Late season moose tactics

[Bustercluck]

It seems like this is a common topic every year so I thought I’d try and write down a few things from my experience this year even though we didn’t get anything we still learned a few things. Maybe some others want to chime in and share some experience as the late season moose is probably one of the tougher things to find.

We were out for a few nights in November. I can’t remember the exact temps, but I think it was -15 or colder, I know it got quite a bit colder on our last day which is why we packed it in. I was on my quad and my son and partner were in his sxs. We were touring around a bit and came across some freshish moose track on a quad trail. It was hard to tell which way they went because of the amount of tracks on the road so we took a look at the map and decided to go for a walk where we thought they might be heading. We picked a pond nne of us and decided to head that direction and creep around when we get there and see if anything was hanging around the edge. We started beelining for the pond, but ended up doing some zigzagging and crossed the moose track several times over the 2km ish hike in. One thing I noticed as we were walking is the moose stayed right away from any wet ground. It was that time of year before the ground was really frozen, if was a bit later or earlier I would expect them to go through all of the stuff they circled.

Don’t mind my map as it’s not to complete scale.
https://i.imgur.com/dtlCJrk.jpg

[Bustercluck]

We checked out the pond and creek but nothing too exciting so we headed back for some hot lunch. On our way back we ran into a bit of a resource or surveying trail that we wanted to find the end of so we could possibly hint early season next year. As we were making our way back we ran into the same three sets of tracks, but this time they were far fresher and it appeared they we’re moving quicker. They were dragging their hooves in the snow and kicking up fresh dirt. It was also snowing and there wasn’t any snow in them at all so I figured we were less than 20 minutes behind them. I’ve had absolutely zero luck trying to chase an animal through the bush, so we stuck to our resource trail and made our way back to the quad trail we were parked on. On the quad trail we could see where they ran through our quad tracks and screwed off into an area that was burned over with trees ranging from 6-8 feet high. I followed the tracks into the burn over a little ways and assessed where it looked like they were headed and I thought for sure they cut through the burn over and headed straight for the trees to get some cover. I thought they’d hit the treeline and be gone forever. That’s where I was wrong.
https://i.imgur.com/AbnSQun.jpg

[Bustercluck]

It wa s getting late in the day so we had some hot food and headed back to camp for the night. On our way back we split up and drove around the entire area just to see if they came out somewhere, but there were obviously in the middle of the four roads somewhere.

The next morning we drove the same way to see if they’d left the area, but nothing so we knew they were still in this little area. The plan was to go separate directions and I would push the thin patch of trees that ran in a line and they would wait on the quad trail where we originally saw the tracks to see where they went. I walked directly towards them and didn’t run into any tracks, so now I was getting a bit confused because the day before I thought for sure they’d go for the trees to get some cover. I don’t know about you guys but seeing a moose hanging out in an open cutblock is pretty rare.
https://i.imgur.com/fguu7wl.jpg

So now we knew they were in this little patch of burn over somewhere which really wasn’t that big, but it was full of small rolling hills. So the boys headed east to the other quad trail while I pushed through the burnover following the moose tracks from the day before. It was almost impossible walking through there. I was climbing over and under downed trees and doing circles trying to find an easy path, but the whole thing was brutal so I cut back to the treeline and tried to walk the edge of it and poking my head out into the burnover wherever I could. While I was following their trail I could see several spots where the moose had ripped fur and flesh off of themselves on long sharp knots running through this shit. So this was obviously an evasive tactic to run through this open shithole where they’d likely be seen but not followed. That was the big learning part for me, they did the exact opposite of what I expected. The other thing I noticed with the path they chose was low between the hills. They walked the very bottom part which gave the most natural cover with the rolling hills around.

Meanwhile my partner walked in on the high side of me and spotted something big and black on the treeline that disappeared before he could get his binos out. He walked in a bit further and found the spot where they bedded down the night before.

Like I said earlier it was getting brutally cold so we packed it in that night and headed back to town. All in all it was a good trip and I was happy to get out.

[Bustercluck]

And a few pics, because everybody likes pics
https://i.imgur.com/AJt9qUA.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/iAA0SxX.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/2GwUgpf.jpg

[Bustercluck]

https://i.imgur.com/v5Ipr19.mp4I have no idea how I posted a video so don’t ask

[Bustercluck]

A couple more of some cold weather problems. I put my nalgene too close to the fire trying to thaw out my drinking water. That one was on its last legs anyways.
https://i.imgur.com/Mf2ZhmG.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/WgrGiz2.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/tMcgQOU.jpg

[caddisguy]

Looks like a good time. A cold one, but a good one!

I like the map/notes. I do the same trying to figure out how BT pockets use the area.

Great pics too!

[HappyJack]

Nice write up, we do see moose out in open cut blocks quite often actually. It's not unusual to see them hundreds of yards from the tree line too. One tactic is to not chase them around, get a spot where you have a good field of view and wait for them to come into view, sometimes calling will help with that too.

[Bustercluck]

I’ve had zero luck calling moose outside of the rut. I’ve had some other guys tell me there’s a second rut later on in the year, but I haven’t witnessed it yet.

A friend of mine got a late season moose this year too. He saw at least three bulls during his hunt. He spent every day off out looking for moose and when he found one, he kept going back to the same spot and he was seeing them regularly. He shot at one, wounded it amd followed the blood trail through the bush all day and then shot a smaller moose in the same spot a few days later. They definitely don’t seem to move around much when the rut is over and it cools off