excitement, and 10 parts hard work! If you are young, strong, and enthusiastic, it is all fun and excitement! I was all of the above one September weekend in 1969 as i described to my buddy the great place i was taking him to on the long 200 mile drive north. Across the Athabasca river and north yet for another stretch we drove, then finally the Freeman river and the old, barely visible trail to my favorite spot came into view.
We tried to time our hunts for the beginning of the rut when the bulls are less cautious. In that area, usually the first week of September.
It was "bluebird weather", not what i liked as the fallen leaves would be crunchy and noisy as cornflakes underfoot, making stalking nigh impossible. Only an hour or two in the morning could be counted on, between 9 and 11am when the frost had melted, with leaves and grass still damp. By noon the sun dried things out. We hoped for rain or snow, this was no camping trip, just pure hunting!
Hastily making camp in the back of the old truck as it was dark 30, we fed a small fire and excitedly readied our guns and equipment for the morning. All had been ready for weeks but.....
last minute checks are good, they remind you of the things you could not remember last week! I had learned a few years before to call Moose and decided to demonstrate for my pal. I got the birchbark call i had made from my kit (very authentic and cool looking but a rolled up magazine was just as good
) and rolled off an imitation of a cow moose for him. This sounds just like the last couple seconds of a fire siren winding down and trailing off.....it DOES, honestly!
As i put the call down my buddy smiled and was about to say something when a huge deep deep snort/grunt exploded over us from very nearby! We both leaped up, scared spitless, and totally startled!
Bull Moose!!!! Right smack in our camp!!! Lunging for our rifles because we were just plain freaked out, we both loaded before we said a word.
In areas of no human habitation where we were, a Bull Moose in the rut is a really dumb and dangerous animal knowing nothing of humans. Not that he would attack you specifically, but the big dummie, with his pea brain overridden by pure lust could very well trample you or whack you out of the way while looking for the "sexy lady" that he just knew was there!
My mind was racing, and cunning hunter that i fancied myself to be, i whispered to my buddy....lets just go quietly to bed and not scare him off, maybe in the moroning, (yep, not a mispelling, "moroning" is the applicable word here) he will be around and we can fill a tag the easy way. That whispered conversation was a joke also, as that "swamp donkey" with his radar ears could have heard me from a 1/2 mile away and he just did not care!
We retired to the homemade camper, speculating a bit about what time it would be shooting light in the morning and began to try and get some sleep.
Sleep was not to be as Mr Moose continued to call for his lost love every few minutes, it seemed for hours, and we alternately dozed and listened. At one point i nearly grabbed the flashlight and "jacked" the big noisy clown as he walked near the truck and with his antlers proceeded to remove a bushel of twigs and branches off of an innocent little spruce tree, he was slobbering, grunting and moaning interspersed with farts! Fear of the "fish cops" and confidence that we would get him come "moroning" stopped me and i slept.
Awake a full hour before daylight, we readied ourselves for the "camp hunt" and listened. Silence, then more silence, we listened and i readied the birch horn, only to hear, far away, the long mournful sound of a cow moose! Followed shortly by the deep grunts of our quarry as he rushed hurriedly away breaking brush! I called again but he ignored it, she must have said something much nicer than i did. Back to plan "a", now we have to go hunting, all bleary eyed and po-ed, no freebies today
When i called that night i was doing what we always did. If you call in the quiet of the evening during the rut, a bull or even several will most often answer even if they have no intention of coming to you and it serves to tell you that they are in the area. Much as Arkies Turkeys will do
Moose Hunting is......two parts........
Posted by: Wayne in BC (216.86.104.190)
Date: November 03, 2005 11:37AM
anticipation and eight parts trying to outsmart a critter that is way dumber than you
That morning we geared up and hiked the old trail a 1/2 mile down to the shallow stream, crossing by hopping stone to stone and encountering plentiful fresh sign all the way. We decided to call again as it was futile to flounder around in noisy conditions. I found a position above the stream where we could be downwind of the probable direction our quarry would come from and with a decent view.
My call was answered almost immediately from a ridge across from and above us, darn close to where we had come from! This time the softer "unghhh" of an interested but not serious Bull. A few more calls spaced 10 minutes apart (you must not "overcall") brought the same low grunt. He was interested but not budging and i figured maybe he had a cow with him and was saying.....honey you can come join the party but i aint leaving a sure thing on a vague promise
A hurried conference and we decided that as the ground was now damp with the frost gone, i would cross back and circle downwind, trying a stalk while my buddy Wes stayed here for a possible shot if i spooked them.
