northcoast,
Thank you. Good info. I was wondering of course if they had come in to wolf vocals or to prey sounds.
On two occasions I've called wolves inside of 100 yards with prey sounds (jack rabbit). Animal vocals, like wolf howls, are useful but when we don't know what we're communicating in wolf language, we run the risk of chasing animals away as much as calling them closer! A few weeks ago I used wolf howls on a Minaska to locate some wolves, and they obligingly howled back at me. They did not come in to prey sound however when we set up to call them, and I suspect that our big bold howls intimidated them before we started the prey sounds.
Along that line for your moose calling, I've found that moose cow in heat sounds will call any size bull but aggressive bull sounds will run off small bulls. I ran off a young bull once that we had called to within a few steps of letting my son shoot him. I switched from cow in heat to bull grunts and raking branches with a big horse shoulder blade, and the young bull turned tail and sneaked back the way he had come! The bull grunts and raking had called in a belligerant big bull earlier, but I learned that it intimidated small bulls.
Calling stuff is a fun way to hunt. Good luck!
Last edited by Okanagan; 03/18/10.