Moose Tours & Guided Moose hunt location

Well this week, a friend of mine, Rick Libbey and I hiked up to an area where I wanted to set a trail camera. When we got there we found what looks to be a highway for Bear and Moose! I am hoping when I go back in a few weeks to check the camera that we were right. If this area pans out Swamp Donkey Adventures will begin to use this area for Moose Tours and also Guided Moose Hunts this fall.
This is an old logging road leading from 1 big cut to another, these cuts are loaded with ripe raspberries and lots Maple browse for the moose to munch on. The Raspberries were very good in case you were wondering. Of course we had to pick and eat along the way.

I did not get out much this week as there were lots of family issues to take care of this week.

Slow week

Well this week has been a hot one! The extreme hot temperatures brought moose activity to a standstill! I saw 3 moose last week total! I checked my camera on Friday, like I usually do and the results were terrible, with zero pictures! now 2 things could be happening, My camera is located on a well used moose trail leading to and from a well known moose lick area. It is that time of year where moose will start to leave the licks as their sodium levels are now replenished  and they will move onto their summer feeding grounds or 2nd, the extreme heat is just too much and they are sitting out the heat. I believe its a little of both. The heat is now drying up the licks!

So, Sunday my plan is to set 2 cameras out in these summer feeding areas in hopes of getting some great bull moose pics and lots of daytime action.  I just hope by moving my cameras I am not doing so a tad early. We will soon find out if that's the case. I will leave the cameras out for 2-3 weeks before I check them for the first time. This will, I hope acclimate the moose to the cameras and get rid of any scent I may leave in the area.

Swamp Donkey Adventures offers  several Guided Hunts and Tours for you to choose from, from a relaxing day on the water to a stealthy in your face Guided Moose hunt.
Visit us at
http://www.swampdonkeyadventures.com/
www.facebook.com/swampdonkeyadventure
www.twitter.com/YourMooseGuide

Trip North

Today was a sad day, on my way north on route 16 in Errol I stopped to help a NH  F & G Officer load a dead bull moose onto a snowmobile trailer, the bull was only 3.5 years old, never really had a chance to live, poor little guy. I don't know what happened to the driver who hit it. The officer never mentioned anything and I forgot to ask, oops. On the bright side I did see a Cow and her calf, dropped off a bunch of brochures at  several different Lodging places and stores. All in all it was a good day!

Swamp Donkey Adventures offers  several Guided Hunts and Tours for you to choose from, from a relaxing day on the water to a stealthy in your face Guided Moose hunt.
Visit us at
http://www.swampdonkeyadventures.com/
www.facebook.com/swampdonkeyadventure
www.twitter.com/YourMooseGuide

3 Moose today!

Today I went back to an area I went to a few days ago, got up early and hiked in to where I wanted to check out in more depth, I found a spot to sit and stayed there for about an hour and decided to go poke around, the area I was in was huge and I ended up putting on several miles before all said and done. What I found was great! There were a series of clear cuts connected to each other by old logging trails, upon making my way through the trails I arrived at the last of the cuts. Now, I was not in these cuts to look for moose or bear or any other wildlife, I was just looking for sign, the wind was at my back and I was just on cruise control, looking at the ground and brush for signs of wildlife in the area, well, I got sign! Upon walking to the crest of the cut I notice a very nice bull trotting towards the wood line, just beyond the bull by another 100 yards or so I saw a cow with a calf also trotting towards the wood line. All 3 moose disappeared into the woods when I realized that they had just caught wind of me! There was moose sign and bear scat everywhere!

I also checked my camera today and had 270 pictures on it. here are just a few

Swamp Donkey Adventures offers  several Guided Hunts and Tours for you to choose from, from a relaxing day on the water to a stealthy in your face Guided Moose hunt.
Visit us at
http://www.swampdonkeyadventures.com/
www.facebook.com/swampdonkeyadventure
www.twitter.com/YourMooseGuide

Field Judging the Spread of an Eastern Canadian Bull Moose

When it comes to field judging the size or spread of an Eastern Canadian Bull Moose, it can be difficult with distance variations and plant growth obstructing views! Some areas it is a necessary and critical to do so and do so accurately to make sure you are taking a legal moose. Here in NH its not so critical because a bull is considered antlered when it has one antler at least 6 in length measured from tip of antler to the base of the antler burr at the skull.
I have found that here in NH, the mature bulls(being over 5.5 years of age) have a distance between the eyes(inside corner of left eye to inside corner of right eye) of 8 to 9 inches. so I use 8 inches as my guide to be on the safe side! The bull shown below is an example, 5.5 years old in this pic and will be 7.5 years old come this October(yes he is still alive). He may be closer to the 8.5" or 9" in this pic.I estimate using the 8 inch to be safe rather then estimate large and be disappointed! Take a visual measurement of the bull you are looking at(head on) and multiply that times the rough estimate of 8 inches from the inside corner of the right eye to the furthest point of the right antler, then do the same on the left side. So if that distance is times 2 on each side of the head then you have 8 inches times 5 including the initial eye to eye measurement for a spread of 40 inches(roughly), this should be very close and if you get 3 of those distances of 8 inches on each side then it would be times 7 for a spread of 56 inches(roughly) again this should be pretty close etc... etc...

The bull shown above is a giant today, if you got drawn for a permit in WMU B this year and want to hunt this bull give me a call or send me an email.

Swamp Donkey Adventures offers  several Guided Hunts and Tours for you to choose from, from a relaxing day on the water to a stealthy in your face Guided Moose hunt.

Visit us at
http://www.swampdonkeyadventures.com/
www.facebook.com/swampdonkeyadventure
www.twitter.com/YourMooseGuide





Hot summer moose!

