moose calling, what went wrong?

[Fixit]

just came back from a trip to 7-13, found a great little set of lakes with swamps in between them...

friend saw a big bull moose 800m away (late in the day)
so we returned the next two days, hiked the area but couldnt find him

on the third day, up at 5, 1.5hrs hike in and started calling around 7am
2-3 cow calls, wait 15-20 mins and repeat.

after second of third set i get a grunt back, no wanting to seem like a slut i make him wait for 5 mins for a response, a few cow calls
more grunts, more cow calls

then i get 12 grunts in a row, followed by another bull grunting in a different spot

basically i just responded to his grunts with a cow call everytime, after about an hour or so he seemed to loose interest and stopped grunting back.

should i have chased him down? or stood my ground and waited for him to come in like we did? did i come across as too eager by responding to each one of his grunts?
we were sitting on the edge of the lake in the muskeg with the wind in our face blowing away from moose, but it was a bit swirly
need some advice thanks!

[Geo.338]

Do you think that there may have been more than one bull in the area? . Sometime after the first contact and a bull starts to come in he goes silent making you think he has left but he is actually sneaking in on you . If a cow call doesn't get him out , sometimes I will throw in a couple of bull grunts to make him think he has competition .

If I am hunting a spot late in the day to darkness I quit calling an hour before last shooting light and I return the next morning well before light for that first call .Sometimes a bull sneaks in after you have gone , he doesn't find the cow he was looking for and leaves . Sometimes he is still in the area and hears your call and then comes looking for you .

Experienced callers preach not to call too often . It is hard at time to know what mix of calls to throw at them . Hope this helps .

[lip_ripper00]

just came back from a trip to 7-13, found a great little set of lakes with swamps in between them...

friend saw a big bull moose 800m away (late in the day)
so we returned the next two days, hiked the area but couldnt find him

on the third day, up at 5, 1.5hrs hike in and started calling around 7am
2-3 cow calls, wait 15-20 mins and repeat.

after second of third set i get a grunt back, no wanting to seem like a slut i make him wait for 5 mins for a response, a few cow calls
more grunts, more cow calls

then i get 12 grunts in a row, followed by another bull grunting in a different spot

basically i just responded to his grunts with a cow call everytime, after about an hour or so he seemed to loose interest and stopped grunting back.

should i have chased him down? or stood my ground and waited for him to come in like we did? did i come across as too eager by responding to each one of his grunts?
we were sitting on the edge of the lake in the muskeg with the wind in our face blowing away from moose, but it was a bit swirly
need some advice thanks!


I am thinking this is the same bull and he winded you, and was takeing off.

[Fixit]

id say that it was two moose, near simultanious grunts in distinct different spots, he sounded like he was a ways off still

[Fixit]

but thats not to say that he didnt wind us, after a while of silence (30 mins) we snuck in his direction and found nothing...

was i wrong to return a cow call to each one of his grunts?

i think i have a video ill try to post

[Ltbullken]

Walk into a better location for the wind after getting a response. Noise is not an issue because the bull already thinks there is a cow in the area. Doing a bull grunt following call calls is not a big problem either but if being passive is not working, try something more aggressive like thrashing some brush or small tree with a dried out piece of board, birch moose call or even antler piece. A shoulder blade harvested from an animal works well. That might trigger him to come into to get a better look. Walk slowly towards the grunt if he's not coming in. He will try to walk down wind of you as well if he can't identify you. I've had moose do that often with me. You can move to intercept or set yourself up so that the moose has to expose himself to wind you. Variable wind days can be tough but you do the best you can.

Call about 3 - 4 times, every 20 - 25 mins. I like to make my calls loud, long and with a sense of mournful yearning towards the end of the call - think of a cow that is lonely and needs to get bred! (*awkward*) Add a bit of a quaivering to the call. You can go on the web to see and hear live calls made by cow moose if that helps.

[little moose]

should have used a challange call. A big bull and a satalite bull usualy means there are cows around so you need to make him come to you ready to fight the intruder( you).
Even this doesnt allways work when cows are involed so depending on the wind you have to make the move to go to him.

[Spy]

Last year I was cow calling had a response & we called back & forth but he was not moving ! I changed it up & started grunting & racking a tree, he was so pissed off & was looking for a fight, called him right in on a grunt call & Kaboom game over ! Better luck next time !

