Moose hunting

Status
Not open for further replies.
So, I have read ALL of this thread.

To the OP. Decide what you like to shoot, match it with your terrain. Practice until you are very comfortable. Go get your moose.

Now, Yes, there are deer I have lost. Mostly due to shooting at the very LAST of the shooting light and instead of shoulder shots to put them down, I always go for heart/Lung. I have learned my lessons and afternoon shots are now all shoulder shots and I take the meat loss hit.

To fiddler. Man, I just had to stop and check the data. I simply CAN'T BELIEVE that I have ever managed to shoot a moose and get it out of the woods. This is what I have discovered. NOTHING SMALLER THAN A .300 DAKOTA WILL TAKE DOWN MOOSE AT 100 YDS!! (at the preferred terminal energy) Wow!!
Unfortunately (unethically?), I have killed moose with a single shot from my father's .30-30. Once. I normally used a .303br and got 5 more. Last year I broke down and got a "store-bought gun". Savage 110 in a .30-06. I was raised with the knowledge (I can't honestly say where I got it) that it took 700 ft/lbs to reliably stop a deer, 900 for elk and small bear, 1400 for moose and large bear. With that in mind I loaded 150 gr game kings for a muzzle velocity of 2900fps. My moose was 260yds away, broadside shot, heart (gone) and lungs shot. Through and through wound. The moose didn't like that one bit. And this was not a little one. I hunt for meat so cows are good enough. Easy 600lbs. Yes I had to track her a little (75 yds), but it was not bad.

I guess I had better get a bigger rifle. I have no idea how they ever killed them with sticks. I have found Elk to be a tougher animal, IMHO. They can go as far as a deer.
 
HeavyT said:
Hey All, I'd really appreciate some feedback. Going to be moose hunting this year for the first time. In a previous thread I mentioned I have a mini 30 for deer, and have started researching the browning BAR for a large game rifle. That said, I am totally open to suggestions - bolt, semi, lever, whatever. What are some good options for large game, (in around the $1000 mark)?
Click to expand...

A Tikka T3 Hunter in 30-06 with a Bushnell 4200 3x9 would be a good choice.
Good Luck :D
 
What a great thread.
The guy I bought my .243 from is a long time member and I believe executive member of the bcwf, and he used it with great success for deer, blackies, moose, and elk.
I've seen moose shot with a .270, a .308, and a 7mm mag.
Only difference I noticed was the guy with the 7mm said "what?" alot more during the gutting and packing out.
 
I have a Browning A Bolt chambered in .300 win mag and I load 165 grain Barnes TSX Tipped bullets as hot as I can get them. After that it's all about bullet placement. I would shoot a Moose with a .243 no problem, again it comes down to ammunition (hand loaded of course) and shot placement.

Another tip: Dont expect to see any moose, if you do you are lucky and if you shoot one you are really lucky. Moose are very smart and they know the land better than a GPS. Just ask the guy who has been hunting them for 25 years and still hasn't gotten one (every hunt group has this guy!!)
 
The first few years I was hunting I did not hunt moose every year. The only year I ever hunted and got skunked on moose was 1983 (when I knew s**t about moose hunting).

In between my kills, my buddies have dropped some too.

Goddamn draw system has cut into my moose hunting opportunities... :rolleyes:

Moose I've shot over the years.

