Moose hunting in other provinces? What's it like?

TheCoachZed

TheCoachZed

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Hey guys,

I'm curious to know what moose hunting is like in other provinces outside NB.

Around here, our twice-in-a-lifetime odds of being drawn, compounded with our ridiculous 3-day season, takes a lot of the fun out of it, in my opinion. Instead of taking your time, if you don't get a moose by the middle of day 2 or start of day 3, you gots ta hurry, hurry, hurry, drive all over the place looking for a moose in a cutting instead of sticking to your stand, because the clock is ticking. If you see one 400 yards away, that could be the only one you see in the season, so you shoot at it anyway, even if you aren't practiced enough to do so (and most people aren't). You hear guys burning through two mags of .30-06 because they figure they'd better take their one chance while it's still there.

At least, this is all stuff I saw last fall when I had my licence for the first time.

What's it like in other provinces?

I wish we had a caribou season that ran three, four months instead of a 3-day moose season. Of course, we'd need caribou first...:(
 
CV32 said:
Here there's a moose behind every bush. Perhaps we should be sending some back to you in NB? :)
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I wish you would.

There's lots of moose here, too - the season is just too short. We have a decent success rate, but if we had a whole week, we'd probably have 99%. In a 3-day season, though, all you need is a couple days of bad weather/luck (I lost a day to fog this year, and we had a guy in the next bog over shoot at - and miss - the moose we called in) to torpedo your chances.

It just kinda bums me out. I bet it'd be a real blast to load up some big honkin' .45-70 lever rifle or similar, and go on a canoe-based moose hunting trip. Trouble is, around here everyone's in too big of a hurry to do something fun like that, and if you don't have the Hyper Velocity Ultra Mag Moose Killer .700 magnum for those 400-yard shots, then everyone looks at you like you have two heads.

I really wonder about the long-range competency of most of the guys around here, too. Good thing moose are a big target.

I heard one guy fire 10-11 shots on opening day. (5+1, then a second five-shot clip). People lose all their self-control when they're under such a ridiculous time limit.
 
Here in Manitoba they have cut out most of the most popular drive in areas for moose, something about wolves.............(I think the "wolves" are the two legged ones on snowmobiles).

I've been hunting moose for seven years at our fly-in cabin, haven't once had one respond to a call, and can only once say I saw a confirmed bull. I've given up on our cabin for moose.
 
In BC, the moose hunting is quite good in most areas of the province, with Limited Entry [draw] hunts as well as a general season in a good portion of the province. For example, in our area, the general season for fork/spike bulls runs from Sep 10 to Nov 5. Bigger bulls are LEH only. But just a little farther north, there is a good general season for all bulls. Then we have a 2 - 3 week calf season in October. BC is a hunter's paradise. Within 1 day's drive or less, I can hunt Grizzly Bear [LEH only] Black Bear, Sheep, Goat, Muleys, Whitetail, Blacktail,Moose, Elk and Caribou. Also on the list are Wolf, Coyote, Lynx, Cougar, Etc. Eagleye.
 
Where I live in Ontario we can be guaranteed a bull tag with 14 hunters, or a cow with 13 for a 6 day gun hunt. While that may not do it for some of you, I'd rather that opportunity then "twice in a lifetime". If my camp gets a tag, we fill it. Last year we had 14 sightings of bulls.

Now ON is a big place, north of me as little as 2 guys is all thats required for a guaranteed bull tag, and the season is substantially longer. Most places I'd say its a about 4-6 guys for a guaranteed bull tag, but thats off the top of my head. I could drive their, but I can hunt in my own backyard, so why bother?

For all but one WMU, you can purchase a calf tag, with no draw required. The rest is enter the draw, or have enough for a guaranteed tag.

We have no antler restrictions on bulls.

All moose have their own tag (ie cows and calves are not classed the same)
 
in 13 or 15b thunder bay i think guaranteed group size is 3 for cow a 4 for bull. we get our bull tag every year, season runs from thanksgiving to dec 15th on deer and moose. i had a chance at a bull last year a week into season, but tag holder was out of town.
 
In Sask we get 4 weeks of regular season or 4 weeks of draw. You can get a regular tag each year and a draw tag about every 3-4. Draw is the first 2 weeks in October and the first 2 weeks in November, regular is the last 2 of October and November.

And its 1 tag per hunter none of this wierd group hunting junk (multiple tags for one moose WTF?).
 
koop said:
Here in Manitoba they have cut out most of the most popular drive in areas for moose, something about wolves.............(I think the "wolves" are the two legged ones on snowmobiles).

I've been hunting moose for seven years at our fly-in cabin, haven't once had one respond to a call, and can only once say I saw a confirmed bull. I've given up on our cabin for moose.
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....wolves, and don't forget wood ticks??
 
Logan_Lamothe said:
In Sask we get 4 weeks of regular season or 4 weeks of draw. You can get a regular tag each year and a draw tag about every 3-4. Draw is the first 2 weeks in October and the first 2 weeks in November, regular is the last 2 of October and November.

And its 1 tag per hunter none of this wierd group hunting junk (multiple tags for one moose WTF?).
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Too many hunters and not enough moose. It has to work on a limited draw system or we'd wipe them out. Our estimated moose population is about 90,000. Last year 87,000 people hunted moose.

