“They stand there on the roadside of National Parks and stare at you, how hard could it be?”
I was wildly fortunate to draw a CO moose tag in 2018. This post is just a few lessons learned, some of what I wish I knew last year as I ambled into this singularly amazing hunt. Also a little give-back, Rokslide has been a tremendous resource over the years. Exactly a year ago, dream tag in my pocket, I became acutely aware that I had no idea how to hunt a moose. If you’re that guy this year, read on.
I agonized over season choice. Colorado allows your tag to be exchanged for any method of take before opening day. The respective season for that method of take then applies. I’m more experienced with a rifle, but my tag was issued as an archery tag, and it seemed doable. I figured my summer scouting would have better validity for the earlier archery season. Weather turned out pretty nice, too. It’s hard to imagine exactly how the rifle season would have unfolded, but I will say I ached for my shooting iron about 3 hours into archery season.
Scouting was valuable and valid. Moose are territorial, and I’ve seen the same individuals in the same marsh way back in the previous September, while scouting in late June and again during season. Mild pressure from elk hunters didn’t seem to move them at all. I dreaded them getting blown out of this marsh, because I had a weak Plan B and no Plan C, but they hung tight. I saw a muzzleloader hike through my area one morning, but then watched my bull walk almost in that hunters tracks the very next day. I spent more time behind the glass on this hunt than perhaps all previous combined. Invested in some 10x42 Razor HDs on a tripod, and still felt just a bit under-glassed. Quality could be judged, but parsing individuals between days was challenging with my optical setup. For the most part we spotted bulls out and about as soon as there was light to see them, and they bedded within an hour of dawn.
I read two books over the summer.
Read this:
https://www.amazon.com/Moose-Behavior-Conservation-Valerius-Geist/dp/0896584224
Not that:
https://www.amazon.com/Moose-Hunting-Calling-Decoying-Stalking/dp/1628736747
You owe it to yourself to be an expert on the animal, and it helps to answer the myriad questions folks will ask you before, during, and after your season. Geist does a great job in this regard. The Kelso book, while a good primer for a New England hunt, was simply useless in the West. Additionally, I must have watched every moose hunt video on YouTube, also a waste of time. The problem?
Calling and decoying did not work. At all. Every attempt I made to simulate a bull or cow actively drove the target animal away. Thrashing my plywood antler in the willows? Bull got out of his bed and said “See ya.” Cow calling? Made a bull that was already trotting in my direction perform a 180. I spent hours crafting my faux-antler and it proved to be dead weight on the mountain. Consensus on peak moose rut in the mountain west is weak, which made it difficult to know what exactly what strategy was going to work. Colorado’s archery moose season was September 9-23 last year, on the early side of the rut. I spent hours watching bulls through the glass, but didn’t see much rutting behavior. The bulls seemed pretty content just hanging out as bachelors, and the rare day when cows were also present the bulls weren’t pestering them. All those YouTube videos invariably depict cow calls bringing the bull in on a string, but on opening day of archery this just didn’t seem possible.
I had my moose family pegged in a surprisingly high (11,000’) marsh. I quickly realized that you can’t shoot, see, or sneak through 6’ tall willows. The bulls would bed in a small grassy island surrounded by endless willows, and they might as well have been in Fort Knox. It took 9 days of crushing me mentally for one of them to make a mistake. I saw him trotting, and followed him along a ridge for a solid mile. He bedded in the willows, as usual, but adjacent to a 10yd wide peninsula of rock and trees that came off the ridge. A long, patient stalk ensued. Midway through I thought the wind had betrayed me. Nearly lost faith that there would be a moose at the end of this. Eventually turned the final corner, and darned if he wasn’t still bedded! I stood behind a couple saplings at 15yds for an eternity waiting for him to stand, and finally that rear leg tensed as he got up. Ideal broadside. Draw, shoot, and he galloped a few yards to present the opposite broadside. I’d practiced all summer long on a fast follow up shot after reading an excellent thread on that topic in Rokslide/Moose. I shot a second arrow and, still walking, he leapt off a ledge of unknown height. I backed out to give him 30 minutes. Turns out he only went 30 yds total, and came to rest in the most idyllic kill site I’ve ever worked at. Minor problem, 3.5 miles from the truck, 400 pounds of deboned meat and 100lbs of head to carry. I parked all the meat on a little ice patch from a stubborn cornice, and proceeded to hike 50 miles over the next 4 days. The most strenuous single task I’ve ever accomplished.