1. Sep 23 1980 .30-06 1 shot, 30 yds
2. Sep 26 '84 .30-06 1 shot, 200 yds
3. Oct 8 '86 .30-06 1 shot, 100 yds
4. Oct 4 '87 .30-06 1 shot, 30 yds
5. Oct 1 '88 .30-06 2 shots, 280 yds
6. Oct 3 '89 .30-06 1 shot, 150 yds
7. Oct 5 '90 .30-06 1 shot, 100 yds
8. Oct. 6 '91 .338 2 shots, 40 yds
9. Sep 30 '92 .338 1 shot, 250 yds
10. Oct 6 '93 .338 1 shot, 20 ft
11. Oct 6 '94 .338 1 shot, 250 yds
12. Oct 3 '96 .338 1 shot, 12 ft
13. Oct 7 '97 125gr Thunderhead archery kill... 1 shot, 60 yds
14. Oct 11 '98 .338 1 shot, 75 yds
15. Oct 4 '04 .338 4 shots, 40 yds
16. Oct 9 '05 .338 1 shot, 200 yds
17. Oct 6 '06 .416RM 2 shots, 250 yds
18. Oct 9 '09 .30-06 2 shots, 150 yds

18 moose with 25 shots. I've had a couple situations where I shot a moose with a fatal shot but the moose took a second to figure out it was dead. The moose I shot in '91 was like that... did me a favor cuz' after I hit him he walked up out of the slough he was standing in and fell over on hard ground.

The moose in '04 was dead with the first shot. I love it when they don't fall and I get to huck a bit more lead! Every shot was a complete broadside pass-through shot.

The reality is, every one of those moose woulda fell after the first shot but I don't stop shooting until they are confirmed down-dead.

I have only lost one moose that I hit; bull was standing in tag alders only 30 yards away and my (.338 250gr) bullet was deflected off-line by the brush. It only caught part of one lung and I never saw him again.



Now as to the vital topic about caliber/cartridge selection, IMHO anything from a .270 up works fine. Shot placement is the most important thing. Moose die incredibly quickly if you hit both lungs.

I'm not a fan of .243, .30-30, .32WinSpl kinda stuff, but they'll kill any moose that walks if you hit 'em right and know what the hell you're doing.



Edited to correct an error... my '88 moose took 2 shots.
 
Last edited:
fiddler said:
I have a moose hanging in my workshop just about every year. There is no way I would use a 30-30 on a moose, or anything less than 180 grain. There are people who hypothesize about how easy they should be to hunt and kill, but for those of us who regularly hunt and kill, we use bigger guns with much more energy.

At minimum, I use 30.06 with 180 grain. Moose can be close, but you still need to have a round with at least 2200 foot pounds out to 100 yards. Its a big animal and needs a round with penetration.

You always hear about lucky shots, but you don't hear about how many moose run away with a wound because some cowboy has a small pea-shooter.
Click to expand...

You are a modern hunter who likes big guns. But the old time meat hunters killed countless thousands of moose with 30-30 class rifles. Some may have got a away wounded, but the men I am talking abut were far superior huters, compared to modern hunters. Thus, very few got away wounded.
I personally knew a man,who in the depression years killed thirty moose with his 30-30 and never had a single one get away wounded.
 
cant believe this is still going on
a 30 30 can kill moose but its not the best cal for them decent for deer at short range though
as far as never seeing a moose
your hunting where there are none then
35 years in a row and many many years multiple moose with the four of us in our family
1 is the least
4 is the most 2 in 1/2 hour last year
but that was when you could get a tag every year
and seeing a moose i called my moose in last year to 8 yards
they are smart but in the rut they are the most out to lunch animals i know
 
Thanks guys, I'll just add a bit more here. From the time I was knee high to grasshopper, we lived in the real boondocks of bushland Saskatchewan. A major battle for the family was to keep the elk from getting the meagre crops of oats they grew. I have been walking behind my Dad cutting oats with four horses on the binder, on a dull fall afternoon. About eight elk would come out of the bush and grab an oatsheaf in their mouth and take off back in the bush with it, while the binder was just a little ways away.
Guess what? Some fat elk meat showed up at the table in a few days!
I don't know what elementary age boys talk about in school now, but in the log school I went to, when I was eleven years old, a favourite topic of conversation was the calibre of rifle their Dads had! Usually every boy considered his Dad had the best rifle, but there was one exception. One homesteader in the area was an exceptionally good hunter. A moose is a very hard animal to track down in snow, and get a good shot at. They know every trick in the book, use the wind to their best advantage and those big ears could hear a pin drop. This fellow could sneak right up on them, often while they were bedded down at mid day and get a very close shot. I don't think he ever fired more than one shot, to kill a moose. His rifle was a Winchester 32 Special. Every boy in school, except me, claimed a 32 Special was a better moose killer than a 30-30. I had a much older brother who was an ardent shooter and knowledgeable about firearms, so I learned much about such things at an early age. I told the boys a 30-30 was just as good, but I was out numbered about ten to one, so I coudn't win.
Every good hunter of the day wore Indian smoke tanned mocasins. This is the quietest foot wear one could possibly wear. This, coupled with wooly pants and jacket was standard hunting wear.
 
