2015 MT Moose

Sounds a little like the unit I had just north of you last year. Look for any cutting activity, no matter how small. PM me if you'd like, I might have an insight or two, that could help.

onXmaps said:

I decided to do one calling session in a likely spot, along the road I know, but I would deal with how to legally shoot the Moose after he decided to come in. I will have to do some more research to make sure I'm clear on the rules for shooting on a road like this. basically I could never see the Moose again once he left the road so it's gonna be tricky getting a shot if a situation like this presents itself.

Anybody have an input on shooting/hunting from old Forest Service roads like this?

Click to expand...

According to the Montana Access Guide:

"Montana law prohibits shooting of any firearm from or across the right-of-way of any state or federal highway or county road. Thus, the shoulders, berm and borrow pits of roads that make up the public right-of-way are off-limits to shooting and hunting with firearms."

It then goes on to say that agency roads are "not technically public roads," and that they "are open to public travel unless restricted by order of the agency..."

I'm no lawyer, but from what I can tell, shooting from a forest service or BLM road does not violate state law as long as the road is not also considered a county road, or state or federal highway... The agency may impose additional restrictions, but they would need to enforce those.

Am I right about this folks?

From reading the law I also think it would be ok , but I would rather ask the FWP or a game warden or to be sure

I can guarantee you that lots of moose in NW Montana are shot right on the road or just off of it. Not saying it is legal, but I know they do it a lot. In some of that country the only place to see more than 20 yards is the road! I worried about that last year too. Luckily I found mine near a gated road 2 miles behind the gate.

Time for some updates. I missed the weekend of October 3/4 for work as we went down to South Carolina to work on a partnership with NWTF.

Day 5 October 9th.

We went up a setup our camp on the I90 side of unit near DeBorgia. We spent the day driving around and covering some new roads on that side of the unit. The only thing we turned up was this big nursery group of mule deer.



Day 6 October 10th

We decided to drive around some more and then headed up to Thompson Pass and hiked into Blossom and Pear Lakes to look for sign. About 7 miles round trip. Some beautiful country and amazing views greeted us but no moose. We did one setup for calling near Pear lake but didn't hear or see anything












We got some cribbage in as well.



Tim also got some camp meat.



Day 7 October 11th

Spent the day driving roads and looking for sign. Nothing found. Overall 3 moose sighted in 7 days.

October 17th we took my dad out Antelope hunting. I was able to take my son Tristan and Tim brought his stepson William. So we had 2 rookie antelope hunters and one veteran we were responsible for. We had a great time and I was able to take advantage of my doe tag and my dad was able to take his buck in it's bed at 270 yards. The kiddos had fun and got a lesson on cactus! Here's a couple pics.

Hun!



I spotted a group of antelope and snuck to 450 yards. I then laid for about 30 minutes as they worked to 117 and took the lead doe.



The rookies running out to see Grandpas buck.


Lots of smiles



Wore out.



I had to skip opening weekend of rifle. My wife is in the Missoula choir which had concerts both days, all I said was who plans a concert on opening weekend of rifle! She was not impressed. I did process up 25 lbs of antelope sticks, a family favorite.

Day 8 and 9 October 31 and November 1

Ran up to Thompson falls with Rob Hart our VP and my longtime friend. It was pretty much solid rain both days. We drove lots of roads, did some glassing, some calling, but nothing showed up.

9 days and 3 moose sighted.

Day 10 November 6th.

We drove up Friday morning and got to the unit. We finally have snow! Drove into Crow creek and we found tracks from 2-3 moose. Spent the rest of the day in the area and hiked a couple miles doing a big circle following tracks back to where they started! We couldn't get a visual.

Day 11 November 7th

Went back up and found tracks from the night before. Spent most of the day trying to find them did some hikes and while Tim was driving the truck to pick me up he spotted the bull. A small one but we were excited to finally see a moose. There was also a cow with him. Maybe things are starting to heat up!



Day 12 November 8th

Most of the snow had melted now making it hard to track moose. We tried to cover some new roads to cut tracks and found a couple in the mud but the tracking into the forest was not possible.

12 Days hunted and 5 moose sighted now.

Excellent pics. Thanks for sharing.

Awesome pictures, been waiting for an update.

Day 13, November 13th.

Day 13 and Friday the 13th not a very lucky day.

We were able to find the same cow from the weekend before. The small bull was down below her and ran into the woods.



We decided to head up high and hike back into blossom lake to cut tracks in the snow for the afternoon.













