Congrats to everyone who has been successful so far this year!!!!
I am back from guiding and hunting for myself.
It was very humbling for me to not have an animal down in 7 days of guiding. Called all through the prime time, not a grunt heard, one cow seen up close and one good bull a long way away. Throw in two old men (72 and 82), miserable weather; snow, sleet, rain, wind and cold temp and we came up empty. Both guys had hunted with me before, one guy has hunted a total of 3 hours for two moose and the other guy 4 hours, so they knew what to expect....but not this First time in 11 years that I struck out......I was pretty bummed.....
On to our hunt. Met up with Yak (who is on here), three other guys and two Dad's from Manitoba and Sask for our annual moose hunt north of Fort St. John, where moose have to have three on the brow, or 10 total points (no draws this year)
First night called in this guy. He came in from along way off, stopped to thrash the crap out of a willow and gave me a good look at his antlers.
The pressure was off and the Kill Bottle 11 was half finished that night....
Next up was a very green hunter, his first ever moose hunt. We quaded to a spot that over looked a valley of trees with an old cut on the far side. After BS'ing about the morning in "The Moose Motel" (we called in a huge bull that would only give us a look at his right palm...2 big points, nicknamed King Kong...) I let out a cow call, right away a bull answered and he was on a string, 10 min later he showed up, three on the brow and the virgin moose hunter was no longer a virgin.
Thank god for these machines to pack moose out, much easier than the quad.
The next morning the boys headed back to "The Moose Motel" to try and find King Kong.
They called this guy into 15 yards or so and another virgin moose hunter was no more. And he is not King Kong....who lived to breed another day
Three good bulls in 6 days and we were heading home. Got checked by the CO and everything was fine, he even reached up and gave our quarters a little squeeze to find the ball sack.......
Great trip shared by great friends with some awesome experiences, memories that will not soon be forgotten.
The meat is cut, ground and wrapped, now onto making sausage and pepperoni in the coming weeks.
Cheers
SS