Archery moose season opened on Sat the 10th. I got out in the morning and hunted through some new territory. I saw a lot of sign, but no critters.
I got out again this morning, and went back into the same area I hunted Sat, but hit it from a different direction. I had to cross a real soggy muskeg to get there, so I worked up a bit of a sweat even though I wasn't moving too fast.
Once I go into the timber, I dropped my gear, fired up the Thermacell and did a little posting. It was overcast and very calm. The ground was still wet from the weekend rains, and very quiet.
After a bit, I decided to take a photo or two. With each, I set the timer to 10 secs, triggered the camera and started counting to 12 or so while I got setup.
On the third photo, I had just gotten to 13, when I heard a twig snap behind and to the left of me. A cow moose was slowly walking past me at 11 yds. She missed being in the photo with me by a few seconds!
(http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/finnish-archer/ArcheryPhotos/MooseMoment02_sm_zps1a34ecff.jpg) (http://s264.photobucket.com/user/finnish-archer/media/ArcheryPhotos/MooseMoment02_sm_zps1a34ecff.jpg.html)
The cow passed just behind the white birch furthest to the right. Man, I wish I had a cow tag, although she was at the furthest point away from my truck. Seeing that cow so close really made my day!
Cool! We fly out on the 2nd to hunt out of Tok.
Good Luck!!
Mike
Good luck to you too, Mike.
Good start! The close encounter is a heart pumper.
Good luck and keep us posted.
27 days to go for me, and I hope to be having a few moose moments myself...
Gets your blood pumping for sure. We have to wait until Oct 1st for deer here.
Great picture, read and post! Thanks for taking the time to share!
Good stuff, love this time of year when seasons start coming in. Looking forward to some good stories. Hopefully I'll have a good one to share.
Best of luck, Eric
Nice picture Really like the pants
Aw-ight, we gotta know. What kinda Hill bow ya got there? Nice photo!
Moose hunting is my dream hunt! Good luck.
:thumbsup: Really neat stuff....I'm jealous!!
Thanks, everyone. I am having fun!
Irish: I'm using my J.D. Berry Misty Dawn. I may sub the N.M. Classic on some hunts.
Very Cool. I like the hat.
I love the intensity on your face.
Thanks for sharing your adventure with us.
God bless,Mudd
Good luck on the moose hunt.
Man, moose seem so perfect for bowhunting. One of those majestic creatures to me.
I've had the Thinsulate "Radar" hat since about 1987. The brim is just long enough to keep the rain off of my glasses, but stays out of the way of the string.
The pants are Woolrich wool. Kind of heavy, but they are my favorite hunting pants.
Looks like a great day in the woods. Five more weeks till I head North with a bull tag in hand!
Good Luck,
Joe
Sounds like a great encounter. hope to hear more of your hunts this season. Good luck!
Good luck and happy hunting!
Season's in the air Charlie. Great gear for the Moose hunt.
Hope you get a Macdaddy Bull w/pix!
QuoteOriginally posted by akbowbender:
I've had the Thinsulate "Radar" hat since about 1987....
I had a thinsulate/goretex one like that. Gave it to my FIL. Man I spent some miserable FUN times in a duck blind with that thing
Best of luck, Chuck! Thanks for taking us along, please do keep us updated.
Again, thanks everyone. I hope I do have a few more encounters with these Wiley moose. It is a bit like hunting whitetails where I'm at, except I can't pattern the varmints, and I haven't identified any funnels. When the rut begins next month, I my be able to call one in.
I'll be back on the hunt tomorrow morning.
It's nice to be able to place a face with a name. Wishing you the best of luck with your hunt kind Sir!
Rachel
Nice picture ...thanks for sharing your day.
I was up doing a little Elk scouting over the weekend and there are quite a few Moose in this area as well. On my way out I had a cow Moose bellowing at me, probably thought the noise was another Moose.
Good Luck on the Moose..!
I can't wait to see how this one unfolds. Please keep us updated!
Got a moose hunt booked for 2014 with Conne River Outfitters in Newfoundland. Fly in camp 1x1. I can't wait!!!
