Montana Moose Big Hole District #327 Advice

[Zootownelk]

Hello,

I'm not the tag holder, but will be going along with a friend on Oct 1st. He was down there scouting over Labor Day, but did not locate any moose. It was more of a "getting the lay of the land trip". He'll be going down next weekend and then again with me. This is his first moose hunt. We'll be focusing on the lower creek/swamp areas in the district. Talking to the biologist, hopefully the bigger bulls will be down out of the high country during the rut. We'd be interested any advice or knowledge of the area. I'm only able to hunt with him for a few days, but he lives in the Bitterroot Valley and can hunt on and off on weekends up til Thanksgiving. We're hoping to get it down while I'm there to help. He does have some access to private land in the district.

 

[sneakypete]

He'll need a lot of help if he connects on a bull! Moose can be very elusive, staying high if possible to glass and located then calling, raking to attract them! Keep us posted please!

 

[BigHornRam]

The swamp areas are good areas to focus on. Good luck to your friend!

 

[----]

Assuming the private he has access to is the Hirschy Ranch, then it's worth hunting. I've heard of a lot of moose being killed on that ranch over the years.

Cover a shit-load of ground, concentrate on anywhere that has willows, and call, call, call.

Get burgers at Fetty's.

 

[Zootownelk]

Sounds like we'll need to practice our calling! Hirschy Ranch is one area, I think he might have others as well, but not positive. What would your typical day look like as far as glassing, when to move to new areas, etc? How frequent to call typically? I think we should split up glassing in the morning to cover more ground, but we don't have a way to communicate then if I see Bullwinkle.Thanks guys, we're really excited. My friend, lucky SOB, drew a sheep tag 4 years and I was fortunate enough to be along when he connected on a nice ram. Hoping for same fortunes this trip!

 

[406LIFE]

I regularly see a great many moose in that unit. Unless I'm mistaken, I think Craig Fager the bio for the area was gonna up the number. Feel free to PM for some details. I will tell you the quality of bulls I've seen have not been spectacular, so probably good to temper your expectations.

 

[Sask hunter]

When I moose hunt in the rut I prefer spot and stalk over calling. Tough to call a bull away from his cows but those big white paddles are easy to see

 

[----]

You are mistaken 406, that's Vanna's area.

From my experience moose activity is pretty weather dependent. If it's hot and sunny they'll be nocturnal and you'll only get a couple hours in the morning and evening. Those willows and lodgepole aren't great for glassing, so calling can be really helpful to locate moose. On my hunt we heard quite a few moose before laying eyes on them.

Calling moose seems like a pretty easy technique to learn. Both bull grunts and cow calls can be done without any type of call.

 

[Stone_Ice_1]

I see Moose here all the time, some really close to Wisdom.

I 2nd the burger at Fetty's. Try the Haystack.

 

[tjones]

Ya that's Vanna's area. I will look back through my emails from her. For what is worth I think I have the winter counts from her when she did her survey's in that HD.

 

[MThuntr]

Randy11 making moose noise!

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[Zootownelk]

Oh, those Fetty's burgers are in BIG trouble!

TJones- If you have those emails with counts, that would be great!

Thanks guys-

 

[Zootownelk]

My buddy was out last weekend and saw a few moose, but nothing of note. They could hear one in the willows, but could not get it to come out. Seemed like there wasn't much rut activity going yet, HOWEVER, he did hear some howling and ended up filling wolf tag!