Shiras moose hunt 2015.
After 15 years of applying I finally drew a coveted Colorado bull Shiras Moose tag. The Shiras Moose is arguably one of the toughest North American species to draw a tag for. The odds are right up there with a Desert Bighorn or a Rocky Mt Bighorn as far as difficulty to draw a tag. I’ve desperately wanted to hunt a Shiras for several decades and my time had finally come. I spent the entire summer in a euphoric state of glee. Running back and forth 200 miles each way on various scouting trips to the unit and I was seeing moose along the Laramie River all summer long. I had my camp picked out and I had my hunting area picked out. In my mind this was going to be a simple matter of being in the right place on opening morning picking out the right bull and then having to deal with the logistics of packing out the bull. Easy peasy, no worries I got this, right? RIGHT!!!

Problem (if you can call it that) number one. My two daughters and I drew antelope tags in our favorite unit again this year. We have use of a huge ranch and it has become our father daughter hunting tradition for three years running. Moose season starts on the October 1st, antelope season starts on October 3rd. It’s a 250 mile drive from moose camp to antelope camp. No worries, like all serious hunters and dedicated dads I would simply make this work and that is what I did. So begins the story of the epic Shiras/antelope hunt of 2015.

My wife, my youngest daughter and myself pulled my dilapidated old hunter’s special 5th wheel camper up to base camp on the day before season and set up in my pre scouted, awesome, moose filled area. Confidence flowed from every pore as I happily set up camp and started to cut fire wood for the 10 day stay. As I was setting in the guys camped down the way come over to say hi, we introduce ourselves and both establish that we were hunting moose. Bill, my camp neighbor was supporting his 75 year old best friend on his cow moose hunt. I asked him if he’s done any scouting and he replies that “he’s been up every week for the last three months”. “Cool” I say, “have you been seeing any moose on the river”? “Not in the last three weeks” he replied. “There hasn’t been a moose seen down here since the rut started”. I felt my confidence start to ebb a bit. “Well, have you been down the West Fork”? “How about up to Browns Park”? Yep he said “There just ain’t any moose on the river, they have simply moved away”.

I felt as though I’d been punched in the gut I was speechless. This was the only portion of the unit I had scouted. I had made a HUGE mistake by assuming that the moose summer range was the same as their fall and winter range. What a bone head maneuver! I offered Bill a cold beer and we started talking. Bill was full of good info and showed me on a map where he had been seeing Bull Moose and what areas to try.

It turns out that my perfect camp was actually located about 20 miles from where the moose hang out during the rut. We had a bit of a drive to get from camp into moose country. It also turns out that Bill was exactly right, we started seeing moose within 10 miles of camp and they were all in the high country. They had left the river valley.
The first Moose of 2015….(Video)


After watching the young bull for a bit we proceeded into the heart of the unit and were immediately pleased to see two mature cows hanging out together in a marsh. We were back in moose country. We spent the day exploring this new part of the unit and found many great looking spots to hunt. During the course of the day we met another long time local and hunting guide from the area who also was very helpful. Later that evening we saw multiple moose on our drive back to camp. Here are a few for your viewing pleasure…

Cow in a marsh

Cow on the hill

We got up early the next morning and hunted our way across the unit. We had to pull out of the unit that afternoon to attend our antelope hunt. We saw no moose that morning. We all three shot nice bucks in the course of two days and returned to the moose unit on the afternoon of the second day of the antelope hunt with enough time to make a quick afternoon moose hunt. Haste was the name of the game Sunday afternoon. Have you ever noticed that when you are in a hurry there is ALWAYS something in your way? Well it was one thing after another on the drive back up into the unit. The weather was misty and rainy the roads were horrible and there was a huge herd of cows blocking the road.
Colorado road block.. Moooove it over Besy! (Video)


We saw one young bull in the rain and mist of the afternoon.
The Mist Bull.


