Doug Crabtree -  2004 Canada Moose Bowhunt
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DAY #7
Day 7 began at Lake Dumbbell where we had hunted the night before. I still had not had any response to my calling and was starting to think it wouldn't work.  We pulled the canoe behind the 14-foot johnboat and switched to the canoe about a mile away from our hunting site, a point on the lake. 

From there we paddled our way to the point we were hunting. 

Coondog hunted the stand along the shoreline on the south end of the point. I was hunted from my Double Bull blind  --  which was set up in the alters right on the point. Dad was above me hoping to video any and everything that happened. 

Coondog, my dad Doug Crabtree Sr. and the Double Bull blind -- all at the point.

At 7:30 I made my first call. There was no response.

I decided to call more often than I had in the previous trips. With the way things had been going it couldn't hurt. 

Every fifteen minutes I made a set of cow calls. At 8:30 I was standing underneath dad and had just finished a series of calls. 

Dad said, “listen!” 

I looked up at him and he was straining his ears with his eyes closed, he said, "I am 100 percent sure I hear a bull grunting."

Now if you have never met or seen my dad you need to understand that he does have some big ears, but they are ears like no other. He has unbelievable hearing.

Just as he pointed to the north I heard the bull myself. I climbed in the blind and got everything out of my way in case he came in. The bull was still a long way off. 

With each grunt you could tell he was getting closer!

I knew that he was on his way. Finally dad said he saw him across the lake but the fog was tuff to see through. I couldn't see him from the alder thicket but knew it was only 300 yards across the lake. 

The bull stopped and got quiet. I made another cow call and he immediately responded with a grunt and started walking toward us again. You could hear the water being thrashed around by his big legs. 

He was walking in about 3 feet of water so every time the water noise and grunting stopped I made a call. 

Finally dad said he was in the water swimming towards us. 

As he cleared the alders heading towards the bay just north of me I got to take his picture. 

He came out of the water and started towards the blind. He still was 50 yards off but I knew that I was going to get a chance at a shot. At 18 yards he stopped right along the edge of the water and shook the water off his body. I couldn't get a shot due to the angle. 

He stood for 10 seconds and grunted ... and walked right at the blind. 

I could not believe he was coming right at me! 

The bull stopped just feet away from the blind as though he realized that he couldn't walk through what ever he was looking at. He dropped his head and looked right in at me.

The moose looking at the Double Bull blind. (Photo taken from the video footage.)

I was already at full draw and had an opening to his heart. I placed the arrow right between both front shoulders and watched the arrow penetrate to the fletching. 

The bull spun and ran back in the water and stopped. He was having trouble staying on his feet and I knew the Rocket broad head had done its job. His back legs weakened and down he went. 

I will tell you that I was worried about what he might do after the arrow struck him. I didn't know if he would run through the blind or turn and go back from where he had come from. 

I'm just glad he choose to go back from where he came from. Needless to say there were some high fives and congratulation going on. 


I was totally pumped. The rest of the day and into the night we quartered the bull and took him to base camp 90 miles away. After all the work was done we returned to camp at 11:30 pm and made plans for our last day of hunting.

We were not going to give up, Coondog still had 1 day left. 

Today was the day I got my "five minutes" and maybe tomorrow would be Coondog's day to get his five too.

Doug Crabtree with his first Canadian Moose. 

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