MattB
09-30-2009, 05:10 PM
Just got back from a trip up north for big bull moose. Me and a buddy flew into a lake in the NE corner of the province and the plan was to hunt the lake for a few days and then float our way out to the highway which was over 200 kms away.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/matthew_brown69/IMG_0019.jpg
The flight in was pretty uneventful. Morning of day 1 we woke up to warm temperatures and clear skies. I was worried the moose wouldnt be moving much with how warm it was but we loaded up the raft and paddled 500m to where i figured would be a good spot to call from. I cow called for an hour and got no response. We then decided to head up the northern arm of the lake and see what we could find up there. Half an hour of paddling and a few cow calls later brought a bull out onto the lake. My hunting partner spotted him 200m away rubbing some willow. We could tell he looked to be a good bull so i paddled closer as quietly as i could. The bull could see us but i cow called a few times to keep him interested. When we got to within 100m of the bull we could see he had at least 3 brow tines on his one side so i let out a cow call and that brought the bull right into us. I ended up shooting the bull on what i thought was dry land but turned out to be 3+ feet of water.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/matthew_brown69/IMG_0033.jpg
After the bull was down my hunting partner decided that standing up in the raft to get a better look at the bull would be a good idea...long story short, buddy lost his balance and fell onto the side of the raft which caused the boat to flip sideways dumping both of us into the lake. Luckily enough, none of our gear fell into the water and we were able to get to camp and dry clothes quickly. Once in dry shirts we walked back over to the moose and started the long chore of skinning and quartering the bull in 3 feet of water. It wasnt alot of fun but it could have been worse. We had the whole job done by mid-afternoon and were back in camp well before dark. Only problem was the wind had picked up and we had to leave the raft over by the moose. The following day we decided to head for the creek that flowed out of the lake to the river which would take us home. We didnt want to be fighting the wind so we packed up camp and made it to the creek in 6 hours of paddling. Unfortunately the entire shore near the creek was swamp and offered no good camping spots so we ended up heading down the creek to the river where we would spend the next 5 days hunting our way out of the bush.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/matthew_brown69/IMG_0052.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/matthew_brown69/IMG_0057.jpg
We saw alot of moose along the river, no big bulls though. All the bulls we saw were smaller and the temperatures were extremely hot. I even spent one day in shorts and a t-shirt because of how hot it was.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/matthew_brown69/IMG_0078.jpg
We ended up paddling over 50kms on a couple days and that was alot of paddling! The river had very little current and the wind was always blowing against us which made rafting difficult. We even got stranded on shore for 5 hours one day because the wind was way to strong to paddle anywhere. The trip was definitely an adventure and one both me and my hunting partner will remember for a long time!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/matthew_brown69/IMG_0114.jpg
When i first shot the bull i really didnt think he was that big. However, once we were back in Fort Nelson we ran into one of the outfitters and he figured the bull would go 190". I just put a tape on the rack today and the bull measures 53" wide and gross scores 186" with a 183" net score. Not bad for my first northern moose!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/matthew_brown69/IMG_0019.jpg
The flight in was pretty uneventful. Morning of day 1 we woke up to warm temperatures and clear skies. I was worried the moose wouldnt be moving much with how warm it was but we loaded up the raft and paddled 500m to where i figured would be a good spot to call from. I cow called for an hour and got no response. We then decided to head up the northern arm of the lake and see what we could find up there. Half an hour of paddling and a few cow calls later brought a bull out onto the lake. My hunting partner spotted him 200m away rubbing some willow. We could tell he looked to be a good bull so i paddled closer as quietly as i could. The bull could see us but i cow called a few times to keep him interested. When we got to within 100m of the bull we could see he had at least 3 brow tines on his one side so i let out a cow call and that brought the bull right into us. I ended up shooting the bull on what i thought was dry land but turned out to be 3+ feet of water.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/matthew_brown69/IMG_0033.jpg
After the bull was down my hunting partner decided that standing up in the raft to get a better look at the bull would be a good idea...long story short, buddy lost his balance and fell onto the side of the raft which caused the boat to flip sideways dumping both of us into the lake. Luckily enough, none of our gear fell into the water and we were able to get to camp and dry clothes quickly. Once in dry shirts we walked back over to the moose and started the long chore of skinning and quartering the bull in 3 feet of water. It wasnt alot of fun but it could have been worse. We had the whole job done by mid-afternoon and were back in camp well before dark. Only problem was the wind had picked up and we had to leave the raft over by the moose. The following day we decided to head for the creek that flowed out of the lake to the river which would take us home. We didnt want to be fighting the wind so we packed up camp and made it to the creek in 6 hours of paddling. Unfortunately the entire shore near the creek was swamp and offered no good camping spots so we ended up heading down the creek to the river where we would spend the next 5 days hunting our way out of the bush.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/matthew_brown69/IMG_0052.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/matthew_brown69/IMG_0057.jpg
We saw alot of moose along the river, no big bulls though. All the bulls we saw were smaller and the temperatures were extremely hot. I even spent one day in shorts and a t-shirt because of how hot it was.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/matthew_brown69/IMG_0078.jpg
We ended up paddling over 50kms on a couple days and that was alot of paddling! The river had very little current and the wind was always blowing against us which made rafting difficult. We even got stranded on shore for 5 hours one day because the wind was way to strong to paddle anywhere. The trip was definitely an adventure and one both me and my hunting partner will remember for a long time!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/matthew_brown69/IMG_0114.jpg
When i first shot the bull i really didnt think he was that big. However, once we were back in Fort Nelson we ran into one of the outfitters and he figured the bull would go 190". I just put a tape on the rack today and the bull measures 53" wide and gross scores 186" with a 183" net score. Not bad for my first northern moose!