Oh, yeah!
Shooting a bull moose after about the 20th of September until late October/early November is a crap shoot. There's a pretty good chance it will be tangy to inedible. You can get a strong one before that, even. Some, however, will be fine until rut really gets going, around the first of October. I'd not shoot one young or old on a bet then if I wanted to eat it. My own cut-off point is now Sept 20., until Oct. 1 (and then I can take a cow in this area.
Cow flavor/tender isn't affected by rut.
Based on personal experience with 20 bulls of my own and a few with friends' kills.
I've had 3 tangy bulls of my own- all 2/3 year olds. One was killed on September 11 on the Kenai (my first!), one (my wife's) in Interior Alaska on the 17th, one up the Noatak in NW Alaska 3 years ago on the 29th (At least a week too late!!!).
From this I've developed a somewhat shaky theory that SOME "puberty" bulls are just taking this sex thing way too seriously hormone-wise... Certainly the several other of this age class that I've killed up to Sept 20 have been fine eating.
On the other end of the spectrum, I once took a 53" bull (should have been @ 59", if one side hadn't been stunted.) He was taken on Sept 11, and was already in rut mode. He came in swaying, grunting , thrashing brush. Pretty exciting at 25 yards! Big swollen neck, pink tongue, nothing in his stomach. He was ready, even if the cows were 2-3 weeks away!
One of the best moose I've eaten.
Then there was a bow-hunting friend who hunts along the pipeline corridor north of Fairbanks. One year he killed a 58" bull on September 25th- the last day of season there. He had wounded it in the morning, tracked it all day, finding 3 places where it had fought other bulls before loosing the trail in a welter of tracks with dark approaching. Obviously, this boy was not badly wounded. Mike headed back to the truck, and was nearing it when he encountered a bull within 200 yards of his morning shot, and nailed it, only to find his first arrow in the carcass. He's an overachiever when it comes to killing things with that damned bow, so I got about a third of it. It was better eating than the 40 inch bull shared 3 ways that I'd gotten in late August.
The next year, on September 23 (2 days earlier than the previous year) within a mile of the previous episode, he spotted a similar (56") bull on an opposite hillside about 3/4 mile away, and called to it. It turned and came at a pretty good clip. There were two strings of brush in the low ground between them - Mike figured to intercept the bull at the second. As he cleared the first, the bull was already there - he just had time to string an arrow and nailed the bull at 5 yards. ("It was like shooting at a goddam barn!")
This bull had been fighting for several days previous, and was still raring to go! The numerous puncture wounds and one badly bruised side were all infected and green. Mike took pictures as he dressed it out, as he had to pass thru a game station, plus, he was pretty sure it was not salvagible, gagging as he did dressing it.... That thing stunk!
Lost the whole moose as totally inedible. He had F&G sign off on taking it to the dump. Neither his dog, nor mine would touch it. Nor would a neighborhood sled dog team- and those thing will eat anything! Actually, so will my Lab, including Jalapenos... (He's not happy afterward, but he always begs....
My Eskimo friends here tell me that hanging a slightly stinko bull moose taken in late September for 10 days or so will dissipate the rank. I've learned not to dismiss what these folks say out of hand, but maybe take with a grain of salt. On the other hand, that bull taken 3 years ago ( the last piece eaten a few weeks ago), seemed to loose rankness the longer it was in the freezer. I can tell you, the stink was definately in the blood on that one! He smelled fine when I walked up to him, but the blood pooled inside was phew!
Now, caribou...DO NOT SHOOT A BIG, MAGNIFICENT, WHITE-MAINED BULL BETWEEN SEPT 25 AND THE FIRST OF NOVEMBER!!
Before I knew better, I did shoot a few of the smaller bulls in that time frame, and they were fine eating, but were not dominant "herd bulls" engaged in fighting/breeding.. But I've heard too many horror stories from reliable sources to take a big-un then.. The Eskimos won't do it. Yearlings and 2-year olds I've taken in that time frame have been fine, tho skinny and tough- probably from "practice jousting"...
It obviously depends on the individual animal to some extent - and how "into" the rut, whether he's been fight, and his individual hormonal thingy.
Back on moose- from what I've gathered from readings, the average dominance of a "herd bull" is 3 to 5 days. After that he is beat up, exhausted, wore out from sex, and a fresher bull will whip him and take over the group of cows.
Which doesn't mean he won't go looking for more trouble.
Pretty hard to tell thru optics a wore-out, bad-tasting, cast-out looking for more of the same...... from a fresh, probably good flavored, up-and comer bull.
That has to be the hardest I've ever worked for a pun...