It took 20 minutes for me to slowely get into the area near where the Moose seemed to be and Wes had continued calling occasionaly so i could hear the response and pinpoint the location as the brush was typically thick there. I was getting close, the last grunt i had heard seemed to come from only a hundred feet or so away. Now i was down to creeping through thick willow mostly on my hands and knees, thankful for my "quiet clothes" wool pants and jacket, towards where i knew there to be a small opening, a little meadow overlooking a more open area. The Moose or "Meese"? had a perfect spot to be hidden, yet see or hear any approach.
I had come to the point where i was reluctant to go further without more sound to guide me and i waited for Wes to call again or maybe hear some small sound. Nothing....so i opted to chance it and once again began to crawl between two thick willows, just a few more feet i thought, hoping for a glimpse into the more open ground i knew to be ahead. Through the narrow slit in the brush, i came to be behind a big spruce tree and eased silently around it.....oops not quite silently as i caught a toe and took a little hop to save from stumbling and totally blowing the hard stalk!! Of course i made a russling sound as i caught myself! I was holding my rifle, coked (misspelled that cause Guvs silly program thought it was a bad word) and safety off, at "port arms" muzzle pointing up and ready, my whole body keyed up at 110%!!! It was only going to a fraction of a second before i would be in the open and i had the eerie feeling that the critter was really really close.........maybe too close!
While this was happening, Wes had decided, properly, to quit calling and change positions to simulate the natural movement a cow Moose would make. He moved down to the stream and filled the birch horn with water, intending to call again, then pour the water slowly back into the the quiet pond, simulating the urination of a cow in heat in conjunction with the call. This is a common trick we used and it often was the final convincer a Bull needed, provoking him to respond more forcefully. At this moment i was in mid air catching my balance as he began pouring out the water in a noisy trickle and a moment later he fell in the creek because.......
As i caught my balance and rounded the tree much too quickly and all hyped.....there was a sound combined with movement, a HUH! HUNGH! RIGHT NEXT TO ME! in a moment suspended in time i......not quite involuntarily, fired my rifle in the air! Pure adrenalin and fear during that fraction of a second told my brain that (A)you are in deep doo doo bud! and (B) do something to save your sorry dumb azz! Which translated into the trigger pull, (still not sure if that was conscious thought) The next scene that registered on my brain was that of a man....a man??!!, falling to the ground not 5 feet to my left
Moose hunting is.........three parts.......
Posted by: Wayne in BC (216.86.104.190)
Date: November 03, 2005 08:59PM
hunting, two parts gutting and skinning, but for sure five parts heavy lifting!
The man was lying there making strange sounds while my shocked and barely reasoning mind said......the gun was pointing up! I could not possibly have shot him! Could i? Then to top it off, suddenly some other guy was running at yelling....what the #@%$# did you do!! It was the guide and the fellow on the ground was his client. Now i cannot tell you just exactly what happened or what was said in the next minute, suffice to say that while the guide was fussing over the hunter and snarling at me, the fellow got to his feet
he was barely one step from having a heart attack but it was obvious that he was not shot....thank God!
He had been standing behind the tree that obscured my vision, standing quietly while his guide sat 50 feet away and answered the "Moose" that was calling from below them! When he heard a slight sound next to him it scared the heck out of him, plus at the same instant he saw me and my rifle come out from behind the tree, he did not even recognise what he was seeing, being hyped up and nervous on his first Moose hunt and having heard stories of the huge dangerous Bull Moose, way too much input there, my movement so close by had brought an involuntary terrified "grunt" out of him, then the awful muzzleblast of the 7mm magnum had finished the job as his knees went jelly and he collapsed into a blubbering heap!
Things settled down after another minute or so and the guide and i realised what we had done. It came out about the Moose calling and the guide said...damn! That was you? Of course i said also....that was you? And after a couple minuted we were laughing about the whole thing.
And that folks is how i started guiding Moose hunters in that area, the guide, actually an outfitter was so impressed with my calling ability in fooling him, a very experienced man, and my being able to stalk that close to them that he wanted to hire me on the spot! Naturally my partner Wes had heard the shot and the voices, so soon showed up to be regaled with the wild tale.
