Northern Maine Moose Hunt 2014 | Big Woods Bucks

You know, after a long summer of taking the kids to ball games and practicing with them, when fall comes, it's nice to be in the

woods

and the first season to come is elk season. I got a phone call from Rob, very excited. The thing he stole from me is that they got me a

moose

permit. He had completely forgotten that the

moose

drawing was that night and well, the first thing I thought was holy mackerel, that's going to be amazing, we're going to have another moose

hunt

. of our favorite areas, then he told me that I was the secondary permit holder and I thought you must be joking, that's pretty cool, it's the first time I've had the opportunity to be on any paperwork with moose, but it crossed my mind head.

I immediately have so much faith in the robbery, you know I didn't need to carry a gun, all I'm going to do is share that thrill of the

hunt

and I'm going to be able to get it. all recorded to share with everyone, so the next morning I called Hal and told him that he hoped he could clear up his schedule and come with us because it would be much better to have him here. there and you know, for me, chasing big money in the

woods

is number one for me, but number two is this moose, because you just see an animal that size 20 yards away coming at you, you'll never forget that that's like a uh, that's an instant memory for you, it will stay with you for the rest of your life, let's go up to the next hill and get ready for a bit, it's getting quieter now down here there are a lot of signs. in this bottom there are a lot of signs in the next bottom nice that's what we're looking for first we find that opportunity calling this wind oh you know when you get on these these moose they hunt you the anticipation is high and you're always looking We can't wait to get started on Monday the first morning it was raining it was windy we didn't even see a moose all day which was a little discouraging but we got into them tuesday we saw a pretty decent one tuesday night we saw a wednesday morning ya you know, medium sized like a 45 inch ball, so I knew that if we kept doing the things that had worked in the past, we would eventually see the right one, Kyle Dick, what ways, yeah, especially some more that are close by, so we'd go in, but yeah, Finish this trail, we can mark it with that big pine tree up there, okay, I'm not going anywhere, oh yeah, that's the fun of moose hunting.

I'm telling you, if you just drive on the roads, it's not really you. You're not really getting an experience, it's just pure luck if you end up shooting the elk, but if you hunt hard and get into the woods, that's really what it's all about and hey, it's hunting. Everyone thinks of Maine. You know, come on. A main elk hunt is a guaranteed thing, you know, everyone tells you that you just walk around and you're going to get a bull, well that's not true, nowadays you get big bulls most of the time you really have to get into it. in the forest and hunt.

I don't know what you're going to find in these swamps following a moose trail, I just have to explore yeah, yeah, that's a big one, yeah, that's cool too because it rained this morning, it's not raining, it looks like it's here, yeah. It's not like it was done this morning, I'm sure there's a useful ball in here, yeah, I can't believe we can't break it, mate, yeah, I can't believe we can't get an answer, I might have to get one, you know . close enough, yeah, I mean I could, that's why there are so many places for them to hide, you look around the peripherals and yeah, you try to call them, it's me, yeah, yeah, that's cool, that's tall, yeah, I'll still fight with him, I don't remind you. keep pushing because we just closed pretty well, yeah, we closed half the distance now around here.

We have been seeing some bulls around the area we have been hunting and it was a good spot, we knew there were a lot of bulls but sometimes you have to change things up a bit, we gave it three days so Thursday, fourth day of hunting, We decided to try the area I shot my bull last year, so I was a little anxious to get it. We went back there and checked again for signs, so we started going down, it's an old winter road, a spooky road and we were probably only 15 or 20 minutes into the hunt and we got our first answer, it was a bull, I don't think. he was there about 75 yards from the winter road and I see a part of him, he looks good, he's a pretty nice bull, he's probably 45 inches you know, pretty heavy horns, he actually looked like the one I shot last year past, but you were not there.

