help needed for Budget Moose Hunt

[zeke08]

I have a 2 1/2yr old son who has been in and out of hospital since birth and funds are extemely low and will continue to be low for long time due to hospital bills and such. My question is where can a person(from TN) go and hunt moose on a budget? Does anyone know of any outfitters that would allow you to work off some of the cost cause with my job the pay is low but i do get ALOT of time off and being that I have only dreamed of hunting moose how/where should I start?

[Bigeasy]

I would look very hard at Maine.  From central Maine up its mostly undeveloped paper company land with a good dirt road system, open to hunting.  Moose up the ying yang.  I hunt that area every year for deer, and always see more moose.  Unlike a lot of places, a guide is not required.  Really just like a do it your self deer hunt, just the deer is a lot bigger.  Now the problem - Maine moose permits are by lottery drawing, with only about 10% going to out of staters.  Demand is heavy.  I drew a tag in the late 80's and shot a nice bull.  Been trying almost every year since, no luck.  When you apply, you can buy blocks of extra points for additional cash to slightly increase your odds of drawing a permit.  The moose kill rate is over 90% most years.  Get on their webb site, tons of information.

Other places in Canada are a lot easier to get tags, but require more travel and money, often a guide is required.  Good luck finding a spot, and good luck with your son, I hope he does well.

http://www.maine.gov/ifw/

Larry

[Graybeard]

Drawing a moose tag in Maine is next to impossible for an out of state hunter these days. I seem to recall they have some sort of sub licensing agreement thing whereby those who draw the license can share it with another hunter either of which can legally take the animal but only one for the pair. I think it's mostly used to effectively sell your permit to the highest bidder due to the limited number of tags and difficulty in drawing them. I suspect it's why the number of folks applying is so high as well.

Bottom line there are no cheap places to hunt moose. If you aren't well heeled or at least a resident of a place with them then you just really can't hunt them. I believe all places in Canada require guides for US citizens. Alaska requires guides for some species but I'm not sure if moose is one of them but the difficulty of getting there and the air travel required to get into the country and back out mean it's not cheap. There are some Shiras moose out west and I think you can hunt them on your own unless in a wilderness area but getting a tag is a once in a life time event and will likely take most of that life time to draw it.

[live2hunt]

I just got back from a hunt wednesday. The permitee, took a 762 lb bull on the second day of the hunt. You will be hard pressed to find a "cheap" way to hunt moose. I have been applying scince I was 10 and have not gotten picked. I have been fortunate enough to go on 9 hunts. Graybeard is correct. On the tag there is a permitee and sub permitee, either of wich can take the moose, but must be in communication with eachother without the use of cell phone or radio.

It is not cheap.

[379 Peterbilt]

Neither Alaska nor Ontario Canada require a non res to hire a guide. I have hunted both for moose, and never needed a guide. In Ontario however, you will need to be "outfitted". Still cheaper than Alaska, trust me.

[Thebear_78]

Even as a resident in alaska it can easyily cost up to 2 grand to do a moose hunt.  SUccess is limited on the road system and it costs a lot to travel either by air or boat.   I spent almost 1800 dollars in fuel and supplies when I took my dad moose hunting a couple of years ago, that was for a 14 day trip.  when your burnging 11gal of fuel and hour it adds up.

[Drilling Man]

  If i was you, i'd go on a "closer to home" deer hunt, and save the rest of the money and time to be with my son, who obviously isn't well.

  DM

[zeke08]

thanks for help and advice and i spend EVERYDAY with my son and cherish every minute. I kill 6-8 deer a year here in TN and thats no biggie just trying to achieve a life long dream of moose hunting and If i ever hit it big i will start a hunting camp/program where the less wealthy can come and work for free hunt except license fee and start a ministry hunting program for sick children where its ALL free. Again thanks to all

[drdougrx]

You can hunt NewFi for under 5k....but...that's in a well hunted area or a meat hunt.  That's aboutr as cheap as you can get.  I'm 0 permits for 16 years of apps for Maine.

[rebAL]

I've been on some very affordable moose hunts in Quebec.  I always booked with outfitter offering exclusive outpost terriroties.  No guide was needed.  The trick is to find a good one.  I found the best places were booked a year ahead by the previous successful hunting party.  The ones who had to advertise or had open territories were therefore the less successful ones.  You also need to know which areas offer hunts for bull or cow as many areas alternate years.  Personally I would not pay to hunt bull only areas as your success rate would naturally be less even though you are still paying full price.  The better territories would offer fly in accomadations but you would have to pay more.  There are many areas where you can drive to in northern half of providence.

