Flatlander

Ok, now that I have had two nights sleep and the meat is in the coolers (3 100 qt filled to the brim with boned out meat) and the head is at the taxidermist , now I can write this down. On day 7 right before dark, with two minutes of legal shooting light left, I found the skylined bull standing majestically on a ridge 350 yds away staring down at a cow. In 10 minutes he never moved. Just stood on the skyline taunting me. I quickly grabbed my rifle and rangefinder and tried to get setup but the objective on the rangefinder wouldn’t gather enough light for me to see the moose. I could get a range of the general area on the hillside, and at approximately 350 that was probably good enough. But then I could make out just the silhouette of the bull, no detail of the shoulder or the rest of the body. I had glassed these moose up from 2+ miles away and then threw a Hail Mary and drove the 8 miles around to get where I thought they might end up and somehow all of that worked perfectly, except the light. After 7 sub freezing nights in a tent without a fire, after 7 dark moonless mornings eating a cold breakfast by headlamp light, after fighting the snow and the rain and the mud and the wind after grinding almost non-stop from dawn until dusk, after all of that my goal was within reach and sitting a chip shot away from me and I had a decision to make. I was alone and although I would never get setup in the two remaining minutes of legal daylight it was unlikely that anyone would know or care if I stretched that out by a minute or two. Without a spotter it would be tough to tell what kind of shot placement I made or how the bull reacted... but on the other hand here was a great shooter bull standing broadside right in front of me. Knowing this was one of those moments that can define a hunt, I snapped a few photos gathered my gear and got out as quietly and discreetly as possible. It was going to be a long night of hoping that bull would stay in that canyon. He had a cow so I was hopeful that he would just follow her around for 12 hours and in the morning I could sneak in there and give him a forever home. Well my long night was made longer when I realized that in my haste to get my gear loaded up I had left my rifle sitting by the side of the road. I liiterally forgot my gun. This is when it became clear to me that I was starting to crack. The pressure was getting to me and now I was getting erratic and jumpy. So instead of hitting my nice warm bed at my in-laws home 40 miles away, I picked up my youngest son and we made the hour plus drive to go find the rifle which was fortunately sitting right next to the road, and slept in cold sleeping bags at camp. Daylight could not come fast enough. Day 8 There was no need for an alarm I was up an hour before I needed to be. After waking up Nash we jumped in the truck and waited for it to get light. At the first break of gray in the sky we parked the truck above the canyon and slipped in to find the old beast. It didn’t take more than a few minutes to confirm he wasn’t where I had hoped he would be. The canyon was just as cold and empty as every other time I had glassed it in the past week. Hoping he would be just over the ridge where he had come from the night before we went hiking. We did a 3 mile loop calling and glassing for that bull and never turned up more than an old, frozen track in the soft dirt in a creek bottom. He was nowhere to be found. Dejected we pulled out at 9:30. I was tempted to go grab a nap and decent breakfast at camp but instead off we went to go check all of the areas where I had located cows regularly hanging out. This has become my daily routine. While the bulls were amazingly nomadic roaming all over the country with their giant strides covering miles in minutes, the cows were homebodies hanging in the same willow and aspen patches day after day. I could almost always turn up these cows and most days there was a bull of some kind hanging around. Usually it was the same yearling or two year olds following a few hundred yards behind the cow and hopelessly angling for a piece of the action. However, with the mature bulls cruising for cows, an occasional collision of our courses was inevitable or at least that’s what I kept telling myself. Most of these cows could be found by glassing from a distance but some required me to hike into a creek bottom and see what was around. Regardless, they were reliable and I could almost always count on finding some kind of bull in the area. The first place I headed had been my most reliable. It was a piece of leased state property that was put into CRP. With big quakie aspen stands scattered throughout. This was where on the second morning I passed up a bull that I didn’t get a lot of time to size up but to this point had been one of the better opportunities that had emerged. So like a diligent mail man I headed there to start my rounds. As I came over the hill to look into the first draw it was like an instant replay of morning two. There was a bull standing in the waist high grass and he was headed into the timber, but even with only a quick look I could immediately see he was much bigger than the bulls I had been seeing in this area. Typically when I found a bull I would immediately reach for my 15’s to start judging him. But this was a no doubter first glance bull. Unfortunately it was a matter of seconds before the bull disappeared into the woods. We immediately pulled over grabbed the packs and headed in after the bull. We had only gonna couple hundred yards when a cow came crashing out of the woods where the bull had gone moments earlier. I dropped to my butt and swung my pack around in front of me. I told Nash he would be coming out and he settled in to watch. Soon the bull was trotting across the field behind the cow. I have a quick grunt and he stopped. In the spirit of fair chase I gave him one warning shot and the second one found its mark with the 180 grain accubond expending all of its energy in the vitals before settling under the hide on the offside shoulder. He was down in seconds and some big high five’s and hugs ensued. It was an amazing moment with my son by my side as I fulfilled this life long dream. It definitely wasn’t what I expected and the challenge of turning up a big bull was definitely formidable. I think a lot of that had to do with the weather, with alternating rain, snow, sleet and sunshine I think the animals were left unsure whether to hunker down or go looking for a date. However, eventually these animals are going to do what it takes to pass on their genes and I hope this guy got the chance before we took him home. They are huge animals a unique skeletal composition. When the spine is exposed the hump above the shoulders looks like something off of a dinosaur. The waddle under the chin can come and go throughout the life of the animal, often freezing during winter and falling or being pulled off as a result. The biggest difference is in the front quarters. There is a ton of shoulder meat on these animals that you won’t find on an elk. Fortunately we were able to get the truck into the field where the bull was so packout was 0. I think this is the first time in 15 years that I didn’t have to put an animal in a pack to get it out. From shot to shutting the tailgate was about 3 hours. We did a full gutless, cape and removed one slab of ribs to smoke before we head home. The back straps were more than 48” long!!! This was an amazing adventure and I learned a ton both about moose hunting and about myself. I would be lying if I said I never lost any sleep about this hunt beforehand. Between the weather, my inexperience and trying to know how I was going to recover an animal that big my head was a mess and I had a knot in my stomach when I headed out. But through this I reminded myself that I am of far more than I usually think. It was great that he died where I could get to him with a vehicle, but if he hadn’t I would have lived through it. So my advice to everyone out there is to go live your dreams. Start working now to make “someday” become today. Thanks everyone for following along and I hope you enjoy some more pics.

