Off Topic: The Great Moose Hunt 2008

Hunters


**NOTE Detailed description of the Hunt- not suitable for all audience members

Every year my husband and I enter the New Hampshire Moose Lottery to double our chances. This year the joke was on us when I actually GOT the permit. This started a avalanche of time consuming activities.

In Early September I took the Hunter Safety course with my niece. We both enjoyed the class and both passed. With card in hand, I then got my hunting license. Of course on the same day we needed to buy a new gun. We spent several hours scouting the area we were to hunt. Andre, as my subpermittee logged in 60 hours finding several spots that had all sorts of sign during the rut. We invested in a moose call, watched moose call movies and got scents to attract rutting bulls.

Moose Bed

One of the movies we watch showed in detail why the call and scents were needed as well as two moose mating. We lovingly call the movie "Moose Porn".

Finally, after 6 weeks of preparations the day approached.

Scrapes

Day 1
Saturday October 17th dawned clear and we left the house at 5 am. Once in the field we climbed through brush, downed wood and mud to find a rock. There we used the moose call....not a moose was seen. We headed across the clear cut....not a moose to be seen. Then we heard gun shots..5..then 4..then 3...apparently "Machine Gun Kelly" was hunting 1000 feet from us! Needless to say we went elsewhere. We saw lots of sign but no animals. After 12 hours we had seen only 2 medium moose, a cow and a spike horn bull. Together we decided to try for a bigger bull. Little did we know that the rut was over! Home at 7 pm.

Moose Droppings

Day 2
Sunny Sunday: We left the house at 5:30 am, since calling and scents would not help us. We needed to stumble across a moose on the logging roads or in the woods. We hiked, found old signs such as prints, broken or eaten branches and scraps form bulls showing off. Nothing new though. We did see one medium cow and passed her up. Home at 7 pm.

Day 3
Sunny Monday: Again left the house at 5:30 am. We tried many roads again and even went "swamp diving". I actually walked on a beaver damn in the swamp. Later in the day at another site we saw a beaver building its damn. Very cool but no fresh sign of moose. At dusk, with 5 minutes left in the hunt, Andre saw another cow. His scope was fogged so he could not get a good shot off. Home at 7 pm.

Day 4
Cold Rainy Tuesday: More hiking in the woods. No fresh sign of Moose, no moose seen. 5:30 am to 7 pm again. With the rut over, all the Moose are hiding in the swamps resting, or so the experts tell me.
Prints in the Snow

Day 5
Cold Snowy Wednesday: More hiking in the woods. No fresh sign of Moose, no moose seen. 5:30 am to 7 pm again. I am now convinced there are elves making old tracks in the woods to tease us!

Day 6
Warm, Sunny Thursday: More hiking in the woods. 5:30 am to 7 pm again. Finally there is fresh sign again. We tried sitting in the woods for an hour burning moose incense. Late in the day we followed prints through a clear cut and up the side of a mountain. We had to stop due to the late hour or we would have to sleep in the woods!

Day 7
Sunny Friday: We started first thing where we had left off the night before. But the tracks showed that the 3 moose went up and over the mountain. The sky was so blue it looks fake looking!. We followed tracks, then would move to another site, then go back and find new tracks. All afternoon this seemed to happen. Finally we decided to stick to one area. By 6 pm we had given and started for home...then after 4 days of no Moose we saw one!

Finally the Moose!
It was dusk, we had until 6:20 pm to shoot. At 6:08 pm, lumbering in the road was a bull moose.
Andre asked for the rifle...I thought he was joking! "Give me the Rifle!" He said then with it in hand, he aimed and..."click"...yikes the bullet wasn't set in right! Andre quickly adjusted and "boom" the bull, nicknamed Motley, was struck in the chest. At the time we were not sure. The moose seemed dazed but not hurt. We couldn't see the bright blood that had sprayed around him. Motley staggered about 10 feet, then turned and Andre, unsure if the first bullet had hit home shot again. Sadly the moose's upper front leg was broken by the second shot. Still not dead and not wanting Motley to suffer, Andre shot the animal 2 more times in the chest. The Moose was dead.

We were so exited that we hugged and started calling friends for help. The next step was to start the gutting process. With the instruction manual in hand (no I am not joking) we started to cut open the skin and let the abdominal sack out. Half way through we realized that Andre had forgotten a saw. This was needed to get the animal completely gutted.

Now as the permit holder, I was not allowed to leave the animal until it was checked in with Fish and Game. There was no choice but for me to stay with Motley while Andre drove back home to get the trailer and saw. Along the way he would pick up our helpers.

Picture this. 8 pm until 9:30 pm I was in the woods, at night, with a flashlight, rifle and dead moose. Nearest main road and house was 8 miles away. I have never been so scared in my life. Anyone hearing me would have though me insane (insaner?). I cried, sang, prayed then called my sister on my cell phone for reassurance. It was the longest 90 minutes of my life (Both my labors were under 90 minutes and less painful!)

Gutting the Moose

Finally the crew arrived. Buck, Ron and Dwayne. My saviors! They had all the gear, plus a generator and big lights. It took us another 2 hours to gut the animal. Finally by Midnight we headed home with corpse in trailer.

Loading Motley On the Trialer

We woke Saturday and headed for the check station. Motley was a fine specimen.
4 1/2 years old, 740 pounds dressed, 52 inch rack with 16 points. A beauty!
The Official Weigh in

He is now at the butcher and his head is at the taxidermist.
Andre and Motley

All in all Andre and I spent the most time together then we have spent in years. We jokingly call it our second honeymoon...and this time we got along even better!