2020 Bull Moose Southwestern Montana

[Elk59729]

Just thought I would jump in and give my 2 cents. I've seen a lot of moose in the marsh next to the highway where beaver creek dumps into the Madison but with the campground nearby and lots of fisherman on the river it wouldn't be very safe if you are rifle hunting. I think a good strategy would be to get a canoe and head to the south side of quake lake. You could cruise the shore, do some fishing and start walking all the drainage's up until you find some good areas loaded with willows. I personally have not done this but I've always wanted to explore this area. Also I've seen plenty of moose down in the burn from 2007 by the yellowstone airport. Congrats on the tag and good luck. Keep us updated!

 

[MTGomer]

As someone that passed on 30 something bull moose and then ate the tag (different unit) I will say that it is fun to stretch out the length of the hunt and get the full experience, but I would highly recommend when you find something that you like, kill it.
They get tough to find when the rut ends. Especially if there isn’t much snow.

I’d hammer it from Sept 20-Oct 10 and try to get one then.

 

[Hams42]

Hey all its me again. I'm currently sitting on a hill side in my hunting unit racking my brain trying to find a bull moose. I'm on day 27 of moose hunting this year and the season ends in 5 days. Hoping someone can give me some post rut moose hunting tips.
It took me 20 days to find a bull moose and then I found three bulls in a day. Sounds great and all but they were all only 1.5 years old and with their mamas still. I saw 12 moose in three days when I found the bulls. That was two weeks ago.
Well I came back for the last week of the season to find the area vacant of moose and full of wolves. So I'm at a loss of what to do.
Thanks again and I hope everyone has had a great season.

 

[Sask hunter]

Late season moose are in pockets like you saw. Swamps/beaver ponds are good. Clear cuts as well. If you have cuts should be able to shoot one in a cut the first hour or so of light. If you have snow walk till you find lots of tracks then slow down and hunt. The moose won’t be far. They don’t move much this time of year

 

[Hams42]

Apparently my update didn't post so I will try to post it again. I was able to fill my tag and I wrote a season summary with it.

 

[Hams42]

Montana Shiras Moose Hunt

*Long Story Below*

11 Years of Applications
28 Days Total
9 Days Scouting
19 Days Hunting
3500+ Truck Miles
200+ Four-wheeler Miles
20+ Hiking Miles
Countless hours of of eyes behind the glass

These are the things that went into me filling my moose tag. I have been big game hunting for 11 years now. Shiras Moose has taken the crown for being the hardest animal I have ever hunted.

Back in March I decided to play a game of odds. As I looked at how many points I had going into this years draw I looked to see what unit gave me the best chance to draw a moose tag. I decided this year that I was done applying for trophy units and would rather hunt than wait 40 years to draw a trophy unit tag.

Going into this years draw I had a 4% chance of drawing a moose tag it was one of the best odds I had for the whole state. So I applied knowing that it would be a hard tag to fill if I drew. I was absolutely shocked when I saw that I drew the tag. Little did I know that drawing the tag was the easy part.

Over the summer Alison(my wife) and I took every holiday weekend to scout for moose. What we ran into was hoards of tourist visiting Yellowstone Park and the sounding area which happend to be my hunting district.

Because of this the animals in the area decided that they were going to be very reclusive and not be seen. After 9 days of scouting we had still not seen a moose.

So I took to being an absolute nuisance to the local biologist and he very willingly helped me, in addition to plenty of help from friends, Facebook groups and internet forums I was able to find some good areas where moose should be.

Finally after six days of hunting we found our first moose. A cow... wrong gender. So we kept looking. It took two more trips after that first one until we found more moose. But boy did we find them. With one catch, they were ether cows or calves. We did see a few bulls but they were only around a year old and I wanted to shoot a mature bull. So we kept looking. That brings us to this week.

The last Sunday in November marks the final day of the 60+ day season. So the pressure was on.

Though I was after a larger mature bull I told Alison that I was going to take the first legal bull that gave me a chance. This is because in the state of Montana if you draw a Moose tag you have to wait 7 years before applying for a tag again and the as I said before the odds of drawing a tag are extremely low. So I wanted to make sure I could fill my tag and have some of the best tasting wild game there is too eat.