[rifleman]

yep , should of challenged him...bull grunts & lots raking.. I had a bull coming in this year for one of my archery hunters. there was a cow involved & another bull.. he came to within 75 yards. unfortunately to far for my hunter to shoot.....

[Fixit]

ok next time ill beat up a willow bush, if it was the same bull that was spotted days earlier, he was a big old paddled guy who was probably smart to my game im thinking

[little moose]

A big bull like your talking about that is all rutted up wont leave his cows for another cow,he expects her to come to him. But another bull challenging him will get him all worked up and come in ready to fight but if you have a small bull responding and you challenge him most of those run.

[Ike]

What worked for me last week on my bull was to use the cow call until a bull came into the area. Then I switched to bull grunts and every time he grunted I grunted back, matching him grunt for grunt. We had quite a conversation going and he came right in, I even challenged him by raking a tree and it definitely got him going.

Good luck on your next trip out.

[moose2]

I have had this happen before, I am guessing a small bull was coming in and a bigger bull with cows answered. The little bull knew he was going to be beat so he left and then the big guy got silent as he went back to his cows. What I have done and it has worked twice for me. I will change locations by a km or more in the direction of the last grunt. Then I will cow call again the small bull may come in now knowing the other bull is a long ways away and he will think this is a different cow as well. If you are targeting the small bull don't bull grunt that's what scared him the first time. Both times this worked for me the bulls I shot had been badly bruised from fighting, thats why I think they spooked. One from another answering and one from me doing bull grunts.
Mike

[ElliotMoose]

Pretty awesome feeling when you start getting responses, isn't it? As mentioned above, I would have started raking some willows with a branch or whatever you have handy. (I use an old moose shoulder blade from an immy we took a cpl years back) If he has cows around him already, he will not want to budge just for a cow off in the distance. What you could do is remain in your position and keep up with moderate cow calling, and have your partner set up 100 yards away working the grunts and thrashing brush. This will drive the bull crazy and hopefully he will come in to check out the action. An exeption in this case, would be a bull who just got his butt kicked by a bigger bull. In that situation, an aggressive grunting/thrashing technique could send him fleeing for the hills. Sort of gotta "pick your battles." All comes with experience. Good luck on your future hunts!

Chris

[Ltbullken]

Called this guy in. He had to cross a road to wind me. See how he got set up? Unfortunately, he was not legal!!

[meesemoot]

When a bull responds to a cow call with those submissive sounding grunts it means he's on his way, so I would stop calling there and then. And when another bull is heard answering, they are likely to be racing each other to get to you first. Any calling at this point could ruin the perfect situation.

[Fixit]

yeah it was very exciting! i rreally want to try it again and see what happens.
anyone got room for a tag along on an upcoming trip?

[billjc33]

Unless it is a huge bull I never use a bull grunt except in a last ditch effort. I've changed my technique alot in the last couple years and have had a lot of success being aggressive and going towards the bull. In my opinion over calling is a myth! I've watched cows call every 30 sec for an hour and make some very random noises. I usually make 3 calls every 5 min and and If I get a response I move towards the moose and try to get into the timber or wherever they are coming from. By moving towards them you control the wind and once you get in their kitchen they can't ignore you.

[Sitkaspruce]

Long cow calls, changing the tone and sound, followed by a wait of a couple minutes (move 30-50 yards away) and start bull grunting and light raking, breaking a few branches. Then stay silent and see if you can hear him. Then repeat, except get more aggressive with the raking and breaking branches and another long cow call. Turn you body away and even walk away to sound like they are moving off. Don't worry about making noise, they key in on it, but do stay vigilant as they can come in quite and suddenly be standing there.

This years bull answered right away from a couple cow calls with a few grunts, then a brush thrashing. We figured he was 300 yards away....cow called a couple more times with no answer, so after 15 minutes, I took a scapula, walked 30 yards towards where we last heard the moose and began to grunt and thrash the brush, waited 5 more minutes then repeated while the partner cow called behind me....the next thing I know I can hear him running and grunting with every step, ended up shooting him at 8 yards. He came from over 300 yards to probably 30 silent as a mouse, then got pi$$ed and came running.

The fun of hunting moose is trying to figure them out, been calling them for 20+ years and still cannot figure them out....but it's what keeps me going back every year. What works one time, might not ever work again........

Cheers

SS