Region 5 Moose Hunt Nov 6 -14 2010 (ongoing thread)

[warnniklz]

Haven't started hunting yet, but the wheels are in motion.

Soooo... The hunt is suppose to be me, my brother and my rookie buddy, with my dad for company. My buddy has known since July or whenever the draw date was that he'd be going moose hunting in November, but didn't get time off work. So now it's down to a father/sons trip. I've already got the letter from my buddy written up saying he won't be attending this trip.

Our party has deer tags, bear tags, moose tags and waterfowl tags. Wolves and coyotes are also in danger.

Nov. 4

I'm heading out to Coquitlam to get my moose tag.

[tinhorse]

what zone are you hunting? 5-? is it a bull or cow draw

[warnniklz]

bull... 5-15

[Hydrojet]

written notice from a buddy!? I guess I am used the call that morning or the night before!

[f350ps]

Firstly, what's the letter from your partner for and what zone are you heading for A,B,C or D. K

[warnniklz]

I do live with him. He told me when I got home from work yesterday. Now Mr. C.O. Man knows that he's not off in another region blasting away other moose, and when I get a moose, bear, deer and ducks... I'm going to get pictures framed and his letter framed and hang them on the wall in our house. Just so he can be reminded hunting is more important than work.

[warnniklz]

Nov 5

itching for 3:30 to roll around. I will be off. Got myself a timber ridge westfield full out day pack from work. Going to give that a go and see how it survives.

[warnniklz]

Ok. So I made it back... barely.

We got to camp on the afternoon of Nov 6. We got our tent and our gear all in order and set up.
After we decided to go for a drive to see what was moving and get some fire wood. We didn't see
much, even in terms of fresh tracks.

The next morning we got up an hour early... forgot about daylight savings time. That was alright
because it wasn't light out. We loaded up my dad's 16 foot aluminum smoker craft with his 18 horse
merc. Up the river we went. Up the river we hit rain, hail, sleet and snow. The river was lower
than we had hoped. We had to do a bit of portageing. That was ok. We pulled up on the bank a ways
up the river and noticed some older grizzly, moose and deer tracks. On the far side of the river
there was a side channel with a whole wack of green winged teal. Lets just say I was itching to get
over there to get a couple for supper. Not wanting to shoot up the place that early in the day I
let them be. We set up some tink's smoking ticks and carried on up the river. We passed another
boat that had been working the river for the last few days looking for cows and they hadn't seen
any. We got up probably only 14 km where there was probably only 6 inches of water. We decided to
lifft the leg and start drifting back down the river. We watched hundreds of ducks and geese fly
overhead. Unfortunately I probably would have need an anti aircraft gun to be able to reach out
and touch them. We pulled out up a little ways from where we had our smoke sticks lit and made a
little fire on the beach to dry out and have lunch. Lunch consisted of roasted smokies which for
some reason are always better roasted over the open fire. After drying out and finishing our lunch
we loaded up again and coninued back down the river. We pulled back up on the beach to see if there
had been any movement around our smoke sticks... nothing. Just as we got out of the river back onto
the lake we spotted a mallard. My dad rowed me in to 30 yards of it and I swung up with my dad's old
remington 870 12 guage (which he got when he was 14). Lets just say that it needs to be cleaded up
and the trigger isn't as crisp as I'd like. Anywho I got the duck. I named him Turduckin. If I wasn't
hungry I probably would have looked at getting him mounted. We got back to camp and me and my brother
stuffed him full of apples, slid him on the spit and roasted him over the open fire. My brother
couldn't remember ever having duck. He's in love with it now.

The next morning the boat motor wasn't running so smooth. So we loaded up in my dad's truck and went
over into another valley where my dad has been successful before. We didn't see much. By much I mean
nothing. We did find a side trail that lead us down by a creek and way up the other side. All I can
say is terrible moose country but excellent grizzly country. Spring grizz draw here I come! We poked
around a little more and didn't see anything. We headed back to camp and had some lunch. Later in the
afternoon we went out for a drive just up the road and we each shot a grouse. We cooked them up for
supper that night. There was lots of grouse but I think they should close oct 31. These suckers didn't
have much flavour.

