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Got word from our guys up at the camp on Wednesday. They got a calf on Monday and A 2 - 3 year old bull on Wednesday afternoon. They had a great hunt. From Monday through to Wednesday afternoon they saw a total of 12 moose as well as lots of deer sign. Wish I'd of been up there with them but this is my busy time of year...
Heading up tomorrow morning for 3 - 4 days to see if I can get a bear or two treed. My son is coming up with me which is a bonus... Nice time to bond...
sounds awesome,
dont go for moose yet, but was on my way to Hamilton and seen a pair of guys on the 400 in a pickup with just the head of a massive bull in the bed. things antlers were almost coming out of either side of the bed. massive.
A couple of moose down and they saw twelve others moose and some deer too. Sounds like a great place to hunt!Quote:
Originally Posted by Bo D
Had a cow/calf tag.
We hunt deep in the woods
About 3-4k paddle in previous years, however this year due to dry season, literally walk on bottom of dried up riverbed most of way and waded the rest while dragging loaded canoe behind. Lol
Called in the same bull twice early into hunt, took some pics and let him go on his way.
Was pretty hot and quite the rest of hunt.
I hunted a week down the South Road but basically hunted off my front field as I was solo and had a calf tag. So I would say it was a very quiet week, I did not hear a single gun shot untilQuote:
Originally Posted by Bo D
Saturday evening off to the west Glen Alda, three shots a gap and a single shot. I did not even cut a track on the consession road until leaving on Sunday morning, a fresh yearling track crossing. In the past we did have a neighbour who ran dogs in Moose season and they did get animals moving if they were there but that stopped a few years ago.
Hunted with a group this year, got a bull on Sunday, my son(1st time) shot a calf on Tuesday, could've had the cow too but the tag had gone back to camp(besides I believe that shooting cows only kills the population), overall a great hunt with great people, had a lot of laughs
how can one believe shooting cows kills the population but shooting a calf doesn't?Quote:
Originally Posted by Ali88
Hmm.. didn't we get a lot of rain from July through early Sept? Maybe just down here? I had to cancel a few fishing trips this summer due to heavy rains/storms..Quote:
Originally Posted by newbiehunter
Whatever you kill is going to take one more animal out of the equation! A cow needs a bull to make more moose! Oh wait, maybe not anymore.. are there now transgendered moose?! ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt86
If I am not mistaken a calf has less than a 50% chance of seeing their first birthday and hunting has very little to do with it. Mainly predation and starvation. An adult moose has already passed that very difficult first year.
As long as bull believes it's a cow, we are all good [emoji16][emoji16][emoji16]Quote:
Originally Posted by Splaker
Well. That why the new system introduced cow/calf tag..Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt86
If you see a pair, you have a choice.
Taking an adult, reduces the calf survival rate even further, my choice most likely would be a calf in this scenario
We had an amazing hunt this year. It took my buddy 24 yrs to get a bull tag. We took my Son who is in the military and has never been moose hunting before.
Opening morning our group saw 6 moose. My Son saw 4 of them. He finally got a shot off at a huge bull and dropped it in thick brush. I was so happy for him and a very proud father.
The bull was 41 1/2 inches wide with half an antler broken off on one side. It would have gone close to 50" if the antler was not broken. I can only imagine the size of the other bull that broke it. It was a lot of work getting it out of the bush but a great father and son memory that I will take to the grave.
Congrats to all the lucky guys and groups.
Exactly !!!Quote:
Originally Posted by paultracy
yes but when comes around to hunting season those are the ones that have a chance to live, the 50 percent that die I'm not a biologist but studies I've read majority die in the first month or 2. So ones a live come hunting season have a better then 50 percent chance, They have a zero percent chance you shoot them.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ali88
Its just funny some one that thinks shooting cows is wrong but calf's make sense.
Id shoot either or to put meat on the poll.
Congrats to all that got a moose, our group didn't go this year as we had no tags first time since 1995, I'm having withdrawals from not moose hunting, but glad to hear on the success by others
We were five guys hunting a decent area for a week. Had a bull tag but group members saw two cows at last light one day, and on our way out that same evening we had a cow & calf jump in front of the truck. On the final evening two members were heading home and saw two albino moose cross the highway in front of them! Oh well, came home with a couple of grouse and some memories...
I guess that's you, but not me, we are still entitled to our opinion here and that's mine!Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt86
I don't think it's quite correct. Different seasons have different predators for calves:Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt86
Summer - bear
Fall - hunters
Winter - wolves
The chance of survival highly depends of qty of the above during a given season.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt86
The presence of an adult cow along a calf over winter will increase its survival chances, won't it ?
In case a hunter sees a pair and shoots the cow, it leaves the calf very vulnerable until the calf (by some miracle) finds/gets accepted to some other adult before heading for wintering grounds.
What is probability of calf finding one in this case?
The probability of a calf surviving to adulthood increases with every week of its life. Early in its life, a calf is vulnerable to abandonment, predation, disease, starvation, and hypothermia. Once the calf is weened, it should be strong enough to survive the winter (with it’s mother).
It’s noble for hunters to abstain from shooting females or young of the year, but the rational for doing so isn’t entirely grounded in science. It takes both bulls and cows to grow a herd, so if a hunter passes on females or young of the year, then more pressure is put on bulls. There’s an assumption that a buck or bull can service an unlimited number of females but this is incorrect. The rigours of the rut are extremely stressful on males. Severe weight loss, and fighting wounds are just 2 of several threats that a male has to endure during the rut.
In a well-balanced herd, most of the breeding is done by older males. In a normal moose herd, a bull might service 4 cows in one fall. While a whitetail buck might service 6 or 7 does. In the absence of older males in a population, the breeding falls to younger animals who are inexperienced in the rituals of the rut. I once shot a yearling buck along the north shore of Lake Superior where deer numbers are low. This buck had found a pocket of does and, no doubt, had them to himself. I was surprised when I skinned that buck out, not an ounce of fat anywhere… he looked like a skinned rabbit. No way that he was going to survive the winter.
When the ratio of females to males exceeds 3:1, the rut gets protracted which is hard on the male population. Additionally, a late rut can result in late births which isn’t good for the young who are in a race to pack on the weight before the next winter.
By establishing quotas on adult and young of the year, the MNRF attempts to manage the harvest by spreading the kill around without jeopardizing the herd… (in theory).
Something else to consider is that the younger animals make up the brunt of the species, while there are fewer older animals… think about a pyramid - young at the bottom and oldest at the top. It stands to reason that the youngest segment can sustain the most hunting pressure.
IMO if you want to benefit a herd, target the youngest animals and leave the (experienced) prime breeders alone.
My 2 cents.
Gret information Sam that stands to reason.
no moose for us...4th or 5th time in 37 yrs we've had tag soup, not complaining at all. Had a great time and being up north this time of year is a win win for us.
We stopped shooting cows and calves about 10 yrs ago.
We decided a few years ago to shooting young bulls only and will shoot a big mature bull during the last few days of the hunt(if we see one).