We hunted hard Monday morning, covering lots of ground but saw no moose at all. That afternoon my wife had to head home and I was solo from then on. Tuesday morning I was up the hill and into moose country at day break. I saw one big old heavy cow on the way to the area I wanted to hunt. She was a beautiful sight in the early morning. Her back was covered in frost and her breath was creating plumes of steam in the cold early morning mountain air.
The frost back Cow


The night before I had poured over the maps and had found an area that I nick named Moose Nirvana. It was a series of streams and marshes surrounded by stands of timber and had limited road access. The area looked as though it provided food, cover and most importantly limited road access. I decided that it was a place that needed further investigation.

The morning started out sunny but soon turned dark and cloudy. I had found multiple areas that looked like they should hold moose. Several exploratory hikes proved that my hunch was correct. The area was full of sign including one interesting clue. I was finding moose beds and fresh sign in the transition areas between the marshes and the timber. The moose were lying in the thickest willow brush where they could easily retreat into the timber and just as easily head out into the willow marshes to feed. I was starting to see a pattern to the country and the moose behavior. As I went deeper and deeper into this area of the unit I found more and more good areas to hunt. I discovered a very small creek that crossed an old abandoned logging road and I thought to myself that I should hike up that creek and see if it led to a marsh. The creek went up a steep cut valley for a mile in thick timber. And sure enough at the top of the valley was a large willowy marsh that was surrounded by tall timber. I immediately knew that I was in primo country. Moose sign littered the area and it was fresh. My senses told me that this was the place I was going to find my big bull.

I started still hunting and went into that hyper aware state that a hunter goes into when they sense that they are amongst game. I can’t say exactly how long I hunted this area but it just kept getting better and better. It was a huge chain of marshes that went on for miles and miles it looked even better in person than it did on the maps. I was finding beds, fresh scat and big Bull Moose tracks everywhere. I had been going for at least several hours when out of the gray misty sky I heard the first rumble of thunder. It sounded distant at first but soon it was getting closer. Within minutes I was in the middle of a world class lightening storm. I got down in the middle of a marsh and willed myself to be small and not too electrically conductive. The storm raged on for quite a while then went from a crazy violent electrical storm with driving rain to hailing pea sized hail, stinging the hell out of any part of my body that wasn’t protected. I’d had enough of that and decided to head back to the truck. It was a long miserable, wet, soggy, cold hike in the rain and hail back to the truck. I got to the truck at dark and drove the hour or so back to camp.

When I got back to camp Bill told me that he had heard a bull grunting and a cow scream in reply down in the river that morning. I decided to go and have look. The next morning I crossed the river and hunted the marshes along the river until late morning. Sure enough there was some fresh moose sign along the river but I couldn’t find a moose. I knew that I needed to head back up to Moose Nirvana that afternoon.

On the way in I stopped by a camp that turned out to be an outfitter with his moose hunting client. We chatted for a while and he informed me that like myself he had not been seeing any big mature trophy bulls. He had no idea where they had gone as he had also been seeing them all summer long. He told me that he had hunted around the area that I was headed and had seen nothing. I felt a bit dejected after talking to him and thoughts of not filling this tag started to drift into my head. This was probably my one and only shot at a Shiras moose in this lifetime. For a moment I considered heading into a new and yet unexplored portion of the unit that some people had previously reported seeing moose. My hunters instinct wouldn’t allow me to go however, like a moth to the flame I could not make myself hunt any other place. I set course for the hidden marshes.

