“YOU BETTER SHOOT HIM”

"You Better Shoot Him" | Idaho Moose Hunting

Story By: Joshua Wilkins

I couldn't believe my luck when I opened the email from Idaho Fish and Game in early May. I was successful in drawing an Idaho Shiras moose tag! This was a once-in-a-lifetime tag, and I was blessed to have the opportunity to pursue these beautiful animals.

I wanted to make the most of this chance, so I took a couple scouting trips over the next couple months. I saw moose every time I went up to the unit. I was able to hang a trail camera and got some cool pictures of moose and other animals. It was so fun to learn a new area, and I enjoyed driving the roads and hiking the trails.

Opening day was August 30, and I could only hunt that one day for my first trip. It was hot and sunny, and I was in the wrong place; I didn’t find any moose. I explored another part of the unit and found a great camping area, which I was able to use later in the season.

Due to the boys drawing antelope tags in Nevada and other responsibilities, I could not get back out until the last week in September. I took a week off work; including weekends, I was able to have a ten-day break. The moose rut kicks off at the end of September and continues through most of October, so I was hitting the prime time for moose hunting.

My middle boy, Matthew, was able to take some time off from school and join me for the hunt. We got everything packed the day before, and we pulled out early the next morning. Just as we crossed into Idaho, a small bull moose ran near the road and welcomed us into the state. It was a good sign.

Camp was set, and, the next morning, we headed to the glassing knob. As luck would have it, we saw three bull moose that morning. We planned to get close to the biggest of the bulls, but we met some mountain bikers at midday who told us about a moose they had seen earlier, so we changed plans and went to that spot. We didn't find any moose there, but we did find a giant moose shed antler! Things were looking good.

Because the glassing knob was so far from camp and we’d had a late night, we decided to hike up a trail closer to camp the next day. We’d heard the trail was a good one for finding moose, but I had not taken it before. Moving up the trail in the early morning we had an amazing encounter! As we were moving through a thick stand of alder and chokecherry trees, we heard a moose raking his antlers in the brush. He then started grunting at us, and I could tell he was close. I grunted back, cow called, and used my homemade oil can raking call to answer his calls. It was a game of cat and mouse as we advanced toward the bull. It was exciting to see the faint shape of a large black animal through the branches of the trees. After about six minutes, he decided it was time to step around the trees into a shooting lane. His antlers peaked through the bushes first, moving in slow motion. Then he was broadside and staring at us from 21 yards away!

I turned to Matthew and the rest of the guys and whispered that I was not going to shoot because he was too small. The bull had three points on one side and four on the other with no palmation of the antlers. We got out our cell phones and filmed the encounter. He hung around for another six minutes before wandering off to return to his cow moose. Being so close to a moose with a tag in my pocket made the hunt a fun and memorable experience.

The next morning we chased a small bull moose down the road with the truck in the dark until he left the road. This was the only moose we saw that day. We spent the rest of the day at another glassing point but only saw nine buck deer! My two friends that had been helping me until this point, Jeremiah and James, had to leave, and we were all beat from the hiking, so we headed for town and had a burger dinner.

It was just Matthew and I the next day. We woke up to a downpour. Due to the rain, we got a late start. We tried to drive some of the roads, but we were slipping all over the road. There was a trailhead close to camp that we’d heard had moose a few days before, so we decided to go there. As we passed camp, we spotted a bull hanging out in the sagebrush less than 100 yards from the trailer. I jumped out and got the glass on it only to find it was another small bull.

We continued to the trailhead and started up as the rain was subsiding. Every track in the trail had washed away in the heavy rain, and there was no sign of anything that morning… Until, nearly three miles up, we found moose tracks! We trailed the tracks until we lost them in some thicker brush, then sat and tried to call the moose in. We received no answer in return.

We continued up the trail and started seeing tracks from many animals, including deer, elk, and moose. This looked like a great place to come back to, so we found a spot where we could sit and watch the meadow the next day. We were cold and wet; it was time to turn back towards camp.

We didn’t get very far. As we passed through a thick section of trees, I spotted a moose not even 200 yards away from the spot we first cut the tracks on the trail and started calling. The moose was 85 yards away and was grunting at a cow that was up the hill from him. His head and antlers were mostly obscured by some aspen tree branches, but we could see he had antlers, and, when he finally turned his head, Matthew said to me, “He is a big one Dad; you better shoot him.”

I like to get my hunts on camera, so I took some time to get my phone attached to the spotting scope to record the shot. This gave me a chance to look at him a little longer and see what his antlers were. I really wanted to shoot a moose with good palms and two brow tines on each side. I could see many points on the right antler and two brow tines on each side. Matthew said he was big, and there were lots of points. I didn’t know how big the palms were, but they had to be good with that many points, so I took the shot. At the blast from the 7mm Remington Magnum, he jumped and ran forward several steps before toppling over and sliding to a flat spot. One perfect shot to the top of the heart and the bull of my dreams was down.

This really was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. With the bull down, the work began. My boy was a ton of help, holding a leg here and there and taking some cool pictures for me. We got one front quarter, the back straps, and the tenderloin off the mountain that night. Back at camp, my friend, Kevin, showed up, so we had help for the next day. We found some cell service and sent off some texts to let people know we had a moose down.

The next morning, as we were finishing breakfast, we heard a knock at the trailer door. I opened it and saw another friend, Jared, who’d taken the day off work after he got my text that morning to help us pack out. He brought two pack goats with him. With the team assembled, we made the nearly three-mile hike to the moose meat. With the help of the goats, we got the rest of the meat, hide, and antlers off the mountain in one more trip that morning. Thank you to all the friends that helped on this hunt.

There is nothing like some fresh backstrap steaks with garlic and caramelized onions after a hard day of packing meat. We got to feast and relive the experience over dinner back at camp. Thanks to everyone who was able to assist in this special, once-in-a-lifetime endeavor, and a huge thanks to my beautiful wife who lets me do these crazy things! It truly was something special.