Here is a pic of a smallish Moose i took on that hunt. Notice how "mature" i looked at age 24? Sorry had to scan old polaroid! Now i suppose you want me to tell you how that happened too?
We tried to time our hunts for the beginning of the rut when the bulls are less cautious. In that area, usually the first week of September.
It was "bluebird weather", not what i liked as the fallen leaves would be crunchy and noisy as cornflakes underfoot, making stalking nigh impossible. Only an hour or two in the morning could be counted on, between 9 and 11am when the frost had melted, with leaves and grass still damp. By noon the sun dried things out. We hoped for rain or snow, this was no camping trip, just pure hunting!
Hastily making camp in the back of the old truck as it was dark 30, we fed a small fire and excitedly readied our guns and equipment for the morning. All had been ready for weeks but.....
last minute checks are good, they remind you of the things you could not remember last week! I had learned a few years before to call Moose and decided to demonstrate for my pal. I got the birchbark call i had made from my kit (very authentic and cool looking but a rolled up magazine was just as good) and rolled off an imitation of a cow moose for him. This sounds just like the last couple seconds of a fire siren winding down and trailing off.....it DOES, honestly!As i put the call down my buddy smiled and was about to say something when a huge deep deep snort/grunt exploded over us from very nearby! We both leaped up, scared spitless, and totally startled!
Bull Moose!!!! Right smack in our camp!!! Lunging for our rifles because we were just plain freaked out, we both loaded before we said a word.
In areas of no human habitation where we were, a Bull Moose in the rut is a really dumb and dangerous animal knowing nothing of humans. Not that he would attack you specifically, but the big dummie, with his pea brain overridden by pure lust could very well trample you or whack you out of the way while looking for the "sexy lady" that he just knew was there!
My mind was racing, and cunning hunter that i fancied myself to be, i whispered to my buddy....lets just go quietly to bed and not scare him off, maybe in the moroning, (yep, not a mispelling, "moroning" is the applicable word here) he will be around and we can fill a tag the easy way. That whispered conversation was a joke also, as that "swamp donkey" with his radar ears could have heard me from a 1/2 mile away and he just did not care!
We retired to the homemade camper, speculating a bit about what time it would be shooting light in the morning and began to try and get some sleep.Sleep was not to be as Mr Moose continued to call for his lost love every few minutes, it seemed for hours, and we alternately dozed and listened. At one point i nearly grabbed the flashlight and "jacked" the big noisy clown as he walked near the truck and with his antlers proceeded to remove a bushel of twigs and branches off of an innocent little spruce tree, he was slobbering, grunting and moaning interspersed with farts! Fear of the "fish cops" and confidence that we would get him come "moroning" stopped me and i slept.
Awake a full hour before daylight, we readied ourselves for the "camp hunt" and listened. Silence, then more silence, we listened and i readied the birch horn, only to hear, far away, the long mournful sound of a cow moose! Followed shortly by the deep grunts of our quarry as he rushed hurriedly away breaking brush! I called again but he ignored it, she must have said something much nicer than i did
. Back to plan "a", now we have to go hunting, all bleary eyed and po-ed, no freebies todayWhen i called that night i was doing what we always did. If you call in the quiet of the evening during the rut, a bull or even several will most often answer even if they have no intention of coming to you and it serves to tell you that they are in the area. Much as Arkies Turkeys will do
Moose Hunting is......two parts........
Posted by: Wayne in BC (216.86.104.190)
Date: November 03, 2005 11:37AM
anticipation and eight parts trying to outsmart a critter that is way dumber than you
That morning we geared up and hiked the old trail a 1/2 mile down to the shallow stream, crossing by hopping stone to stone and encountering plentiful fresh sign all the way. We decided to call again as it was futile to flounder around in noisy conditions. I found a position above the stream where we could be downwind of the probable direction our quarry would come from and with a decent view.
My call was answered almost immediately from a ridge across from and above us, darn close to where we had come from! This time the softer "unghhh" of an interested but not serious Bull. A few more calls spaced 10 minutes apart (you must not "overcall") brought the same low grunt. He was interested but not budging and i figured maybe he had a cow with him and was saying.....honey you can come join the party but i aint leaving a sure thing on a vague promise
A hurried conference and we decided that as the ground was now damp with the frost gone, i would cross back and circle downwind, trying a stalk while my buddy Wes stayed here for a possible shot if i spooked them.
