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Well my dry spell ended and I got a little moose Aug 23, right from camp. First since 2005, 5th ever and they keep getting smaller . I was hauling stuff to the boat for the evening hunt when I saw 2 moose browsing about 30-40 yards up the beach. I had no binocs so ran back to the tent, told son Ben "there are 2 moose close, I don't know what kind, get your rifle!" then grabbed my binocs and rifle and scampered to the beach. A careful look and the nearest moose had 4 ears - very hard to see even that close. I looked for Ben - no sign. Rechecked the moose and with a better view he's clearly legal. Still no Ben. The moose had been looking at me and turned like he was headed up the back into alders. His head was in the alders. I shot and down he went. I had trouble seeing the target - it turned out in my excitement I'd turned the scope up to 7x instead of down to 2x - so I saw mostly brown when I shot. Ben showed up as I fired. The shot jolted my other buddies out of their naps.
He ain't much but he's meat in the freezer. Turns out my son was daydreaming (probably almost asleep) and didn't understand me beyond that there were 2 moose on the beach. There had been a cow hanging around earlier and I don't think it quite registered to him that there might be a bull this time. We had run miles of sloughs since the season opened Aug 20, only seeing cows. Well, Ben and one of my other buddies had missed a chance at a 30 incher the day before. They were drifting a slough, very close to the bank and the little bull jumped out of the grass about 20 ft away. My son spooked it further when he chambered a round then struggled with his scope cover. The moose was gone. My buddy couldn't shoot 'cause Ben was in the line of fire. Oh well that's hunting.I'm bummed he didn't shoot this one, but he seems ok with it. In fact he said: " Dad you've waited so long, I'm glad you shot it." He's a better man than me for sure; maybe he wasn't quite ready when it came down to it. This is the first time he's been in on a kill tho he's hunted with me for several years (he's 13). Sure was nice to have his help along with 2 other camp friends to take it apart in short order as it wasn't the easiest place to work. He went down about 30 yards behind where the photo shows and was nearly under water. We towed him to this spot with the boat. That was a bit of a goat rope - he wouldn't turn and one of my buddies kept warning that he's known of moose sinking.
We may try to find one for Ben later in the season, or even a caribou would be fine for a first big game. Had liver for lunch and heart for dinner.
