Jane Faiman credits landowners' hospitality and family support more than the single, well placed shot for her a once-in-a-lifetime bull moose.

She started hunting deer four seasons ago and has been applying for the prized moose and elk tags for two years.

Her husband, Brad Faiman, has been applying "for at least 20 years" and never has been drawn.

"He was so excited for me," Jane Faiman said Monday during an interview in their Mandan home.

Brad Faiman started the preliminary scouting work shortly after the tag was a reality. He used a county atlas to start making landowner contacts in the Turtle Mountains northeast of Bottineau.

"Everyone gave us permission over the phone except one, and he had relatives coming," Brad Faiman said. He also asked about driving up and meeting in person.

"They could meet Jane," he explained.

They did their introductions and on-the-ground scouting the two weekends ahead of the Oct. 6 opener.

"We developed good friendships," Brad Faiman said.

One landowner offered a tour on four-wheelers.

"I was intimidated. How was I going to find a moose in all of those trees?" Jane Faiman asked.

They saw cows and calves, but no bulls until the day before opening day.

"It was unbelievable. One lady let us on her land, let us drive around and told us where she had seen moose," Jane Faiman said.

She had two goals for her hunt: A bull with a spread wider than 36 inches and for her son, Brad Jr., to be along when she harvested the animal. Because of work, Brad Jr. had only the first three days of the season to go along on the hunt. She was prepared to hunt into the next week.

Brad Jr. was the reason she started hunting.

"How to spend time with your teenage son? Hunt," she said. "The best thing is spending time with the kids. My daughter, Carley, shot a mule deer buck and she loves to go along."

Jane Faiman did have to adjust to a different rifle for this moose hunt. Instead of the relatively soft-recoiling .243 that she used to take her two white-tailed bucks, she would be shooting a .300 Winchester Magnum, a larger caliber much better suited for bigger game.

"I was nervous about the .300," she said. "It's not the kick but the power you feel coming out of the gun."

Brad Faiman also put a muzzle break on the rifle to help dampen recoil for the hunt and the range time she spent getting accustomed to the bigger rifle.

As opening morning dawned, Jane Faiman was joined by her husband and son and two locals who volunteered to offer their knowledge of moose and the lay of the land.

She passed on her first bull, which they called within 100 yards.

"Don't shoot. It's too little," husband and son were whispering to her. The bull's spread probably measured about 30 inches.

"I'd been told about hunters who passed up a bull like that and then hunted the whole season without seeing another one," Jane Faiman said.

Brad Faiman and Brad Jr. knew they had better find her another bull "or we were in trouble."

This bull appeared in the distance, about 320 yards according to the rangefinder Brad Faiman had.

"Shoot?" Jane Faiman asked as she lay prone with the rifle steadied on a bi-pod.

"Wait and see," she was told as the calling continued.

She lost sight of the bull briefly, and then it reappeared.

"My heart was pounding. I was telling myself, 'Please don't let me miss in front of four men.' I shot, and he took off running,"

Jane Faiman said.

Although the men heard the bullet strike the bull, she didn't.

"He didn't hunch like a deer. He just ran," she said.

Then the bull circled and eventually fell down.

"My son was going, 'Holy cow! You shot your moose,'" she said.

The bull's rack measured 37 inches. She estimated the distance between 80 yards and 100 yards.

Locals also helped them get the bull out.

"Our pickup was too small. He used his new truck to put him in, and we used their pickup to haul it to the Game and Fish checkstop," Jane Faiman said.

There's a spot reserved on one wall of their home for the mount, which should be back from the taxidermist in May.

"My bucks haven't made the wall," she added.

She called drawing the moose tag "a gift. I hope either my husband or son will be next. It's my dream for one of them to get it."

Now she's back to her comfortable .243 for the upcoming gun deer season and again hunting in the Killdeer Mountains while trying to fill her third buck tag in five years. Her goal is a buck that scores at least a 150.

As for her shot on the moose with the .300?

"I didn't feel anything, just the pure excitement of shooting the animal."

(Reach outdoor writer Richard Hinton at 701-250-8256 or richard.hinton@bismarcktribune.com.)