It took 20 minutes for me to slowely get into the area near where the Moose seemed to be and Wes had continued calling occasionaly so i could hear the response and pinpoint the location as the brush was typically thick there. I was getting close, the last grunt i had heard seemed to come from only a hundred feet or so away. Now i was down to creeping through thick willow mostly on my hands and knees, thankful for my "quiet clothes" wool pants and jacket, towards where i knew there to be a small opening, a little meadow overlooking a more open area. The Moose or "Meese"? had a perfect spot to be hidden, yet see or hear any approach.
I had come to the point where i was reluctant to go further without more sound to guide me and i waited for Wes to call again or maybe hear some small sound. Nothing....so i opted to chance it and once again began to crawl between two thick willows, just a few more feet i thought, hoping for a glimpse into the more open ground i knew to be ahead. Through the narrow slit in the brush, i came to be behind a big spruce tree and eased silently around it.....oops not quite silently as i caught a toe and took a little hop to save from stumbling and totally blowing the hard stalk!! Of course i made a russling sound as i caught myself! I was holding my rifle, coked (misspelled that cause Guvs silly program thought it was a bad word) and safety off, at "port arms" muzzle pointing up and ready, my whole body keyed up at 110%!!! It was only going to a fraction of a second before i would be in the open and i had the eerie feeling that the critter was really really close.........maybe too close!
While this was happening, Wes had decided, properly, to quit calling and change positions to simulate the natural movement a cow Moose would make. He moved down to the stream and filled the birch horn with water, intending to call again, then pour the water slowly back into the the quiet pond, simulating the urination of a cow in heat in conjunction with the call. This is a common trick we used and it often was the final convincer a Bull needed, provoking him to respond more forcefully. At this moment i was in mid air catching my balance as he began pouring out the water in a noisy trickle and a moment later he fell in the creek because.......
As i caught my balance and rounded the tree much too quickly and all hyped.....there was a sound combined with movement, a HUH! HUNGH! RIGHT NEXT TO ME! in a moment suspended in time i......not quite involuntarily, fired my rifle in the air! Pure adrenalin and fear during that fraction of a second told my brain that (A)you are in deep doo doo bud! and (B) do something to save your sorry dumb azz! Which translated into the trigger pull, (still not sure if that was conscious thought
) The next scene that registered on my brain was that of a man....a man??!!, falling to the ground not 5 feet to my leftMoose hunting is.........three parts.......
Posted by: Wayne in BC (216.86.104.190)
Date: November 03, 2005 08:59PM
hunting, two parts gutting and skinning, but for sure five parts heavy lifting!
The man was lying there making strange sounds while my shocked and barely reasoning mind said......the gun was pointing up! I could not possibly have shot him! Could i? Then to top it off, suddenly some other guy was running at yelling....what the #@%$# did you do!! It was the guide and the fellow on the ground was his client. Now i cannot tell you just exactly what happened or what was said in the next minute, suffice to say that while the guide was fussing over the hunter and snarling at me, the fellow got to his feet
he was barely one step from having a heart attack but it was obvious that he was not shot....thank God!He had been standing behind the tree that obscured my vision, standing quietly while his guide sat 50 feet away and answered the "Moose" that was calling from below them! When he heard a slight sound next to him it scared the heck out of him, plus at the same instant he saw me and my rifle come out from behind the tree, he did not even recognise what he was seeing, being hyped up and nervous on his first Moose hunt and having heard stories of the huge dangerous Bull Moose, way too much input there, my movement so close by had brought an involuntary terrified "grunt" out of him, then the awful muzzleblast of the 7mm magnum had finished the job as his knees went jelly and he collapsed into a blubbering heap!
Things settled down after another minute or so and the guide and i realised what we had done. It came out about the Moose calling and the guide said...damn! That was you? Of course i said also....that was you?
And after a couple minuted we were laughing about the whole thing.And that folks is how i started guiding Moose hunters in that area, the guide, actually an outfitter was so impressed with my calling ability in fooling him, a very experienced man, and my being able to stalk that close to them that he wanted to hire me on the spot! Naturally my partner Wes had heard the shot and the voices, so soon showed up to be regaled with the wild tale.
Here is a pic of a smallish Moose i took on that hunt. Notice how "mature" i looked at age 24? Sorry had to scan old polaroid! Now i suppose you want me to tell you how that happened too?