Outdoors: Hunting Moose

If moose meat was money and moose tags lottery tickets then Laurie Johnston has won the lotto not once, but twice.

Since 1989, only three lucky hunters a year are given the opportunity to hunt for bull moose in Hunting District 220 – a hunting area that begins in Superior and goes southeast along the Clark Fork River to Quartz Creek and then south towards the Montana-Idaho border where it continues until it loops back to Superior.

“I put my name in for a tag in the district that first year,” Johnston said. “A lot of people were applying and I was one of three to get an antler permit.”

Intent on continuing her streak of luck by getting a moose, Johnston and her husband Kelly began scouting in the days leading up to Sept. 15 – the opening day of moose season.

“We’d drive up Trout Creek, we’d drive up Cedar Creek, just kind of drive around,” Johnston said. “Before the season opened we probably saw half a dozen moose. Even the evening before we saw some moose.”

Opening day arrived and early in the morning Johnston and her husband drove up Cedar Creek to California Gulch – located right behind the historic Gildersleeve Mine.

“It was right at daylight and we didn’t see anything at first,” Johnston said. “But when we came out there was this moose standing in a clear-cut.”

Johnston and her husband snuck down into the clear-cut. Johnston wanted to wait until she got a good shot, so the two sat silently watching the bull moose.

“We probably watched it for half an hour, maybe forty-five minutes” Johnston said. “It was kind of grunting and finally started walking towards us on an old road.”

Johnston continued to wait, positioned at a good rest on a stump. But the moose moved behind a tree - out of her line of fire.

After moving to get a better bead on the moose, Johnston said she began to get “buck fever.”

“My leg was shaking and I remember trying to dig my heel into the dirt to keep from shaking,” Johnston said. “And the whole time, Kelly is impatient, and he’s wanting me to take the shot.”

After the moose turned broadside and Johnston had a good shot she fired. The moose was hit and to ensure it was killed she shot again. “Down it went,” Johnston said. “Then the work began. I guess people don’t realize how big they are until you get up next to them.”

After Kelly caped out the moose, the two drove back into Superior where they got their then fourth-grade son out of school to be a part of the cleaning.

“He was really into the outdoors so he had to be involved,” Johnston said.

A four-wheeler was borrowed and once Kelly gathered his father and grandfather the group headed back up to the site of the kill.

“We were able to get down to it with the four-wheeler,” Johnston said. “We got it quartered and packed it out.”

After receiving a moose tag there is a seven-year wait period before an individual can put their name back into the drawing.

Seven years came and went and Johnston began including her name amongst the many vying for a chance at a bull moose.

A few years went by with none of the recurring luck and then lightning struck twice – Johnston got another tag, this time for the Fish Creek Hunting District, which only grants four hunters tags each season.

The season started and on a Sunday morning Johnston said even though she wasn’t feeling well she agreed to her husbands suggestion the two drive the roads of Fish Creek to search for a moose.

“We happened to be driving up Fish Creek Road and here was this bull moose out in a meadow,” Johnston said. “We parked, hiked out close to where I thought there was a good shot and actually got it.”

Using a chainsaw winch the two hoisted the moose into a tree and loaded it into the pick-up.

“It was a good thing that we ran into the one we did,” Johnston said.

“Because the next day I went to the doctor and it turned out I had walking pneumonia. I was pretty sick for a while after that.”

Even though seven years has passed since Johnston had her second streak of luck, she said she will not be placing her name into the tag drawing again.

“I want somebody else to have the opportunity I did,” Johnston said. “I’ve known people that have put in since 1989 and they have yet to draw one.”