Moose Week 2014, Part 1 (Sarah's bull)

October is already here ...half gone actually...and I hadn't gotten around to a recap of this year's INSANE moose season.  Or..Moose 'Week'.  Technically it was eight days, but in that span we were able to see more than a dozen bulls on a half dozen outings, and in the end...four of them came home with us. :)  That, of course, is part of the reason why I haven't posted yet.  Despite that fact, this was far and away the greatest moose season we have experienced here in Russian Mission.  It had it all:  Seeing big bulls, seeing LOTS of bulls - make that LOTS of moose, period - dryer weather meant more access and less slogging around in water - we had beautiful weather, the list goes on and on.   Shall we get going with the recap?...  (I will be posting the four parts of this post in reverse order, so that they read from the beginning to the end, top-down - so for parts 2-4, scroll down or find them in the tag list at the lower right.)

So, this was the year we meant to make a concerted effort for Sarah to get out and get her first bull.  Every year - even going back to our days in Pilot Station - she hadn't gotten many chances to get out in moose season for one reason or another.  This year, we weren't going to let that happen.  One way or another, we were going to get her a bull, even if that meant we had to go out with the boys in an attempt against all odds.  And we did in fact go with the boys on our backs...several times:

Being as we live in an incredible place where you can kill a bull directly across the river from town (Hah! more on the irony of that statement later) we devised a plan that, in the evenings, I would watch the young'uns and Sarah would jet across the river by herself and hunt til dark.  Daily.  And so it began.  On her first outing, she came back and reported that nothing showed in the meadow.  Some ducks in the pond was about it...but she sure enjoyed the quiet time and the recharge it brings. :)  Second night, things got a bit more interesting.  As she called, a bull snuck out the trail we use to get in to the spot and busted her, slipping into the thick stuff before she had a shot she was comfortable with.  Dang it!...   Third night, she texted (from the meadow, heh heh)  that she was getting annoyed with the ducks making noise and a porcupine that wouldn't quit chewing on a tree above her and let her listen for moose.. :)  She did see two cows though, poking their heads out of the willows - not really offering a shot anyway, but stuff like that keeps the fires burning.  After that, we were closing in on the arrival of Sam and Jerry on Friday and we decided that, come what may, we would have to sneak a trip (trip's') in while they were here and that was that.   We discussed all the events of the week, and how she was feeling that we just needed a break, and if it was going to happen that we would be 'sent' a bull and everything would just fall together and that would be it.  We can't, and shouldn't have to, force it to happen.   Little did we know her words would become literal reality in so many ways....

Friday, September 19th.  It came quicker than seemed possible after so many months of waiting.  I was truly starting to get amped up with the realization that the best week of the season was quickly approaching, and not having gotten out at all except for scouting trips.  It was decided that Sam would stay at home with the boys after we put them down for the night and Sarah, Jerry, and I would head out.  After all, the week's events seemed to show that the boys were sleeping well and we could circumvent Abram's feedings with a moose hunt and be back before he realized his mom was ever gone.  That night we got them both asleep early and headed out just a little after 6 o clock.  By the time we got the boat unstuck out of the mud and everything in the boat squared away, we were heading down river at about 6:45.  We cruised around the sandbar where the slough enters the river and entered the mouth right around 7.  I throttled down to a soft purr and we began searching for moose on the banks as we cruised...

We have often 'crept' right up on moose drinking on the banks in this slough, and so Sarah and Jerry were on high alert up front. :)

After what seemed like an eternity, we made it to the landing where we always park, and got out of the boat.  We made sure we had all the gear we wanted, shells were in, etc., and began the sneak to the chain of meadows where we planned to call for the evening.  Excitement was high and the anticipation was killing me.  I REALLY wanted Sarah to get a bull, and this also being Jerry's first trip out with us, we all, of course, were hoping it would go well.  I remember thinking, "If we can just see some moose, this will be a win, but I sure hope we can get a bull's attention."   It is a fairly short walk to the first meadow,  maybe 2/3 of a mile long, with a banana-shaped lake/pond that curves to the left.