Everybody likes pictures, but these are also hard, just try moving that horse head, solo, for a selfie. Nigh impossible:
I was wildly fortunate to draw a CO moose tag in 2018. This post is just a few lessons learned, some of what I wish I knew last year as I ambled into this singularly amazing hunt. Also a little give-back, Rokslide has been a tremendous resource over the years. Exactly a year ago, dream tag in my pocket, I became acutely aware that I had no idea how to hunt a moose. If you’re that guy this year, read on.
I agonized over season choice. Colorado allows your tag to be exchanged for any method of take before opening day. The respective season for that method of take then applies. I’m more experienced with a rifle, but my tag was issued as an archery tag, and it seemed doable. I figured my summer scouting would have better validity for the earlier archery season. Weather turned out pretty nice, too. It’s hard to imagine exactly how the rifle season would have unfolded, but I will say I ached for my shooting iron about 3 hours into archery season.
Scouting was valuable and valid. Moose are territorial, and I’ve seen the same individuals in the same marsh way back in the previous September, while scouting in late June and again during season. Mild pressure from elk hunters didn’t seem to move them at all. I dreaded them getting blown out of this marsh, because I had a weak Plan B and no Plan C, but they hung tight. I saw a muzzleloader hike through my area one morning, but then watched my bull walk almost in that hunters tracks the very next day. I spent more time behind the glass on this hunt than perhaps all previous combined. Invested in some 10x42 Razor HDs on a tripod, and still felt just a bit under-glassed. Quality could be judged, but parsing individuals between days was challenging with my optical setup. For the most part we spotted bulls out and about as soon as there was light to see them, and they bedded within an hour of dawn.
I read two books over the summer.
Read this:
https://www.amazon.com/Moose-Behavior-Conservation-Valerius-Geist/dp/0896584224
Not that:
https://www.amazon.com/Moose-Hunting-Calling-Decoying-Stalking/dp/1628736747
You owe it to yourself to be an expert on the animal, and it helps to answer the myriad questions folks will ask you before, during, and after your season. Geist does a great job in this regard. The Kelso book, while a good primer for a New England hunt, was simply useless in the West. Additionally, I must have watched every moose hunt video on YouTube, also a waste of time. The problem?
Calling and decoying did not work. At all. Every attempt I made to simulate a bull or cow actively drove the target animal away. Thrashing my plywood antler in the willows? Bull got out of his bed and said “See ya.” Cow calling? Made a bull that was already trotting in my direction perform a 180. I spent hours crafting my faux-antler and it proved to be dead weight on the mountain. Consensus on peak moose rut in the mountain west is weak, which made it difficult to know what exactly what strategy was going to work. Colorado’s archery moose season was September 9-23 last year, on the early side of the rut. I spent hours watching bulls through the glass, but didn’t see much rutting behavior. The bulls seemed pretty content just hanging out as bachelors, and the rare day when cows were also present the bulls weren’t pestering them. All those YouTube videos invariably depict cow calls bringing the bull in on a string, but on opening day of archery this just didn’t seem possible.
I had my moose family pegged in a surprisingly high (11,000’) marsh. I quickly realized that you can’t shoot, see, or sneak through 6’ tall willows. The bulls would bed in a small grassy island surrounded by endless willows, and they might as well have been in Fort Knox. It took 9 days of crushing me mentally for one of them to make a mistake. I saw him trotting, and followed him along a ridge for a solid mile. He bedded in the willows, as usual, but adjacent to a 10yd wide peninsula of rock and trees that came off the ridge. A long, patient stalk ensued. Midway through I thought the wind had betrayed me. Nearly lost faith that there would be a moose at the end of this. Eventually turned the final corner, and darned if he wasn’t still bedded! I stood behind a couple saplings at 15yds for an eternity waiting for him to stand, and finally that rear leg tensed as he got up. Ideal broadside. Draw, shoot, and he galloped a few yards to present the opposite broadside. I’d practiced all summer long on a fast follow up shot after reading an excellent thread on that topic in Rokslide/Moose. I shot a second arrow and, still walking, he leapt off a ledge of unknown height. I backed out to give him 30 minutes. Turns out he only went 30 yds total, and came to rest in the most idyllic kill site I’ve ever worked at. Minor problem, 3.5 miles from the truck, 400 pounds of deboned meat and 100lbs of head to carry. I parked all the meat on a little ice patch from a stubborn cornice, and proceeded to hike 50 miles over the next 4 days. The most strenuous single task I’ve ever accomplished.
Everybody likes pictures, but these are also hard, just try moving that horse head, solo, for a selfie. Nigh impossible:
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