Day Two of the Great Alberta Moose Hunt

To bed last night at 10 p.m. and up at 5 a.m., Pam and I were on the road to the lodge to have breakfast by 5:45 a.m.  After yesterday and the day before, I was brimming with confidence and could not wait to get out into the fields of canola, wheat, oats and hay.  We torqued down our breakfasts and were the first ones out the door to the truck.  Even the guide was amazed at our eagerness.  He expected us older people not to move that fast.

This picture was taken the previous night as we were heading back to the lodge. Moon rise over Alberta and we just stopped and looked at it for a while as the earth turned and it came up higher in the sky.  The thought was maybe a moose will come out to admire the moon rise too, but to no avail. 

Down the roads we went.  It was just light enough to make out shapes heading toward the tree lines and standing woods packed with timber.  We could make out shapes and we saw a half a dozen bull moose heading to the shelter of timber. Several were of really decent size.  We also saw, as usual, a lot of cows.  Our guide told us that moose hang around a general area unless spooked.  At that point they never come back to the same area for some time.  Another fact that is interesting is that moose do not like wind and they will really hunker down in windy conditions.  It is hard enough to see them without them making themselves more scarce.

Mom and calf.  This is Pam's favorite picture and one of mine too.  We were about 100 yards off the road when Pam spotted them just standing there and posing for us.  She wanted that picture.  It is amazing they are so far away from the timber.  They must have been moving to another spot and froze for us. 

The animal is very black and the timber they hide in is very dark to almost black depending where the sun is.  Today was partially cloudy with very light breezes.  We hoped the big beasts would be out  roaming around looking for female company or some very fine canola to feast on.  If you are a bull moose in this section of Alberta, you have no problem finding female company.

Moving down the roads and through the oil patches, we did not see anything initially.  Then we came across two really young bulls.  The guide classified them as "forkys", but Pam and I classified them as girlie man bulls. They were really young and would have been a really easy shot.  I could have gotten out of the pick up, laid my gun across the hood and punched one of them.  They were not 30 yards off the road and standing very still.  It was an easy shot, but this was only day two and there was no reason to harvest a bull we really did not want.  Pam was worried I was going to take the bigger of the two.

I cannot see the girlie man bulls in this picture, but Pam said she saw them and so did the guide.  I was informed, "Do not shoot one of the girlie man bulls as they may be brothers."   I had no intention of it anyway, but earlier they were closer to the edge of the tree line. 

Edging down the road and keeping an eye on the stands of timber, we rounded a corner, and there stood a cow and calf not more than 75 yards off the road.  Just beyond the cow and calf was a really great looking bull.  He was just standing there like he was frozen and we moved down the road where we could get out.  Quietly we got out of the truck and did not slam the doors.  We were moving down a stand of timber and the cow and calf were on the next stand of timber.  There was only about a 30 yard stand of grass between the two stands of timber, and this is where Mr. Bull was standing.  (I hope you the reader can visualize or understand what is going on).  Mr Bull was in the open.  The two cows were on the edge of the next stand of timber.  This was a really really nice bull per the guide.

We got this picture out of focus, but what is a person to do considering we were driving slowly along the road to a spot out of sight to go and shoot the bull, providing he was still there. 

We crept along the timber line and I was almost in shooting position when the calf spooked and took off running down the road. The animal was immediately followed by the cow.  Mr. Bull (the dirty rat) dove for the timber.  I did not say it, but I thought expletive deleted. We were close to the timber and both the guide and I did not believe the cow or the calf saw us.  We could have been winded.

The three animals ran down the road and crossed to the other side.  We turned around and stopped about 100 yards where they had crossed.  The guide said, "He is not going to stay with that cow.  He will come back across the road and back to the tree line."  He did just that, and stopped just across the road on the edge.  THIS WAS A PERFECT SHOT AND NOT MORE THAN 150 YARDS AWAY.  Can you hear me?  As I type this I am screaming!

The first piece of bad news came: 1. He was standing just off the road.  That is against the law in Alberta to shoot an animal along the roadway.  It would have been my luck to have dropped him, and along would come the constabulary.  Who do you think would be going to jail? The American.  2. The lodge did not have permission to hunt this piece of ground, and it took about 10 minutes before the guide contacted the owner.  It was okay, but by then that magnificent piece of moose, had moved over to the stand of timber.

He has put some distance between us when we finally got the go ahead to shoot him.  In the meantime, he moved over to the timber, and we lost sight of him.  We attempted to locate him, but we both felt he took off for better and safer areas.  With the wind at our back, we never would have caught up to him.  There was a lot of activity going on at this time and we are lucky to have got this picture at all. 

We took off trying to get into a position where we could spot him, but the wind was on our backs, and he just kept moving ahead of us.  Finally, after being soaking wet from sweat, I gave up.  The guide, God bless him, wanted to keep moving, but I was worn down.  Pamela sat in the truck and took a plethora of pictures of everything that happened, and as I typed this blog, she was right there to make sure I did not forget anything.

The good news was that the two other hunters each had dropped their moose.  One was a really nice boy and the other was a meat moose along the line of the "forkys" or to quote Pamela, "girlie" moose.  We did not share that with anyone at the camp.

Caught in the act.  The bear had pulled open the door to the bin holding oats and was woofing them down to his heart's delight.  Then we came along.  

It was a small bear and when we came by again later, there he was, chowing down. 

The evening was uneventful, although we did see, as usual, a lot of cow calf groupings.  We were both beat from the day and did not even stay for the soup in the evening, but went right back to the 49 motel.

A harvest of a really nice moose came close.  Close is only good in horseshoes. That night I slept like a baby and cried all night.  Read the next post on January 1st, and always remember to never give up.