So, roughly 100 yards later, maybe a little more, as we first emerged from the trees, I decided that we would just try a quick call after glassing, and then we would move along the treeline on the right side of the meadow until we could head further right through the treeline into the second meadow.  I had a good feeling about that second meadow, which is back in farther, and contains a decent-sized lake to boot.  But we would never get there.  After glassing initially, and seeing nothing, we began drfting right to get along the trees and stay out of the grass.  By grass, we are talking about 5-6 feet tall hay-like grass.  It was a bit windy, and so that likely masked some of the noise the three of us were making, swishing through it.  And then it happened.  About 100 yards out, I stared in disbelief as a bull stepped out of the treeline straight ahead (the same one we were trying to walk along), and then stopped, broadside.  And then...he turned his head the other way, his rack reflecting the evening light.

Immediately, I dropped to the ground in a crouch, shucking the pack off my back, opening it and removing the Gatorade bottle moose call while looking over at Sarah.  She was already crouched too, as was Jerry, and I remember seeing her mouth the words, "There IS one!"...  I shared her disbelief, and it grew as I looked back up and saw that he hadn't moved and was exactly where my eyes had left him.  I was thinking I might have to call to get his attention if he turned away and starting walking where he was looking.  I whispered to Sarah as she was flipping the scope covers off, "When you're ready let's stand up and you take him as soon as you can.  Take your time and plug him...I'll shoot after you do.  Whenever you're ready!"... and I stood up, filling my scope with moose neck.   I checked him out, and my initial thoughts were that he was a decent bull, in the 40's for sure, maybe close to 50, after seeing his ears out and where his palms reached to out past them.  They always look bigger from behind though.  And then his head turned from looking away, to looking to our left.  I stole a glance over to Sarah, and she was bearing down, peering in the scope.  I quickly looked back and settled on the bull's neck again, hoping it was going to go bang any second...and about two seconds later, it did...

I have never seen a moose drop so fast that wasn't hit somewhere in the neck or spine.  Ever.   That moose kind of leaned to his right and dropped like a bag of concrete.  I mean RIGHT now.  My first words were "Holy!!.....dropped that Son of a B right there, baby!"  I couldn't believe it.  If you were to lie in bed and dream up how you would like a fantasy moose hunt to go, this was pretty much it.
In the craziness that followed, as we all took off across the meadow to check out the bull, I remember Jerry saying, "Look at that...it's only 7:30...the Ten-Minute moose hunt!!"  Indeed.  From the boat to "Bang!" was less than ten minutes, in fact.  It wasn't long and we were snapping pictures.  Let the photo mania begin!

So, we made the decision to quarter him up, get the guts out and spread the pieces to cool overnight.  With three knives going, it wasn't long until we were stuffing raingear for Sarah to carry out the backstraps and the loins.  (We left the game bags behind..oops.  Oh well, it sure was close to home, so no biggie.)

That way we could come back the next morning with everyone, including the boys, and get the beast out.   The next morning, Sarah, Jerry, Sam, Warren, Abram, and I all made the walk back into the meadow.  We all were cautious in approaching, as we knew there very well could be a bear waiting for us.  That didn't evolve, but we did still suspect it might be worth calling before we got packing, just in case there was another bull nearby.  As it turned out, I called out a 50-incher, but it wasn't to be.  He didn't offer Sam a shot, as we had all but given up and gotten down to work before he emerged, and he busted us.  Which in the end worked out okay.  We had some work to do, and it was Warren's birthday after all.  He, by the way, was having a blast just like the rest of us:

Between all of us, and the short pack, it didn't take long.

After the meat was out, there was time for a couple last pictures at the scene, and then it was time to carry out the head...

And back down the slough we went...

Landed on the beach at home!

