I got back from my 8-day archery moose hunt in Alberta last Thursday, exhausted and mooseless. If you think running and gunning turkeys all day is tiring, try expanding that scope by a factor of 10. Despite the outcome, I had a fantastic time with some really great folks. I saw bulls every day but one and stalked to less than 25 yards of one bedded on the last day. Unfortunately, the wind switched and when he stood up, I had no shot.
The outfitter I used again was Ryk Visscher. He runs a first-class operation and handles nothing but bowhunters. His guides are also bowhunters and are very good at what they do. We ate like kings everyday and the accommodations were excellent. If you want a great adventure, give Ryk a call!
We hunted in the Ministik Bird Sanctuary which is southeast of Edmonton. Moose country is a mixture of wetlands and aspen covered "ridges". Alberta's idea of a ridge probably would be called a "rise" in the Ozarks. What they lack in elevation, though, they make up with impenetrable tag alder thickets. It's tough hiking and my guide and I easily did 10 miles a day in that stuff. On the last day of the hunt, as we were coming out of the bush, my guide, Amos Jensen, stopped to peel a layer of insulation off. As he caught his breath, he looked at me and said, "You're a tough ole bugger! You've kept up with me every step." That was the best compliment a person could give me, I thought.
We'd start every day before sunrise and walk 90 minutes back to our hunting area. We sometimes sat over rut pits and other times just hiked around trying to find a bull to play with. We'd stay till dark and then hike 90 minutes back to the truck. I saw some beautiful scenery!
On the afternoon of the second day, we were sitting where we had seen 2 huge bulls the day before. It was in the 60's and I looked down to find a damn seed tick crawling on me. I couldn't believe it! Come all the way to Alberta and I was still plagued by those little blood suckers.
On the 3rd day of the hunt, it rained for the first 7 hours. Unless you have a rubber suit on, you're gonna get wet in conditions like that. When the downpour finally turned into a mist, the wind then came up. We couldn't stop for long because we got cold so we moved around all day. I didn't know what was gonna kill me first, exhaustion or hypothermia. We still saw moose.
We saw beavers, various waterfowl, and moose all the time. One morning, as we walked in the dark, we came across a very large porcupine next to the trail. Our abrupt meeting caused Amos to hockey about a spoonful in his BVD's. The next day in the evening, we came across this little guy.
Mice and voles were prevalent in the leaf litter and this dude hung out with me all afternoon one day.
My guide, Amos, was the best. I had paired with his younger brother, Eric, on my first trip there. Amos did everything in his power to get me a moose within range. One evening, we tried to stalk a giant bull by Amos holding a piece of black cloth in front of him, walking like a challenging bull, while I snuck along behind him with an arrow on the string. We got to within 70 yards before our adversary figured out that something wasn't right. Here Amos is digging very stinky dirt out of a rut pit to use as a cover scent.
Four moose were killed during the hunt. My buddy, John, killed this one on the first evening. He made a perfect double-lung shot at 19 yards and watched his bull go down after an 80-yard run.
Here are a two of the other bulls killed.
If you want an exciting adventure, beautiful scenery, and lots of exercise, I urge you to start saving your pennies for a moose hunt!
Darren
. I about died. That happened back when they first made it mandatory and I didn't know it yet.