Thursday, October 27, 2005
A Page From The "Hunting Hall Of Fame": Justin vs. "The Moose"
Today I received an e-mail from my brother Mike, in Prince Rupert, B.C.. It seems he and his son Justin went moose hunting, and Justin was successful. I have posted before about Justin and Mike in Thunderstix's 14 Year Old Boy Gets His First Big Game. Oct.29, 2004, where Justin bagged a deer, and in Justin And Mike Finally Get Their "Goat"!, where Justin gets his own goat (instead of his Dad's)! Well, it seems Justin is having a good year, and hear is the latest installment in the "Saga Of Justin And Mike"!
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Hi Steve,
I have been mum about this as I was waiting for my pictures to accompany the story. We went to my favourite little island on the Skeena River on opening day (Oct 20th). We scared up a moose within 5 minutes but did not get a look at it. We slogged our way through a ton of brush, etc., and scared up two more but did not see them clearly as they hightailed it into the thickness. We met up with the other father/son team and they had a bull less than 30 yards away in the alders, but were reluctant to shoot in case of deflection. We then set off again and hunted the area they had seen the bull in but to no avail. I said to Justin that we would maybe just hunt our way back to the boat on the other side of the island and go somewhere else. I just happened to look down-stream towards the next island and I saw something dark in the bushes at the edge of the river bank. It was probably nothing, I said to myself, (we were about 800 yards away at this point) but put my spyglasses to my eyes regardless, and "lo and behold", it was the butt of a moose. We began to run down the beach and within 4 or 5 minutes we were as "across" from it as we could be. Justin found a good log and got a rest. We still did not know if it was a bull or not as it had walked into the bush and we could no longer even see it. 20 seconds later, out it steps to feed and it has horns!!! "Holy crap", we are excited. Justin has my .375 H&H, shooting 300 grain Nosler Partitions with 75.5 grains of WW-760 in his hands. I tell him to take his time and when he is ready, shoot it behind the front shoulder. ( Just kidding, I never said "front" shoulder). He said he was ready so I said "go ahead". He shot and I watched the moose lurch and then 7 seconds later he fell over out of sight. We had about 10 high-5's. I wondered how far it was so I pulled out my Yardage Pro 800 and it was 246 yards! Pretty good shooting! Right through the bottom of the heart. I then went off to cross to the other side of the island for the Zodiak while Justin waited there and watched just in case. When I got to him with the Zode it broke down (throttle linkage broke) and we had to paddle like mad to get to the moose (actually had to semi portage 2 channels). We gutted the moose and then paddled back across to our own island, tied up the boat and then walked back across so we could see the highway. We then flagged over another boat and they took us back to the boat launch. We came back the next day and got our moose.
HOLA! Is it ever tender!!!! I am going to try and fill my own tag during the November 16-20 Bow Only hunt. In less than one year Justin has taken his first deer, mountain goat, and now moose.
Mike
Moose "resting place"........
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Mike poses with Justin's moose........
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Justin, proud hunter, and "crack shot"........
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Butchering the moose........
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There you have it, folks, thanks to Mike for the story and photos, and "Congratulations Justin"!
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Hi Steve,
I have been mum about this as I was waiting for my pictures to accompany the story. We went to my favourite little island on the Skeena River on opening day (Oct 20th). We scared up a moose within 5 minutes but did not get a look at it. We slogged our way through a ton of brush, etc., and scared up two more but did not see them clearly as they hightailed it into the thickness. We met up with the other father/son team and they had a bull less than 30 yards away in the alders, but were reluctant to shoot in case of deflection. We then set off again and hunted the area they had seen the bull in but to no avail. I said to Justin that we would maybe just hunt our way back to the boat on the other side of the island and go somewhere else. I just happened to look down-stream towards the next island and I saw something dark in the bushes at the edge of the river bank. It was probably nothing, I said to myself, (we were about 800 yards away at this point) but put my spyglasses to my eyes regardless, and "lo and behold", it was the butt of a moose. We began to run down the beach and within 4 or 5 minutes we were as "across" from it as we could be. Justin found a good log and got a rest. We still did not know if it was a bull or not as it had walked into the bush and we could no longer even see it. 20 seconds later, out it steps to feed and it has horns!!! "Holy crap", we are excited. Justin has my .375 H&H, shooting 300 grain Nosler Partitions with 75.5 grains of WW-760 in his hands. I tell him to take his time and when he is ready, shoot it behind the front shoulder. ( Just kidding, I never said "front" shoulder). He said he was ready so I said "go ahead". He shot and I watched the moose lurch and then 7 seconds later he fell over out of sight. We had about 10 high-5's. I wondered how far it was so I pulled out my Yardage Pro 800 and it was 246 yards! Pretty good shooting! Right through the bottom of the heart. I then went off to cross to the other side of the island for the Zodiak while Justin waited there and watched just in case. When I got to him with the Zode it broke down (throttle linkage broke) and we had to paddle like mad to get to the moose (actually had to semi portage 2 channels). We gutted the moose and then paddled back across to our own island, tied up the boat and then walked back across so we could see the highway. We then flagged over another boat and they took us back to the boat launch. We came back the next day and got our moose.
HOLA! Is it ever tender!!!! I am going to try and fill my own tag during the November 16-20 Bow Only hunt. In less than one year Justin has taken his first deer, mountain goat, and now moose.
Mike
Moose "resting place"........
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Mike poses with Justin's moose........
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Justin, proud hunter, and "crack shot"........
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Butchering the moose........
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There you have it, folks, thanks to Mike for the story and photos, and "Congratulations Justin"!
