Bowhunting moose

[Sjs67]

So I was drawn for moose this year,and never really hunted moose before. Hoping to get one with the bow , and tips that would help? Was planning on scouting/hunting the area early September. I assume calling moose doesn't really work till late step or early oct ? So was planning hunting water or food sources for the early part.

[L.O.S.T.Arrow]

I have called moose from the first week in September to the last week in Oct...with the best peaking around Oct 11th..so call thru all it doesnt hurt...

Water sources are both water and food sources for moose...look for natural springs that are minerial licks..they visit them often early hot/warm season...creeks with lots of beaver dams are awesome places...

Take note of some of these places thou as early Sept can get hot and you have to process and get that huge critter out quickly...many have spolied over night...

Neil

[manosteel]

Calling works in early September, not as aggressive as you would find in the last week/ 1st week of October but it still works. Focus on passive calling techniques, cow calls & mimicking cow urinating in lakes and dugouts. Bulls will respond but they will come in quite, younger ones will grunt in softly so you have to really listen.

Focus on lakes and swamps, if you can find two water bodies near each other and game trials in between, good place to start.

Best beat early season is spot and stalk, covering lots of ground.

[Sjs67]

Thanks. The area is rolling prairie with trees and a bit of farm land in between. I never hunted the area before.

[woody1948]

Moose will respond pre rut to a call. I have a friend Steve Morin, he guides for White River Air, check out his videos on you tube. We call him the Moose Man.

[ASAT Hunter]

I have a sweet 2 - 3D decoys that blow up with a 18 volt dewalt battery and a remote.
a life size display that weights 1.5 lbs. Calling is great but if they don't see anything they stay back and wait but once they see the decoy they walk right in. No need to call anymore!

I use a blind and I've had moose walk about 3 feet away, no looking at me of course but at the decoy! A little scent on the butt and voila moose steak!

I only use it when bowhunting and never use it where guns are used or gun people\ around otherwise I'd be dead.

[L.O.S.T.Arrow]

Originally Posted by ASAT Hunter

I have a sweet 2 - 3D decoys that blow up with a 18 volt dewalt battery and a remote.
a life size display that weights 1.5 lbs. Calling is great but if they don't see anything they stay back and wait but once they see the decoy they walk right in. No need to call anymore!

I use a blind and I've had moose walk about 3 feet away, no looking at me of course but at the decoy! A little scent on the butt and voila moose steak!

I only use it when bowhunting and never use it where guns are used or gun people\ around otherwise I'd be dead.

I heard about you hunters with blow up dolls....lol

kidding sounds neat ..PICs?

Neil

[58thecat]

Scout, find the sign, early season, spot, stalk, ambush, don't push them, if they are happy with an area they will hang out there, call later sept early oct, never used a decoy but really interested in the one described in the post above. Addictive, they are huge when walking by close a complete rush!

[ASAT Hunter]

This is what I was talking about!

Enjoyed the blow up comment TFF!

Cheers

Happy hunting

[58thecat]

Originally Posted by ASAT Hunter

This is what I was talking about!

Enjoyed the blow up comment TFF!

Cheers

Happy hunting

So where do I get a blow up moose doll? How much? Seriously, as this will definitely help the odds in the favor of the hunter.

[Sjs67]

So what's the best way to handle the meat if it's warm. Thinking skinning and quarter ASAP and wrap in game bags and keep dry. Wrap tarp around and pile bags of ice on top? Inside chest cavity? Most likely be a solo hunt. Or just do the gutLess method? I have butchered a pile of deer, cows and pigs , but dealing with a moose in warm weather be tricky I'm sure.

[3blade]

Originally Posted by Sjs67

So what's the best way to handle the meat if it's warm. Thinking skinning and quarter ASAP and wrap in game bags and keep dry. Wrap tarp around and pile bags of ice on top? Inside chest cavity? Most likely be a solo hunt. Or just do the gutLess method? I have butchered a pile of deer, cows and pigs , but dealing with a moose in warm weather be tricky I'm sure.

1: absolutely do gutless - way faster, and "quarters" will NOT cool down fast enough. Skin, cut a piece off, put in game bag, hang from tree in shade, repeat. You really must have air circulation. Also moose fat has a very strong taste so you do not want to cut through bone and spread it all over the meat (will make it spoil faster as well). Commercial butchering techniques have no place in wild game processing, ruins many animals. FWiW I've never had anyone complain of a "gamey" taste to the animals I've dealt with.

