2023 Alberta Moose Camp

[Gun]

Well this may take a while to get through. But thot I'd share my hunt as there seems to be a fair amount of interest in Bowhunting Moose on here lately.

Alberta has three Bowhunting only zones. Edmonton area, Calgary and Canmore. There is also a special draw hunt (bow only) for Sheep in another zone in November that borders Canmore.

I hunt Moose mostly in the Edmonton Bowzone although there are Moose in all three. In 2019 we bought 20 acres on the east side of that zone near Cooking Lake. I built our home and managed to hunt some pretty good properties close to home. I soon found out that between Cooking Lake, Ministik Bird Sanctuary ( about 18,000 acres) and a few other smaller lakes, we lived in the heart of one of the highest Moose densities in Alberta.

It was funny to sit in a Whitetail stand at the end of September, early October and all of a sudden hear a fence stretch somewhere, followed by grunting and a young Bull come cruising by during the rut.

[Gun]

Well that took 5 attempts to post. Glad I cut and paste saved.

Anyway I took my first Cow on our acreage a few years later.

I was asked once by a local outfitter to guide a Trad hunter he had coming that fall. At that time I had no clue how to really hunt Moose and had not killed one yet. He said "That's ok, you Trad guys just like to sit out there and smell the flowers and watch the tweety birds". I told him flatly, NO!

[Gun]

Fast forward a couple years and I killed a few more Moose. I had been putting in for the Ministik draw now and after six years drew a tag. That same outfitter offered me another week to guide a Trad hunter. I learned a lot about Moose hunting and calling that year. We went 9 for 10 hunters that year with my hunter the only one to not kill a Moose. He did see Bulls every day of his hunt and hit a two year old Bull in the shoulder from about 20 ft.

After guiding that week I set out on my own to try and fill my tag. I had one chance at a P&Y class Bull but blew the stalk. Finally I asked one of the other guides to help me get my Bull. I ended up shooting a 40" Bull with a borrowed rifle with 2 weeks left in the season. I hadn't shot anything with a rifle other than gophers and squirrels since I was a teenager. The whitetail rut was on and I wanted to get after them. Tag clipped

[Gun]

So I had been adding points again and through the Bowhunting Grapevine I heard about an area in east central Alberta that was having an increase of Moose with a fair amount of good Bulls being taken.

I knew of a buddy from our provincial Bowhunters organization that lived near that area. It was at the start of Covid and everything was locked down. I asked our member chairman for Ed's phone number and tried numerus times to call with no luck.

I put that tag aside for two years while learning to shoot lefty after nerve damage to my right shoulder. Then tearing two tendons in my right shoulder and learning to use my teeth.   

A year ago we finally had a Banquet again. I was able to talk w Ed in person and learn I had one digit off on his number. We talked about The Moose hunting in that zone. He asked my priority and I told him Eleven. He said Nine gets drawn and to put in.

When August rolled around I was successful in the draw. After talking w Ed again on the phone, "He said your lucky as they cut the number of tags by more than half".

We planned a late September hunt. I drove up on the 24th and was going to stay as long as it takes. The area we hunted was just north of the Battle River, known for huge whitetails.

[Gun]

When I got to Camp on Monday the 25th of September, I found another Bowhunter, my new friend Brian who contacted Ed thru a mutual acquaintance. He had been there since Saturday and they had found a couple of decent Bulls already.

This country consists of a mix of prairie and farmland with crop harvest in full swing. Huge teams of Combines were everywhere. Thousands of acres with small pockets of bush and sloughs in low spots in the fields. Main products are Corn, Canola, and Barley.

[Gun]

Brian with his goofy headset which turned out to be top heavy and awkward

[Gun]

Ed told me before the hunt that we would see between 15-20 Moose a day! I had my doubts as in Ministik there was a density of 10-14 per square mile and its thick cover.

Brian was using Mechanical Advantage weaponry.

We would drive around the gravel/dirt roads until we saw a Bull with or without cows and try to get ahead, set up and call him in. We wore dark tops to look like a Moose from  a distance. We would usually have at 3 opportunities in the morning. Break for lunch mid day and have another couple of tries in the afternoon, keeping track of certain Bulls.

