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Thread: Moose age by antler size

  1. #1
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    Oct 2013
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    Moose age by antler size

    I stumbled across this today. I’m not sure if it’s been posted here before, but still a good discussion item.

    https://www.all-about-moose.com/moose-antlers.html

    This conversation has come up at moose camp a few times. The one time it actually made a difference was the one year we went up to fort Nelson looking for a ten point or better. After some discussion about counting points we kind of made a loose agreement if the bull has a full palm and some brow tines he probably has either ten points or three on the brow. Out of the bulls we’ve seen that have a full palm and brow tines they’ve all passed as a ten point or three brows. We ended up shooting a nice big bull that year and like the other bulls of that size it had 3 brow tines and ten points.

    The other time it made a difference and we would’ve been wrong was this little spike fork we saw. My partner knocked it over because he had a limited entry tag for any bull and the moose was definitely 1.5 years old but 3 points on both sides. It’s pretty hard to judge from 2-300 yards out.
    If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're mis-informed.

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  3. #2
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    Apr 2016
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    Re: Moose age by antler size

    Hoping not to derail your thread but how many moose are wasted because upon ground inspection they don't have the points?
    I'm sure that moose get wasted here as well with the 4" antler regulation and some maybe confusing a bull with a cow and vice versa.

  4. #3
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    Re: Moose age by antler size

    A lot of moose taken as 10 pointers don't meet the grade. At least I've seen quite a few dead ones with nubs on the antlers that sure look like points to the average joe, but aren't longer than they are wide at the base as per the regulations. It's far easier to determine if they have a tri palm and really what I look for.

  5. #4
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    Dec 2009
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    Re: Moose age by antler size

    Quote Originally Posted by Bustercluck View Post
    I stumbled across this today. I’m not sure if it’s been posted here before, but still a good discussion item.

    https://www.all-about-moose.com/moose-antlers.html

    This conversation has come up at moose camp a few times. The one time it actually made a difference was the one year we went up to fort Nelson looking for a ten point or better. After some discussion about counting points we kind of made a loose agreement if the bull has a full palm and some brow tines he probably has either ten points or three on the brow. Out of the bulls we’ve seen that have a full palm and brow tines they’ve all passed as a ten point or three brows. We ended up shooting a nice big bull that year and like the other bulls of that size it had 3 brow tines and ten points.

    The other time it made a difference and we would’ve been wrong was this little spike fork we saw. My partner knocked it over because he had a limited entry tag for any bull and the moose was definitely 1.5 years old but 3 points on both sides. It’s pretty hard to judge from 2-300 yards out.

    That loose agreement is completely irresponsible.




    Please stumble across some research on antler phenotypes and polymorphism.
    The article you linked even touches on the topic.

  6. #5
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    Jun 2007
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    Northern BC
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    Re: Moose age by antler size

    You guys got lucky with the big bull you shot, nothing more. Pretty irresponsible to shoot an animal that carries a tine requirement based on "he has big paddles".

    If there is a tine requirement, you count tines. Period.


  7. #6
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    Nov 2013
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    North Van - North Rockies
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    Re: Moose age by antler size

    "It’s pretty hard to judge from 2-300 yards out." Better binos or a spotting scope will solve that. Generally at 2-300 yds the moose aren't aware of much if you did your part. Obviously bumping one changes that.

    http://flash.lakeheadu.ca/~arodgers/Alces/moose_bell.pdf


    Loose agreements aside, Moose Bells are a good general age indicator (if you care about harvesting the most mature bull you can) and this is a pretty in-depth illustrated description of that. Through a guides eyes, it's better to pass a 60" young bull and shoot a 50" old bull, and most clients are with that program. IMO shooting too much of the young population is what has hurt Ontario's moose in a lot of areas.

  8. #7
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    Re: Moose age by antler size

    Quote Originally Posted by KodiakHntr View Post
    You guys got lucky with the big bull you shot, nothing more. Pretty irresponsible to shoot an animal that carries a tine requirement based on "he has big paddles".

    If there is a tine requirement, you count tines. Period.
    Thats completely my decision and not yours. If I shoot something illegal I have to suffer the consequences. This thread wasn’t started to discuss ethics. I was more interested how many people have seen full palm bulls with brow tines that wouldn’t make the ten point or better requirements, or is it pretty safe to say that if you see a bull fitting this description it’s going to pass. Like I said, out of the bulls I’ve seen with a full palm and brow tines they all would’ve passed for ten point or better.

    Do you have something positive to add to the conversation?
    If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're mis-informed.

  9. #8
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    Jan 2007
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    Re: Moose age by antler size

    Have I seen bulls with full palms and brow tunes that weren’t legal? Yes Sir, I have. Enough to make you second guess any fully mature moose. I have spent 15-30 days hunting in their forests, every year for 20 something years. Two years ago, I watched a 50”er for 30 minutes. 600 yards away. I was waiting for him to come in as I knew he had the criteria for legality. Swarovskis revealed (after a head turn), that his third point on the brow was on the wrong side of the deepest bay. Not legal.....

    For your sake, count the points. Not just once. Once you make that first mistake, hunting will NEVER be the same again. This response was fully intended to be heard as a respectful response, not a judgement or condemnation

  10. #9
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    Re: Moose age by antler size

    Those antlers are from the Prince George FW office Maximums studios was in PG. Honest mistakes get made trying to count points, I've come close to pulling the trigger. At 150yds for 30min with10x binoculars, all I could see was 2x2 before finely I could see a little extra point on both sides. That was back when I had eyes of a eagle, now there not so good. I'd like all moose to be just LEH and there has to be a priority system. None of this 20 years with out a draw for some crap.
    No one on their death bed ever said; I should have spent more time at work.

  11. #10
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
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    1,382

    Re: Moose age by antler size

    I have come across a few bulls left in the bush or on the side of the road that did not meet the legal definition of tri palm or ten point. I have seen many bulls that looked mature but did not have ten points. Last year we watched a bull through a high quality spotting scope for over an hour and still could not confirm if it was legal. The loose agreement your group has Bustercluck could get you into trouble at some point. Our group is very reluctant to shoot a bull based on the ten point system, but instead rely on tri palm/no tri palm to make the decision to shoot or not. In fact, one of our group was having a BS with a CO and he advised to be extremely careful with the ten point thing because so many get it wrong for the reason mentioned earlier about length versus width of a point.

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