Moose Hunting
Hunt the most majestic of them all, the bull moose in rut.
Standing over 7 feet at the shoulder and having an average of 50 to 60 inches of antler, this is one trophy you don’t want to miss out on. We offer moose with a combination hunt or as a single species hunt in October. The season starts in the beginning of September and continues through October. All hunters are asked to take bulls above 50 inches. The largest taken by our camp is 69.75 inches. To have the best success on a bull, a hunt in the last half of September or the month of October is recommended.
Moose are most commonly seen in subalpine shrub, lowland bogs, burn areas and floodplains.
Success Ratio
95% most years, if you don’t shoot a bull it will be because you passed bulls.
Terrain
Mountains to open alpine. Temperatures 20 to 60 degrees
Moose Hunting Method
September and October include calling, horseback, spot & stalk and some 4-wheel transportation into the desired area.
From late spring through the summer, moose feed on the new buds and fresh growths of willow. Aquatic plants, such as the yellow pond lily, draw the long-legged moose out into ponds and lakes at this time of year.
Antler development begins in March or April, first in older bulls and last in yearlings. During the growth period, the soft spongy antlers are covered with a dark brown, velvety skin.
A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF A MOOSE
Spring
As the snow cover begins to melt and flow downslope to the frozen stream beds, pregnant cow moose look for safe and secluded places to give birth. Calves are born from mid-May to mid-June. Some cows birth at tree line in the subalpine zone, while others birth at river level in the valley bottoms. In the southwest Yukon, grizzlies that spend much of their time in the subalpine in spring, kill about 50 percent of each year’s calf crop. Most of these kills are made before the calves reach eight weeks of age. Wolves take fewer newborn calves than grizzlies, but continue to prey on the older calves year-round.
Summer
Waterways are important feeding areas for moose, but they also provide escape routes from the ever-present danger of predator attack. When pursued by wolves or bears in the summer season, moose often head for water where their long legs give them an advantage.
The moose is a browser; “eater of twigs” as the Algonkian Indian name translates. In a single day, an adult can consume about 20 kilograms of twigs, leaves, shrubs and other land and water plants. A ruminant like the domestic cow, the moose has a series of stomachs to help digest its woody diet. It can sometimes be seen chewing its cud.
Those calves that survive through the heavy spring predation, grow dramatically over their first summer. Adding as much as two kilograms per day, they weigh about 180 kilograms (400 pounds) by the time autumn arrives.
Fall
Cow moose can experience three estrous or breeding periods in the fall. The second estrous, which occurs between the last week of September and the first week of October, is the period of greatest fertility.
Rutting, which commonly occurs at treeline in the subalpine zone, brings new sounds to the landscape. The coughs, grunts, and bellows of bull moose are heard along with the rubbing of antlers against trees and the calls of the cows. Finally the clash of antler to antler resounds as two bulls collide and begin their shoving match.
Dominant bulls try to keep lesser bulls away from their group of cows, which can number up to ten or more. At the same time, the bulls continually monitor their cows, ready to mate with any that come into estrous. All in all it’s an incredibly demanding time for these bulls. They stop eating for a month or so during the rut; their necks swell and they become unusually aggressive. But it’s a short-lived power they wield. When the rut is over in October, a dominant bull is often exhausted, undernourished, and has lost up to 20 percent of his weight. Sometimes the price for perpetuating his genes is a weakened state that leaves the bull more vulnerable to potential causes of mortality.
Prime bulls drop their antlers from late November through February. Young bulls lag a month or more behind.
Winter
Winter is a season of reduced food supplies for moose, and increased predation by wolves. Fresh willow buds, leaves and aquatic plants are no longer available. Forage is restricted to the woody twigs of poplar, birch, alder and willow. In late winter, when food supplies are at their lowest, some moose move into aspen stands and use their front teeth to scrape the bark down to the nutritious layer of cambium underneath. In areas of heavy snowfall, many moose will move down to the lower valleys as winter progresses.
An average wolf pack (seven to nine wolves) will kill one moose every five or six days through the winter. Although the wolves tend to concentrate on calves and older age moose, any moose can be vulnerable to wolf predation, depending on the terrain, snow conditions, and its response to attack. Generally, a moose that remains stationary can successfully defend itself from wolves, while a moose that flees is attacked from the rear and often brought down. By backing into a thicket of trees, a moose can fend off wolves with its powerful front hooves.