The first afternoon we went after a nice Bull the guys had found that morning with two cows. He was out in the tall Canola trying to keep a yearling Bull away.

[rastaman]

   good  stuff so far!

[Wudstix]

Following.
 

[Gun]

I forgot to mention that after notification of getting my tag, I drove up to the zone before the season.  Ed and I talked with a few of the Landowners and did some "road scouting". Ed's wife grew up in the area so everyone new her family. He informed me that the draw tags allocated had been cut in half this year. It takes approximately 9 yrs to get drawn in the zone and I was at 11. The tags were good for the gun season as well.

We're talking farm sizes here in sections not just quarters. A lot of corporate farms are buying up land and getting rid of the brushy potholes and bush. We had a lot of property to hunt. A guess would be 20 miles by 20 miles.

Our camp was set up on her Grandfather's home quarter. The buildings were all run down and broken in to. There was even a airplane hanger and runway. The Machine Shed was in the best shape and the roll open doors still worked with a hand chain hoist hung from a rail 18 ft above the floor. Lots of old tools hanging on the walls even though no one lived there.

The nearest gas station was a half hour drive. We had enough spare gas for the generators and only drove to town twice to fuel up the trucks and pick up a few supplies. Roughing it.

[Gun]

Back to the hunt.

We backed up the truck until we were out of sight. Then planned a route to get the wind in our favor. Using a rise in the field we managed to get about 50 yds from two cows on the edge of the bush. We could hear the Bull raking inside the trees. Ed was in the lead w Brian behind him and myself as the caboose. Ed made a few grunts and had his plywood antler on top of his head rocking back and forth. The 40"+ Bull stepped out and was looking at us. We took a few steps closer. The Bull shifted his position a bit, turned and ran back into the brush leaving the cows!

We were a bit surprised by that, when all of a sudden a two year old Bull steps out about 20 yds from where the other Bull was. Our little "train" realigned and Ed continued grunting. The Bull walked parallel to us angling closer. At about 30 yds he stopped and stared at us wondering what this weird looking imitation of a Moose was up to. Neither Brian or I were interested in shooting the him. Eventually he turned and trotted off into the bush. The cows left as well.

[Gun]

We walked slowly into the bush to try and locate the Bull. We saw the cows which turned and ran out the other side. Then we split up and checked out what was actually a finger coming up from a Coulee that went down to the Battle River.

I went towards the road and then circled back through the middle finding lots of rubs and rut pits. One big rut pit was about 5' long and at least 10" deep. I had never seen one that big.

We soon met back at the truck and continued on the dead end road coming to Ed's family old homestead. It was a good lookout across part of the River Valley and we would come there often to look for Moose. We did see another smaller Bull about a half mile away w some cows in the middle of a large slough surrounded by willows. He was too small so we headed north.

We eventually came across some standing cornfields and stopped to glass the rows. I spotted a pair of Moose ears. Ed decided to go see if we could call a Bull up. Where the cows are, Bulls should be close too.

We baled out and walked up the north fence line, with the wind in our favor, about half the length of the quarter. Ed let out a few cow calls and we listened. We continued stopping and calling until we reached the NW corner of the corn. The field slowly rose uphill from the road and when we got to the west end you could see down into the corn. Rut sign was everywhere. As we slowly walked south calling, Brian saw the Cow's ears again and we noticed a calf with her. While glassing, Ed noticed a medium sized Bull crest the horizon from the south and go down into a slough at that end of the Corn. We walked along the corn until we were on an opening that went to join up with the slough. Again, rut pits, rubbed willows, tracks everywhere.

We worked our way along the slough w Ed calling. We didn't hear any response and split up slowly heading back towards the road. We then drove north and spotted a few small Bulls cruising in various fields looking for cows.

As the sun was setting we headed back to camp and as we approached our road that goes to camp we saw a good Bull w two cows on the edge of a small slough. We stopped to glass from about 200 yds away. It was too late to try a set up. We drove past and knew where we would start tomorrow.

[Mike Bolin]

You're doing a great job on this Gun. I'm hooked!

[MnFn]

Keep it going, Gun! This is really good. I am hooked as well. If I ever get a moose permit I expect it will be much like your hunt.

