Anybody got a basic equipment list for moose hunting? I guess I lost mine in my last computer crash.

Leaving in 3 weeks. Rifles ready, but need to remember what else to bring.

Thanks for any help.

Make sure you bring along a couple of those plastic zip ties, like what you use to tie hoses ect up with. Use it to tie off the windpipe and rectum tube before pulling the gutpile out. you dont want that gunk dragged through the body cavity. Sharpening stone, or a couple spare knives, those muddy buggers are hell on a knife edge.

TSJ-
great advise about tying of the pipes with the plastic pull ties..

Be prepared for all possible weather conditions. You could have snow and/or 70 degree temperatures. Rain is a real possibility.

Take bug repellant and a head net for black flies. Light gloves and tape for your cuffs, wrists and neck can be useful.

Take a bone saw or a good crosscut handsaw.

Take a block and tackle if you have to hoist it into a tree for a while. A 5 gallon bucket can be used to transport the heart and liver. Pepper can be useful for keeping blow flies away.

Take lots of rope.

Hip Boots, 3/4 lenth rain jacket, moose call and 4 young strong packers and a whip!

Keith,
You have that right! I try ( doesnt always work as planned ) to only shoot them here on the farm where I can get to them with a 4 WD tractor, and they still are alot of work!

Where are you going? -Fred

quote:

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Originally posted by Fischer:
Anybody got a basic equipment list for moose hunting? I guess I lost mine in my last computer crash.

Leaving in 3 weeks. Rifles ready, but need to remember what else to bring.

Thanks for any help.

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Great suggestions, guys. Keep 'em coming!

Fred, we're going to Geraldton, ON. About 2 1/2 hrs northwest of Thunder Bay. Drew a bull tag.

Bull tag eh! Need a partner?

I don't get it, my group has not drawn a tag in the last 4 years. We hunt area 24 in Kapuskasing; we always
see moose but never have tags!!
last year we got a nice 500 lb yearling, spike on him was 2 inches.

who suggested bug repelant? no bugs in Canada in oct.

[ 09-12-2002, 13:52: Message edited by: kromer ]

Dont forget your bullets!

If you dont have a block and tackle a come along works good.

It's a lot easier if you pull the hide off the upper side and cut the meat/quarter it off that side, then roll it and do the other side instead of gutting it. Trying to manhandle a mature bull moose is no fun. This way you don't have to deal with all the innards and mess associated with it. No reason to make more work of that need be, it's already enough work as it is.

Make sure you have a back brace, high quality knife and sharpening equipment, saw and meat bags

It was not my idea, but it worked real good, a small chainsaw washed out with veg oil used to halve and then quarter three last day of the hunt moose. Very quick and clean. One of the moose was mine.

Why carry a five gallon bucket around for the heart and liver when a strong plastic bag is sufficient?? And as you say, bug repellant is�nt a musthave in oct. The most useful item I have found around when hunting moose is a good quality rope, a reasonably sharp knife and warm and weatherproof clothes. As for tying up the windpipe... If you cut it above the larynx you won�t have a problem with stuff pouring out of it...

Made in Sweden,
How high up is that? I cut a slit in the hide of the throat as high up as I can feel the windpipe and I still get that green gunk after cutting it off?
Those yearlings are the very best eating for sure. My wife tells me, " you have enough horns, and I dont like spending a week canning a tough bull, shoot something tender"

Great suggestions, guys.

Kromer, you've gotta head a bit farther west. We only need 4+ to draw a tag in 21A. Another 3-4 hours drive.

Since there are 5 in our crew, we're guaranteed a tag every year now, unless they bump the minimum number. Even if that happens, 3 of us have sons who can join the crew. This is only our second year going up.

Fischer, take the sons with you. Strong backs required for moose. My brother shot one some years back with his 270 (damn girly gun!) and the moose wandered up a half frozen stream before dieing half out of the water/ice on a beaver damn. New family rule; if we can't drive to it, don't shoot it. Good luck and have fun, it sounds like it will be a great time. Oh, and the small chain saw works great. - Dan

kromer:

Do you work for the Chamber of Commerce or something?

I've occasionally had to deal with black flies in November, and almost always at some time during an early October moose hunt. I'm bowhunting moose in September this year, and expect to have black flies as almost constant companions.

Rick

I'm going north of Thunder Bay this year too, first time.

Here's my list (to be ammended after meeting with group)

moose tags !!!!!
Rifle
hard case for truck
soft case (gun sock-get one)
trigger locks
camera & film
premium ammo (Noslers)
belt
ammo box for belt
knife (sharpened!)
Lansky sharpener
field dressing gloves
paper towels/rags/pump soap
wet ones towlettes
rope (lots)
come along hand winch
bone saw
meat fly-proof bags
rain gear
targets & tacks for sight check
binoculars
two way radios
shooting stick
cleaning rod & brushes & patches
solvent
WD40
chapman screwdriver set
contact lenses and glasses
clothes
hunting coats, blaze orange
gloves (cool & cold)
orange toque
orange cap
toothbrush/toiletries
2 pair boots
sleeping bag, blanket and pillow
lighter/matches
compasses (2)
flashlights (3) lots of batteries
lantern (buy one)
barbeque?
propane?
food?
tools?
Cow call (get one)

We have a bull and cow tag in our group, so if it's brown, it's down !!!

