The Mighty Mook

WASILLA — Mark Braaten’s moose hunting prowess may have earned him the nickname “The Mighty Mook,” but to the animals he’s become famous for seducing, he’s Don Juan.

Braaten, of Wasilla, has perfected a vocal technique that he’s used to lure dozens of unsuspecting moose into his sights. By using the animals’ natural desire to mate — or, depending on the situation, fight — Braaten says hunters can literally call the animals right to their feet.

“It works,” Braaten told a standing-room-only group of hunters Sunday at a seminar on moose calling at the Mat-Su Outdoorsman Show in Wasilla.

To back up his claims, Braaten showed videos and had books of pictures from successful hunts where hunters used calling to take down moose. In one, Braaten showed a bull moose wandering ever closer as Braaten whispered (well, shouted) sweet nothings at the lovestruck animal.

When the rut begins, he explained, female moose let bulls in the area know they’re ready for mating season to begin by bellowing out what he described as either a long “I” or “R” sound.

“When they start calling, they are ready to be bred,” he said.

Little or no equipment is needed to call moose. Braaten will use a rolled-up piece of birch bark or a specially-made fiberglass cylinder. But those are just used for amplification. All that’s really needed is a little practice on the calls and an understanding of moose psychology.

“The best call out there is your own voice,” he said.

There are actually two different moose calls Braaten uses, a cow call and a bull call. Cow calls are the long, nasal-type calls used to mimic cows in heat, while bull calls are short, grunting sounds used to trick bulls into thinking there’s a rival in the area. The calls aren’t easy to explain, though a cow call sounds like a long, drawn-out whine, while a bull call is just a guttural grunt repeated several times.

Just like with any other animal looking for love — humans included — Braaten said moose can get quite competitive when it comes to looking for a mate. Knowing when to use either a cow or bull call takes advantage of that competitive nature.

“You’re either a lover or a fighter,” he said.

A bull call can be useful in brining in dominant bulls who might think there’s a young interloper trying to move in on the best cows.

Braaten started using moose calls in 1989 in his native Minnesota, where moose hunting is much more restricted than in Alaska. In a given year, only about 200 moose permits are given out in Minnesota, while Alaskan hunters take roughly 7,000 moose each year, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

The lack of moose hunting opportunities, he said, is actually what brought him to Alaska. After he shot his final moose in Minnesota (hunters are limited to just one trip per lifetime), he said he decided to take his passion for hunting the largest member of the deer family north.

“The next year I moved up here because I couldn’t shoot any moose in Minnesota,” he said.

While calling is used widely in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, it’s not as common in Alaska. During his demonstration Sunday, only one Alaska hunter said they’d ever used moose calls to lure in an animal.

But Braaten said that’s not because it doesn’t work. He’s used the technique in Alaska to great success, and said it’s a tool Alaskan hunters can use to become a more productive hunter.

“A moose is a moose,” he said.

The main reason he believes moose calling isn’t widely used in the state, he said, is simply because most hunters aren’t aware that the techniques work.

“A lot of people just don’t know about it,” he said.

Moose calling can work so well, he said, that he’s even seen wounded animals unable to resist his well-practiced love bellows. After showing a video of a bull moose transfixed by his calls, Braaten told the crowd that he’s gotten moose to return to within shooting distance even after they’ve already been shot.

“I’ve done that same thing, only with a bullet hole in them,” he said. “They stick around.”

Braaten sells videos of himself calling in moose, but said that all it takes is a little practice and know-how to become an expert at tricking moose into thinking love is just around the next group of bushes.

“Even if you’re a bad caller, it usually works,” he said.

Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2265 or matt.tunseth@frontiersman.com