[Gun]

Thanks guys!

The next morning we were on the road at the crack of dawn. In a few minutes we were near the area we saw the Moose the night before. We soon spotted a single yearling cow feeding on the edge of a small slough. She was about 50 yds from the road and right by a corner. We paused and glassed the surrounding willows but no other Moose. We drove to the next corner and turned north. We had not driven very far when we spotted two more cows and slowed down. As we did the Big Bull stepped out from behind some brush. We kept driving until we were out of sight then got out and walked slowly using what little cover there was and the terrain. When we could see the cows, Ed started waving the "antlers" and grunting. We cut the distance in half to about 100 yds then the Bull stepped out of the slough, and herded the cows in the opposite direction. We backed out and drove on.

We had a few other opportunities until late morning but nothing really developed. One lone borderline Bull came close but Brian(Kayo) and I passed. We saw about a dozen Moose that morning.

Let me be clear that we were not "road hunting" in that we were trying to do drive by shootings. Ninety five percent of the roads were gravel. Most of the time we would only see a handful of vehicles in a day. Combines were out everywhere. There was very little driving into harvested fields.

We also soon realized the Rut was not near its peak. It could only get better.

Back to camp for lunch and a snooze for my two companions.

[Jeff D. Holchin]

Good job Gun, we all love moose hunting stories!

[Gun]

Sorry guys, I'm having a lot of issues getting things to work here. It seems to compress vertical pix.

We didn't take many pictures during the hunt as we didn't have any go-pros, and when we were on the move it was like the Three Stooges. So just before we left for the afternoon hunt Kayo's wife, Georgia rolled into Camp to spend a few days and bring I few items he forgot.

We headed north into new country. We did a quick stop at the Big Cornfield and did some calling but didn't see any movement.

About 20 mins later we saw a dark object across a quarter and the binocs and spotting scope revealed 3 Bulls with two Trophy class. We thot that was weird. Ed quickly got out his MD map and said, "we have permission on the quarter behind, lets see if we can bring one in.

When we got on the other road we realized it was a paved rural highway. The field had been hayed a while back with many round bales still scattered through the quarter. We pulled in the open gate and got our gear. The wind was a bit iffy (SW) but we got to the north fence and headed east. We soon saw that all three Bulls were in the Alfalfa feeding.

We quicky sneaked down the fence line. About a third of the way, small poplar trees were growing into the field and provided more cover. Again, lots of rubs and rut pits. Everything was trampled. We made it to about a hundred yards from the east fence where the trees opened up more and a large slough spread into the field corner. One of the bigger Bulls was closest to us and we flipped a coin to see who would go in. Kayo won. He put a bale between the Bull and himself managed to get up to it about 50 yds away.

Ed went with him a bit but stopped behind a closer bale and did some cow calling. All three stopped feeding and looked our way. The big Bull was broadside but seemed nervous. He couldn't see a cow that was making the noise. Getting nervous he turned and walked towards the other Bulls. Ed was still calling but the two larger Bulls kept walking and eventually crossed the fence back to land we didn't have permission.

The smaller Bull continued to feed and we re-grouped. Kayo said he ranged him just under 50 but was wary of the wind which had picked up. We continued to the corner and hoped to get up to a bale and try to sucker them back. I lost track of the small Bull and Ed said he had laid down against a bale.

Ed didn't feel confident calling would work. I did a stalk on the small Bull just for fun. When I was about 10 yds from the bale he stood up. I couldn't see him but one of the guys whistled to get my attention. I slowly straightened up and he was looking at me. He didn't stay long.

We saw some more small Bulls on the move and a few cows as well alone.

[Gun]

Peek a boo

[trubltrubl]

Gun ,
Brad here , I secured permission in the Calgary bowzone years ago and collectively 4 of us took 16 moose over the years from that property . None were big antlered bulls , althouth a few showed up occasionally.
Those moose fed my kids many meals growing up and we had some great times. I took 5 moose off that one property . It also held alot of mule deer , and the occasional  whitetail .
Every moose was taken to a truck by quads .. the LEG QUAD MUSCLES ...LOL

[trubltrubl]

Great stories