Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Moose

I turned 59 this year, and I'm 35+ years into my career as a whitetail deer hunter. I'm starting to write my bucket list. Near the top of the list is a trophy moose for over the mantle in the Great Room. I've hunted and canoed and backpacked since I was in my teens. I've gone moose watching in Canada. However, I'll probably not be up to a major slog by the time I'm ready to pull the trigger. Bogs and hills are fine. However, count me out for mountains. I have a bunch of questions. Figure I'm about 5 years out from sending my deposit.

Where? I've heard Newfoundland is the place. However, I'm open to ideas. I'm a tent-and-campfire kind of guy. A cabin is luxurious.

How? I figure a self-guided hunt is out of the question. I'll need a guide. I'd prefer a hunt in the rut. Drive-in? Fly-in? Float-in?

Rifle? Right now, I've got a 30-06 all-weather bolt gun and a Rem pump in 35 Whelen. I figure those should get the job done.

Gear? What special equipment would you suggest for a moose hunt?

Lots of help to care for the beast!

I have only hunted them for subsistence but the biggest Moose are the Alaskan/Yukon subspecies, but all moose are big. What I imagine as the classic way to hunt them is by canoe and calling with a birch bark call. This may be possible in Newfoundland and could be combined with world class Brook trout fishing too. Ankle fit hip boots are almost part of the uniform at least in Alaska.

I hope to meet someone with a front-loader on the way in .

Your all weather '06 will be perfect no matter where you end up going. If you haven't delt with an animal that size before having help is a good thing. Especially if the weather isn't cooperating and it's warm/buggy out. Even though it'll cost, going with a reputable guide service is going to be the way to go. You'll get both local knowledge and help once the deed is done. Gear is going to be somewhat specific to the area and time of year you'll be hunting. The guide should be able to help you with that. Having a back up optic especially for the trip of a lifetime is never a bad idea.

Bring a rope-along or better yet a chainsaw winch, and hip waders. They usually seem to expire in water.

Only time I saw a winch actually get a moose to good going was when it was attached to a 10 foot tall swamp buggy... I have pulled trees over trying to get a moose out of a pond several times...

Gee, I thought you just inflated the carcass and then floated them out to the factory ship.


. . . oh, that was whales. Wrong nature channel. Nevermind.

Just pull the airboat up and throw the quartered up moose in it. Just got done with one of these hunts. Easy-peasy.

A nitrogen bottle does a great job of making skinning easier...

They do come in handy holding legs up while skinning

There! I want to be that guy giving the thumbs-up! That's an awesome moose too. How big is that?

So you have to tie their leg to their antler so they don't get away? Damn, I'll let the guide do that.

I've actually done that.

Most of the last dozen or so I skinned were hanging... EVERY other way sucks!

Not quite as good as hanging the moose and Ma Gravity pull the hide off.

I never felt put out skinning a moose to where I thought hanging the moose would be much easier. Except maybe the one I had to skin underwater in a silty glacier fed river.

1,000 # on the hoof



You've heard the term "hog tied", right. That's just "moose tied"!

The one and only moose I killed we skinned and quartered on the ground. It wasn't bad, just like a big deer. The packing out part, on the other hand.....

Only had a chance to work on one moose hanging in a tree. The ones on the ground were done cutting up the middle of the back and skinning one side at a time them rolling the moose over onto it's own hide. Not standing in a pile of guts that way. I also like a battery powered sawz-all for doing some cutting of the leg bones below the knee. Cut them at the knee it's easy to cut the tendon which makes the quarters easier to hang, if it doesn't get cut. Any way you do it, it's a fair amount of work. Nice to have someone experienced with you. Especially when it comes time to pack one out.

I skinned all my Moose on an engine hoist. Drug them out with an ATV (see avatar pic) and loaded one of them with a front end loader (met the right guy).