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"Riggen's Double-Palmed Wyoming Moose"
Photo provided by: Riggen Moon

Riggen Moon writes, "I had waited 20 years for an opportunity of a lifetime to put my name on a tag for a moose. I had spent many weekends scouting an area I had never hunted looking for possible areas that might hold some moose. Fortunately, I had many friends and some family that knew the area well and offered many suggestions and locations of some moose they had seen throughout the summer and past seasons.

My dad and I spent opening weekend covering a lot of country and finding a lot of moose, surprisingly (16 bulls total in 3 days). I had set a high standard for myself before the hunt started and one of those standards were some double shovels were a must. Unfortunately, no bulls met those standards that opening weekend. The following weekend, myself, my dad and the best "Brusher, gutter, dragger" out there, and great friend, Adam Rich, loaded up and headed out for a planned 10 day hunt. That first morning we got a great vantage point and spotted 5 bulls across the canyon. After waiting out the action of these bulls pursuing a hot cow, we decided that one of those bulls earned a closer look. After cutting down the distance and making a stalk within 50 yards, I decided this bull didn't quite meet my standards, but my dad thought otherwise. To his disbelief, we walked away from that bull. I had heard rumors of a good bull hanging around a drainage in the area and later ran into a another hunter in the area that had seen a bull in that area that morning. So, with the hot tip, we made the journey to this drainage hoping to spot him. While walking into this canyon, my dad and I crossed some fresh moose sign, but after glassing the canyon for 25-30 minutes, we found no other signs of a moose. After some discussion on plans to find this bull, we had noticed a pretty good grove on the ridge above us and thought maybe that bull was held up in there. After a quick plan, my dad decided to walk the bottom section and Adam would push the upper end while I would work around the other side and get setup for some possible action. Only a couple minutes into the push and Adam hollers out that there is a good bull headed my way "but look at him first" he said, knowing I was being picky!! After all the commotion and a few seconds of silence a cow comes out of the grove straight in front of me, but no bull. Afraid maybe he went out the upper end, I moved for a better vantage point, unknowingly the bull actually came out below me. I finally caught a glance of him skirting the grove headed for the bottom. After a quick sprint down the ridge to find the bull, I caught sight of the cow and calf moving quickly across the bottom, but no sign of the bull. I looked back at my dad and Adam for help and they were still pointing toward the bottom. I looked back to the bottom of the grove and their he was stretched out taking a "break"!! A quick look with the binos confirming what Adam had hollered from the grove and seeing he had the "Diggers" I was looking for, also great palms and long tines. A quick breath, bringing the crosshairs down behind the shoulder and a solid shot, only a few steps and the bull fell backwards to the ground. All 3 of us let out a big "Wahoo" and couldn't wait to get a closer look.

The fronts on this bull are better than I imagined and he was better than I thought from a quick look through the binos.
I can't thank my dad or Adam enough for being there to help me out. They went way beyond expectations using their vacation time to help, they even took care of the dirty work after I still had enough adrenaline pumping and tried removing a thumb and they decided they should take care of it!! A guy couldn't ask for any better hunting partners!"










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