H4831 said:
I told the boys a 30-30 was just as good, but I was out numbered about ten to one, so I coudn't win.
Click to expand...


The infancy of CGN. Not much has changed! :D


Great story my friend. I too would like to add one thing I find humourous and fitting. Earlier in this thread a fellow spoke up about living in Prince George and called it the heart of moose country. My Wifes step father is from PG. He grew up in the boondocks, and loves to tell me stories of hunting, fishing and trapping as a boy growing up. Awhile back he was sitting in my living room and we were discussing rifles and cartridges. (He lives here now) My pet cartridge, the .30-30 came up and he told me of all the critters they took with theirs, including moose. I then showed him a .30-06 and his response was "What the Hell are you going to do with that? It's too big for anything!" Now in those days, they lived off the land. They didn't hunt for sport, they hunted for food and they had a big family to feed. If the pathetic .30 WCF was good enough to keep that family alive, I think it's good enough, at least for me.
 
pharaoh2 said:
The infancy of CGN. Not much has changed! :D


Great story my friend. I too would like to add one thing I find humourous and fitting. Earlier in this thread a fellow spoke up about living in Prince George and called it the heart of moose country. My Wifes step father is from PG. He grew up in the boondocks, and loves to tell me stories of hunting, fishing and trapping as a boy growing up. Awhile back he was sitting in my living room and we were discussing rifles and cartridges. (He lives here now) My pet cartridge, the .30-30 came up and he told me of all the critters they took with theirs, including moose. I then showed him a .30-06 and his response was "What the Hell are you going to do with that? It's too big for anything!" Now in those days, they lived off the land. They didn't hunt for sport, they hunted for food and they had a big family to feed. If the pathetic .30 WCF was good enough to keep that family alive, I think it's good enough, at least for me.
Click to expand...

Did you not read the challenge?

The challenge is to go to the link provided a ways back,...which tells of the minimum, adequate and preferred ft/lbs required for moose...

you then go to the federal site and see if your calibre and bullet meet the requirements...

The links are provided by someone who used to teach the firearms component and this is from a training manual (AB training manual I believe)

The preferred ft/lbs for moose is 3500...

I took a little bit of a cheap shot at the poster in regards to hm being a firearms instructor,..it was uncalled for.

However, I think I would be hesitant if I were an instructor (which certainly I am not) to suggest that the 30/06 is barely adequate with factory ammunition to take a moose,...
and a 300 wm as adequate but not preferred for taking moose...
the number of preferred rifles at 200 yrds are very few and far between. 3500 ft/lbs at 200 yrds is a lot of rifle, ...

I also believe that such a chart (nothing do with Fiddler, just the chart) doesn't factor enough in...

My aunt, who has taken 7 moose would be very intimidated and inadequate had she been trained based on that chart.

Fortunately, she is a well practiced dilly of a shot and has not run into any issues of under performance on moose with her .303 brit..


I guess I got a little frustrated being called unethical if I use a 30/30... again, sorry for the comment fiddler..
 
last response for this tread because its not going anywhere
if you like the 30-30 thats great but dont tell a new hunter that wants to buy a moose gun to buy a 30-30 and that its the best cal for moose
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom