Had a great year hunting this last fall...thought I would share. I haven't done this for a long time so bear with me okay?

It all started the day the Special Permit results came out. Hunting partner called and said his 12 year old son drew a Mt. Spokane antlerless moose tag! Tristan, a great kid and a good hunter, had been tagging along with us on hunting trips since he was 7 years old. He has been with us for at least one deer kill and he himself has shot ducks, quail, pheasant, and grouse....but a moose is a big jump from birds. Had we all bit off more than we could chew?

Since none of our crew (all archery hunters for big game) had ever hunted in the Spokane area, or for moose, we had a tremendous amount of research to do....called the Region 1 bio and he gave us a general idea of where to go.

I'm sure most of you have seen the harvest stats for moose at or near a 100% success rate. I have heard people say: "Piece of cake, WDFW will take you to an area and show you which moose to shoot"....not true. It took us 4 trips from Arlington/Lake Stevens, 800 miles round trip, to accomplish our goal.

The first trip was Oct. 1-4 and was basically a scouting trip. The only moose we saw the whole trip was a bull that we obviously couldn't shoot. Weather was too warm and the moose were just getting done with the rut.

Second trip was Halloween weekend...we saw some more bulls and had a couple of good chances on a cow and calf. Locals informed us that shooting the calf (year and a half old, 500+ pounds) was a no-no...the cow would not leave the downed calf and you would end up killing Momma moose to avoid getting stomped to death. We were never able to get the crosshairs on the cow...

Third trip all we saw were bulls....and lots of 'em, like 4 or 5 per day. Very frustrating to say the least! Where were all the females? After our 3rd unsuccessful trip the ride home was horrible knowing we probably wouldn't be back and the tag would go unfilled. But Tristan talked his Dad, and then his Mom (much tougher), into going back for a fourth and final Thanksgiving hunt (tag expired on Nov. 30th). Arrived Friday, hit the hills and again saw nothing but bulls! Saturday morning it all came together....a bull, cow, and calf were spotted at over 1,000 yards. Tristan made a great shot at ~125 yards on the cow with his 300 Win Mag and down she went! There was much hooting and hollering, high fives, and stifling of tears from everybody. Can't tell you how proud I was of Tristan as I came up to him and his moose and he said "I felt like I was going to cry"....I told him I already had.

Alright, enough BS....here's some pics:

Cool stuff, Ike!

If you're not busy this evening, shoot me a text or a call...

Fish on...

Todd

Here's a couple more....

That's soooo fricking rad!

Great job, all!

Great season! Congrats! I wish I had the 4-wheeler when I got my moose in the Selkirk's. Damn lot of meat there!

moose's is good

Thanks for sharing that Ike!

Nice to see you had snow to quarter it in. Congrats!

Awesome, Moose is a tasty animal. Stamly cooked us up some moose backstraps over a campfire a few years ago, very very tasty.

Great work Ike

Thanks guys....Yep, the snow makes almost every aspect of big game hunting easier. Andy, you should start putting your boys in for that hunt, it was only Tristan's second year of applying...kids have much better odds than adults.

Snit (and/or any others that have hunted WA moose), just curious as to how many days it took you to fill your Selkirk tag and how many moose you saw on your hunt?

Ike

Kiss,
Congrats to the young hunter on his kill. Just trying to understand your logic on this hunt. You would not kill the calf out of fear for your own life, but when it comes to killing the cow it was fire when ready. it seems you probablly should have just killed the calf too as its odds of survival are slim.

Nice work Ike, Tristan and Dad !!

After seeing the bull over in that area last year, I plan on putting in for my tag as well. . .. .very cool animals. . . . . .

As for the cow/calf issue. . . . .the calf should have pretty good odds of making it if it is a decent winter......if not, those new wolves need to eat as well .. . . .

I'd be more than willing to help you out with that. Our logic was that he couldn't kill a moose with antlers...that leaves cows and calves as the only option. Maybe the word "calf" is the hangup? Sorry, I'm not talking about a helpless little animal that was born this last spring, we're talking about a young moose that was born in 2010 and weighs as much as an adult cow elk. We chose not to shoot the "calf" (on numerous occasions) because we didn't want to have to kill the cow too. Is that so hard to understand?

Killing the cow? Are you serious? He had a cow tag...it's the only moose he was allowed to harvest. When we spoke to the Region 1 biologist we posed the question of killing a cow with calf to him and he said it was not a problem. According to him the odds of a last years calf surviving were not slim, but in fact good.

So using your "logic" the only moose that would have been ethical for him to kill would be a lone cow moose (maybe barren, 15+ years old?) all by herself?

Ike

Kiss,

No need to get your self all bent out of shape on this. perhaps I should have sent you just a PM on this instead of putting you on the spot for all to see. A simple reply about the Biologist was good enough. The moose over there are a very highly sought after target, The Biologists in that area probally have a pretty good pulse on what is to be harvested. I was only curious how others view that issue.

I had some decent "historical data" for the unit I hunted in, so we knew it was "moosy". I did not see alot of moose, but heard multiple bulls. I was hunting in the rut (first week of Oct), and the trees were full of leaves (limited visibility). We called in a couple bulls, but could never get a shot. On the 4th or 5th day I spotted a bull and a cow feeding in a small pond/swamp. The bull finally walked out of the swamp right before dark and I took him. Couple miles from the road. It took us 8hrs to pack it out in the dark. Neat experience and an awesome animal. Horms are 38" wide w/6pts on each paddle and 3 brow times per side.

Been putting in for that tag for the boys for years. No draws yet.

Very cool-Well done Tristan and gang!

Nice groceries! Congrats to all....

Cool stuff.Good luck,
SZ