I got into the prime area at about 4:00 PM and immediately strapped on a pack, rifle, binos and started up the creek. I’d been hunting along this way for several hours and had just about finished walking and glassing a long secluded marsh, the sun was setting and the sky was a brilliant orange. I sucked in a lung full of mountain air, I relaxed and took in my surrounding. The brisk mountain had an aromatic scent. Full of pine, grass, willow, marsh and a faint musky odor that I assumed must have been the remnants of a passing bull moose. The air felt healthy and refreshing against my skin and the gentle breeze was invigorating. I had a good feeling about the area and decided that I would hunt until it was pitch dark and only return to the truck after looking at every possible piece of country that afternoon. I continued on for another 200 yards or so up and over a small rise. When I broke over the rise I was treated to a brilliant orange sunset, a vast long wide willow marsh and there, just in the transition line, across the marsh was a set of white, long, wide moose palms gently waving back and forth looking like a set satellite dishes gently scanning the horizon for a signal. Below the moose palms the huge old bull that owned them was gently browsing on willow. My heart skipped a beat as the reality of what was happening registered in my brain. This was it I was looking at a trophy Shiras moose.

I took one look at him with my binos and confirmed that this was the exact quality Shiras bull I had been looking for. I ranged him at 269 yards, dropped my pack and snuggled my old, weather beaten, short barreled, Model 70, 375H&H into a solid prone rest over the soft part of my pack. The bull was almost straight on to me and I didn’t have a shot, his bottom half was covered in brush. I waited for him to turn but he just stood there looking in my direction. I think he knew something was up but he couldn’t identify what it was. I waited and waited for him to turn. The light was growing dimmer in the setting sun and I needed to make this happen sooner than later. Eventually the old bull looked over his right shoulder back into the tree line. My cross hair was settled solidly on the junction of the base of his neck and his chest. I let my breath half way out and started to put pressure on the trigger.

The peaceful evening was momentarily shattered as the short barrel spit flame and sent a 270 gr Barnes TSX towards the bull. At the shot the bull gave absolutely no indication that he was hit. The trigger break had been clean. I watched the bull through the scope as the rifle went into recoil. I instinctively jacked in another round and waited for the bull to either go down or give me another shot. It seemed like an eternity, in reality it could have been 30 seconds it could have been 2 minutes. I don’t know I was too locked into the moment to tell. The whole time all I had to shoot at was moose head and antlers. So we waited. The bull was just standing there looking straight ahead. I started to think that I missed him clean. Then ever so slightly, through my scope, I noticed that the bull was shrugging his left shoulder and trying to pick up his left leg. He started very slightly waving from left to right. His paddles started to sway, looking like a pair of sails gently rocking on a shallow swell at sea. Without warning he spun on his hind quarters like a cutting horse turning after a calf. For a split instant I had a clear shot. Just as his shoulder passed through my crosshair I let another TSX fly his way. This time I was rewarded with a healthy CRACK as the bullet met his hide. And with that he was gone into the timber. The last thing I saw was a flash of white paddle just to the right of where I’d seen him enter the tree line. I reloaded, flipped the rifle to safe, turned my scope down to 2.5 magnification.

As soon as I got to where the bull was standing I found his tracks but no blood. I followed his tracks; there was not one drop of blood. I looked to my right; there was a long leg with a hoof attached I followed the leg and in the tall brush lay the outline of a stretched out, very dead bull moose!

The first round had taken him cleanly, surgically, exactly where I was aiming, punching a lung, driving through the length of the bull and coming to a stop in the opposite hindquarter. The second had cut the top of his heart off. I had hit him precisely where I had pictured my cross hair when the trigger broke both times. After admiring the bull I was able to snap some shots with a camera and an iphone with the help of the self timer, a shooting tripod and some electrical tape I had with me.
The old Shiras moose bull



I did the old slit up the spine and skinned off the top half trick making cuts for shoulder mount cape and got to the arduous business of reducing a bull moose into packable sections. Which for me are four leg quarters, two rib halves and the soft meats, neck, back straps and the inside tenders. Sometime after dark, and it was a black moonless night, while I was working on the first half of the bull I heard something moving in the brush above me. I stopped, took my watch cap off and listened. Yeah, sure enough there was something in the brush above me just out of head lamp range. I barked a short guttural bark. It responded with a WHOOOF and whatever it was crashed off. It sounded like a bear but I couldn’t be sure. I walked over to the tree where my rifle was hanging and brought it closer. About 20 minutes later I heard movement in the brush again. This time I stood up, rifle in hand and in a loud voice told whatever it was to “GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE OR I’M GONNA PUT A HURTIN ON YAA!!!!” Whatever it was took off and never came back.

