Seeth's 2020 Hunting Log

[seeth07]

Friday:
We hiked in early again to that new glassing spot we found from the day before which was about 600 yards further east and over a little hill from the first area. What appeared nice about this spot is we could watch up into two different side drainages rather than just one from the first spot. We again waited until the sun was up and over the eastward mountain and onto our faces and never saw a moose. A muley doe again was spotted which was no surprise as at this point we have determined there is a massive deer herd in this area.

I wanted to check my trail camera quick just to see if anything walked by from the night before. It was only about 500 yards up one of those side drainages and I head on out leaving my wife behind. I make it about half way there and get to a spot where I can look up through a very open part of the drainage and I spot a moose! Darn...just a cow but there may be a bull. The rifle was left back on the hill with my wife so I sprint on out of there, wave to my wife and make a gun signal and she starts coming, gun in hand. We get together and approach where I spotted the cow moose. Its 170 yards away and we watch it for 10 minutes or so and don't ever spot a bull or any other moose. Since she sorta disappeared into some short aspens, we decided to stalk closer and see what happens. We get to about 80 yards and watch her from there for another 10-15 minutes and still don't turn up another moose. I walk down to the trail camera and nothing was in the wallow the night before.

We hike out and at this point we are getting quite discouraged. We just don't get it. Moose were running everywhere from what we were told just on Tuesday. Its now Friday and it seems like the moose movement in the daylight is very minor and we only have an evening and first light on Saturday to get something to come together before we need to head home and wait until our next trip in late October.

To be continued...

 

[seeth07]

Hopefully you took pictures of the plates and turned those guys in?

You mean the ATV and truck yes?

I did take pictures of both and sent them to a Warden. The response I got wasn't very promising and it didn't appear like the Warden was going to be too ambitious about going in there to check it out when I told him it was over a mile hike in to get to that ATV. Truck had plates so he has those but ATV had nothing.

 

[seeth07]

Friday: ...continued from above
After our hike out we decide to head about 5 miles south and check out this drainage that from the topo/satellite images appears to be very similar to the area we have been hunting. On our way over there, there was a lot of talk between my wife and I about how the week has gone and some discussion about how we are going to get it done on our next trip in late October. I wouldn't say we completely wrote off the chance of getting a bull moose on this trip but it certainly wasn't looking promising. In fact, I literally brought up and mentioned to my wife how its crazy on previous trips where we have felt this like before and then literally in the matter of a 30 second time window the trip goes from good to amazing. I said how with the amount of time and hard effort we have put into this trip (at this point we were over 30 miles hiked per her fitbit watch thingy) it seemed like we were due here soon for one of those 30 second windows on this trip.

We get to the end of the road where it stops at the border of the state land and national forest and there is an ATV only trail that starts. The drainage we wanted to check out was on the state land and angled away from the fence at this property line. There was no marked hiking trail on the map but when we parked, we could clearly see an established trail that went up the drainage so we got the packs on and started up this trail. Right away along the trail was a few small beaver ponds in the creek and we stopped and checked to find no real promising moose sign. The trail then went up a little hill and along the way up we heard a few branches break from down below us right along the ATV trail in a patch of thick aspens. We had seen cattle up that way when we parked and I say,

"eh must just be the cattle down there".

We hear it twice more and continue along our way for maybe 30-40 yards more. Then I just happen to glance over that way and see something pop out of the aspens and into an opening between a few small pines.

"MOOSE! BULL MOOSE" I whisper with excitement.

We both get our bino's out immediately and due to his head angle and looking at us, all I can judge is his width just seeing a flat line of horns.

"I don't know, I can't really tell how big he is right now....o wait, there he turned...o yeah big wide paddles, shooter! 176 yards away I get"

Gun comes out. Scope magnification turned up to 20. Yup I can find him easily at that power. Scope focus dial turned to 200. I lay down into a tall sage bush in front of me. The bull hasn't moved a step in what has now been probably 20-25 seconds since spotting him. I squeeze the trigger. He drops immediately.

Reminder how I said we just needed a 30 second window to change it all? Well we finally got those 30 seconds after just about a full 6 days of hunting sunup to sundown.

We excitedly rush down the hiking trail back to the truck and then up the ATV trail and then off this trail about 50 yards to where the bull moose was dropped. We find him gasping for air, not completely dead so I chamber a round and shoot him in the head from 20 yards right behind the ear. 5 minutes later waiting and we walk up to one of the most fascinating creatures in all of North America.

