As you read from Adam's previous post (AKA "The BOOK") about caribou hunting-- we also drew a moose tag! It was an -any bull- tag, which meant there were no restrictions on the size of the antlers. (judging the width of a rack can be rather tricky!) We were SOOOOOOOOOOOO excited! Adam spent hours and hours researching the area. And we scouted the area with Jessi and Grant when they were up this past summer. Also our buddy was knowledgeable on the area since his friends had drawn tags before and they had hunted the area. So we felt pretty confident on bagging a moose, but ya never know!
Out at the range-- making sure the good ol 30-06 was sighted in and ready! Wonder how long some of these shells had been laying around.......
Adam's turn at 200 yds
some time for silliness!
and cuteness
a starfish?!!?
a beautiful rainbow in front of "our mountain" This is off our front deck
Now time for the hunt!!!.............
We drove up north on Friday after work and slept in our trucks to be ready to head out early Saturday morning. (Our friend Kevin went with us!-- we were so lucky, he had Friday off so he went early to make sure we got our camp spot and set up the tent) Oh-- can't forget the couple gin n tonics we had with the man who let us park on his lot! :) We got up early Saturday and rode in to our spot for scouting and checking things out before opening day on Sunday.
We rode the wheelers in approx 20ish miles.... much of it along and through a creek. It dumped snow on us on the way in.... pretty crazy and interesting riding conditions!
The meat wagon after the ride in to our camp site
Snow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sunrise opening morning of THE HUNT!!!!!!!!! We were pretty much dancing around and giggling on this morning! My heart was beating ridiculously fast!
As daylight spread across the valley- we saw several moose- bulls and cows.. Adam and I moved in quick to check out one we thought might be "the one". I was a shaky mess for the hike. I kept talking myself through the trigger pull and my breathing while we hurried to the best ridge for a shot. When we got to that ridge-- SURPRISE--- there was another massive bull bedded down. The bull we had originally seen is the one to the right with velvet. The one to the left was bedded down. Well we quickly debated, checked them out with binocs and the range finder. Adam said go for the velvet----- I wanted the one w/o velvet (they were pretty close in size, but my instinct was with the one on the left) And THEN he stood a perfect broadside at 220yds while I did some breathing to calm the shakes for what seemed FOREVER!
Here I am breathing, breathing, breathing and using the fallen tree to steady the shot.
220yds- 7:30 a.m. of opening morning! BAM- The shot felt REALLY good and I was confident he didn't suffer after taking 4 steps and laying down. It does not feel good to take an animal's life, there is a lot of personal responsibility to make sure it is a perfect shot, so the animal does not suffer. There is a flood of gratitude and appreciation. It is a VERY emotional experience--tears and shaking from sorrow for the animal and excitement for a full freezer.
Other moose we saw the same morning.... these two ended up fighting each other-- what a show!
Another set of bulls
The bull-- 3X2 and 47 inches. As Adam said, when we first approach the animal- we take
some time to thank it and reflect. Then of course- we take photos.
Our friend Kevin has a beast of a 4-wheeler and managed to make his own path to the moose pulling the meat wagon. This was AMAZING and such an energy saver. We were of course prepared to hike out the meat and rack-- hundreds of pounds, many miles, and hours! But he was able to drive it out with Adam hiking the rack and I hiking the gear. The meat wagon was so heavy that we had to wench (or winch) it up the hills!
Photo opp while the boys wenched up the last hill.
I think I had finally stopped shaking at this point! :)
Meat for the next two years! Hanging in meat bags, sheltered from rain/snow, and treated with citric acid for bugs.
Since we had the moose hung and it was only Sunday, we had some extra
time! I picked blueberries while the boys glassed for bears and a
legal, non-tag moose for Kevin. Kevin saw a huge black bear chasing a
cow and calf. They saw other bulls, but nothing big enough for the
requirements.
All packed up and ready for the ride out on Monday morning.
One of my favorite places to ride-- so much fun and absolutely gorgeous!
Through the creek!
Boot Hill!
On our way in to the hunt=== dumping snow!
On our way out from the hunt==== meat and a rack!
This is my finger all bandaged up--- I took a slice off the top when cleaning the moose in the field. It hurt and bled and bled and bled-- so I of course almost passed out. The boys took care of me though!
Uncovered. A very minor slice, so thankful it wasn't worse! Took off the nail and all!
Tundy had a weekend sleepover w/ one of his many girls while we were gone! Cuddles with Riley!
So we got our own meat grinder this year. This is our set up for processing the caribou. We also processed the moose ourselves- it took FOOOOORRRRREVER! Adam even took Tuesday off to work on it all day. We had a couple nights of staying up past 1a.m. But in the end, we knew where our meat had been and who had handled it. We have well over 500lbs in the freezer.... make that freezerS because we had to buy a second to hold all our salmon, bear, caribou, halibut, and moose! :)
We worked very hard and are very proud of our fall hunts and meat processing. We will hopefully be set for the next two years for red meat. We have also been grouse hunting....more on that to come! It feels really good to supply all our own meat.
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Unfortunately, we have received negative comments about hunting from some people, including family/friends and strangers. This is what I have to say---before you try to bring down a hunter or fisherman for partaking in a way of life for them (yes it may just be a sport to some, but please don't generalize to everyone) think about where your food comes from. Are you a vegetarian? Well I respect your choice and will not doubt you. But do you ask your family and friends about that beef, pork, chicken, or tuna and how it ended up on their plate? I GUARANTEE it was not done so as humanly as ours was. Not a vegetarian? Then keep chewing that mouthful of chicken with all the chemicals, machinery, and whatever else it has on it from being processed, swallow... and then repeat your concern to me about hunting!
*************That is all!***********
Oh-- and of course we still eat meat at restaurants and from stores from time to time. It just makes us appreciate the meat in our freezer even more!
Thanks ya'll and PEACE
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