I'm planing a moose hunt the 1st week of October. That is the only date the outfitter has open. Is this a good time to hunt? I've read that the rut is in then. Will the bulls travel all day at this time? Anything you could tell me about moose hunting would be appreciated.

 

While I am not a hunter, it would be impossible not to have had an encounter with a moose here in newfoundland. I live in St. John's, the capital city, and it's not uncommon for a moose to be wandering around the core of the city. There are about 500,000 people in newfoundland and there's an estimated moose population of 120,000. When driving on the highway, its not uncommon for the passenger to be on "moose watch", they have been referred to a newfoundlands natural speed bump.... as you noted, the mating period for moose, considered by many hunters the most successful time for hunting, runs from late September to early November. Notwithstanding the rut period, some of the very best times for hunting moose is after the rut, during the latter part of November

Gary

 

Calling in moose during the rut can be fun and you don't even need a call. Just pick up or cut a decent sized branch and start racking it against some smaller trees and braches. Sometimes the bulls sneak in and sometimes they just come on in. You're going to have a fun time!

 

My dad if from Newfoundland and his hunting stories were pretty remarkable growing up. If I am not mistaken I believe Newfoundland has the highest density of moose per sq. Kilometer in Canada.

 

I've been told that if you can't shoot a moose on the island of Newfoundland that you should give up hunting.

 

There are three of us going in october. I was wondering, how many coolers would we need to bring home 3 moose? They will be cut up and vaccum packed. Anyone have any idea how many and what size coolers we will need?

 

COOLERS! Are you kidding me....3 moose in coolers. O.K., the answer to that question is you will need about 100 huge coolers! If I were going and I was driving there and back I would make sure I brought an empty truck and trailer with at least 2 - 3 full size deep freezers. You know the ones I mean? Go to the island, get the 3 moose. Have them butchered, cut, wrapped and froze. Plug in all freezers and get them good and cold. Place all the meat in the freezers and head home. If you have to stop a few nights on the way home, no big deal. The meat won't dethaw anyway, but make sure you stay at a place that will let you plug the freezers in at night. Most people have these old freezers kicking around, I'm sure between you and your buddies you can get a few together. When you get back, return the freezers to whomever you borowed them from, with a nice feed od moose meat.

 

to even expand on that rezboy. If you have a generator you can plug the freezers in while in the back of the truck. Keep it cold while on the road. Seen some guys do that last year coming back from caribou huunting.

 

Whats the weather like on the East coast that time of year? I know my dad hunts just south of Dryden Ontario in mid October every year. Its usually cold enough that time of year that if they get something they can hang it from a tree for few days to get the ' heat' out of the meat. No need to freeze it , although if you want to get it cut and wrapped where you intend on hunting it would be nice. As long as the temps never get above 50 they have never had a problem with spoilage. When its time to head home they load the meat ( minus the hide of course) into the backs of pickup and.... covering it up but allowing for air movement ( usually the trucks have caps on the boxes... and they just run with the vents open to keep things from heating up) then head for home.... 17 hours south. in extreme southern Ontario. If you are heading to Penn... your trip wouldnt be much different . If you get 3 adult moose.. you will need a MINIMUM of 2 trucks just to haul the meat... remember these critters can weigh +1600lbs! As long as the temps are cool.. i dont see areason for freezers ..... maybe some bags of ice just to chill the meat but no need to freeze it that i can see.

 

Lets do some quick math on the meat... lets say we will get about 500lbs of boned meet from a 1500 bull. If it is vacuum packed, you can guess at a density of about 15 lbs per cubic foot.... guesstimating weights here, based on a beef roast I have here in the freezer and yield on beef we butcher... 30 to 40% of live hoof weight after processing.

500/15 = 33.3 cubic feet of meat per moose. Measure your coolers... measure your truck bed!

I would go with the suggestion of putting deep freezers in back of trucks and plugging in or generator. Probably need 2 good sized freezers.

Good luck, with I could go!

Ken