We take some time admiring his beautiful coat and especially his large massive mane at his tall shoulders. We of course admire the impressive set of horns on top of his head but most of all, I begin to admire how sweet of a deal this is given that he lays just 50 yards from the ATV trail and not far from where the ATV trail begins our truck is parked. Just like Mr. Newberg, my most favorite part of a hunt is the meat processing and packing and I had big time plans for this moose. Him being so close to the road meant I could do it exactly as I wanted.

We take some photos and then I run back to the truck to get the come-along along with a few other ratchets and straps. In the process of shooting him in the head, he did manage to wiggle his way underneath a pine tree and I wanted to get him out from under there and up next to a pair of bigger aspens that I could use to hoist this massive moose up into the air. Like I said...I had big plans We get him over there and the hinds lifted up into the air and the skinning begins. We unfortunately left the sawzaw back in the trailer so my wife leaves for a bit to go grab that for us since our plan is to take the entire moose out of there, all bone in. We broke the moose down basically how you would a cow. We took the sawzaw and cut the entire moose directly down the spine into two halves. Each halve was then split into three pieces by dividing the loin and hind from the remainder at the split between the 12th and 13th rib. We then removed the rib section between the 5th and 6th rib which comes up through right at the edge of the shoulder blade where the hard shoulder blade cartilage is. 4 hours later, we have the entire moose hauled out of there and into the truck leaving only behind the gut pile (minus the heart), the 4 lower legs (hoof portion) and the back half of the cape. Whatever hunter stumbles across this pile of remains is going to wonder what in the heck happened!







We get back to the trailer, hook it up and head right away back south towards where we left my buddy. Once there we get all the meat hung up in trees nice and high to allow the cold temps and breeze of the overnight hours to get the meat nice and cooled down. Our buddy comes and joins us and we crack open the bottle of homemade apple pie (alcoholic beverage) we brought along and swap stories until the bottle is gone and we fall asleep. One day left before the drive home and we have a long day ahead of us because we have another moose to pack out...

 

[targetpanic]

Great bull!!! Can't wait for the rest!

 

[seeth07]

Saturday:
The final day. So in order to tell the events of the last day I need to preface it with a little background.

Before we left on our hunt, through this website I was able to make contact with the one non-resident gentleman that held the moose tag for the adjacent unit. He just happened to be from Wisconsin as well so my wife and I one evening met him for supper to talk about our trips and compare notes including notes from a scouting trip he had just made prior.

On our trip out there, both him and I camped along the same road in the southern region of our units that formed the border between our units. Each day pretty much we were able to compare what we each saw and help each other out with intel we have gathered.

Fast forward to Wednesday when we left my buddy up there solo and on that same day after we left, this guy actually had his 4 wheeler break down and wouldn't start. My buddy was able to help him get it back to his camp and then from then on, the two of them traveled together hunting since most of the roads up there weren't very easily traveled by trucks (hell even some travel with the UTV was sketchy at times).

On Thursday evening the two of them spotted a really good bull moose. Friday morning they went back in there and was able to down him. They processed him, got the meat hung and took a load of meat out. We all agreed to head in there on Saturday and get the rest.

Saturday morning after waking up and eating some tasty moose heart with eggs, we were able to get a hold of the warden to check our moose. We drove down the hour or so trip and got it checked and back up the mountain by 1pm. We got in the UTV and traveled to the trail head to start packing. His moose was about 1.5 miles in and downhill. It was a grueling pack out uphill but by 430pm we had the entire moose in the UTV. We got the meat to his truck and were able to get our trailer packed up and hit the road just after 5pm.

 

[BAKPAKR]

Congrats on the bull. I liked the photo of your angus helpers.

 

[seeth07]

Congrats on the bull. I liked the photo of your angus helpers.

Lol yup I told you there was moo cows down in those aspens! They hung out the whole time watching which was quite ironic!!!

 

[seeth07]

With the meat hung and aging in my walk in cooler, I'm in no rush to get the moose cut up but last night we started by cutting the four shanks up and into 2 inch discs for making beef soup and osso buco.



I then grabbed both rib sections and cut off the skirt steaks (diaphragm muscle) and flanks for use with fajitas or stir fry. I then cut out the 4 prime sections of short ribs.



All that is left then is the prime rib roast. I left this untouched for now and back into the cooler for 5 more weeks of aging!

 

[seeth07]

Tonight I tackled one of the front legs. From that I broke it down into the two flat iron steaks (shown above), the mock tender (split into two pieces already ready to be cut into stew meat) and the arm roast split into two roasts.



I also found this lodged on the shot backside shoulder, backwards of the shoulder blade and high. Not the mushroom you hope for but dropped the moose like a rock so still did the trick.

