Moose 7-16/23??

[emerson]

I haven't seen much, and one fellow that had been up there 3 weeks said he saw 3 moose in that time. He said last year they were seeing half a dozen a day. Has anyone spent a lot of time out and about up there in the last few weeks?

[flyboy]

not in those MU, i'm struggling in 7-14 thou

[emerson]

Initially I was drinking the coolaid about how "road hunting" was lazy and ineffective, but I've been rethinking this. When I walk the bush I get maybe 4 km in half a day and most areas I can't see more than 70 yards and make a lot of noise when I move in the thick brush. If it is an open cut block then maybe I take 1-2 hours to walk and observe most of it. When I sit for a couple of hours there may be one animal moving where I can see it if I'm really lucky (usually not a legal one). When I drive to open blocks/meadows and look/glass and move on (perhaps a 10 minute walk to an area not visible from the road) I can cover 300 km+ from dawn to dusk. Assuming I can see 500m off the road and often 300-500m down the road, that's a lot more area that I observe. To those who say animals can't be seen from the road when they are in the bush; I can't see anything more than a few yards away when I'm in the bush either. It doesn't seem like moose are very dense on the ground, so unless I KNOW where some are (and they react when I call) covering more area seems to be the best option. I have no quad, so in addition to time, I am limited by access. How long do you successful hunters sit on one probable area before moving on? It seems shortsighted to devote half a days hunting to a 2 sq km area where a perhaps an animal might be. Are moose less plentiful around here this year? Or where, besides open cutblocks and meadows/swamps might I find them? In one day of local knowledge driving we saw a spike bull in mu6-9 ten days before their season opened, a 4 hours walk/sit got eyes on one cow walking across the Salmon River (I got lucky I think), I saw one cow 300m away in a cutblock up the Chuchinka in 14 hours of driving/glassing, and another 7 hour investment gave me a cow sighting by one of the lakes off the North Fraser FSR. Do people only post about their successful hunts and we not hear about the skunked ones like me?

[Tron]

Our group of 3 got skunked last year in 7-28. We spent 8 days hunting first light until last light. Most of the time seperate. We saw one moose and he was a legal spike fork but by the time we determined that he took off. I put over a 1000km on the truck hunting that trip. Also 2 quads racked up the clicks. I spent a lot of time walking into swamps and openings far back from the road and still nothing. The year before I took a calf doing this. It was were no road hunter would ever find it but only about 500yrds away from a road. The year before my partner called one in a shot it. They were also off the road but not far. This year we got lucky and got a really nice bull 100yrds off the road. With pressure they will go and hide but sometimes not to far. This is just my interpretation of the sign.

[killman]

Wolves and Grizzlies ate all the moose in those areas.

[moosinaround]

Moose will get into the thick stuff out there in that part of the world. LOTS of hunters, and action in the woods due to proximity to town. Lots of older thick blocks for them to hide in too. They are a tough hunt out there, and rut timing is everything. I think a soon as the pressure of calf season is over the last few days of the GOS will be good. Check out the cottonwood flats where there are lots of willows, red osier dogwood, and alder. This is where the moose will recover from the rut and get ready for winter. Moosin

[lightmag]

i have a buddy who has a group hunt for 7-16 and they went with 3 other guys with draws as well, so 6 guys, 4 tags, in a matter of 6 days took 4 bulls, 2 over 50" and all 4 had at least 3 on one brow. They saw a total of 7 bulls and heard many more.