2022 moose season

[akbowbender]

I'm still after my first bow killed moose, and the JD Berry Misty Dawn is up to the task.

The big issue so far, not counting my hunting close to civilization, has been the weather, which has been very wet. Most of the summer was just the opposite. I had hoped to use my Folbot to hunt some areas that are accessable only by boat, but everything close to the creek is under water. Fortunately, other areas I hunt are easy to get around in just my Xtratufs.

I've seen a cow and a couple of sublegal bulls, including this one:

After sitting for a short while at "Fifty-inch" stand, I decided to take a peek in a nice patch of timber a couple a hundred yards away. I had just reached the edge of the timber when I saw this bull crossing the far end of the timber. Before I could get the binos on him, he went out of sight. I leaned my bow against a handy cottonwood, and started glass for him, and any other bull that might have crossed before him. Nothing!

As it turns out, he was hidden behind a clump of large cottonwoods and was walking right towards me! I pulled out my phone and when he popped out at 15 yds I got the photo. At 12 yds, I started waving my hands and talking to him. He just stood there instead of whirling around and leaving like he should have!

I decided to back out, so I moved to grab my bow and stepped on a stick in the process. The crack of the breaking stick caused him to jump a few yards away. Whew! I was getting worried that he might take exception to my presence and do something about it. I continued to back out, and he took the queue and started walk the other way. If he survives the next three years, maybe we will meet again when he may just be legal to take.

[Gun]

Good Luck with your season! I love Hunting Moose. I’ll be after them hard in about a month. Either sex no restrictions where I hunt. They are so yummy!!

[Wudstix]

Awesome, Good Luck.  We don't have many of those in TX!
 

[Friend]

Wish you the best of success.

[akbowbender]

Thanks, everyone!

Gun:

Wish Alaska did the same for archery season. They don't even have antlerless permits for archery season, only for the general season and antlerless hunts in November and December, at least in the unit I hunt in. They did extend the archery season 2-days this year.

[Ryan Rothhaar]

Cool to get that close, even to a little one.

Question for you: how do you approach calling or targeting bulls early? I'll be flying in on Aug 31 to hunt the first 10 days of season out from Fairbanks.
I'll be pretty high up, pilot says the bulls are just starting then, and light brush raking/cracking sticks is best. I'd think you'd avoid aggressive calling and Cow calling then, but I've only ever hunted moose later in the season....

Advice appreciated!

Thanks!

R

[akbowbender]

Ryan,

Raking/breaking sticks is the way to go. Don't overdo it, and be patient as they come in slowly. I hunt in fairly thick cover most of the time, so I usually don't see them until they are fairly close. Some bulls get a bit worked up even when coming in to raking. Maybe light cow calling would be ok too. As you probably already know, if a bull thinks there is a cow nearby, wind direction doesn't seem to matter. I've had sublegal bulls circle around me at 20 yds.

Maybe someone from the interior will chime in with some more tips.

Good luck on your hunt.

[akbowbender]

Last night, I saw the little bull again. I guess he likes that spot as well as I do. I guess I'll watch him grow over the next few years if he hangs around.

I had another bull that I watched grow up in the area across the creek where I had hoped to hunt this year. He too was about 24" when I first saw him. The next year, we had a close encounter when he was 30 something inches. When I last saw him, he had been dead for a week or so, and had a beautiful 42" rack. This was during the general moose season. I remember hearing a single high power rifle shot about a mile a way. I'm guessing the hunter saw the rack, and made a poor shot on him. He managed to make it back to his home patch of woods where he expired.

I hope this one makes it to legal size while I can still get about in the woods with bow in hand.

[Ryan Rothhaar]

Thanks for the advice! Early season will be interesting.   The bulls we called in close last year mid/later Sept came in quiet too, but they were small and probably getting whipped. A lower 40 inch guy that came in to 20 yards or so and a paddle horn that walked past me at 15 ft before sticking his nose on the decoy. Big boys were down in the drainage with cows too far to pack out.  Laid eyes on a couple, and we could hear the party down there, but we weren't getting a bull out of there on our backs!  Will be a mountain range east of there this year.

R

[GCook]

Pretty cool!

[akbowbender]

Yow! Fifteen feet is too close, especially during the rut! The buggers are just too unpredictable then.

I had one that thought I was too near "his" cow (she was in the flats 300 yds away), and started working over some brush as he walked towards me. When he got to a 10' high stub of a dead tree, he hooked it with his antlers, and with a twist of his head, snapped it off, the pieces falling across his back. This spooked the cow, and the bull turned and followed her.

[Terry Lightle]

Nothing like moose hunting

[charles m]

I for one can't wait to hear about it who ever it turns out.  Pics, pics, and more pics please!!!