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Foot stomping

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Foot stomping

Postby Mathewsz7-elkridge » 07 22, 2018 •  [Post 1]

So after reading the slow play topic a moment of last year came to mind.

I kind of forgot about an encounter that we had. We were in some fairly beat down well used area. There was definitely more moose sign then elk. We were walking in and it started to get really thick so we stopped to call before we ran everything out of there. I did a couple soft cow calls and with in seconds there was some very violent stomp. The group under our feet was literally vibrating. My buddy was very worried about moose the entire time. He was literally about to upholster his side arm. I will admit I was intimidated enough to look be hind me to see what I would hide behind if things went south. It never did show its self but did go one for a couple minutes.

Has anyone ever encountered anything like this? Would you say elk or moose?
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Re: Foot stomping

Postby Lefty » 07 22, 2018 •  [Post 2]

Thick cover,.. creek or willows?

Many wild animals will do the foot stomping thing. Ive seen fox, coyote, raccoon, deer, bear. Even our little rat-dog can sound like an elephant ( she is a show-off)
Ive had a number of close and very close encounters with moose,.., I would have played it safe and got out of there!!
Ive been treed twice by curious moose yearlings with mom. And a bull that nearly ate 180 grain Remington core loc,
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Re: Foot stomping

Postby Mathewsz7-elkridge » 07 23, 2018 •  [Post 3]

It was very thick, Idaho thick! It had to be a moose or elk. Literally the ground was shaking. If it was stay in the same spot I would have sworn it was the thunder of a 1000 buffalo running away lol

That is exactly what we did got out of town. We were losing light fast anyway. It was very intimidating.
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Re: Foot stomping

Postby Lefty » 07 23, 2018 •  [Post 4]

Mathewsz7-elkridge wrote:,,,,,, It was very intimidating.

Exciting!
I walked in on a big bull moose with 3 girlfriends during peak rut. I think th only reason I didnt get stomped to the ground the ladies didnt know I was there,... talk about an adrenaline rush,.. or maybe it was plain fear of death :o
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Re: Foot stomping

Postby Beendare » 07 23, 2018 •  [Post 5]

My guess is they made you and beat feet out of there.
Elk can make a heck of a racket when moving fast through the thick stuff.

Elk can scan through that thick timber catching little slices of movement amazingly well........where we stand in the sun looking into dark timber and only see the dense cover closest to us. Next time you get into thick timber, pull up your binos...it opens up a whole new world. I've been calling for guys and scanning [very slowly] with my binos and seen elk staring at us 100 yds out....just a sliver of hide....but there. Then they would move a little to try to see more. I've had those elk sneak off when my hunter or buddy is sitting there looking from side to side.

The exaggerated movement from the bill of his ball cap was like waving a flag to those elk.
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Re: Foot stomping

Postby Mathewsz7-elkridge » 07 24, 2018 •  [Post 6]

Definitely didn't make us. It was stomping for quite some time. What provoked this stomping was the cow calls. It was like we got close to something bedded and it started stomping in place for well over two minutes.
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Re: Foot stomping

Postby six » 07 27, 2018 •  [Post 7]

I've seen elk paw the ground in a wallow. Was there wallowing activity in the area?
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Re: Foot stomping

Postby Wapiti » 08 02, 2018 •  [Post 8]

I'm pretty sure it was a Sasquatch !!

They slap the ground very hard to be intimidating.............They do it all the time up here in Alberta. Usually after our long cold winters when they are done hibernating in there igloo's. They come out then and get all feisty !!

LMAO sorry I couldn't resist guys !!! LOLOLOLOLO

Trav

In all honesty elk and moose and for sure deer stomp there feet. But to be ground shaking like your talking I'm leaning more towards a bear stomping down with both front paws at the same time. Maybe you were to close and he felt threatened so it was a warning to back off. This is my best guess of coarse.
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Re: Foot stomping

Postby Mathewsz7-elkridge » 08 05, 2018 •  [Post 9]

Wapiti wrote:I'm pretty sure it was a Sasquatch !!

They slap the ground very hard to be intimidating.............They do it all the time up here in Alberta. Usually after our long cold winters when they are done hibernating in there igloo's. They come out then and get all feisty !!



LMAO sorry I couldn't resist guys !!! LOLOLOLOLO

Trav

In all honesty elk and moose and for sure deer stomp there feet. But to be ground shaking like your talking I'm leaning more towards a bear stomping down with both front paws at the same time. Maybe you were to close and he felt threatened so it was a warning to back off. This is my best guess of coarse.


Lol I knew someone would say it!

Trav now that you say that it very well could have been a bear. There were some pretty big bear in the area of Idaho we were hunting. We seen a ton of bear sign. Never seen grizzly sign but there was a couple times we looked hard at the fresh bear tracks to make sure.
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Re: Foot stomping

Postby wawhitey » 08 05, 2018 •  [Post 10]

I think if it was a moose, it would have been barking at you, from my experience. And if a bear was stamping the ground like that, id expect some jaw popping and vocalizations as well.
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