Sure felt like moose hiking in the end. Been tough to swallow not getting a CO moose, especially after I was able to harvest a CO mountain goat at 25yds a few days earlier. I have been reluctant to write about it since it still pains me being unsuccessful, but here is a recap.
My brother decided to help me on this hunt the entire hunt - even if it took all 14 days. The hunt area is not accessible by roads, so we had to hike in 3 miles to get to the boundary. My buddy also helped 12 days and had help from my two other brothers and 1 more buddy off and on.
We saw a cow moose about 60yds away the first evening prior to the season start when we were filtering water. Little did we know that would be the last moose we would see the entire hunt.
The season started out pretty warm and by the 3rd day the snow rolled in and had a couple of days with snow storms, but not too bad - never over 8\". We were in \"moosey\" country the entire time, but even with up to 5 guys hiking miles apart, nobody saw a single moose during the 14 days. That was tough, as my buddy and brothers had seen anywhere from 1-4 moose per scouting trip. We thought it would be a slam dunk, but it certainly was not even close to that.
As always it is nice to have the opportunity, but it sucks we couldn\'t get it done. I hunted with my recurve and my brother carried my rifle for a few days. Then after the 3rd day I took the rifle along with the bow and hunted by myself, as everyone else would spread out and look for moose in other areas.
We tried still hunting, calling, watching creeks, beaver ponds and large valleys that you would think moose would be frolicking in. I went from river bottoms to above timberline and everything in between, but to no avail. I hunted hard, but it was just tough. I think if I could have hunted the archery season, prior to the rut, I would have had a better chance. I think the moose were traveling so much looking for love that we never ran into them during the rifle season. Anyway, here are some photos from the hunt.
My brother decided to help me on this hunt the entire hunt - even if it took all 14 days. The hunt area is not accessible by roads, so we had to hike in 3 miles to get to the boundary. My buddy also helped 12 days and had help from my two other brothers and 1 more buddy off and on.
We saw a cow moose about 60yds away the first evening prior to the season start when we were filtering water. Little did we know that would be the last moose we would see the entire hunt.
The season started out pretty warm and by the 3rd day the snow rolled in and had a couple of days with snow storms, but not too bad - never over 8\". We were in \"moosey\" country the entire time, but even with up to 5 guys hiking miles apart, nobody saw a single moose during the 14 days. That was tough, as my buddy and brothers had seen anywhere from 1-4 moose per scouting trip. We thought it would be a slam dunk, but it certainly was not even close to that.
As always it is nice to have the opportunity, but it sucks we couldn\'t get it done. I hunted with my recurve and my brother carried my rifle for a few days. Then after the 3rd day I took the rifle along with the bow and hunted by myself, as everyone else would spread out and look for moose in other areas.
We tried still hunting, calling, watching creeks, beaver ponds and large valleys that you would think moose would be frolicking in. I went from river bottoms to above timberline and everything in between, but to no avail. I hunted hard, but it was just tough. I think if I could have hunted the archery season, prior to the rut, I would have had a better chance. I think the moose were traveling so much looking for love that we never ran into them during the rifle season. Anyway, here are some photos from the hunt.
