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After decades of determination, Paul finally drew the moose tag of his dreams after navigating Colorado's intricate lottery and preference point systems. Feel the intensity of his journey as he shares his personal saga of hunting alone in the vast wilderness, balancing skill with the whims of nature. As Paul takes us through the demanding aspects of solo hunting, he also offers profound reflections on the realities of aging in this rigorous pursuit, all while maintaining the thrill and fulfillment that only a lifetime ambition like this can offer.
Serendipity plays a starring role in this episode, marked by an unexpected meeting at a coffee shop with an Americanized Apache Indian. This chance encounter opens a window into indigenous cultural practices and spiritual beliefs, enriching Paul's hunting journey and deepening his respect for Native American traditions. The bond formed over shared passions leads to a unique exchange of turkey feathers for spiritual ceremonies, illustrating the meaningful connections that can emerge from mutual respect and cultural appreciation.
The story crescendos with the exhilarating moments of successfully hunting a bull moose, and the communal spirit that follows, showcasing the camaraderie found in the hunting community. Paul's vivid recounting of the meticulous preparations, the tension of the stalk, and the ultimate triumph with his recurve bow capture the essence of modern hunting. A heartfelt gratitude ceremony and a fortuitous encounter with a helpful stranger underscore the unpredictable and rewarding nature of the hunt, emphasizing the importance of conservation and community to preserve these experiences for future generations.
Chapters
00:50 - Moose Hunt Storytelling and Hunting Skills
05:21 - Spiritual Encounter With Indigenous Culture
19:27 - The Moose Hunt Challenge
31:47 - Successful Moose Hunt and Harvest
45:40 - Moose Harvest Ceremony and Gratitude
53:41 - Chance Encounter and Hunting Conservation
Transcript
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00:00:02.043 --> 00:00:12.827
What caught my attention was not only his rounded top tan hat, and it had this beautiful beaded hat band and I went wow, there's got to be a story behind that.
00:00:12.827 --> 00:00:33.771
This medicine bag that was in my pocket was starting to glow and I felt a warmth on my leg, and so I snuck up on him and got within five yards and I could see his antler tips all right.
00:00:33.890 --> 00:00:37.337
So now I think it's probably good time.
00:00:37.337 --> 00:00:45.030
You know, we've had people on the hook long enough, way long enough, um, but let's just go for as much detail as you want to talk, paul.
00:00:45.030 --> 00:01:01.807
You know, beginning to end of this moose hunt Cause this is initially what you know enthralled me into your storytelling, cause it was just a it's a wild like story of you know whether, however people want to phrase it, you know it's, it's magical.
00:01:01.807 --> 00:01:03.332
I got to say it is really like.
00:01:03.351 --> 00:01:31.768
When I heard I was like this is exactly what, like I feel like people should know, like, uh, you know, can happen, uh, on a hunting trip in the, in the, you know, serene, kind of almost, um, I would say like happenstance or beyond, beyond a shadow of a doubt, kind of luck and fortune that can happen on some of these hunts, you know, and it's just, I think, the kind of story that a lot of people think don't really happen anymore nowadays, right of of all the things that occurred.
00:01:31.768 --> 00:01:34.804
So I'm gonna hand it over you, paul, but please just walk us through the whole thing.
00:01:34.843 --> 00:01:51.460
You know, yeah, it sounds like it started in a starbucks well, when I came to colorado in 1991 I started applying for a moose license and the first couple of years when there were less than a thousand moose in Colorado, that was a basically a lottery system Either you drew or you didn't draw.
00:01:51.460 --> 00:02:03.861
But then after about three years, when the moose population got to be over a thousand, maybe 1500, and now we have at least 3000 Wyoming shiris moose in Colorado, there's a preference point system.
00:02:03.861 --> 00:02:15.906
So you apply three years in a row to get into the system and then you get a weighted point and as you gain weighted points that should give you preference over somebody that has less points.
00:02:15.906 --> 00:02:32.390
That doesn't always work because some units where the supply and demand is slightly different or just a luck of the draw, you might draw a moose license, whether it's a cow or a bull, prior to somebody else who has more preference in points.
