516-50 Montana Moose Ride-a-long

[Gerald Martin]

Congrats on drawing the tag Ike! Having first hand knowledge from last year should make this even more exciting. I really enjoyed Young gun's thread last year. Hopefully, you keep us up to date as well.

 

[brownbear932008]

Congrats we all look forward to the story it's gonna be round two.... How awesome is that!

 

[HSi-ESi]

Congrats on the tag draw - very cool that you get to hunt the same unit 2 years in a row. You'll definitely have it dialed in for the start of the season.

 

[Ike14]

Thanks guys! From what you've seen, when do the bulls typically transition away from their summer range?

We saw a bull last year during the season 15 miles away from where he was in early July. If one found a bull during the summer, do you think he could expect him to be in the same location on opener (Sept 15th), or will he likely have moved to rut by then?

 

[Ike14]

Young Gun and I explored a few new areas the past week with mixed results. We continue to get young bulls on camera, or stumble upon them while checking cameras. We are starting to find a few more cows though which is encouraging. This morning, I had a young bull laying 30 yards from my camera. I saw him from a good distance and was shocked to see there was not a single photo of him on the camera when I checked it later in the day. It makes be wonder how many moose are just missing the camera, or are confined to a small area during the summer.

Here are a handful of images from the past week:

 

[3855WIN]

Great thread. Best of luck.

 

[AlaskaHunter]

Is this a once-in-lifetime tag?
(I lived in Utah in the 1980s, and it was once-in-a-lifetime there).

Is the tag for bulls only? Any bull or are there antler size or brow tine min restrictions?

(In Alaska for residents, many of the units are spike/fork or 50 inches or 3-4 brow tines).
(I've only seen 2 spike/fork in 25 years in AK, one in my back yard, one my hunting partner shot on the last day...
smallest bull I've ever packed out).

Thanks.

 

[Ike14]

Alaska Hunter,

This is not a once-in-a-lifetime tag as in Utah. The odds are slim of drawing once, and most certainly twice; however, it is possible in MT. I only had three points going into the draw and YoungGun had one last year. Lucky, lucky.

There is not a high moose population in the unit and the tag is for bulls only, no antler restrictions, etc. There appears to be a high number of 1-3 year old bulls in the unit, with a handful of older bulls. We're excited to look for a good representative for the unit and have enjoyed the scouting and anticipation as much as the hunt itself. We've spent 16 evenings/mornings in the unit this summer and have yet to run across any of the bulls from last year. It will be fun to see what moves into the unit and comes out of the wilderness come September. We were amazed at all the new bulls that showed up last year to rut.

Best of luck to you this season!

 

[AlaskaHunter]

Alaska Hunter,

This is not a once-in-a-lifetime tag as in Utah. The odds are slim of drawing once, and most certainly twice; however, it is possible in MT. I only had three points going into the draw and YoungGun had one last year. Lucky, lucky.

There is not a high moose population in the unit and the tag is for bulls only, no antler restrictions, etc. There appears to be a high number of 1-3 year old bulls in the unit, with a handful of older bulls. We're excited to look for a good representative for the unit and have enjoyed the scouting and anticipation as much as the hunt itself. We've spent 16 evenings/mornings in the unit this summer and have yet to run across any of the bulls from last year. It will be fun to see what moves into the unit and comes out of the wilderness come September. We were amazed at all the new bulls that showed up last year to rut.

Best of luck to you this season!

Thanks.

When is the moose rut in your area? How late in Sept can you bow hunt?

The peak of rut in Alaska is early October, but I hear bulls grunting as early as Sept 1.
They are pretty fired up the last few days of our season (Sept. 25), but they are
crazy in rut when I encounter them duck hunting in early October, typically with harems of cows.

How common are spike-fork bulls in your area?
I've only seen 2 spike-fork bulls in 25 years in interior Alaska...
one eating rose hips and aspen suckers in my backyard,
the other shot by my hunting partner on the last day of our hunt (tiny bull)

 

[YoungGun]

AlaskaHunter, The moose season here in Montana is an any weapon season from Sept. 15 up until the Sunday after Thanksgiving, which opens things up. Seems like when I killed my bull towards the end of September last year, the rut was just getting going. At the start of the season (Sept. 16-17) we had good success calling a bull in with raking a tree with a scapula and grunting. The cow calling didn't seem to intrigue him. I passed on him, and by the time I killed the bull I took about a week later, the one I passed on was seen with 2 cows. Sounds about the same timing wise as what you're seeing up north! In your experience, is there a type of calling that works better at certain times? (Bull grunts vs Cow moans vs raking trees)

We didn't see any spike-fork bulls, the smallest bull we saw had really short paddles, maybe 8 inches out from either side of his head, but they were still paddle like, just lack size and fronts. Seems to be quite a few younger bulls that although wide, have narrow paddles with only 2-3 countable points per and single fronts. Is that an age thing that you see in AK as well? Or is it a genetics thing that this unit has.

