Moose

The largest North American big-game animal, the moose is an un­gainly, grotesque-looking brute. To most hunters viewing one for the first time, an adult moose looks like something from the easel of a discouraged cartoonist.

Though homely as a mud fence, the moose's assortment of awkward features was given it by nature to serve a combination of useful purposes. Its lanky legs enable it to wade and feed in deep water, and cross deep snow, boggy areas, and windfall timber with speed. Its large splayed hoofs and well-developed dewclaws combine to make a hoof length ade­quate to buoy it up in oozy footing. Its long, overhanging "Roman" nose is useful for stripping bark, and for hooking over aspen limbs and branches which it pulls down to nibble. Its big ears endow it with a keen sense of hearing, which, coupled with its speed and massive antlers, affords pro­tection against enemies. And the ropelike "bell" of hair-and-hide drooping from its neck helps to drain off water when it raises its head from feeding on aquatic vegetation.

There are three species of North American moose: the Canadian moose (Alces americanaamericana), the Alaska moose (Alces gigas), and the Shiras, or Wyoming moose (Alces americana shirasi).

The Shiras moose is smallest of the three. Adult bulls reach around 1,200 pounds in weight, stand 6 feet high at the withers, and have an antler spread of over 50 inches. The cows will run approximately one-third smaller.

The largest is the Alaska moose. Trophy bulls of the Alaska species will run to nearly 1,800 pounds weight, stand 7 feet or more at the withers, and have recorded antler spreads of well over 6 feet. The bulls on the Kenai

The moose's huge head is crowned with a pair of unmistakable antlers whose main beams separate into two branches. The smaller branch reaches forward and outward; the larger extends back­wards and spreads into a large palm edged with numerous points. If you ever have the good fortune to down this towering trophy, see page 442 of the appendix for scoring data.

Peninsula are regarded as the very largest. The Canadian moose ranges in size midway between the Shiras and the Alaska moose.

RANGE

The migration pattern of the American moose has been most interesting. While the elk migrated upward into the western mountains to escape ex­termination and molestation by man, the moose migrated northward. Moose require a combination of cold weather and wooded country, and as the forests of northern United States were being cut, the species migrated north­ward ahead of the ax into timber country.

Today, the moose is found northward into Alaska where it was un­known a century ago. Its overall range includes all the wooded country of Canada and Alaska and extends in an east-west direction from the Atlantic Ocean to the Bering Sea in the Arctic. This range extends south­ward as far as just inside the borders of the northern tier of states in the Great Lakes region, with a fingerlike strip of range dipping downward into the states of Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho along the Continental Divide.

States with the greatest moose populations include Wyoming, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, and Idaho, in that order.

HABITS

Despite the mass migration of the species during the early settlement of the country, the moose is not known as a migratory animal. Unlike the elk and mule deer which migrate downward to winter feeding grounds, the moose remains within the same general area the year round. Where 18 inches of snow will normally move elk, moose can survive in nearly twice that depth.

The foods of moose are varied. A choice food in summer is the aquatic vegetation growing in lakes and streams; and during this season of the year most animals are seen either at the edges of such water or feeding in it. Adult moose will stand virtually submerged in deep water, with nothing except their withers showing, and graze for long periods of time on the underwater growth.

With winter, and the water plants no longer available, the main diet of the moose is twigs, bark, leaves, and branch tips. Two of the favored

The Alaska bull moose, the largest big-game animal in North America, grows to a maximum of 7 feet high at the withers and may achieve a weight of 1,800 pounds.

winter foods are willows and quaking aspen. Another is the second growth following old "burns" in timbered country. Often to reach the tender tips of such foliage, especially in areas where aspens competing for sunlight are thick and high, moose will push over the younger trees with their heavy bodies. After nibbling the green branch tips, they allow the tree to flip back upward. It is a common sight in winter to see an old cow moose straddling such a young tree so her pair of 400-pound calves can nibble off the tender tops.

Concentration of willows in meadow areas represent especially good moose food and in the West are known as "moose pastures." So are lily-pad lakes.

During the summer and fall seasons, moose like to feed and wade in the water, where it is cool and there is freedom from summer flies. This does not mean that moose are low-country animals. They also like the high timbered plateaus, the jutting points and promontories adjacent to such water. Like other species, moose come down at night, and go higher with early morning. In any good moose country, one may observe the oig ani­mals coming down from the timber at dusk to the edges of lakes and streams. There they feed until it is fully dark and remain until daybreak at the same elevation. With the coming of full sunlight, they move upward onto adjacent plateaus and wooded rolling hills where they shade up and rest.

Moose are relatively pugnacious. A cow moose with a calf or calves is dangerous. So is any bull during the rutting season. A bull, even in early spring when its antlers are tender and covered with velvet, may be pug­nacious and willing to fight because of aggravating ticks boring into its hide.

