The Bull Moose appeared out of no where.  I had just glassed the buck brush flat below the ridge the caribou where on. Keith my friend, guide and outfitter was putting his spotting scope away after looking over the beautiful caribou bull we were after.  When I said “Keith there’s a big bull moose!”  

I was hunting with good friends Keith Connors and Shane Black owners of B.C. Safaris in the Canadian providence of British Columbia for Canadian moose and mountain caribou. I flew from my home town of Reno, Nevada to Vancouver B.C. where I over nighted.  First thing the next morning I flew to Smithers B.C., there I was met by long time friends Ron and Suzy Sherer who had drove from their home in Idaho, from Smithers we drove seven hours north to Dease Lake.
Keith met at Dease and flew us in his Cessna 185 with floats to their beautiful lodge at Turnagain Lake, after our gear was situated; we shot our bows and enjoyed a relaxing dinner with all the B.C. Safaris crew.


Keith’s Cessna 185 on our beautiful high mountain lake.


B.C. Safaris beautiful lodge at Turagain Lake


The next afternoon Keith flew us to a high mountain lake from there we would hunt by horse back, boat or both.  Camp would be an old trapper/hunting cabin.  The first evening in camp Keith asked “Tony what’s your priority moose or caribou? Ron what’s yours?”  “Moose” Ron replied. I looked at my friend Keith and said “BOTH!  I want BOTH!! Keith smiled and we made plans for the first mornings hunt.  The first day out we spotted a small bull moose, a few cows, and a huge mtn grizzly bear.  On a distant mountain top we spotted a heard of 35 mountain caribou which had a tremendous bull running the show, with several satellite bulls making his life difficult to say the least.  The rut was in full swing. Keith’s son Rob and I made plans to go after the caribou, the next day we rode until 2:00 that afternoon and decided we just didn’t have enough time to get there before darkness settled in.  Again we made plans to go after the caribou, but we woke to a cold snowy, windy day.  Over the next 6 days the early winter snow storms were playing havoc with all our well laid plans.  

 
Our hunting lodge in Northern B.C.


Finally on the 7th day of our 10 day hunt Keith and I took 4 horses and rode about 4 hours from the cabin. Two of those hours were in snow belly deep to the horses.  Keith stopped at one point and said "I'm not sure we should continue, with the snow this deep, besides nothing good comes from an east wind and dark steel grey sky's in this country."  We talked about it then Keith said “we came here to hunt, so let’s go hunt!” We knew the trip home could be a tough one if we got more snow.
 

The author was glad to be out of the deep snow!


 We rode for another hour when I spotted some caribou up on top of the mountain, on a wind blown ridge.  As Keith looked over the bull caribou in the spotting scope, I was glassing a buck brush flat below the ridge the caribou where on.  I climbed back in my saddle and Keith was putting his spotting scope away as I looked back at the buck brush flat, there out of seemingly no where stepped a bull moose from a balsam thicket, “Keith there’s a big bull moose!” Keith stayed with the horses and called, as the moose moved towards us I moved to him.  The bull was grunting, Keith was cow calling and I moved closer. The bull started to drop down into the creek and when his eyes were out of sight I cow called. He instantly grunted back.  I quickly ranged a few spots on the little flat below before he reappeared, when he came up on the flat he was 30 yards and heading right for Keith, at 27 yards the bull was broadside I drew my PSE X-Force ever so slowly and the arrow pasted through the bulls massive chest in an instant.  He quickly ran off back down into the creek for good.   Keith said "I knew when you left here that moose was going to end up dead and IN THE CREEK!"  After a quick back slapping (probably for shooting the moose and having it end up in the creek) and celebration. He said “let’s go get the caribou!”



The author with his P&Y class Canadian moose.