And from there, "Moose Week" began.  Here is the trailer I put together of this year's video.  The long version is too large to put here, but family will be getting theirs soon. :)  'Til then, here's a shorter glimpse.  I will place this on all four of the "Moose Week" posts - so if you read them all, it will all be the same vid. :D  Thanks for watching... Post number two of moose week to follow...

Moose Week 2014, Part 2 (Sam's bull)

Monday, September 22, 2014 - This was the day I chose to take off from work during the time our visitors would be here, so we had to do it up.  It would be hard to follow Sarah's bull from the Friday before (Moose Week part 1), but we were optimistic. :)  The day started out early.  We had hunted hard over the weekend after Warren's birthday events of Saturday and getting Sarah's moose out, but suffice to say we were all three (Sam, Jerry, and I) looking forward to a day of chasing bulls around from dark until dark.  We left before daylight and headed downriver to the spot where Sam connected last year.

As we headed into the slough and purred to the landing spot, we snapped this pic of the sunrise behind us:

Looking forward wasn't too shabby either...you could surely tell that fall was in its glory.  As the sun rose higher and we got further along, the colors kept getting better.

Snapped this one right after setting the anchor.  See any moose tracks? :)

Walking in the trail was not hard on the eyes, either.  Between the currant bushes, the rose hips, and the falling leaves, the colors made quite a backdrop.

When we got to the meadow and called, however, we didn't get any response.  At all.  Not a single stick snapped under hoof, not a scrape, not a curious cow, nothing.  A beautiful morning, though, and we had a great day of hunting still awaiting us to look forward to.  Back in the boat we went.  We hit several different spots throughout the day, ending up back at home in the afternoon, having seen a couple bulls but nothing that materialized into a shooting opportunity.  After a nap and dinner, we decided to head back to the spot right across the river to the meadow Sarah had been going to herself in the early days of the season.  The run-down is below..

When you park the boat for this spot, you work your way across the mudflat that is the beach, and you enter the trees on a winter trail (cut for snowmachines).  About 15 yards into the trees, there is another winter trail running left and right.  Looking to the right side on that trail, you can see a meadow that runs for a few hundred yards.  At this point, you are close enough to home that you can hear voices from town, and sled dogs barking, etc. :)  But then we continue further straight ahead and after a bit you encounter another meadow (the one we refer to as the 'first meadow' because that riverside one doesn't really count, we always say...or always 'said'.  Heh heh. More about that later...

So once you get to the NEXT meadow, what we call the 'second meadow', that is where we set up and call most often when back in this spot.  See the picture below to sort of explain all my babble:  The straight black line represents the trail you walk in on (though not actually it), in an upwards direction on this photo,  that leads almost straight away from the river.  The meadows are marked.  The riverside one that 'doesn't count', and the other two:

Here is a pic from the "trail" leading in... :)

So, anyways, we got to the meadow, and we set up to call.  It didn't take long...just a few scrapes and a set or two of bull grunts, I can't remember exactly how many.  It wasn't more than a few minutes, at any rate.  I was looking through the pack and trying to find my munchies when I heard Jerry say, "Oh!  We got one coming...get down get down...he's running right at us!"  After crouching I turned toward the direction he had been pointing and slowly stood up...nothing.  Keep in mind the grass is nearly as tall or taller than me, depending where you are standing in the meadow...but there wasn't anything there.  At least nothing as big as a moose, mind you.  But then I heard it.  "He's crossing the pond!" I hissed.  Moments later, there he was, emerging from the water, dripping wet and looking black as coal.  About 350+ yards out.  He may have been running toward us when Jerry saw him, but he surely was going away now, and he wasn't wasting any time.  There was no shot to be had before he disappeared into the treeline, pushing back to the next meadow.  There was enough time to see that he was a 50+ bull though, and feel that old familiar frustration of getting burned by one. :)  It was a good one.  And apparently, he was not far enough gone with the rut to lose the wits that had kept him alive this long.  There was an awkwardly silent few minutes then, as we three stood there wondering what might have been.