With that said Alison and I put our boots on and hit the hills. Just to find week old tracks and nothing else. Though as the week continued we did see five more cows and calves.

That brings us to this morning. Last night we drove a road that had lots of fresh sign and we saw two cows and one calf in a group of aspens. So we decided to start there this morning and hike into some of the surrounding aspen groves in hope that a bull may have taken solitude there for the winter.

That was not the case though. I did not see a single living creature until the end of my hike when I spotted the cow and calf I had seen the night before running out of the willows into the timber. They had just been spooked by a snow machine that had just drove by on the road and were not sticking around to investigate.

After the hike being a bust I decided to check out some of the areas that I had seen moose in before even though a pack of wolves had been through the area leaving it void of life. But I was out of ideas where to look.

A few weeks ago Alison had made the statement that hunting was just timing and happen stance. And sure enough we had the right timing. A small bull ran across the road in front of us and into the timber. I pulled off the road and took pursuit hoping I could catch up to it before it left the forest service land and entered onto private land. It just so happend that the bull made a 180 and headed back towards me.

Sometimes things just work out. I was able to line up on the bull and put him down. It was a wild turn of events. After days of scouting and hunting it was over in an instant.

They always say that the real work begins once the animal is on the ground. I was fortunate enough to have a relatively easy drag to the truck and with a large sled and 12 inches of snow. Alison and I got the bull back to the truck in one piece.

Its not exactly how I pictured the hunt ending. I thought that I would have been able to call in a bull in the heat of the rut in a river bottom full of willows. As hunters we know that things never seem to go as we picture them in our heads. With that said though I'm happy that I was able to fill my tag and spend so much time out in the woods with my family.

Thank you to everyone one that helped and gave me moral support along this journey.

 

[Hams42]

Here are some pictures of the bull

 

[shrapnel]

I drew a permit in your area in 1999 and saw 11 moose the morning I shot mine. Since then I haven’t seen 11 moose total over the next 21 years. Anyone that doesn’t believe that wolves have devastated the moose population in that area is crazy.

I have been putting in for moose since I became eligible after my 7 year wait but not around Hebgen Lake. I grew up there and spent all my summers running around that area and it used to be a great area for moose.

I had a good year with moose myself, but it was a different area and although it wasn’t the area I applied for, I had better luck than you did. You persevered and got it done, congratulations.

 

[phutch30]

Congrats..persistance pays off

 

[Hunting Wife]

Way to stick with it. Congratulations.

 

[buffybr]

I drew a permit in your area in 1999 and saw 11 moose the morning I shot mine. Since then I haven’t seen 11 moose total over the next 21 years. Anyone that doesn’t believe that wolves have devastated the moose population in that area is crazy.

I have been putting in for moose since I became eligible after my 7 year wait but not around Hebgen Lake. I grew up there and spent all my summers running around that area and it used to be a great area for moose.

I had a good year with moose myself, but it was a different area and although it wasn’t the area I applied for, I had better luck than you did. You persevered and got it done, congratulations.

+ 1000 on your comment about the wolves. I worked on the Forest Service timber sales, roads, and trails on the Hebgen Lake District from the late '70s through the early 2000s. It was almost a daily occurrence seeing moose in that area or through the Park between Bozeman and West Yellowstone. Since the introduction of the wolves, it's rare to see a moose there now.

I shot my two bulls and helped a friend get a high B&C bull north of the lake. FWP hadn't started the 7 year wait back then so I've been unsuccessfully applying for 32 years without drawing another tag.

To Hams42, congrats on your bull. Moose hunting in Montana isn't what it used to be.

 

[Nameless Range]

Nice job on the moose. Now that I see your pictures, I think I messaged you on Facebook as well earlier this year.

I got really lucky with the moose I shot in this district. I also own a cabin in this hunting district, and I will say that I think there is potential for a lot of great moose hunting in the Henry’s Lake Range, but it would be a sort of backcountry moose hunt. You’d really have to tap into your inner-savage to deal with a moose five or 6 miles from the truck.

Congrats!

 

[Wildabeest]

I saw more moose than deer or elk this year in UT. But I’m convinced it’s because the critters know what tags are in my pocket!

