Discussion on Moose honey holes / over harvesting

[ElliotMoose]

Interested in hearing people's opinions on this.

I have hunted the kamloops/100 mile area all my life like my father before me and we have had some good success with spike/fork moose and filled all of our LEH's over the years. However, the LEH tags are few and far between these days so about 6 years ago we decided that on the years where we were unsuccessful for the local draw, we would head North and chase the generous GOS's up there. So began our annual moose hunt.

We finally decided on a place to check out after hours on google earth. After getting there we find the area is very thick but there is moose sign all over. The only way to really hunt it is to walk the game trails and call the bulls to you and hopefully get a good enough glimpse for a tine count. After 2 years of NIL but a few close calls, we connected with one 2 years ago and it kept us coming back. It's tough hunting but it is true wilderness and we fell in love with the country. We always had a few encounters but it seemed we never hit the peak of the rut. This year everything changed.

Day 1 of the hunt was warm and slow but day 2 brought the first frost. We called in 4 bulls the first morning and hopes were high. The next morning was again frosty and we shot a 50" bull and a spike/fork. 5 days later when the snow hit we had another double header and spanked two small tri-palm bulls. Countless encounters and bulls called in. It truly was the perfect trip. 4 bulls between 5 guys and we will have some happy families at home feeding on moose meat for the year.

My topic of debate is this : Do you think that area should be left alone for a few years to let a new breeding stock mature? Or do you think new bulls will move in from the vast untouched wilderness beyond to fill the void? The area does see quad traffic and moose are shot but unless you catch something on the road it is pretty tough.

Take into account, all 4 bulls this year were shot within 3km of camp. On the other hand, this only makes 5 moose in 6 years of hunting it for our group. Still, I know in the southern interior where I grew up hunting and there isn't much true wilderness left, I would feel wary of even hunting an area after harvesting 4 bulls in one year. In fact, we probably would have stopped at 2 and turned our attention to deer. The land is vast up there and almost all the country is left un-hunted which brought up this debate in our group.

Chime in

[tyreguy]

Were you seeing any numbers of smaller bulls when you called the bulls in? This would give you an idea of the crop of younger bulls which may be eligible to harvest next year.
My guess, you likely have an area with a fairly healthy population and 3-4 bulls harvested annually would be sustainable. A single bull can do quite a bit of breeding so the recruitment of calves would be good.
You may not get 4 bulls every year so your harvest will vary with the health of the population.

[BRvalley]

"countless encounters and bulls called in"

sounds like this area still has lots of breeding stock left, I wouldn't worry your 4 bulls are going to hurt the population...especially compared to wolf kills, train, highway, etc I doubt your 4 hunter harvested bulls are a factor

but if you are concerned, you can probably dig up some survey results for the particular unit you were in to get a better idea of the numbers, or just track down the regional bio email and chat him up, I have found them generally good to answer some questions

and congrats on a successful trip!

[walks with deer]

gps cordinates and i will advise.

[kitnayakwa77]

I think if you are asking the question, you have a gut feeling that it is a potential concern. I would experience the joys of finding a new area and leave it alone for several years.

[willyqbc]

The bulls you shot likely don't "live" in that area. Their core area is likely elsewhere and they just showed up for the obviously healthy population of cows that do actually live there. Assuming the cows don't get shot off, next year there will be different bulls from far and wide show up when the ladies start to stink.

JMO
chris

[Gateholio]

I wouldn't be concerned about the moose population. The cows will get bred.

[weatherby_man]

gps cordinates and i will advise.

Yep some investigative work needs to be done......

From the sounds of it there are quite a few encounters. Should be ok I think.

[Ajsawden]

I think similar thoughts about the area I hunt mule deer. The biggest thing is knowing that there are also dozens of other hunters that utilize the same area. I do not know how many deer get shot outside of our group, but years we're very successful always makes me self conscious of our impact. There's only 4 of us and our best year is 3 bucks (we hunt the 4 point only season). We usually see upwards of 10 to 1 non-4 points to 4 points though so that's our assurance that there is a future there. Just remember, it can't possibly hurt to self regulate in an area you frequent, or go to the same area and shoot a bunch of bears, that could mean a few extra moose calves survive to become future harvests.