We stuck it out and continued calling, as often there can be more than one bull within hearing range of course.  But there weren't any this night, in this meadow.  Feeling dejected, we headed back for the boat about a half hour before dark.  There was a lesson to be learned here.  The same one, over and over, that being a hunter reminds you of constantly.  Right about the time you lose faith, things happen.  And here it was again.  As we neared the river, our walking became less purposeful.  Thoughts of frustration were dominating, and I had almost forgotten what a blessing it was to be out in the moose woods in late September.  And all of a sudden I popped out into the trail that runs parallel with the river and leads to that meadow closest to the beach - the one we "don't coun't".  The meadow I have walked by dozens of times and never seen so much as one moose there.  The meadow I have told myself over and over since we have been here that it would be divine to run into a bull in that meadow - what a nice pack that would be!  .....and this night, it happened.

As I entered the opening, I looked to my left and almost tripped in mid-stride.  I honestly thought my eyes were playing tricks on my brain.  There, in a meadow just yards from the river, were 5 moose.  FIVE.  What the?!?!...  I slammed to a stop, hoping I hadn't been seen, but the failing light seemed to have helped, as I could tell one was a bull, and he was looking right at me, but then turned his head and nuzzled a cow near him.  What luck!  And the good Lord shows me again....don't lose faith.  I hissed at Sam.  "Sam!...get over here, quick!", flapping my arm like a bird trying to take off.  "What?" he replied, approaching.  "Look!", and I pointed.  We both dropped down and I once again scrambled to get the call out and working.  Sam was getting into position to shoot and trying to get settled with a rest...the bull was out there a ways.  I scraped and called, but the bull was having none of it.  Not too surprising, considering he had all he wanted right there with him already.  After realizing just how busy he was with the cows, in fact, I decided we were going to creep up the trail to gain what we could on him.  I knew we could do it.  He wasn't going anywhere as long as those cows didn't.  It took me a minute or two to convince Sam not to just shoot from where we were, but he eventually decided that sounded okay.  We crept up the trail, planning to get to the entrance of the meadow before shooting.  (That would shave about 75 yards off the distance, putting it in the low to mid 200's.)  And we made it without a hitch.  I moved to the left and dropped to the ground, and Sam did the same - and the rest, as they say, is history.

When Sam touched off his shot, the moose clearly showed a good solid hit, and bolted to the right (towards the river).  Unfortunately that also meant he was running towards the thick willows, which would make butchering more challenging than necessary.  I belted him in the neck.  However, as we would later find, my neck shot this time didn't hit the spine, rather it went just (and I mean JUST) low, hitting the major blood vessels and esophagus instead.  Fatal...absolutely... but not anchoring.  The bull did stop though, to sort out this mew development.  I remember saying, "Odd he didn't go down..I could see the bullet hit him in the scope...I wonder if I just nicked him?"  to which Sam immediately replied, "I nicked myself..."  That threw me for a second, until I looked over and saw him grinning in the near-dark, with a tiny rivulet of blood running down his forehead.  The .300 WSM had scoped him, just like it did me on the goat nearly a decade ago.  We shared a good laugh about that for a few moments, and then I refocused on the task at hand.  The bull was standing there, coughing, and a couple of the cows were still milling around him.  I tried to put another neck shot in but low and behold, I got some of the good old Yukon silt in the action somehow ( I thought) , and it jammed on me.  I asked Sam for the .300 as he still had a shell in, and put another one in the neck.  The bull disappeared as he dropped down below the grass.  This time for good.  We turned around and gave Jerry, who was filming the whole time, the "Come-on-up" yell.  We grabbed the gear and the three of us headed across the meadow.  We would pace it off around 220 yards in the end.  Almost the same as Sam's shot last year.  So much for close encounters. :)  I think the trouble with me is I just don't like waiting when there is a rifle in my hand.  Comes from my long stint hunting Pennsylvania whitetails, I guess - you don't wait, and you go for the neck - that way they don't run over the next hill and get shot at by someone else.  Old habits die hard.  Besides, moose necks are a hell of a lot easier to hit than running whitetail necks are. :)

Sam's bull was a dandy eater, with a big body and not at all stinky with the rut.  Which may seem odd seeing as he had a small harem with him - even as a 50 inch bull was not far off and apparently okay with that...hmmmm...  Anyways, here is the beast!