Congrats on a great season and perseverance!

 

[HONEYBADGER]

That is about the size of the moose I took this year in Montana. Hunted 16 days total over two trips. The biggest moose I saw ended up being the very first moose I saw, he was decent, but not a giant. Saw a total of 15 bulls over 16 days, no giants. In the end, the extra 15 days hunting awesome country that I would not have spent the time in had I taken that first moose outweighs the difference in the size of the antlers.

Where I hunted the residents were helpful and friendly. I saw pictures of some giants, but they were all from hikers who were 8-10 miles in on trails when they spotted the bulls. Not sure I could have packed a moose out that distance.

It was a great hunt, enjoyed every minute of it, would do it over again in a heartbeat. Ended up with a lot of outstanding meat as a bonus.

 

[Hams42]

Nice job on the moose. Now that I see your pictures, I think I messaged you on Facebook as well earlier this year.

I got really lucky with the moose I shot in this district. I also own a cabin in this hunting district, and I will say that I think there is potential for a lot of great moose hunting in the Henry’s Lake Range, but it would be a sort of backcountry moose hunt. You’d really have to tap into your inner-savage to deal with a moose five or 6 miles from the truck.

Congrats!

I agree I think of I would have had a boat to be able to cross quake lake you could have a awesome hunt. Definitely rugged.

 

[Hams42]

That is about the size of the moose I took this year in Montana. Hunted 16 days total over two trips. The biggest moose I saw ended up being the very first moose I saw, he was decent, but not a giant. Saw a total of 15 bulls over 16 days, no giants. In the end, the extra 15 days hunting awesome country that I would not have spent the time in had I taken that first moose outweighs the difference in the size of the antlers.

Where I hunted the residents were helpful and friendly. I saw pictures of some giants, but they were all from hikers who were 8-10 miles in on trails when they spotted the bulls. Not sure I could have packed a moose out that distance.

It was a great hunt, enjoyed every minute of it, would do it over again in a heartbeat. Ended up with a lot of outstanding meat as a bonus.

Yeah there were a few time when I was hiking that I told myself to turn around before I was too far from the trail head.

 

[Hams42]

I do have a question for everyone again. I have cooked a few pieces of the meat so far and they taste off.... the meat cooled off very quickly so I know it didn't spoil and I was able to age it for about a week at 30°- 40° so I know that there was no issue there. But the meat tastes a tad swampy. It's not a awful taste just a tad off putting at first. But once I eat a few pieces I guess I get used to it and it tastes pretty good. So is that just how moose taste? A tad swampy?

 

[shoots-straight]

Congrats Hams. I've eaten a few Montana moose and all tasted pretty good. One old female moose tasted a bit bland but no off taste.

 

[Hams42]

Congrats Hams. I've eaten a few Montana moose and all tasted pretty good. One old female moose tasted a bit bland but no off taste.

Hmm that's what I thought the moose I've eaten in the past were very mild and almost tasted like beef. I suppose there diet has a lot to do with their taste. So maybe the food it was eating affected it.

 

[shrapnel]

I have to admit, when you first posted you had this permit last June, I didn’t make any comments because of the lack of moose in your area. I didn’t want to spoil your anticipation of your hunt with the poor chances of finding a decent bull in that area.

I drew a moose permit myself this fall that ended up in the wrong area due to a typing mistake by the counter gal at FWP when she retyped my moose area after a mistake in the elk area I had applied for.

The area I ended up drawing was unknown to me, so I called everyone in the FWP department I could to find out more about the area. The biologist was new and knew nothing, the game warden said there shouldn’t even be moose permits in that area because there just weren’t that many moose.

He told me the 2 permit holders from the previous year didn’t even get moose and they had hired outfitters to help them try to find moose. I wasn’t glad to hear any of this, but I had the permit and no choice, but to look for moose.

I did scout several times before the season and found some decent bulls. Then when the season opened they were nowhere to be found. After a couple hunting trips, I did find a good bull, but it was somewhat tenuous at times wondering if I was going to get my moose.

I have had hamburger from mine and it is excellent, no steaks yet, but that will happen soon.