Northern Ontario Moose Hunt 2015
Oct 25, 2015 10:44:51 GMT -5
Post by smokeeter on Oct 25, 2015 10:44:51 GMT -5
Our annual moose hunt for this year has come and gone and this year was a challenging one. The first being that the future of our moose hunting here in Ontario is facing serious changes. The MNR has reduced quotas, eliminated some seasons and increased group sizes for some hunters to become successful in tag allotment.
The zone I hunt in had quotas reduced by almost 70% and group sizes went from 2 to 8 applicants. It is still a lottery system and any applicants have the chance in obtaining a tag but odds are better with larger groups. Our group is primarily made up of 4 members with only 3 in the preferred pool. One tag is used the previous year putting that person in pool 2 which makes our chances of getting a tag pretty slim. But as luck would have it we managed to be successful and got one bull tag for our area this year so the hunt was on.
There was one other sight glitch in our plans for this years hunt. My oldest son and his wife were expecting their second child and the due date of the birth was going to coincide with the start of our hunt. My son thought that he might still be able to accompany us but I advised him otherwise , especially since their first child was only 18 months old and he might be more needed at home than with us. So during the early planning of our trip we had a friend that was eager to experience a moose hunt. He agreed to join us and if necessary replace my son or be included to make our group 5 either way we were set for this year.
Again this is a D.I.Y. hunt and quite grueling but definitely manageable. We are well equipped and versed in this operation. We head up 4 days prior to the season opener. The first leg of our journey includes the 20 hour drive then the 3 hour trek to shuttle our equipment 10 miles back in to our camp site.On the first day our objective is to set up our sleeping tent to allow us to get the must needed sleep to continue with the rest of our set up which usually takes the remaining 2 days. Then fire wood and stand setup become our new priorities.
With most of the setup now done we were ready to focus on our hunt Saturday morning was a splendid day to be out pursuing moose. Since we only had one tag we decided to hold out for a bull with some sort of palms and not shoot a spike bull the first week. We had slit up into 2 teams. The first being myself and my number 2 son 2 1/2 miles up river from our camp and the second team was one of the recurring members with our new guy 3 1/2 miles down stream of our camp. Both parties had moose action right from the start with vocal responses and the sounds of antlers , which brought much anticipation. But we were only teased by the sounds of the distant moose and no sighting were made. The problem we later learned was that the bulls were with cows and much like turkey hunting it is next to impossible to draw a bull moose away from a hot cow.
Up river my son and myself had action every day we were out but no bulls would expose themselves to us. On the forth day two cows made their way out to the river where I was posted and walked the shoreline around the corner to were my son was situated, I watched them for almost an hour anxiously waiting for Bullwinkle to follow them, but to no avail.
This hunt is a regular firearm season but I choose to hunt with my smokeless .45 cal muzzy and I have taken a number of bull moose in the past. The other participants all use modern centerfire rifles in .300 win.mag. I also pack one for the trip but it usually stays at camp. And this year was no exception. Well on Friday evening , the 6th day of our hunt I had my first visual contact with a bull moose. It was 442 yrds. up river from my location and I just had a glimpse of him as he swam across the river, I did level the Krieger and dialed the 10X scope up but I felt the split second opportunity didn't warrant the risk at such a long shot. I have made successful kill shots at approx. 350 yrds but just wasn't comfortable so I passed. This experience had me rethink my tactics and from that moment on a carted both my rifles to the stand, if I got a <300 yrd shot it was going to be the muzzy and anything over was going to be my Sako.
This hunt was proving to be more difficult than I have had for some time. Frustrating that we had moose around us pretty well everyday and no opportunities. I did everything the way I have done in the past 40 plus years of moose hunting which have been very successful and yet couldn't get one to commit.
We were running out of time for this years hunt with only several days left when on the morning of the 10th day I commenced with the series of pre dawn love calls. I got an immediate response as I did so many times earlier this week, but I got another distant response from the opposite direction also. I played out two more series of calls before it was light enough to shoot and low and behold way up river where I spotted the first bull 4 days prior I saw antlers on the point of the river. I quickly exchanged rifles and grabbed the .300 without a thought and lasered the distance which was 398 yrds. I leveled the rifle on the moose which was facing me. I now waited for the moose to provide a more suitable shot and when he turned his head with a slight quartering toward angle I let the first shot ring out, he didn't appear to move so I racked another round and fired again, still there I cycled another shot I saw a splash in the river with this on and the moose was still visible I did manage to get off a fourth and final shot before the moose disappeared. We have a rule that everyone is expected to shoot as long as you have a moose to shoot at. I didn't know where he went, I thought he just dropped but because of the bend in the river I couldn't tell for sure.
Immediately after the barrage of gunfire I turned on my radio to let everyone know what had transpired and the only other member I could contact was my son. I got into the canoe and went to pick him up and together we would go and see if we could determine if I hit the moose and possibly locate it. It took about half an hour to get back to where I thought the moose had been, and no sight of him. We got out of the canoe and made a quick survey and found blood and hair, the moose was quickly located 20 yrds inside the thick black spruce and cedars which bordered the river.
I managed to connect with 3 out of the 4 shots, 2 were fatal one breaking the front shoulder and the second just back entering the ribcage and taking out the left lung, the third struck the rear leg at the knee.
