Weather and wolves. I can relate to both challenges! Take some comfort in the fact that you and your outfitter put in an honest effort despite the conditions and your knee troubles.
I just spent a week in truly excellent well-stocked elk country that I know intimately, trying as host and guide to show a cow elk to a couple of beginner elk hunters with special herd reduction tags. Easy hunt right? We got skunked, but not for lack of trying! Wind and wolves were partly to blame. (I sometimes have to remind myself "it's hunting, not shopping!")
Wind puts the animals into thick bush and keeps them from moving and hyper alert because they can't hear any predators or hunters coming. Wolves appear and disappear randomly while they make very large circuits of their huge territory. While locally present, wolves chase game out of the accessible places and make the survivors very cautious about coming out in the open during daylight.
Neither wind nor wolves are unusual or predictable, so I wouldn't hold your outfitter fully responsible.
Perhaps booking your next hunt a bit earlier in the season would help. I am more familiar with Canada moose then Shiras, but our moose tend to migrate away from the semi-open meadows and bogs that they frequent in summer and early fall during the rut. In late fall they move into hazelnut brush and thick willows and alders that they browse on for the rest of the winter. I suspect Shiras aren't too different. A month earlier and you may have found many moose.
In any case, I enjoyed reading your story, thanks for sharing!
