Ground hunting is exciting!

[wood carver 2]

I've been home from my moose hunt for a week now and I still find myself playing out one night's hunt over and over in my head.
My partner and I hunted a remote lake in Northwest Ontario. We set up in the woods a few yards in from shore with my buddy up a tree and me on the ground about 45 yards away in a natural blind made by several deadfalls. Both of us had shooting lanes into the woods and out onto the lake, where we had set up a cow decoy. We couldn't see one another because the whole area is full of blowdowns from some windstorm a while back, as well as live tees between us.
Our strategy was for us to alternate calling every 15 to 20 minutes or so, and we had arranged a signal in case one of us needed the other to call.
With the exception of two evenings hunting different areas of the lake, we did this morning and evening for 4 days and heard only one distant bull and a cow.
More in a bit.
Dave.

[nineworlds9]

   

[YORNOC]

I'm an Eastern whitetail treestand hunter.
When I went on my first Colorado elk hunt 24 years ago, I realized the thrill of ground hunting that I had been missing.

Can't wait to hear of your adventure.

[JMG]

[maineac]

This will keep me tuning back in!

[wood carver 2]

Well, Wednesday afternoon came and we were on our way to the lake. It's about an 8 mile drive up the logging roads to the canoe landing by the old trapper's cabin and the last 100 yards or so of the drive, we go by a big beaver dam with a broken culvert that my truck just gets across. I can reach out of my window and touch the water behind the dam and heavy rain the day we arrived had water going over the top.
As we got to the landing and retrieved the boat, my buddy said that it would be nice to just see a moose. We loaded our gear and headed off down the lake to our spot and got ourselves down to business.
We called, waited, called again, got bit by waves of blackflies and mosquitos, called.....
It was cloudy that night so it started getting dark early and as the light began to fade, I heard a soft thump and a splash maybe 30 yards to my left. I couldn't see anything and I stood there staring holes in the trees. Nothing. It must have been a beaver. There are tons of them on the lake. It drizzled for a bit then stopped and I heard something big shake water off, long ears flapping against it's neck. My eyes opened real wide and the adrenaline hit as I realized there was a moose close by. My hands were shaking as I reached over and pulled an arrow from my quiver and grabbed my longbow. I calmed myself and looked and listened and now, although I couldn't see him, I could hear him shuffling and rubbing up against the brush. I willed him to step out into the lake, but he just stayed put. Why was he so timid? Then I turned and gave my buddy 2 soft cow calls - our signal that he needs to call now. He began a series of seductive ( to a bull moose ) calls and within a minute, a second bull grunted back from the woods ahead and between the 2 of us. I turned to face the direction the new bull was coming from and boy, did he come in! Grunting with every step, but not breaking any branches, he made a beeline for my partner. There was still light to shoot by, but it was fading fast. Now, I could hear another, even bigger bull coming out of the thick trees almost directly in front of my hide. He had to be huge! His antlers were banging off the black spruce trees and his grunts sounded like they were coming from inside a big steel drum. He stopped in the deadfalls no more than 30 feet from me, but out of sight! So now I had a bull to my left, a bull close by just in front and another bull to my right heading for my partner. He was the first one to see anything and I heard his release, a loud crack and a second loud crack as the bull tuned and nearly took down an 8 inch, 60 foot spruce. The tree whipped like a CB antenna, and everything went quiet. Now it was getting dark and in the silence, I sensed something moving. I looked and into my best shooting lane I saw a big black shadow with a pale colored blur near it's front was moving slowly and without a sound. At 18 yards, a big bull was sneaking past me and I was facing a couple of ethical questions.
It was well past shooting light and, although I knew I couldn't miss, I could not make out any details or pick an aiming point. Also, I didn't know if this was the bull my buddy had shot or another one.
I waited another half hour, then I made my way to the boat and paddled over to pick up my partner.
We compared each others' stories and decided to back out until morning as it was too dangerous to be in the woods at night with all those bulls around.
As we talked, we realized that there was likely a 4th bull that came in quietly and I commented that it was like having an hour and a half heart attack. My buddy laughed and said that he had expected me to scream like a girl and run for the boat. In fact, the opposite was true. This was the first time I was on the ground and so close to not one but 4 bulls! I was excited like never before, terrified that the big one might run me over, frustrated that I could not see to get a shot and disappointed that we were thinking that the arrow my partner released, might have deflected and struck an antler.
After the shot, the bull had turned sharply, hitting the tree, the moved off a few yards and stood in the brush where it was impossible to get a shot. After about 10 minutes, he moved to another spot, again too thick to shoot through and stood there looking quite healthy for another 20 minutes before walking away.
The one that went by me in the dark was either a 4th bull or the big aggressive one making his getaway.
We came back and spent two mornings going over the area carefully and there was no sign of the moose, or blood, or the arrow. He's probably still out there cursing that thing stuck in his head gear.
We did find something though, during our search. The mooses' living room and their main travel route to the lake.
Next year!
Dave.

[wood carver 2]

Sorry to disappoint guys. We don't always come home heros.
Dave.

[Bjorn]

That to me is a great hunt! Lots of excitement-and animals up close. Ya' can't expect to kill something like a moose or elk every time you go!

[ChuckC]

No heros here.  Just a bunch of guys (and gals) sharing our experiences, some of which include steaks and some of which include tag soup.  All of them are awesome journeys.
ChuckC

[achigan]

"It was a successful Hunt. I planned to go hunting, and I did."

[Gen273]

Originally posted by ChuckC:
No heros here.  Just a bunch of guys (and gals) sharing our experiences, some of which include steaks and some of which include tag soup.  All of them are awesome journeys.
ChuckC

Well said!

Dave,

Congrats on a great hunt, thanks for sharing it with us!

[Cyclic-Rivers]

It sounds as if you had a great experience!

[wood carver 2]

I'll remember those moments for the rest of my life. Our camp this year included 7 hunters. Two of the guys had a close encounter with a young bull on opening morning, but no shot due to a large bull who barked at the youngster, but stayed hidden the whole time, while the other three hunters worked a hot area that has given us several bulls in the last few years and only saw one distant moose.
We all had a great time, saw lots of wildlife, the northern lights, ate some great meals, and basically pushed our reset buttons after a long year of work and daily grind. A kill would just have been icing on the cake.
I'm lucky to be part of this group.
Dave.

[Mudd]