Moose Hunting 101

[fourfive8]

Retrieval is only one problem when hunting moose in remote areas. The other is of equal importance - the constant enemy of spoilage. Any reputable guide/outfitter should have that covered. A float trip for moose or really any game including caribou, is by definition, going to be a challenge for taking care of meat. It might be warm and the pick up date and location can slide. It can be wet or wetter with no way to keep meat dry. Visualize shooting an animal in first day or two then having to get the meat to a pick up point, unspoiled, on a certain date- maybe a week in the future. You get there but it’s socked in for an extra day or two, You then have to wait the extra time trying to keep a 600 lb pile of wet meat, that is already marginal, from spoiling. Well prepared and responsible outfitters earn their keep on these hunts. A wet, soggy float hunt may be the most demanding but even a remote drop camp hunt in open tundra is not a cake walk for retrieving big game or caring for the meat.

 

[R eight]

Retrieval is only one problem when hunting moose in remote areas. The other is of equal importance - the constant enemy of spoilage. Any reputable guide/outfitter should have that covered. A float trip for moose or really any game including caribou, is by definition, going to be a challenge for taking care of meat. It might be warm and the pick up date and location can slide. It can be wet or wetter with no way to keep meat dry. Visualize shooting an animal in first day or two then having to get the meat to a pick up point, unspoiled, on a certain date- maybe a week in the future. You get there but it’s socked in for an extra day or two, You then have to wait the extra time trying to keep a 600 lb pile of wet meat, that is already marginal, from spoiling. Well prepared and responsible outfitters earn their keep on these hunts. A wet, soggy float hunt may be the most demanding but even a remote drop camp hunt in open tundra is not a cake walk for retrieving big game or caring for the meat.

There is a lot to be said for rabbit hunting.

 

[Hififile324]

Newfoundland has Eastern Canadian moose - size is smaller than BC with Western Canadian. Recommend Arluk Outfitters - great camps, good guides, plenty of moose. Very reasonable. Pretty easy to have meat shipped to states, Australia not-so-much?

BC - moose are larger, tougher hunt, cost a bit more:

Driftwood Valley (Michael Schneider),

Love Brothers and Lee (Ron & Brenda) -- both are great outfitters and have great areas.

 

[Lee M]

Retrieval is only one problem when hunting moose in remote areas. The other is of equal importance - the constant enemy of spoilage. Any reputable guide/outfitter should have that covered. A float trip for moose or really any game including caribou, is by definition, going to be a challenge for taking care of meat. It might be warm and the pick up date and location can slide. It can be wet or wetter with no way to keep meat dry. Visualize shooting an animal in first day or two then having to get the meat to a pick up point, unspoiled, on a certain date- maybe a week in the future. You get there but it’s socked in for an extra day or two, You then have to wait the extra time trying to keep a 600 lb pile of wet meat, that is already marginal, from spoiling. Well prepared and responsible outfitters earn their keep on these hunts. A wet, soggy float hunt may be the most demanding but even a remote drop camp hunt in open tundra is not a cake walk for retrieving big game or caring for the meat.

You are spot on here. I got my Newfoundland moose on day one. The weather got warm and due to rain, storms and low ceilings we were not able to get the float plane back until the end of the week and i lost quite a bit of meat. My friends bull was on 2nd to last day, so ok with that one. I can imagine a more remote hunt in Alaska could have even higher risk of this.

 

[WAB]

You are spot on here. I got my Newfoundland moose on day one. The weather got warm and due to rain, storms and low ceilings we were not able to get the float plane back until the end of the week and i lost quite a bit of meat. My friends bull was on 2nd to last day, so ok with that one. I can imagine a more remote hunt in Alaska could have even higher risk of this.

Normally temperature is not an issue in September in Alaska.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

The guy who just blued my 404 Mauser build is also a moose guide in New Brunswick. They took some nice ones already this year. If interested, PM me and I'll provide a contact number. Can't remember offhand the name of his moose hunting operation.

 

[1dirthawker]

There is a lot to be said for rabbit hunting.

lots of shooting, not much packing!