00:02:33.620 --> 00:02:47.033
And since Colorado Parks and Wildlife went to the pay later system instead of charging you for your license right up front, they said you know it's costing us a lot of money on credit card charges and renewal.
00:02:47.033 --> 00:02:50.270
I mean pay back the money.
00:02:50.270 --> 00:02:52.747
So let's do a pay later system.
00:02:52.747 --> 00:02:58.590
If you draw, we'll take it from your credit card, if you don't draw, we'll just charge you $8 for administration.
00:02:58.590 --> 00:02:59.882
Well, what happened?
00:02:59.882 --> 00:03:12.228
That increased the amount of people applying for those 500 licenses a year from 25,000 to 52,000 people, so the odds went down, even though the number of animals went up slightly.
00:03:12.228 --> 00:03:26.114
So I told Tricia and I had 20, 23, 20, 25 years of applying and being at my age age and you know, reality check.
00:03:26.554 --> 00:03:32.368
You're not going to be on the planet forever and sometimes your physicality is decreasing a little bit.
00:03:32.368 --> 00:03:38.493
And I told her that, gee, I'm starting to age out of this moose hunt because I'm a solo hunter.
00:03:38.493 --> 00:03:39.979
I like to be by myself.
00:03:39.979 --> 00:03:47.713
I used to like I like to use my own uh, not relying on anybody else to get, get an animal.
00:03:47.713 --> 00:03:52.771
I like that close encounter with the, with the, the animal, and do it on my own.
00:03:53.200 --> 00:03:58.693
I tell people the animals we're hunting are full-time animals.
00:03:58.693 --> 00:04:01.588
They're in the wild full-time and we're only part-time hunters.
00:04:01.588 --> 00:04:27.771
So some of us are more than part-time hunters and but a lot of people are just weekend hunters or just hunt periodically and like Mick here, he's trying to become more of a hunter and it's going to take him years to gather those skills, whether he goes on YouTube or videos or talks to me or joins an organization like the Colorado Bow Hunters Association or something to get mentored or get advice.
00:04:27.771 --> 00:04:32.016
And so I've acquired a lot of those skills.
00:04:32.016 --> 00:04:45.992
So this year I applied for my elk tag in a flat top wilderness area and actually drew it, and I've killed four bulls and a cow up there with my bow and been very successful.
00:04:45.992 --> 00:04:48.505
And what I do there.
00:04:48.505 --> 00:04:50.887
Just to give you a little background of how I work.
00:04:50.887 --> 00:04:58.100
I like to hunt by myself, I like to rely on my own skills and I like staying in one area for a while.
00:04:58.100 --> 00:05:01.189
So I would gain 1,200 vertical feet from my truck.
00:05:01.189 --> 00:05:03.630
It'd take me three hours and 15 minutes to get up there with 40 pounds on my truck.
00:05:03.630 --> 00:05:07.749
It'd take me three hours and 15 minutes to get up there with 40 pounds on my back and I'd set up a little mountain tent.
00:05:07.749 --> 00:05:10.600
With my mountain tent, or my mountain camp.
00:05:10.600 --> 00:05:18.432
With my tent, I'd get water out of the creek and I'd have freeze dried food and I'd hunt a couple hours in the morning, a couple hours in the evening.
00:05:18.432 --> 00:05:21.523
I wouldn't get in their bedding areas where I'd spook the elk out.
00:05:21.523 --> 00:05:26.374
I didn't want to leave any human sign around and I was successful that way.
00:05:26.374 --> 00:05:30.548
So that's what I enjoy.
00:05:30.759 --> 00:05:31.884
Now the moose hunt.
00:05:31.884 --> 00:05:39.031
Then I could just envision me being two miles from my truck with a 900-pound bull moose laying on the ground all by myself.
00:05:39.031 --> 00:05:41.987
Holy moly, am I aging out of this?
00:05:41.987 --> 00:05:53.052
Or maybe I better start contacting some of my friends to see hey, would you be available to help me pack this 300, 400 pounds of moose meat out if I get one down.
00:05:53.052 --> 00:05:54.033
Oh, sure, sure, sure.
00:05:54.033 --> 00:05:56.608
Well, I had their phone numbers.
00:05:56.608 --> 00:06:08.043
I had them on my list to say well, maybe, if they're available, but I couldn't really rely on them.
00:06:08.043 --> 00:06:17.165
So even before I knew, I drew this moose tag and this was a miracle I told Tricia, tricia, I'm aging out of this stuff.
00:06:17.165 --> 00:06:19.492
I doubt if I'm ever going to get a moose tag.
00:06:19.492 --> 00:06:22.122
I've applied for 25 years.
00:06:22.122 --> 00:06:28.994
So before I knew I drew this moose tag, I was at a local coffee shop, starbucks.
00:06:28.994 --> 00:06:36.485
I'll give them a little pitch and I like to chat with people so I might compliment somebody on.
00:06:36.887 --> 00:06:37.930
Well, what are you reading today?
00:06:37.930 --> 00:06:39.165
Or what book are you reading?
00:06:39.165 --> 00:06:40.906
Or is there any good news in the newspaper?
00:06:40.906 --> 00:06:43.427
Or you know, what kind of lifestyle do you do?
00:06:43.427 --> 00:06:44.341
What do you do for a living?
00:06:44.401 --> 00:06:53.196
I'm always amazed, because when I was a sales rep for a large company, I had a driving room in my car with a three-piece suit on and I had to stay in motels and do my business.
00:06:53.196 --> 00:06:59.451
I see people sitting in Starbucks in their shorts in the summer with their computer conducting business.
00:06:59.451 --> 00:07:01.761
Well, gee, that's a big change.
00:07:01.761 --> 00:07:04.783
You know, doing your business at home or out of a coffee shop.
00:07:04.783 --> 00:07:06.786
Well, gee whiz, that's a big change, you know, doing your business at home or out of a coffee shop.
00:07:06.786 --> 00:07:33.916
So it was in late May and I walked into Starbucks and I ordered my coffee decaf mocha, extra hot, extra pump, no whipped cream, they kind of know, oh hat, but a round bill.
00:07:33.916 --> 00:07:41.790
And it had this beautiful beaded hat band and I went, wow, there's got to be a story behind that.
00:07:41.790 --> 00:07:45.605
And I went sir, what a great hat band, there's got to be a story behind that.
00:07:45.605 --> 00:07:46.718
And I went sir, what a great hat band, there's got to be a story behind it.
00:07:47.562 --> 00:08:00.480
This gentleman turned around and his turquoise earrings swung in unison and I looked at his face and I doubt if he had ever shaved before because he was Americanized Apache Indian.
00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:01.625
That I found out later.
00:08:01.625 --> 00:08:22.288
And he told me the story that he respects his elders, he goes down to Arizona and visits with his grandparents, he attends their ceremonies, he understands the history of his Americanized or his Indians.
00:08:22.288 --> 00:08:26.334
His sister and two brothers are more Americanized than he is.
00:08:26.334 --> 00:08:33.014
He tries to teach the youth, the Indian youth, about the history of the Indians and their culture.
00:08:33.014 --> 00:08:48.331
And I thought, gee, this is really cool, because I told Mick and Pat that I had been studying a lot about the American Indians for the last 10 years, some of it fictional, some of it based on anthropological advice.
00:08:48.331 --> 00:09:05.754
But a fictional story Read some Louis L'Amour books about the Western migration of Europeans before and during and after the Civil War and how they came West searching for their fortunes of gold, silver, land, freedom.
00:09:07.220 --> 00:09:23.649
And so as we talked, klausenfeuer his name noted that I was a hunter and I told him I just came back from Nebraska, turkey, hunting with my bow and I killed a nice Merriman's turkey.
00:09:23.649 --> 00:09:38.033
A Merriman's has a nice white band across the top of the feathers and near the rump and I collect those feathers by cutting off this fan and drying it out on a piece of cardboard so it stays that way.
00:09:38.033 --> 00:09:41.431
And I had one that fan drying out at home.
00:09:41.431 --> 00:09:45.509
And he said do you have any extra feathers?
00:09:45.509 --> 00:09:48.830
And I said oh, matter of fact, I do.
00:09:48.830 --> 00:09:50.336
I've got this fan drying at home.
00:09:50.336 --> 00:09:52.466
I said what are you going to use it for if I give it to you?
00:09:52.466 --> 00:10:01.350
He says we'll use it as a spiritual fan in our ceremonies to bathe spiritual smoke over our bodies and our ceremonies.
00:10:02.390 --> 00:10:14.600
And I went wow, that's cool, because I had heard about that in some of the stories and some of the history of the Indians all across our continent that did that they could have.
00:10:14.600 --> 00:10:36.626
I'm reading a book about a crazy horse and before they went into battle they would pick up dust off the prairie and rub it on their horses to give them energy, and so this was just sort of that spiritualness that the Indians had, and so I brought this.
00:10:36.626 --> 00:10:40.451
I said I'll be back in 10 minutes or 15 minutes I'll be back, so I bring it back.
00:10:40.451 --> 00:10:44.230
He said, paul, come on, follow me outside.
00:10:44.230 --> 00:11:02.303
Okay, so we go outside, walk around the corner and he pulls out of his pocket a tan bag made out of tan hide off of an elk or a deer, and he said this is my medicine bag.
00:11:02.303 --> 00:11:04.910
Of course we have heard about medicine bags, sure.
00:11:04.910 --> 00:11:06.595
And he said this is my medicine bag.
00:11:06.595 --> 00:11:25.831
Of course we have heard about medicine bags, sure, that the Indians would have a variety of things in that bag to give them to not only praise the spirit, their Lord, but also give them strength in battle, or strength in searching the buffalo or bringing home meat, or being a strong warrior or a leader.
00:11:25.831 --> 00:11:33.437
And so he pulled out this medicine bag and he took out some powdery substance, which turned out to be corn pollen.
00:11:35.400 --> 00:11:56.169
Now think about the Incas, the Aztecs, central American Indians that grew corn and fed thousands of people because they understood irrigation, they understood mathematics, they understood the selectrical heavens, the stars.
00:11:56.169 --> 00:12:00.229
They were builders.
00:12:00.229 --> 00:12:15.529
Sure, they enslaved people, sure, they warred, but they had a lot of intelligence and they knew the power of the corn and the maize, and so the corn pollen was very spiritual to them.
00:12:15.529 --> 00:12:22.653
And so Cloutzenfire, who is a Americanized Indian, and also the Navajos thought the same thing.
00:12:22.653 --> 00:12:25.148
So they relished the corn pollen.
00:12:25.148 --> 00:12:26.885
So he had this in his medicine bag.
00:12:26.885 --> 00:12:38.145
So he gives me some in my hand and he says Paul, put this on your face, dust your shoulders with it, dust your legs with it.
00:12:39.341 --> 00:12:41.126
So you put it on your face.
00:12:41.126 --> 00:12:42.451
Put it on the face, did it kind of help?
00:12:42.490 --> 00:12:43.982
you, no, I had it in my hand.
00:12:43.982 --> 00:12:46.510
He says put some on your shoulder and now put some on your pants.
00:12:46.510 --> 00:12:51.250
Then he took some and he dusted the feathers.
00:12:51.250 --> 00:12:52.432
I gave him this fan.
00:12:52.432 --> 00:12:55.101
What was really amazing?
00:12:55.142 --> 00:13:02.754
Then he turned to the east, the eastern compass, and looked east.
00:13:02.754 --> 00:13:05.264
And what is it about the east?
00:13:05.264 --> 00:13:06.970
Well, the sun rises in the east.
00:13:06.970 --> 00:13:09.644
Now, we all know that.
00:13:09.644 --> 00:13:13.653
But what symbol, what spiritual symbol that could that be?
00:13:13.653 --> 00:13:18.304
Well, the sun is giving our planet the life every day.
00:13:18.304 --> 00:13:26.916
It's bathing our planet, the animals, the earth, the crops, the grasses, the trees, with life.
00:13:26.916 --> 00:13:35.361
He pointed that direction, took some of the corn pollen and threw it in the sky to the east and said something in Apache.
00:13:35.361 --> 00:13:41.212
Then he turned to the south and did the same To the west.
00:13:41.212 --> 00:13:42.222
He did the same To the north.
00:13:42.222 --> 00:13:42.927
He did the same in that sequence.
00:13:42.927 --> 00:13:43.530
Then he looked to the west.
00:13:43.530 --> 00:13:44.254
He did the same to the north.
00:13:44.254 --> 00:13:45.000
He did the same in that sequence.
00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:50.927
Then he looked to the heavens and said something in Apache, and also to the ground.
00:13:50.927 --> 00:13:59.870
And I'm struck, star struck maybe, I'm just wow, this is too cool.
00:13:59.870 --> 00:14:04.269
We go inside and we talk more about this.
00:14:06.520 --> 00:14:08.746
Did he tell you what kind of blessing he had just done?
00:14:09.249 --> 00:14:09.870
I looked it up.
00:14:09.870 --> 00:14:14.447
Well, there's a yeah, I actually looked it up and I can't pronounce it in Apache.
00:14:14.447 --> 00:14:23.150
But he said four or five or six words praising the spirits and whatever God and spiritualism they wanted to utilize.
00:14:23.150 --> 00:14:31.330
And I went on the internet and examined more of this about the four compass readings and how they praise that.
00:14:31.330 --> 00:14:37.011
So then he says, oh, and we went inside and talked more about this.
00:14:37.011 --> 00:14:40.509
He says, paul, I'm going to get you a medicine bag of your own.
00:14:40.509 --> 00:15:02.154
He says because, after talking to you, paul, and knowing what you told me about, when you kill an animal and you walk up to it, when you find it and put your hand on its warm hide, you thank our Lord for giving you and that animal, for giving you his life to sustain yours.
00:15:02.154 --> 00:15:06.610
You had that little ceremony and I told him that earlier and he really appreciated that.
00:15:06.610 --> 00:15:12.908
He says you could be one of our elders, all right, and I took that as a wonderful compliment.
00:15:12.908 --> 00:15:16.548
So he was going to show up again in a couple of weeks.
00:15:18.062 --> 00:15:23.447
So during that time, as a turkey hunter and I killed my turkey in Nebraska the first day.
00:15:23.447 --> 00:15:25.888
Well, turkey season lasts 30 days.
00:15:25.888 --> 00:15:27.527
What am I going to do for the next 29?
00:15:27.527 --> 00:15:27.527
.
00:15:27.527 --> 00:15:30.480
So I thought, well, I can go turkey hunting here in Colorado.
00:15:30.480 --> 00:15:34.451
I'll go over to Montrose in the Uncompadre Plateau, where I've been before.
00:15:34.451 --> 00:15:52.969
So I go over there and decoy in some turkeys and shot one the next day and I collected one feather from that turkey's wing because it was sort of warm out and I wanted to gut the turkey out and take the feathers off and put it on ice, which I did.
00:15:52.969 --> 00:15:59.168
But I kept that one finger and the beard off of that turkey, that little feathered beard that grows on their chest.
00:15:59.528 --> 00:16:11.995
Okay, so I brought those home and I was thinking what could I bring Khaenfeuer as a not as a trade, but appreciation of his giving me a medicine bag.
00:16:11.995 --> 00:16:19.974
And so I found a elk tooth that I'd pulled out of an elk's mouth after I killed it.
00:16:19.974 --> 00:16:26.586
It's called a whistler tooth and it's called an ivory, but it's not ivory and it has nothing to do with their bugling, but it's just called that.
00:16:26.586 --> 00:16:31.451
And people make them in the rings on necklaces and a variety of trinkets.
00:16:31.451 --> 00:16:32.613
That way I had some of those.
00:16:32.613 --> 00:16:35.316
So I thought I'm going to bring in one of those for his medicine bag.
00:16:35.316 --> 00:16:43.807
And I also had a bear claw of a bear I had harvested with my bow years before.
00:16:43.807 --> 00:17:07.674
So I brought those to him and I gave him those and he gave me the medicine bag and that was our meeting and it was like wow, kind of not totally life-changing but life-understanding from a different perspective of being an Anglo-American versus an Indian who had heritage and respected that heritage.
00:17:08.721 --> 00:17:23.835
So I go home and tell Tricia the whole story and she's very, very spiritual and understands what I'm talking about.
00:17:23.835 --> 00:17:28.541
Spiritual and understands what I'm talking about.
00:17:28.541 --> 00:17:37.932
Two days later I'm sitting on the couch and she's in the computer office and she comes out and says Paul, there's a notice here from Colorado Parks and Wildlife and I think you drew your moose tag.
00:17:37.932 --> 00:17:42.325
Wow, and I went no A lot of times.
00:17:42.325 --> 00:17:49.595
You have to read it to the bottom because he'll go well, thank you for applying, you did this, you did that, you did this, you did this.
00:17:49.595 --> 00:17:50.635
You were unsuccessful.
00:17:50.635 --> 00:18:13.632
So I go in there and check and, sure enough, after 25 years of applying for a moose tag in Colorado, I drew a archery bull moose license in an area only 80 miles from my front door, to the west, over near Gould, over near Cameron Pass, and I was wow, this is unbelievable.
00:18:13.652 --> 00:18:14.313
Did you get emotional?
00:18:15.054 --> 00:18:15.234
Yes.
00:18:15.661 --> 00:18:17.019
Yeah, I believe it I would.
00:18:17.160 --> 00:18:21.688
Yes, I mean now, moose are a different animal.
00:18:21.688 --> 00:18:42.825
They're the biggest deer species on our planet, whether they're Alaskan moose, which get to be a ton and a half, whether they're Canadian moose or whether they're a smaller version, the Wyoming Chavis moose Slightly different, but they're all moose.
00:18:42.825 --> 00:18:54.407
They all kind of respond the same way and they're just kind of a big tank in the woods and, unlike an elk and deer that see you and go, wow, we're getting out of here, a moose might stand there and go, hey, dude, what are you doing here?
00:18:54.407 --> 00:18:55.611
Unless they smell you.
00:18:55.611 --> 00:19:00.903
But if they see you, especially during the rut or the pre-rut, they might kind of go, hey, what are you doing over here?
00:19:00.903 --> 00:19:01.703
You, hey, what are you doing over here?
00:19:01.703 --> 00:19:03.527
You know you're messing around with my girls.
00:19:03.527 --> 00:19:05.750
I'm going to come over there and kick you out of here.
00:19:06.651 --> 00:19:09.755
And so I did a lot of research on moose.
00:19:09.755 --> 00:19:33.862
I watched a lot of videos and I saw that almost 90% of the moose I saw, whether they were in Alaska or in Nova Scotia or in Canada or even in Colorado or in Wyoming with the bow, were shot at less than 20 yards Because they could be coaxed in or ambushed that way and they didn't have that sense of flee right away.
00:19:33.862 --> 00:19:45.053
They kind of look at you and kind of, hey, I'm bigger than you are and I don't have any natural predators at this size I am, so I can stand my ground or I can mosey off.
00:19:45.053 --> 00:19:52.933
And so I thought, well, I killed my last bull elk with my recurve bow at 20 yards.
00:19:52.933 --> 00:19:58.932
This moose would be a grand species to use with my recurve bow.
00:19:58.932 --> 00:20:02.886
And so I practiced a lot.
00:20:02.886 --> 00:20:13.506
And when you're shooting with a bow it's all about shot placement and knowing your effective range, and that's what I would teach in a becoming a bow hunter program.
00:20:13.506 --> 00:20:26.444
When I was doing this for Colorado Bow Hunters, my effective range was 20 yards, a sure thing, and 25 yards at almost sure, but nothing beyond that.
00:20:26.444 --> 00:20:36.582
And with the size of a moose, which has a big body and big bones, I wanted to keep my shots at 20 yards 25 at the maximum I needed.
00:20:36.582 --> 00:20:41.952
So I have a 25 pound now I'm sorry, 55 pound recurve bow that I shot the elk with.
00:20:41.952 --> 00:20:53.128
I'm shooting a heavy arrow of 600 grains for more downrange, momentum and penetration, a big, broad, sharp, broadhead that I'm going to use on the moose.
00:20:53.128 --> 00:20:54.705
And I practiced and I was doing fine.
00:20:54.705 --> 00:20:55.689
I felt very confident.
00:20:57.942 --> 00:21:06.240
So I went over to Gould and I'd hunted elk there the year before and I killed a cow elk the very first day of the season with my compound bow at 25 yards.
00:21:06.240 --> 00:21:22.104
And so I knew the area and I knew they had planted moose in here in the 70s and there was at least so many moose, based on Colorado Parks and Wildlife biologists estimate of the moose population.
00:21:22.104 --> 00:21:37.286
There were so many cows and so many bulls and they were only going to issue 10 bull tags, of which I got one of them, and I had the whole, basically the whole month from September 5th to the end of the month, to hunt with my bow.
00:21:37.286 --> 00:21:52.189
Most of the moose is probably about an 85% success rate, almost 100% with rifle, 85% with bows, and they also issued some cow tags on there too.
00:21:52.189 --> 00:21:59.493
So they got to keep that population cow bowl ratio Balanced out, balanced out exactly.
00:21:59.493 --> 00:22:04.661
And so I went over to Walden five different times and saw a moose every time.
00:22:04.661 --> 00:22:05.663
Now I'd seen moose every time.
00:22:05.682 --> 00:22:08.747
Now I'd seen moose over the last 30 years in Colorado.
00:22:08.747 --> 00:22:10.409
And you see them and go, oh, there's a moose.
00:22:10.409 --> 00:22:20.400
And sometimes you walk right up to them because they're just a big black shadow in the shadows, unlike a tanned animal.
00:22:20.400 --> 00:22:22.320
They're just all of a sudden there's a cow standing there or a bull standing there.
00:22:22.320 --> 00:22:23.280
Yeah, you don't realize it.
00:22:23.280 --> 00:22:23.540
Yes, exactly.
00:22:23.540 --> 00:22:27.481
And so I went over to that area and I saw moose every time I went over there.
00:22:27.501 --> 00:22:36.044
And what was interesting about this time around with a tag and early scouting, I saw bulls that still were in their velvet.
00:22:36.044 --> 00:22:44.726
Because it's a deer species, like the caribou and the moose and the elk, they lose their antlers every year and have to regrow them every year.
00:22:44.726 --> 00:22:45.605
All right.
00:22:45.605 --> 00:22:58.449
So once they grow them, all these blood vessels are going through this fiber bone supplying the growth of these antlers and it's covered with this velvet to protect that blood veins.
00:22:58.449 --> 00:23:08.490
But once the antlers harden in late August, early September, then that velvet is peeled off.
00:23:08.490 --> 00:23:12.011
They start scraping their antlers on a tree and they get rid of that velvet.
00:23:12.011 --> 00:23:13.792
Then they're called hard horned.
00:23:13.792 --> 00:23:21.834
And the elk do that, the deer do that, also, caribou do that, and so they're part of that deer family.
00:23:22.294 --> 00:23:30.916
Now remember back in 1962, when I was in the Air Force, I used a recurve and killed my very first deer species.
00:23:30.916 --> 00:23:39.117
And now, 62 years later, I've got the opportunity to kill the largest deer species in our North America with a recurve bow.
00:23:39.117 --> 00:23:42.179
So I chose the recurve bow because I was confident in using it.
00:23:42.179 --> 00:23:49.645
I killed the elk with it 20 yards before that he only went 70 yards and down.