That's a great photo, Chuck. Best of luck with the moose hunting. Man I wish I lived where there was big game like moose and elk. Biggest thing we have in NJ is black bear and we can't hunt them with archery gear.
Brings back some memories Chuck, hunting moose in the birch and willows on the swanson river canoe system...best wishes on the years hunt!
I'll be waiting for the hero pic.
Sounds like an awesome time!! I'll keep checking this one for sure!!
Great photo! Thanks for sharing your hunt.
Good Luck! I hope you get one. Calling moose in the rut is a dream hunt for me.
I've only called one in so far, and that was two years ago for my wife, though it wasn't brought to a bow. One of these days!
Got out late today. It was deathly quiet in the woods, so just sat most of the time. I'll be checking out another spot tomorrow.
The archery only season ends on Sat. The general season opens on the 25th.
:campfire: :campfire:
Yeah thanks for sharing I love reading of guys hunts and seeing there pics ESP places I will prob never see.
It was another quiet morning in the woods. The day started overcast, but it cleared off as the morning progressed, and a light breeze developed.
Today's hunt was in an area I found last year. Unfortunately, the ATV crowd had found it too, and their trails crisscrossed much of this beautiful tract, though I never saw an ATV while I hunted there.
However, they seemed to have moved on, and their trails are all grassed in. Here's one of the old trails through a typical grassy park:
(http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/finnish-archer/ArcheryPhotos/20130815_091412_zps5cb7ee84.jpg)
This area is mostly high ground with birch, alder patches, scatter spruce and areas of devils club mixed in with the deep grasses.
Devils Club:
(http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/finnish-archer/ArcheryPhotos/20130815_102945_zps63c34698.jpg)
There are also small patches of raspberries
(http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/finnish-archer/ArcheryPhotos/20130815_102610_zpsd3f7209c.jpg)
and many highbush cranberry bushes
(http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/finnish-archer/ArcheryPhotos/20130815_101249_zpscbd27779.jpg)
both of which provided me with some good snacking along the way.
All in all, a very enjoyable hunting place!
There was good sign, but no moose were seen. The breeze that came up messed up the hunt I planned, as did the sun coming out and shining in my eyes, but it was a good recon hunt.
I'll probably hunt closer to home this evening, though this place is calling me back....
Great pics , thanks for sharing :thumbsup:
Really nice. We're headed to Fairbanks on the 6th and begin hunting the 9th of Sept...but it's primarily a trophy bull or nothing type deal. Seeing those berries really whets my appetite for handfuls of the blueberries I know will be waiting.
Kevin,
Most of my 32 years in Alaska were spent in the S.E. Panhandle where I was content to hunt Sitka Blacktails. I've never hunted north of where I'm at now. I'd sure like to get to the interior before I get too old! Even a flight over the Little Delta would be a thrill!
Good luck on your hunt.
Cool, not what I thought hunting grounds in AK would like at all!
I have an invitation to come hunt with some young men (NASP All-Stars) and their father for blacktails around Prince of Whales Island. I'm hoping to make that trip next August. Catch a fish or two as well.
Hunting on, and fishing around POW, can be fantastic! I lived there during a couple of summers/falls in the late 80's.
I'm hoping to get down there this fall to hunt with a friend. Would prefer to be there now, hunting Alpine blacktails!
The hunting grounds vary wildly across the state. Like I said in my original post, my moose hunting here in the Mat-Su is mostly like hunting whitetails in the big woods.
The archery season ended without me seeing any other moose. I did get to explore my hunting area some more and may have figured out a few areas where I may have a better chance at see these elusive critters.
With the start of the general season, I set my bow down and concentrated on getting my son Jake onto his first moose and filling the freezer. This happened last night when he killed a fat spike. This frees me up to start bowhunting again!
It is the time when I can start doing some antler scraping and light bull calling. If I have any action, I start another thread.
Good hunting, everyone!
Thanks for sharing your adventure. We have devil's club here in western WA and that stuff is nasty. Many many times when hunting Blacktails I would find myself in the middle of a big patch of devil's club and each time I would say to myself " I'm never going through that s..t again " and then I would wander into another nasty patch and swear at myself all over again.
Best of luck on your moose ...