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Rutting Moose

Calling moose may just be the most intense bowhunting experience in North America.

By Tim Herald

Big bull moose conjure up images that are beyond compare as far as North American big game goes. Huge antlers, gigantic bodies, calling, raking brush and some of the wildest country that a hunter can hunt all make moose hunting a dream trip for most of us.

Whether you’re hunting Shiras moose in the Rockies, Canada Moose ranging from Maine to British Columbia or the granddaddy of them all, the Alaskan-Yukon monsters that live in Alaska, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories, moose are big, tough and challenging. Whether you find yourself hunting halfway up a huge mountain in Wyoming, scanning from Alaskan foothills or wading around lakes and rivers in the Canadian North, you need to be in shape. Moose hunters that have physically prepared by working out and especially doing plenty of cardio exercise will be more successful and enjoy their hunts much more than those who find the entire trip a struggle.

Calling is by far the most fun method to hunt moose. It’s also the method that seems to net archers the most quality shots. There are two basic ways to call moose––spot-and-stalk calling and cold calling. The first involves finding a good vantage, sitting, glassing and listening for a bull or other moose activity. Once a good bull is spotted, a plan is hatched to move in on him and only when close enough and properly set up does the calling begin. Vantage points include higher ground that gives a good view of the surrounding moose habitat or can be as simple as finding a bend in a river where you can see up and down the waterway a few hundred yards each way.

Cold calling moose is calling when you don’t know a specific moose is around. Often it’s done while moving through an area and stopping occasionally to call. Generally, each cold-calling sequence should last 30 to 45 minutes to give any moose in the vicinity a reasonable amount of time to respond.

When cold calling you may choose to use the long, drawn-out notes of a lovesick cow or the shorter and more numerous grunts of a bull. I’ve found that the cow calls will attract more moose in general, but the bull grunts seem to get a rise out of the bigger bulls. Clearly, the larger bulls won’t tolerate a challenger in their realm. A hot bull will come in from over a half mile away if their mood is right.

I like getting such a bull interested with cow calls and then switching over to bull sounds to bring him into bow range. Sometimes a particularly cagey bull will hang up at 100 yards or so. At this point, I switch to bull grunting combined with raking brush with a big stick, a paddle or a shed moose antler I’ve picked up. Sometimes that may lure a big bull in closer than you may even want. Bulls are notorious for coming into anything moving once they get going. Once they commit to coming in, even if they see you in the open or catch you drawing your bow, there may be no stopping their forward march. The one thing to really watch is the wind. You can often get away with a lot of movement with moose, but if he gets that big nose full of human scent, you can be sure he will make a hasty retreat.

My last encounter with a big bull was a combination of much of the above. I was in northern British Columbia hunting with Ron Steffey. We were cold calling our way up a river system that ran through a large mountain valley. Though the rut should have been cranking pretty good, we hadn’t seen a moose in three days of hunting.

One mid-afternoon we decided to take a break near a bend in the river. We could see 250 yards each way. There was a big rocky bar across from us and a few acres of willows stretching beyond that. The place just looked “moosey.”

After calling for a while with no response, we kicked back and relaxed. After about half an hour, Ron told me he thought he heard a distant bull grunt. I had been nodding off and hadn’t heard it. Ron bull grunted a few times, and almost instantly a bull answered. We scrambled to get ready, and Ron called a bit more.

Then Ron moved behind me and began raking a big branch in the brush to accompany his bull grunts. The moose was calling almost continually now. Within minutes, the big Canadian bull showed himself on the far bank.

He looked almost prehistoric as he came closer. With 50-inch-plus antlers swaying, dewlap swinging, licking his nose as he called, that big bull was a sight I will never forget. His powerful shoulders looked 7 feet high, and you could just tell he was locked in and ready for battle with the bull that had dared to invade his domain.

He came straight to the shallow river and stepped in on the way to Ron’s calls. My heart was pounding as this 1600-pound behemoth marched ever closer. He never broke stride as I made my shot. What a rush!

Calling moose isn’t all that different from calling turkeys or elk, but the payoff is simply huge. In fact, a big bull moose is two to three times larger than most bull elk. Calling moose may just be the most intense bowhunting experience in North America.

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