[zeke08]

If you wouldnt mind would you give me some of the names of those outfitters? And I'm confused you can buy cow/bull tags or only a bull tag or only a cow tag? I don't have any knowledge in this area just trying to learn. I want to start a hunt program for people who cant afford these high price outfitters allowing those less fortunate to work for a week doing chores helping any way they can to pay for hunt all they would have to pay for would be there license. Thanks for your help I greatly appreciate it!

[Bigeasy]

Zeke-

Put your computer to work for you.  Get on line, check lisc. and permit regs for the area's you are interested in.  Get list of outfitters, along with contact info - almost all now days have e-mail addresses.  Did you ever look at that link for Maine I provided you?  Lots of guides/outfitters there, and as GB said, lots of local permit holders looking to let someone else use their tag (for a fee).  You gotta go seek it out..

Larry

[zeke08]

I tried the link you sent it would not open! I do not know what areas I would want to moose hunt in cause I have never been and I dont know where the best places to go are hence me asking for help. I dont mind researching if I know what and where to research.

[rebAL]

I just sent you 3 places.  They explain the regulations & permit system better than I can.  Good luck!

[zeke08]

thank you for your kind help!

[X-man]

I would say your best bet for an inexpensive moose hunt is in my home province of Newfoundland. If you shop around you shouldn't have any trouble booking a hunt for under $5000. Most outfitters also offer add-on black bear hunts at very reasonable prices. If you tag out early, there is often free upland game/waterfowl hunting.

You wont get the monster 60" bulls of Alaska-Yukon genetics, but bulls in the 45-55" range can be had if you're lucky.

Hunter success rates are near 95-100% as we have just about the highest moose population density rate in the world.

You can drive to the island from TN is 2.5 days. You'll need to catch the Marine Atlantic Ferry in North Sydney, NS that connects with Port aux Basques, Newfoundland. If you book with an outfitter located in central Newfoundland or on the Northern Peninsula, you'll have another 4-6 hr drive ahead of you.

As money is tight, it wouldn't take you more than a season or two to save up for a Newfoundland Moose Hunt. Go for the Black Bear hunt as well. We've got some monsters here! My buddy got one this Spring that went over 700lbs!

[mrussel]

Drawing a moose tag in Maine is next to impossible for an out of state hunter these days. I seem to recall they have some sort of sub licensing agreement thing whereby those who draw the license can share it with another hunter either of which can legally take the animal but only one for the pair. I think it's mostly used to effectively sell your permit to the highest bidder due to the limited number of tags and difficulty in drawing them. I suspect it's why the number of folks applying is so high as well.

Bottom line there are no cheap places to hunt moose. If you aren't well heeled or at least a resident of a place with them then you just really can't hunt them. I believe all places in Canada require guides for US citizens. Alaska requires guides for some species but I'm not sure if moose is one of them but the difficulty of getting there and the air travel required to get into the country and back out mean it's not cheap. There are some Shiras moose out west and I think you can hunt them on your own unless in a wilderness area but getting a tag is a once in a life time event and will likely take most of that life time to draw it.

 No guides required in Utah,but permits are scarce as hens teeth and come in a lottery. Lots of Elk permits though. Theres a lottery for them too,but usually lots left over. I don't know if there are any left now,but I got mine from the leftovers.

[Bossloper]

I drew my Maine moose permit this year, and I got a bull permit in WMD 13, which is about 2.5 hours north of where I live in Maine. My wife is my sub-permittee, and we'd love to do it ourselves, but I got the October hunt and just don't have the time to drive five hours a day to do the scouting to enhance our chance of success. Since this is that once in a lifetime opportunity, we decided to spend the money getting a guide and making it a vacation. The guide is costing $1350, and that includes lodging, daily transportation, game retrieval and getting the moose to the processor. The cabin has a kitchen so we'll pack food & cook our own meals. There will be another few hundred dollars each for the processing and tanning of the hide, so it is possible to keep a moose hunt to under 2K. I did some calculating prior to making the decision to go with a guide, and it would cost me a as much and possibly more in gas & time, so I think that this is about as cheap as we can go moose hunting. Hopefully we will see a moose.