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My CO moose hunt

jrabq

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 4, 2014
Messages
974
Location
NM
Got real lucky last June and drew a CO 76 bull moose tag, as a non-resident. Actually drew the rifle tag, but in CO you can change to another weapon/season, and I decided to opt for the archery hunt instead (long story). Wow, it was a great hunt in beautiful country, and I was fortunate to find a couple of real good bulls and close the deal on one of them. Actually, for the one I ended up shooting some other folks "found" him and told me about him. Then more luck in that a nice younger guy (Scott, from Alamosa) helped me break down the moose and pack it out, which was fortunately not very far. That's Scott in the 2nd photo. 10 years ago I might have been able to do this myself, but now at 62 my age is starting to show, so glad I had help. Even with his help I was pretty worn out when we got done, then had to ride ATV ~8 miles back to the truck, load it up, and drive 30 miles back to camp. Got in bed about 11PM and I was dead tired, but didn't get much sleep due to the excitement. Then got up early and drove my truck up the rough road to retrieve the meat and head about sunrise. Actually met a lot of really nice people on this hunt, helped restore my faith in humanity. At least until I got home and turned on the TV.

Back to the hunt; I saw at least one bull moose everyday, and passed up a 25 yard broadside shot at a smallish bull on day 2, right by the road. Glassed up several more medium sized bulls that I chose not to pursue. The live moose pics attached (photos 3-6) were a bull I had chased on days 1, 2, and 5; almost had him a couple of times, but he is NOT the bull I shot. The last time on day 5 I was 30-35 yards from him but didn't have a clear shot, and he didn't hang around long. On day 1 I got to 62 yards from him with plenty more cover to work with, but a cow moose saved his life. If I had chosen the muzzleloader season (which started the same day) my hunt would have been over. But no regrets!

On the afternoon of day 6 I finally found the other bull I had been told about, and ~20 minutes later I had a good arrow in him. He was in the buck-brush and I was able to get in range by grunting and waving a fake/foam board antler. He still wasn't quite buying it, I first got within about 30 yards but it was too thick to get a shot and he started walking and trotting off. But he would stop and look back at me as I kept trying to keep up or close the distance. He finally gave me a good shot at 44 yards and I guess the excitement (and fear that he was getting away) got to me, and I shanked it! How the hell do you miss a moose at 44 yards! He trotted off a bit, I followed, he stopped, now broadside at 50 yards. This time I took my time and was much more relaxed, made a good hit low behind shoulder that looked fatal. But as he turned to run off I saw 10-12" of arrow sticking out so penetration was not that great. Still should be good enough you'd think. He took off and in just a few steps he disappeared into some thicker and taller brush. I'll skip over some details, but after 15 minutes of uncertainty and angst I found him bedded down, actually not too far from where we started the game. He was obviously in distress, but he stood up and I put 2 more arrows in him before he finally tipped over for good, what a relief. He ended up taping 49-1/2" wide. I think the first bull I was chasing (in the other pics) had better fronts, but this one has better paddles and probably better width. Really had a great time and finished with a nice bull. Colorado has been good to me, so thanks to all the residents there for sharing their wildlife.
 

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Congratulations on a great moose sounds like a great time was had. And the meat is so great just had a healthy portion of moose meatloaf this week myself.
 
That is awesome! I'm glad you found some help. I think almost any of us would do the same for someone solo who could use a little assistance, but good to hear nonetheless.
Enjoy that meat, it will be great. Might need a little aging for that big guy though.
 
You have got to be the luckiest person on the planet for drawing tags. Holy cow you've pulled a number of them!

Great story, and beautiful bull!
 
Thank you for sharing those fantastic photos and hunt with us. Sounds like a great hunt start to finish with some good people and what a great looking bull, congratulations!
 
You have got to be the luckiest person on the planet for drawing tags. Holy cow you've pulled a number of them!

I admit to having some luck on occasion, but I'm certainly not the luckiest person on the planet. Case in point I have not drawn a MT sheep tag or a desert bighorn anywhere, yet. There are folks who have drawn two sheep tags in one year, now those guys/gals are LUCKY!

Some of my perceived luck is just do the sheer number of tags I apply for (and lot's people play this game), sooner or later you will draw something with ~1% odds. Sometimes it's not all luck, the MT moose tag I drew in 2015 had some strategy behind it. When MT raised the non-refundable cost to apply significantly, I wanted to get out of the game for moose and goat. I put in for a terrible moose area that had zero harvest 2 of the 3 previous years. Because of the poor harvest the draw odds were actually pretty good, around 1 in 5-ish, the luckiest part was that I found a moose to shoot, and he was a nice bull. Now drawing the goat tag the year before, yeah I was damn lucky :)
 

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