Monday 10/06/2014
Nervous to get back at CrossFit, it's harder than backcountry bowhunting believe it or not. I threw up again, this is 2x in the last 2 weeks, and that makes only 3 pukies from training lifetime. I'll be back in true form, but there's no doubt that losing ten pounds elk/moose hunting doesn't help my situation, back to the grind baby.
1. 6x4 Back Squat Every :90 seconds 72% #285
2. EMOM 5 Strict Press 90% of 5rm #115
3. 5 minute AMRAP
5 chest to bar pull-ups
5 thrusters #145
5 rounds + 7 reps (kind of pathetic)
Moose in North Idaho (brief recap)
I scouted unit 1-1 one weekend over the summer and found some good areas. I hunted by myself September 28th, 29th,30th and October 1st and 2nd. I went to hard to reach areas, behind locked gates, long hikes in the dark, and called into every stinking remote basin or marsh. Found very little sign and couldn't believe the serious wolf presence in the Northwest corner of Idaho that borders Washington and Canada... it's out of control. I counted 26 fresh piles of wolf scat in one little basin.
I had my dad and buddy Josh meet me up at Priest Lake on October 3rd and worked along some alpine meadows. There was hunting pressure, but there was better country and a few more roads... which meant less wolves. On the 1st day out, we just drove roads in the side-by-side and called. After 1 day, we saw 8 moose, called in a great bull (couldn't get a shot), and saw a dead moose only 1 mile from our base camp. We had found a great area with high moose density. On Saturday, October 4th, my dad and I walked into a road system that had tons of moose tracks all over an old burn, we called and got 2 bulls to come in. One got by me and had pushed my dad back further into the timber, the other one I stayed on and basically called in. He got my wind at 10 yards and peaced out, so I started raking a tree and he decided to turn around and sprint right at me. I barely had time to get my arrow on the string when he about ran me over at 4 yards, he turned abruptly when he saw me and my arrow was gone, quartering away shot at 5 yards, the arrow went in through the back rib and punched out the opposite shoulder, the bull only went about 40 yards. I was kneeling on a logging road when I made the shot, so it was an easy pack out. A very special hunt. If I had to do it over, I would have carved out more time for this hunt and been more selective and way more aggressive in my calling techniques. So glad my dad was there to share in the experience. We both have our Idaho Shiras moose hunts in the books, I'll probably piece together some video of the hunt, didn't get the kill shot on camera obviously, but the memory of a charging bull moose is burned in my mind forever.