Twelve-year-old bags record moose

Nicollet girl gets drawn in first moose lottery

By John Cross

To hunt a Minnesota moose is for some lucky hunters a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

For many of us, it is a never-in-a-lifetime hunt.

That’s because thousands of hopeful applicants apply each year for the several hundred moose licenses available.

And while unsuccessful applicants receive preference points each time they apply, some hunter’s numbers in the game of life come up before they ever get drawn.

Since 1991, getting drawn for a moose permit has been a residents-only, once-in-a-lifetime affair.

But as far as hunting Minnesota moose are concerned, for 12-year-old Kelly Holmin of Nicollet, it’s already “been there, done that.”

A change in hunting laws that previously restricted moose hunting to those age 16 and older and now allows youngsters as young as age 10 to apply for the permits inspired her father, Jeff Holmin, to send in his daughter’s application the day before the application deadline.

Since moose hunting in Minnesota is a party affair — at least two hunters need to apply — Phil Holmin, Kelly’s uncle, also applied to be her hunting partner.

“I had to apply for 23 years before I was ever drawn for a moose permit,” he said. “I thought I would get her jump-started in gaining preference points.”

Several months later, a large envelope from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources arrived in the mail.

“We figured it was her Firearms Safety Certificate,” Holmin said. “But then I peeked in the envelope window and could see a Zone number.”

Incredibly, the seventh grader had beaten the odds and got drawn the very first time she applied for one of the coveted moose tags.

So earlier this month, Kelly, Uncle Phil, and dad loaded up the camper and drove to northeastern Minnesota where they would be hunting on the Gunflint Trail during the Oct. 3 to Oct. 18 season.

The weather was less than cooperative.

“For the first three days, it was a downpour,” Kelly said. “It never even quit.” That combined with the strong winds conspired to thwart her efforts to entice a moose into gun range.

“I had this birch bark call that I was supposed to use to call in a bull moose but it was so windy that the sound didn’t carry very far,” she said.

Instead, the hunters poked around likely-looking moose haunts for the first three days without much success, all the while braving the unrelenting elements.

Then it was back to Nicollet and school for a few days before returning last week, this time without her uncle, who was unable to accompany them.

The weather wasn’t much better this time around. Adding insult to injury, the rain turned to snow. “I was starting to cry ... this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing and I was getting pretty discouraged,” the youngster admitted.

On Tuesday, Oct. 13, the weather improved a bit and Kelly and her father decided to sit on a rock outcropping overlooking a promising area. Ironically, it was only about 100 yards from where Jeff had bagged his moose a few years earlier.

As they approached, they could hear something tearing up the trees below them. Peeking over the top, at 75 yards away, a big bull was thrashing the brush with its antlers.

Holmin quickly set up a pair of shooting sticks for his daughter, chambered a 7mm-08 round in her rifle, and handed it to her.

“Dad could see him but there was too much brush at my level, I couldn’t,” she said.

They quickly found a higher vantage point and set up again.

Peering through the rifle scope, Kelly insisted she couldn’t see the animal, which stood in plain view. “All I could see was the ground,” she told her dad who was growing understandably antsy.

“We finally figured out that what she was seeing was the black hide of the moose,” Holmin said. “It was filling her scope.”

When she finally realized what she was seeing, she put the crosshairs on its chest and squeezed the trigger.

Nothing.

In his excitement, Holmin had failed to fully chamber the first round. He quickly worked the bolt for her, chambering another.

Moments later, she fired and the bullet found its mark. The moose took a few steps as she fired a second time and folded.

“I was crying, dad was fist-pumping and hugging me,” she said.

After a four-hour job of skinning and quartering the moose, which they estimated weighed about 1,100 pounds, they made back to camp about 9:30 that night.

Holmin, the owner of Northstar Taxidermy, green-scored the rack that measured 58 inches — as wide Kelly is tall — at 184, easily exceeding the 160-point minimum to make the record book.

What will they do with the moose?

“We’ll eat the meat,” Kelly said, adding that her uncle will get his share.

And the antlers? Well, her dad has plans for that.

He will be opening his studio in a new location and plans on completing a life-sized full mount of the animal for display out in front.

But he also plans on casting a replica of the antlers for his daughter.

After all, what little girl wouldn’t want a set of moose antlers on her bedroom wall?