I got the bull all prepped for pack out in several hours. I then went back to get the truck as there was a road much closer that I had passed while hunting. Seven trips later I had the bull loaded in the truck and was headed back to camp. I arrived in camp at about 02:00. Before collapsing into a deep dreamless sleep, I cracked open a mini of Jagermeister, thanked the bull for his life and the nourishing meat that he provided for our family and the experience that he had provided. I poured half the bottle onto his snout, toasted the great beast and took the other half for myself. That was the last thing I remember until waking up to the sunlight streaming onto my face later that morning.

Fantastic hunt report, and pictures, that big bull is beautiful, and will make a lot of great meals!! Wonderful hunt.

Best,
Butch

Great report and writing. You really paint a perfect picture of your hunt.
Congrats on a magnificent hunt and trophy Shiras!

Wonderful story and trophy!

Well done and congratulations! Damn that's good eating!

Thanks guys. And he IS damn good eating!

Very cool Man!

Congrats on a great hunt. Thanks for sharing!

Awesome hunt!
Great report

Very nice if a hunt gets to easy some of the fun and excitement is gone.

I little extra work adds to the hunt.

concrats on your fine moose

This is my bull from North Park 25 + years ago. At that time there were only 3 licenses in my area.

Nice. I've been trying to pull a moose tag in my native CO since they started issuing them. I'm maxed out on both points and weighted points but luck doesn't go my way year after year after year.

Superb bull and a nice oft-repeated lesson on being flexible and willing to make a new plan when conditions and the game changes! Well done!

quote:

Originally posted by scutulatus:


This is my bull from North Park 20 + years ago. At that time there were only 3 licenses in my area.

Wow! That is a great Shiras bull!!

Big ol' bull, good job! I hope I draw my tag some day. I've only been waiting 10 years.

Congratulations Sir. Excellent story, pictures and Bull.

Thank you for taking the time to post this.

GREAT report! Thanks for sharing the whole thing.

What a fine trophy, and an even better story, I literally felt I was out there with you, my sincere congratulations and thanks for sharing!

What a great report! Congratulations and thanks for sharing!

Surestrike,

Very well done. I love the configuration of the antlers.

Big Congrats!

Mark

Beautiful bull... way to make that tag count!!!

OK, my story. '90 0r '91 I put in first time and drew on my birthday, July23. I believe there were only 3 tags, 2 bull one anterless for area 6, West of Walden that year. A long time hunting partner also put in and we were both going to camp no matter what the outcome of the draw was. He still hasn't drawn.

I met with the head Biologist of the Moose program, he was very helpful and made a prophecy that "in less than 20 years there will be Moose in most every area of Colorado that can support them" Looks to be true, we even have them in the Leadville area where I used to live. On his recommendation I scouted mid summer then again about 2 weeks before season. Walking from the camp spot I picked I saw loads of sign both times.

Come season, off my Pard and I went. We set up our regular wall tent, mud room, wood stove and settled in for the entire season if need be. We had seen sign on the road driving in and I did a bit of walking Fri from camp. A cow and a yearling on an easy walk and the same good amount of sign as on my scouting trips.

I set out in the cool clear morning and basically started at my prior walk spot. I worked a good sized willow filled drainage bordered on both sides by Lodge Pole Pines. Up one side, sat for a while on up, way!!! too far from camp and worked down the other side. Fresh sign but no meat, back at camp noonish. We decided to do a bit of driving that evening. We passed a camp Thurs at a fork in the road and went to see what was up with them. We drove up and they had a whole! Moose hanging on a long standing meat pole. Wow were they excited, "it's legal, it's legal, I have an antlerless tag but feel his head! It's a bull!" Yup, a yearling bull, the were a good bunch of guys but didn't seem to have spent too much time in the woods, lucked out on a tag like me. Too bad they didn't wait for a grown cow, they were happy and that is the whole point. They said they had seen a bull up the fork that morning and hadn't bothered it. A plan!

