Son's moose taken with my 1903A4

[Kurt]

Your first moose is always special, this one was all of that and more.




Not quite up to Fred's fine photography.. but......

Kurt

[Fred]

That's as big as one of our horses! I always feel sort of sad when I see the death of an animal, especially a grand and large one. But, we are omnivores and we do like our meat. I sure do. Rare, medium or well done is all the same to me. Did ya have to dress it out there or did you manage to drag it back on that little vehicle?

[Kurt]

Fred, agree with the sort of sad feeling, it's part of hunting. This particular hunt is a cow hunt that you put in for and hopefully get drawn. The area is an old State agricultural experiment that bombed. The area originally was forested until they stripped the land and tried to get a dairy industry established. I used to hunt there 40 yrs. ago and it was sad to see it stripped. Some of the farms continue to struggle along so it's a patchwork of farms and over grown acreage. Fish and game tries to keep the number of moose to a level that can be supported as harsh winters can and have wiped out the population. The snow gets so deep in those years that the moose can't move around and literally starve to death, very sad. I used to fly my Piper over that area and quit counting the number of dead moose some winters. They have incorporated a youth hunt along with the draw hunt and the permits are highly desired. It all serves a purpose so it's a good thing.

A little more of the story. My son works for the local water utility which is located across the inlet from the area. The plant is fenced, many acres, and they have a powered gate they enter and leave through when going to and leaving the plant. Some employees let the moose population around the plant go into the fenced acreage and those moose have figured out if they want in or out, they wait by the gate for someone to let them pass before the gate closes. My son went to work recently one morning and a cow wanted out so he opened the gate and waited for her. She gave him the ears back and hackles raised as she walked past his car. He started through the gate and two calves walk out in front of him and that's why mamma was not happy. Ok, Son starts to back up to let the calves by which they do but the gate closes and catches his bumper and rips it off! Apparently, there's not a sensor on the gate. The guys in the plant are watching this all on the video monitors and getting quite the chuckle out of it all as my son picks up the parts and pieces and tosses them in the car. The cow permit just took on a new meaning!!!!

My older son was always the hunter, the younger one into sports, college and all that. Now it's reversed, the older has gone on to an IT career and is fully into that these days. The younger has taken an interest in hunting and these old guns I'm into so it's been rewarding to take him out and pass it all on. We spent 5-6 days over the past month going out to the area, hunting and scouting, pouring rain most of the time as our seasons are changing here. We passed on the cows with calves as the calves wouldn't make it through the winter. You don't want it to be too easy and it wasn't so it was all good. Finally the other day, it was clear, 32 deg and all the work paid off. He shot it with the A4 I spent a couple years putting together (with much appreciated help from Chuck) so that added to the story.

We dressed and quartered it in the field and packed it out with the wheeler and it's hanging in the shed now. With good cold temperatures it'll hang for a few days and then we cut it up.

Kurt