It was May 15, 2020, and we were entering what we all know now to be one crazy year. It was my birthday, and the best gift I received came in an email from the Idaho Fish and Game. I had been encouraged to put in for a moose tag by my childhood friend and lifelong hunting buddy who moved to Idaho for work. He also tried to draw the tag. Knowing my odds as a non- resident weren’t nearly as good as his, I was questioning the email which told me I was “Successful.”
I contacted Huntin’ Fool to get the Member Draw list. I was very hopeful to get some needed help and expected people to be very willing to share as this was a once-in-a-lifetime tag. I was surprised to learn that there had only been one other member who had drawn this tag. He was very responsive in getting back to me on my questions and telling the story of his hunt.
The days drew on, and the upcoming hunt was a welcome daydream at my desk. I then learned that Montana had opened up their hunter apprentice program to non-residents. I had a 10-year-old with very few sports going (due to COVID) who I thought could benefit from an outdoor adventure. When I asked him what he thought about missing school for a couple days, I knew I had two hunts to look forward to.
Fast forward to the end of September. After a commercial flight and a day of preparing gear and provisions, we were heading off to my moose unit. We were able to locate a giant bull the day before the season. Full of optimism for opening day, we sat glassing the hillside where he had been the day before. We did this from before dawn until after dusk. The weather was warm, and the moose with their black coats did not seem to want to step out into the Idaho sunshine. After another full day of glassing and a little sunburn, I spotted a nice, wide moose stepping out in the last 15 minutes of shooting light. Not knowing how long he would stay visible, I scrambled to make the long shot. I missed.
We continued to hunt hard as I saw the days tick off the calendar. We turned up a couple cows but could not find a bull. The country was large, and the cover was thick. I was overwhelmed by the vastness of the unit. The pressure of how rare this hunt was started to weigh on me. I was having trouble getting to sleep. This was something I wasn’t prepared for. With only a day and a half left to hunt before my flight took me back to reality, we made an aggressive move to call in a drainage we thought was holding moose. The moose sign as we walked in was incredible. My hunting partner, Dave, raked branches and stomped the ground every 100 yards as we covered ground with the thermals blowing in our faces.
When we heard the unmistakable grunt of the bull up the draw from us, my heart raced. We closed ground, and with each grunt he gave us, our confidence grew. We held up and let him come the last 20 yards. Dave spotted him first being that he was taller and on the high side of the slope. He said, “Shoot him!” I frantically searched the terrain in front of me for the animal. After some anxious moments passed, he took a few more steps, exposing himself to me, and I shot the moose at 50 yards. He wasn’t the giant from the day before the season opened nor was he the caliber of the one I had missed, but I was thrilled.
About a month later, I was packing up the truck to head west again, and this time, it was with a bunch of smaller hunting clothes for my newest hunting partner. He was amazed by the number of animals we spotted from the road. The weather made a 180 degree turn on us, and we had single digits with nasty windchill. My son was a trooper as we put on the miles and helped the other two guys in our hunting party fill their tags. My son’s tag was good for a whitetail or a mule deer. He was dead set on getting the latter.
Late one evening, we crested a ridge to find a group of mule deer. In the bunch was a small fork-horned buck. It offered us time to set up a good support that my son required for accuracy. The deer weren’t going anywhere fast, so I urged him to take his time. He flicked off the safety. Sensing he needed a moment to calm his nerves, I suggested we look over the other side of the crest that we hadn’t glassed yet. Upon doing so, we immediately saw the unmistakable antler tips of a good mule deer sticking up. I rushed to get him set up for a shot without spooking the deer. When he finally squeezed the trigger, the deer stood, looking for the cause of the noise. I told him he missed. I then noticed the second buck that he had been shooting at. Not knowing if he hit it, I made sure he was shooting at the same deer with his follow-up shot. I think he was a bit flustered by my over-the-shoulder quarterbacking and he missed. The third shot hit the deer, and it went down out of sight. We were all smiles as we approached the deer.
Upon getting up to the sight where I last saw the buck, my stomach sank. The deer had gotten up from its bed. We slowly searched the landscape and located the wounded deer as it walked over a small knoll.
At this time, I made a significant observation. My gun was being used to shoot at various targets by another member of the group who had an issue with his gun. When we walked up on that ridge, we were only carrying four bullets. This left us with one bullet to recover my son’s deer. We sat down and had a little father/ son talk about the importance of the situation for his sake and the deer. He gave me that overconfident 10-year-old look and said, “I got this.”
We popped our heads up over the high point of the hill and immediately saw his deer. As I coached and encouraged him to take his time, the shot rang out. He 10 ringed it in the heart from just over 100 yards. We recalled the events many times on the way home. I am still convinced he shot the smaller of the two deer, but we will get to argue about that for the rest of our lives. It was a great hunt, and I am so glad he came with me.
There are many details I couldn’t include here and many more people whom I owe thanks. I did want to highlight a couple things, though. Huntin’ Fool was spot on with advice about the opportunities in Idaho. I commend them for putting a spotlight on the special youth hunts, and I value being a member on the Member Draw List to help future hunters. Be prepared in all ways leading up to your hunts, especially mentally, for adversity. The rarity of the tag is magical, but it doesn’t always correlate to the excitement, memories, and quality of the experience. I thank God for our freedom and ability to experience His magnificent outdoors through hunting.
Login