It brought Drake Henderson, 11, of Corinna one animal closer to his goal of a grand slam when he shot a nearly 800-pound bull moose Tuesday.
A grand slam consists of harvesting a turkey, a bear, a moose and a deer in the same year. Drake already had his turkey and bear before he went moose hunting.
Drake, his grandfather John White, who was his subpermittee, a couple of uncles, a photographer and someone he referred to as Dr. Jim went out on the first day of moose hunting in Zone 5 on Monday, but only saw a cow. This first week of hunting is bulls only.
The group lodged in Oxbow.
On Tuesday morning, the group tried one woods road and saw nothing. When they walked down another road, they heard two bulls and a cow. But another animal closer than that group could suddenly be heard crashing through the woods and grunting, Drake said.
The bull moose stepped out of the woods onto the woods road and Drake shot him from 40-50 yards away with his 260 Remington rifle. White followed it with his shots.
The hunting party found the moose lying dead about 10 feet from where it was shot.
“When we found it, it was BIG,” Drake said.
The moose weighed in at 796 pounds and had a 45-inch antler spread.
Drake, who said he likes to eat wild game meat, plans on having a European mount — skull and antlers — done of his moose. He is doing fans and beard mounts for his Tom turkeys, and having a rug made of his bear’s skin. The sow bear weighed 230 pounds.
Drake’s favorite thing about the moose hunt was shooting and then finding the moose he had killed, he said.
White said his family seems to have good luck getting drawn for moose permits, so it was his 15th or 16th moose hunt.
For White, being with Drake and the rest of the family was the special part of this week’s hunt.
“I hope to go with him for his deer,” he said.
When asked what advice he had for the moose hunters still trying to fill their tags, Drake said, “Get a good guide.”
