Moose in 542/541

[elkhunter1234]

Ok guys... I hate to be THAT guy but here it goes. I’m in need of some advise on bull moose in Nov in these two zones. Due to fires in 539 last year we had to change our plans and plan our yearly moose march north. My son and myself have a bull tag in each of these zones for the late season. Now here lays or next problem, having spent the last 7 weeks sitting beside my brother in ICU while he recovers from a very long stay with heart surgery I have not had any time to get up there and do any kind of scouting and the boss is now telling me it’s time to get back to work I’m not sure if we will haul a camp up or just hotel it out of Red Earth Creek, but I’m thinking of looking at the area between Red Earth and Trout Lake along hi-way 686. Not looking for anyone’s honey holes but just a general idea of if we are looking at a decent area or should we be looking elsewhere? Feel free to PM me if you would sooner. I know and have hunted the south part of the province for over 40 years and can also help anyone out that need advise down here.

Jim...

[Bushleague]

I live next to those zones and I don't bother drawing tags there. I have killed moose in both of those zones, so it is possible, but I would definitely not drive any great distance to hunt either of these zones. So which zone are you actually hunting?

In both zones, if I decided to bother drawing a tag there I would wait until I have some good tracking snow, then cover lots of ground looking for tracks. You will generally end up extremely depressed about how far you need to go just to find a set of moose tracks. If you find some tracks follow them quickly, chances are they will be cow tracks (find where the animal took a whizz), if you find a bull track slow down and follow them carefully. It will likely be the only chance you get.

This method has worked better for me when hunting zones with poor populations than anything else.

[elkhunter1234]

Originally Posted by Bushleague

I live next to those zones and I don't bother drawing tags there. I have killed moose in both of those zones, so it is possible, but I would definitely not drive any great distance to hunt either of these zones. So which zone are you actually hunting?

In both zones, if I decided to bother drawing a tag there I would wait until I have some good tracking snow, then cover lots of ground looking for tracks. You will generally end up extremely depressed about how far you need to go just to find a set of moose tracks. If you find some tracks follow them quickly, chances are they will be cow tracks (find where the animal took a whizz), if you find a bull track slow down and follow them carefully. It will likely be the only chance you get.

This method has worked better for me when hunting zones with poor populations than anything else.

Thanks for the info.. these are undersubscribed tags we picked up, mine in 542 and my sons in 541. If nothing else we will go spend a week up there and learn some new country.

Jim..

[Bigwoodsman]

542 was our go to area in the 80’s, 90’s and early 2000’s. We hunted the northern boundary south of the Wabasca and east of Hwy 88. But it wasn’t much of a road in the early days. There are pockets of moose and the odd caribou in this area. Most of our hunted consisted of floating on the Wab down to the loon or floating the loon up to the wab.

BW

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by elkhunter1234

Thanks for the info.. these are undersubscribed tags we picked up, mine in 542 and my sons in 541. If nothing else we will go spend a week up there and learn some new country.

Jim..

I have had decent luck in 542 off of the 88, the Wab highway is pretty much a write off IMO. Look on a topo and google earth to try to find high ground, both of these areas are predominantly muskeg and swamp, so high ground is often a commodity for game animals, especially in late season. In both zones high ground will be pretty subtle, a hill that can create a moose pocket will quite often be too small to show up on a topo, so looking at the forest growth on Google earth can often lead one to high ground better than a topo. As was made clear before, cover as much ground as possible and don't look for moose, look for tracks.

I typically do not spend any daylight hours in a vehicle or on a quad when hunting, but for this type of hunt you are typically going to have to cover way more ground in a day than is possible on foot to be successful. Infact, I have often headed out way before legal shooting light, just to run roads and look for tracks.

[moose maniac]

Originally Posted by elkhunter1234

Ok guys... I hate to be THAT guy but here it goes. I’m in need of some advise on bull moose in Nov in these two zones. Due to fires in 539 last year we had to change our plans and plan our yearly moose march north. My son and myself have a bull tag in each of these zones for the late season. Now here lays or next problem, having spent the last 7 weeks sitting beside my brother in ICU while he recovers from a very long stay with heart surgery I have not had any time to get up there and do any kind of scouting and the boss is now telling me it’s time to get back to work I’m not sure if we will haul a camp up or just hotel it out of Red Earth Creek, but I’m thinking of looking at the area between Red Earth and Trout Lake along hi-way 686. Not looking for anyone’s honey holes but just a general idea of if we are looking at a decent area or should we be looking elsewhere? Feel free to PM me if you would sooner. I know and have hunted the south part of the province for over 40 years and can also help anyone out that need advise down here.

