"Grand Slam of Moose"
By Jack Downing

Forty years ago this month I achieved what SCI calls the first step to attaining the "Grand Slam of Moose". It was 1963 and I had booked a combo hunt in the Ram River area of Alberta for sheep, moose, elk, deer and goat. On my way back to camp one afternoon on horseback and pushing through deep snow a wide racked old Western Canadian moose made the mistake of being out in an open field with a few lusty cows. He was the first of the four moose necessary to achieve this "slam" to go into my bag. Over the years I spent more effort completing other more coveted "slams" like "bears of the world", "North American deer", "caribou", "whitetail deer" etc. and never seriously worked on my moose slam.
I was a lodge owner in Maine and guided for those hunters fortunate to draw an Eastern Canadian moose tag in that state, but I was never able to actively hunt one of my own. Then just as the first Iraqi war was finishing up my son returned home and was able to draw a tag and I was to be a permitee on his tag. One day of hunting resulted in a nice 45 inch specimen and I was halfway through the slam.

For many years I guided moose hunters in the Stoney River area of Alaska and unfortunately have packed out many of those "Swamp Donkeys" on my back that were in the 65 inch range. I attribute two subsequent knee operations to this perverse form of exercise. My love of moose hunting was dwindling and when my son suggested we do a combo self-guided hunt for grizzly, moose and caribou in the Alaska Wildlife Refuge I was suspect. Naturally I agreed, we were successful on all counts and I was able to collect a representative Alaska-Yukon 55 incher. I now had three of the four necessary for the slam.
I doubted my sanity when I began applying for bonus points toward a moose hunt in Wyoming for the smallest of the four species- Shiras moose.

The great thing about applying in Wyoming is that you can check the draw results from the previous year and see how many bonus points one needs to accumulate in order to be reasonably certain of drawing a tag. Further, in that state you can just buy a bonus point each year for $7.00 and not send them the entire application fee. Application fees must be received by the state in the Jan. 1 - Feb. 28 time frame and since by 2003 I had accumulated three points toward a moose tag I felt I was ready. Hunters had drawn in Area 22 the previous year with only 3 points. To draw in the adjacent Area 21 it would take seven points. This area had more moose and they were moose that would score higher, but at my age I felt if I waited for a tag in 21, I may be pushing up tulips before I got that more coveted tag. In May 2003 notification came that I had truly drawn a Wyoming tag for Shiras moose in area 22.

At first, like a fool, I planned to do this hunt self-guided with the use of my ATV. Knowing what I do now, it would have been possible to do just that in area 21, but being a little bit wiser in my advanced years I employed outfitter Tom Toolson to assist me in this quest. So on Oct. 15 we hooked up at Tom's place about 4:30 AM and with horses in tow headed for the trailhead in the middle of my selected area. I thought it was bad news that this was also the first day of elk season as the hills were full of campers, trucks and ATV's. However, an hour before first light we were above the areas where ATV's can legally go and still climbing. We went high and then sat and glassed the surrounding hills. We only saw three cows and calves that first day and Tom bemoaned me for ever selecting Area 22.

The following morning we rode up the border between 22 and 21 and Tom pointed out no less than three trophy bulls in the forbidden area by 7:30. We headed uphill and rode along the spine of the mountain glassing both sides as we went. My Gonic Magnum muzzleloader was in the saddle scabbard and I had asked Tom to use his rangefinder and give me a distance if a shot did come up in a hurry. As we rounded a trail, there ahead of us was a bull moose coming the other way. Tom woke me from a daydream and ordered me off the horse in the gruffest of terms and then jokingly gave me a range of 36 yards.

After affixing a cap to the nipple of the muzzleloader I shot the moose straight on and took out his left shoulder and one lung with a 480 grain Gonic Penetrator pushed by 100 grains of Hodgon's Triple Seven. The moose turned sideways but did not travel. A second conical was delivered through his heart and my slam was complete. For information on a hunt like this contact the Wyoming Game and Fish at 307-777-4600 or go onto their website.
To find out about hunting any of Wyoming's big game contact Tom Toolson in Jackson, Wy. at http://ctoolson@wyoming.com/