Post rut moose

[Sled]

How long after the rut does it take for moose to go back to their previous patterns?

 

[Yukon Cornelius]

Probably depends on the male and female scents.

I had a bull respond to calls during the first week of the season.

 

[Yellowknife]

How long after the rut does it take for moose to go back to their previous patterns?

I wouldn't say the ever go back to previous patterns exactly. In my experience, they stop rutting behaviors sometime in late October, but are then moving into winter patterns. In my areas, that means they switch browse and may migrate away from the thick summer cover and towards areas of lower snowfall and/or more abundant willows.

 

[TreeWalking]

I hunted for a Shiras bull moose in Idaho. A long season window. I hunted the rut and there were beef cows on the public land that were mostly black and were overdue to be removed plus the deciduous trees in the riparian zones had their leaves. Glassing was tough but glassed up a lot of black cows.

I returned long after the rut and with the beef cows removed and the leaves mostly off the trees the glassing was much, much easier. The bulls were near the streams and marshy zones of the unit. I also had the benefit of the unit having bulls migrate into the unit post-rut so I was seeing bulls that maybe weren't around to be shot during the rut. Another benefit is the muddy roads were frozen so was harder to get stuck or slide off the road as moved around to glass. I don't think there was a spot in the unit where you could get 2 miles from a pave, gravel or two-track road so driving around was part of the deal.

 

[william schmaltz]

What Yellowknife said. I don't believe they go back to anything, they move onto the next thing. I won't see a single moose in my yard from about the beginning of May through the end of October. At the end of the month, both the bulls and cows will start to show up and I'll see both very frequently until spring. I used to be a commuter. There's a stretch of highway that's the same way. Will rarely see a moose during the same months and then there are mornings starting in late fall/early winter when I've seen close to 30 on my drive in a stretch of a few miles. Seen the same in numerous areas while flying late fall and winter. Moose packed in where you don't see them all summer.

I have a video taken shortly after Thanksgiving of 3 bulls in my yard. Largest was close to 50" and smallest was a maybe 30" paddle bull. I grunted to get them to look for a picture. It set the smaller bull off and he started trying to pick a fight with the bigger one. The big one was mostly annoyed. He knew that part of the year was over. The smaller bull was persistent in fighting for a mate for over 15 minutes until the bigger bull finally just left. So there may be some differences on when they switch from breeding to feeding based on size/testosterone remaining.

 

[Sled]

well, that makes sense. we're hunting shiras cow down in the lower 48 in a populated area. the cows split at the start of the rut and bulls are roaming currently. Ironically, i'm headed to AK for work and will probably see more moose than i've seen in my life. when i get back we have a week to finish up the tag. unfortunately, my kid has school during the week so it's just weekends so far. maybe i can convince the wife he needs to take a day off so we can get an overnight hunt in somewhere. on the last weekend the calves might be in trouble if we can't turn up a lone cow.

 

[Yellowknife]

well, that makes sense. we're hunting shiras cow down in the lower 48 in a populated area. the cows split at the start of the rut and bulls are roaming currently. Ironically, i'm headed to AK for work and will probably see more moose than i've seen in my life. when i get back we have a week to finish up the tag. unfortunately, my kid has school during the week so it's just weekends so far. maybe i can convince the wife he needs to take a day off so we can get an overnight hunt in somewhere. on the last weekend the calves might be in trouble if we can't turn up a lone cow.

Moose calves have pretty limited meat yield, but are absolutely fantastic table fare. Lighter flavor and more tender than any mature moose.

I'd pull the kid out of school. A day or two of classroom missed will have no impact on his future.

 

[Sled]

Moose calves have pretty limited meat yield, but are absolutely fantastic table fare. Lighter flavor and more tender than any mature moose.

I'd pull the kid out of school. A day or two of classroom missed will have no impact on his future.

i'd agree but we just had him out for over a week on his elk hunt. now i need to ask permission.