Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada Moose hunt questions

I know almost zero about moose hunting so i thought i would bounce this off the folks on here.

I went on a moose hunt last year north of Ft St James sept 19th -26. I paid the outfitters higher price to hunt during the rut but the moose weren't playing and I didn't see a bull,(saw one cow). No complaints against the outfitter as I think they run a quality operation the moose just weren't playing And thats hunting, you never know. He is offering me a discount to go back but I am debating about going later towards the end of October.(starting the 20th) It a quite a bit cheaper hunt. My impression is that if you miss the timing on the rut.... you have just gambled a chunk of change on hitting the right week and if you gamble wrong the hunting isnt that much better. so... my basic question is... If I don't hit the actual rut, am I any worse off to go in Oct?

I understand moose numbers are down all over BC and that may be part of the problem. I really want a moose but do not have the funds to keep doing this over and over. What are everyones thoughts on the best chance of success?

I would be looking at the the last few days of September into the first week of October to be in prime time. I would say the dates you went on would have been slightly early. They can be in rut by that time but a bit later is better. October 20th is post rut and can be harder to find animals, they do occasionally come to the call at that time but in my experience the rut is done by then for the most part.

And yes moose numbers are way down unfortunately............

The fact that the outfitter offered you a discount on another hunt tells me you are dealing with a quality operation. I've been guiding professionally for over 30-years now. Heres the deal with moose and the rut.

There are basically three stages to the moose rut. Best times are early in the rut, and again later on. Once the big mature bulls pair up with cows they are extremely hard to call. They get back in the thick stuff and you won't even know they're around.. Best tactic during this period is to get in close, and challenge them. I take moose every year this way but its a lot tougher. Your guide will have to really know the country well to be effective, especially if its bush country.

Although its a bit early I've seen bulls paired up with cows by the first of September. During your hunt from the 19-26th they were certainly paired up. So you were hunting during the toughest part of the rut. Once most of the cows are bred, the big bulls are on the move a lot more and much easier to call. This will start happening by the first of Oct. and sometimes a bit earlier. I bet if you asked you would find out the hunt after yours was successful. The best week in every area I've ever hunted is Oct 1st through about the 9th. Keep in mind outfitters have to sell hunts...when they tell you you are booking a rut hunt when you book earlier, they are right....its just not the most productive part of the rut. I've called bulls as late as the first part of November... but I wouldn't chance going much later than the 15th of Oct. Try to get in on the first part of Oct.


The first part of September can be really good too....right after the bulls have rubbed their velvet off, but before they pair up. This is my favourite time to hunt up high above treeline as you can see those antlers from a long ways off. Good luck!

Yukon,

Is there a difference in the meat quality of a Bull in the thick of rutting say vs early September.?

Your outfitter really should be able to predict when he can best put you on a successful hunt.

Make a list of detailed questions for him.

I can't speak to what goes on in BC or the Yukon, but in Northwestern Ontario you would have been hunting prime time. I have killed 11 different moose on Sept the 20th. I know a lot of local guys who went to archery simply because the rut is mostly over here by the time rifle season opens. They will still come to the call even into November but they get real sneaky about it--don't answer or display much. I have gutted several bulls in late September that had absolutely nothing in their rumen.

Worst time to try and find a moose hereabouts would be from about the 15th of October till the end of November. They don't move hardly at all--I think they are recovering from the rut. End of November till season close on 15th of December it gets good again as the moose tend to group up in small herds of 4, 5 even 6. I used to tell people that if I only had 5 days to hunt it would be the last 5 days of the season. But snowshoeing thru waist deep snow is a young mans pursuit --I quit doing it shortly after I turned 65.

I used to process a fair number of moose per year. Suprizingly some of the best meat has been from big old bulls. Of course cow meat is always better but the last moose meat I want is off a young spike bull. Them young bulls are just tougher than hell.

On how meat tastes during the rut depends on a bunch of things but I will say that it depends on what area you shoot them. For example Moose from north west B.C. tend to be gamey when shot in full rut but in my area of west central B.C. I have never had a bad tasting moose. We have eaten big bulls and 2 year olds and they have all been good. I'm not sure why that is but will speculate that they eat different foods in the two different areas and that is part of what's happening.

Bulls taken early in Sept have more fat and are in general better table fare, but if taken care of properly, moose is good right through the rut. Caribou however are not.

Thanks guys, for the input.

The reason I ask is, I took a young bull awhile back ( an early September kill) that was Both tasty And tender. More receintly I took a good size Nefoundland Bull in mid Oct. That one did Not get aged and although the Flavor was excellent the meat was tuffer than a $2.00 steak. Why..?

That's good info, thanks for the write up. I'm headed up Sept 24th through Oct 4th next year, after it got cancelled this year. I was scheduled to do a late hunt this year but got snowed out. Thank god for honest outfitters....

Moose meat during the rut has very bad reputation. Moose rut is not time for hunting Moose.

It only has a bad reputation in some circles.....if taken care of properly moose meat is fine table fare right through the rut. My freezer is full of it every winter.

Judman, good luck on your hunt!

