“Right here he comes.”
I turned to my buddy Frank and his dad, Hugh. Hugh had his pre-64 Mannequin 70 Winchester .30/06 rested atop the canoe paddle that we’d been utilizing to rake brush. The guttural grunts of the bull moose had been getting sharper and louder in a steady cadence that was solely interrupted by the beating of brush and his antlers pinging on the spruce bushes he was plowing by way of—and proper towards us.
Not 50 yards from our tent, we stood beside a bundle of younger birch saplings, trying by way of a tangle of pecker poles, a still-standing thicket of black spruce that had been stripped of their limbs and bark by a wildfire. We had been simply ending establishing camp once I first heard the bull raking his antlers a number of hundred yards away. Now we had him approaching a string.
I noticed considered one of his antler paddles cross by way of a gap in a thick patch of bushes, maybe 150 yards away. He effortlessly pushed by way of the timber, and when he emerged, his vast antlers had been rocking forwards and backwards. Every comfortable grunt we made was echoed with a gentle stream of grunts and snorts. The bull was getting shut, and we wanted him shut for Hugh to get a shot by way of the tangle of burnt bushes. I held a material bull moose decoy to problem the bull. He’d count on to see his challenger and, usually, the sight of a pair of white antler paddles will suck them in like a tractor beam—some hunters even decoy bulls with a pair of white 5-gallon bucket lids. It didn’t work.
The bull was solely about 60 yards away, and his antlers stretched wider than the sector of view of Frank’s binoculars. Frank might see the bull clearly whereas kneeling, however Hugh didn’t have a shot from his place. The bull stopped, staring in our path, then slowly turned and stepped towards the sound of one other bull raking its antlers off to our left. Attempting to impress the bull, I took a number of steps, grunting and rocking the decoy forwards and backwards. He spooked, operating solely about 20 yards however behind thicker cowl. Then he merely walked off towards the opposite bull.
A Misplaced Confidence
The bull that had narrowly escaped was a great one, and we estimated him to have 58-inch-wide antlers. However the missed alternative didn’t dampen our spirits a lot. It was our first night time in moose camp, and that is the type of motion that we anticipated for the subsequent 10 days.
The next day introduced a gentle downpour; on the third night we had one other shut name. To hunt moose on this little spot of inside Alaska, we’re nearly utterly reliant on calling. The realm holds a number of moose, however is swampy, brushy, flat, and usually powerful to maneuver by way of. We name for a number of hours every morning and night from the identical spot, utilizing an elevated stand for a greater view and taking pictures alternatives within the 6-foot-tall dwarf birch and alder brush.
On that third night, a bull got here in silently. Frank noticed the bull, which he put wherever from 52 to 54 inches vast, coming from about 300 yards. Hugh acquired prepared. We let loose a number of provocative grunts, and the bull started grunting steadily again to us, and we had been already hanging quarters on the meat rack in our minds. As a substitute of beelining for us although, the bull skirted round us and behind a display of scorched timber, which prevented a great shot alternative.
The bull’s give attention to us appeared to vanish, and I keep in mind pondering, He’s not coming, he’s going to cross the path. A transparent-cut path bisected his path of journey, and I had a great probability of reaching it earlier than he did, probably giving me a 150–200-yard shot as he stepped into the open. However we wished Hugh to take the shot, so I set that notion apart and tried to show the bull round with some comfortable cow calling.
The bull didn’t come again. In truth, that will be the one bull we might name in for the remainder of our 12-day journey. It wasn’t for lack of bulls. We heard bulls nearly each calling session, usually a number of bulls. They simply wouldn’t come. We’d hear a collection or two of grunts from a bull, which usually leads to an extended dialog and an up-close encounter with bull moose in mid-September. As a substitute, they’d simply shut up. There’s a myriad of excuses and speculations that an unsuccessful hunter can spin up—particularly moose hunters—and I nonetheless discover myself in a fog of disbelief that we had been unable to name even a younger lovestruck bull in after the primary couple days.
