LIK2HNT
Active member
Hello,
Everyone knows Matt got a great moose and put a ton of time and effort into finding a monster. I had one of the other 2 tags for the Bridger Mountains and got to know Matt after I first posted on this web site. He was a great asset to my hunt. We kept in touch through all his scouting and hunting for a monster moose. It was nice to be in touch with another hunter who would share his findings. Once or twice a week I would get a text, e-mail, or call of his latest finds. There was no way I could hunt until the last 2 weeks of season due to work, so seeing and hearing his progress was great. He even sent me a few picture from 5 to 6 years ago of 2 monster bulls that were the caliber he and I were hoping to find.
With all the smaller bulls Matt was seeing I decided to try to arrow one if I had the chance and could not find a monster. One evening I made a quick moose target to practice on. Being in the vineyard end of the wine business September, October, and early November are our busy times where I work 80 to 120 hours a week during harvest; leaving out of state to hunt is out of the question. Each night when I got home I would fling a couple arrows in the headlights of my truck before I went into the house to get a few hours of sleep.
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About a week and a half before I was going to leave Matt said to forget the bow. The rut was over and the moose sightings were drying up. I could tell by the way he was talking that he was starting to worry that he would not find one the caliber he wanted and that one of the bulls he passed on earlier might have been the best that the unit had to offer this year. This put a little damper on my outlook, but I was determined to make the best of it. I knew from a previous moose hunt in 2007 that the best time to hunt was during the rut. I made that hunt successful when hunting after the rut by covering a lot of ground and hiking my butt off. That was the plan for this hunt too. Bright side I would not have to pack my archery equipment.
Wednesday, 3 days before I was to leave, I got a text from Matt “You have the whole unit to yourself…..I threw in the towel”. All kinds of things went through my head. There was no way that Matt would just quit after all the time and effort he put into this, so something must of happened. Did he get hurt and have to stop, no way I thought. He must have killed something. I texted him back, and then he sent a picture. Beautiful bull and not one he had seen before, but most likely the best the unit had to offer this year.
A good hunting friend of mine went on this hunt with me; actually he was also on my 2007 moose hunt too. I was hoping he would bring me luck again. When we got to Bozeman we stopped by Matt’s house and spent some time going over maps. Next it was off to set up camp in the mountains. We ended up picking a nice spot in about 3” of snow. From a previous storm there was some snow up top but not enough to move anything down. Third day we woke to a beautiful sunny Montana morning.
Once it stopped snowing we had about a little less than foot around camp and about knee to thigh deep at the places I wanted to hunt. It was very windy at times with temperatures down to -20 or lower at night. The wind was so bad that I did not put the rain fly on my tent for fear that it would rip off. This storm created 2 conditions. The first I was prepared for, I had to snowshoe into the places I wanted to hunt. I use to snowshoe quite a bit years ago, but now at 50 it seemed to get harder to do for 8 plus hours a day. Second condition was all the cross country and alpine skiers that showed up. It was like everyone in Bozeman that had skies were up there and boy they were noisy. Voices carried a long ways with the cold weather and snow. And then there were the snowmobiles. Basically the plan became hike (snowshoe) one day and then the next cover ground and glass a lot, then back to snowshoeing. Most every morning my friend and I would split up to cover as much ground as possible.
In the end it was a great hunt. I only saw 3 moose, one small bull and two cows. I followed a set of moose tracks for quite a while when snowshoeing one day. After about the fourth time it went through or by trees that I felt a decent bull’s antlers would have knocked off more snow I stopped. Also cut a set of cow with calf tracks when snowshoeing on another day. I must have been in the wrong spots at the right times, or the right spots at the wrong times. Either way no regrets, we gave it a hell of a try. Saw a lot of beautiful country. I did see one very large mule deer way up high in the snow one day, along with a few smaller 140” to 160” mule deer throughout the hunt. We did not see or hear any wolves, but did find one fresh set of track. Also cut a set of lion tracks up high in the snow on another day. Another plus was I was able to spend some time at the end of the hunt with my Daughter that is attending MSU.
One thing I learned, actually knew but was reinforced on this trip, HUNT THE RUT IF AT ALL POSSIBLE FOR MOOSE. This was the first great tag that I ate, and I keep thinking what would have happened if I would have worked a different canyon on day X, or snowshoe over one more ridge on and particular day. Now I cannot wait until I draw another moose tag somewhere to try it all again.
Once again I would like to thank Matt for all his help.
