 Moose
Hunting Alberta, Canada with Mike's Outfitting
Rifle Moose Hunting in
Alberta - FAQ
- Do I have to put in for a draw to get my license?
- What size of moose do you usually get, what is the average?
- Will I see lots of moose? What kind of success rate do
you normally have?
- How do you hunt them, do I need to be in good shape?
- When is the best time to come on the hunt? Isn't the
rut the best time?
- What caliber of gun do you prefer, bullets? How far a
shot can I expect?
- How do you handle 2 hunters with one guide?
- How do you deal with the meat, antlers and cape?
- What clothes are best? Do I need blaze orange or all
white? Gear list?
1. Do I have to put in for a draw to get my license?
No, all of our licenses are guaranteed.
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2. What size of moose do you usually get, what is the average?
We generally shoot moose in the 30 to 45 inch range but some 35 inch bulls
have better antlers than some 45 inchers. By better I mean, bigger pans,
heavier and more points. Most of our bulls are 2 and 3 years old with the
odd, maybe 1 or 2 out of 10, in the 4 to 6 yr old range. We aren't Alaska.
We don't have big trophy bulls and we don't have the big price tag either.
Hunters come to us for an enjoyable, well run hunt with an almost guaranteed
chance to shoot a decent bull. We don't mind someone coming to trophy hunt,
which for us means an older 40+ inch bull but it is risky business with
about a 50/50 chance of getting a trophy bull. The pictures on the website
are some of our better bulls, not everyone gets one like those.
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3. Will I see lots of moose? What kind of success rate do you
normally have?
Usually yes you will see lots of moose, but it is very weather dependent,
more so than most hunters ever imagine it would be. On a warm windy day
you might struggle to see any moose at all and the next day if it is calm
and cool you could see 30 moose in a one hour drive. If we get calm, cold
frosty mornings you can try for a bigger bull but if it is forecast for
warm, windy weather you better shoot the first bull you see. Our long term
success rate has been 90+%.
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4. How do you hunt them, do I need to be in good shape?
Most of our moose are shot out in farm fields and loaded into the truck
whole, just about anybody can do the hunt. You certainly don't have to be
in good shape but it can help, especially if you want to try for a bigger
bull. On the earlier, September and early October rut hunts some of the
bulls hang out in the bottom of these river valleys. If weather is warm
and windy we can hike those creek bottoms and increase our chance for success.
Most of the places are still accessible by four wheeler to get the animal
out but not always, packing one out might be a possibility.
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5. When is the best time to come on the hunt? Isn't the rut the
best time?
September 24 to November 15 is the best time to hunt moose in our area and
just hope for good weather on your hunt. The rut is not a big factor in
our area, we have too many cow moose and we never see a frantic rut. Most
of the bulls are shot out in farm fields feeding. You just need calm, cool
weather to get them out there.
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6. What caliber of gun do you prefer, bullets?
We do prefer a larger caliber gun but most of all you need to be accurate.
A 30-06 with 180 grain bullets is big enough though. The only bullets
we won't allow are ballistic tip bullets, especially the smaller grain
weight ones. In our experience they will blow up in impact and not even
enter the chest cavity on a moose.
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7. How do you handle 2 hunters with one guide?
It isn't tough to give a good hunt with 2 hunters to the one guide. We have
so many moose and since we are not trophy hunting we can get it done in
the 6 hunting days. All the guides in camp work as a team too so the hunts
quickly become one on one guided and then usually in the last days it is
actually 2 or more guides for one hunter. With good cell phone service in
our area we can have a team searching all over for the last moose in the
group.
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8. How do you deal with the meat, antlers and cape?
If you don't want the meat it can be donated, at no cost to you, to landowners
who let us hunt their land or to needy families. We really appreciate anybody
who does this but you certainly don't have to. If you drove up the cheapest
way to deal with it is to take the moose home in your vehicle but we have
heard of some hunters having trouble getting through the border with spine
or brain matter, others have had no trouble at all. Removing the spine would
be possible with a saw but that would be up to you to do, we have the saws
to do it. Even better though is that we have an excellent butcher who can
cut, wrap in paper and freeze your meat. Cost is about $1 a lb. hanging
meat. The average moose is 450 lbs. You could get a whole or half moose
done in about 36 hours. You could then load up one or more coolers for your
trip home. We have coolers here for a cost of $30 each. If you are flying
the airlines will usually charge for each cooler, usually about $100 for
a 50 lb. cooler. We take no responsibility though if airlines policy changes
or they charge much more than that. It is up to you to figure out before
your hunt how much it will cost and what is allowed.
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9. What clothes are best? Do I need blaze orange or all white?
Gear list?
Rain snow and cold can happen from Sept. 24 to Nov 15 but obviously November
could be much colder, down to possibly -30 F, but you are usually in truck
so it isn't too much of a factor on a moose hunt. No blaze orange needed.
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Gear, clothing list:
- Quiet rain gear, pants and jacket with a hood
- Leather, waterproof, ankle high boots you can walk in, more insulation
for Nov.
- Light and warm gloves
- Extra sweaters, long underwear
- Binoculars, range finder, no spotting scope needed.
- Dayback
- Gun and 2 boxes of bullets
- Camera, if digital, extra battery, charger & memory cards. Sorry, we will not email pictures to you.
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Call Mike to book your next Alberta
moose hunting adventure
1-780-864-3770
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