Caribou Road Trip

[gitano]

Notice about this trip started in my thread about my trip to Australia, but since this has nothing to do with that trip, a new thread is called for.

Based on the post in the other thread, the first order of business is to let you know what rifle I chose to take.  Here's the background:

I'll have pictures of scenery for sure, and maybe even dead critters. Now I've got to descend into the sanctum sanctorum and pick a rifle. At the moment, I'm leaning hard to the 8mm SLT. The only hesitation I have is that is not the CALIBER (.323) that I would choose to hunt grizzlies with, and a grizzly is the big game animal I am most likely to see. The "Big 50" with my home-made jacketed bullets is 'in the mix', but where we're going, a 200 yd shot at a grizzly is likely. While I would shoot at a moose or buffalo at 300 yd with that rifle, the "target zone" on a moose or buffalo is WAY bigger than on a grizzly. Two hundred is the max I would shoot at a grizzly with the Big 50. The .375x.284 Win is actually the best choice of cartridge, but I'm not very confident in the rifle with that flimsy Hogue stock. Then there's always my 'go to' rifle: The Ruger .338 Win Mag. Easily good enough for inland grizzlies and any moose on the planet at any reasonable range. It's just that if that's the rifle I'm always going to "go to", then there's really no reason to have all those other rifles.

I'll let you know what I decided when I get back.

Unable to make the choice between the .375 and the .338 MAI, I figured out a way to take them both and with any luck get them both blooded. I would talk Grant into shooting the .338 MAI and I would carry the .375x.284 Win. :) I also had my .44 RM Redhawk. I rarely go 'in the woods' without that on my hip.

We had to make it a one-day affair because Grant had to get back to take his daughter to the State Fair and then to the airport off for college. Since the trip was generally a long one, (a little over 500 mile circuit), and we were going to 'do it in a day', we had to leave at 0400. By doing so, we would be in caribou and moose country by dawn (about 0600).

Here is a google earth look at the route. First from 'space' and then from 'pretty high up.






The weather wasn't "nice". It wasn't "bad" but it was cloud covered everywhere, and either raining or threatening to rain everywhere. Once we got up to the central plateau, the clouds were higher and thinned out a bit, and the view, even with clouds was as usual spectacular.





We saw a surprising number of moose along the road. That may sound 'fun', but actually, in the dark - along the highway - it's more "exciting" than it is "fun". However, just about dawn we saw this guy. This picture illustrates the lighting best, but I 'adjusted' the brightness and contrast in the subsequent images so you can see him better.































Now you might be thinking, "Alright! Nice moose!" And you would be right. HOWEVER, in game management unit 13B, in order for a bull moose to be legal, it must have a max antler spread of at least 50 inches, OR it must have at least four brow tines on at least one antler, or it must be a "spike/fork" (an 18-month-old with only a spike or a fork on one side.) As you can see, this fellow did NOT have four brow tines on either side (two on his right and three on his left). Grant and I looked him over hard, and both decided that he was "less than 50". Grant thought he was about 45, and I put him at 48. We took a bunch of pictures, and moved on. When I got home, I decided to 'analyse' him a bit more quantitatively. There is a 'rule of thumb' that states that when trying to estimate a bull moose's antler spread in the field, you can use the distance between his eyes as a 10 inch 'ruler'. As you can see in one or two of the above photos, the flash was on and the reflection from his eyes was good. Using some of my TNT software, I "measured" his spread. See below for the results.



I shot this picture over to Grant, and we whined a little, but I pointed out that the "10 inch ruler" is only a 'rule of thumb', not an absolute. If we had shot him and he turned out to be 49 and a half, it would have been no defense to say that we used the 'rule of thumb' to estimate (incorrectly) his max spread.

We drive on.

I gotta do some catch-up work. More later.

Paul

[Hunterbug]

Bummer! Next time just run up, measure the moose, then step back and shoot it. :)

[davidlt89]

first, I must say that is a "stupid" rule, that is the nicest word I can use. Man finds a perfectly good moose and can't bust a cap without worrying if it is legal! up here, horns must be longer than the ears, not much guess work on that! Anyway, following the law, I would of definitely passed up that moose. In my eye (not that it matters much) I would give that spread a 45" max, but that is just my guess. Very good looking moose though! If I remember right, that is a different species than our canadian moose? on average they run a little bigger I believe, is that correct? looking forward to more pictures! God bless.

[gitano]

These are Alces alces gigas or "Yukon moose". Yours are A. a. americana. Gigas are the biggest, and have the biggest antlers of all the species, by far.

A bigger issue with respect to "rules" is the idiocy that doesn't allow shooting cows. The cow:bull ratio is WAY too high, and MANY cows end up unbred each fall. Guess what. Cows that aren't bred don't have calves. DUH!

Back later with more pictures and story.

Paul

[davidlt89]

A bigger issue with respect to "rules" is the idiocy that doesn't allow shooting cows. The cow:bull ratio is WAY too high, and MANY cows end up unbred each fall. Guess what. Cows that aren't bred don't have calves. DUH!

it is the exact same thing in my county here with deer. makes no sense at all! would not be surprised if the doe to buck ratio is 10:1, but I am not a biologist so what do I know. God Bless.

[mtsharps]

nice pic