Bill
Everyone knows Matt got a great moose and put a ton of time and effort into finding a monster. I had one of the other 2 tags for the Bridger Mountains and got to know Matt after I first posted on this web site. He was a great asset to my hunt. We kept in touch through all his scouting and hunting for a monster moose. It was nice to be in touch with another hunter who would share his findings. Once or twice a week I would get a text, e-mail, or call of his latest finds. There was no way I could hunt until the last 2 weeks of season due to work, so seeing and hearing his progress was great. He even sent me a few picture from 5 to 6 years ago of 2 monster bulls that were the caliber he and I were hoping to find.
With all the smaller bulls Matt was seeing I decided to try to arrow one if I had the chance and could not find a monster. One evening I made a quick moose target to practice on. Being in the vineyard end of the wine business September, October, and early November are our busy times where I work 80 to 120 hours a week during harvest; leaving out of state to hunt is out of the question. Each night when I got home I would fling a couple arrows in the headlights of my truck before I went into the house to get a few hours of sleep.
About a week and a half before I was going to leave Matt said to forget the bow. The rut was over and the moose sightings were drying up. I could tell by the way he was talking that he was starting to worry that he would not find one the caliber he wanted and that one of the bulls he passed on earlier might have been the best that the unit had to offer this year. This put a little damper on my outlook, but I was determined to make the best of it. I knew from a previous moose hunt in 2007 that the best time to hunt was during the rut. I made that hunt successful when hunting after the rut by covering a lot of ground and hiking my butt off. That was the plan for this hunt too. Bright side I would not have to pack my archery equipment.
Wednesday, 3 days before I was to leave, I got a text from Matt “You have the whole unit to yourself…..I threw in the towel”. All kinds of things went through my head. There was no way that Matt would just quit after all the time and effort he put into this, so something must of happened. Did he get hurt and have to stop, no way I thought. He must have killed something. I texted him back, and then he sent a picture. Beautiful bull and not one he had seen before, but most likely the best the unit had to offer this year.
A good hunting friend of mine went on this hunt with me; actually he was also on my 2007 moose hunt too. I was hoping he would bring me luck again. When we got to Bozeman we stopped by Matt’s house and spent some time going over maps. Next it was off to set up camp in the mountains. We ended up picking a nice spot in about 3” of snow. From a previous storm there was some snow up top but not enough to move anything down. Third day we woke to a beautiful sunny Montana morning.
Once it stopped snowing we had about a little less than foot around camp and about knee to thigh deep at the places I wanted to hunt. It was very windy at times with temperatures down to -20 or lower at night. The wind was so bad that I did not put the rain fly on my tent for fear that it would rip off. This storm created 2 conditions. The first I was prepared for, I had to snowshoe into the places I wanted to hunt. I use to snowshoe quite a bit years ago, but now at 50 it seemed to get harder to do for 8 plus hours a day. Second condition was all the cross country and alpine skiers that showed up. It was like everyone in Bozeman that had skies were up there and boy they were noisy. Voices carried a long ways with the cold weather and snow. And then there were the snowmobiles. Basically the plan became hike (snowshoe) one day and then the next cover ground and glass a lot, then back to snowshoeing. Most every morning my friend and I would split up to cover as much ground as possible.
In the end it was a great hunt. I only saw 3 moose, one small bull and two cows. I followed a set of moose tracks for quite a while when snowshoeing one day. After about the fourth time it went through or by trees that I felt a decent bull’s antlers would have knocked off more snow I stopped. Also cut a set of cow with calf tracks when snowshoeing on another day. I must have been in the wrong spots at the right times, or the right spots at the wrong times. Either way no regrets, we gave it a hell of a try. Saw a lot of beautiful country. I did see one very large mule deer way up high in the snow one day, along with a few smaller 140” to 160” mule deer throughout the hunt. We did not see or hear any wolves, but did find one fresh set of track. Also cut a set of lion tracks up high in the snow on another day. Another plus was I was able to spend some time at the end of the hunt with my Daughter that is attending MSU.
One thing I learned, actually knew but was reinforced on this trip, HUNT THE RUT IF AT ALL POSSIBLE FOR MOOSE. This was the first great tag that I ate, and I keep thinking what would have happened if I would have worked a different canyon on day X, or snowshoe over one more ridge on and particular day. Now I cannot wait until I draw another moose tag somewhere to try it all again.
Once again I would like to thank Matt for all his help.
Bill
