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2011 ND Moose Hunt: Once in a lifetime tag


Scoot

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Well, the frustration, irritation, and boredome continue... I hunted yesterday from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM and didn't see a moose (again). The only three moose I've seen have been at times when others have spotted them for me and called me. I'm seriously questioning whether it's worth my time and gas money to continue going out there looking...

My only excitement yesterday came at the end of my day. For some reason I decided to try go around a washed out spot in the road by going through a wet spot- it didn't go so good. It really didn't look that wet! I inched in and took it very easy, but quickly got sucked in and was soon rocking and trying to make a run at it to get out. Before I knew it I had all four wheels in the low spot and I was completely done. Fortunately, I wasn't too far from family friends and he came and pulled me out.

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I've noticed less interest in this thread than most of the stories I've written up in the past. Can't say I blame anyone for general disinterest in this story so far-- not much in way of excitement has happened. If you any of you think it's been boring to read I can't say I blame you-- it's been dang boring on my end too. One thing's for sure- I can't be blamed for lack of effort. I've put in as much time as I can swing and it's just not worked out so far. I'll report back if I have anything interesting, but don't hold your breath...

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your persistance inspires us scoot! i hope you dont throw in the towel (real easy for me to say isnt it?) cuz everyone thats read this thread is cheerin for ya! Godspeed and best of luck to ya. and quit mudding in your new tundra, those foreign trucks dont like being dirty... wink

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Nice rig! Stay persistent - it wouldn't be much of a hunt if you shot the bull behind the farmer's silo on day 2. It'll happen!

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cuz everyone thats read this thread is cheerin for ya! Godspeed and best of luck to ya. and quit mudding in your new tundra, those foreign trucks dont like being dirty... wink

What he said. grin

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Good thing you were close to the road to get pulled out.

Don't worry about the lack of eyes on the thread. Maybe it's because everyone is prepping for deer opener this weekend. I certainly check a few times each day for updates. smile

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Scoot - I always appreciate a good story, but for the sake of the story and thread continuity, I try not to post while it is ongoing.

I would imagine there are many others that feel the same way. Keep posting!

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scoot.

keep it up!! i love reading this thread.

we went 9 days of scouting and 3 days of hunting in MN once in a lifetime hunt and never saw a moose. But on the 7th day of the hunt we shot our moose. It was the lowest of lows for a lot of days followed by the highest of highs when we got the moose.

good luck!!

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I have total faith in your skills Scoot. You hunt harder than most I know and if it is going to happen, it will.

Good luck and keep us updated.

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Thanks for the encouragement fellas- I appreciate it! It's been a pretty demoralizing experience so far. I'm confident that I can get myself in a spot to get the job done if I can find a bull in a huntable area (the middle of a corn field does not count!) But... finding a bull in a place to hunt has been really, really tough.

I'm going back out today. However, I've got a buddy who needs some help getting some stuff done later, so I won't moose hunt for too long today. I'm hoping to help him get some work done, then maybe pop up in one of his trees in search of a whitetail after we get his work taken care of. Not sure if it'll work out, but I should be able to drive some good moose country on the way there. After that, I plan to moose hunt all day Sunday after church. Unless I get a call from someone who's seen a moose on Mon or Tues, I don't think I'll hunt after Sunday- I fly out of town on Wed morning and won't be back until after the bow season is done (Oct 1st).

One thing I haven't spelled out is that once the archery season is done I can still hunt in Nov. That's the "gun season", but if I hunt during it it'll be with my bow (which is legal, BTW). There'll be 14 other hunters in the area I'm hunting then (nobody else is bowhunting in this zone besides me), so I'll have considerable competition. The good news is that much of the corn will be off then, so hopefully I'll have a better shot at finding critters in the first place. That being said, I REALLY wanted to fill my tag during the bow season. But at least if I don't, I'll have a back up plan for later in the year. Hopefully I'll be able to locate some animals then too...

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Scoot, thats why they call it hunting. Hunting because of desire and for the passion of it! Hang in there bud. Like I said and dont get discouraged, it took me 10 days of beating the bush HARD every day. It will happen if you keep persistant and dont get discouraged and over think things. With a little help from above it will happen! Rest assured!! 57.

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No moose again yesterday. I have "family stuff" to take care of today, but will be back out tomorrow after church. I'll hunt about 10 hours tomorrow, then I'm done for the archery season. I fly out of town on Wed for a work trip, so unless somebody calls me with a moose sighting on Mon or Tues, tomorrow is my last shot for the Sep season.

