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DAY 5 |
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Today is the last day and the weather is predicted to get very hot so we will move quickly to stalk whatever we see this morning. The Moose go to dark timber early on hot days.
We climb to a lookout as it gets light. It is a beautiful morning with a spectacular sun rise. We immediately see a sow and cub then a big boar and five or six moose. We hear a cow calling and see another cow about 300 yards away. Nelson does a series of cow calls and we wait about 20 minutes but nothing happens.
We then take off towards the cow and after traveling to where the cow was we look back and a bull is standing 20 yards from where we were just calling. Our wind was easing down towards him so we high tailed it in a big circle to get down wind and set up. This took us about 25 minutes. Matt and I got ready on a small bog while Nelson stayed back and called. After just 3 or 4 minutes the bull walks through the timber and we get ready. When he pops out he takes a few steps and then stops and stares exactly where Nelson was calling from.
The shot was 35 yards and at first looked good but the penetration was just not there. As he took off and turned around we could see very little blood. He then took off very fast which we thought was a good sign. We reviewed the video and waited 3 hours to take up the trail. The thoughts that go through your mind at times like this are some of the hardest we endure as Bow Hunters. When we finally took up his trail there was very little blood.
Over the next 4 hours we tracked this bull about three quarters of a mile (mostly by Nelson following his tracks) but never found him. After reviewing the shot many times and looking at a Moose anatomy chart it appears Matt hit the back bone rather than the shoulder blade and hopefully this great animal will survive. This was very discouraging to all three of us because even with an animal this big it is still a game of inches between getting him or not. It was an incredible experience to see Nelson call that bull in and to video from right over Matt’s shoulder. Not many father/son’s will ever do that and I am very blessed. I will not forget this trip. We regrouped, shook hands for a great week together and headed back to camp.
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