[Downwindtracker2]

I wonder about, " You should have been here last year !" "We got x number." We were both not seeing any. No surprise for me , but for him a surprise.

[Sitkaspruce]

The bulls you shot likely don't "live" in that area. Their core area is likely elsewhere and they just showed up for the obviously healthy population of cows that do actually live there. Assuming the cows don't get shot off, next year there will be different bulls from far and wide show up when the ladies start to stink.

JMO
chris

This

The moose in this area can be very transient and they move from high to mid to low elevation depending on pressure, predators and weather. My guess is you have a couple hot cows around and they will drag bulls from a long distance and you were in the right place. A week later there could be nothing. We had lots of encounters this year in some of our regular places, but also found a few new ones when some of our other reg spots produced nothing. At that time of year the bulls will be moving and most are not local. Most of the local bulls are shot during the early season and the bulls from other places move in.

Keep hunting it, but also look for some new areas that have the same type of habitat, access and elevation. You will need to have a back up, trust me.

Cheers

SS

[tyreguy]

This I like.
Rather than just asking for information they rolled up their sleeves, did their homework and put in some work of their own and after a couple years of getting nothing they connected.
I wish more guys would read this and understand that's what goes into your hunting trip. Go to an area and figure it out, don't just post up "I'm not looking for your honey holes" because lets be honest - you are!
I hunted moose for a lot of years before we became successful. Walked a lot of miles in mud and snow, soaking wet catching an afternoon nap around a fire in the bush trying to warm up, then can't get my keys into my truck because my hands are too cold to hold the keys and after all that work i doubt anybody would give up the good information - its like volunteering for a vasectomy because it sounds like fun.
Let alone the expense we went through before we started getting a return. Calf moose 4 ways almost made me a vegetarian!!
Many put in for Moose LEH based on the odds then have no clue that maybe access is poor (that's why it has low odds??), then they waste their LEH by not going. OR, put second choice of low odds - don't do it unless you have a legitimate second choice.
Do the research - Google Earth, Maps, harvest data all can help and its all available under the keyboard in front of you.
Congrats ElliotMoose on a successful ANNUAL moose trip, you deserve it for the work you put forth.



[QUOTE=ElliotMoose;2203532]Interested in hearing people's opinions on this.
" so about 6 years ago we decided that on the years where we were unsuccessful for the local draw, we would head North and chase the generous GOS's up there. So began our annual moose hunt.

We finally decided on a place to check out after hours on google earth. After getting there we find the area is very thick but there is moose sign all over. The only way to really hunt it is to walk the game trails and call the bulls to you and hopefully get a good enough glimpse for a tine count. After 2 years of NIL but a few close calls, we connected with one 2 years ago and it kept us coming back. It's tough hunting but it is true wilderness and we fell in love with the country. We always had a few encounters but it seemed we never hit the peak of the rut. This year everything changed.

[ElliotMoose]

Tyreguy,

Thanks for the compliment. It is definitely more rewarding when you put in the work yourself. We went into the area blind only having seen outdated google earth images and our first two years we saw a total of 3 moose. Long ways to go to come home empty handed. Still, we loved the area and saw the sign so we knew the animals were there. We probably saw 10 hunters on quads cruising the tight quad trails in there this year and every guy had the same report. Minimal sign, next to no animals, area had been shot out. During that same week we called in 14 different bulls and harvested 4. They are there if you want to put in the effort. Moose get shot on the road for sure don't get me wrong, but there's nothing more rewarding than putting boots to the ground and learning a landscape intimately so you know the game trails, the licks, the watering holes etc so you can put yourself in a spot with a good chance of seeing animals and then having it all come together. If only we lived closer and could spend more time in that country year round I'm sure we would be even more successful over the years.

Chris