The 5 day moose hunt lands right in the middle of the rut here in NB.

I've never had any issues or heard of any issues with the meat taken here based on the timing of the rut.

I'm with 358wsm here. Newfoundland young bull taken early September was some of the greatest meat I've ever had and an October bull sure strengthened the jaw mussels to eat even-though it was all consumed. Where I hunt the outfitter (Westwoods Outfitters) picks up the Moose with a track vehicle and sends it out the next day to the processor. I like that because the hunt is for my enjoyment and processing a bull is a little more work than I'd like to tackle. I'm getting lazy and my 78 years may be contributing to it. Raised on an Adirondack farm we always aged our yearly Angus and venison to improve quality.

Are you guys, who hunt for meat, ageing your moose or are you processing it soon after the Kill?
If you are aging it, does that really make a difference?

Thank you for all the input! It sounds like I really need to be earlier than Oct 15 if I want a bull.

So what are the thoughts about hitting it from about Sept 10 to the 19th? I think my outfitter is also doing a pre rut time and that's about when it would be

The 10th to the 19th can be good....but I would want to be hunting high alpine country where I could see a lot of country.

Most of the hunting with this outfitter is lake hunting, calling, some hunting clearcuts

outfitter is booked this year for prime rut. So i either go around Sept 10-19 or After OCt 20th. Those date are much cheaper but sounds like my odds are way less also...
I may be waiting another year i order to get my moose or take the risk. easier decision to make if it wasn't such a big investment!

Wait another year...

I have killed a couple 4 to 6 year-old bulls of note - one on Sept 29, and the last on Nov 1. Both were - shall we say - untasty - due to rut chemicals in their meat. This flavor is carried in the blood, and of course is all through the meat. Probably a combination of adrenaline, testosterone, piss, and who knows what else- definitely has an unpleasant urine plus taste to it. Never did find a way to alleviate it completely, tho making burger out of it and several water rinses of the ground meat reduced it somewhat. Cooking in butter also seemed to help a bit, so maybe a milk or lactose marinade/soak would work. A strong spaghetti sauce made it almost reasonably palatable, tho the wife won't touch it. I believe the Nov.1 kill was out of rut or nearly so, but the rut flavor wasn't quite out of him yet. He was with an enormous adult cow, a yearling cow most likely her offspring, and a smaller bull.

The dog didn't seem to care about the flavor... even raw. Which was mostly the disposal of all that meat. His farts stunk tho....

The other 20 or so that I have killed were taken before Sept 25, and two of those were young 2 or 3 year old bulls that also were slightly rutty tasting- both taken in mid September. Individual animals differ. My theory is that these two were adolescent moose going into their first serious hormonal changes and their timing was all screwed up yet. Other bulls killed of similar age and kill dates were excellent eating.

One large bull that I killed on September 11 was in full rut mode, even tho he was early about it. Swollen neck, pink tongue, nothing in his stomach, came in to raking very aggressively grunting and thrashing to my raking. He also had one side of his antlers that wasn't right - or symmetrical with the other side. For one thing, his brows on that side was just a big, 4 inch diameter, 6 inch long drop tine lump, and his points were almost non-existant, unlike the better side that had typical brows and reasonable points on that palm. I'd last seen him 4 years before, at which time he had moderate palm and tines on one side, but just a single 18 inch long spike on the other, making him legal, but I saw that too late, as he turned and went into the brush.

He was excellent eating! But he hadn't been fighting and getting infected poke holes in him yet either.

A bit of a crap shoot, it would seem.

If you want eating moose, kill one before Sept 25, or after Nov 10, and the odds of good meat go way up. Cows, of course, are good anytime. Killing a bull near or in rut, the odds of good eating (emphasize on "good"!) go way down, in my experience. I'd go (if you do) the Sept 10-19 slot. They will be in pre-rut, and should come to raking and possibly bull grunts - checking out the competition. That's real prime time in my opinion, tho they won't be as responsive to either competition or cow calls as they would be later, during rut.

The local Eskimos (or at least a couple) here in Kotzebue claim that hanging a rutty bull for 10 days or so will eliminate the rutty taste, but I don't think I'm buying it. But maybe - I not having tried it. And I won't.


I will now kill my moose meat well away from rut. Unless I can take a cow.

Killed lots of deer, elk, caribou, bear a few moose in rut and never experienced a huge change in meat texture flavor if i executed a drt shot, got off hide, cutt off tarsals and not taint meat, cooled down meat quickly allowed to age. I can tell the difference(minimal) between young and old animal.

Now a late season rutted out buck or bull with very low fat content can tell difference but still good eating

The Eskimos are right. Hanging meat is always a good idea, as long as you have the weather for it, or access to a walk in cooler. The best beef is hung 21 to 28 days.

Ageing the meat is very important to tenderness. It doesn't affect flavour much, but you're risking tough meat if you don't. One of the challenges of moose hunting is you seldom get to handle the meat in perfect butcher shop fashion. Tough moose is still good, it just needs to be cooked differently.

Thank you everyone for the feedback by Outfitter had an opening come up for the first week of October. I'm taking it