Kkoppy
Well-Known Member
This one starts back in November 2021when I first got pictures and laid eyes on him (moose). He came out one evening chasing a doe and got to 75 yards but wouldn’t come close enough for a shot with my bow. Seeing him lit a fire in me and I hunted him hard for the rest of the season, but he disappeared until the last couple days of the season he showed up when I was out of town hunting. My son was hunting and ended up seeing him on January 9 and 10th of 2021 but both times he was too far away to get a shot at him, Both of us were amazed how nice of a deer he was. I had never hunted a deer of this caliber so it was exciting to say the least. Fast forward to February 2022 some friends of ours were out shed Hunting, they called and said we found something you’re gonna want to see. They had found the matching set of sheds. They were his and to my surprise, it was a mile from where I was hunting, to where he shed his antlers. Going into the 22’ archery season I had yet to get a picture of him on the farm that I hunt. But my buddies had gotten some pictures of him so we were pretty stoked he was still around. I went all season without seeing him and still hadn’t gotten any pictures. I kind of wrote it off and thought maybe I pushed too hard and he moved closer to where my buddies were hunting. On 1/8/22 one of my buddies took a shot at him with a muzzle loader, but didn’t think he hit him. Then he got pictures of him with what looked like puss coming out of his left front shoulder. So we were thinking he did hit him. They kept getting pictures of him so it was hopeful he would make it . Once he had shed another buddy, picked up his left side. It taped out at 90 inches. Truly impressive. Coming into this season I had zero pictures of him until 11/28. I actually ended up harvesting. a nice nine pointer with my bow on November 29. Now going into late Muzzleloader hoped some nicer bucks would show up, but with the weather we’ve had it has been pretty slow lately. A few does here and there and some small bucks is all I’ve been seeing. My six-year-old loves to go sit in the blind with me so he was excited to go. We hunted the 6th and just had some does and some small bucks came out. So going into the 7th I wasn’t expecting much. We got settled in the blind around 2:45 he played on his iPad while I was looking on Iowa whitetail. At 4:38 we had yet to see a deer so I wasn’t thinking anything would happen, and by 4:40 there were 19 deer in the field. A few of the older does kept looking back from the direction they came and at 5 o’clock I looked to my west and he was at 125 yards with two other bucks. By the time I got the chairs moved, the little guy situated, the west window open, and the gun on him. I was shaking knowing it was Moose. It’s been three years and I finally have him in range. I told my boy that he to had be quiet and not to make a sound, that I’m going to shoot and to cover his ears. By the time I get settled on him, he’s walking into the draw to my west and I can’t shoot. I feel like I just blew it, hoping he would follow the same trail the rest of the deer did that would bring him out between 75 and 100 yards down the hill. at 5:10 I looked down and can see his rack moving in the timber. He takes a few minutes and finally comes out at 5:12. I shoot him in the base of the neck and it comes out his right shoulder. He’s down at 75 yards away. I can’t believe I just shot “Moose”. Some fist pumps, high-fives and a hug we were pumped till I looked out and OH SH*T He’s got his head up smashing his rack back-and-forth left side, then right side back-and-forth. I reload as fast as I can and I tell my boy stay in the blind and that he will be able to see me out the window. I go down and make sure he is down. A few phone calls some pictures and a few celebratory beers. I still can’t believe it. He’s not near as big as he was last year or the year before but he still a giant in my eyes. When I was boning out the meat, I opened up his left front shoulder, and to my surprise he had a Broadhead sticking in his shoulder blade. It almost made it completely through. In the velvet picture you can see the puss on his front shoulder. So it wasn’t my buddy that hit him there, His shot must have missed him. But somebody hit him in 22 with a bow. I am going to boil the shoulder blade out with the broad head in it to display with the mount. I couldn’t be more happy with him. I’m just lucky enough to have a wife that puts up with me hunting as much as I do and a six-year-old that loves hunting as much as I do right now. It has been a great season for me. I did not score him. This one’s not about score. Just so thankful, that I got the opportunity.
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