greatwhitebuffalo
Active member
Looks like we're @ (in some areas) or near the open. You guys fired up? Got tips, strategies, ideas??
Moose Season
- Thread starter greatwhitebuffalo
- Start date
rlmmatt
Active member
Headed to newfoundland in oct and getting pretty pumped
PAGOAT
Active member
Newfoundland bound Oct 4th also... Cant wait until fall.
greatwhitebuffalo
Active member
I'm going back to AK. What made you pick Newfoundland?
rlmmatt
Active member
Money, tag availability, amount of game
sneakypete
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 19, 2014
- Messages
- 1,866
Very nice bull! Congrats.
Things that work for me
Still hunt, we spend hours glassing. Wooded areas I've done well in tree stands. I prefer high country, where we can spot for miles. Spot and stalk. If no legal moose for a few days, then we hike/scout to find them.
Calling works. Scraping and grunts early season(Sept) and on. Cow call early and late in the day, one or two. Had a bull three miles away on a hillside one evening. At sundown gave a long cow call. Same at first light. After reaching our spotting hill, that bull was standing exactly where I had last called from. A cow call will stop and turn a spooked bull. Moose don't see clearly it seems, but they have radar ears! When approaching it is difficult to come in unnoticed, bush noise, snapped stick. I try to sound like a moose, grunts and scrapes, then pause. I carry a white scraper/megaphone and carry it high. Moose will see that.
Once he's down the real fun begins. Early days I brought a come-along and some rope to roll a moose around. Two, three guys is a plus.
A "meat hook" or "butchers hook" is very handy for skinning/meat handling. I use typical skinning knife and Havalon. A 10 x 10 cut of visqeen or tarp keeps the meat clean while you break him into manageable pieces.
The bull a few post up was a mile off on the edge of heavy timber with the sun coming up. Looked to me like he was headed for cover. I let out a long cow call, he looked my direction. I pulled a paper towel out of my pocket, opened it and waved it slowly. Thinking my chance was slim, I hiked down the hill anyway. Sneaking up a ridge in the area, nothing to be seen. I hung out and after twenty minutes a small paddle bull, in full velvet comes strolling down the next ridge. Just playing, I bull grunted. Suddenly 80 yards below to my left, a huge swamp donkey busts up from the brush. All I could see was antlers, with strips of velvet hanging from the tips. My Moose! To my left at about fifty feet was a small spruce tree, that looked a much better vantage point. Crouching low, I held my rifle barrel in the left hand, and used the butt to scrap brush as I moved to the tree. It was the perfect rest and shot.
Hummer
Well-known member
Bearfoot, thanks for the tips and insights, please keep them coming. I almost ordered a meathook then realized I have an old one hanging in the garage. Never used it before but it's going with me on the October hunt. The prospect of field dressing and cutting up a moose in the willows by myself is a little daunting (I'm 5'3"), even though I handle elk every year. Our Shiras bulls are maybe 300 lbs. larger than a mature bull. I may have to get a new come-along.
I'm going to make the best of my once in a lifetime Colorado bull moose hunt. It's already begun as I'm scouting every day for the larger, more mature animals. This morning I watched a younger bull forage on aspens in our yard. I'm seeing plenty of yearling and 2, 3 or 4 year old bulls but larger ones seem few and far between. I need to practice calling.
greatwhitebuffalo
Active member
BearFoot - I'll echo Humer's comments +1. This will be my second DIY trip to AK for moose, and it's certainly a different ball game than deer or elk. I ate the tag last year, but it was well worth it. I've dismissed most deer calls as snake oil, but your comments have me thinking I might give it a try on a moose.
Here are two links on calling by Wayne Kubat .
https://www.alaskaremote.com/my-3-day-strategy-for-moose-hunting-success
http://www.outdoorsdirectory.com/magazine/calling-moose.htm
https://www.alaskaremote.com/my-3-day-strategy-for-moose-hunting-success
http://www.outdoorsdirectory.com/magazine/calling-moose.htm
Hummer
Well-known member
My Colorado bull moose rifle season begins Oct. 1, so I'm scouting the potential moose areas. This morning I explored a drainage that I'd found on Monday to be full of fine moose habitat. It was extensive willow carr with shrubby cinquefoil and patches of aspen surrounding. I climbed the canyon to timberline and saw plenty of deer, elk and moose sign. Pungent, fragrant elk.
On the way back I busted a young bull moose from his bed in the willows at about 20 feet. Told him I wasn't there for him but he followed me down the hill for a couple hundred yards. That was a little concerning.
Check out his spike antlers, about 11" on his right and 8" on his left side. He's just a little fellow, about the size of a mature bull elk.
On the way back I busted a young bull moose from his bed in the willows at about 20 feet. Told him I wasn't there for him but he followed me down the hill for a couple hundred yards. That was a little concerning.
Check out his spike antlers, about 11" on his right and 8" on his left side. He's just a little fellow, about the size of a mature bull elk.
Eaglerb634
New member
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2015
- Messages
- 16
Awesome stuf I am from GA and noe live in Idaho and drew a moose tag here in my home state. Go out for my first trip this weekend
JosephBrown
Member
From one Georgian to another good luck on the hunt. Tell us how it goes
Hummer
Well-known member
Today I drove five miles in on a rugged, narrow 4wd road to scout moose country just east of the Continental Divide. I climbed the Buchannan Pass Trail calling every 50 yards or so. At the junction to Red Deer Lake, I looked down into some willow parks from 10400' and heard a faint bull moose grunt. I called again and he answered with a snort and a grunt. If I hadn't called I would never have known he was there. I let him grunt several times before I responded. I couldn't see him but realized he was moving up the hill grunting repeatedly as he climbed in my direction from the basin below. Soon I caught a glimpse of a big bodied bull with some very nice antlers. In five minutes he sauntered up the hill that would have taken me twenty minutes to hike. I dug the camera out of my pack and took some hurried snapshots until he was within 40 yards. I would like to have gotten some better photos but I didn't want to be too close to an aggressive, horny bull moose so I hustled down the mountain and into another drainage.
How exciting, I called in a bull moose! It's the most fun day I've had in a while.
How exciting, I called in a bull moose! It's the most fun day I've had in a while.
Sask hunter
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2016
- Messages
- 2,927
Can’t wait for my OTC moose season in about a month from now
Hummer
Well-known member
Gearing up
Restored some old hooks.
Restored some old hooks.
Hummer
Well-known member
Today was the CO moose rifle opener. This morning I found a decent bull at first light but decided to pass on him for something bigger. He had nice points and tines but not great spread. A woman came in to kill a cow he was with. I then went up the drainage a couple miles and called in a bull. Turns out it was the same one. This fellow was grunting and thrashing antlers in the vegetation. I stopped calling and he circled around me to get a better view and scent. When a bull moose comes in to a call he's raring to fight. There's an element of dangerous game hunting. Very exciting and a little scary.
Here's a couple pics from this morning. Any guesstimates on his spread?
Here's a couple pics from this morning. Any guesstimates on his spread?