Click on the Lulu link and buy my book for a good quick and entertaining read.  Makes a good gift for someone who has everything.

Good hunting, good fishing, and good luck. Hank

The Great Moose Hunt is On

It was finally going to happen!  After a three day drive from Council Bluffs, we arrived in Grand Prairie, Alberta Canada.  Next morning we met the chief guide at our motel and followed him up to Spirit River and to the lodge.  We then met the staff and everyone was shown to their rooms except for my wife and I.  We were staying at the 49 Motel in Spirit River.  The lodge had adequate rooms, but there were only two bathrooms and one shower.  Not so good for my wife but Mike told me hunters bring their wives all the time and stay at the motel.  It was only 20 minutes from the lodge.

The lodge was full of mounts of all kinds from bear to elk to a multitude of mule and whitetail deer.  Look at the pile of horn lying in the bottom of the picture. 

Next was licensing, a really big lunch, and then guidelines on how the hunts would take place.  There were five hunters in total and three guides.  Pam and I teamed up with the chief guide by ourselves.  The other two guides had two hunters a piece.  One thing the guides stressed at our initial meeting was to keep shooting as long as the moose was still standing.  More than likely it would take several shots.  They stressed that these are really big animals and it takes a lot to bring one down.  It was also common for one to get up after being shot.  We were instructed to shoot again and again until he goes down, stays down, and his head is down.  Next we went out to the range in back of the lodge and shot our rifles to make sure they were zeroed in.  Then it was off to hunt till it got dark.

This is farm country with gently rolling fields of canola, wheat, oats, and hay.  It is also oil country and the land is peppered with large swaths of forest land containing a multitude of pump jacks.  We were able to hunt this ground, although the roads were dirt and not maintained well. We could hunt the farm ground too and Mike's Outfitting has obtained permission from a lot of land owners yielding plenty of acreage to hunt.

This is pasture ground and the crop fields are scattered throughout the area.  Notice the timber at the top of the picture.  This is made up of Spruce, Aspen, Poplar and other smaller native woods.  When it gets light the moose hide in the swatches of timber.  Keep in mind they are black and blend in really well with their surroundings. Our three guides had eyes like that of an eagle and could spot moose in the timber at great distances.  All of us hunters complained about the same thing.  They were seeing things and we could not see squat.  That is the difference between a young man's eyes and ours. 

The farm ground had massive fields but they were bordered by stands of timber running for miles and about 15 to 20 yards wide.  The timber was a mix of spruce, aspen, poplar, and a tall plant that had a dark look to it.  The reason I bring this up is that the stands of timber were almost black looking.  The moose we were hunting were black except for their horns and legs.  The legs were white.

In a 4WD, 4 Door, F250 we prowled the roads examining the stretches of timber and searching for moose.  I have never seen such amazing eye sight as our guide had.  The other hunters had the same experience with their guides.  It was amazing how they could spot game in the timber line.  I want to also add that this country had deer roaming all over it and we saw whitetail as well as mule.  They also have elk, and offer bear and wolf hunts.  This is definitely a one stop shop hunting lodge.

Timber was to the left with a harvested Canola field to the right.  We studied the tree line and glanced out to the open ground.  The main concentration was the tree lines.  Notice how thick it is and dark.  A perfect place for a moose to hide. 

On the first day our guide did not see a bull moose, but did see plenty of cows and cows with calves.  That is the difference between a young man's eyes and mine and my wife's.

As it got toward evening, one of the hunters had a 250 yard shot and unfortunately missed.  He was disappointed, but he had hunted here before and was looking for a meat moose.  It was a respectable animal, but he was not too disappointed as he knew there was a young boy out there for him.

That is a calf.  The cow was deeper in the timber, and the calf did not even spook.  We stopped about 50 feet from her and just watched as she took her time nibbling away at the stand of timber.  I could not see the cow, but our guide did and said it was a big mature girl.  Now where are the boys?

As it got dark, we headed back to the lodge.  Our two main meals were breakfast and lunch.  Lunch was the big meal for the day.  In the evening it was generally a soup or a soup and sandwich combination.  There was always home made dessert and was outstanding.  After supper my wife and I would head back to the Motel 49 in Spirit River.  This was not New York City, and the Motel 49 was not the Waldorf, but it was very clean, comfortable, and met our needs perfectly.

We were to be at the lodge by 6:15 for breakfast and then it was off to hunt.

The next day we hit the roads at 7 a.m. and in the dim light, we could see big moose heading back to the stands of timber lining the fields.  They love the canola fields and this was where we concentrated.  We also moved into some of the oil country timber but saw nothing.  Our best luck on spotting moose was the stands of timber.  We were constantly seeing cows with a calf. That was a good sign as wherever the girls are the boys are soon to follow.  It wasn't long.

A father and son team had just harvested two moose.  One was a really big boy, and the other was acceptable, but needed some growing.  Both hunters were pleased.  For them, this meant they would get their game to the processor, wait a day, and go back south to the U.S.

Both men were smiling ear to ear as we pulled into the lodge and went to see their results.

We got back to the lodge after all the loading, gutting and preparation for the processor.  Two guides did all of this and the hunters were really pleased with their harvest. It would take a day to have the processing and freezing done.  Then they would go back to New Mexico the following day. 

Two really nice bulls.  Father and son were really pleased

After another great big meal and being stuffed, we waited an hour then went back out to prowl the prairies and oil patches.  We hunted until late in the day, but did not see a decent bull.  There was an opportunity to harvest a young spike, but it was early in the hunt and if I got to the last day, I would take it. 

Back to the 49 Motel and repeat the same process next day.  The story continues on December 15th. 

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Good hunting, good fishing, and good luck, Hank