[fishnguy]

Originally Posted by Desert Eagle

I feel your pain on the moose just disappearing.

I’ve been out searching where there has been a ton of sign, just can’t seem to align with getting a look at them. I managed an antler less tag in 357, and somewhat new to the area. It has been a great way to learn the area better though, lots of miles on the boots and the truck.

I hope you have some success soon!

Congrats on your moose! And thanks.

It sure is a great way to learn the area. I have been out a few times to 520 now and sure learned a heck of a lot. Especially where to stay away from, lol.

Originally Posted by OL_JR

Following with interest. Really rootin for ya, somewhat familiar with that area. It's big country and you are looking for a critter that doesn't move all that much this time of year. I wouldn't be without a whitetail tag...

Thanks, JR. for not moving much, they sure move quite a bit. More on that in the next post. Bought a whitetail tag, lol. Haven’t ran into a buck yet, but did see a few does (not today though).

Originally Posted by 58thecat

Carry a crossman pellet pistol for those grouse encounters
https://www.crosman.com/product/cros...an-classic-177
Works wonders at 10 yards...trust me and many times the birds just walk around wondering why Fred is breakdancing so you get a few more too.
Another thing I do is when leaving an area I will call well past sunset just to see if someone will come in and check the area during the night...next day get in to the area under darkness and watch the world come alive then start calling again you might find a bull that was curious from the night before close by.

Good luck

I do have that crossman, Cat. Never bring it with me though because it would just be on my way. I also try to pack as light as possible. Here I was thinking more like when driving on a trail, see a chicken, shoot a chicken; maybe walk a bit on a good trail targeting chicken specifically. Regardless, I haven’t seen a bird in two outings now, lol.

I am not there every day, so I think calling past hunting time can be counterproductive. Not sure about moose, but when elk hunting, it is usually a good idea to stop when you are done for the day. Sometimes, if a bull is close by and moves in while you are getting out and gets spooked, you may have hard times calling him in the next day.

Lol at Fred breakdancing.



So I made a plan on Monday and headed out on Tuesday morning, a bit later than I had hoped. There was snow in the forecast, that is why I chose Tuesday. I am not going to write a lot about Tuesday because it turned out to be a dud of a day. First of all, getting to where I was planning to get didn’t work out because of the gated road that I mentioned in another thread (here). That was a bit of a downer because I didn’t have a plan anymore. It was windy as hell too, so being out wasn’t that much fun either. I still walked quite a bit, checked out a few pull overs and trails. Ran into a few camps, active and not. Some guys are really serious about their camps. Some even build a “real” washroom, lol.



Very sophisticated! Can go out for a swim too before the ice cover:



Another tip for those planning to hunt moose in 520: the further in you go, the busier it gets. And of course, the road is gated at the end of the corridor, so if you are hunting on foot or out of your truck, you are going to be disappointed.

I went back, somewhat midway, and walked a couple of cutlines. Lots of deer tracks again, scrapes, but no moose sign, so I moved on. I parked randomly somewhere and decided to hit the bush. Finally, found some tracks I was looking for. They didn’t look fresh though. Fresh as in from the same day.



I followed them bit, maybe a km or two without much enthusiasm. Mood wasn’t there and the brutal wind didn’t help at all. At last, ran into some urine and it was more or less clear it was a cow.



Weird picture. Not even sure how I took it looking at it now, lol. But it was all over the place kind of thing and didn’t look like it came out of a boy’s “instrument”, if you know what I mean. I could be wrong though, since I am not a pro, by a long shot.

So I went back to the vehicle, drove to the “grouse trail”, didn’t see a thing, of course, and drove home. The forecasted snow only came when I was leaving too, lol. Was almost vertical because of the wind. By the time it was dark, it really picked up:



I should have gone on Wednesday (can’t go both days). Lesson of the day - do not go too far in on the haul road. The further it is, the “zoo”-ier it is.

Someone shot a whitetail:



4 hours later, it was pretty clean and birds were still working on it:



I wrote the above on Tuesday but never posted it and kind of edited today to match the present time, so if there is something weird going on in terms past and present tense and whatnot…

Today was pretty great. But that’s in the next post.