Water_Gremlin
New member
I am far from being a seasoned Alaskan moose hunter by any means, but I love it either way. In my mid-teens my father and I attempted a few day trip moose hunts without success. As the older I became the more I realized he was too old for this type or sportsmanship. The many years of packing caribou and moose, on his back for many many years, drew him into a tired man and impatient when I was a young man. When I married my wife's father took me on three moose hunting trips with his neighbor "master camp guide" self proclaimed outdoors expert extraordinaire. These three years left me discouraged and big game hunting became the farthest thing from my mind. I actually refused all future hunting trips with them due to their self centered, bartering, and prison lock down type of camp. But since the past two years I since swore off lock down type hunts I picked up the moose hunting itch again, and today I had a great experience.
While hunting with my father-in-laws group I paid the expense of gas for three vehicles, two atv's, and one track rig. I also paid the humiliating part of [beeep] boy for 9 days three years straight. I would lay in the water logged tundra like ground to perform any type of necessary maintenance or repairs to our transport vehicles. The most haunting part of it all was the moose that was proclaimed "mine to shoot" was shot by another member of our hunting group. This miss placed shot was pulled in a drunken stupor by a lire, untrust worthy, and drunk in the group.
Picture my situation. After stalking the moose which I was promised to harvest another member took it upon themselves to shoot this animal, but this member was so completely out of their mind in a drunken state they barely shot the neck of this moose. This animal struggled behind a willow patch squirting blood from its veins, this moose was struggling for its life which was performed by the hands of a so called "sportsman." I am standing in complete disbelief. I hear a voice, "WG, now, this moose is yours." BANG. The moose is put out of its misery.
I felt discouraged, I felt cheated, and to this day I fell as if I was taken advantage of. I was merely used as a pawn to pay for expenses. Promises were broken and disappointment spread from myself to my father who wished me an joyous voyage.
Inevitably, the question was asked. "Do you want to keep the antlers?" Every part of me wanted to claim this animal my own. I wanted the antlers as a reminiscence of my first moose kill, but most importantly I wanted to meat to enjoy.
I could not keep the antlers, this was not my moose to claim. In the end I was screwed. I wasted my precious vacation time and my old man expressed shear remorse. I think it was both due to the fact he was too old to take me on the hunt of my dreams, and I was proclaimed a victim of a corrupt system.
I have a great bunch of predator hunting buddies but no big game hunting buddies. I have showed interest to many big game hunting groups that I would have loved to hunt with. Their response are, "once you find a great group of people to hunt moose with hang onto to them. They are hard to come by" or I am unable to hunt hunt with them due to my schedule. I watch over my daugther during the day and work at the same time. I trust very very very few people with my precious daughter. I would rather miss a moose hunting trip than convince myself to trust my gorgeous munchkin with someone I cannot fully trust.
Fast forward to today. I went on a day trip for moose with a fellow I met on a local forum. Out of his own good will he introduced me to his moose hunting country. I was not required to barter my way into a hunt, and I was not a [beeep] boy. I was treated more as an equal on this trip than my three moose hunting trips with my wife's father combined.
We arrived at the trail head with the temperature at a crisp 25*F. Once we climbed into the mountains and scoped our spot it was much colder not taking into consideration the wind chill. Inches of snow accumulated on the group and we both froze while overlooking a picturesk valley. My hunting buddy glass relentlessly until frozen extremidities overcome the will to glass a cow ridden valley.
Unfortunately this valley we shared with another group glassing on the same ridge as us. They had the advantage point and spotted a legal bull before us. They put their stalk on and harvest a legal bull that very well could have been ours, and if they were not occupying the same ridge I would be confident to say this moose would have been an easy kill for us.
We glassed for the rest of the mid day. Cows, cows, cows, and the occasional cow and calf tramped through this very same valley. Eventually the cold set in and we had to leave.
We may have not taken a moose, on the last day of the season, but I realized the older timer was right. Choose your hunting partners wisely. I am not trying to say I will persue today's hunting partner as a long time moose hunting partner, but what I am trying to say is there are good and bad hunting partners out awaiting the offer. Your hunting partner can mean the difference between an eventful trip and a nightmarish experience.
