Born in Alaska in 1993 · 30,000+ sold · Ships across the U.S. and to Canada
Born in Alaska in 1993 · 30,000+ sold · Ships across the U.S. and to Canada
BEFORE YOU MAKE A SOUND
WAYNE’S OWN WARNING
Calling is the most effective thing in how to call a moose, and it is the one part of it that can put you in danger. A moose can pinpoint precisely where a sound came from, and will come to that spot, sometimes hours later. So can other things.
A rut-crazed bull can be dangerous and can cover ground very fast. Brown and black bears can come into calls expecting lunch. And you might call in other hunters. Be alert and prepared whenever you call.
WHAT ANSWERS
A RUTTING BULL
A bull in the one month of the year when he wants to fight, and he covers ground fast. If you are provoking one deliberately (flashing something white, throwing short explosive grunts, thrashing hard), have your weapon ready and know where you would go.
Wayne’s own advice is to have a tree nearby you can get behind or climb, in case the bull you provoked is not legal or is not the animal you wanted.
A BEAR
Brown and black bears come into moose calls expecting lunch. This is not a rare event and it is not a joke.
Carry what you would carry anyway, and never assume the thing coming through the brush is the thing you called.
ANOTHER HUNTER
Sound carries, and you are making the noise of a legal target on purpose.
Which leads to the single most important thing on this page.
Flashing works: waving something white or light-colored (a scapula, light clothing, even a white garbage bag) reads to a bull like another bull shaking his antlers, and mixed with short explosive grunts and some thrashing it can bring a very angry animal in fast.
It also means you are deliberately imitating a legal target, with your hands, in cover. Always wear bright red or orange when you do this. Wayne’s words: use extreme caution so that you avoid being mistaken for a bull and getting shot.
SETTING UP
This is a safety decision as much as a hunting one. A bull comes to the exact spot the sound came from, and he will usually approach it from downwind. If that spot is 100 to 300 yards from where you are sitting, you get to watch him arrive, judge him properly and decide, instead of discovering him at ten feet.
Big bulls sneak. For all their size they can come in remarkably quietly. During every pause in a calling session, listen and glass. Do not let your guard down because nothing has answered.
If you are hunting with a partner, one of you stays in the lookout. They see what you cannot.
Wayne Kubat, Alaska Master Guide #147. Assistant guide from 1981, registered guide since 1986, and the designer of the Bull Magnet® moose call. About Wayne
A horn you can also thrash with means one less item to juggle when something arrives. Born in Alaska in 1993 and made in the USA.