  We rode another 30 minutes to get to the ridge the caribou were on.  Keith said "I'll stay back and follow you."  Climbing to the top of the wind blown ridge, the caribou were bedded on the crest in a few inches of snow as I moved through waist deep snow, and behind a balsam stand.  The bull was 70 yards.  He was bedded in the middle of 11 cows and calves. When one of the cows got up and moved down hill to feed, he chased her a bit, then watched as she fed.  He was still about 70 yards away, at 40 yards there was a small conifer. I slowly moved towards the conifer which would put me 30 yards from the bull. About 10 yards before I reached the tree a cow stood up and spot me. I quickly brought my bow over my head to look like a set of antlers; it worked and she clamed down, but the rest of the heard was now standing looking at me, still in waist deep snow I quickly moved the remaining 10 yards to the tree.  Now the bull reversed direction and was facing up hill watching the cows and calves watch me. He started to move towards them, grunting and thrashing the brush in front of him, then he spotted my bow/antlers and turned towards me, I shook the tree and grunted back at him, that infuriated him, he moved towards me beating the brush and grunting even louder, as soon as he cleared the brush and his vision was obstructed by the conifer I brought my PSE X-Force down and came to full draw, the bull stopped thrashing the brush and turned broadside facing his cows, the pin was behind his front shoulder and the arrow zipped through him, he ran just below me and I shot again at 15 yards then he headed down the hill towards the horses before piling up against a spruce tree.  I was speechless, it was the most action packed exciting 3 hours I have ever had archery hunting to say the least!!!  

We hit the creek just at dark, and spent the night in 18" of snow.  We made a bed of pine boughs, a tarp, and threw our bed roles on top of that; another tarp blocked the wind on 3 sides and over the top to keep snow off us.  We had a great fire, told a few lies then slept through the night.  

 
Our light weight make shift lodge got us comfortabley through the night!
 
The author with his record class mountain caribou.

 

The next day wasn't much fun with the moose in the creek, and the caribou up the mountain in 18" of snow.  We had to take care of the moose in the creek as there was no way to get him up over the small bank, the caribou was a little easier and we finally had the pack boxes loaded to the hilt with meat, and gear. Everything seemed situated as we prepared to make the long cold ride home.  But, as we started out Dick one of the pack horses started to prance around, then laid down, Keith said “Dick you have never let me down” Finally when he stood back up we unpacked the horns, pack boxes full of meat and repositioned everything and then cinched him back up.  I think Keith and I both were holding our breath, Keith more so as he knew we were asking a lot of these 4 horses.

The snow and wind had completely covered the trail from the day before. One horse wreck meant we would have to drop all the pack boxes and ride to the cabin, then returned the next day weather permitting!  We were pushing the limits of both horses and hunters, as both of us were chilled to the bone, we tried walking to help the horses and warm up but that just didn’t work as the snow was past our knees.  We're lucky to have gotten back through the mountain pass safely with the snow up to the horses belly's and the wind blowing the horses side ways on several occasions.  My Sitka Gear System preformed beautifully, from the base layers wicking moister away from my skin to the down pour jacket and pants which kept the driving wind and rain from sucking what little warmth I did have.

We got back to the cabin just at dark, off loaded the meat, and fed the horses a little extra for getting us back in one piece.  With the cabin heated up and a warm drink in hand, Keith said "30 years of doing this and I have never been in a tougher situation with horses and a hunter" I told him I loved every minute and would do it again tomorrow, but 2 hours before that I said to myself "I NEVER WANT TO SEE THIS MOUNTAIN PASS AGAIN" amazing how short our memories can be sometimes when we're having fun!!

This is was my second hunt with Keith and Shane at B.C. Safaris.  In 2005, I arrowed a beautiful stone sheep with their 2006 Leland award winning guide and friend Alan Crawford. They have excellent guides, accommodations and are just plain down to earth hard working great people.  If you’re looking for a Canadian moose, a rocky mountain goat, a stone sheep, a mountain grizzly bear or a world class mountain caribou look no further.  One of the top B&C mountain caribou has come off their area.  The big bull that was in the group of 35 could push the archery world record, and he’s still roaming the hills of northern B.C.  Contact B.C. Safaris Keith Connors (250) 964-6595 or Shane Black (250) 562-0071 or visit their website at www.BCsafaris.com  For more information on the Sitka Gear Layering System contact them at www.SitkaGear.com

My 70# PSE X-force preformed flawlessly, an absolutely amazing bow. I shoot Easton ACC arrows, NAP RazorCap broadheads.  My optics were Leica 8x42 Geovids, Swarovski 15X56 and Keith used Leica 15X56 Geovids.