Montana Moose Hunt

-- Reader Alert: dead animal photos ahead --

As regular readers know, EcoRover drew a bull moose (Alces alces; the creature so nice, they named it twice) permit for an area near my home in Butte/Walkerville, Montana. Friend Dave Carter & I did lots of "scouting"--a pretty word for an excuse to hike our beloved hills. I decided to hunt here:

Turned out to be a good choice. Hunting along low ridges where I could look down into the willow bottoms, I spotted a small bull up a small side valley early in the morning. I thought I was at the end of the valley but heard two Raven People quork up the valley a bit further, just past a small timbered ridge that dips into the bottom. Ravens don't just talk a lot--they usually have something to say & I listen. A few minutes later, and single shot through the lungs (no loss of meat) from my little Sako .308 Winchester (with 150 grain all-copper Barnes bullet):

For some minutes I was in awe. Speechless. Then grateful, promising "I will honor your spirit and use your flesh well:"

I field dress and prepare an elk for hauling in just an hour or so. Bull Moose took three hours to dress, quarter, drag the quarters away from the butchering site, prop them up for cooling, and cover with branches to keep Raven off. Longer because I could not roll it over to ease the chore! Luckily, Bear stayed away for the night (hanging my shirt and hat near the meat might have helped) and next morning found me with five friends hiking in a mile or so from the nearest road. Job 1 was to hang the rear quarters for deboning and skinning (Ben Carter with Chukah-TheDog; photo by C Danielson):

Here's Little Brother AJ deboning a hind quarter (photo by C Danielson):

And EcoRover deboning a front quarters (yes, that's a Moose Drool t-shirt from the brewery in Missoula; photo by C Danielson):

Meanwhile the teams of Dave Carter & Ben Carter (shown here with MollyTheDog) and Chris Danielson & Don Stierle spelled each other hauling the head back to the truck (photo by C Danielson):

And here's Ben again, this time on his second trip to the p.up with a 60 pound load of meat. Oh, what a feeling to set that pack down! (photo by C Danielson):

AJ & I were the last to stagger out. The day's total, well over 300 pounds of boneless meat. Thank you to all the good friends who helped me. Let's hoist a pint together & declare, "Thank you, Bull Moose. We will honor your spirit and use your flesh well."