 

[seeth07]

Problem....beaver problem....need to head back and set a 330 now. Grrr nothing like ruining an opening morning of ducks! Did manage 8 however.

 

[seeth07]

Hind quarter on the cutting block is quite impressive lol



I failed to take photos as I processed that but we broke it down into these t-bones/porterhouse:



And then sirloin tip roast, round roast and then kept the entire rump together as a big monster roast for brining and smoking into a ham.

Cooler is getting empty as we now have all steaks and roasts into the freezer. That's one full shelf of moose meat!



All that's left is to trim up the grind a bit before grinding into burger to make all kinds of fun things and then both standing rib roasts are still aging in the cooler.

O and we have this going for tonight:



Trying bone marrow for the first time! Should go good as an appetizer with our first shot at making osso buco! Can't wait.



And lastly, most of the good bones with marrow exposed where tossed in this huge pot making about 7 gallons of moose stock!

 

[seeth07]

Here is the report from last nights supper...OMG. I will never again waste my time trimming shank meat for grind again. Those shanks produce some absolutely amazing tasting meat. The flavor was unreal and I could not believe all that grissel broke down to nothing in just 3.5 hours of cooking.

Then there was the bone marrow, both in the shanks we braised and the femur bones we roosted in the oven. Took that marrow and spread it across lightly toasted bread with garlic and it was to die for. The marrow is so rich with flavor and the bread is to a perfect base to balance it out. Again, never tossing a leg bone to the dogs again, I'm eating them all!

Now onto tonight. Pulled out one of the rib roasts and trimming it up and about to go into the oven. Its shown here ready for the rub. Going to cook this one tonight with some guests coming over and boy they are in for a real treat! The other one I'm going to let age for another 4 to 5 weeks and I can't wait to cook that one the exact same way and see what 6 weeks of aging does to the quality of the meat.

 

[seeth07]

You haven't lived unless you have eaten a moose standing prime rib roast...especially when your wife has the best prime rib recipe from her chef days at the supper club. Perfection!

 

[seeth07]

Finally got the bone stock filtered and in containers for freezing. Used a bit over half the bones and made 2.75 gallons from it. Got 3 gallons of bones in the freezer for a second batch later this winter.

 

[seeth07]

Quick weekend recap:

I deer hunted both Saturday and Sunday mornings and evenings. I was archery hunting behind my house in stand and I also had a buddies 9 year old daughter There hunting with a rifle during the 2 day youth only hunt.

Saturday morning: our bean field has been getting a steady visit from numerous does and fawns each morning and evening. So I set up a ground blind that would provide good cover for a kid that can't sit still and the shot would almost certainly be less than 50 yards. Shooting light comes and I hear a tractor pull into the neighbors corn field to the north. Then the chopper fires up. Crap. What bad luck. Who starts chopping a field at 6:30am? Unfortunetly for them it resulted in zero spooked deer coming out into my bean field. Fortunately for me and my wife it did. Two bucks and a doe ran right to my wife and into a thicket just north of her. The doe and small buck ran thru it and directly under my wife's stand. I see her ready to draw (I'm in a stand about 100 yards away) but nothing. Where is the big buck? The small buck makes his way to me and I take a cell phone video of him going directly under my stand as well. He goes and beds down and my wife is still standing ready to shoot. Its been 10 minutes. I text her,

"you see the big buck in there? What's going on?"

"No, he went in that thicket but is still in there"

Over and hour passes by and I text her that I'll get out of my stand and make a big loop and see if I can sneak in on him to just gently bump him. There is a big deep creek in this area and from my sneak approach, he only has one option for escape, done the bank and directly to my wife.

So I make the loop and once I get about 80 yards away I can see his tines glistening in the sun. Then I get closer and range him - 42 yards. Ok maybe I'll just shoot him. I reach for an arrow. He stands, trots off. Right to my wife. I hear a human grunt. A human whistle. Then "hey deer". Then many swear words. I walk over and find out that he wasn't running but just wouldn't stop for a shot. He ran literally under her stand. He was a nice 10 and although trapped, he escaped!

Saturday night: Nothing for both of us. Boring...