You buy a tag for a calf. Everyone can do this. You can then apply for either a bull tag or a cow tag (lottery). You can apply as a group to increase the odds of getting an adult tag. You then share that tag amongst the group.

In some areas, their is a guaranteed group size where you will 100% be issued a tag for an adult. It varies from 2 to 15 dependent on where you are in the province.
 
blasted_saber said:
Where I live in Ontario we can be guaranteed a bull tag with 14 hunters, or a cow with 13 for a 6 day gun hunt. While that may not do it for some of you, I'd rather that opportunity then "twice in a lifetime". If my camp gets a tag, we fill it. Last year we had 14 sightings of bulls.

Now ON is a big place, north of me as little as 2 guys is all thats required for a guaranteed bull tag, and the season is substantially longer. Most places I'd say its a about 4-6 guys for a guaranteed bull tag, but thats off the top of my head. I could drive their, but I can hunt in my own backyard, so why bother?

For all but one WMU, you can purchase a calf tag, with no draw required. The rest is enter the draw, or have enough for a guaranteed tag.

We have no antler restrictions on bulls.

All moose have their own tag (ie cows and calves are not classed the same)
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Do you mean 14 guys share one tag?? or odds are 14:1 to get drawn?
 
The only problems with the Sask moose hunt is that many of the moose have migrated south for various reasons and now are in draw only zones. If you get drawn there, you are relegated to driving around like a city idiot looking for a moose standing in the middle of the field. Kinda takes the moose hunting out of moose hunting. The remaining zones in the north are typically mismanaged by SERM and overhunted in many areas.
 
Redfrog said:
Do you mean 14 guys share one tag?? or odds are 14:1 to get drawn?
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Where I am its 14 guys for a guaranteed bull tag. Everyone could shoot a calf, but we rarely do. I know that sounds rediculous, but its because the moose population cant sustain any more, Im two hours from TO and on the southerly range of moose, so we get a lot of guys from the city applying for our area.

That doesnt mean an individual or smaller group cant apply, but their chances arent really good to get an adult tag. They will still be able to calf hunt. For instance we drew a a bull tag with 4 guys a few years ago, that probably wont happen again.

Other part of ON have no moose season because those areas cant sustain any hunting pressiure, while other have guaranteed group sizes as low as 2 hunters/adult moose tag, because the moose population is very high and the hunting pressure is generally low.

You guys out west assume ON is Toronto and thats it. Their are A LOT of hunters in ON, more then the moose population could support if everyone was allowed to harvest an adult.
 
Thanks BS. I used to live in Ontario. At that time you could buy a moose/bear tag over the counter. I think it was about 10 dollars. That was a long time ago. ;) Getting a moose was not a problem and bears were every where.
 
Redfrog said:
Thanks BS. I used to live in Ontario. At that time you could buy a moose/bear tag over the counter. I think it was about 10 dollars. That was a long time ago. ;) Getting a moose was not a problem and bears were every where.
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Everyone with a hunting license can go and buy a tag to hunt calves "over the counter". If you want to hunt an adult, you have to apply to a draw. If you apply as a group, your chances increase for being drawn, the more guys you have. At a certain point, you will be "guaranteed a tag". Hence me saying "14" for where I am. 14 guys applying as a group will be issued one bull tag. That group could in theory also harvest 13 calves, although that is unrealistic.
 
This year here on "the rock", Government issued an extra 5020 licenses because of our "over" population of moose. ie: moose vehicle accidents and their over browsing in the national/provincal parks. We have over 33,000 licenses this coming fall with an approx. population of 120,000-150,000 animals. Most of our areas open early Sept - Jan, the rest open early Oct- End of Jan.

In terms of moose hunting, we have it pretty good here.:cool:
 
M12shooter said:
....wolves, and don't forget wood ticks??
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Wolves are the official reason, but not the actual reason. I've hunted moose in areas where there are far more wolves than in the areas they recently shut down. Guess what, there're lots of moose but no year round hunting due to the inaccessibilty.

Wood ticks have no effect on moose, you're referring to winter ticks or moose ticks. They're the ones that make the moose lose all the hair and die of exposure during winter, some refer to them as "ghost moose" with a heavy infestation. Elk are also affected by these ticks, though not usually as severely.

We have great moose hunting in areas of Manitoba, but you have to be prepared to dish out some coin for a charter flight.
 
As previously mentioned, Northern Saskatchewan moose populations have been mismanaged and the moose are pretty scarce - those hunters with treaty rights are hunting moose year round with few of the responsibilities that go along with "rights". To top that off, our government still sells unlimited bull tags in these depleted northern areas. Some places with fly - in access only still have good wilderness moose hunting, but that requires enough distance from northern communities to eliminate winter snowmobile access. In the farming areas, moose populations are thriving. Moose have not "migrated" south, but those few pioneers who wandered out of the bush found things to their liking. No predators, and lots of small bush habitat. Southern moose hunting is limited to draw seasons, means that you can draw a licence in the south about once in 5-6 years and are practically assured a crack at a moose. Overall, SK moose hunting is a mixed bad news-good news story.
 
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