Some beautiful country there.
My 2019 Moose Hunt - A Disappointing Tale
18
Late last week I returned from my 8-day moose hunt in British Columbia. I had booked this hunt almost 18 months ago with Big Country Outfitters in BC. My buddy, Bret Shaw, and I stayed in a little cabin with two guides on Margaret Lake which is about 70 miles northwest of Prince George, BC. At least one of us saw a moose every day but we were never able to stretch the string on a bull. For some reason the bulls didn't appear to be rutting in the area so that made calling them in difficult. We had a couple of days of crappy weather which didn't help either. Another big problem we faced was the fact that neither one of our guides knew the first thing about bow hunting. One of the guides had never even been in the area before we pulled up in front the cabin with our gear. I wish I had a nickel for every time I heard one of the guides say, "If we were rifle hunting, we would..." To say the outfitter totally dropped the ball on this hunt is an understatement! It was what it was, though, so Bret and I made the best of it. It was great to spend time with him again and we got to see some beautiful country. We also got plenty of exercise and ate very well. Here are a few photos from the trip.
We drove 90 minutes from Prince George to a place where we left the trucks. Then we rode quads back into the bush at least another hour to reach the cabin. One of the quads never would start and the guides, Shawn and Tom, spent over an hour trying to get it to run. That pretty much set the tone for our hunt.
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Margaret Lake
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Home sweet home for the next 8 days
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Roughing it
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The closest I got to a moose
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A typical day of hunting for me went like this: Shawn and I would get dropped off at the east end of Margaret Lake just after daylight and we would walk out to one of the cut blocks of timber. From there, we would glass, call, and walk back to camp sometime around noon. That was usually a 6 or 7 mile loop. That afternoon, we would drive the quads back out to the cut blocks and do the same thing only from the back of the bikes. Shawn was big on road hunting. Setting up a bowhunting ambush was not in his toolkit.
Bret Shaw ready to hunt
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A typical day for Bret and Tom went like this: They would motor around the lake trying to spot a moose feeding. If they saw nothing then they would park on the shore and bust brush all morning trying to find a moose. They would repeat the procedure in the afternoon. I guess the guide, Tom, thought they would somehow miraculously sneak up on a bull within bow range while doing this. Oddly enough, they did come the closest. They saw two immature bulls; one at 75 yards and one at 40 yards. Tom was upset that Bret didn't borrow Tom's rifle to seal the deal.
My guide, Shawn.
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One evening, Shawn and I actually had a real moose hunt just like you see on TV. It was almost dark and we were walking back to the quads to go back to camp. A cow was standing near the bikes so we stopped and Shawn called. A bull immediately answered about 100 yards away and started coming in. We had about 15 minutes of shooting light left and I told Shawn that the bull was going to have to be close. The bull was still out there but it got too dark to shoot. The cow had left so we walked down to the bikes. Shawn started calling to the bull again. I thought this was foolish because it would make the bull call shy and I told him so. He said he wanted to see what the bull looked like and continued calling. The bull came in, tearing up brush and grunting. He stopped about 50 yards away. Through the binoculars we could see he was a monster. He finally turned and went back the way he had come. We never heard or saw him again.
Scenery
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The silver haired hunter
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Last day at camp
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Darren
We drove 90 minutes from Prince George to a place where we left the trucks. Then we rode quads back into the bush at least another hour to reach the cabin. One of the quads never would start and the guides, Shawn and Tom, spent over an hour trying to get it to run. That pretty much set the tone for our hunt.
Margaret Lake
Home sweet home for the next 8 days
Roughing it
The closest I got to a moose
A typical day of hunting for me went like this: Shawn and I would get dropped off at the east end of Margaret Lake just after daylight and we would walk out to one of the cut blocks of timber. From there, we would glass, call, and walk back to camp sometime around noon. That was usually a 6 or 7 mile loop. That afternoon, we would drive the quads back out to the cut blocks and do the same thing only from the back of the bikes. Shawn was big on road hunting. Setting up a bowhunting ambush was not in his toolkit.
Bret Shaw ready to hunt
A typical day for Bret and Tom went like this: They would motor around the lake trying to spot a moose feeding. If they saw nothing then they would park on the shore and bust brush all morning trying to find a moose. They would repeat the procedure in the afternoon. I guess the guide, Tom, thought they would somehow miraculously sneak up on a bull within bow range while doing this. Oddly enough, they did come the closest. They saw two immature bulls; one at 75 yards and one at 40 yards. Tom was upset that Bret didn't borrow Tom's rifle to seal the deal.
My guide, Shawn.
One evening, Shawn and I actually had a real moose hunt just like you see on TV. It was almost dark and we were walking back to the quads to go back to camp. A cow was standing near the bikes so we stopped and Shawn called. A bull immediately answered about 100 yards away and started coming in. We had about 15 minutes of shooting light left and I told Shawn that the bull was going to have to be close. The bull was still out there but it got too dark to shoot. The cow had left so we walked down to the bikes. Shawn started calling to the bull again. I thought this was foolish because it would make the bull call shy and I told him so. He said he wanted to see what the bull looked like and continued calling. The bull came in, tearing up brush and grunting. He stopped about 50 yards away. Through the binoculars we could see he was a monster. He finally turned and went back the way he had come. We never heard or saw him again.
Scenery
The silver haired hunter
Last day at camp
Darren
1 - 20 of 23 Posts
Still beats work'n..... Sorry to hear you had a less than stellar experience.
Picking a guide, when you don't know anyone who has ever hunted with them is always a crap shoot. Find one you like and trust, don't tell anyone and keep going back.
At least you can now cross these guys off the list. I'd also make sure all your stick bow hunting buddies know to steer clear. Sounds like they do a good job of getting it done with a rifle, but longbows is a completely different game.
Picking a guide, when you don't know anyone who has ever hunted with them is always a crap shoot. Find one you like and trust, don't tell anyone and keep going back.
At least you can now cross these guys off the list. I'd also make sure all your stick bow hunting buddies know to steer clear. Sounds like they do a good job of getting it done with a rifle, but longbows is a completely different game.
1 - 20 of 23 Posts
