busted

[flyboy]

went out yesterday in the fog,couldnt see 50ft and chances of seeing anything=0, but thought why not walk the block. came around the corner and was staring at Mrs moose right in front of me. I stood super still and in behind her down in a dip was the racks of 2 bulls smashing heads!!! I was so busted couldnt move and she gave me a 10 second look and took off, of course so did her boyfriends. all this happened so fast i had no time to react. looked like a second cow/calf were watching the bulls as well. crazy as i have been hunting a bull leh for a while now with no luck and then this performance.drives me crazy but also perks up my hopes again.

question- would this scenario suggest the rut is still going strong? reason i ask is should i still be cow calling/ I had been calling for the last week with no luck so i gave up on the calling and moved to more spot and stock and this happens.

question- pissing rain today so plan is to be back in first light tomorrow. thoughts on if they will stay close to that area(good feed/water) or move on due to the encounter.

still a pretty cool thing to see, most likly learned a lesson about visability and its benefits! Damn Fog!!!

[doubled]

Could be the start of the second rut.

[ianwuzhere]

i think they will be near the same area-i would try cow calling!
Good Luck!
Are you in region 5 or 7? I had a cow in my back yard cow calling last week-i searched for a bull and found none...im in region 7.

[Sitkaspruce]

My experience, the bulls will be younger bulls (possibly of the cow you saw). At this time of year, I have watched the younger bulls still head butting and banging antlers together, especially if the cow has come into her second estrous or is close. The bigger guys will usually save their energy and might pose a little, but rarely fight anymore. It time to feed more than breed as winter is coming and they need to build up their fat reserves. The younger bulls did not really rut, so they still fed through the rut period and still have some fat reserves, plus they still need to learn that winter is not very nice.

Get back there as the cow will hang around the block and so will the bulls. Play the wind, glass a lot and be patient.

Good luck

Cheers

SS

[tomahawk]

My experience, the bulls will be younger bulls (possibly of the cow you saw). At this time of year, I have watched the younger bulls still head butting and banging antlers together, especially if the cow has come into her second estrous or is close. The bigger guys will usually save their energy and might pose a little, but rarely fight anymore. It time to feed more than breed as winter is coming and they need to build up their fat reserves. The younger bulls did not really rut, so they still fed through the rut period and still have some fat reserves, plus they still need to learn that winter is not very nice.

Get back there as the cow will hang around the block and so will the bulls. Play the wind, glass a lot and be patient.

Good luck

Cheers

SS


Heed these words!!!

[flyboy]

yea zone 7!

was pretty sure I heard a couple bull grunts 2 days prior to this but as soon as I let a couple low cow calls go all was quite till i heard branches brakeing and squirells chirping crazy way off in the distance as whomever was close by was not hanging around?? Hence why I figured the cow call days were done???

Anyway I was thinking they would stay around that block as well, hence i will be in there tomorrow, slow and lots of glassing. Thanks for the info

[jml11]

Yeah the fog sucked yesterday but I stuck it out and managed to find a couple moose on the edge of lake and was able to make out that the little one was a calf...so I finally got my moose!

[Tron]

SS is right. We had a run in with a bull and he spooked but we called him in the next night. If they weren't shot at I think they will still be there

[boxhitch]

Maybe need to modify the cow calling ? something subtle ? Be sociable