I can’t blame wolves or a tough winter as a result of the moose had been there. All I do know is that they weren’t performing or responding as they usually do. They had been rutting, chasing cows, and preventing—we might hear and catch glimpses of this happening throughout us. We had been pigeonholed into calling in that spot. And calling simply wasn’t working.
Second-Guessing and Remorse
Moose searching is normally boring, till it isn’t. Kicking off a visit with near-instant motion gave us each purpose to loosen up and let the hunt unfold as it will. How had been we to know that first bull can be the one bull that responded as we anticipated? We couldn’t, however with every day that burned away, each Frank and I replayed the shut calls we’d had.
I started wishing that I had set myself again 100 yards from Frank and Hugh whereas the primary bull was coming in. Absolutely that will have drawn him a further 10 or 20 yards and allowed Hugh to get a shot. Frank started questioning if, upon seeing the bull dangle up, he ought to have simply shot him by way of the hole within the bushes that he might see. I puzzled if I ought to have run over to the path to try to shoot the second bull as he crossed into one other patch of timber, or tried to pursue him on foot, sounding like a bull making an attempt to problem him—a tactic that typically works.
We must always have finished this totally different, or that. One thing, something, may need made the distinction. I believe that second-guessing is one thing most hunters expertise. Though it serves no sensible objective, sometime you’ll want you’d zigged while you zagged.
However as Frank usually says once we speak about what we want we’d finished on a hunt, “You may want in a single hand and shit within the different and see which one fills up quicker.”
Selections, Selections
If there’s a attribute that I’ve discovered that the majority persistently efficient hunters possess, it’s the arrogance to make sound selections within the warmth of the second, to stay with them, and to strike whereas the iron is scorching. Such hunters seize alternative when it arrives. That is particularly needed for DIY hunters.
Many of the selections you make throughout a hunt will, after all, straight have an effect on the result of your hunt. So hopefully you’ll study to persistently make the proper selections. The reality is, although, that one of the best you are able to do is make these selections based mostly on the knowledge you could have and your expertise. Even for those who do every thing “proper,” typically your efforts nonetheless received’t work.
I’ve discovered that there’s normally one thing I can study from missed alternatives, but in addition that bizarre issues simply occur typically. My confidence that we might kill not less than two bulls didn’t even begin to dwindle till the ultimate few days of the hunt. My years of moose searching expertise and our first two encounters indicated that we had nothing to fret about. There was nonetheless time. Even now, figuring out that we didn’t kill something, I can’t say I’d have finished something in another way based mostly on the knowledge we had on the time.
An empty meat pole stings somewhat bit extra for a lot of Alaskans (together with me) with regards to moose. Meat from different hunts is a bonus, however moose is a staple. Some people pack their freezers with caribou, deer, or elk. I like these simply nice, however issues get sparse by springtime with out a moose within the deep freeze. As soon as it’s minimize and wrapped, placing away a good-sized Alaska bull moose is roughly equal to 2 or three huge Rocky Mountain bull elk. One bull will hold my household in meat for the higher a part of a 12 months, and usually we are able to every convey one dwelling.
As all the time, moose camp was a improbable expertise, and an opportunity to loosen up, nap, and sit within the still-cold air, straining to listen to the faintest bull grunt. Some mornings and evenings, it’s so quiet that your ears ring. Once you do hear a bull grunting within the stillness, it’s exhilarating.
There are little issues we plan on doing in another way subsequent 12 months. Possibly we modify our calling location barely, add some fiberglass to strengthen our canoe paddles that we use to rake brush (and inevitably break annually), and perhaps discover a flatter spot for the tent.
We plan on searching the identical manner as a result of it really works nearly each time. Annually we alternate turns as first shooter, and subsequent 12 months I’m up. After this season, I’d solely do one factor totally different subsequent 12 months. If I’m planning to shoot a giant bull that hangs up in a tangle of burnt toothpicks, and Frank tells me he has a transparent shot, I’m going to say, “Dump him.”
Getting meat hanging is extra necessary than killing one myself. Even when years previous introduced loads of alternative, nothing is assured, and each bull that disappears again into the bush is one which received’t be in your freezer.
