Ontario Moose - Sept 26 to Oct 3
Contributors to this thread:Moose
From: Bowmania
04-Oct-13
No moose sightings for 4 guys and no calls answered. Weather was not good. Kenora meat processing plant had 17 moose last Sept this year two.
Can anyone figure out that??? Guy at the boarder said everyone said the same.
Bowmania
From: Sage Buffalo
04-Oct-13
Weather makes a big difference. I went to Newfoundland and 3 days it was mid-70s. Shut things down. Didn't see a moose. We hiked 5-7 miles a day through bogs. Tough sledding.
First time my guide took a hunter and didn't see a moose in 20 years.
It happens. All you can do is smile and enjoy the ride.
From: killinstuff
04-Oct-13
Bears and moose this month had been hit and miss. The grouse are pretty thick though, did you at least kill a pile of those?
From: sureshot
04-Oct-13
Aren't moose numbers down quite a bit in that area of Ontario? I have been up there fishing a few times and it seems that the locals south of there anyway have been talking about declining moose numbers for quite awhile.
From: spike buck
04-Oct-13
when you have a large population of deer, like we have in wmu 7b kenora & 8 dryden, there are very few moose. The brain worm (deer are carriers-moose are hosts), bear's and wolves are taking a toll on the moose. I have been out scouting for the upcoming deer season in Nov. Haven't cut a moose track after many days in the field. Lots of deer though.
From: reflex1
05-Oct-13
4 guys from the 24th to the 2nd. came home with one moose. only had two encounters and one didnt make it. It was warm and 10 days of south wind really hurt us.
From: skull
05-Oct-13
after they close the spring bear hunt moose population has been going down every year since then and like spike buck said wolfs are doing there part too easy math more bears less moose
From: Ogoki
05-Oct-13
My wife and I hunted Sept 22. -29. No sightings . 80 degrees three days and strong winds from the south.
From: spike buck
05-Oct-13
Just read the Ontario out of doors MOOSE forecast. It states the Kenora wmu 7b & 6 moose population is in POOR shape. Dryden 8&5 good but decreasing. It says the only bright spot across ontario is wmu 15a (good and increasing), which is east of Dryden. Thunder bay 15b fair and decreasing,16c is fair, 11b listed as good. This forecast was just published. Just to list a few.
From: Thomas88
11-Oct-13
Went to Lake Kipawa in Quebec from Sept 29th to Oct 5th. The weather was 75-80 every day. Moose sign was plentiful and began to hear cow calls on the last day. Sightings were few. One cow in a beaver pond at 500 yards and my brother had a 15 yard shot at a cow protecting her breeding area after he cow called. He is a traditional hunter and made a bad shot. Stuck the shoulder bone, no penetration and ended up with a bent arrow and broadhead as a consolation prize. Rifle hunting starts there today. Hopefully the weather will change and the heat will go. It was a good trip all in all. 6 hunters, three cows, one calf, and one 45 inch bull running in front of the 4 wheeler at 0500 hrs, one shot and one hit. Not a bad trip at all. If it was colder we would have probably had better luck and more opportunities.
From: MallardSX2
21-Oct-13
Sounds about the same weather and success that I had. Im glad it wasn't just me....lol
From: stick slinger
21-Oct-13
I was out yesterday and saw two cows and two bulls. The one cow seamed to be in heat as this young bull was trailing her pretty hard. I watched for a while and when I was sure that there was no calf (my remaining tag) I gave a couple bull grunts and called this guy over, came to within 20 yards. I was pretty surprised to see them still in the rut, possibly this is her second round if she didn't get bred the first time. After he gave up and left I got a short glimps of a large mature bull, he wasn't as interested in a fight as this young guy.
From: BMG2
21-Oct-13
Hunted almost the same date in western quebec, not much in the way of action either, just a cow. No reports of kills either. just got back from the week of rifle hunting and i seen 2 cows and 2 calfs with no bulls in attendence so it was tag soup for me this year, not very many gun kills this yr too. (again). looking not so good in this region for a while now and getting worse.
From: CurveBow
22-Oct-13
In Ontario, I have been told, moose numbers are way down. Seems wolves are high in numbers too. This inhibits the moose comeback to a degree.
In other news, it seems that moose are getting tick infections. They call them "ghost moose" due to the rubbed off fur. Moose have been found with over 100,000 ticks on them. This is especially bad for calves.
Unsure if this is a part of Ontario's problem or not, but this tick reason has been blamed for moose population declines in other areas.
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From: Bear Track
22-Oct-13
I was near the Ontario border from the 28th-4th and this is the first in 12-15 years I never shot a moose. The 50 incher I got last year, I felt lucky we did get as the wolves were all over us for a week. One is not with us anymore by the way. I had 2 replies to my calling and that was it this year. Last year, wolf tracks everywhere you went. I mean packed with tracks! This year, a few moose tracks and no dog tracks.
From: CurveBow
14-Nov-13
Coming back across the border on November2, we were told by the border agents that very few bucks and darn few moose were coming back across. Of the bucks coming back, most were not the monsters that were the norm more then 8 - 10 years ago. We have theories why this is the case, but no real facts.
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From: MooseMan
02-Mar-14
MooseMan's Link
The moose population is down if there are lots of deer around. The border areas south of Thunder Bay are down, but the bush area to the north still has a good population. It's been a tough cold winter so we will see how that works out but I've been seeing lots from the air in the usual wintering spots.