wainright bull moose tag for this november
 

Hi guys, well waited near a decade building high priority points for bull moose, and was trying to decide where to go......decided on Wainright.
I bought a thompson centre last Fall and drew a tag for Wainright this year in the primitive weapons (1st) season.

Having never been there and obviously not being allowed to scout, Inwas wondering if anyone was willing to pm me some advice on where to focus my efforts looking for ol bullwinkle up there on the brief 3 day hunt.
thanks so much, any help appreciated!

best of luck this Fall out there fellas.

Adam

I had the antlered moose tag last year, and although there were moose spread over much of the hunting area, I didn't see any large bulls. We ended up killing a smaller bull less than ten minutes from the check station. The trophy potential has dropped considerably since the last time I drew, and 50+" bulls were fairly common, but moose are still fairly easy to spot right from the trails, in most of the hunting area.

I was there for the first rifle hunt last year and saw two bulls that would go highly 40’s to low 50’s. A couple other meat bulls mixed in but mainly saw lots of cows and calves each of the 3 days. First one was on the way to the annex from orientation just as you reach huntable area on both sides of the road. Second and biggest was NE side of the ring road around the annex. Nobody killed them as of the end of the first rifle hunt, possibly in the 2nd or 3rd hunt though??Good luck, post pics when you get him.

Wainwright bull moose
 

The majority of the moose in the northwest quarter of the camp.

Ensure you read the regulations regarding Wainwright and all the requirements for access."Weidmannsheil"

Annex or Buffalo 2 is where I've always seen the most moose

Another thing to consider is when you get there for the morning briefings, there are large maps posted with all the previous years animal harvests. If you look at all the years you will see groupings of where the moose, elk, deer were taken.

Obviously then you can change up where you want to go looking for animals. I was there in 2017 looking for cow moose, ran into bull moose everywhere. Groups of 6 to 10 roaming around.

Good Luck!

IF I had that tag I wouldn't go where others focus or the usual go to go areas. There are lots of moose and still some good bulls but with the extra tags the past few years the easy to access areas don't have the moose they use to and the areas that don't see much foot traffic are impressive. Depends on how much you want to hunt/work and how much you want to bomb around in the truck. Both methods pay off on the base for moose but like already mentioned the bigger bulls with lots of pressure are much more rare and don't grow big being stupid.

This echoes like pz poor wildlife management by the Base Bios.

This is the Army! Get those Bulls in shape and in line, front and center.

:kick:

Pz poor wildlife management? Really? Seems like common sense to me....low pressure = better trophy potential.

thanks for all of the input so far guys!

i have no problem walking 20km in a day trying to find a big moose, im seeing this as a once in a lifetime thing waiting the nearly 10 yrs...im trying to decide which area will have the best big moose potential, less foot traffic has to be a good thing....

wainright bull moose tag for this november
 

Hooter, I am pretty certain that WB meant that comment tongue in cheek. Shedcrazy IS a base bio, and a fine one to boot...


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To the OP:

Make sure that if you are hiking in, you have a firm plan in place on how to extract a bull moose. Quartering and packing out with a backpack is the only option in some areas. An external pack frame or good quality internal frame backpack is needed to haul 80-100lbs moose quarters.

The Wainwright Hunt is also unique in that (I believe) the staff at the Hunter check station will wait until all the hunters are checked out every evening. In other words, if you drop a bull 2km into the bush in the annex and last light, it is gonna be a long night for not only you, but also the staff waiting for you to arrive.

Give them a heads up if at all possible. You never know, someone may even lend a hand.

My brother backpacked a quartered moose across and up the Battle River hills last year, and still talks about the experience. Have fun!


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My apologies if that’s the case. I know Shed and he’s certainly very knowledgeable and helpful. It’s sometimes hard to get sarcasm on the ‘net.

I was tagging along with a friends with deer tags last season on the first Rifle hunt and in the first hr saw a half dozen bulls with one around the 50” mark and a 40” with the knarliest curly times up antlers ever which I think anyone in their right mind would take that bull cause of the character..right place right time in the base..some gagged deer in there man oh man!!

Make sure to be friendly at the check in station.
Most of the people there are looking for deer, and can pass moose sightings on to you.
You can have a lot of eyes looking for your moose.

good to know they wait for ya if ya get one at last light, reassuring for sure

I have an excellent tatonka ext frame pack that guys can stand on its that solid, and a rugged sled if i can get it to bullwinkle for the haul...hopefully its not -40 hahah

solid advice!

the first bull with decent palms is coming home i’d say 😀

I figured the second sentence would be enough for people to get my drift..... :)

you are always great on here 😀

There better some goodies coming in besides your moose though... ;)

midnight moose party

ill be there as well for moose in that season!i was there about 3 years ago for deer, seen lots of moose, one big boy. i hope the weather will be good for us. good luck

Family hunt at Wainwright
 

I will be there as well for the primitive weapon season with my 76 year old dad. He kinda stopped hunting a few years back and came out of retirement 2 years ago for a first week on the base Suffield hunt. He got a real old, heavy, beauty of a 6X6 bull on the first day. Thinking this will be one of his last hunts, we are really hoping he connects on a bull. We are predominantly meat hunters so i do not think he will be picky on the size of moose. Regardless of success we are really looking forward to this hunt as he, my brother, nephew and myself all have deer tags as well and will be a great family hunt.

that sounds fantastic!

good luck! i lost my Dad a number of yrs ago, enjoy every minute man!

I am almost positive during my orientation that if you know you will be late checking out at last light you have to call in otherwise there is a search party sent..

that Makes a lot of sense, we have to do that at work with home care

I will be there with my dada (79) and he has a cow tag for Primitive, will hope to be able to help the deer and bull hunters out as much as possible... Team work. It will be our first time on the base hunting, really looking forward to it.

We should start exchanging numbers now, I am sure it is a bit of gong show on Day 1 at checkin

I’m in to exchanging numbers. The base is huge and it be nice to be able to help guys out to fill some freezers!

I was there 2 years ago and got the last moose of the primative season. We phoned them as I put her down 15 min before dark. They were awsome and stayed till we got back. Which was a while as I had to quarter and drag her to the truck lol moose never fall were there suppose to. My wife has a bull draw for primative and Deer for first rifle anyone wants to swap numbers for info on me. And the cow tag should be pretty easy good luck