Pretty close.

I don’t have the energy to write the story but here are some pics.

BBD

Target aquired. Gunna be a long night.

Day 6 Checked a new place and found this guy with 2 cows. Seems like there should be a big boy in there. Maybe soon. Got about 3” of snow at camp. I think tomorrow I will try to cut a big track and run that beast down. Tonight I came down off the mountain to meet my family who flew in to Idaho Falls for Fall Break. It’s nice to get a shower and sleep in a bed for a night. Back at it tomorrow.

Good grief can we just go back to seeing giant freaking bulls?

You will never know hunting stress until you come down to the last day of a hunt your kid has been talking about for months...

Congratulations Draysen, glad it all worked out for you!

I am exerting all my will power not to do that. Moose in ID is a once in a lifetime harvest. If I pull the trigger it’s over, and I never get another chance. If I go home empty handed I get to look forward to doing this again someday. As my wife often reminds me... Don’t trade what you want most for what you want right now.

Day 5 The day was pretty slow to start and ended up being my lowest moose count since Day 1. Did my normal glassing routine in the morning, turned up nothing. Decided to hit the high stuff, 10k’ +, mid day. There is still a fair amount of snow up there from this week’s storm so I figured I could at least see if anything had been wandering around. It was pretty but The scenic views were all I found. For the evening I was pretty set on going back where I saw the private land bull the night before. I have seen 3 bulls walk across the same CRP pasture in 4 days so I was committed to getting there early and seeing what showed up. No sooner did I get back to camp and get gear in my truck than I got a call from the Michigander. He had killed the bull I saw the night before. I know everyone is dying for some dead bull pics so here is one of his. Not a bull I would have shot so I am happy he was able to take it. Tomight I was feeling burnt out. Driving the same roads, glassing the same spots, even starting to see the same moose. I was cruising down a public land draw when I saw on silver leg sticking out of a quakie aspen. I hit the skids and grabbed my glass and immediately saw a paddle. My mind went from 0-60 in 3 seconds. I grabbed the rifle and my bino’s and found a stealthy way out of the truck. It didn’t take long to realize he wasn’t a shooter. But he did get my heart racing and was kind enough to pose for some pics. At the halfway point. Cant help but hear that clock ticking in the back of my mind.

Yeah, I’d say we tipped the 6. And I am pretty sure there is still an auction tag out there.

