WA Moose scouting

[sjhgraysage]

With a 49 Degrees Early moose permit in my group, we want to be successful.
A question for you all that might have experience.

Would setting up some trail cameras in some areas be beneficial?

[trophyhunt]

Sure, lets you know what might be out there.  Getting to know the roads would be my main focus though.

[Ridgerunner]

Plus find where the cows are going to be come season. 

[TriggerMike]

Very beneficial. I would invest in a couple cell cams if you don't live local.

[greenhead_killer]

I had a moose tag in 2019. I did set one cam, but that year we got an early snow and I was not able to retrieve it before season started. I did spend 4-6 weekends driving the roads to the unit I had. Very beneficial. I never saw a moose on any of my scout trips. I did kill a bull on day 5 of the hunt(10 days after knee surgery). In those 5 days, we put on 428 miles and saw 6 bulls and 5 cows. They will appear when the season/rut starts. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t see any via scouting or cams. Learn the roads and practice your calling. Totally different style of hunt but one I’d love to do again….good luck

[92xj]

I had a moose tag in 2019. I did set one cam, but that year we got an early snow and I was not able to retrieve it before season started. I did spend 4-6 weekends driving the roads to the unit I had. Very beneficial. I never saw a moose on any of my scout trips. I did kill a bull on day 5 of the hunt(10 days after knee surgery). In those 5 days, we put on 428 miles and saw 6 bulls and 5 cows. They will appear when the season/rut starts. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t see any via scouting or cams. Learn the roads and practice your calling. Totally different style of hunt but one I’d love to do again….good luck

Book it; I’ll drive

Ps, come up Friday evening

[huntnnw]

the only thing beneficial would be just getting pics , wouldnt mean a whole lot in the summer. It would be beneficial if they opened it like ID does on Aug 30th cause you can pattern a bull in the summer. Come Oct 1 a bull you had on cam can and most likely be miles away and if not in another unit . They cover a ton of ground in the rut

[greenhead_killer]

I had a moose tag in 2019. I did set one cam, but that year we got an early snow and I was not able to retrieve it before season started. I did spend 4-6 weekends driving the roads to the unit I had. Very beneficial. I never saw a moose on any of my scout trips. I did kill a bull on day 5 of the hunt(10 days after knee surgery). In those 5 days, we put on 428 miles and saw 6 bulls and 5 cows. They will appear when the season/rut starts. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t see any via scouting or cams. Learn the roads and practice your calling. Totally different style of hunt but one I’d love to do again….good luck

Book it; I’ll drive

Ps, come up Friday evening

Working on it!

[hunter399]

the only thing beneficial would be just getting pics , wouldnt mean a whole lot in the summer. It would be beneficial if they opened it like ID does on Aug 30th cause you can pattern a bull in the summer. Come Oct 1 a bull you had on cam can and most likely be miles away and if not in another unit . They cover a ton of ground in the rut

[brew]

I was drawn for this tag back in 06.  Live on Westside and drove over a couple weekends after talking to the local biologist.  His advice was to drive down Tacoma Sportsman (?) road.  I said ok, then what.  His response was shoot the moose standing in the road.  About 6 of us went over 3 days before the October opener.  We camped and split up on duo-sport motorbikes and by the 1st had a few areas we had fresh rutting activity.  Shot my bull about 6 pm first evening.  Not a monster (43 1/2 ") but no pack out so it all worked out.  Impressive when you walk up to one and see just how huge they are. Good luck with the hunt

[hunter399]

I was drawn for this tag back in 06.  Live on Westside and drove over a couple weekends after talking to the local biologist.  His advice was to drive down Tacoma Sportsman (?) road.  I said ok, then what.  His response was shoot the moose standing in the road.  About 6 of us went over 3 days before the October opener.  We camped and split up on duo-sport motorbikes and by the 1st had a few areas we had fresh rutting activity.  Shot my bull about 6 pm first evening.  Not a monster (43 1/2 ") but no pack out so it all worked out.  Impressive when you walk up to one and see just how huge they are. Good luck with the hunt

You mean Tacoma crk Rd ,maybe 🤔

[brew]

I was drawn for this tag back in 06.  Live on Westside and drove over a couple weekends after talking to the local biologist.  His advice was to drive down Tacoma Sportsman (?) road.  I said ok, then what.  His response was shoot the moose standing in the road.  About 6 of us went over 3 days before the October opener.  We camped and split up on duo-sport motorbikes and by the 1st had a few areas we had fresh rutting activity.  Shot my bull about 6 pm first evening.  Not a monster (43 1/2 ") but no pack out so it all worked out.  Impressive when you walk up to one and see just how huge they are. Good luck with the hunt

You mean Tacoma crk Rd ,maybe 🤔

something like that maybe...it's been almost 20 years. 

