Frustrated Moose Hunter

thegreatnorthernhunter

thegreatnorthernhunter

Regular
EE Expired
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Location
Hay River NWT
i've been hunting moose every week now and have and have yet to see one, i'm hunting near a river where there are many moose tracks. also i'm driving all over the bloddy territories looking for one. hunted all day last weekend only to see some guy with one dead in the ditch, why can't i be that lucky???? i go before sunrise, set still, cow call every 15-20 minutes and nothing. WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?
 
What other type of terrain is available to you and what type of hunting pressure do you have? Are their other hunters near by ? coming and going?
Need more info to try and help out......
 
a) wind direction b) food sources( at a certain time in the fall, moose change feed habits and prefer young willows etc.)c) Call less often d) if the rut is on you could try covering more territory as that is what the moose is trying to do.
 
Head west, towards wriggly, fort liard area... i hunted over there a couple of times and saw lots of moose... but it is a long drive...
The best moose I ever saw in the NWT was on the way to the ferry... good luck..
 
One or two resident moose can make a lot of tracks . Did you do your pre-season scouting ? Is the rut over , just starting ? Many bulls in the area , you can usually tell by the tracks . Cow calling only ? That's enticing to a bull but if the rut is on , challenge him . Don't overdue the calling . Grunt , snort and burp like a bull and pick up a stick and smash the underbrush . Sounds like two bulls shoving eachother and fighting in the rut . Larger bulls will come in to run them off and smaller bulls will come in to watch . Cows often come in to watch also . If it's quiet down by the river give a couple of long drawn out cow calls . Splash the water to make it sound like the cow is walking in the water . Use a can or bucket and pour a half gallon of water slowly in the river from 4 feet high to simulate the cow pissing . Bulls like that . After a couple of cow calls wait a few minutes and then give a couple of bull grunts . If another bull hears it he'll want to get to the cow first . If the primary rut is winding down there is a secondary smaller rut where the younger bulls try to get some so calling will usually work for at least two weeks but you have to be in an area with a decent moose population and not just a bunch of tracks that two resident moose could have made . I'd suggest that if your calling is good and the rut is on set up one place in the early morning and if nothing happens move a mile and set up again for the late afternoon and evening . A bull call should sound somewhat like a bull , same for a cow but like your voice and mine are different , same for moose . The biggest mistake is calling too much . Don't worry about making too much noise because when a bull is walking through the bush burping you can hear him for 200 yards breaking branches and stepping on twigs . You should sound like that .

A bull will burp as he's walking through the bush , horny as hell , wondering around looking for a beautiful cow . The burping usually changes into short grunting if he senses a cow in the area or another bull . Snorting is usually aimed at another bull . Think of cattle bawling for your cow call and combine it with splashing and pissing . Break some branches and make some noise when you are bull calling to simulate fighting or just walking through the bush .

I've shot a lot of moose and these are a few things that have worked for me . Best of luck as i hope some of it will help you . Maybe some of the other guys will chip in with a few more tips . If you are road hunting that's pretty much 100% luck to be in the right place at the right time but lots of guys are very successfull with it . If you are properly calling in the rut in an area with a decent moose population it's now 75% skillfull hunting and 25% luck and usually very successfull .
 
atr said:
One or two resident moose can make a lot of tracks . Did you do your pre-season scouting ? Is the rut over , just starting ? Many bulls in the area , you can usually tell by the tracks . Cow calling only ? That's enticing to a bull but if the rut is on , challenge him . Don't overdue the calling . Grunt , snort and burp like a bull and pick up a stick and smash the underbrush . Sounds like two bulls shoving eachother and fighting in the rut . Larger bulls will come in to run them off and smaller bulls will come in to watch . Cows often come in to watch also . If it's quiet down by the river give a couple of long drawn out cow calls . Splash the water to make it sound like the cow is walking in the water . Use a can or bucket and pour a half gallon of water slowly in the river from 4 feet high to simulate the cow pissing . Bulls like that . After a couple of cow calls wait a few minutes and then give a couple of bull grunts . If another bull hears it he'll want to get to the cow first . If the primary rut is winding down there is a secondary smaller rut where the younger bulls try to get some so calling will usually work for at least two weeks but you have to be in an area with a decent moose population and not just a bunch of tracks that two resident moose could have made . I'd suggest that if your calling is good and the rut is on set up one place in the early morning and if nothing happens move a mile and set up again for the late afternoon and evening . A bull call should sound somewhat like a bull , same for a cow but like your voice and mine are different , same for moose . The biggest mistake is calling too much . Don't worry about making too much noise because when a bull is walking through the bush burping you can hear him for 200 yards breaking branches and stepping on twigs . You should sound like that .

