CO Moose Scouting and Hunt Pictures

[bbrown]

Somehow I beat the draw odds along with the arrival of wolves and will actually get to hunt a bull moose in my home state of Colorado starting almost 1 month from today. A few guys sent me PMs asking me to post up pictures from scouting and and hunt so here we go.

So far I have made 4 weekend trips into my moose area and have turned up lots of deer, elk, way more bears than I expected to find and even had a cool encounter with a mountain lion at less than a 100 yards that I don’t think ever knew I was there. As far as moose, I have turned up a decent number of cows with this year’s calves and a small handful of bulls but they have been harder to find than I expected. Seems like the cows are hanging in creek bottoms in the thick brush but with the leaves on they are tough to spot unless they are in the open. The bulls seem to be hanging out a a bit higher staying in the fringe country between the aspens and pine. Still have 2 more weekends I hope to make it up before the hunt starts and hoping to have more pictures of bulls but these will have to do for now.

 

[bbrown]

Pretty cool buck - one solid side and the other was big and goofy.One of a few decent bucks I’ve found:Big bear that was harassing a bachelor herd of elk until I interrupted.Terrible picture of the mtn lion

 

[bbrown]

All else fails the family and I have had a ton of fun exploring, fishing, plinking and screwing around.

 

[orionthehunter1]

Awesome pics, good luck on the hunt

 

[cnelk]

That lake is one of my favorite places. Especially in the winter when it’s a 22 mile round trip snowmobile ride!

 

[Northpark]

I have spent some time at that lake. Used to live in Walden. Beautiful country biggest bulls I’ve seen in that area were along the road to the lake in the willows.

 

[mike_step]

Great photos. I need to get out to Colorado this year

 

[5MilesBack]

Last year we spent several days scouting my moose unit and we never found a single bull at all during that time. We even went all day one day on horseback through a wilderness area and found cows and calves but no bulls. Then my buddy took his family over for some scouting as well and he found one small bull.....smaller than the one in your pic. We both turned our elk tags in from a different unit and figured we were in for a tougher hunt than I anticipated. Then I ended up shooting the first bull I saw all year the opening evening Sept 12. He was 47" but I felt bad shooting the first one I saw when I had 30 days to hunt. I figured I would regret it if I had passed him up and didn't find a better one. I had seen much better ones in previous years. But bottom line.......don't worry about what you're seeing now, you'll find the one you want at some point in that long season.

 

[Coveyleader]

Last year we spent several days scouting my moose unit and we never found a single bull at all during that time. We even went all day one day on horseback through a wilderness area and found cows and calves but no bulls. Then my buddy took his family over for some scouting as well and he found one small bull.....smaller than the one in your pic. We both turned our elk tags in from a different unit and figured we were in for a tougher hunt than I anticipated. Then I ended up shooting the first bull I saw all year the opening evening Sept 12. He was 47" but I felt bad shooting the first one I saw when I had 30 days to hunt. I figured I would regret it if I had passed him up and didn't find a better one. I had seen much better ones in previous years. But bottom line.......don't worry about what you're seeing now, you'll find the one you want at some point in that long season.

Totally agree with this. If you have a big bull located, kill him on the opener. If not, take a few days here and there, and really concentrate on end of September, into October they will be moving alot. One thing about moose, they can be here today, gone tomorrow. It always seems you're behind the sightings. Its like fishing......."should have been here last week"

Don't get burnt out, I did, and looking back, there is a ton I'd do different, still have alot of regrets.

 

[bbrown]

Thanks guys!

I'm not too worried about not finding bulls this early but definitely messes with a guys head. Taking the wife up to Steamboat for the weekend for our anniversary and will probably have to glass a few spots from the road on the way by. Then after this weekend I will be back after it and hope the bulls are starting to move back into the areas they will be come September.

 

[cnelk]

When I drew my rifle moose tag back in 2009, scouted the area 5-6 times. Only saw cows and calves.

Opening day - Oct 1 - it snowed and I shot my B&C bull at noon at 10,000ft

I’d say just know the spots you want to hunt and it’ll happen

 

[bbrown]

Fair enough. I’ve found some spots that I’ll definitely be back to but more importantly spots you couldn’t pay me enough to go back to. That blow down SUCKS!!! Couldn’t imagine trying to pack a “horse” out of there…

 

[ShakeDown]

I don’t have anything of substance to add to this conversation, but I do have a cool moose pic.

 

[CoHiCntry]

Funny, my experience was just the opposite. I was seeing good bulls all summer & once the season started I couldn’t find any. I did finally find one on day 4. It was one I saw while scouting in the summer. He was a couple hundred yards from where I had seen him in the summer. Kind of neat since I have live pics of him in velvet & my whole family got to see him alive too. Neat experience.

 

[Jaquomo]

I live in the middle of unit 8 and see moose every day. Bulls and cows are in the same drainages, hanging in the willows in the bottoms of drainages (often bedding in the willows) but sometimes 1/4 mile up into the timber during the day. Like, bedding behind my garage but dropping down to feed around sunset..... I'm seeing 2-3 medium-sized bulls hanging together all summer, and one decent bull hanging with a cow. Other bigger bulls are solitary this year, but not always. Where they are now is where they will be on day one of your season. After that, all bets are off. But probably still in the same drainage somewhere. Start seriously looking around Labor Day and talk to every elk camp in the area (I know where you're hunting...) Find your bull before the season and kill him fast. Good luck - I hate you just a little bit because I've never drawn..

 

[cnelk]

Most of the bigger bull moose I encounter are higher in elevation than expected - over 10,000'

 

[Slugz]

Congrats on the tag and kudos on getting the dog to pose like a rock star!

 

[hobbes]

Good luck! I look forward to reading about your hunt.

 

[bbrown]

A few more from this past weekend - it was a bit smoky. Ended up seeing 8 bulls and a handful of cows.

 

[Coveyleader]

It really depends on how high your unit gets. Big bulls will hang out at 12k way up with the mule deer if your unit has those types of elevations. Your photo looks pretty low and fun for sure.

Have fun, here’s one that came under me at 6 feet as I was standing on a downed tree trying to look over the willows.