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
THE CALLING CALENDAR
BEFORE THE CALENDAR
Calling works from late August into October and beyond, not only at the peak of the rut. What changes through the season is not whether it works but which sound belongs in which week. This is the timing half of how to call a moose; the method itself is on that page.
One thing worth saying before the calendar: early and mid-September can be better than the peak, because fewer cows are in heat and bulls have to travel to look for them. Later in the month many of the big bulls have their own harems and barely move, because the cows come to them.
THE CALENDAR
LATE AUGUST
The moose: the rut starts slowly. Bulls begin rubbing new antlers against small trees and brush to scrape off velvet.
What to call: brush thrashing, almost exclusively. You are imitating exactly what is happening out there. Add one or two long cow calls at the very start of the first session of the day and the very end of the last.
Worth knowing: bulls have been called from two and three miles out, on or before 1 September, on thrashing alone.
1 – 7 SEPTEMBER
The moose: most big bulls have stripped their velvet and are turning ornery. They start moving around a good deal. Response is slow and driven by curiosity about future competition rather than urgency, so this stretch asks for more patience than any other.
What to call: thrashing, plus short deep grunts added to the first and last session of each day.
7 – 20 SEPTEMBER
The moose: bulls and cows begin grouping up, even though most cows are not in heat yet. From late evening through to early or mid-morning both sexes can be vocal: bulls grunting, thrashing and sparring; cows making short moans of two to eight seconds.
What to call: add short cow calls in groups of two or three to morning and evening sessions. Sound like a group of moose rather than one animal. Move back and forth inside a hundred feet while you thrash, grunt and call.
LATE SEPTEMBER
The moose: most of the actual breeding happens in the last two weeks of September, and particularly the last few days of the month.
What to call: everything, mixed, and moved around. A bull with cows may not come, but knowing where he is means you can go to him instead, and he may answer a day or so later when that cow is no longer in heat.
1 – 10 OCTOBER
The moose: the main rut ends around the 10th.
What to call: the same mid-and-late-season routine. Keep switching between grunts, cow calls and thrashing. It brings moose back around again and again.
MID-OCT TO EARLY NOV
The moose: a cow’s cycle is about twenty-seven days, so cows that were not bred during the main rut come back into heat between about mid-October and early November. Young bulls are especially responsive then.
What to call: mid- and late-season routines still work, particularly in areas with a low bull-to-cow ratio.
Once the rut is completely over: thrashing and grunts still help you approach a bull that already knows you are there, but do not expect him to come to you.
The calendar tells you what to call. It does not shorten the waiting. Whatever the date says, a bull comes on his own schedule.
NEXT
Knowing the week is one thing; not undoing your own work is another. Bulls hang up, circle downwind and stop short for reasons that are usually fixable.
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
Wayne’s own moose call was born in Alaska in 1993 and is made in the USA.