A glimpse of the neck shot that didn't hit bone..this is the entry side...looks like it would have connected, doesn't it?  but nope...

Sam with his moose.  Sarah says he looks like Jack Nicholson in this picture, and he hates it, but we only got two , and this is one of them... :)

The other of the two, which he also said he doesn't like... :)

A pic from the next day during the pack-out showing the meadow.  River is to the right, through that treeline.

Sam with his bull completely in the boat.  That is where we park, and yes, that is town you see glimpses of there at the upper left.  It is a beautiful thing...and gives close to home a whole new meaning...

And as promised, here is the short version video..the shots fired at this bull are in there...

Next up in the Moose Week posts is my bull...

Moose Week, 2014 Part 3 (My bull)

Wednesday, September 24, 2014. - Well, after Sam's bull fell on Monday, we had decided to go ahead and try for another one anyway.  There are plenty of people in the village that need/can use meat, and Sam and Jerry were going to bring meat back with them as well.  The season was still on!!

We headed downriver to a lake where we had seen a BIG bull a few days before.  Actually, Jerry saw the tops of his palms over the grass from about 1000 yards away (seriously...1000 yards).  We watched them for a while because we just couldn't believe there were two dead, white trees that looked so much alike and were so close together.  :)  After a few minutes the brute stood up, and it was then that we knew...  We tried a stalk on him but before we got there, we ran into another different bull - this guy :

- and some cows, and that went awry, and so we came away with nothing.  That time.  This time, we went back with the idea that we would enter in closer to where we saw him and try to call in the evening.  Because there are a lot of pike in the lake, we also brought the fishing rods, as we intended to leave early and do some fishing until the 'primetime' of the evening.

We arrived at the entrance of the slough that leads back to the lake, and things were glassy calm.  At least the wind wouldn't be exactly wrong as it was last time when we saw the big boy..

When we got to the lake, things seemed awfully quiet, and there weren't any moose in sight (and you can see a loooooooooong long way...), so we decided to fish for a bit.

It wasn't more than five minutes, though, and we heard a boat coming behind us.  I wondered if they were coming our way or if they were taking the other turn at the lake entrance...no dice, they were coming right for us...  We pulled up the rods and moved to the side as they went by - the channel is narrow and we were right in the middle of it.  The boat flew past and went all the way to the back of the lake at full throttle...not exactly what you would like to have happen.  However, as soon as they got out of sight, things got interesting.  :)  A bull stuck his head out of the treeline about 500 yards away, at the far end of the huuuuuuuge meadow on the left side of the lake.  He had heard the other boat go by, waited for it to pass (and presumably figure out where it was going) and then went the other way.  Trouble for him was, the 'other way' was right towards us.  And I saw him the moment he stuck his big ol' moosy nose out of the trees.  Other than that, his plan was sound. :)

I said, "uhhh, guys?....there's a bull looking right at us...make that COMING right at us"  They immediately saw him.  As far as he was, he was a dark blob against a massive backdrop of blonde meadow grass.  Now, our predicament was, we needed to pull across the neck of the lake we were in in order to get to the side he was on, now that we had moved out of the way when the boat came by.  I fired up the motor, which had been off.  And he heard it, and stopped:  He didn't want to go back in the way he had come out, and you could almost watch him make up his mind.  He turned to his right, (our left), and began walking across the meadow towards the trees.

Here are some shots, taken from video, of how it unfolded.  When he first realized we were there and stopped:

And then after he turned and walked to the left a bit, as we were deciding what to do and how to do it:

Doesn't seem so far away when the camera is zoomed all the way in, does he?  :)  Hold on, there'll be some better perspective on that in a minute...