Many a fisherman has run into a moose while casting along his favorite trout creek. Sometimes the moose may be bluffed out of the way. It: is safer, however, to get out of the way yourself. Every summer anglers roost in trees for hours, waiting for some pugnacious old moose to decide to leave.

HUNTING THE MOOSE

The two best areas for moose hunting are Canada and Alaska. Getting into moose country generally requires time, effort, a hunting camp, hunting partners, and for the nonresident, the use of outfitters and guides.
The moose has legal protection now in all states except Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. In these states, hunting is allowed for a limited number of animals each fall, after the lucky hunters are determined by a public drawing from a list of applicants. The ratio of those who draw lucky permits to the number of applicants is exceptionally meager. And in Idaho, once a hunter has drawn a permit and taken a moose, he may not apply for the species thereafter.

The methods of hunting moose are determined by the area into which the hunter goes and the techniques of his guide or outfitter.

Moose are generally hunted by stalking the animals on horseback or on foot; by hunting lake edges, inlets, outlets, and adjacent creeks with a canoe; by spotting the animals with light aircraft, then stalking them; or by some form of calling.

HORSEBACK

Horseback hunting, in combination with foot stalking, is a productive method where large areas of wooded country must be covered. As with elk, the hunters ride the higher ridges (but at generally lower elevations), and glass for game from above. Any high knoll overlooking river beds, small lakes, and creek bottoms is a good place to anchor the horses, then meticulously study the area in all directions with binoculars or spotting scope.

Such a study should not be hurried. It is surprising how well so large an animal can conceal itself. Its dark-brown coloration blends well with dark timber, the dense shadows of thick conifers, and the charred stumps of old burns. One reason a bull moose can remain unseen is that it sometimes stands perfectly still for long periods of time; it does not step about or move its head as do other species. This relative immobility of the moose is directly connected with the period of the rut.

During the warm summer months, when the bull's antlers are changing from bloody, tender clumps into the polished, fighting weapons necessary to the battles during mating season, it moves about relatively little. Its chief interest is food. It must become strong and fat, and must rest in order to have the intense physical vigor necessary to reproduction.

Often it will stand for hours in one position without moving. It is possible for a horseman to ride within 2 rods of such a beast, in heavy willows or timber, without detecting it unless his horse snorts, or points its ears in the animal's direc­tion. And a hunter on foot can pass on one side of a clump of 12-foot willows without detecting a bull moose on the opposite side.

During the first part of September, the rutting season begins, and the bull moose shakes off its lethargy. Instead of being a lazy, disinterested creature, it is suddenly crazed by the urges of reproduction. Where once it preferred to stand, it now travels far and wide in search of cows. Where once it would hide, in the grip of the sexual urge it now barges through the timber grunting challenges to all competitors.

This transformation is a big help to the hunter. So is the falling of the willow leaves shortly after the first heavy frosts. One week the willow pastures are an opaque field of green. Within a matter of days they are transformed into a field of bare willow stalks, in which a traveling 1,500-
pound moose will be as prominent as a wart on the end of one's nose Under such optimum conditions, the hunter with good glasses and a vantage point on some high knoll may spot his trophy miles away.

STALKING

Stalking moose, once the quarry has been located, is comparable to stalking elk. The hunter studies the lay of the land; he finds a suitable approach route which will take advantage of the best cover, unevenness of terrain, and possible breezes; then he stalks noiselessly to within rifle range.

The moose's senses of hearing and smell are far more acute than its vision. Whereas a moose often will walk within 50 yards of a hunter stand­ing motionless against a tree bole, it would stop, thoroughly alerted, at the mild snapping of a dry twig. This is a factor worth considering in any stalk.

In a country having a preponderance of lakes, such as much of Canada, hunting a moose from a canoe is productive. At daybreak or dusk, the craft is paddled noiselessly along the shoreline, and each succeeding bend in the lake's contour is watched as it comes into view. Moose are often found feeding in the shallow water just off shore. When startled by the approach of the craft, they tend to whirl back towards shore, and offer a moving target as they head into the timber.

Hunting the shoreline of lakes in moose country on foot is ano her fine way of locating game. Usually, if there are many animals in the region, their trails will be deep and easily read. The hunter works such trails at daybreak and dusk, always into the wind and watching not only he trail, but all adjacent water and timbered points as well.

When hunting sheep or caribou on the alpine plateaus, the timbered country below is hunted for moose both going up and coming down to camp in the evening. Hunting moose in the evening is made easier by this technique since the hunter hunts downward from a position of greatest advantage.

ARTIFICIAL CALLING

When the rutting season is on, trophy moose are hunted by artificial calling. One technique is comparable to the bugling for elk. A horn of birch bark is generally used. On such a horn, the brassy love-call of the cow is simulated. If done from a location and under the same circumstances in which a cow moose would call, any bull in the immediate neighborhood is likely to come crashing up.

