A Wyoming outdoorsman took a break from elk hunting Tuesday and called a bull moose to within 10 feet, simply by grunting at it.
Owen Miller said he’s called bull moose in a few times, though never quite that close. No artificial game call is required, such as the tubes hunters use to imitate the bugling of bull elk.
“I just grunt. If you listen to them (bull moose) it’s an easy grunt to imitate. It’s like you’re saying ‘rump’ with a grunt,” he said.
He wasn’t hunting moose, but there are a few around in the area where he’s been hunting elk, he said, without disclosing any specifics about the location.
Moose are in the rut, or mating season this time of year. When he gets an opportunity to call a bull moose in, and the circumstances seems safe enough, he takes it.
“I always make sure I’m behind a tree or something like that,” he said.
“I’m brave, but I’m not an idiot,” he added.
He said there were three trees between him and the bull he called in on Tuesday. But even so, when the bull got too close for comfort, he scolded it. That startled the bull away.
He had a similar experience during the same hunting trip, on Sept. 5, when he called another bull in close.
“He was raking the sagebrush with his antlers, and he rolled his eyes at me,” Miller said.
“Whenever I call a bull in close, it’s a rush every time,” he said.
Called From A Distance
Miller said he spotted the bull on Tuesday from about 150 yards away in thick timber.
There was another, smaller bull there, as well as a cow moose that was making vocalizations indicating that she was in heat, Miller said.
“I grunted at him (the larger bull) and he turned toward me, and I was like, ‘here we go,’” Miller said.
The bull walked right in, grunting as he came.
Once it was directly in front of his position, standing broadside, Miller said the bull was eyeing him, as if it was trying to figure out what he was.
“His head started to drop, and that’s when I decided that was enough, and I started speaking, telling him to leave,” Miller said.
There are moose hunting tags available for the area he was in. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime tag that’s extremely difficult to draw.
Miller said he’d like to put in for one of the tags, even though he’s developed an affection for the moose he sees lumbering about, because of their awkward, goofy nature.
“Even the big bull moose, I think they’re the cutest thing,” he said.
“I get as much joy out of filming and photographing the wildlife as I do out of the hunting,” added Miller, who likes to share videos of his wildlife encounters on his YouTube channel.
Rut Is Timed For May Moose Babies
Wyoming wildlife photographer Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven has followed moose in the Grand Teton National Park area for years.
He previously told Cowboy State Daily that photographing bulls during the rut can be tricky business. Like Miller, we recommended staying behind a tree or something else big and solid.
Vangoidtsenhoven said that the moose rut, which hits its peak in October, is timed with the cow moose gestation period, to give moose calves the best chances of survival after they’re born in the spring.
“Babies are typically born around May to maximize survival chances in the spring, when food is growing and giving them the longest time possible to grow enough before winter hits,” Vangoidtsenhoven said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