Sunday morning: Right after light I catch three bucks running across the grass and right to me. One veers towards my wife (same stand) and the other two continue directly at me and stop in the cover 50 yards from me. They are both little guys, a basket 7 and a forkie. The forkie starts to make a scrape. This pisses the 7 off and he comes over and spears the forkie in the ass hard. A fight ensues. Not just a little sparring either but a full on fight. Forkie ends up winning and goes back to his scrape. 7 resorts to just eating and resting a little ways further east. An hour passes and these two end up bedding down. The 9yo girl is set up about 150 yards to my east, deer drive time again. I carefully sneak out and get to within 20 yards of them. I stand up to be visible but don't move. The one buck is alerted but doesn't run. Both bucks trot off to the east. I'm waiting for a bang but hear nothing. 15 minutes later I walk down the cover they ran down and make it to the girl and her dad. Apparently they did come out but were too far north and at 100 yards they weren't close enough for her to shoot. Dang, 0 for 2 on deer drives.

We start to walk out and 35 yards into that walk, a doe gets up! No shot for the young girl. Here this doe was bedded 50 yards from them all morning and due to grass height they never saw it! Bummer.

Sunday night: I saw just about every deer from my stand that the young girl saw but it's best I just describe the events as I was told from them about that evening sit.

So I had them go sit between the bean field and the freshly chopped corn. I have permission to shoot into that neighbors field so I figured it would be a good spot as deer were likely to use both fields now. It was pretty dull with no deer moving until about 6pm. Then a doe came out into the beans, just 50 yards from them. The girl wasn't able to get setup with a solid shot and the doe got within 15 yards of them before she spooked off. I guess she wasn't totally spooked, just trotted off. Then a huge herd started trickling out into the corn field. First 3, then 6 and then more. The closest one got was 140 yards for them so no shot. While they were waiting on those to get closer, the girl whispers "hey dad, there are deer behind us". Two does had come out into the beans. They get turned around and gun ready to go on one of them. They are now just 20 yards aways. Since I wasn't there, I can't fully describe what happened but no shot was fired. I guess she was shaking so bad with excitement she couldn't steady the gun enough to shoot even with dad continuously saying "shoot, shoot now". Lots of tears followed. It was at this moment that I personally realized this girl is a Hunter for life. She sat for 3 hours 4 times over the weekend and that perseverance for a 9yo girl alone would tell me that. But if a kid gets that worked up and the emotions are that strong on that experience, I know she want that to happen again and again and again.

So no deer killed but it was a killer weekend full of good fun with pre-rut whitetails

 

[seeth07]

So a week from now we head back to ID to enjoy the same mountains once again. Anyone got a cow elk tied up for us? My wife hasn't shot an elk yet and I'm hoping that the third time is it!

 

[PNWGator]

Really enjoying your adventures!

Best of luck on your cow hunt.

 

[seeth07]

Well this morning didn't start off good when I got a text from my buddy that the bed stayed attached to his back this morning.

So I went out solo and knew I was in trouble when both spots I'm this area didn't have a single duck roosted on it. I could have pass shot a pair and a single but decided to just enjoy the numerous ducks flipping around with corn on their minds rather than hanging out on the river. Did have a wounded goose come in and I polished him off so I at least didn't get skunked Funny how the two times this year that I took the 20 gauge out figured close range ducks and both times I shoot geese

 

[seeth07]

This morning was fun! Quick ramble story before bed. Not my best descriptive writing lol

Sat with a buddy from work and we both saw quite a few deer sitting about 100 yards apart. It started with a doe walking over by my buddy. Then a nice 8 walked by him where he didn't get a shot and this buck worked his way somewhat over by me. Then a doe and fawn walked by my buddy. Then that 8 showed up by me and decided to bed 36 yards away! Ugh no shot. It's getting late, 9am. Hey buddy, make a few grunt calls and let's see what he does. Nothing. 10 minutes go by. Hey here comes another buck, right to my buddy. Musta heard the grunt. It's a small 8, not a shooter. Hey I hear something. Yup here comes a doe and fawn down the field edge by me. I look back at the bedded buck. Omg he's standing. Yikes get the bow ready. He's coming my way. Ok He will either go left or right of my tree, a trail goes both ways. He's going right, perfect. Ok be calm. Hes behind the big branch from the tree I'm in, perfect time to draw. Waiting. He steps out. Twack. O no, I hit him low and forward. Why isn't he running? Wow I took out both his legs. He is crawling. What a bad shot. He crawls to my buddy's stand. He drills him high but hits the lungs. Dead buck. Whew thank goodness for a buddy like that as it woulda been horrible tracking this buck down. My buddy is super excited. It's all his deer. I certainly don't deserve it. Woot woot!

 

[seeth07]

Almost in Casper, about 6 hours of driving left until we are back to the hunting grounds in Idaho! There were no takers for a tied up cow elk for us so looks Iike good ole fashioned boots on the ground for us to get it done At least we have a good starting point from the last trip