Even without an artificial call, a bull often may be successfully called up simply by cupping the hands to the mouth and, in much the same manner in which a trumpeter uses a mute, calling, Uh-waugh! Uh-waugh!

Since trophy moose are hunted largely by outfitted parties, it is usually best to let an experienced guide do the calling. He knows the time, the probable places, and the circumstances under which calling will work. Good areas for such calling are just inside the concealment of foliage or timber around lake shores, and from low, timbered necks leading toward meadows.

Another form of "calling" is to dump a hatful of water in a slow dribble into a lake at dusk. This noise approximates the sound of a cow urinating— a noise which a rut-crazed bull cannot resist, and which at that time of a calm day will carry far. In this form of calling, the "art" of the dude hunter is probably as polished as that of his guide. Like bugling for elk, this sound can easily be overdone.

In any form of moose hunting, one of the best glasses both for locating the game and for appraising its size and trophy potential is a light spotting scope. There is at least one on the market which is just over a foot long and weighs approximately 1 pound. This instrument comes in 20 power, and together with a light tripod, makes an adequate tool. Many a step and a lot of disappointment can be saved by the hunter who uses such a scope.

RIFLES AND CARTRIDGES

In the Far North, the standard rifle used on moose by the natives and Indians has long been the .30/30. They need a rifle that is light and sure-functioning. Ammunition for it must be available at any outpost. Such men hunt for meat and dog food, and the smaller animals—young cows, yearlings, and "mulligan-bulls"—are invariably chosen. Once an animal has been killed the meat supply lasts for weeks or months, during which time they hunt for other meat.

Most neophyte moose hunters are after a mixed bag of game. This often includes moose, grizzly, sheep, and caribou. And they are usually after

Shiras bull and cow graze peacefully in favored  moose country, which is usually grassy meadowlands near water.

trophies rather than meat. These factors dictate the choice of rifle and cartridge.

The sheer size of the moose suggests the need for a cartridge of adequate power and relatively large diameter. The fact that it is often shot at long ranges also indicates a cartridge of fairly flat trajectory and high remaining energy. The ideal cartridges for deer—such as the .30/30 and the fine .270—might be a bit shy on power when used on an animal five or six times as large and with a comparable tenacity for life.

For most moose hunting, especially that done in combination with the hunting of other species, the minimum rifle-cartridge combination should be the .30/06 or its equivalent. For a list of good moose cartridges, see the previous chapter on elk.

SHOT PLACEMENT

Generally moose are shot in more open areas such as meadows and along shorelines. They are huge targets and are usually standing or moving slowly. There is every opportunity for the hunter to place his bullet into the vital area. Here again, the best spot is the lungs, just behind the shoulder tip. Shots through the shoulder itself should be avoided as the heavy shoulder blade will turn bullets of even some higher-powered rifles. Brain shots are not only hard to make but will ruin the trophy and are to be avoided. Neck shots are not so good on moose, especially bulls, since the neck of a mature bull represents from 18 to 24 inches of tough meat and bone.

Lung shots with any adequate bullet-rifle-cartridge combination will effectively kill a moose. Usually the beast will only go a few rods before stopping to bleed out or will lie down. Many times hunters use a second finishing shot, upon coming up, to hasten the end.
The spoor left by such a heavy animal, for so short a distance, is not hard to follow. As with deer and elk males, the antlers of any wounded moose should be avoided.

The one cardinal sin in moose hunting is to shoot an animal while it is in the water. A moose shot in water becomes an almost impossible chore to dress and/or cape out. Often the best that can be done is to hack off chunks and drag them out. It is a bloody, messy, laborious, and muddy job. Many a guide, if his hunter shoots a moose in water after he has warned him against it, will immediately turn over the whole chore to the hunter.

BOW AND HANDGUN

Moose have been killed with bows and handguns. More hunters who attain skill with these lesser weapons will hunt moose with them in the future. But at this writing, the killing of either moose or elk is a job for the skilled enthusiast, not the average hunter. The killing of a moose by the ordinary hunter with either of these light weapons must be regarded as a stunt.

Moose hunting has an appeal all its own. It satisfies the human craving for hunting the "biggest." When a hunter kills this enormous beast, he will have sufficient steaks to last him until the next hunting season. Moose meat, especially of young animals, is mighty good.

Two prized delicacies of northern Indians are boiled moose tongue, and boiled moose nose. The tongue is cut out whole, boiled in salt water until tender, skinned, and sliced as for sandwich meat. The large gristly nose is first singed of all hair, then boiled, skinned, and eaten.

Occasionally, the moose hunter will bag an old patriarch of a trophy whose headgear is most impressive but whose meat has all the fine flavor and tensile strength of a gum boot. But that is one of the incidental hazards of moose hunting.

Are You Ready To Move Onto The Next Lesson? Click Here...