Even thougth we did not get the chance to stalk a moose my moose hunting desire is rejuvenated. I did not require an eventful day chauked with a stalk, clean shot, kill, and bloody hands to have fun and a new insightful view on moose hunting.
Choose them wisely. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
While hunting with my father-in-laws group I paid the expense of gas for three vehicles, two atv's, and one track rig. I also paid the humiliating part of [beeep] boy for 9 days three years straight. I would lay in the water logged tundra like ground to perform any type of necessary maintenance or repairs to our transport vehicles. The most haunting part of it all was the moose that was proclaimed "mine to shoot" was shot by another member of our hunting group. This miss placed shot was pulled in a drunken stupor by a lire, untrust worthy, and drunk in the group.
Picture my situation. After stalking the moose which I was promised to harvest another member took it upon themselves to shoot this animal, but this member was so completely out of their mind in a drunken state they barely shot the neck of this moose. This animal struggled behind a willow patch squirting blood from its veins, this moose was struggling for its life which was performed by the hands of a so called "sportsman." I am standing in complete disbelief. I hear a voice, "WG, now, this moose is yours." BANG. The moose is put out of its misery.
I felt discouraged, I felt cheated, and to this day I fell as if I was taken advantage of. I was merely used as a pawn to pay for expenses. Promises were broken and disappointment spread from myself to my father who wished me an joyous voyage.
Inevitably, the question was asked. "Do you want to keep the antlers?" Every part of me wanted to claim this animal my own. I wanted the antlers as a reminiscence of my first moose kill, but most importantly I wanted to meat to enjoy.
I could not keep the antlers, this was not my moose to claim. In the end I was screwed. I wasted my precious vacation time and my old man expressed shear remorse. I think it was both due to the fact he was too old to take me on the hunt of my dreams, and I was proclaimed a victim of a corrupt system.
I have a great bunch of predator hunting buddies but no big game hunting buddies. I have showed interest to many big game hunting groups that I would have loved to hunt with. Their response are, "once you find a great group of people to hunt moose with hang onto to them. They are hard to come by" or I am unable to hunt hunt with them due to my schedule. I watch over my daugther during the day and work at the same time. I trust very very very few people with my precious daughter. I would rather miss a moose hunting trip than convince myself to trust my gorgeous munchkin with someone I cannot fully trust.
Fast forward to today. I went on a day trip for moose with a fellow I met on a local forum. Out of his own good will he introduced me to his moose hunting country. I was not required to barter my way into a hunt, and I was not a [beeep] boy. I was treated more as an equal on this trip than my three moose hunting trips with my wife's father combined.
We arrived at the trail head with the temperature at a crisp 25*F. Once we climbed into the mountains and scoped our spot it was much colder not taking into consideration the wind chill. Inches of snow accumulated on the group and we both froze while overlooking a picturesk valley. My hunting buddy glass relentlessly until frozen extremidities overcome the will to glass a cow ridden valley.
Unfortunately this valley we shared with another group glassing on the same ridge as us. They had the advantage point and spotted a legal bull before us. They put their stalk on and harvest a legal bull that very well could have been ours, and if they were not occupying the same ridge I would be confident to say this moose would have been an easy kill for us.
We glassed for the rest of the mid day. Cows, cows, cows, and the occasional cow and calf tramped through this very same valley. Eventually the cold set in and we had to leave.
We may have not taken a moose, on the last day of the season, but I realized the older timer was right. Choose your hunting partners wisely. I am not trying to say I will persue today's hunting partner as a long time moose hunting partner, but what I am trying to say is there are good and bad hunting partners out awaiting the offer. Your hunting partner can mean the difference between an eventful trip and a nightmarish experience.
Even thougth we did not get the chance to stalk a moose my moose hunting desire is rejuvenated. I did not require an eventful day chauked with a stalk, clean shot, kill, and bloody hands to have fun and a new insightful view on moose hunting.
Choose them wisely. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