[sjhgraysage]

Thank you all for the replies.
After failing to fill a Kettle range moose permit in 2019, I'm trying to figure out any advantage I can for my Brother-in-laws permit this year.
From the responses it appears that placing a few cameras certainly could not hurt.
 

[hunter399]

Thank you all for the replies.
After failing to fill a Kettle range moose permit in 2019, I'm trying to figure out any advantage I can for my Brother-in-laws permit this year.
From the responses it appears that placing a few cameras certainly could not hurt.
 

It never hurts.
If you could dump a bag of salt . Like last year ,I'd say setup a dozen cameras. Moose love salt. But it never hurts to setup a few without bait.

[hunter399]

I was drawn for this tag back in 06.  Live on Westside and drove over a couple weekends after talking to the local biologist.  His advice was to drive down Tacoma Sportsman (?) road.  I said ok, then what.  His response was shoot the moose standing in the road.  About 6 of us went over 3 days before the October opener.  We camped and split up on duo-sport motorbikes and by the 1st had a few areas we had fresh rutting activity.  Shot my bull about 6 pm first evening.  Not a monster (43 1/2 ") but no pack out so it all worked out.  Impressive when you walk up to one and see just how huge they are. Good luck with the hunt

You mean Tacoma crk Rd ,maybe 🤔

something like that maybe...it's been almost 20 years.

That road leads to other secret spots,that everyone knows about....lol

[sjhgraysage]

A good friend of mine sent me a cell phone pic he took this morning of a very large bull Moose. Big palms, and 2 browtines on one side and 3 on the other side.
Unfortunately the bull is far away from where my brother-in-laws permit is for. 

[Cspahman99]

A good friend of mine sent me a cell phone pic he took this morning of a very large bull Moose. Big palms, and 2 browtines on one side and 3 on the other side.
Unfortunately the bull is far away from where my brother-in-laws permit is for. 

Wouldn't happen to be in the Aladdin unit would it?  We'll be scouting Labor Day weekend for our moose tag. Good luck this year.

[CamoDup]

I ran 4 cameras all summer when I had my tag. I had salt at all of my sites but I only got 1 picture of a moose. Making a few different trips to learn the road systems, looking for moose sign and places to sit and watch was way more beneficial to me.

We found a lot of moose sign in a certain area and that's where we sat opening day. I shot my bull that morning.

But running cameras is never a bad idea. The more info the better! Good luck!

[HighGrouseHunt]

As others have pointed out, the bulls really start moving around once the rut starts, and that bull you might have had on camera all summer is suddenly gone, while an area where you never picked up a bull is now moose central.

I would say the primary benefit of a few cameras would be to 1: get a sense of what areas hold moose (generally) and what areas don’t, look for similar habitat to those areas you seem to be getting moose on your cameras. 2: get a sense of the size of the bulls in the unit (to help you figure out what is or is not a shooter in your mind). 3: you will learn some of the road systems in the process. 4. You might get lucky and place a camera and get a lot of cow activity - cows move a lot less than the bulls (they should be in essentially the same area during the summer as they are during the rut) and if you can find a cow hotspot you are likely to find some bulls - at least while the rut is hot.

A few years ago I had a cow followed by 3 nice shooter bulls parade right through less than 40 yards in front of my deer blind in GMU 117. When a cow is in heat, the bulls will come from miles.

[hunter399]

Find yourself a moose wallow and set a camera.
They wallow in everything from a mud puddle to lakes and ponds,creek,springs all that.
Set a camera .

Scout right now while it hot. You'll find it.

[Pegasus]

Try using a moose decoy. Appears to work well on bulls.
https://cowboystatedaily.com/2025/09/09/young-male-moose-tries-to-mate-with-a-wooden-moose-in-montana/