Well we got it done. Kid got a turned in tag. Ill drop some pics now then will type up the story. Its pretty sketchy at times, involves a crazy hike, a great shot and lastly Onx saving the day and finding a alternate pack out route. Thanks to all on the forum that helped out.
With a cow moose tag right? hope he gets another chance to go after his once in a lifetime bull moose tag again in the future.. a moose hunt here in colorado would be awesome to experience someday. Congratulations on a very successful year for y'all
With a cow moose tag right? hope he gets another chance to go after his once in a lifetime bull moose tag again in the future.. a moose hunt here in colorado would be awesome to experience someday. Congratulations on a very successful year for y'all
That wouldn't qualify in Colorado on the cow tag. antlers have to be less than 5".
"BULL (ANTLERED): A male animal with antlers at least 5 inches long. COW (ANTLERLESS): A female with no antlers. “Antlerless” also means a young male with antlers less than 5 inches long.
He was 3 inches one side, 7 inches other. Glassed him from 500 yards for 15 min and 2 other cows in the same drainage. We never saw the bone. It was 45 minutes before sunset or 1 hour 15 minutes of shooting light left. He was on a north facing slope with plently of light on him before we did the final stalk to 365 yards. We thought it was a cow and to our surprise when my son grabbed an ear....we saw different. We got the meat out in 2 days then took it all and the head to get checked on Vet day even though we knew it was closed. Once arriving at the Grand Junction DOW we got the number of the District Wildlife Manager and called him. My son told him the story and to summarize his words.
" 5 inches is a guidline"
" with ears 10 inches long its hard to see at times anything that small"
" you did due dilegence and respected the animal by getting all the meat out quickly and getting to town"
" bring just the head back tomorrow when we are open to get it checked, dna sample, tooth pulled and questionnaire filled out"
So thats what we did. It counts as a antlerless moose. Good to see common sense applied by our Colorado DOW men and women.