Today I just want to touch on summer moose for a bit, this time of year when the days get hot and muggy, we as people take refuge in air conditioned cars, homes and work places or in and around water sources such as lakes, beaches and water parks in an effort to cool off from the hot summer sun. We are also able to shed clothing to cool ourselves off.
Moose on the other hand have a very rough time during the hot summer months. Unable to cool themselves by taking off layers of clothing or jump in front of an air conditioner. Moose can cool themselves in a number of ways including the majority of movement taking place at night usually after midnight till daybreak, this is when the air is the coolest. The daylight hours are way too hot to move around and they consume way too much valuable energy in the process which is why you can also find them in water bodies at night soaking up water and consuming plants growing in these waters.
For the most part during these hot days of summer, moose will find mud holes located in shaded damp areas of the forest or on the edges of marshes and roll in them until there body is covered by a thick layer of mud. This mud serves a couple purposes, such as protecting them from bugs and flies and also the mud is cool which helps them maintain a cooler body temp.

Swamp Donkey Adventures offers  several Guided Hunts and Tours for you to choose from, from a relaxing day on the water to a stealthy in your face Guided Moose hunt.
Visit us at
http://www.swampdonkeyadventures.com/
www.facebook.com/swampdonkeyadventure
www.twitter.com/YourMooseGuide

Moose/Wildlife Tour

Hello subscribers, today I want to let you know of a new location I found last night, this spot looks to be loaded with sign, The moose as well as Bear are frequenting this location and its only about a half of a mile walk to the location then a short hike up a hill. Anyone wanting to go on a Moose Tracks Tour I think this is the time to book!  I feel very confident that we will see animals!Who's going to be first to go with me to this new location?

See you soon!

Swamp Donkey Adventures offers  several Guided Hunts and Tours for you to choose from, from a relaxing day on the water to a stealthy in your face Guided Moose hunt.
Visit us at
http://www.swampdonkeyadventures.com/
www.facebook.com/swampdonkeyadventure
www.twitter.com/YourMooseGuide

NH Moose Guide units B, C1 and G

Were you drawn in NH"s Moose Lottery in June? If so and you have not found a guide yet I still have an opening. We guide WMU's B, C1 and G and will CONSIDER other WMU's as well! So visit our website http://www.swampdonkeyadventures.com/ for all our contact information and pricing. This is a hunt of a lifetime, don't let your opportunity pass you by! I offer Daily hunts and Remainder hunts as well, see website for more info! Fill your Tag at Swamp Donkey Adventures!

Swamp Donkey Adventures offers  several Guided Hunts and Tours for you to choose from, from a relaxing day on the water to a stealthy in your face Guided Moose hunt.
Visit us at
http://www.swampdonkeyadventures.com/
www.facebook.com/swampdonkeyadventure
www.twitter.com/YourMooseGuide

Scouting 2011

I had a pretty productive day scouting today in I1, found some areas with lots of potential for some fall moose. I also checked out a couple areas with the canoe for potential hunting areas 1 looked better then the other and I will be checking it out again when the season grows closer. In a couple weeks I will be heading north to do some scouting in C1 and D1. Have a game plan for those units and have marked several locations on my GPS from last year and will use those areas as a starting point, cant wait to get up there and poke around.

Also want to touch on the deer population for a minute. The last few winters have been very hard on the deer herd here in NH, but, the last several weeks I have seen lots of deer and lots of fawns. This is a very good sign, considering the amount of snow we had last year alone! I have seen several nice bucks already this year and have several nice bucks on camera as well. 

Swamp Donkey Adventures offers  several Guided Hunts and Tours for you to choose from, from a relaxing day on the water to a stealthy in your face Guided Moose hunt.
Visit us at
http://www.swampdonkeyadventures.com/
www.facebook.com/swampdonkeyadventure
www.twitter.com/YourMooseGuide

Big Buck

Driving down the road this morning I had a monster buck cross the road about 150 yards away, by the time I got the camera turned on and zoomed in I only got a 3 sec. video clip of him before he walked into the woods. 

After checking the clip I counted 11 points, can't wait till hunting season! He is a monster, bring on September!!

 

Swamp Donkey Adventures offers  several Guided Hunts and Tours for you to choose from, from a relaxing day on the water to a stealthy in your face Guided Moose hunt.
Visit us at
http://www.swampdonkeyadventures.com/
www.facebook.com/swampdonkeyadventure
www.twitter.com/YourMooseGuide

July 1st 2011, Moose Tours!

Today I took the canoe to a pond that I have been to several times this spring, on my way out to an island I saw a moose just beyond the island I was headed to. I snuck my way to the backside of the island past a mother Wood duck and her little ones and proceeded to sneak into position on shore so I could get some video. I watched this cow for about 20 minutes when I hear splashing in the water behind me getting closer and closer, all of a sudden a bull moose steps onto the island. Well, this thing scared the be-jesus out of me and I must have done the same to him because he took off in the same direction he came from. To give you an idea how big this island is, you could probable park 3 vehicles side by side and that's it, there are a couple big pine trees and lots of thick underbrush and other shrubs on this very small piece of ground! Once that excitement was over I looked back to wear the cow was and she was gone as well. A little while later I saw a deer feeding on the other side of the pond.

On my way home I stopped to check my Moose camera and saw that I finally have some pictures of a calf !
So today was a good day indeed! Check out the pictures

 Swamp Donkey Adventures offers  several Guided Hunts and Tours for you to choose from, from a relaxing day on the water to a stealthy in your face Guided Moose hunt.
Visit us at
http://www.swampdonkeyadventures.com/
www.facebook.com/swampdonkeyadventure
www.twitter.com/YourMooseGuide