# My first Moose



## Patty (Dec 11, 2011)

This was my first time ever hunting moose, other than a couple tag along trips I had done with my buddy last fall... I started hunting on the 16th, and even let a small bull walk the first week I was out... I was told by everyone that letting a spike walk was a dumb idea, but turns out, they were wrong!!! Me and my good friend Milton hit the bush and hunted fairly hard... Lots of paddling up creeks and rivers, long walks through swamps in my leaky rubber boots, late nights and early mornings... On the evening of oct.5th it all payed off when this big bull came sneaking in our downwind side!!! Three shots later he was on the ground and I had my first moose!!! A 51 1/4" wide bull!!! Now I know why they say the work begins when you put one on the ground!!! I shot him at 6:10 and we had him packed out to the canoe around 11:00pm then a little better than a mile canoe ride, to get to our rapid portage... Took us a while to get to the portage because it was so foggy we couldn't use our flashlights to guide us, had to use star light... The portage (okay canoe drag) took us a little better than an hour to get the canoe over and around rocks and trees and into enough water to float it... then it was only a couple hundred yards of paddling to where my Fiance, her father and a friend were waiting to help... And help they did!!! They had a nice warm fire going for us, lights lighting up the last stretch of river, and best of all a truck with a winch and slings long enough to reach the river!!! We were able to winch the canoe with the moose and all our gear right up to the parking lot, which wasn't that far but was pretty steep... I was pretty lucky in the end, it was our last day to hunt and we had pretty much given up!!!


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

Wow, Congrats! That's a feat for sure. Great set of antlers!


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## 220swift (Mar 2, 2011)

Thanks for the story and youngdon is absolutely correct about that being quite a feat. Thanks for taking the time to share your story and pictures, they're both very good!


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## glenway (Mar 27, 2011)

Wow! Those that chided you for passing on the small moose should give you some credit. It would have been just about the same amount of work hauling in a youngster. Cool pics, too. Hard to comprehend that those antlers grow that much in one season, isn't it?


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## hassell (Feb 9, 2010)

Congrats. again and thanks for sharing, been there a few times.


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## bar-d (Feb 3, 2010)

Kudos.

:hunter:


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## azpredatorhunter (Jul 24, 2012)

Sweet... that will look great on the wall...congrats!


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## Weasel (Jun 18, 2012)

That's a great bull! Congratulations!!!!!!


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## Patty (Dec 11, 2011)

Thanks guys I'm pretty Happy with him... Hardest part now is figuring out where he will fit in my house!!!


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## Ruger (Jan 22, 2011)

That's a beauty!!!


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

I have room in my freezer.


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## Patty (Dec 11, 2011)

Freezer is full, but I only have 8' ceilings... Problem is the rack!!! Those brow points are super long, one is almost 17"... Would be really easy to take out an eye in the middle of the night!!!


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## SWAMPBUCK10PT (Apr 5, 2010)

*Congrats on your fine Kill-----Super nice Bull----Thanks for sharing your hunt with us--sb*


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## Bait washer (Feb 26, 2013)

Great job and nice bull.

Quartering a moose in the bush is a challenge.

Carried a real thick bladed knife with a ball peen hammer and

learned to split the breast bone and spine like a pro.


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## hassell (Feb 9, 2010)

Bait washer said:


> Great job and nice bull.
> 
> Quartering a moose in the bush is a challenge.
> 
> ...


 Breakdown meat saw or the kershaw with change out blades weigh next to nothing.


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## Patty (Dec 11, 2011)

I have a whole game processing kit with 5 or six knives and a really good saw, problem was it didn't make to the canoe that day!!! We had a cheap folding saw and a Rapala gut hook skinner, and thank god we had a sharpener with us... I actually think it took us longer to saw the rack out than it did anything else, and I used the chainsaw when I got home to clean up the cuts on the skull plate... Later I talked to a few guys that have those cordless battery powered chainsaws that they use, they just use Mazola or canola oil instead of normal bar oil in them... Might have to pick one up before next fall!!!


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## hassell (Feb 9, 2010)

Ya I hear you there, was with a guy who said that he had everything in his pack, okey, shoots the bull elk just before dark, OH, I must have forgotten to put my knives in the pack, HA!! So with the small Swiss army knife, the job got done, I wasn't happy.


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