5 must-know moose-hunting tactics from one of Canada’s top guides

#5  ATTRACTANTS

Odours have a limited dispersal range, and they depend on wind direction to reach a bull’s nostrils. The good news is, moose can smell 200 times better than humans, and they prefer to approach from downwind. Further, they can essentially taste the air with their Jacobson’s organ by lip-curling to identify odours and pheromones.

Engineered synthetically or made from mare horse urine and chemical additives, typical moose attractants can be sprayed or applied to an absorbent wick hung from a branch. You can also use electronic vaporizers and scent pad heaters, such as those from Wyndscent. A real clincher is an attractant-soaked white hand towel attached near or to the rear of a decoy to resemble a vulva patch.

Alternatively, you can use natural scents where legal (check your local regulations on attractant use; in many jurisdictions such as Ontario, for example, the use of any bodily fluids from cervids is banned). If you come across a fresh rut pit, for example, gather some of the urine-soaked mud into a Ziplock bag; note that if it smells like strong ammonia, then it’s too old to be useful. When group hunting and a cow moose is downed, meanwhile, remove the bladder urine and the tarsal glands to apply to your decoy set-up.