We didn't cut any tracks but got some good exercise!

Day 14, November 14th

Spent the day driving and hiking. Went back up to find the cow and she was in the exact same spot! The small bull was down below and he took of but came up the other side of the draw from what I could hear. I decided to walk around the bend in the road and there he was about 100 yards standing in the road. What a huge animal! I just couldn't do it yet on this bull. Anything much bigger and it would have been over.

14 days and 7 moose sighted, do duplicates count?

I actually checked this morning to see if you'd updated. Lots of cool pics. Looks fun but a bit too thick for my blood! Keep at it.
-Cade

Day 15, November 20th

I headed up solo for 3 days of hunting. With no new snow I decided to just hike and hike and try to cut tracks.

Today I went in halfway to blossom lake and then out a lower gated road that went lower down on some south facing slopes. Did around 8 miles in the crusty snow a good workout. The wind storm had also blown over 100s of trees which made for lots of crawling and ducking on the trail and roads.

New gate at the parking area.



Cut some older tracks and followed them around for 2 hours. Finally lost them down low when the snow ran out.



Spent the last hour of daylight driving to see if anything comes out, no luck.

Day 16, November 21st

Decided to spend the day up Crow Creek, went up the east fork and found my cow moose again but no signs of the bull.

Went over to the west fork and parked the truck. I had a local outfitter come grab my truck and re-park it for me 6 mile away. I climbed a gated off road to the ridge top and then covered some country through the most beautiful habitat for elk, deer, and moose. I cut deer and wolf tracks in the snow. Not one elk or moose had been up here for over 2 weeks. South facing, good feed, and no hunters tracks. Just no animals.



I took the one mile plunge down a steep ridge to the truck, always a bad decision, especially with all of the new fallen trees, but it felt good and I kept telling myself that all this hard work makes for good Karma and you just need one shot.

Got a lead on some bulls over by Plains and Bemish creek so I jumped in the truck and headed over there to scout and look for tracks the last hour. No luck from the truck but I found the gated road they were living on and was ready to attack in the morning.

Day 17th, November 22

Got up to the gated road about half hour after sunrise and started walking in.
I was able to cut some tracks from the day before about 1 mile in.



The snow as 2-3 inches deep, crunchy, and loud but I didn't have much choice. Luckily the moose stayed on the road for another mile which got my excitement up. I finally found a pile of droppings and was excited to see how fresh but they were frozen so sometime during the night most likely. You can see how thick it is here.



I was getting close to a opening and I heard branches snap, no mistaking a moose running! 20 yards and I couldn't see it. I tried taking a couple steps to clear some thicker trees and boom there goes a freaking race horse through the forest. This thing ran for 400 yards crashing down trees and branches. I was a little disappointed but what can you do. He had actually kept walking out the road another half mile and then had circled back on a ridge and ended up 20 yards above his tracks when I jumped him.

17 hunting days 8 moose (do duplicates count!) sighted and one heard. The snow is falling finally! I hope to make it up tomorrow morning and head back in to where he was with the fresh snow silencing my approach this time. After that I will have Friday-Sunday to fill my tag.

All the best on the remainder of your hunt.

I have enjoyed following this thread, really neat. Hope you cut the tag on a bull worthy of your effort.

When you get time, i would also be quite interested in seeing a run down on how those three different commercial tc's went for you, battery life, night time resolution, trigger speeds, low light performance, day time image quality, power source, etc. It seems like your units take quite good image quality during the daytime. I run a few home-brews, but am always looking at what might work as a quality lower end commercial tc that gives reasonable value for money.

Good luck.

brad

Good luck, Matt. I hope that as I write this, you are standing over bullwinkle and trying to figure out the easiest way to skid him 100 yards downhill to the road. Thanks for sharing your adventures.

Looking forward to the rest of this hunt. Good luck.

Pulling for you to get a moose the last few days.

I worked in most of the country that you posted pictures of...not easy to work in, and not an easy place to hunt. I did, on rare occasions, see a few very good bulls though.

Been wondering how this hunt is going for you. Hope it all comes together for you. I wish I'd know more about that side of the highway. If your tag would have been for the other side, I'd have had some great spots for you to check out. I'd heard rumors of a big moose spotted up there earlier this fall where you've been hunting. Hope you are packing meat this weekend.

Best of luck Matt! I love the picture of Grandpa and the antelope buck. Priceless.

Hoping to see the final post with pictures!