Tuesday morning we had fresh snow. YAY!! Finally! We loaded up in the truck and headed up and over
the mountain northward. As we were drving up the road we came across fresh moose tracks. BIG ONES!!
They were only minutes old. We knew this bull was around the corner. Be brother was riding shotgun.
My dad told him to get ready to bail. As we got around the corner the moose tracks headed into some
thick timber. On top of the timber the mountain went almost vertical. With my brosif having sz 15
feet, he was rocking mostly runners that week. So we didn't want to tread through the snow after
the moose. We figured we'd let him be and maybe jump him on the way back. Just up the road a little
further we came across the tracks of a wolf pack working the road. They led to an old cow moose
carcass on the side of the road. The tracks continued on for another few clicks and then went down
towards the river. We got into a few feet of snow on the top of the mountain and headed back down
the other side. We came across what looked like a new little resort that should be open soon.
We stopped and had a look and it looks like a pretty little set up. We continued on all the way until
we met up with the river again. We stopped on the other side of the bridge took some pictures and
stretched our legs. We weren't in our are anymore so we just glassed the river for a half hour to
see if anything would cross. We didn't see any movement so we headed back towards camp. My dad took us
into a lake (wasn't in our area anymore) but he took us in to show us some pretty cool waterfalls and
a nice looking lake. We only spent a minute or two and belined it back to our zone. On our way back
we came across we came across moose tracks again. Same bull. In his and our tracks were grizzly prints
following him down to the river. Not cool for us. We got back to camp and made up some chilli and headed
to bed.

We came to the conclusion that the lack of sign wenesday would be our last day out at camp.So we
figured t ocover the most ground possible. My brother and attempted another go with the boat up the river.
The outboard was still farting and sputtering. The made it to the mouth of the river and called it quits.
They beached the boat and wandered around some nearby meadows and seen two cows. AS they were on the river
I took the quad and hit the roads. I went up a bunch of deactivated roads and into some cut blocks we
didn't want to take the truck into. I rode all the way up to the old moose carcass and back. While I was
riding up I noticed grizzly tracks and wolf tracks in the snow only 14 kilometers from our camp. They were
headed towards our camp and only reason I couldn't see how far they went is the snow had ended and they
were travelling on the frozen dirt road. We all met back at camp around noon and headed for home.

We got home and met up with my grandpa who had been out for moose in a totally different area. His truck
was having troubles. Probably upset that it didn't have a moose in the back of it... we changed the fuel
pump that night. Sunday morning we took ol gramps to a local area and had his doe tag filled within an hour.
We got her back to my dads and dressed out right away. Me and my g-pa got our gear loaded up into his truck
and headed for home. The truck stil wasn't running right. We had to keep it at a 1000rpm or it was going to
stall. We pulled in at cache creek to fuel up and the truck died. After 2 hours of humming and hawing I tried
to fire the truck up. Got it going and ran the rest of the way back to Burnaby with out stopping, except for
the game check in Boston Bar.

Overall it was a good time spent with the bro and father and got to see some excellent country.

[warnniklz]

I tried uploading pictures to the site... but it was taking forever. I'll try again later maybe. Until then here's a link to the album

http://s759.photobucket.com/albums/xx239/warnniklz/moose%20hunting%20nov%202010/

[M.Dean]

Great pic's and excellent story! Sounds like you guys seen some beautiful country and had a great time! Thanks for sharing!

[rocksteady]

"With my brosif having sz 15
feet, he was rocking mostly runners that week. So we didn't want to tread through the snow after
the moose. We figured we'd let him be and maybe jump him on the way back"

I, personally, would have got on that track and hounded the moose til I found him....When they are that smoking hot, you have to take advantage of it...


Sounds like you are having a good time though, keep at it and things will fall into place...

[warnniklz]

"With my brosif having sz 15
feet, he was rocking mostly runners that week. So we didn't want to tread through the snow after
the moose. We figured we'd let him be and maybe jump him on the way back"

I, personally, would have got on that track and hounded the moose til I found him....When they are that smoking hot, you have to take advantage of it...


Sounds like you are having a good time though, keep at it and things will fall into place...

Farnuff man... I was ready to bail. I almost offered to stay behind and wait him out. But good thing I didn't if mr. grrr bear was coming up behind us

[warnniklz]

Nov 5

itching for 3:30 to roll around. I will be off. Got myself a timber ridge westfield full out day pack from work. Going to give that a go and see how it survives.

Oh yeah. Had my camera in my pack all weekend long. Even on the river in the snow and rain and all that crap. Bone dry. I wouldn't submerge it in the water but falling precipitation is just fine.

[rocksteady]

Farnuff man... I was ready to bail. I almost offered to stay behind and wait him out. But good thing I didn't if mr. grrr bear was coming up behind us

You can't go through life wondering if a G-Bear is on your trail....Do your own thing, chase the moose, be smart about it, aware of your surroundings and be ready if the G shows up....There are probably bears watching you a thousand times when you are in the bush and you don't even know they are there...

I have been hunting for over 30 years and have yet (touch wood) to have a bad encounter with a bear...When I am skinning/gutting, the 30-06 is beside a tree within arms reach, one in the tube and ready for action...Bring it on Yogi, I dare you to try to steal my elk/deer/moose...whathaveyou...We will see who is last standing !!!!

Most G-Bears are not predatory, they are opportunists....They will run away and come back later for the leftovers...Safety in numbers too, take the dude with the size 15 feet with you....With flippers like that, he can't run very fast through slash:wink::wink: