Canada Moose

What can I say about the hunting? It was awesome. We did all of our hunting on horseback which at first had me a bit nervous. For a city boy that had never been on a horse before I found the riding to be gentle. The horses are well kept, clean, and easy-going. The hunting area is huge and beautiful moose country.

Our guide Leslie put me on 4 high quality bulls during the first full day of hunting. The first bull slipped into the willows very quickly and never even had a chance to get off the horse. 30 minutes later we came across some cow moose in the willows and quickly noticed they had a bull with them. Leslie had me dismount and move away from the horses. From where her and Paul sat in the horses, they had a great view of the bull, no more than 50 yards away. The cow was blocking any kind of clean shot. From my vantage point, I could only see the cow and the bull was behind it in the thick willows. Leslie kept trying to call him out, but after a couple minutes, he darted off into the brush and we never saw him again. We kept riding throughout that morning. We came across 3 coyotes that walked within 10 yards of us  and about 11:30 we came up on a meadow and spotted another nice bull and cow. We ranged them at 230 yards. Unfortunately it was all meadow in front of us and there was no way to stalk closer. Moments later, some regular beef cows came walking into the meadow and the bull moose started to get uneasy. He finally gave me a good broadside and I squeezed off a shot from the free standing position. I shot high and missed clean. With the weather warming up, we road back to camp dejected and took a break for during the warm afternoon.

That evening we decided to head out into a different direction. Leslie felt the two bulls we saw in the early morning would be better to hunt the next day since it seemed like they were gathering cows there and the rut was beginning. She knew of a nice meadow to try in the evening. We tied up the horses in the timber and moved down the edge of the meadow making our stand about halfway down. She was working the calls and about 30 minutes before sundown, a bull started walking down the edge of the meadow towards us, He was definitely a bit smaller than the 3 bulls we saw during the morning, but he was a shooter size for this region, especially we 85-degree weather forecasted for the last 3 days of our hunt. I setup my rifle on a small pine tree, resting it on a small branch. The moose was coming in slowly, slightly quartered to me about 75 yards out. I let one rip right through him, but he just stood there, taking it like it was nothing. I setup again and squeezed. The branch I was resting on snapped causing the rifle to bite back, the scope hammered me in the eye, but the moose took a hit as well a fell over backwards. We walked up on the moose as he expired and I had sealed the deal on nice 38-inch Canadian Moose. I was so ecstatic that I didn’t even realize all the blood pouring down my face. We gutted the moose and rode back to camp in the dark, The next morning we rode back out and recovered. We came back to camp, deboned meat and then packed up and headed back to town.

Leslie knows the country like the back of her hand and you can always be sure that your best interests in regards to both hunting and safety are in great hands. Once the bull was down, trophy and meat care are conducted with extreme care and professionalism. Joyce and Leslie both worked diligently to find a place to handle the meat and setup a meeting with the local taxidermist.

If quality animals, tasty food, great hosts, and amazing scenery is what you are looking for on your next moose hunt, look no further than Rainbow Mountain Outfitters. You will not be disappointed!

Also, if you tag out early like I did, make sure to spend some time fishing in nearby Nimpo Lake. If catching hard fighting, tasty rainbows every 5-10 minutes is your idea of fishing, you will really enjoy wetting a line here.

I had a great time in the Chilcotin and look forward to spending much more time there in the future.