Jim...

I live in Red Earth and have travelled the peerless road for 30 years I have seen very few moose, better off going north of Red Earth on hwy 88 and that is a long shot as well

[chad66]

I think you might have your best luck in 541 rather than 542. About 50-60 km north of red earth on 88 is a road that goes off to the east. We use to call it the Ammaco road long ago. Go down and cross the wabasca I would look around there for tracks. I believe it's a private road and you might need permission. Some years there is lots of snow in November that can make things interesting if you are quadding. I was looking around that area yesterday but on opposite side of the highway. Much wetter in the bush than it has been for years which is nice to see. Even some moose tracks out there too. Good luck.

[Big Grey Wolf]

Guys, a technique that has served me well for 60 years of moose hunting even in new WMU I have never hunted. First look for moose pasture it is not muskeg, second look for moose sign/tracks/beds etc, lastly track the moose to his bed, when he stands up chut em.

[moose maniac]

Originally Posted by chad66

I think you might have your best luck in 541 rather than 542. About 50-60 km north of red earth on 88 is a road that goes off to the east. We use to call it the Ammaco road long ago. Go down and cross the wabasca I would look around there for tracks. I believe it's a private road and you might need permission. Some years there is lots of snow in November that can make things interesting if you are quadding. I was looking around that area yesterday but on opposite side of the highway. Much wetter in the bush than it has been for years which is nice to see. Even some moose tracks out there too. Good luck.

North senex road my trapline is there I haven’t seen a moose in two years and I spend a pile of time in there, there is the odd one around but don’t get your hopes up to high, a quad won’t get you very far in there especially this year. Lots of chickens and bears

[Xiph0id]

First time I was up in 542 was for a friends under subscribed moose tag.

Barely any moose sign.

How ever the 88/754 intersection and northeast to Wabasca has a ton of deer.

Go for the moose, stay for the deer!

[Drewski Canuck]

As for 542, just drove from 88 to Wab on 742 last week.

You do know that most of this area burned in May? You do know that where it was muskeg a lot of that burned right down because it was tamarack? You do know that the high ground that has burned has been salvaged logs for MILE AND MILES?

Yes, it is a barren pasture and the salvage loggers have built roads and trails and have easily taken out 15 miles of Spruce and Poplar along 742 and they are not stopping. No idea how far north they went, but it will be massive to the north as long as there is harvestable timber.

Interesting thing is how fast the saplings came up in the burn over areas, but you could not hide a deer in there and there are a lot of places you can glass over 1 mile radius.

Even before the burn, there was not a lot of moose in 542. Had a tag, and drove early November in fresh snow from the night before, straight north to the Nipisi pipeline (East - west to Wabasca) and beyond. Skeg was froze good and I could run the quad anywhere.

120 km and no moose tracks.

Last time I was there and I won't return.

Drewski

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by Drewski Canuck

As for 542, just drove from 88 to Wab on 742 last week.

You do know that most of this area burned in May? You do know that where it was muskeg a lot of that burned right down because it was tamarack? You do know that the high ground that has burned has been salvaged logs for MILE AND MILES?

Yes, it is a barren pasture and the salvage loggers have built roads and trails and have easily taken out 15 miles of Spruce and Poplar along 742 and they are not stopping. No idea how far north they went, but it will be massive to the north as long as there is harvestable timber.

Interesting thing is how fast the saplings came up in the burn over areas, but you could not hide a deer in there and there are a lot of places you can glass over 1 mile radius.

Even before the burn, there was not a lot of moose in 542. Had a tag, and drove early November in fresh snow from the night before, straight north to the Nipisi pipeline (East - west to Wabasca) and beyond. Skeg was froze good and I could run the quad anywhere.

120 km and no moose tracks.

Last time I was there and I won't return.

Drewski

Thank you, that about sums up the situation, however on a year this wet the skeg often doesn't really freeze up well. Last time I drew a tag in 542 was on a year much like this, there were pockets of standing water for most of November, mostly I just fought with the quad.

The other thing to realise, is that a good deal of that clearcutting that you saw on the Wab highway happened before the burn. We have 4 mills in Mitsue, all of them are producing 3-4x what they were 10 years ago. Burn or no burn, in another 10 years I'm pretty sure you will have hardly any mature forest, right from Red Earth to Whitecourt.