The popular hunting technique of moose calling, which basically mimics the sounds that the animal makes, is a long established way of attracting these evasive creatures. It is possible to purchase some purpose made horn type appliances created out of fibreglass, to carry out the calling, but there are so many other ways to achieve the sounds required, it is simply just a matter of knowing how to make a moose call from items found naturally, or basic everyday objects.

Making a moose call is not a particularly difficult skill to master, the traditional way is by using birch bark. This is rolled up to become a funnel or cone, with the white outer bark facing inwards, after which a vertical cut should be made in the shape of an I, approximately 20 inches in length, then the corners need to be secured using a screw or something similar, and then the openings evened up. This will permit the bark to simply peel away, and will have the desired effect of turning it into a device which resembles a type of megaphone.

Improvisation is something the hunters excel at with homemade moose calls showing off great ingenuity. The list of every day items which are adapted continues to grow, with things like disposable plastic bottles or cups, tin cans, radiator hoses, even traffic cones. Basically, anything that can have one end sealed and the other end removed and manipulated to produce a sound like that of the moose, will do the trick. Many people use cotton shoelaces or string, threaded through a tiny hole and knotted, also adding a small nail, matchstick, toothpick, or even a simple twig, which will enable the noise to reverberate with multiple repetitions. Then once wet it can be pulled slowly back and forward, finding the correct tone by varying finger pressure, ultimately creating an astonishingly similar noise to that made by the cow moose.

An advancement on these ideas of how to make a moose call requires damp leaves being placed in a can to give a less metallic sound, or bees wax smothered on the string or lace to alter the drag.

It needs to be pulled taut, then the thumbnail has to be scraped down it in short strokes to replicate the grunts of a bull moose and longer strokes to imitate the sounds of the cow moose.

Rather like a bowed stringed instrument, the tension in the grip will create contrasting vibrations and in turn different tones. The deep hollow effect that a hose laced with string can produce, is remarkably close to the real thing, particularly when it echoes around the open wilds where the moose roam.

The beauty of making your own moose call is the cost, or lack of it, because the selection of materials that can be used are all basic and very common household items, so the vast majority of things can be rescued from the rubbish bin, meaning that the expenditure is practically zero. It only takes a few minutes to create and can be discarded at the end of the hunt. It may not be the coolest of methods, indeed initially an individual may feel a little uncomfortable bellowing out a noise like nothing before, but their success rate supports their continued use.