Hunting season started here last week-end with the opening of moose. To put you guys/gals in context, I hunt on a 6000 acre piece of land we rent off a logging company, been hunting there for 12 years. Some of my buddies 30+ years. Our camp is mainly a deer camp but in the past 4-5 years we've been seeing a couple moose every deer season so we decided to give it a shot this year. 4 of us made it up to the camps for the week-end moose hunt. We figured we just needed to get lucky and see 1 moose. We didn't care for size/bull/cow/calf, whatever, we had the tags for em and we can't be picky.
Well, we got lucky, we saw one (and only 1) moose. We didn't see anything on the saturday but on sunday morning, out of pure luck, we decided to go the long way around to our meeting spot. We stumbled across a fresh set of moose tracks. We posted 2 guys on the logging road we were on and the 2 others did a great big half circle to get back to the other 2. A ways in the woods there was a ton of moose signs, actually the signs were more in the tall grass and it was a PITA to walk through. I could barely walk through by myself, there was no way I would have dragged a moose out of there. The logging company made big holes (average 2-3 feet) followed by a lump of dirt (to plant their hybrid poplars).
So we kept going and after a while I hear a quick *BANG BANG*. I'm thinking "I hope he got it!", you never know with 2 shots... He came on the radios and said it was going towards the other guy we posted on the "road". That other guy never saw it. Anyways we waited a 10 minutes and started walking again towards the guys, they were still several hundred yards off at this point (through thick stuff). When we finally got to where my buddy shot it, he signaled me where he had shot the moose. I couldn't see any blood but saw many a trail in the tall grasses / holes /lumps. I kept creeping slowly in the direction the moose had headed, still no nothin. By this time we had 3 guys combing the place. Still creeping along I finally find a great big gush of blood, in the grasses and ground and everywhere. I signaled the other guys and found the moose 30 yards away, dead as a rock.
Here's the shooter with the big cow, our first moose ever:
Notice it died in the crappy tall grasses.
These are the holes I was mentioning before... the 2 guys in the middle are in it. One is semi-crouched and the other is standing. Left to right, me, the 2 brothers, my dad.
For size comparison, look at my buddy's boots compared to the moose's head...
Now here is where it starts to get interesting... I'm the guy who field dresses most of the game we get. Couple months ago I got me an Izula from Rat Cutlery (I removed the whistle... lol). Why not try it out? Again, size comparison...
Less than 3 inch blade to dress a full sized moose is crazy you say? God no. I'm a big fan of smaller blades for field dressing. Much better control and I need to see what I'm cutting. I've also dressed many a deer , with different kinds of knives, so I feel right at home with a small blade. Here, I've got 1 leg in "the hole" while I'm working.
The only 2 tools we used.
My buddy had a cheap kitchen knife sharpener with him (don't ask me what he was doing with it... I have no clue, but I was happy he had it), so I stopped to refresh my edge about 3/4 the way though dressing the moose. When I finally had all the insides out, I paused for a break.
Then quartered it and took a pic with the knife.
We were only about 50 yards from the closest truck so the "drag" wasn't too bad. Heart and liver were shot so we couldn't bring em back to camp for supper.
To make this post informative, here's how I did the field dressing. I started "reaming" it, vulva and colon as 1, just go around it all. Opened up the belly all the way to the brisket. Cut the skin/fat/stuff over the brisket and into the neck. Kept cutting all the way to the throat, going around the wind pipe. Cut the windpipe at the throat. Come back down to saw the brisket. Open it up and cut the diaphragm on one side, flip her over and do the other side. Then it was just a matter of pulling from the top down, wind pipe to the other end, cutting the areas attached as I went along. I also stopped to "scoop" out all the blood in the chest cavity with a flat rock (while having the moose on it's side) so that I could see what I was doing. Then I just kept going till I had everything detached and out of the cavity, paying close attention to the bladder... you don't want to burst that thing.
I would have loved taking more pics but I cant do 2 things at once...
Deer season opens in 2 weeks... I cant wait!!!!
Well, we got lucky, we saw one (and only 1) moose. We didn't see anything on the saturday but on sunday morning, out of pure luck, we decided to go the long way around to our meeting spot. We stumbled across a fresh set of moose tracks. We posted 2 guys on the logging road we were on and the 2 others did a great big half circle to get back to the other 2. A ways in the woods there was a ton of moose signs, actually the signs were more in the tall grass and it was a PITA to walk through. I could barely walk through by myself, there was no way I would have dragged a moose out of there. The logging company made big holes (average 2-3 feet) followed by a lump of dirt (to plant their hybrid poplars).
So we kept going and after a while I hear a quick *BANG BANG*. I'm thinking "I hope he got it!", you never know with 2 shots... He came on the radios and said it was going towards the other guy we posted on the "road". That other guy never saw it. Anyways we waited a 10 minutes and started walking again towards the guys, they were still several hundred yards off at this point (through thick stuff). When we finally got to where my buddy shot it, he signaled me where he had shot the moose. I couldn't see any blood but saw many a trail in the tall grasses / holes /lumps. I kept creeping slowly in the direction the moose had headed, still no nothin. By this time we had 3 guys combing the place. Still creeping along I finally find a great big gush of blood, in the grasses and ground and everywhere. I signaled the other guys and found the moose 30 yards away, dead as a rock.
Here's the shooter with the big cow, our first moose ever:
Notice it died in the crappy tall grasses.
These are the holes I was mentioning before... the 2 guys in the middle are in it. One is semi-crouched and the other is standing. Left to right, me, the 2 brothers, my dad.
For size comparison, look at my buddy's boots compared to the moose's head...
Now here is where it starts to get interesting... I'm the guy who field dresses most of the game we get. Couple months ago I got me an Izula from Rat Cutlery (I removed the whistle... lol). Why not try it out? Again, size comparison...
Less than 3 inch blade to dress a full sized moose is crazy you say? God no. I'm a big fan of smaller blades for field dressing. Much better control and I need to see what I'm cutting. I've also dressed many a deer , with different kinds of knives, so I feel right at home with a small blade. Here, I've got 1 leg in "the hole" while I'm working.
The only 2 tools we used.
My buddy had a cheap kitchen knife sharpener with him (don't ask me what he was doing with it... I have no clue, but I was happy he had it), so I stopped to refresh my edge about 3/4 the way though dressing the moose. When I finally had all the insides out, I paused for a break.
Then quartered it and took a pic with the knife.
We were only about 50 yards from the closest truck so the "drag" wasn't too bad. Heart and liver were shot so we couldn't bring em back to camp for supper.
To make this post informative, here's how I did the field dressing. I started "reaming" it, vulva and colon as 1, just go around it all. Opened up the belly all the way to the brisket. Cut the skin/fat/stuff over the brisket and into the neck. Kept cutting all the way to the throat, going around the wind pipe. Cut the windpipe at the throat. Come back down to saw the brisket. Open it up and cut the diaphragm on one side, flip her over and do the other side. Then it was just a matter of pulling from the top down, wind pipe to the other end, cutting the areas attached as I went along. I also stopped to "scoop" out all the blood in the chest cavity with a flat rock (while having the moose on it's side) so that I could see what I was doing. Then I just kept going till I had everything detached and out of the cavity, paying close attention to the bladder... you don't want to burst that thing.
I would have loved taking more pics but I cant do 2 things at once...
Deer season opens in 2 weeks... I cant wait!!!!
) For guys that hunt mostly deer it is always a bit of shock for them when they see how big moose are close up. A lodge I worked for did fall moose hunts and I never got tired of seeing that reaction
congrats...:thumbup: moose is delicious...