A bull will burp as he's walking through the bush , horny as hell , wondering around looking for a beautiful cow . The burping usually changes into short grunting if he senses a cow in the area or another bull . Snorting is usually aimed at another bull . Think of cattle bawling for your cow call and combine it with splashing and pissing . Break some branches and make some noise when you are bull calling to simulate fighting or just walking through the bush .

I've shot a lot of moose and these are a few things that have worked for me . Best of luck as i hope some of it will help you . Maybe some of the other guys will chip in with a few more tips . If you are road hunting that's pretty much 100% luck to be in the right place at the right time but lots of guys are very successfull with it . If you are properly calling in the rut in an area with a decent moose population it's now 75% skillfull hunting and 25% luck and usually very successfull .
Click to expand...
if i ever get into moose hunting i wanna go with him LOL
 
Signguy , i'm in Thunder Bay and we get tags for 13 and 15b . Come on up next fall . If you want to bowhunt i can set you up with my brothers . Gun hunting is me , my nephews , my son and a couple of friends . As i said in my post , 20 Yard Bull , my brothers are fanatics so if you want to bow hunt with them you'll be required to be a fanatic capable of hunting all day , drinking a quart of whiskey every night and get up sober at 5:00 a.m. and keep doing it until the tags are full . The rest of us are normal .
 
thats something i will have to think about gun hunter my self never been a bow fan lol so i guess if i decide to come visit next fall i will be with the normal crew LOL
 
Go out at night - stop and listen. You should hear the moose cows and bulls calling a bit (during the rutt anyway). If you hear them - make a few calls. Then be right there in the morning.

Do you know how to call moose?
 
im being a litle picky this year as im hunting with a bow still for a while, so i have time before i start rifle for them.


but i have been hearing bulls around me after a series of calling.....but whats actually bringing them out into view, is taking a branch and raking and smashing tree limbs.


giver a try, hope this helps at least a little bit.



AB
 
I read this post some time ago. At the time, there were weeks left in the season, and I was confident ;) I could fill my bull tag for WMU 2. (ahem, it's not October anymore):runaway: Ive been fortunate with deer and caribou, but this is to be my first moose.

Last year there were piles sign everywhere. This year there have been much less to follow. We've tried different scenery, walked far off the trail and skirted clear cut edges.
Two weekends we returned to one area with a ridge and found a cow and calf over 500 yards away moving through a pretty open swamp to the trees. They headed into the bush faster than we could reposition to continue to be downwind and we thought it better not to pursue them too much, but bide our time for next weekend. Well, we returned and got zip.
Not to worry though....we found a pile of Woodland caribou prints for what we figure might be a herd of 17. Nice concilation prize. A whiskey jack landed on my rifle barrel at one point. Two pick-me-ups to carry us on.

Other than continuing to put in the hours, do knowledgeable folk have some later season advice? The heavier snow falls of the last two to three weeks cleared out a lot of the southern hunters and we have the woods to ourselves again. I'm feeling antsy.
D
 
From what l've been told, you can scout an area out, try calling, bang trees,
brake branches, ect. l have tried several of these methods, to no aval.
Sometimes you just need some luck, to be in the right place at the right time.
After 7 years of not seeing any moose, lots of sign though, finally in the 8th year l got my 1st bull opening morning, got my 2nd bull tues.morning. No calling, ect. Just happened to go to the right areas, on the right mornings.
21A. Patience, just keep trying, and good luck to you.
 
man you should just be happy to be out there I had 1/2 day for our moose season this year and blew my shot at a nice bull whome decided running through the thickest crap he could would save his life.......he was correct :(


now onto reality I would assume the rutt is over there so calling and grunting and banging just makes you look silly (to the moose of course) , you say you have snow , use it to your advantage, cruise logging roads etc looking for a crossing that is used frequently, its not uncommon to see a young bull following a old bull around after the rutt, they will be feeding hard now seek out red willows and young alder patches , find there crossings or food supply find the moose , ask P17 he was a newbie not long ago as well and doubted my methods and way of thinking (mind you even my wife and dogs think I am a little off my rocker at times) but hey

guess Im not always wrong :)
allofus1.jpg
 
Well, it's called hunting for a reason. Just being out there is no guarantee of taking game. Get out of the vehicle and sit. The time you spend driving about is wasted time. Do any pre-season scouting?
 
i agree with a bunch of others here...hunting is not about getting some meat every trip out...
once the game is down its time to work...enjoy your quiet time while you can...read some threads from some of the guys here that would pay ton,s of money ,just to have a trip in the bush,to have a CHANCE at getting some game..
keep at it..enjoy your peaceful trip out..just remember..most game you see will be were you least suspect it to be..
 
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