About to post up another one. Possibly a top 5 longhunter society bull.

Met one tonight. A guy from Michigan our hunting with his wife. Only 10 tags so hopefully won’t see anyone else. Most of the locals probably just hunt deer and elk and take their moose incidentally. That’s what I would do.

Day 4 Went looming for the bull I found last night. Not sure If it was him but I found one with a cow and calf in the area. He was a shooter but unfortunately he was 70 yds onto private. Tough to see him tucked back in the quakies but he is circled below. Met up with an elk hunter who owns a large farm in the area. We drove around his place and he put me through the paces on what to expect and how to hunt these moose. Very helpful. We didn’t turn up any moose son his farm so I headed I to town to refuel and visit an of friend. A milkshake was nice. Tried to clean the undercarriage on my truck to no avail. Should have picked up a phone slope but forgot. Back after it tonight and saw a bull booking it across an open CRP field about 1,000 yds out. He was on private but headed for a small BLM island. Hauledass up there and was able to get to the BLM before him and there was just enough rise in the field to keep me concealed from sight. I could just see his horns coming over the crest below me. Unfortunately he was going to stay on the private, I called and called but to no avail. He crossed 100 yds outside of the BLM. Unfortunately no chance for pictures. Later that night I passed the elk hunter on the road near where I passed up the borderline bull on day 2. We exchanged notes for a minute and went on our way. A few minutes later he sends me a pic saying a bull just crossed in front of him right where I had been glassing. Looks like the bull from day 2.

They don’t need to study why they went blind, my Mom told me that when I was 12.

Well I am camped solo 1,000 miles from my nearest acquaintance in bear country and now I have to read this. So thanks...

Congrats Sean. Glad you got it done on a beast of a bull. Just curious, what do you think AZGFD should do about the blind bull?

I thought this was the norm. Worse for me is glassing until dark when you are way back in on a coues hunt and then having a several hour hike in the dark alone coming out. I hate those nights but it’s a necessary evil. Always tough to balance bivy’img out vs day hikes.

Day 3 Went back and glassed the corner where I saw most of the moose yesterday. Found a cow calf and yearling bull. Worked my way through some new country glassing and driving (that’s 90%) of how I am finding moose. Didn’t find any more moose so I looked back to my original glassing point and looked back across the canyon and found a bull 1.3 miles away tucked up in some trees at the end of a field I have permission for. He bedded down in a stalkable position and I figured I could get within 150 yds. Headed back across the canyon up onto the bench. The wind was perfect and I hugged the tree line as I closed from 800 yds. At the point where I thought I would be able to see him I crawled around a bend in the tree line and there he was right where I left him. After watching him for a few minutes I wasn’t sure he was a shooter but before I could confirm he jumped up and went into the trees. I’m not sure why he did that but there may have been a cow back there. I wanted a better look at him so I let out a nasally cow moan. In less than 10 seconds he was back in the open and coming on a string. It was now that I confirmed that he was in fact not a shooter. But now he was practically in my lap at 60 yds and closing. He stopped to make a scrape and I decided to send him on his way. I stood up and used all the bass in my voice to say “Get”! He didn’t move. He just stared at me and kept pawing the ground. This lasted about 30 seconds before I decided to take my own advice and get out of there. He never left, just watched me gather my stuff and back out. I didn’t see any other moose until about 30 minutes before dark when I found what I think is the best bull yet cruising a stubble field. He was moving fast and covered a mile before I lost him in a creek bottom. Who knows where he will wind up but it’s good to know there is a bigger one around. it finally warmed up this afternoon. All the ice mud is now melting off my truck and I can feel my feet again.

Dammit AZGFD is giving away my honey holes.

My IG is azgillett. But I don’t think I have anyone blocked, maybe That’s my wife’s account, which would probably make me feel better. Saw one moose tonight. Think it was a cow. In the am I am going back where I saw the bulls this morning. I probably wouldn’t pass that bull again. The cold is waring on me.

Unfortunately no. I was trying to get the tripod setup when he decided he had enough.

Still chasing moose. Pics are easier to put on Instagram so I have been updating that more regularly. Day 1 Cold and wet. Low visibility. Saw one bull in the evening but he was a dink on private land. Got camp set and organized. Day 2 was a quick start. The morning was clear and cold about 20. Passed a solid bull on public right at first light. Might have been a mistake, we will see. Saw about a dozen moose in total this morning. More snow through midday and burning off now. The scenery is unmatched.