Rick some of those ten were eventually shot later after hours of tracking several miles further back in the bush,sometimes you only have a limited amount of time and once you replay it in your mind you realize what you saw was a calf
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Rick some of those ten were eventually shot later after hours of tracking several miles further back in the bush,sometimes you only have a limited amount of time and once you replay it in your mind you realize what you saw was a calf
I've hunted moose with my family and friends for 10 years. No, haven't harvested one myself yet, but have had plenty identified as the wrong age or sex within range.
My opinion comes from countless times of being questioned by MNR as to which group had been doing the shooting because there was yet another abandoned moose left to rot.
I've personally seen two cows left to rot after someone had had one of these "accidents". One the MNR was pulling out of the bush and the other we reported ourselves.
Trimmer, if you think I need to hunt longer in order to have an accident, you're dead wrong. I don't have an itchy trigger finger like some. I'd rather identify and safely harvest a moose and take pride in providing it for our group.
Our camp was purchased in 1981 and not once, with over 10 in the group, have we had an "accident". That's with 20+ moose being harvested in that time.
If you don't know, you don't shoot. Are you out shooting hens right now thinking they've got beards?
It's upsetting that there's forum members here still defending an "accident" situation. A real shame.
Not very often will you see a travelling calf alone, unless you see one with a cow, it's very difficult to tell. That's why so many year and a half old cows are shot as calves. Over the years, I've seen many, all hanging at the butcher's cooler with a calf tag affixed !
Kudos to you and your group. I truly hope your words don't come back and bite you an the arse ! Nobody here is "defending" accidents.Quote:
Originally Posted by mbhunter
But many here have three and four times the moose hunting experience as you. We know that "mistakes" do and will happen !
if you hunt around other people you will see calves alone if their mother is shot. several years ago saw a calf opening day and for the next three days never shot because was not 100% sure .fifth day found a dead cow shot illegaly before season.went back a week later heard someone had shot at the calf but it got away.found the calf dead bloated 20 feet in the bush.
How do you know the cow was shot illegally ? Obviously not recovered, but you make an assumption it was shot illegally !
I hunted that area from dawn till dusk for the first four days never heard a shot once found figured it had been dead about one week
So...there's no chance it was shot and unfortunately not recovered by a legally hunting native ? Just an example of, "things are not always as they seem"... Could have also been an archery kill and not recovered......right ?Quote:
Originally Posted by manson
oQuote:
Originally Posted by rick_iles
One scenario that comes to me is a large cow moose with a small yearling with her, after watching the pair for about 10 minutes at about 100 yards decided to shoot them figuring it a cow with calf situation, fortunately we had 2 cow tags in our group that year. Another time a moose walked out on the east side of a small lake ( about 250 yds wide ) the sun was just setting in the west and was shining on the moose, the moose had its ears perked up and from my side of the lake looked exactly like a set of antlers with the sun shining on the white/gray on the inside of the ears, shot the moose only to find it was a cow when we walked around the lake to retrieve it, didn't matter back then (mid 1970's) as everyone had an any sex tag. Crap happens to the best of us so get the facts right before criticizing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mbhunter
Hold it! Nobody here is condoning "accidents". Really,there is no such thing,only "incidents". It's admirable that your crew has never had an "incident",but,you'll never convince anyone who's been hunting many decades that there's never been a "close call". Like I said before,shyte happens and it will happen,sooner or later. We should never judge others too harshly because everything we see is never "black and white". There's always lots of "gray" in between. Believe nothing of what you hear and only half of what you think you see.