Dream hunt-would you shoot?
I recently talked to a fella who told me a story about a moose he had on his wall.
It was interesting. He said he'd dreamed of a Backcountry moose hunt and saved up his money. Read all the magazine articles and talked to people and guides who had hunted them. Bought a model 70 .338 and worked up a load for it. Used it to take whitetail for a few years practicing. Got in great shape, and finally went on his dream hunt.
He said he'd pictured it like the magazine stories. 8-10 hard days in bad weather under a heavy back pack while putting miles on his boots and hours behind the binoculars.
Flying in to their Backcountry camp there was a good moose in the area. But they weren't hunting that day. The next morning the moose was 500 yards from camp. At the guides insistence that it was a shooter, he walked out 250 yards from camp and dropped the moose that first morning.
Spent the rest of that day getting it back to camp. The next two days doing some fishing then flew out.
He said he was thankful and happy to take the moose. But was disappointed that his hunt wasn't harder and more like what the magazines had him expecting. He actually said that he wished he'd passed on that moose, even if it meant going home at the end of the week with an unfilled tag.
So- dream hunt, what would you do? Take that first morning easy opportunity? He said he realized he was more interested in the adventure than just putting a tag on a bull.
-Jake