Moose Hunting

We went moose hunting sep. 17th thru the 20th this fall and we had fun! Shaine, Katy, & Shaily met us up there and the boys hunted for 3 days while Katy & I stayed at camp with the kids. It was fun, BUT, every day the wind picked up more and more, making it more miserable to be out there. We all got wind burnt and cold and DIRTY! we were so dirty by the time we got home that i think i lost 10 pounds just from showering. Ben & Shaine spent everyday out on the hillsides scoping for moose, saw a few and went after them, lost them, and Finally they decided that they were going to go out the morning of the 20th and if they didn't get anything we would pack up and go home. Well, they Lucked out! They saw a HUGE Bull moose and decided that this was the only chance they had of getting one. So they Both shot at it. Ben hit it once in the neck and shaine hit it twice. the second hit being a gut shot and it took it down. So, Ben headed down the valley after it and shaine stayed up on the hill with the scope to direct ben to the moose. He found it... hahaha... but first he heard really deep and scary snorting, it was about 20 feet away from him and yes it was snorting at him and he was MAD! Ben says it was pretty scary! (He doesn't laugh at me now about the time i went caribou hunting and i was walking up to the caribou that was supposedly dead and about 20 feet away it popped up and tried getting up to come after me.)  So one last shot to the head and they had their moose. when they got to it they measured it and it was definitely bigger than they had ever gotten close to. 59 to 60 inches! BIG BOY! So ben started gutting it out and shaine came back to camp to get game bags and a few other things and told Katy and I to take down camp.  SO, we took down camp and spent the rest of the day sitting in the truck with the kids (because it was so windy) and scoping out the boys to see their progress. Come to find out they could NOT get the four-wheeler down to the moose because the brush was just way too thick. I can't remember how many hours it took them to just gut it and bone it out so they could get it in the game bags and then pack it to the trail so that they could get the four-wheeler to it, but it was SEVERAL hours. once they had it to the trail it took them four trips with the four-wheeler to get it all out, but that only took about half an hour. By the time they got it all loaded in the truck and ready to head home it had been 13 hours ( if i remember correctly). Thats with two guys and one four-wheeler. So they decided that if they ever get a moose that big again, they will need, 4 guys, 4 four-wheelers, and 4 chainsaws, just for one moose. They were beet and about ready to pass out by the time they got done. So anyways, yes it is a long story but, a pretty good one and one to be proud of for sure! There are very few Men left out there who would be willing to do that much work without more help and at least one more four-wheeler.  So heres to Ben & Shaine...Good Job Boys!