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
SEVEN FIXABLE MISTAKES
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The sounds themselves are the easy part of how to call a moose. Moose calling is easy, and anybody can do it. Kids make good cow calls with a little practice. When it does not work, the reason is usually somewhere else entirely.
Seven of them, in the order they cost people bulls.
THE SEVEN
MISTAKE 1
What happens: two days of calling, nothing, so you move country.
Why it fails: most response, even at the peak of the rut, takes four to twelve hours, sometimes a day or two. Moose are most active at night. Call at first light and he has already bedded, or is about to. Bulls have walked into a calling spot hours after the caller left, and sometimes a day or two later.
Instead: commit to a spot for three days.
MISTAKE 2
What happens: you call, then stay put and wait.
Why it fails: a bull pinpoints the exact spot the sound came from and comes to it, usually from downwind. If that spot is where you are, he winds you before you see him.
Instead: call from a spot 100 to 300 yards from your lookout, then go back and watch it.
MISTAKE 3
What happens: you hear or see a bull approaching, so you call again to keep him interested.
Why it fails: it hands him your exact position. He will then work the brush around it to get your wind rather than walking in.
Instead: unless darkness is closing in, stay silent and let him keep coming. This is Wayne’s explicit advice and the one most hunters find hardest to follow.
MISTAKE 4
What happens: hard at it at dawn and dusk, napping at noon.
Why it fails: bulls that heard the morning session often investigate during their midday stretch and feed. Wayne’s crews take almost half their bulls at midday, often right at noon, and the reason they know is a guide who sat in the lookout while everyone else slept and put clients on big bulls three years running.
Instead: keep somebody watching all day.
MISTAKE 5
What happens: a bull is with cows, so you throw cow calls at him.
Why it fails: the cows can lead him away. They are not interested in competition.
Instead: bull grunts and thrashing are the safer choice on a bull with company. If he leaves anyway, do not write the area off; come back later in the day, or the next day when that cow is no longer in heat.
MISTAKE 6
What happens: you spook him, or blow the stalk, and he goes.
Why it fails: nothing, except that you had one more play and did not use it.
Instead: a long, loud, wavering cow call held for a minute or more. It is Wayne’s favorite last-ditch play and it has stopped bulls that had already been shot at and missed.
MISTAKE 7
What happens: ATVs, boats, aircraft, other camps.
Why it fails: any of them can run off a bull that is on his way in. Worse, in heavily pressured areas moose turn nocturnal and wait until well after dark to investigate you at all.
Instead: get as far off the beaten path as you can manage.
Wayne’s own analogy: if you woke up in an ugly mood and wanted to pick a fight with a stranger, several different insults would do the job. Calling a bull in the rut is much the same. Make it as good as you can, but close enough usually works, and worrying about perfect is not what is costing you bulls.
NEXT
The season has a shape, and what belongs in late August is not what belongs in the first week of October.
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
If the one you want to fix is how far your voice carries, that is what the Bull Magnet® is for. Born in Alaska in 1993 and made in the USA.
