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Moose

Skunked on a 2005 Colorado Moose Hunt

I am a tragically unlucky moose hunter, having completed a grand slam of moose failure. I have hunted and not harvested all 3 species of North American moose: Alaska/Yukon, Canada, and Shiras.

My Alaska/Yukon hunt was in the Mulchatna River area of Alaska. The outfitter put our drop camp on a lake where some backpackers had just seen what they thought was a 70-inch bull -- but, my partner, Spek, and I hunted hard for 8 days and saw only a single cow.

My Canada moose hunt was fully guided and tacked on to the tail end of a Stone sheep hunt in the Cassiar Mountains of British Columbia. We hunted a valley that was known for its moose population, but saw only cows and calves. The bulls were still pre-rut and sticking to the alpine.

My Shiras moose hunt was the toughest failure of all. I drew a good tag in my home state of Colorado (see photo) and hunted my brains out for 6 days. The only bull I saw was a nice 35-incher at 30 yards -- but that was the night before the season opened.

Moose are great animals, especially if you can get up close to them, and some day I will get mine. It will probably be in Wyoming, where I have enough points to draw a good tag sometime soon.

State Notes General Tag Quality Limited Tag Quality Odds of Drawing Limited Tags Strategy
Alaska The most realistic opportunity to get a moose. Good Excellent Good Plan a hunt some year. It's more a manner of saving money and vacation, as opposed to building preference points.
Colorado Build preference points and some day you'll stand a chance of drawing a good tag. N/A Good Poor Apply!
Idaho I've not hunted Idaho, but it's supposed to be a good moose state. As a non-resident, you can only apply for sheep, goat, moose OR limited elk. N/A Good Not bad Apply, unless you're going for sheep, goat, or limited elk.
Montana Build bonus points and some day you'll stand a good chance of drawing a tag. N/A Good Poor Apply!
Utah You can only apply for bison, sheep, goat, OR moose. N/A Excellent Poor Apply, unless you're going for one of the other "once-in-a-lifetime" species.
Wyoming If you can get 8 or so preference points, you can get a good tag. N/A Good to Excellent Poor Apply!