Moose Hunting Guides and Outfitters – Trips and Guided Hunts

The Moose is the largest member of the deer family, a big game animal of majestic proportions. It is larger than any deer of history. The largest kind of moose lives in Alaska. Sometimes this big game animal can grow in size to seven and a half feet high and weigh from as much as eighteen hundred pounds in that area of North America, and a beast of this size would be a great trophy to bring home, but I’m sure the guide or outfitter you hire would also want bragging rights as well. Their legs and high shoulders make the moose look like it has a hump, but it doesn’t. It is a large muscle. The forelegs are longer than the hind legs; this gives the animal an awkward appearance. The moose hunting guides and outfitters that offer hunts and trips for this beast should know the best areas to find them.

The muzzle of this big game animal can droop down three or four inches over and passed the chin. A growth of skin, which is under the throat and covered with hair is, called the bell. The moose is covered with a thin fur coat that is a mixture of black and brown on the shoulders and upper part of the body. The lower parts including legs are mix of brown and gray. This mixture of colors helps hide it from people out on trips or hunts for this great beast.

Moose make their homes in the Northern Hemisphere all around the world. In the “Old World”, they live from Northern Scandinavia and northern Germany through Siberia to Amurland. Their American home takes in the region from Main to Alaska and south through the Rocky Mountains to Wyoming. Outside of America these animals are not called moose, but elk. The American elk is different. Its correct name is the wapiti.

The Bull Moose {male}, looks a little different then the female. He has antlers or horns that are much heavier and more flat. The antlers on this big game animal have up to twelve points that look a little like fingers outstretched. Every year the moose will shed its antlers then start to grown new ones. By August of the year the antlers are back fully developed and are a trophy for outfitters and guides trying to help their clients on trips or guided hunts. Like deer the moose will strip off the antler coverings, which is called velvet. They will rub their antlers against trees, branches, and rocks to strip off the dead skin. Then the moose will rub the antlers against the trees to polish them.

The moose mating season can last for as long as eight weeks in the fall months. The males look for the females or cows and call out for them. The females then call back to the bulls. This method is not perfect as the Bull Moose will fall almost any sound it hears thinking it is a cow or another bull moose that is challenging it. This is one method for Moose hunting guides and outfitters use is to use sound that resembles the sound they make during mating season. This method increases the chance that the hunter will bag a big game on his or her trip or guided hunt.

The small moose that are born from the mating will arrive in May or June after being carried for about 7 ½ months. Most moose will only have one calf, although it has been known that they can on rare occasions have up to three calves. The baby moose is brown with reddish color and has very long legs and takes about nine to eleven days before it can travel with its mother. The mother is very protective and will stay at its side and defend it against any animal or even a hunter that gets too close.

The mountains and forest is the home of most moose along with swamps and areas with lakes or other small bodies of water adjoining. The moose is a strong swimmer and have been know to dive under water to 15 feet or more to feed on plants at the bottom of shorelines. The moose is clumsy, but it is fleet of foot and is a dangerous foe when at bay. The male will protect his family even to the point of losing his own life. In the winter the animals herd together, several families being found in one group; in the summer they scatter, and individual pairs are found around lakes and streams. They are becoming scarcer every year, but are found in considerable numbers in the forests of the Rocky Mountain area and other parts of the United States and Canada.

This big game eats plants, shrubs, twigs, and other types of plant life. Not to mention that they will eat plant life at the bottom of shallow pounds or lakes. Because of their size they can easily reach many areas underwater to get mouthfuls of plant life. Then they eat this material above the water surface so they can keep an eye out for danger. They normally live alone and not in herds as caribou, elk, or deer do. But on occasion a few will gather in winter time.

Bears and wolves are predators that the moose must keep an eye out for. Although a single wolf is not a real treat, a pack of them can easily take down a moose if it is about twelve years or older, or is sick. But a healthy moose is just too strong for them. Now bears are very capable of killing this big game animal and do so on a regular basis.

Both males and females gather in small bands in swamps and woods. Here they find protection from the cold winds. This also helps protect them from moose hunting guides and outfitters on trips or guided hunts. At one time, hunters had almost killed off all the moose in the eastern United States. Today, moose are protected by laws in the United States and Canada.

Scientific Classification: Moose belong to the family Cervidae. The American moose is genus Alces, species Americana. The European species of moose is called elk. It is A. alces.

Tips on Moose Hunting