I know it wasn't a very good shot, it wasn't good footage, so we ended up loose there and eventually he knocked us out and ran off, so we continued down the road and I was hunting fast because the sun was coming up. I got up and knew it was going to be a warm day so I wanted to cover as much ground as possible in the morning and try to get another response and we heard another bull just a couple of times, it sounded like a small bull and he didn't respond so we kept going. ahead I saw a cow there was a cow right next to the road uh in the ditch I saw that cow take off and then we got to this little intersection there we got to that intersection we took a little break for a minute and I was trying to decide what to do we walked a little bit down that little straight road, I hadn't been there so I didn't know the country, but it's mainly the country where we were hunting, it's mainly a bunch of spruce swamps with a sweet fern and all of a sudden I thought, well, maybe Maybe we go hunting that area, we're pretty close to where I show mine and, uh, Chris came out of range, he had it.

I found the GPS where I had shot mine and we were sliding through that black spruce over there and I said I kept telling myself these elk have to be here because it's starting to warm up and you know, I felt the moss and it was cool and I told myself I was a big old bull that had all this thick skin and I was black and attracted the sun. I would like to lie down in this area and stay cool during the day. Hal and I were starting to have a conversation about how we were very close to where he had killed his bull last year and we heard a bark of challenge and it was clear.

You knew he heard it, but after a few seconds you tell yourself yes. I really hear that when I hear a bark of challenge, I know that bull is probably the dominant bull and is trying to protect his territory, so the first thing I did was grab my shoulder blade and start hitting the brush with it, I grunted a couple of times. times and waited. Within a minute he was barking again and ended up doing that three times and we worked a little closer and tried to keep downwind so we got a spot as best we could, it was pretty thick but smaller and we crouched down in the low ground and he set up, Rob set up and he was coming now so I knew better than to try to make him come right at us because a lot of times they hang right inside the brush and then I'll eventually reel you in so I worked my way up more oh 20 yards away from them to direct attention to the ball towards me so I got there and started smashing some alders there and grunting and yeah it came right out.

Like I'm on a string, huh, so wait, wait, oh, I'm shaking, I'm shaking, come on, that's a good man, wow, that's fun, that's fun, that's Woody, he got you a nice ball, steal beautiful, beautiful ball, beautiful, you think it's beautiful, yes. I do it right, I mean, huge, I hope it shows in the movie how exciting it was to be, are you coming 20 yards into the woods? How angry did you run into them? No, no, we thank you for being here last year and knowing there. There was a swamp down here and it was wet and a little hot.

We walk in and you're dragging your shoulder blade and he didn't like me challenging him, right? Yes, when he did it, I knew something was going to happen. We happened to be in that sticky situation, so I turned around to get his attention on me, yeah, and uh, that got him off the side, it didn't take him long to cum, uh, he wanted to fight, he wanted to fight, he wanted to. to protect your cow, but yeah, that's the fun of hunting elk in the woods, that way it's better, exciting, gambling, hunting from the road, you can't ask for anything better than that, everyone always says hunt a lifetime, but it really was, yeah, let's pack up.

It will be your first time taking them out, yes, yes, yes, I've done it before, yes, yes, that would be interesting, yes, it's fun, it just makes the experience so much better, you guys start with the cape and I'll run away to get the ram loader and pack up frames and yes, bags of meat and hopefully eric is out there, we'll finish it, do another run, yes it's sturdy, yes I don't know how we're going to need a truck, I think to achieve it, I don't know how we will achieve it. all the meat in the truck and the horns and everything anyway and the ram load with all of us strap the horns right to the hood, that is to say, to the roof, yeah, put ice on them, celebrate a little with a nice dinner tonight, yes, leave tomorrow. comes out tomorrow, yeah, one thing that goes along with if you're going to hunt in the woods is that you have to be prepared to take that animal out and, you know, if you're bagging them, I mean, some people use chainsaw winches and those things. but to pack them it's going to be heavy, you'll have at least the best you can do with heavy loads, it's six trips to pack a bowl and those loads will weigh over a hundred pounds, the head, the head with the Hide is over a hundred, those hindquarters is a hundred, I mean, it's a lot, it's a lot of weight, but be prepared for it, hey, you might want to get in shape too, but that's what you're going to do.

It will be, but that's all just part of the experience. We spent the whole day. Rob shot that bull around half past nine and we took a lot of time filming and taking pictures. We were lucky in the morning. I have more time to get one out, but we spent the day packing them up, you know, carrying all that meat back and forth, skinning and doing everything, and you know, we had a lot of fun doing it, but be prepared for it.