Next morning in the dark we drove up the fork to near as could tell was where they had seen the bull. Parked at the bottom of what appeared to be a narrow timber cut going up hill from the road, finished our coffee. I waited for a bit of grey light as I couldn't exactly find our spot on the topo. While I was getting my pack on and checking my rifle my Pard went up into the woods a bit to take care of some chili business. I was about to start off when down he came pants un buckled waving his arms and sounding like he was hissing. "Mooosss, moosss, moossssss! up on the right, in the pines" as he pointed back up the way he came down. He just stood there so back up I went.

The old timber cut was narrow and went steeply up hill, the left side was bordered by very thick stuff but the right was thin open Lodge Pole. I eased up a bit and sat down behind a stump. I glassed the right side and sure enough not far up, standing in the pines were 2 cows, a yearling and my bull, all looking down at me. My pard had eased up behind enough so he could watch. Nice nearly broad side, no problem, boom----no reaction! "Ya got him, Ya got him" He turned nearly towards me, I settled down again to shoot and T said "don't shoot him again Y got him" It had sounded like a solid hit but we were too close to the truck to take a chance, second shot down he went.

First shot thru and thru both lungs. Second thru the shoulder blade, lungs and on to break the off side hip socket. Had a bit of trouble getting the cows to leave, then prayers, pictures and the usual work. Then the fun!

I said, T I think we have enough rope, straps and webbing we can reach the truck! We did, and with me steering the bull and T driving the truck we pulled him over some thin old snow to the road. Now what??? This wasn't the first time we have had bloody hands and we soon had him in.

The last big adventure was driving back to camp. A car came up behind us with 2 women aboard, they began to flash their lights and blow the horn. I said to T we may as well stop and take our medicine here rather than in camp. We stopped and spent the next 1/2 hour taking pics of the moose, us with the moose, them with the moose, them with us, back slapping, hugs all around a bit of whiskey. We had quickly prejudged all wrong. What fun.

Now before you folks prejudge, I have back packed 6 branch antlered elk off Mt Massive thru the years so I am well aware of a gift from the Great Mystery.

Shoot straight
Hasta
Steve

SS,

No brainer bull!!!!

Great moose, congrats on a job well done.

Excellent write-up and pics as well.

Thanks for posting the report, very enjoyable read.

great moose!!!

Good job my friend!!

quote:

Originally posted by Aaron Neilson:
Good job my friend!!

Thank you!!

Congratulations! That is a beautiful moose and you shared a wonderful story! Thank you......Larry

the bull green scored 154 & 5/16 B&C" BTW. Looks like he'll make the book!!

Nice bull!

Loved your report! You certainly earned your moose. Big congratulations!

Best regards, D. Nelson

I saw a couple Shiras in Idaho last week while hunting Whitetails in the Selway. Impressive animals.

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
I saw a couple Shiras in Idaho last week while hunting Whitetails in the Selway. Impressive animals.

It is neat to see them in the places they live. As my friend from Hawaii calls them "Those black mountain moose.."

Congratulations on a well earned trophy bull! About the time you were harvesting your Shiras moose, I was searching for my first such animal after finding a landowner tag/hunt that was available in Utah. I hadn't really planned on hunting Shiras moose, but when the opportunity presented itself (while I was looking for an elk hunt), I couldn't resist the urge.

