Dang twitch. Talk about starting big...really big!!! Moose are a tremendous amount of work to take care of when they're down, and I honestly wouldn't recommend that a greenhorn try and tackle it alone. Field dressing a moose and packing it any distance at all is a real chore even for a couple of well seasoned outdoorsmen. I've hunted my whole life and I still have to stop and take a minute to assess the amount of work in front of me every time I've stood over a dead moose. I don't want to completely discourage you from chasing moose, but it would probably be in your best interest to try and take on some smaller quarry first off. Where do you live? There's bound to be some smaller big game animals in the vicinity of where you plan to hunt moose. Black bear, deer in some areas, or possibly caribou tend to be in the same general habitats. Any one of those would let you get your feet wet without drowning. Here's some things I'd recommend:
1) Get a high quality pack that's large enough and sturdy enough to support a moose quarter, and is comfortable when fully loaded. I use a Badlands 4500 and it's just barely big enough to hold a hind quarter from an Alaska/Yukon bull. Don't skimp on your pack or you'll kill your back. Be prepared to carry loads in excess of 100 pounds if you can't get a vehicle or pack animal to a downed moose.
2) Watch the movie
Love, Thunder, and Bull Vol. 2 by Wayne Kubat. It's a great resource for learning the various moose vocalizations and how to call in hunting scenarios.
3) Get a copy of Larry Bartlett's DVD
Float Hunting Alaska: Vol. 1. Itgives a lot of pointers on meat care of moose and how to deal with a downed animal the size of a draft horse.
http://www.pristineventures.com/products_publications.html
4) If you're going to hunt with a rifle don't get wrapped up in the super-duper magnum craze. Moose are huge, but they aren't overly tough animals. A 30-06 is plenty big enough to take on the biggest moose around. I wouldn't hesitate to hunt moose with a .270 shooting quality bullets. Just shoot a rifle that you're comfortable with.
5) Make friends with as many strong guys as you can. It doesn't matter if they're dumb as a post, as long as they're strong as an ox.
6) Hit your local sporting goods/book store and stock up on as many hunting books as you can. What holds true for most big game hunting holds true for moose hunting.
Good luck.
AK Jeff
new with hunting/moose
