winter moose hunt hopes

[Dand]

We have a winter moose hunt open in my area.  I went out last weekend and every spot I wanted to check had been overrun by previous snowmobilers. All the moose were chased into the deep woods / inaccessible brush areas.  A friend with a plane said he saw a few moose hiding in the really thick stuff. We only have 1-2 foot of snow so its rough going or not enough snow to get through or over the brush. It had been warmish so the bigger creeks and rivers and lakes weren't frozen well. Since the weekend the temps have dropped to -20 to -25 with a breeze, the snow is squeaky and louder than an ungreased wagon wheel. Hopefully more creeks are frozen now. Today the forecast is for warming, snow, then rain by tomorrow afternoon!  Wonder if I can get out during the transition for a look around and before things go to pot? Some new tracking and traveling snow would be great. Could do without the rain.  

[Dand]

We've had a big thaw going for 5-6 days. Temps in the high 20's to nearly 40. Lots of snow has melted off and a lot of tundra is bare or nearly so. A few guys who don't mind trashing their slides and such have gotten out and a few have gotten moose - actually nice temps to work in if you get an animal. But I'm not keen on wrecking my snogo or sled or going thru the ice crossing the creeks.  So haven't done any new hunting. One friend was out and caught a wolverine in a trap he'd set. That really made his day. So I guess I'm whimping out unless we get some colder weather and a little snow.

[Dand]

Well gave it one more try today with my boy. Drove over a lot of dry tundra and plain ice, going from snow patch to snow patch hoping to keep the slides lubed until we got up in elevation where there was more snow. Stopped a couple times and could hear snogos whining everywhere. We are a bit trapped with the warm weather keeping the bigger rivers and lakes thawed. So everybody is hunting in a relatively small area. We worked up to some areas that discourage snogo travel and snowshoed around. At that elevation and in the draws the snow has drifted. The crust isn't hard enough to walk on and is too deep to walk in. Very noisy. Saw no moose - surprise surprise. But did find where a small moose has been hanging around.  And saw some country I usually don't even try to hunt in fall when the area is a jungle of ferns, grass and alder.  So we tried, and I feel better for getting off the machine and walking some tough country that might have held an animal.  Actually there were a lot of old melted out tracks so they were there. Probably up on the mountain sides.  Next year......