Congrats on your moose. I think we're all wondering how in the world you pulled out a whole, wet, heavier than life moose! Looking forward to the story.
Kinda yes kinda no. In this picture you see the bull she was with looking for her but she was submerged at that point. Can also see the kite string I was using to pull it to the edge.
That bull charged me and i had just hauled butt away from him before this pic.
He harassed me constantly. Patrolled right there for 20 minutes, wandered off then showed up an hour later at a trot to hang around another 20 minutes. Even fired a few pistol shots which had no effect other than him pinning his ears, raising hackles (do they have hackles?), and coming toward me again.
Word to the wise...do not throw sticks at a horny and bellicose bull moose. Bad, bad, idea. They are way faster than you (or me).
A 20 yard double lung shot and she made a 100 yard dash to pile up in this big pond.
5 guys I recruited pitched in to help the retrieval. One had a 12-year-old kid along. The kid and I agreed I would give him $30 to go out there and lasso the moose. He made it half way and bailed :W: cause it was freezing and he was sinking. It was My nuts were in my armpits by the time I got out of the water.
Congrats to you and your sherpa crew!!! My BIL in Alaska has a rule about NOT shooting moose anywhere near water and now I know why! We've been fortunate that our moose died on dry ground. It's hard to imagine trying to move a moose to the shore; getting it through deep water to the edge, yes - doable. Getting it totally out of the water a few feet, I wouldn't want to try that even with ten guys!
Congratulations! That's a heck of a lot of work to get that moose but will be a great hunting memory. I shot a moose a couple years ago and as I was cutting him up the cows he was with wouldn't leave. For a couple hours they hung around anywhere from 50-100 yards. I threw sticks and hollered at them because turning my back on them made me nervous. They didn't leave until they got bored a couple hours after he had died.