In the pre-dawn darkness, my wife, Heather, made her way across a clearing and through the woods to a familiar tree stand. It was September 30th, and the moose rut was turning on. As daylight arrived, she began with a sequence of soft cow calls. Moaning to emulate a lovesick cow, the sound traveled just right. Minutes later, she heard the unmistakable grunts of a mature bull. Moaning again, the bull responded, but as they often do, it seemed reluctant to approach. For the next hour, she continued to deliver soft, quiet whimpering moans. Then it happened.
She saw a large dark body moving through the trees. Massive antlers swayed back and forth as he slowly and methodically approached. At 24 yards, her three-blade G5 Striker V2 buried deep and the massive bull bolted. After a short 42-yard sprint, he bedded and soon expired. As textbook as it gets – from bowhunting where they live, to using authentic sounds, knowing when to draw, where to aim, and of course using the right arrows and broadheads, this is what happens when everything comes together.
If you’ve been lucky enough to hold a moose tag, allow me to offer seven tips that are sure to help you on your next moose hunt.
Don’t Miss the Critical Days
For die-hard moose hunters, peak of the rut is a proven favourite time to be in the woods. With a broad three-week window of opportunity, calling to attract a bull to within bow range is most effective from around September 19th through October 10th. Between September 28th and October 4th, things really heat up. It’s during this time, that the majority of cows go into estrus.
Understand Moose Rut Behaviour
As the pre- and peak rut period commences, cows moan more frequently to attract nearby bulls. Indeed, bull moose are easily attracted to the moaning, but along with their curious nature comes a propensity for hanging up just outside of a bowhunter’s shooting range. Periodically, they’ll lumber in as though they are in a trance, but more often than not, it’s best to position a shooter some 30-yards downwind as moose have an uncanny sense of smell and will often circle downwind to try to capture scent.
Scent & Scent Control
Knowing that a bull will almost always attempt to approach from a downwind position, recognize that wind and thermals can either help or hinder your calling efforts. Whenever possible, I burn Tink’s Moose Estrus Sticks. This helps mask my human odor and serves as an attractant.
Heavy winds can make calling ineffective as sound just doesn’t travel. Calm conditions on the other hand, particularly when it’s cold, can carry your calls great distances. A light switching breeze or distinct thermals carrying your scent sporadically can create difficult conditions. My own calling efforts have been foiled on many occasions by bulls working their way to a downwind position and catching my scent.
Read the Sign
Moose leave many markers during the rut. Experienced hunters pay close attention to these, localizing efforts in the areas with the most sign. By the third week of September, most moose are well on their way to carrying out the many rituals involved with breeding. This phenomenon brings with it a rut sign. Fresh rubs, rut pits, tracks, and droppings are most noteworthy. Old and new rubs indicate either a historical or recent presence, but find trees freshly shredded by bulls and you’ll soon get an idea of the size and territory of resident bulls.
Rut pits, often referred to as wallows, are obvious patches of turned-up ground used by bulls and cows to communicate with one another. Find these and you are in the heart of the action. Bulls and cows regularly visit rut pits during their breeding period to deposit and acquire scent to determine breeding readiness.
Calling
Calling moose, while relatively straightforward, requires attention to detail. Most hunters use their voice, but augmenting vocalizations with either a homemade or commercially manufactured cone can project the sound. I like to use a birch bark cone. Alternatively, many hunting stores offer commercial variations of game calls.
Calling is all about realism. Do it too much, too loud, or make sounds that don’t effectively resemble a moose and you may as well go home. Most often, bulls respond favourably to cow calls. A sequence of soft wavering moans can often be more than a bull can resist. If a bull hangs up and refuses to come closer, that’s when it’s time to get creative. Bulls will often stop and rake branches with their antlers. This is a display of dominance and you can use it to lay down a challenge by raking the bark of a tree or its branches. This will sometimes get him aggravated enough to continue his approach. Many hunters use a moose scapula because it looks and feels somewhat like a moose antler.
Don’t be afraid to combine cow & bull calls. During the rut, bulls are looking for breeding partners. Savvy moose hunters know that moaning like a cow in heat is by far the most productive way to attract a bull. Call incorrectly, too much, or at the wrong times and you may as well kiss your shot opportunity goodbye. If your cow moans aren’t working, or again, if a bull hangs up and stops his approach, mix cow moans and bull grunts together. This can work particularly well if you have a partner. Walking slowly, one behind the other, the one in front moans with the second person following close behind grunting every so often to emulate a bull tending a cow. This strategy presents the perception of competition and has worked great for me in the past.
When you get a response, evaluate whether the bull is committed or just curious. If you find a bull that’s eager to commit, know when to stop calling. Sometimes a bull won’t grunt at all and other times only once or twice. If he’s grunting repeatedly, he’s likely coming in on a string. If you can see his head rolling back and forth from side to side, and he’s grunting every few seconds, you’ve got him committed. As long as he’s on approach and closing in, stop calling and let him come. Most importantly, choose your time to draw your bow wisely.
Consider Decoy(s)
Just like with elk hunting, using one or even two cow moose decoys can add realism and distraction to any calling set-up. Montana Decoy is well known as the leading company producing portable photo-realistic decoys. Bulls seeing and hearing what they want will often approach without hesitation.
Aim Low
The number one mistake many bowhunters make is aiming too high. A moose’s anatomy is different than that of a deer. As a rule, aim just behind the front leg and below the mid-line (for the lower one-third of the chest). This will put your arrow in the kill zone. The upper portion of a moose’s body has a hump and there is a void there. Aim too high, and you’ll hit that area with no vitals in it.
I strongly recommend using at least a 100-grain fixed three-blade broadhead – something like the cut-on-contact G5 Striker V2 is a great choice.
In the end, bowhunting the moose rut is all about capitalizing on the increased vulnerability of bulls looking for breeding partners. So remmember these tips:
- Mimic a cow in heat and you’re well on your way to attracting a bull.
- Hunt the right areas, at the right time.
- Interpret the rut sign
- Call realistically.
- Fool both their nose and their eyes.
- Most importantly, aim low, and you’ll be well on your way to putting meat in the freezer and antlers on your wall.
