“A Dream Morning”
by John A. LaFreniere
We were excited when we found out that my daughter, Katie, drew a moose permit for WMU E1. We have a camp in Averill, Vermont and we had done a lot of work to get the camp ready for the upcoming moose season. We selected my brother-in-law, Alan Cary, to be our guide for the hunt. The permit was an “any-sex” permit and we were set on shooting a bull. The first two days of the hunt were extremely warm, with highs in the mid-70’s. We saw nine moose during the first two days, but they were all cows and calves. We saw them mainly in the morning and evening as the mid-day was far too warm for any animals to move.
Katie was 13 years old and she has been hunting with me since she was 8. She harvested her first turkey in 2007, and was very excited about getting a chance at a moose. She worked with her teachers at school and completed schoolwork in advance to be able to hunt on the first Monday and Tuesday of the moose season. On Monday morning, October 22nd, the weather report stated it was going to break the 80 degree mark. We decided to hunt in the morning and evening so that we could reduce the chance of shooting a moose and having the meat spoil.
Katie decided that we would take any moose as we only had two days left, and with the weather not cooperating, our time was running out. Alan had found a clear cut in past years of deer hunting out of the camp, which we spent a lot of time in. This is the cut that we saw all of our moose in during our hunt. We started in at dark on an old logging road, and after about 30 minutes, we were in legal shooting light. We were walking through a small section of woods when we spotted a cow at about 50 yards. She had no idea we were there and when I asked Katie if she wanted to shoot it, she hesitated and stated that we should wait for a bull. This cow was about 600-700 lbs and was all alone, and close to the logging road. I said to myself, that was probably our last chance, and it being so close to the logging road, would have been very easy to get out of the woods.
We watched the cow walk away, went to the clear cut, and sat at the bottom of it. The cut had about 2-3 years of growth and we could see about 400 yards in every direction. The sun was coming up and it was already 61 degrees. We had sat there for about 30 minutes when I noticed a black spot, in the woods at the top of the clear cut. I looked through my binoculars for what seemed like five minutes, and it did not move. I kept scanning the clear cut for movement, and when I looked back about five minutes later, the black spot was gone. I stood up and said, “That was a moose.” Alan and Katie were scrambling to see what I saw, but we could not find the moose.
We decided to get a little elevation so we could see, and after about five minutes, a cow stepped out on the edge of the cut. It was about 300 yards away and she wasn’t moving too much. Both Katie and I had rested our guns on two maple saplings and we could see that it was a large cow. She then looked back over her shoulder and I picked my head up off of my gun and saw large paddles working their way towards the cow. I said to Alan, “Big bull. A really big bull!” We then witnessed what few probably have in the north woods, the bull mounted the cow and started breeding her. Seeing his large antlers and body stand in the air and then place himself on top of the cow was a sight I will never forget.
The bull was grunting during the whole ordeal and finally the cow moved off and was walking closer with each step. I turned to Katie and could see the excitement on her face, or fear, I couldn’t tell which. The bull stepped out at about 125 yards in full view and Katie had her Remington .270 steady and ready to fire. I said to her, “When you are ready, shoot”. The cow was right in front of the bull and I told her to make sure she shot the one with the horns. She struggled getting the bull in her scope and was becoming very emotional with every second. We tried trading guns, and I gave her a Browning .280 A-bolt with a 3X-10X Leupold on it. She still couldn’t find the moose in the scope. I told her this was the moose we have been waiting for, and it was going home with us today. Alan tried to encourage her to breathe and get on the bull, but at this time, he mounted the cow again, this time at a closer range. The bull had to be over 10 feet in the air when he mounted her. Another 50 yards left of the walking and they would be out of sight.
I asked Katie if she was going to shoot and she said “No, you shoot it Dad!” I asked again if she was sure, and she said yes. I steadied my gun on the bull’s chest and fired. He did not even act as if he was hit. Alan was looking through his bino’s and he said “You hit him right in the chest”. I fired again as he started walking but I believe I hit some of the underbrush in the clear cut and missed him. As I reloaded, he walked up to the cow and mounted her again, as if nothing happened. When he mounted her, he brought his vitals out of the underbrush and I had a clear shot. I hated to do it while the act was in progress, but I have learned from past moose hunts, that these animals are very hard to bring down. A well placed shot in the chest got his attention. He now was standing still with his head low. The cow was looking at him wondering why he wasn’t pursuing. I said to Alan, “I am going to shoot again, high in the shoulder”. I shot again and he finally dropped. We were all excited that we had attained our goal and it was only 8 am. in the morning.
We walked up to the fallen bull. The cow was standing about 20 yards from him and wouldn’t move. We had to scare her off before we could get close to the bull. The sun had just come up and it was shining on his massive antlers. We had a plan to get the moose out; Alan ran back to the vehicle and got to a place to call and we had the moose gutted, dragged out, checked in, and at the butcher in Enosburg by 2 pm. in the afternoon. As we were gutting the moose, Katie and I had a father and daughter moment, as she felt like she let me down. I told her that it was about the experience and sharing it together that was the most important part of it, no matter who actually shot the moose.
The moose weighed 756 lbs., had 14 points and a 56 ½” spread. The eye guards are massive, and from the tip of the eye guard to the top of the paddle is about 40 inches. It was a fun trip to the butcher with many heads turning to look at this monster bull. Katie still looks at the antlers and I can see a glimmer of regret in her eyes. She put the situation behind her and on youth deer weekend she harvested a 6 point 148 lb. buck about 200 yards from our house.
On 06/05/2008 Boone and Crockett Official Measurer Curtis Smiley measured this moose at 190 2/8 gross and 186 6/8 net, enough to meet the minimum entry score for the Boone and Crockett Awards. The moose will be recognized in the Boone and Crockett Club’s 27th Big Game Awards book.