 

[AlaskaHunter]

AlaskaHunter, The moose season here in Montana is an any weapon season from Sept. 15 up until the Sunday after Thanksgiving, which opens things up. Seems like when I killed my bull towards the end of September last year, the rut was just getting going. At the start of the season (Sept. 16-17) we had good success calling a bull in with raking a tree with a scapula and grunting. The cow calling didn't seem to intrigue him. I passed on him, and by the time I killed the bull I took about a week later, the one I passed on was seen with 2 cows. Sounds about the same timing wise as what you're seeing up north! In your experience, is there a type of calling that works better at certain times? (Bull grunts vs Cow moans vs raking trees)

We didn't see any spike-fork bulls, the smallest bull we saw had really short paddles, maybe 8 inches out from either side of his head, but they were still paddle like, just lack size and fronts. Seems to be quite a few younger bulls that although wide, have narrow paddles with only 2-3 countable points per and single fronts. Is that an age thing that you see in AK as well? Or is it a genetics thing that this unit has.

Wow you have a long season to enjoy!
My season is Sept 11-25, I usually hunt the last ten days.
Alaska Yukon moose are a bit different than Shiras in the dominant bull tends to a harem of cows.
Sort of like the boss gobbler with six hens...

As far as calling, early in the season bulls tend to hang out together and spar a bit and
thrashing seems to work well.

I usually call from a hill with a large lake or marsh downwind from my calling location.
That way if a bull circles around downwind to try to scent me he is forced out into the open.

Mid to late season I like to cow call, starting with a water routine (sloshing, simulated cow peeing)
before dawn, wait an hour and listen, then subtle cow calls, wait a half hour and listen,
then broadcast cow calls every hour or so. Sometimes a bull will respond but hang up waiting for
the cow to show herself. If I'm calling for a bow hunter I then switch to thrashing/grunting to
bring him in close. So cow calling often brings them in from long range, but if you don't see the
bull you might think that cow calling does not work, while grunting/thrashing works better.

I've also have had cow moose respond to cow-calling with a bull following the cow.

Up here the 2nd year bulls tend to be small paddle bulls, I attached a photo of a spike I took
in my backyard last Sept...he was eating rose hips.

 

[YoungGun]

AlaskaHunter- We do get the benfit of a long season! I think the best strategy is still to hit the rut- there's something about talking to a 1000lb animal that is hard to beat. That said, I heard from folks leading up to my hunt last year that said hunting late with snow on the ground can be really good in this unit. Lucky for me, my tag was filled early because winter decided to come late, which would have made for a difficult hunt. It's truly amazing how far these bulls will move to find a lady or two, so if that incentive is gone, you're left wandering aimlessly hoping for snow to provide a track.

That's great info on calling, we don't get the benefit of hunting moose more than maybe once or twice in the lower 48, so calling isn't an art many people down here have really perfected, at least not that I've run into. I spent many a nights last summer with a youtube video playing different noises and then trying to replicate them- Luckily my friends all hunt and get it, so I don't think I drove to many of them nuts, and in Ike14's case, he was right there practicing with me, and now he gets to put it to use!

 

[Ike14]

We took a quick lap last night and found a decent bull for the unit. Fortunately, there is a cow living 1/2 mile away...finger's crossed he sticks around in the general area for another month.

 

[Ike14]

A couple more TC photos from today.

 

[YoungGun]

What a small world it is! I was fortunate enough to meet Tradewind at a trailhead this weekend as I was coming out of poking around for the status of a few bull moose. After introductions and a brief conversation, we joined forces to venture over to Picketpin area, overlooking Placer Basin from Iron Mountain. Lots of ATVs up in those parts, but I figured there could be an old bull living over there since it is on the eastern most border of 516-50, and you have to come in from Nye. I was disappointed how dry the area was, but this year, what isn't? We didn't turn anything up, but I'm still intrigued by the area, mainly the massive meadow/swamp sitting at around 8000 feet. If I was dark brown/black and weighed 800-1000lbs I'd be laying in those high basins sipping snow-melt and chowing on willows for the next month. But moose are nothing if not a little mysterious. Any hunt talkers ever seen any kind of moose sign in that area that garners it a second look?

 

[targetpanic]

This thread is fantastic!! Congrats YounGun and good luck Ike!

 

[YoungGun]

Thanks, Targetpanic, Glad you've enjoyed it. Hoping it helps a future tag holder on their hunt!

 

[targetpanic]

Thanks, Targetpanic, Glad you've enjoyed it. Hoping it helps a future tag holder on their hunt!

I did a similar one on a new england based hunting forum for my moose New Hampshire hunt in 2014. It's kinda useless now that photobucket broke all the links

 

[Ike14]

Hope everyone's season is off to a great start!

I made a quick run last night to check on the cow and calf I've been seeing and was excited to see a bull already with them. He was definitely rutting and had the dark bottom all scraped up. He's one of the wider bulls we've seen but does not have much for paddles. The season opens this Friday, and with that, there appears to be some cooler weather on the way. Best of luck to everyone hitting the hills!

 

[brownbear932008]

Nice he does look nice and wide. Leaving to go moose hunting in Newfie in t minus 7 days myself.