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After saying I wouldn't hunt today, I hunted today. I got a call around 1:00 PM from a friend of a friend who's cousin (how's that for a close connection?!?) had a bull on his trailcam two nights ago. Today, he saw the cow the bull was with in the trailcam pics and called me. I got out there a couple hours after the cow was seen and spent the rest of the day in the area glassing. Towards evening I went to the best looking and most likley area for the two moose to be in and did some calling. Long story short- nothing. I'll go back to the same area tomorrow and spend my final moose hunting hours there.

cbrooks, I hear her warming up her voice!

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Last day of whining... um... I mean hunting. blush

Sun I went back to the same area as I was on Sat- no reason to cover all of the same empty countryside when I knew there'd been a cow and a bull in the area for the previous several days. After driving around the previous day, I was frustrated by the lack of ability to gain a decent vantage point to glass. I would stand in the back of my truck, which helped a lot, but a few more feet would give me a lot more benefit. Here's what I came up with on Sun.

ladder.jpg

LOL- let the ND jokes begin! It may be ridiculous, but it helped a lot and let me glass much more effectively. That few feet gained made a big difference. After not seeing anything I made my way into the area the cow and bull had been seen the past couple days. I found fresh sign, but no moose. Below is a pic of the only fresh moose track I saw the entire hunt.

track.jpg

Around 11:00 AM I packed up and headed home. I had family stuff to take care of and needed to start to pack for the upcoming work trip. That was it, my moose hunt had come to and end. Oh, almost- I managed to get myself a speeding ticket to add a little lemon juice to the cut...

Ticket.jpg

This was a perfect ending to this hunt! After nearly 3000 miles, $800 in gas, countless hours of looking for moose that weren't there, and untold frustration, my ND moose hunt is over. I've looked back through this thread and my frustration and irritation has really shown through with what I've posted- my apologies to any and all who bothered to listen to me whine and complain. I've had a lot of tough hunts in my life, but never had a hunt I didn't enjoy... until now. The combo of driving, driving, driving and nearly complete lack of animals made for a really bad match to me. I actually hunted a total of about an hour and drove the other 80 or so hours of my effort. Again, this is what the moose experts strongly recommneded and I'm pretty sure they are right, it just didn't work out for me.

Such is life, I guess. I didn't take a moose in the archery season, but I did my level best to do so and don't have any regrets about my effort. Hopefully the corn will come off and the gun season (with my bow) will go better.

Sunset-1.jpg

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Sorry to hear it didn't work out Scoot. I know I would be pretty dang frustrated too after all the effort. Hopefully when the corn gets cut it will change things so you can locate some animals to hunt.

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Yeah, you've got every right to be frustrated. Kudos for keepin' at it though, we expectes nothing less from you. Maybe the late season will shine brightly for you.

The ticket? Ouch. Talk about adding insult to injury.

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Really thought that Tundra had radar blocking and moose locating abilities. Computer code thing I would say. Not for lack of effort.

WG

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Sounds like you had pretty darn tough conditions! I have a hunch we'll be hearing a much different part 2 of this hunt. Perhaps a gutless method tuitorial to follow? laugh

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just got back from my work/goof off trip and talked with one of the guys who's been trying to help me get a bull. He had three different bulls on his property over the past couple days and they are apparently rutting hard. One of the bulls was very nice with really well developed palms. Sounds like they are out and about all day long and looking for love. He's also received a number of calls from others with reports of moose. Apparently, things really kicked into gear the day after I left! madcrazysmirk Whatcha ya gonna do? I had to go on the trip- no choice (unless I don't value my marriage and my ability to pay my mortgage). Hopefully he'll be able to keep an eye on them until I get back out for the late season.

Dang moose- they've driven me completely crazy over the past month!

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Obviously your boss doesn't doesn't visit this site. Work can be a pain in the but especially when you have a once in the lifetime moose tag. When you get your trophy it will make hunt all worth it. Thanks for keeping us posted. Good luck Scoot

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  • 1 month later...

Tomorrow starts the beginning of the "regular season" for moose hunting. "Regular season" basically means "gun season". I'll back out after 'em again, but I'll still have my bow in hand. I've received several calls about moose sightings over the past week and a couple of them came to me yesterday, so I've got some pretty up-to-date info to work with. I'm taking this afternoon off and hopefully going to scout a little before I hop in a tree stand in search of a buck. There's been a good bull seen near a spot I can hunt, so I'll try kill two birds with one stone today.

Tomorrow through Sun will be all about moose though. I'll take pics and report back as soon as I have something worth reporting.

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