A Wyoming outdoorsman took a break from elk hunting Tuesday and called a bull moose to within 10 feet, simply by grunting at it.<\/p>\n
Owen Miller said he\u2019s called bull moose in a few times, though never quite that close. No game\u00a0artificial game\u00a0call\u00a0is requires, such as the tubes hunters use to imitate the bugling of bull elk.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just grunt. If you listen to them (bull moose) it\u2019s an easy grunt to imitate. It\u2019s like you\u2019re saying \u2018rump\u2019 with a grunt,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He wasn\u2019t hunting moose, but there are a few around in the area where he\u2019s been hunting elk, he said, without disclosing any specifics about the location.<\/p>\n
Moose are in the rut, or mating season this time of year. When he gets an opportunity to call a bull moose in, and the circumstances seems safe enough, he takes it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always make sure I\u2019m behind a tree or something like that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m brave, but I\u2019m not an idiot,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
He said there were three trees between him and the bull he called in on Tuesday. But even so, when the bull got too close for comfort, he scolded it. That startled the bull away.<\/p>\n
He had a similar experience during the same hunting trip, on Sept. 5, when he called another bull in close.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was raking the sagebrush with his antlers, and he rolled his eyes at me,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever I call a bull in close, it\u2019s a rush every time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Called From A Distance<\/p>\n
Miller said he spotted the bull on Tuesday from about 150 yards away in thick timber.<\/p>\n
There was another, smaller bull there, as well as\u00a0a\u00a0cow moose that was making vocalizations indicating that she was in heat, Miller said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI grunted at him (the larger bull) and he turned toward me, and I was like, \u2018here we go,\u2019\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n
The bull walked right in, grunting as he came.<\/p>\n
Once it was directly in front of his position, standing broadside, Miller said the bull was eyeing him, as if it was trying to figure out what he was.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis head started to drop, and that\u2019s when I decided that was enough, and I started speaking, telling him to leave,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n
There are moose hunting tags available for the area he was in. It\u2019s a once-in-a-lifetime tag that\u2019s extremely difficult to draw.<\/p>\n
Miller said he\u2019d like to put in for one of the tags, even though he\u2019s developed an affection for the moose he sees lumbering about, because of their awkward, goofy nature. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEven the big bull moose, I think they\u2019re the cutest thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get as much joy out of filming and\u00a0photographing\u00a0the wildlife as I do out of the hunting,\u201d added Miller, who likes to share videos of his wildlife encounters on his\u00a0YouTube channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n Rut Is Timed For May Moose Babies<\/p>\n Wyoming wildlife photographer Jorn\u00a0Vangoidtsenhoven has followed moose in the Grand Teton National Park area for years.<\/p>\n