Ducks and moose.

Yukon Mike

Yukon Mike

Well-known member
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I often call for moose when I sit over my decoys and usually I don't see any mooses, but yesterday I called in this guy and it was interesting because I had been shooting ducks and he came in anyways. Once I saw him I didn't shoot again and he came to about 50 yds in a couple of minutes. Because I didn't want to kill him I took the opportunity to try some different things, and to let the dogs have the experience of him coming in too. Bunners didn't see anything because the grass was thick, but Jenny the lab saw the whole thing and was surprisingly quiet and steady. The teals that came in and were swimming in the decoys gave her way more stress than the moose.

In the second last picture he had stopped about 10 feet from my boat on shore and decided to head back. I was 40 -50 yds down the shore. When he turned I stood up and challenged him with my hands up like horns and swayed back and forth, but he wasn't in the fighting mood, possibly because he had no cows to defend anyways, so he just walked away. The whole thing lasted about 2 minutes or more I'd say.

Cool beans.

Mike
 
Mike, it is my opinion that one of the biggest thrills you can have in the field is calling in a bull moose to close range. Thanks for capturing it on film and sharing.
 
you mention "because I did not want to kill him"

why did you pass? no tag? season? wrong gun?

very cool either way.

also, what were you "trying"??
 
That is one big moose.

Our moose season is on now, and I have to spend 3 days doing field work in some great moose country. I'll be wearing lots of orange while I crash through the bogs looking for remote brook trout populations. (It's a tough job, but someone has to do it.)
 
Like a lot of guys around here I get really restless this time of year and always think I should go shoot a moose while the rut is on. The truth is even a small moose would be way more than my back could handle, so in the interest of being sensible (not much experience with that) I promised Mac I would try not to shoot one. I only took my shotgun with me on this trip, but still had three slugs in my pocket for just in case. The other big reason I didn't want to shoot him was this is what was over that low bank along the edge of the water behind him. Not a good place to extract anything bigger than your boot!

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I really want to try to get one with my bow though, and so this guy was sort of a "practice" round of seeing how close he would come because if I'd been hunting with a rifle he would have been shot at 80 yds and I'd never know what might have been.

What I got to try was calling and moving locations a bit to see what his reaction would be. I also wanted to see if his behavior changed when I switched from a cow call to a bull grunt. When I finally showed myself pretending to be a bull I wanted to see if he'd bolt or what. He didn't run, just walked away. Clearly he has not been watching youtube videos or he would have attacked me and tried to stomp my camera.

I think the best setup for getting a close shot with a bow would be to call from one location and then sneak up to try to intercept him on his way past. While calling coyotes I've noticed that they can lock in to the location of the sound from a long way away and you don't have to make more noise once they are committed to investigate. Sometimes I think too much calling ruins the spell. One of those Renzo's cow decoys would totally help a solo archer as well. Some of you guys may have used those.

I also think a mature bull would not have wandered so recklessly into my duck decoy spread with the boat sitting there and everything. This guy was probably about 3 1/2 years old and in his first real season of moose sex. He'll be even bigger next year, and now I know where he lives. ; )

Mike
 
Mike - Great pics and thanks for sharing. How cool would it be to be calling ducks and have a moose come in. Thanks for sharing brother! Keep em coming... Pat
 
WOW. That is really cool to have a moose come through to say hi.

So, what do you do if the moose decides he's bigger than you and he's gonna run over and stomp your camera when you do the "pretend I'm a moose" posturing?
 
I have to admit I hadn't really thought through that part, but my hope was the dogs would create a diversion while I climbed a tree. Then I would light squares of toilet paper on fire and drop them on his head until he went away. A guy I knew in Watson Lake did that to a grizzly bear that treed him and lived to tell the story, so I'm sure it would work on moose too.

Mike
 
What an adventure life you live.

Moose and everything.

I once was in a bus with a bunch of folks and we stopped at a place near Jackson Hole Wyo. I saw moose in the waters and no one believed me. They kept sticking their heads under to eat.

Then I told the folks, see those bubbles, that is the moose, that is where his head is.


When the moose finally stuck his head up, it turned out that the bubbles were from the stern, and everyone got a hoot out of that.
 
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I have to admit I hadn't really thought through that part, but my hope was the dogs would create a diversion while I climbed a tree. Then I would light squares of toilet paper on fire and drop them on his head until he went away. A guy I knew in Watson Lake did that to a grizzly bear that treed him and lived to tell the story, so I'm sure it would work on moose too.
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Mike,

I was thinking the same as Dani. Now my only question is ; How do you light dirty toilet paper? If it were me in the tree, any toilet paper I had at that point would have to be dirty from the encounter which just put me in the tree! ;>) ;>)

Thanks for sharing the pictures. I've seen a few moose from say about 100 yards but nothing much closer. Not sure I'd want to if not hunting one.
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I have to admit I hadn't really thought through that part, but my hope was the dogs would create a diversion while I climbed a tree. Then I would light squares of toilet paper on fire and drop them on his head until he went away. A guy I knew in Watson Lake did that to a grizzly bear that treed him and lived to tell the story, so I'm sure it would work on moose too.

Mike
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Awesome.
 
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