Went on an Elk Hunt and a Moose Hunt Broke Out!

I went to Idaho with my son a couple weeks ago and had a great time. We never did get into the elk despite trying very hard. My friend lives out there and had a bull moose tag so the last morning of the hunt we went out with him to a spot 15 minutes from his house. There was a possibility of both elk and moose so we weren't surprised to get into several cows. So many in fact that we decided that there had to be a bull around.
About 8:55 we hear a large animal or two crashing through the adjacent hollow. Steve runs down one point and I my son James and I run down the other. No sooner had I decided that the animals were elk since they were running very fast and didn't seem as heavy as moose then Steve took a shot. James said "I guess they were moose". We get to a spot where we can see Steve and he shoots again and waves us over. The moose, a cow and bull, had holed up in some brush and as we watched. The cow and then the bull emerged 150+ yards out. Steve took a 3rd and 4th shot and then I handed him my rifle and he took the final shot that put the bull down. He sure was big

Steve and Me:


Steve and James:



We spent the next 12 hours packing 3 loads each down the 2.5 miles to the truck. James carried both front shoulders out by himself. He sure is turning into a fine young man. The last load was in the dark, in the rain and was brutal. We had to leave at 2:00 am the next morning and finally go to bed at 11:00. It was a great adventure and quite a challenge.

Very nice. What unit was the Moose tag?

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Very cool trip for sure

That's awesome! Congrats to all!

Looks like a great time! Congrats!

Not sure about the moose unit. We were in the Palouse Elk Zone I know. This was a once-in-a-lifetime tag for Steve. No more bull moose for him in ID. He has lots of other things to hunt out there though.

What's the story behind the rifles??

Why so many shots, John?? Equipment malfunction??

Darn cool!

Which is why I was curious about the possible equipment failure..ie.scope,,too light of bullet,,not enough gun,,etc. No need to answer if you don't want to. I just figured other folks might learn from this experience. Dunno if I'll ever get it done,,,but moose is on my bucket list.

Congrats to the successful hunter!

First 2 shots were misses, call it bull fever. Next 2 connected and then he was out of bullets so I handed him my gun I think the bull was going down but Steve wanted to make sure. I kinda waved off any more shots by saying "You don't need to shoot him again." I'm no rifle expert so I can't really say on choice. He was shooting a 30.06 with 180 grain CoreLokts (I think). I am certain that's what I had in my gun.

That's plenty of gun and bullet. I wondered if "moose fever" played a role or not. I'm sure I'd do the same.. Thanks, John! There's a lot of good eating right there!