I had a hunt that started on the afternoon of my arrival and would end on the morning of the fifth day. I stayed at a comfortable lodge with six other hunters who were all after bull elk on the 30,000+ acre ranch. My guide and I saw some very good numbers of 320-340" class bull elk, but the warm weather really kept the moose down in the willows. By the night of Day #3, we'd only seen three moose per day and all of those were cows, calves, or very young bulls. I was getting concerned. None of the other hunters or their guides had seen many moose either and those that were seen were cows with calves.

On the morning of Day #4, the morning was cooler than it had been and finally I'd been presented with a shooting opportunity. Not a "monster" like the one you took, but a mature/legal bull and I didn't hesitate to take it. One shot from my .35 Whelan at 79 yards dropped it so fast that the sound of my shot was still echoing in the background when it hit the ground and lay still. I'd heard so much about the resilience of moose that I'd immediately chambered another round, but before I could finish closing the bolt the work was done.

While I'm sure that I made the proper decision at the time, looking at the magnificent bull you harvested has certainly inspired me to return to the field someday and try for that "once in a lifetime trophy" again. In the meantime (like you), I'll be enjoying my delicious rewards, and planning for the future. Again, congratulations and thanks for sharing your experiences!

Fantastic!! Love it.

All the best
J&J

Fantastic bull and superbly written report.
They ARE fun to hunt.

Great moose stories!

Thanks guys.
Ski.

Surestrike:
Your story needs to go to a magazine! That's fine writing. I just knew you were going to kill a dandy way the hell back in there and need the next week to get it all packed out. Am surprised you didn't get the other guy to help.

Then Steve come's along and kills one just as big and fine within reach of the truck! After drawing a gift tag, you'd better start buying lottery tickets before your luck runs out.

I hunted elk up in that general area and saw some moose tracks, and where a mtn lion chased a snowshoe around in circles in the foot of snow. Never saw game one except on the fenced and posted ranches, plenty of big bucks, not an elk and for sure no moose. Tag soup again. Flavor it right and it's not too bad.

Dad shot one in AK back in '67 couple feet wider than Steve's but, rack shaped much like it. Lunged it with his .375 and just stood there til he felt bad about it, just as he pulled the trigger on a neck spine shot the bull fell. He and his brother were together in hip boots about half mile from shore in a swampy area much of it knee deep. The back pack out was quite an ordeal I guess even if both were early 40's and good shape. Dad's gone now and I'm not sure if that's where he killed his moose or just where he hunted brownies on Admiralty Is.

You guys got lucky, all of you.

Congrats guys, and thank you for sharing with the rest of us.

George

quote:

Originally posted by ravenr:
Fantastic bull and superbly written report.
They ARE fun to hunt.

Wow GREAT BULL!!!! Congrats.

quote:

Originally posted by georgeld:
Surestrike:
Your story needs to go to a magazine! That's fine writing. I just knew you were going to kill a dandy way the hell back in there and need the next week to get it all packed out. Am surprised you didn't get the other guy to help.

Then Steve come's along and kills one just as big and fine within reach of the truck! After drawing a gift tag, you'd better start buying lottery tickets before your luck runs out.

I hunted elk up in that general area and saw some moose tracks, and where a mtn lion chased a snowshoe around in circles in the foot of snow. Never saw game one except on the fenced and posted ranches, plenty of big bucks, not an elk and for sure no moose. Tag soup again. Flavor it right and it's not too bad.

Dad shot one in AK back in '67 couple feet wider than Steve's but, rack shaped much like it. Lunged it with his .375 and just stood there til he felt bad about it, just as he pulled the trigger on a neck spine shot the bull fell. He and his brother were together in hip boots about half mile from shore in a swampy area much of it knee deep. The back pack out was quite an ordeal I guess even if both were early 40's and good shape. Dad's gone now and I'm not sure if that's where he killed his moose or just where he hunted brownies on Admiralty Is.

You guys got lucky, all of you.

Congrats guys, and thank you for sharing with the rest of us.

George

Thanks for compliment! I'm sure glad that yiou enjoyed the story. I definitely enjoyed the experience!!!