2: early season requires quad, horses, whatever - some way to get it out, you won't pack it fast enough. Cool weather makes packing possible but 600-800 lbs boned out is not fun.

3: ice on the bottom, then tarp, then meat. As ice melts the water obeys gravity, you don't want it draining onto the meat. Good quality game bags to keep it clean.

[Kurt505]

One thing I found out, moose have incredible hearing. I called one day, then walked down a cut line, then walked back (total time was about 1hr 15min, and had a bull come running across a wide open field right to where I called. It was awesome, accept I was about 200yds west of where the moose ran to. It's like hunting elk that have been educated, a lot of times it takes a while before they show up or call back, they aren't as vocal as your average elk.

Another thing is moose will generally put up with more noise or movement than your average deer or elk, but one wiff of you and they're gone, like elk or deer stay down wind.

[muzzy]

I have called moose in from Sept 3 to Oct 10 and find the best period is from Sept 25 to Oct 7. I was very friendly with the game biologist back in Manitoba and he told me that in manitoba the peak day of conception in moose was Sept 26th which would be theroretically peak day of rut.They got their data by studying unborn calf fetus's from moose killed in winter by vehicles or aboriginal kills. They are able to study/size/weigh the unborn calf and work back to conception. So if I had to pick holidays for a moose hunt I'd take Sept 28 till Oct.6 for calling. As some mentioned the early sept called in bulls I have experienced came in very tentative and usually very quitely without grunting. More a curious response to 'who the heck is calling this early?? As september progresses they get more aggressive.
Kurt is correct about their fantastic hearing The biologist called it their triangulation ability With the large and spread out ears they can hone in on where you are calling from and know within a few yards. Because of this ability I find alot of bulls ( not all) will hang up about 60 yds out and start thrashing and displaying, they are saying"ok sweety show yourself I'm here" Thats why I like hunting moose with a second person, when we get a response to a call the shooter very quickly moves forward toward moose 60 yds and picks an ambush spot, the caller stays back and continues calling. The bull will hone in on callers location and knows within yards where it is and will often walk right past the waiting shooter who is out front. Important the shooter cannot call or make noise but may need to move slightly as he hears the moose coming in ( grunting/thrashing) to fine tune his ambush location. If I'm alone and hear a bull starting to come I'll call one more time from calling location just so bull will lock in on that spot then quietly move directly at bull the 60 yds or so and wait quietly for it to walk by as its focused on the call location. This doesnt work all the time but it sure improved my success after having lots hang up in my earlier bowhunting years
As for decoys I use a montana cow moose decoy, not all the time but as location dictates They do work, I have had 50 inch bulls walk right up to it and just stand there They are light, real quick and easy to set up. Only flaw is two dimensional so if animal starts circling the decoy " disappears" that can be solved easy by setting up two decoys at different angles. That blow up decoy solves the disappearing problem but to me seems hard to tie off to trees as its tall and if you need a quick set up the montana decoys are up in 40 seconds or less silently no pump needed. Hope this helps
Gord

[L.O.S.T.Arrow]

Originally Posted by 58thecat

So where do I get a blow up moose doll? How much? Seriously, as this will definitely help the odds in the favor of the hunter.

No kidding those are neat..any idea who makes them??

Neil

[L.O.S.T.Arrow]

Originally Posted by 58thecat

So where do I get a blow up moose doll? How much? Seriously, as this will definitely help the odds in the favor of the hunter.

Originally Posted by Sjs67

So what's the best way to handle the meat if it's warm. Thinking skinning and quarter ASAP and wrap in game bags and keep dry. Wrap tarp around and pile bags of ice on top? Inside chest cavity? Most likely be a solo hunt. Or just do the gutLess method? I have butchered a pile of deer, cows and pigs , but dealing with a moose in warm weather be tricky I'm sure.

Field dress immeadiately...remove wind pipe ASAP...Get hide off ASAP and get off ground...a moose left on ground with hide will spoil quickly on bottom sise as it reatains heat...the game bags are a great idea...wouldnt use plastic or plastic bags unless lots of ice is availible...

Here is an old trick...The key with game bags is to ideally spray them down with a clean spray bottle with clean cool water when hanging, in a pinch even wetting it down with hands and a water source will work...

Then thru the physics of evaporation in the same Principal a refrigerator works...the meat will get 10 degrees cooler inside the bag thru the evaporation process...really works...

Same as wet neck scarf or hat cooling you down...


Neil