nearly full grown cubs.
for the first hour i had seen nothing but tracks
elk tracks, bear tracks and a few people tracks,
some a foot and some mixed with the cresent shape of horse shoes.
easing off a slope to the next high point i hit paydirt and spotted a pair of paddles tucked into a few pines on the windprotected side and the heart rate went wild!!!
i crawled down within 165 yds and studied him carefully, 10 on his left and 11 on his right side,nice wide paddles,decent point lenght.
Moms whispering in my ear that this is "the one"
i dropped my pack and told the dog to stay and crept around to one side with the wind in my favor i settled into 70 yds and sat watching him.
he was bedded facing me and i was at the last bit of cover, knowing i couldn't get closer i
took a couple pictures and backed out in case the wind shifted and returned to my upslope high point to watch him from alittle farther away.

about 30 minutes later he got to his feet and i started studying my options for an ambush,he streached and did a 180 and rebedded facing the other way and i figured this was it.
now i stood a chance of getting across the open area and once again i snuck my way down slope.
the soft ridge to the right of him in the last picture had a good cover of trees and about a 70 yd piece of open to get across.
i made it to the open ground and drifted right reading the wind and getting below the small rise he was on, the low limb just right of him above the snow was my cover and i kept getting closer and creeping closer.
reaching the bottom of the hill hes on i'm watching his paddles and gaining ground.
at 14 yds i got about 4 inches of his neck in view and raised the rifle.
Moms whispering "joe! thats close enough, hes gonna hear you,hes gonna see you! joe"
still not quite right i don't want to exit out his face and i creep 4 more yds and now can see 8-10 inches of his neck and the exit path allows for the shot.
my shooting lane/window is just over the top of the low limb and i whispered back to mom.
"this ones for you"
at the fall of the hammer the ole' 30-30 roared for the first time in 5 yrs and the bull rolled over on his side never to leave this bed again.


the 2nd picture is looking back upslope out of the bull's bedroom.
i shook the rifle in the air and yelled "mom,we got us a moose"!!
walking up to him i was over come with emotion and sat and shed a few tears for the woman who raised me, wishing i could hear her voice and see her shining eyes one more time....
we lost mom to cancer in 06 but i had just spent the greatest of mornings with her and
know in my heart of hearts that she enjoyed every minute of "her" moose hunt.
post script; i called down off the Mt. and got a hold of my nephew and an hour later he arrived with 4 other 25-30 yr olds buddies from the fire dept.

and an hour later we had the moose dressed and loaded WHOLE in the back of my truck for the ride down off the Mountain.
his quarters are hanging in the shop,the loins and tenders are in the freezer and i got a few more days of R&R....
Hey mom, wanna go elk hunting?
enjoy and safe travels

You had a great mom! Nice bull, loved your story.

That is a wonderful story, Joe and a great Shiras.

Congratulations! and if you get up this way, look me up.

(But to make the story more authentic, you may want to switch it to a saloon full of Sioux)

Trophy-Wife has Oglala blood, so I am allowed the rude comment

Simply amazing story bud!

Awesome Bull and as we've come to expect excellent pictures.
The recounting of the story seemed written from fiction (yes it was that good) and I must admit I nearly got to sniffling while I was reading it.
You are lucky that you have that rifle to hold and polish and remind you of your mom, amazing that a tool like that gun can evoke such strong memories and emotions.
You my friend are living the good life!

Awesome, and congrats!!! Look forward to seeing you back in Colorado later this week.

What a great story and some great memories too! You could take up writing for a living - if you don't already?

Weidmannsheil on a superb Shiras!
- mike

Cheers! Well done

Outstanding!!! I knew the story would be a good one, but I didn't know it would be a GREAT one!

Isn't it funny how those old rifles can take you back to such fond memories of our childhood? Loved it!!!!

Congrats!!!!!

Great story and great bull! You got the life living in gods country. Some good hunting here in the midwest...but what i wouldnt give to live out west!!

Congrats on the bull!

Josh

That is awesome, and a great bull. Congrats.

Job well done Mr Raven. Congrats on a fine bull.

Joe,

That is such a great story. The part about Mom's 30-30 is just perfect. I can't wait for your report on the buffalo with Terry Anders next year.

Mark

Just awesome!

Thanks for taking the time to share.

Simply outstanding

Great Bull and Hunt! Thanks for sharing it with us.


ddj

Terrific write up of your hunt... great bull, and cool pics... You seem to be the type of momma's boy that i hope my son turns out to be...

Nice bull and a lot of nice sentiment in the story.

Congrats on a great Shiras moose.

Great bull, congratulations!

Great story, great bull and it sounds like a great Mom too! I love it.

Congratulations!

Very well done. Great Stalk.
And I'm sure your mom is proud of you.

just freakin outstanding...

Very well done.

Thanks folks for all the kind words and am glad
Everyone enjoyed the story.
Made it just alittle more special usingp mom's
Rifle.
When I was a kid I thought all mom's were tough
and
Capable, and they are.
Just not quite like mine.
Safe travels

enjoyed the story,thank you.

Outstanding....After reading that ,I think
now I will be hunting with my dads old 30.30

Thanks ,Bob

Great write up. I felt like I was there with you.

touchee! Throughougly enjoyed it and the pictures.

Excellent bull, great story! Well done.

I sure hope that one day you put all of these stories and pics into a book. Call it a retirement plan. I'm sure you'd have a bunch pre-sold, starting with me. Glad your new bear dog is working out.

Count me in...x2...on that book