58” Bull, & lots of snow

Picked up a used wall tent this past summer, collected a generator, small wood stove, stove pipe, bought a couple of elbows, etc in anticipation of our recent moose trip. Day 1 - Got all set up and lights on with no problem.

Got warm quick inside with some hardwood from home, but cooled down a lot a night and was a colder than expected sleep - getting up every 2.5 hrs to load the stove
Definitely learned some stuff - tarp on top a necessity - doubled the warmth instantly once I put that on after a couple days, also a damper on stove pipe is needed, small little non-airtight stove burned like a rocket stove, eating up wood quick and throwing the bulk of the heat up and out the stove pipe, plus filling the firebox with tons of coals, diminishing space for more wood, had to be shoveled out often

Bit of a sleep in, and a late morning start, we were only gone from camp for
2-1/2 hrs and this big guy walked out within range of my cousin. I struggled a bit on the gutting job, as I did not tune up my buck knife after harvesting my doe a few weeks back - rookie move for sure. Anyway, back at camp once hanging, we measured about a 58” spread it n the antlers, which were still pressed firmly into the ground, while the hind legs were about 11’ up the tree trunk. I didn’t get pictures of it hanging, but man, what a huge animal when stretched out like that.

Another bull the next day, similar body size but smaller antlers

Saw a total of 6 moose the first two days.

Nice rack

Sunrise on last day - we did good to get a moose on the first day, after that weather got wild and snowed, snowed, snowed. Animals hunkered down and there was definitely less tracks and movement in the bush.
497 lbs hanging weight at the butcher before deboning, with legs removed at the knee. I’m guessing a 950-1000lb bull for this years harvest

Awesome job and great pics thanks for sharing! I have a tent wood stove we use for ice fishing and I found the same with having to reload every couple of hours at night. Mine has a control for the air intake which I close almost shut but like you I don’t have a damper either. I didn’t bother with one because I was actually a bit concerned about possible smoke so not sure what I’m gonna do… also for anyone interested I’ve tried those fuel blocks, mainly because they just barely fit through my stove door, but they’re not great, wood lasts longer.

great moose. that a real nice setup. Maybe a tarp for a floor would help as well, especially if there had been snow to start with.

We did eventually tarp the floor, as was my plan all along. There was snow to start with, so we scraped it down best we could before tent set-up, and debated whether to try and melt snow/dry the ground for 24 hours before tarping, or just tarp over the snow. We opted to not tarp and try and dry out the ground. After two days ground was dry but def not warm. Then I tarped the ground and it helped with warmth under the cots. Still not sure if tarping over the snow would be a faster or slower warm up period - I’m thinking tarping right away would be better - like I said a bit of a learning experience

Congrats!! What wmu were you hunting?

Congrats...great read and pix..time will help you iron out the kinks until some new ones come up..reminds me of a camp trip north of nakina .. yup we got our moose and lots of snow..all part of the adventure as my buddy says ..

Love the tent setup Drew and yes thank you for sharing your adventure, of your very successful trip....well done.

Arnie

Sounds like a great adventure! Awesome job on the bull

That tent setup is my dream moose camp! Great report ,pics and an awesome moose. That’s a once in a lifetime bull.
Thanks for posting

What a great hunt. You guys are hardcore. An absolute joy to read. Congrats on a successful hunt.
Keep that knife sharp bro.
Cheers….