Good luck, Mike

[ 09-13-2002, 20:16: Message edited by: Red Label ]

Even better than strong sons for getting a moose out of the the woods is a Caterpillar D5. Worked for me.

Fischer -- The next time I go Moose hunting there is one thing I will not leave home without. While processing my bull I was visited by No-See-Um's on my exposed bloody arms. My arms and hands itched and whelped up for days afterward. When I got back to Anchorage I finally got Benadryl Jell in a squeeze tube that was a total success in getting rid of the swelling and itchiness, if that is a word. You might want to take some with you. Good shooting.

fischer keep it simple , the 3 B's:

bullets beer and beans

A roll of toilet paper. Beside the obvious use, it can be used for great many things. I always have a length of it, wrapped in plastic, when out in the woods.

I think it has to do with the larynx closing the lid on both pipes... otherwise a moose would throw up as soon as he stood on his head (but I have never seen a moose standing on his head but...) I usually cut it as far up as possible and definitely above the boney parts around the larynx... the I usually cut around it all the way down to the lung/heart cavity and have a huntingbuddy stick his hand in from the chestside and we meet halfways for me to hand him the windpipe... he then pulls out the lungs and heart using the windpipe as a handle. No spills just clean meat!!

Made in Sweden,

Here in the UK, there is a big emphasis on "best practice" as far as meat/carcass handling goes as many of our deer carcasses go in the commercial food chain via game-dealers, most destined for Europe. However I have yet to find one method which suits all circumstances. I have never seen a moose but on our deer size game I have started opening up the neck right from under the chin all the way down to the breastbone.. With a little careful knife work, the entire oesophagus comes out complete with the tongue. By starting at the chin I can remove the tongue and first few inches of pipe enabling me to check the lymph glands situated in the roof of the mouth. Assuming they look ok (and they usually do) I then free out the windpipe & oesophagus back to the breastbone. I then separate the oesophagus and scrape off the flesh with my knife until the white tube is exposed and roughened up a little. This enables me to tie a knot in it without it slipping. At this point I can either pull the oesophagus into the chest cavity and hence remove the guts, leaving the heart/lungs intact for future inspection at the larder, or I can split the breast bone back to the diaphragm and carry out a full gralloch in the field in the more traditional way.

Personally I find cleaning out the other end more problematic as far as avoiding contamination goes; its usually a toss up between cutting around the anus and pulling it back through or splitting down between the legs until the "aitch" bone is reached and then splitting that to get at the bladder and anus. What works well in park shot deer hung neatly in a larder exposes too much meat for contamination for a carcass which needs dragging out in the field.

regards

Pete

[ 09-16-2002, 13:19: Message edited by: Pete E ]

Pete!
I haven�t tried getting the tongue out together with the rest of the stuff, but it sounds like a smart idea! I guess a moose wouldn�t be all that different from a deer... In my experience, the hole where i pull out the larynx and other parts down to the chestcavity is to small for a knot on the windpipe to pass through. And I have never had any problems without knot so I�ll keep going knotless
But for deer it might be a good solution... as for dragging moose around contaminating the meat.. we use a special vehicle to carry the moose out of the woods.
/Peter

Made in Sweden,

I don't tie off the windpipe, which is the thick cartilage pipe going down to the lungs, but the oesophagus which lies (on deer anyway) right behind it and is part of the digestive tract. This is a thin tube much like tube that goes out through to the anus. As I say, I have yet to find the "perfect way" and there seems to be as many variations as hunters.

What sort of vehicles do you guys use for getting the carcasses out? Its not uncommon to see quads or argo's used for recovering red deer on the hill over here and some places still use the traditional highland garron or pony to pack the red stags out. I suspect that a hind quarter from one of your big moose would be as big as one of our fallow doe's and I would not even know where to start getting a moose or elk carcass out of the woods!Take a look at: http://www.deer-uk.com/Tips%20and%20Tricks.htm You can imagine the struggle we have packing these out!

Pete

[ 09-16-2002, 14:32: Message edited by: Pete E ]

We use a machine called "Jonsered J�rnh�sten" or the Ironhorse.... Its sort of a snowmobile without a seat and a small trailer attached... there are some other variants on the same basic idea..

Hey, i want one!

Will they cope with marsh/swap ect?

Those machines will go practically anywhere!! Whe have driven them across wetlands and through snow and they just tug along in their usual pace... some of the models have a tendency to tip over if too steep... but not the Jonsered J�rnh�sten....
/peter

Very nice, but nothing beats a D5.