 

[CBH Australia]

Interesting read as I have watched a lot of stuff on YouTube about this type of hunting. I'm not looking to do it but I've also watched the Bear hunts.
Maybe worth a look to get an idea of the different areas and things if you are not yet familiar them. There is a lot shown of different areas, outfitters and methods. Eg Float Plane, Super Cubs with big tyres on short bush strips and packhorse hunts.
The cold and the drizzle don't look appealing nor do the days sitting under a tarp glassing but it's all part of the experience in that part of the world.
I hope you find something that suits as I'm sure it will be a great experience regardless and hopefully a great trophy to start the American Slam for your collection.

 

[fourfive8]

Interesting read as I have watched a lot of stuff on YouTube about this type of hunting. I'm not looking to do it but I've also watched the Bear hunts.
Maybe worth a look to get an idea of the different areas and things if you are not yet familiar them. There is a lot shown of different areas, outfitters and methods. Eg Float Plane, Super Cubs with big tyres on short bush strips and packhorse hunts.
The cold and the drizzle don't look appealing nor do the days sitting under a tarp glassing but it's all part of the experience in that part of the world.
I hope you find something that suits as I'm sure it will be a great experience regardless and hopefully a great trophy to start the American Slam for your collection.

Actually, that's a pretty good and accurate perspective

Spike camped near top of a hill in a tiny tent, eating freeze dried, drinking iodine treated brown colored tannin water dipped from a muskeg seep, under a tarp in constant drizzle of freezing rain with a gray swarm of mosquitoes bouncing between your eyeballs and the binoc lenses while trying to glass for moose. That describes my last moose hunt in AK.

I just talked to a good friend this morning who still guides moose and bear hunters in the general area where I did most of my moose hunting- basically the NW slope of the Alaska Range, both sides of the South Fork of Kuskokwim River. He said the outfitter he works for cannot keep enough qualified guides or camp staff hired to handle the client hunters he has. Something about whiny millennials not lasting more than a week on the job because of the hard work and wilderness conditions that the business requires. So much for all the talk (idle yak) I hear, "I want to be a big game guide in Alaska." Right!

 

[fourfive8]

Not a piece-o-cake hunt but sometimes high reward. My eyeballs recovered and the iodine tabs prevented giardia or whatever biocrud lurks in the water.

 

[Uncompahgre]

Thanks for this thread. I've been applying for a moose tag in Wyoming for almost 50 years with half as a resident when there were plenty of tags (pre wolf) and now as a nonresident with 21 points. As a resident I had friends draw 3 times to my zero. Thus I believe GilletteHunter has been quite lucky in drawing tags. I also have 26 preference points for Colorado as a resident and the odds of drawing are now basically 0. I've also been looking at Canada and Alaska so I appreciate all the advise and outfitter recommendations.

 

[Finprof]

Thanks for this thread. I've been applying for a moose tag in Wyoming for almost 50 years with half as a resident when there were plenty of tags (pre wolf) and now as a nonresident with 21 points. As a resident I had friends draw 3 times to my zero. Thus I believe GilletteHunter has been quite lucky in drawing tags. I also have 26 preference points for Colorado as a resident and the odds of drawing are now basically 0. I've also been looking at Canada and Alaska so I appreciate all the advise and outfitter recommendations.

I drew an Idaho moose tag last year, the first year that I applied and I am a nonresident. There is only one nonresident tag in each hunt unit. The hunt unit where I applied is almost all private agricultural land so there were only 12 nonresident applicants and I got chosen.
I made the mistake of hunting a mile from the truck through a thick willow swamp. Getting horses in to take out the boned meat was a challenge in itself. I pulled the head and cape on a sled to the truck and used lopping shears constantly to clear a path that the antlers could get through. Fortunately I did not have a heart attack in the process but just got a triple bypass 11 months later
In Idaho a moose tag is once in a lifetime so it won’t happen again there.
I grew up in Northern Ontario moose hunting. My father taught me to shoot a moose somewhere that a tow truck could travel, which could be off-road a ways. I forgot that lesson.

 

[Gemsbok45]

I have done Alaska a couple of times. Love it nothing like it! Yukon twice again love it. Both are pretty expensiv. Go to New Foundland. 120,000 Moose. Might get lucky and get a 50 plus but something 40 plus more likely. I have never done it but am looking for a less expensive option as well.