# Possible record MN Moose.



## Bob Kellam (Apr 8, 2004)

http://www.startribune.com/outdoors/story/1471213.html

Shooting huge moose is only start of challenge
Transporting the heavy animal, which could be a state record, out of the woods was a difficult chore.

By Doug Smith, Star Tribune

Last update: October 08, 2007 - 8:30 PM

Only an hour into a five-day moose hunt in the northern Minnesota wilderness, Jack Weix came face to face with a giant bull moose.
And possibly a little bit of Minnesota history.

Weix, 38, of St. Paul, bagged the moose Sept. 29 -- his first ever -- then found out later that it might be a record-breaker. The animal weighed an estimated 1,200 pounds and its antlers measured an astounding 5 feet from tip to tip.

The rack scored 236½ inches under the Boone and Crockett measuring system. The existing state record is 227 1/8 inches, set in 1985. However, Weix's moose rack still must dry to get an official score.

Record or no record, Weix doesn't care.

"It was the trip of a lifetime," he said.

And that's no exaggeration. In Minnesota, hunters apply for a very limited number of moose licenses, and if selected, get only one license in a lifetime. Only 233 hunting parties were drawn in the license lottery this year.

Weix and partner Pat Flynn of St. Paul, his brother-in-law, were paddling a small stream near Moose Camp Lake in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness north of Ely when they rounded a bend and surprised the moose, only 25 yards away.

"It was amazing. I wasn't sure if he was going to charge us or bolt," said Weix, who was in the bow of the canoe with his .338 caliber rifle while Flynn steadied the canoe in the stern.

"It was about 45 seconds of me staring at the moose and the moose staring at me," he said. "I wasn't nervous."

Weix finally fired twice, dropping the big animal.

"We went up to it and said, 'Oh-oh, this is huge.' I was shaking," he said.

But shooting it was the easy part.

He, Flynn and two other non-hunting partners who were along on what was supposed to be a five-day trip, Eric Johnson of St. Paul, another brother-in-law, and Johnson's nephew, Scott Rosario of West St. Paul, field dressed the moose. They then loaded the meat in one canoe and put all their gear -- including the five days' worth of food they had brought -- and the moose head and huge rack in the other.

"The canoes were almost ready to sink," he said. "We paddled really carefully." They camped one night because of high wind, then lugged the moose meat, moose head and gear over several portages the next day to get out of the woods.

"It was the hardest day of my life," Weix said. "It took all four of us just to carry the head across."


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## USAlx50 (Nov 30, 2004)

Sounds like a hell of an experience. I would go through that much work any day of the week for something like that!


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## deacon (Sep 12, 2003)

That is awesome, man my heart would have busted out of my chest to see a moose like that at 25 yards!


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