Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition (arrows)

Found this guy who had obviously lost a major tussle.





Opening day arrived and I saw two bulls, one off limits and one too late to do much but watch and set up day two... day two he was still there and I just couldn't shoot at 40 yards so early on such a broken up monster, he had a 6x6 chunk of missing palm and a broken off 16+ inch second tine but small palms, huge bull though.



Day 3 and I had to take off mid-day to pick up my 7 new llamas and get them home, it was my plan to get them settled in and grab 6-8 good ones and head to the back country for a week or more of trying for some of the wilderness bulls that had never been hunted, or at least never taken, according to kill reports. My plans went awry when while haltering one of the new boys he blew out my knee while I was not watching closely. I couldn't even get in the truck let alone take llamas 5-10 miles in the wilderness.

Day 4 spent on ice, day 5 road hunting on crutches. Have you ever tried to cross a beaver dam on crutches?? day 6 I could at least road hunt out of the jeep as i could work the clutch.

Some cool old cabins i visited to escape storms or just hang out and call from.










Every day my knee got better but time was ticking away on my Once in a lifetime tag, those huge wilderness tracks were calling but it would have been foolish as i had issues just exiting my jeep in anything resembling a hurry, let alone handling a string and butchering a moose. It was day seven when i ditched the crutches and realized the bow was just not gonna cut it for a one-legged road hunter... I put it away and took the rifle, the indians had lost once again...

Dang... man that's a tough go. Hope it heals up good.

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Winter hit and the moose were really on the move in daylight. I took the Princess aka moose magnet and we saw three bulls in one day. She spotted a cow and shaker bull and while glassing them a Co monster stood up out of the willows at about 150 yards. She started yelling at me to shoot him as he scent checked the cow and intimidated the shaker, then i pointed to the sign about 200 yards behind us and i told her that the sign marked our unit boundary, he had to go up but instead they moved horizontal and we never saw him again.

I was in bulls daily from then on and was amazed at how high they went to rut with their girls, right up to the edge of goat country in 18-20" of snow. I was able to hobble with two sticks up to 9 miles in a day if I could keep solid footing, un-even ground just about killed me.

Day 12 pm I saw a bull come out outside of my unit and called to him but he would just listen and then go back to clipping willows. I snuck back after dark and called some more from just uphill from him and hoped it was sexy enough to make him cross the divide. Long drive, short night, long drive, but when dawn broke there were big tracks coming up and over the divide into my unit!

As I was trying to untangle fresh from old and bull from cow i looked up and there he was fifty yards away watching me, with one day left in the season it was an easy decision. They are magnificent animals but I wish they were smarter.

That is awesome. Thanks for posting and taking us along.

Great post. Sounds like you had a fantastic hunt in some beautiful country and ended up with a great moose, congrats!

I love the pictures and the story! Good job! Those cabins look really cool as well.

great hunt!

Congratulations Squirrel! I'm real impressed you kept after it hard after your leg was busted. Did you eat the llama that knocked you?

#bowhuntersgonebad

Great story and amazing ending! Congrats on a great bull and sticking it out.

Great pictures, thanks for sharing.

Great story, photos, and bull. Congratulations!

I admire your persistence despite the knee injury. I also like your choice of moose rifle.

Sure enjoyed this one , thanks for the post , congratulations on your hunt

Great stuff! Congrats and thanks for sharing.
All 3 of my Colo moose were shot within half a mile of a road.