So, we got the boat to shore, and scoping him appeared to show that he could have been the bull we had our previous run-in with.  I thought it would be pretty sweet to have a shot at sealign the dael on him, as he had eluded us once, and even now he was up to some moosy tricks to elude those pesky humans again.  It was then I decided.  Yep, this was my bull.  Sam and I got out, walked a short distance from the water's edge, and took up crouching positions.  Sam asked if this was the one, and I replied that when he stopped next, I was going to go ahead.  My brain was calculating that he had a good ways to the trees, and he would likely stop once before getting there.  It was also calculating that my bullet was going to drop a loooong ways 'til it got to him - maybe 30 inches was my best guess, knowing what it does at 300 yards.  I decided to hold a bit above his hump and squeeze.  I wrapped the sling, as always, rested my elbow on my knee, took a deep breath, and let half of it out....and the bull stopped.  Ka-boom......plop!  Hit!  The next shot resounded even louder:  Ka-boom.....WHAP!...  Although Jerry wasn't able to keep the camera on him the whole time, here are the two shots, even if the camera moved off to the right of the bull...

The bull made it back into the trees as I fired the shells that were still in the magazine, and we immediately followed up, knowing the farther back he got into the thick stuff the less fun the meatcutting - and the pack - would be.  Not long after the two of us took off, Jerry got some video to show a little better perspective of the scene.  Here's an image taken from that clip.  The purple arrows show where we had knelt down, and the black arrow points to the bull, standing and coughing after the first bullets had hit him. It was a poke!

We closed on him, and I ended up putting a neck shot into him once I finally caught up to him.  For the size of the spread - only 40 inches - he had impressive brow tines, three on one side and four on the other.  I still say it was our pal from the trip a few days prior, but I guess we'll never know for sure.

Sam examining him from up close:

And a parting shot of the last trip to the boat...

Here's the trailer vid again (you'll now recognize the clip of shots from this bull when you see it) for those who read this post before the others.

The fourth moose of the year, Josie's bull, will follow this post.  And that's a great story...

Moose Week, 2014, Part 4 (Bull #4)

Friday, September 26th, 2014 -  And here we go again.  After getting my bull home Wednesday night, and endless meat cutting by Sam and Jerry all week, the kids at school kept pestering to go out hunting. Now I had gotten my moose, you see, and there wasn't any more reason for me to be busy. :D  So after two straight days of this, I tried to decide who I might want to take, if I was going to.  FIrst, it would have to be someone who A) doesn't hunt regularly, B) hasn't gotten a moose, and C) deserves and/or would benefit from the experience.  I came to a decision, and, as we were on a roll, I offered to go and take that student along.  She readily accepted on the condition that she could bring a friend, and it was decided.  Friday after school we (Jerry, Me, and the two students) arranged to meet around 6 o clock down by the boat.  We would be heading back down to the lake area described in the post about my bull.  That monster was still there, somewhere, and there were so many moose using that area that our chances were great overall.  Any bull would be a success and an unforgettable set of memories.
Off we headed, cruising downriver again.  Before we left we snapped a picture of the two girls with their weapons - my .30-06 and the other, a massive hog-leg .45-70 pistol.  Made for a great pic!

*And for those who may be wondering, yes, permission slips have been signed for the use of photographs like these. :)  I make a point every year to get the students to take one home and have their parents read and sign it, just so all our activities can be shared.  But I won't be using any names. :)