I was thrilled that we were able to utilize our bull tag this year and bring home another supply of exquisite table fare, and although I did want to shoot another moose with my muzzleloader I was more than satisfied with my accomplishments.
The zone I hunt in had quotas reduced by almost 70% and group sizes went from 2 to 8 applicants. It is still a lottery system and any applicants have the chance in obtaining a tag but odds are better with larger groups. Our group is primarily made up of 4 members with only 3 in the preferred pool. One tag is used the previous year putting that person in pool 2 which makes our chances of getting a tag pretty slim. But as luck would have it we managed to be successful and got one bull tag for our area this year so the hunt was on.
There was one other sight glitch in our plans for this years hunt. My oldest son and his wife were expecting their second child and the due date of the birth was going to coincide with the start of our hunt. My son thought that he might still be able to accompany us but I advised him otherwise , especially since their first child was only 18 months old and he might be more needed at home than with us. So during the early planning of our trip we had a friend that was eager to experience a moose hunt. He agreed to join us and if necessary replace my son or be included to make our group 5 either way we were set for this year.
Again this is a D.I.Y. hunt and quite grueling but definitely manageable. We are well equipped and versed in this operation. We head up 4 days prior to the season opener. The first leg of our journey includes the 20 hour drive then the 3 hour trek to shuttle our equipment 10 miles back in to our camp site.On the first day our objective is to set up our sleeping tent to allow us to get the must needed sleep to continue with the rest of our set up which usually takes the remaining 2 days. Then fire wood and stand setup become our new priorities.
With most of the setup now done we were ready to focus on our hunt Saturday morning was a splendid day to be out pursuing moose. Since we only had one tag we decided to hold out for a bull with some sort of palms and not shoot a spike bull the first week. We had slit up into 2 teams. The first being myself and my number 2 son 2 1/2 miles up river from our camp and the second team was one of the recurring members with our new guy 3 1/2 miles down stream of our camp. Both parties had moose action right from the start with vocal responses and the sounds of antlers , which brought much anticipation. But we were only teased by the sounds of the distant moose and no sighting were made. The problem we later learned was that the bulls were with cows and much like turkey hunting it is next to impossible to draw a bull moose away from a hot cow.
Up river my son and myself had action every day we were out but no bulls would expose themselves to us. On the forth day two cows made their way out to the river where I was posted and walked the shoreline around the corner to were my son was situated, I watched them for almost an hour anxiously waiting for Bullwinkle to follow them, but to no avail.
This hunt is a regular firearm season but I choose to hunt with my smokeless .45 cal muzzy and I have taken a number of bull moose in the past. The other participants all use modern centerfire rifles in .300 win.mag. I also pack one for the trip but it usually stays at camp. And this year was no exception. Well on Friday evening , the 6th day of our hunt I had my first visual contact with a bull moose. It was 442 yrds. up river from my location and I just had a glimpse of him as he swam across the river, I did level the Krieger and dialed the 10X scope up but I felt the split second opportunity didn't warrant the risk at such a long shot. I have made successful kill shots at approx. 350 yrds but just wasn't comfortable so I passed. This experience had me rethink my tactics and from that moment on a carted both my rifles to the stand, if I got a <300 yrd shot it was going to be the muzzy and anything over was going to be my Sako.
This hunt was proving to be more difficult than I have had for some time. Frustrating that we had moose around us pretty well everyday and no opportunities. I did everything the way I have done in the past 40 plus years of moose hunting which have been very successful and yet couldn't get one to commit.
We were running out of time for this years hunt with only several days left when on the morning of the 10th day I commenced with the series of pre dawn love calls. I got an immediate response as I did so many times earlier this week, but I got another distant response from the opposite direction also. I played out two more series of calls before it was light enough to shoot and low and behold way up river where I spotted the first bull 4 days prior I saw antlers on the point of the river. I quickly exchanged rifles and grabbed the .300 without a thought and lasered the distance which was 398 yrds. I leveled the rifle on the moose which was facing me. I now waited for the moose to provide a more suitable shot and when he turned his head with a slight quartering toward angle I let the first shot ring out, he didn't appear to move so I racked another round and fired again, still there I cycled another shot I saw a splash in the river with this on and the moose was still visible I did manage to get off a fourth and final shot before the moose disappeared. We have a rule that everyone is expected to shoot as long as you have a moose to shoot at. I didn't know where he went, I thought he just dropped but because of the bend in the river I couldn't tell for sure.
Immediately after the barrage of gunfire I turned on my radio to let everyone know what had transpired and the only other member I could contact was my son. I got into the canoe and went to pick him up and together we would go and see if we could determine if I hit the moose and possibly locate it. It took about half an hour to get back to where I thought the moose had been, and no sight of him. We got out of the canoe and made a quick survey and found blood and hair, the moose was quickly located 20 yrds inside the thick black spruce and cedars which bordered the river.
I managed to connect with 3 out of the 4 shots, 2 were fatal one breaking the front shoulder and the second just back entering the ribcage and taking out the left lung, the third struck the rear leg at the knee.
I was thrilled that we were able to utilize our bull tag this year and bring home another supply of exquisite table fare, and although I did want to shoot another moose with my muzzleloader I was more than satisfied with my accomplishments.
