Got Drawn For a Moose Tag!!

[ducksnbucks]

Well, after many years of wanting to apply for the Moose hunt we got drawn for zone 61 (canoe only) in the BWCA! I will likely be posting quite a few questions in the future for those of you who have gone before, so thanks in advance for any help you offer.

First off, I know its 4 months away but I would like to start planning now and I was cuious if anyone would happen to have a gear list that they would be willing to share with us?

Looking forward to hearing what other people have done on their once in a lifetime trip! Thanks again, D&B

[Surface Tension]

Where to begin.

How many are on your permit? If two then maybe a couple of friends to come along and do some Fall fishing while your hunting and if things go right they can help with the moose once its down.

Pack frames to haul out meat.

Start looking for old frame packs now and take the packs off and use the fame, six would be ideal. That way once you lash on the meat they can stay with the frame when hanging, portaging and when in the canoe they'll keep the meat off the bottom and dry.

Tarps to keep meat dry and out of the sun.

Game bags.

Come along.

Ropes for the come along and ropes for tying up and hanging meat.

Check Youtube for ways to de-bone a moose and moose calls.

I used a small orange safety cone and cut the foot off for a call. Its flexible, waterproof, and had very good sound.

Be proficient with your firearm and use a partition bullet like the Barnes, you'll need that for penetration.

Scouting a few areas in case one our more don't pan out come Fall. Thats a good excuse to make a few fishing trips too. Moose will be attracted to this summers new and young growth. That young growth will also still be green when the rest of the leaves are down and the woody parts tender like asparagus.

Remember cooling meat and keeping it cool and dry will be most important.

Pick the earliest orientation class to attend, that'll give you more time to prepare.

Learn to lash two canoes together for traveling in wind and waves.

Proper packs for canoe trips like Duluth packs. These packs are meant to carry bulk and heavy loads but not so much for long distances Point is you want the least amount of packs and everything in a pack. That'll make you more efficient on the portages and less trips back and forth. Your scouting trips will be good for getting this down as well.

Topo maps for sure to scout areas.

Get in shape. Walks with a loaded pack, hills are good and will be a good simulation of portages.

There is more but its a start.

[ducksnbucks]

Thanks Surface Tension. There will be four of us going on the trip. Fortunately we are experienced with canoes have access to a bunch of packs, the pack frames is a great idea for taking meat out and haning it. I will add all this to the list, appreciate your info, anything else is greatly appreciated! D&B

[Archerysniper]

The best piece of equipment we had was Ratcheting block and tackles. You can get them at Mills and they helped greatly to get the moose out of the water.

[matchset]

lots of knives and a sharpener! its a lot of animal and having 5 or 6 knives helped my dad and i cut up ours in record time!

basically, dad and i scouted once and then spent a lot of time on google earth.

we had plan A, B, C and we hit a new spot each morning and afternoon until we found fresh sign or saw moose.

it took till day 3 for us but moving and not being stagnant is what got us our bull.

tip # 2. learn how to call! practice on your way to work! its a great place to make funny noises and nobody will care!

also, you'll have to see how much time you can devote to the hunt.

dad and i could devote 10 consecutive days to hunting. we elected not to hunt the first 6 days of the season. our theory was that the temps would be very warm (which they were) and that would depress any daylight movement.

Temperature really effects movement. you might want to think about that a lot when you plan your trip.

and my last piece of advice is to go on to the DNR HSOforum; look at the past years harvest reports. mark down on your map of where other hunters were successful. there is a reason they were. look at those spots online. this might save you some boot leather.

if you want a list of our gear list on our 2010 hunt; you can PM me.

Good luck!

most importantly; HAVE FUN!

[bigbucks]

tip # 2. learn how to call! practice on your way to work! its a great place to make funny noises and nobody will care!

As long as you don't car pool...

[NoWiser]

Congrats ducksnbucks! Check your PM's.

[monstermoose78]

way to go!

[Boar]

Awsoeme for you 4, cant wait for the story of success, these been some great campfire tails of the coveted moose hunt on this forum, need another. Boar

[arrow]

I have been on 3 canoe hunts in BWCA for moose and one outside of BWCA. The one outside was the standard road hunt which did not do much for me but to each his own. The BWCA hunts I really enjoyed but again thats me. Its not the epic challenge that everyone makes it out to be unless you choose to make a number of portages and go deep into your zone or we get a early blast of winter. For the most part my experience has been that is not necessary to go really deep into the BWCA. The moose will oftentimes be on the edges of the BWCA as they wonder in and out to visit the big clear cuts that in your case will be closer to the Gunflint. Not sure if there is any recent burn areas in zone 61 but if so try to hit the edges of these or if they are mature enough hunt in these areas. My success has been best by just quietly paddling and covering the likely areas while calling occasionally. Good luck and enjoy.

[ducksnbucks]

Thanks to everyone for your advice, tips, and gear lists. We are going to begin our trip planning this coming weekend and start putting a gear list together.

NoWiser, you have email and Matchset you have a PM. Thanks!

Will keep you posted on how things are going. Anyhting else you can come up with is greatly appreciated!

[Surface Tension]

I looked at zone 61 and will say I've been there many times coming in from the Sawbill and Gunflint trails.

Your lucky that you have so many entrance points all of which are little work to get into your zone. Feel free to contact me on my best picks.

[Farmboy1]

Plan a scouting trip. We spent 6 days in our zone in Early September and found active sign we wanted to hunt.

We ended up portaging most of our meat in cheese cloth only Santa Claus style. Laid a tarp on the bottom of the canoe to keep things dry and hauled as much tail as we could.

We also brought in standard issue bone saws and broke them all on our moose. Whitetail stuff WILL NOT hold up. We ended up using our camp ax to get things able to travel. Check and double check these items because they are that important.

Rope, rope, and than some additional rope. It works for everything.

The season is long. Plan for as much as time as you can spend in. We planned to hunt all but 2 days of our season, but were out on day 9.

Get in shape. Working out with weight is a great idea, but also spend some time in a canoe. Short hours or sleep and long hours paddling take it's toll after a few days. Get your shoulders in shape also.

Good luck and have fun. It was the best hunt I have ever been on, and a trip of a lifetime for sure.