Anyway, we headed downriver and made it to 'the spot' a little later than we had planned, but still in good shape.  And as we entered the lake, I immediately spotted a cow, standing on the left side of the lake (same general area we got my bull in two days before).  I asked the student who would be shooting if she was partial to a bull, seeing as we can take both this year in our GMU.  She thought about it for a bit, and then said, "No, I want a bull!"  Jerry and I laughed and I replied, "Way to be. Let's get one then."  Meanwhile we were creeping up on the cow, who was so engrossed in looking into the trees straight away from us that we were starting to get pretty close.  Hmmm, interesting.  She was FOCUSED...and at this time of year, I wonder what could have her attention?  That was enough for me, it was decided we would pull up to shore straight out from where the cow was standing, work our way in to one of the pockets of trees in the meadow, and call...to whoever it was that cow was focused on. :)

Once we got on shore and got set, I began calling, hoping to lure out the bull we were now quite sure was in there, somewhere...  But that didn't last long.  Just a few minutes into it, once again, we heard a boat coming.  Hah!  Imagine that.  It cruised by, roaring past at full throttle, trying to keep up on plane to avoid bottoming out no doubt.  Ahh, the joy of having a smaller boat with a short draft. :)  But on they went, all the way to the back of the lake, just as the other one had, out of sight.  I wasn't worried this time - after all, look how that worked out last time.  But we decided after calling a bit that we would get back in the boat and head farther towards the back of the lake ourselves.  We got in, and began slowly purring through the weedbeds, scanning the shore on all sides.  Before too long, we got into the mud, and I had to pull up on the cowling to get the motor to make any headway.  As we tooled along like this, searching for the channel again, we all heard it.  The boat, coming back our direction.  As it got to within 200 yards of us, we saw it take a turn, and then it whipped a donut in the water and accelerated over to a blonde patch of meadow grass on the left side of the lake.

Our (or at least my) hearts sank.  As soon as I saw that, I knew.  And a few seconds later, my certainty was proven correct.  Figures could be seen jumping out of the boat as it hit shore, and three quick shots rang out.  Then a fourth.  And then the figures sprinted out through the meadow to the left, becoming obscured by the trees.  Damn!  There was our bull, I figured.  The disappointment was contagious.  "Man, we should have gone faster!" the girls were saying.   We can only do what we can do.  But...as I was saying, and as the pervading theme goes:  As soon as you lose faith... :D

I had no intention of going over to the boat, so we turned around, and I mentioned that we should keep watching for moose to emerge from the trees just in case.  It was then that the girls decided that they had to use the restroom.  So we made it to shore and threw out the anchor.  The two girls disappeared into the trees, and Jerry and I kept watch on the other boat, about 300 yards away now.  Suffice to say, they took a while using the restroom, and Jerry and I pulled the rods out and started fishing.  It was a WHILE... But everything fits, and sometimes things just work out despite what we think is a delay or a hindrance.  As darkness was closing fast, I was getting antsy to get to a new vantage point and maybe make the last calling session of the night.  Not wanting to accept defeat, I was planning which spot we should race to when I heard the girls coming back.  They emerged from the trees, giggling and carrying on.  I looked away as they got to the boat and were putting the anchor back in.  Just before I was going to let the motor back down and start it, I happened to glance up and look across the arm of the lake we were in to the meadow on the other side....

And here they came.  Looking back, it was kind of funny how what I planned to say ended up coming out as one long slow sentence as things played out quickly.  It sounded something like this, they told me later:  "Hey, look!  moose!...it's a cow!...and a calf!....keep watching, there could be a bull behind them...and there he is!!!"  The cow ran straight toward us, cresting into view as she got near the lake shore.  Seeing us (we were only 150 yards away), she turned to our right - her left - and ran along the crest above the water's edge.  It was then that I saw the calf behind her, struggling to keep up.  And then, as my brain, and my voice, was cautioning that there could be a bull behind them...there he was.  This was all playing out in the general area that the cow earlier on had been fixating on, by the way.  Imagine that.

