Young Bigfork hunter bags moose

In hunting, luck and skill go hand in hand, and Bigfork's Chris Landon seems to have both going for him at the young age of just 14.

Not only did Landon get his name drawn for a moose tag the first time that he put in, but he was actually able to harvest one earlier this month near Ashley Lake.

"He's been the luckiest in our family," said Don Landon, Chris' dad, who is also his hunting partner. "It's unbelievable. I've hunted and hunted and I've never seen anything like these animals except when he's been with me."

Don's excitement stems from the fact that this isn't Chris' first lucky season. Last year while hunting for deer at a friend's place, Chris and Don came across two bull elk, despite the fact that the friend had never seen elk on the property.

This year's catch took a little more work to track down though.

The Landon men, which also included Chris' younger brother Jonathan, made several trips since the opening of moose season before they found any for Chris to shoot.

Finally, they had a successful trip Nov. 7. It started with a slippery ride over snow-covered roads up to their camp site. They got in at about 10 p.m., set up camp and went to bed.

They got up early the next morning and headed to a familiar spot where the previous weekend Chris had nearly bagged his moose. That time, his dad had been in the area doing some hunting without him and saw several moose and called his wife Patricia asking her to bring Chris up. However, Chris and Patricia had trouble finding Don in the forest. When the family was united, the moose were still around but spread out. Chris saw one running down a hill, but did not have a clear shot.

The missed opportunity made the successful one that much better.

This time the Landon men drove the are together from camp and quickly saw some fresh tracks where five moose had recently crossed the snow covered road. Don asked his son if he wanted to chase after them or try driving down another nearby road. Chris chose the other road, and it turned out to be the right decision.

"There was a moose laying on the side of the road just passed where we turned on to it," Chris said. "It got up and ran across the road and up the hill."

Chris jumped out of the truck and went after it before Don could even park the truck.

The hill he followed the moose up was steep and slippery, but Chris quickly caught up to him with his 7 mm in hand, a hand-me-down from his grandfather.

"It was just turning light out and I was in a canopy, so I didn't have much light going into my scope," Chris said. "So I had to look at the moose and look back in my scope. Then look at it and back into my scope. Then I shot it and I looked back in my scope and I could see it fall."

The moose was estimated to have weighed about 950 pounds and been between two and three years old. His four-point rack was 36-inches wide.

When Chris shot him, he fell onto a nearby rock, quivered a moment and died.

"I was shaking," Chris said. "I was a bit nervous because the past things that I've shot have gotten up and ran off and we've had to track them."

Luckily for the Landons, the moose was fairly easy to drag to the truck since he'd ran up hill rather than down, making the experience even more enjoyable for Chris and his family.

"I was really excited and happy," Chris said. "I was glad that I got it over with."

Chris' urgency comes from the fact that moose season ends the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

Also, since he drew a tag this year, Chris will not be eligible to even put in for another moose tag for seven years, and then he'll have to wait for his name to actually be drawn. Many hunters have waited decades with no luck.

But Chris is fueled by luck and a somewhat new family tradition of hunting. His dad went a few times in his early years of eligibility, but his father wasn't much of a hunter. So, Don had to wait until he could drive himself and could find other hunting partners. Since then, Don has gotten his share of game, including a mountain lion and a wildebeest.

Now that he's the dad, Don is sure to take both his boys, including 11-year-old Jonathan, who has been assisting until he is old enough to participate.

The Landon's use their hunting trips to get in some much needed male-bonding time, which is otherwise hard to do with the boys in school and playing sports, including football and basketball, and Don working and coaching Bigfork's Middle School basketball team.

The hunting trips also keep the Landons' freezer full.

"I don't think we've bought beef in years and years," Patricia said. "We eat beef when we're out, but we haven't paid for any meat that we cook at the house in a really long time."

Past successes for Chris in his short hunting career include an antelope, which he shot last season.

"I loved every minute of that one because you had to stalk them and you had to know which way the wind was blowing so you could stalk them properly," Chris said.

The elk Chris got last year was something to be proud of as well. The 800-pound animal scored 257.

"I feel lucky because I get to shoot big trophies that many people would dream of getting," Chris said.

Chris is already setting his sights on what he'd like to add to his list of kills, including a turkey, a bear, a mountain lion and a coyote.

"Pretty much I want to get everything," Chris said.

They had been putting about 300 to 400 miles in looking for moose each weekend prior to that one since the season opened Sept. 15, but they drove just 23 miles before Chris got his kill. They had the moose loaded into the truck and were headed home by 8:30 a.m. Chris made it to the basketball open gym at noon.

"The weekends before, Jonathan and I would complain about being hungry the whole time we were out hunting," Chris said. "So we brought donuts, Pop-Tarts, chocolate milk and all kinds of junk food because we thought we'd be up there all weekend. But, nope, we got one the first day."