WMU 418 Moose Tag

[Mysliwy_#1]

Hello all,

I was wondering if anyone could give me a little insight on WMU 418 in terms of the difficulty hunting there for moose. My 73 year old father was successful in drawing a moose tag this year, however, much has changed since he last visited there with a wildlife corridor now being located along the road up to the Yahatinda Ranch. As all hunting will have to be done on foot, my question is: For an elder person, is that zone too difficult for accessing prime moose territory? If not, where would one recommend to go? Any info would be much appreciated as its been a few years since my father has been out for a moose hunt. Thanks,

Mysliwy_#1

[Grizzly Adams]

Gonna be a while looking for a moose there. First time I've ever heard of anyone drawing for that zone . Had to look, they actually have TWO antlered moose tags for that zone with a 3 getting a 100 % chance. Elk, deer and Grizz about sums it up.

Grizz

[Mysliwy_#1]

So Grizz,

You dont recommend trying it out? Yuup you are correct. Only 2 tags. As a kid I remember seeing moose in that zone when we went up to eagle lake to fly fish but that was in the early 90's.

[Grizzly Adams]

Got the tag, may as well go and enjoy the scenery. Whitetail is on General as well and they're not hard to find.

Grizz

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by Mysliwy_#1

So Grizz,

You dont recommend trying it out? Yuup you are correct. Only 2 tags. As a kid I remember seeing moose in that zone when we went up to eagle lake to fly fish but that was in the early 90's.

I've been around that area for about 30 years and I've never seen a live one, but have found a fair number of really old sheds, so they must have been there at some time in the past. Could be wolves. Did shoot one at Klein Lake though, but that's 316 I think.

Grizz

[slough shark]

Years ago I would see the odd one while I was looking for elk up in the meadow. Also back in a ways there would be some down low up the bighorn river.

[walking buffalo]

The 2011 wmu 418 Moose population estimate was 20.

There should be at least three or four bulls in the unit.

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by walking buffalo

The 2011 wmu 418 Moose population estimate was 20.

There should be at least three or four bulls in the unit.

Key word here is "Estimate ". Even so, that's not very many, unit still holds several hundred elk for comparison and foot or horse access is all you get. Should have mentioned that some of those sheds I found were at creek headwaters and basins. Must have been a popular place for them at one time.

Grizz

[stickflicker]

I arrowed this guy about 4 km from the road up the bighorn in 1997. I saw him feeding in some water the day before and tried sneeking up on him. I could only get about 80 yards so I decided to try the direct approach and walk right through the water to him. That didn't work so well as he spooked as soon as I took a couple of steps in the water.

The next day I was back in the same area and was surprised to hear branches breaking in the bush and out he stepped about 500 yards away. He started across the cutblock towards me so I slipped behind the hill and ran down to intercept him. He walked over the hill in bow range and I smacked him with a cedar arrow from my longbow. My partner and I deboned him and made two trips on mountain bikes to get him out by late afternoon. This was in early September and it got up to 25 degrees that day. We visited the site the next day and there were large grizzly tracks all over and only the hide remained.

I saw a couple of other bull moose around the ranch too over the years.

It's big country out there and lots of walking to cover ground. He could try down along the river or up north west of the bighorn campground. It's a good hike to get up that first ridge though. There were always lots of whitetails around there too, I'd carry a general tag incase a nice buck shows himself.

[stickflicker]

Oops, I meant northeast of the bighorn campground, not northwest.