There was a scramble behind me like you've never seen. :)  The girls jumped on the boat, waded through all the gear and life vests and chairs, digging for the rifle; Jerry was fashioning a rest for shooting near the back of the boat by me and coaching the shooter into position.  I let out a cow call as loud as I could...And he stopped.  The cow and calf kept running.  That was trouble.  I asked Jerry how the situation was going without turning my head.  "Stall 'em", was all he said.  Oh, great.  A few more seconds of staring at us and the bull swung his head back towards the cow and calf and took a step.  Another cow call, loud as possible.  Looooong and loud, and as lovesick as I could make it sound. :D  It worked.  He stopped again.  And stared.  "Good grief", I thought, "What is taking so long?"  Well, of course there were three people trying to get into position on a crowded little boat loaded with gear and find a decent place to get a rest and take a shot from - and they hadn't done this before.  Ever.  That's what was going on.  But for me, time was dragging on through five eras, and I was getting itchy.  I knew that bull was itchy, and I wasn't sure I could keep his attention from that real, live, sure-thing cow in front of him much longer.  He moved again, and I called again.  This time, he kept trotting.  Crap!...

Then, miraculously, he encountered a dip in the meadow and after he went down into it, he came out on the other side of it and rose up above the meadow grass, more visible than he had been thus far.  You could now see about a third of the way down his body, instead of just his neck and head.  I howled out another cow call, and he stopped.  I hadn't seen such a beautiful thing in a long time.  Beginning to freak out, as I knew our time was short and getting shorter, I looked at the frenzy and saw the student was down and looking through the scope.  "That rifle is right on, *her name here*" I said, "put it just below his hump and squeeze!" And I stared.  And stared.  Felt like forever, but was probably only 3 or 4 seconds.  The bull turned his head toward the cow again, and I knew he was taking off...and it went "Bang"!!

Before my ears even started ringing (as I discovered, I was right in line with the muzzle), the bull's back legs dropped out from under him, his rear end hit the ground like a sitting dog, and then his front end gave out and he dropped out of sight.  Down.  I could not believe my eyes.  The pandemonium that ensued was quite noisy, I can tell you.  :)  After calming everyone and making sure the safety was back in the 'safe' position, we all found a seat and I immediately started the motor and boogied over to the far bank.  We jumped out, tossed the anchor, and I sprinted up the crest of the hill...  I couldn't see him, which either meant he was still down or had gotten over a "near-spine" hit and was already up and gone.  After seeing him, I had my money on the latter, but hey, you never know.  I ran to where I first saw grass thrashing, then a hoof, then some tines, and then I relaxed. We had him.  Yessssss!!!!

*Her name here* put a finisher into the neck, and we stood around and savored the moment.  Laughing, slaps on the back, recounting the story again and again.  The good stuff.  We all knew we had made memories forever.  It sure was a good feeling.  And she was as happy as I've ever seen her. After things calmed down a bit, we grabbed the camera and took some pics before starting the work we knew was headed our way:

The rest of these are blurry, I know, but they're all we have except for the video. So here they are. :)

The four of us, giving a Warren smile!

About the time we started cutting, that other boat showed up, and we discovered that they had seen and shot at the 'big boy' (when you see that one, you'd know - I don't care what you try to tell me) but didn't get him.  With a lot more hands around, the cutting went fast, and soon we had the brute loaded into the two boats, and the rack in ours.  On the way home, the Northern Lights came out and spread across the sky in a yellow and green curtain.  The Yukon was glassy calm and the night became legendary.  A fitting cap to a legendary season.  Four bulls, eight days. Memories to last forever.

The whole crew right before we headed for home:

When you kill your first moose, you are supposed to eat a slice of liver or kidney, right then, at the kill.  The liver on this moose was a little spotted and questionable, and so we opted for the kidney. :)

Where did all that meat go, I am sure some of you are wondering?  Four moose?!?  Well, Sam and Jerry each took a load of it home, we filled all our freezers, and my student's bull was distributed throughout the village, as is the tradition for someone's first moose.  We took the next morning and drove house to house:

A lot of fun, and it ended up adding to the experience.  It is a good feeling to give.  I almost wish moose season lasted a little longer...we have to wait eleven more months now...

The Moose Week trailer, once again...