00:23:49.665 --> 00:24:01.760
He went and watching those videos showing me that most of the moose are killed under 20 yards, some as close as four yards, because they come out behind a tree or some willow branch.
00:24:01.760 --> 00:24:06.311
So I went down there and examined all that habitat and I saw moose going through their life cycles.
00:24:06.311 --> 00:24:11.847
I saw a cow moose with their brand new calves, still with that little pudgy face hadn't grown out.
00:24:11.847 --> 00:24:22.422
I saw young bulls and major bulls in their velvet and I started tracking down where these elk were showing them on.
00:24:22.422 --> 00:24:34.628
I don't have a onyx mapping but I have a topographic map that I was actually putting down where I was seeing them and I elected two drainages where I concentrated on One place.
00:24:34.628 --> 00:24:41.306
I put some trail cameras off up and had bulls and cows coming through there and other places that visually saw them.
00:24:41.306 --> 00:24:45.794
So I had a really good idea where I wanted to go and hunt moose.
00:24:46.800 --> 00:24:50.488
Now the elk season starts the 2nd of September.
00:24:50.488 --> 00:24:57.108
The moose archery season started the 5th and then there was a muzzleloading moose seasons which started the 14th.
00:24:57.108 --> 00:25:18.287
So I had a week before there might be any competition from a couple of muzzleloaders that are moose hunting, but I didn't fear that because there's plenty of area in this area where I can hunt, sure, and the odds of me running into any of those, but I did know that once the bulls left lost their velvet and that testosterone started rising in their system and they were getting that mating desire.
00:25:18.287 --> 00:25:26.864
Where you might see them early in the summer, they might disperse and the bull that you might say hey, I'd like to go after him.
00:25:28.628 --> 00:25:30.836
Will he be in the area when I'm hunting him?
00:25:30.836 --> 00:25:33.443
He may have left and looking for a cow in estrus.
00:25:33.703 --> 00:25:34.586
We're starting to span.
00:25:34.586 --> 00:25:47.394
So a lot of guys that I met on some of my hunting blogs said hunting the rut is cool but once they disperse you might have a hard time finding these bulls.
00:25:47.394 --> 00:25:52.094
So you might be better off getting them during that first week.
00:25:52.094 --> 00:25:54.181
So I was sort of concentrating that.
00:25:54.181 --> 00:25:56.346
But it being retired, I had the whole month to hunt.
00:25:56.346 --> 00:26:03.667
Hunting during the rut would be kind of cool, but I was going to take the opportunity that presented itself properly.
00:26:03.667 --> 00:26:08.414
Can I find a moose in the right situation, with the right wind?
00:26:08.414 --> 00:26:23.771
Can I get up within 20 yards, make an ethical kill, see the moose go down, process it, take the meat home, pack it out if I have to Well, not have to pack it out Get it in the refrigerator and have this wonderful, delicious wild game meat.
00:26:23.771 --> 00:26:35.907
So I go over there and scout five different times, found some good areas to park, but there's also going to be some recreationalists in the area with their campers, which there were.
00:26:35.907 --> 00:26:40.171
There were some guys that were going to start pre-scouting for elk.
00:26:40.171 --> 00:26:43.830
That started on second a few days before I was going to moose hunt.
00:26:45.280 --> 00:26:47.249
But the moose are a different animal.
00:26:47.249 --> 00:26:56.346
They will wander right by somebody's camper, or an elk and a deer wouldn't.
00:26:56.346 --> 00:26:58.448
So they're just a different creature.
00:26:58.448 --> 00:26:59.784
They're like from a different planet.
00:26:59.784 --> 00:27:00.929
They're big.
00:27:00.929 --> 00:27:02.324
They're kind of not clumsy because they can really travel.
00:27:02.324 --> 00:27:02.665
They get running.
00:27:02.665 --> 00:27:06.400
They're kind of not clumsy because they can really travel, they get running, they can really travel.
00:27:06.400 --> 00:27:11.827
If you get around a cow and a calf she can trample you and there's been instances of that in Colorado.
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