After reading RichP‘s “My First Moose” post, I wanna share my first moose story as well.
My dad and I went to British Columbia hunting moose with Love Bro’s and Lee. We had a two day weather delay getting out. That worked in our vantage as Air Canada lost my gear bag, I was able to pick it up the next day. Two other hunters from Oregon were in camp with us, they drove up and met us for the float plane ride out. The plane was big enough to handle four hunters, our guide and all of our gear, same load plus 2 moose on the way out. My dad and I were teamed up with Nathan as our guide. The float plane ride was about an hour and a half north from town and it seemed like we were flying right above the mountain peaks. The scenery was breathtaking, civilization seem to end about 20 minutes into the flight. We had been training with 50 pound packs in the mountains of Virginia and shooting steel at 200 yards every weekend. As soon as we landed on the lake the boys from Oregon spotted mountain goats, and once the guides got camp set up, They started glassing and pointing out grizzly bears, black bears, moose. It was like I was going to school on how to glass. It was on and off raining and cold. We would take boats out and glass and call from different locations there was another smaller lake about a mile away you could walk to and they had a zodiac stash there to move around that lake. While we spotted moose every day for the first three days they were reluctant to come to our calls and we’re hanging up in the mountains on avalanche slides, I was the youngest guy in the group at 38 and offered to climb up there and shoot. I did not understand what I was asking for, even though the guides explained How difficult the pack out would be. The terrain from the boat looked open, with trails and gradual grades. What I found instead were swampy boggs, willows as thick is my forearm with no path through. Again another education on packing out. We spotted a moose from across the lake about a mile away He seemed to be lower on the mountain on a bench at the bottom of an avalanche slide. Nathan looked over at me and Asked if I wanted to give it a shot. We took a boat across the lake about a half a mile to the opposite shore at that point we could no longer see the moose from our vantage, Nathan navigated up through that terrain and brought me to within 250 yards of the moose and had a clear shooting lane With him standing broadside. I tried bracing on a tree to the left and right of the shooting lane but I would lose view of the moose, I rested my rifle on Nathan’s left shoulder he held his breath and I took a shot. The moose took one step and disappeared from the lane. The entire time this was happening, my dad and the rest of the camp were watching the moose from across the lake. After he took that step they said he turned around and started blowing steam and blood out of his nose and tipped over. We close the distance to 150 yards and watched as the moose went feet up. We climbed up the bench, the last 50 Yards was incredibly steep covered with this ground balsum. I was given another class and how to clear brush away and take beautiful photos and pose the animal with respect by my guide. Took us 2 1/2 hours to skin and quarter up first trip down the mountain our packs were over 100 pounds. We got back to camp and there was already a bear on the carcass. We made another trip back for the final pack out. It was an experience that I’ll never forget and I’m glad my dad was there To share it with me. Excellent outfitters, excellent guide I can’t say enough good things about them. Thanks for letting me share
My dad and I went to British Columbia hunting moose with Love Bro’s and Lee. We had a two day weather delay getting out. That worked in our vantage as Air Canada lost my gear bag, I was able to pick it up the next day. Two other hunters from Oregon were in camp with us, they drove up and met us for the float plane ride out. The plane was big enough to handle four hunters, our guide and all of our gear, same load plus 2 moose on the way out. My dad and I were teamed up with Nathan as our guide. The float plane ride was about an hour and a half north from town and it seemed like we were flying right above the mountain peaks. The scenery was breathtaking, civilization seem to end about 20 minutes into the flight. We had been training with 50 pound packs in the mountains of Virginia and shooting steel at 200 yards every weekend. As soon as we landed on the lake the boys from Oregon spotted mountain goats, and once the guides got camp set up, They started glassing and pointing out grizzly bears, black bears, moose. It was like I was going to school on how to glass. It was on and off raining and cold. We would take boats out and glass and call from different locations there was another smaller lake about a mile away you could walk to and they had a zodiac stash there to move around that lake. While we spotted moose every day for the first three days they were reluctant to come to our calls and we’re hanging up in the mountains on avalanche slides, I was the youngest guy in the group at 38 and offered to climb up there and shoot. I did not understand what I was asking for, even though the guides explained How difficult the pack out would be. The terrain from the boat looked open, with trails and gradual grades. What I found instead were swampy boggs, willows as thick is my forearm with no path through. Again another education on packing out. We spotted a moose from across the lake about a mile away He seemed to be lower on the mountain on a bench at the bottom of an avalanche slide. Nathan looked over at me and Asked if I wanted to give it a shot. We took a boat across the lake about a half a mile to the opposite shore at that point we could no longer see the moose from our vantage, Nathan navigated up through that terrain and brought me to within 250 yards of the moose and had a clear shooting lane With him standing broadside. I tried bracing on a tree to the left and right of the shooting lane but I would lose view of the moose, I rested my rifle on Nathan’s left shoulder he held his breath and I took a shot. The moose took one step and disappeared from the lane. The entire time this was happening, my dad and the rest of the camp were watching the moose from across the lake. After he took that step they said he turned around and started blowing steam and blood out of his nose and tipped over. We close the distance to 150 yards and watched as the moose went feet up. We climbed up the bench, the last 50 Yards was incredibly steep covered with this ground balsum. I was given another class and how to clear brush away and take beautiful photos and pose the animal with respect by my guide. Took us 2 1/2 hours to skin and quarter up first trip down the mountain our packs were over 100 pounds. We got back to camp and there was already a bear on the carcass. We made another trip back for the final pack out. It was an experience that I’ll never forget and I’m glad my dad was there To share it with me. Excellent outfitters, excellent guide I can’t say enough good things about them. Thanks for letting me share
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