I shake my head...

StevieK

StevieK

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So I know so many of us have heard stories like this, but I just thought I'd share the latest tale I heard today.

I work in a physio clinic, a new patient comes in and is quite happy to find out that I am a fellow hunter. We start off talking about bowhunting and then the topic shifts to moose. The patient excitedly tells me that his party got the biggest moose he's ever seen in person before, by no means a record but a huge moose for an ontario hunt. He pulls his phone out and shows me the pic. Sure enough it's a very big bull moose hung up beside the woman that shot it. An extremely nice specimen of a moose. He claimed it was 1600lbs, to be honest I couldn't tell ya at all from the pic if that was an exaggeration at all as I am no judge. He tells me that this woman shots the moose at 30 yds. I ask him what she shot it with and he answers very matter of factly "Oh, 223. Good old hollow point didn't take a step" *FACEPALM* The casualty at which he said it was alarming, as if it's a common gun to take on a moose hunt.

I know everyones heard that it's possible to shoot moose etc with 223, but this was the first real encounter I've actually seen. At 30 yds broadside I don't doubt it will kill a moose, but it bewilders me that someone could take a 223 on a dedicated moose hunt. I just had to share with all of you.

Here I am wondering if I'm giving up too much taking my 270 over my 300 WM because my gun/scope combo is much nicer in the 270, makes that debate seem kinda silly :)
 
Still alive said:
Just because it's possible doesn't mean it's recommended!
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x2.

Reminds me of some of the milsurp hunting comments I have read. Mind you, some of that is legit if you're good enough with it, but it feels like at least some are in this woman's boat, risking an ugly drawn out kill for whatever reason.
 
Youre 270 is plenty big enough for moose....a .223 wouldn't be my first choice but I have shot deer with one and it drops them just as fast as anything else if you wait for the correct shot. We use to use a 22LR to put down cattle for butchering back when I was a kid, dropped them on the spot.
I think we've been conditioned to believe big is better.
 
Some local First Nations hunters shot a bull moose with a 17hmr in my area. Apparently the shot hit between the eyes, killed it. I my self would not take chances with such small calibers ment to be used for varmint.
 
Sure he didn't mean .243 and slipped up saying .223? I know a lot of guys who get them mixed up. Not gun guys like us nutters. Just guys who own guns to do a little hunting trip once a year. These guys might have owned guns for 2 years or 40 but their really not interested in them that much. Plus, a lot of guys get their wives .243's when told it's a good caliber for a female shooter. Just a thought.
 
hawk-i said:
I think we've been conditioned to believe big is better.
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Bigger "IS" better until you get big "enough" to get the job done thoroughly and effectively in 99%+ of scenarios... not just when the stars all align to perfection... so that some chick or dude can shoot a frggin' moose with "hollow points" from a .223!
 
Doesn't Ontario have a Minimum cal/cartridge rule for big game ?
Yes ..I have seen old film of an Inuit hunter taking a polar bear with a 222 .He was @ 20 feet & his dogs kept the bear very occupied.
At the right moment he slipped one in behind the ear & voila. When EVERYTHING goes Exactly right....
Just plain wrong to me , too much chance of something not going Perfect to play the small bullet game !
 
Dorian Gray said:
Sure he didn't mean .243 and slipped up saying .223? I know a lot of guys who get them mixed up. Not gun guys like us nutters. Just guys who own guns to do a little hunting trip once a year. These guys might have owned guns for 2 years or 40 but their really not interested in them that much. Plus, a lot of guys get their wives .243's when told it's a good caliber for a female shooter. Just a thought.
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I did wonder about this, and there is a small possibility, because this fellow is definitely not a gun nut. But I didn't feel like grilling him about it so I had to take him at his word. Some people look at you weird when they tell you they shot a moose, and instead of wanting to see a picture of a moose you're more concerned with what cartridge they shot it with, what gun it was chambered in, what bullet and powder they used for the handload and what velocity and group sizes they got with that load. They act as if those aren't the standard questions they get asked about their moose hunt :)
 
hoytcanon said:
Bigger "IS" better until you get big "enough" to get the job done thoroughly and effectively in 99%+ of scenarios... not just when the stars all align to perfection... so that some chick or dude can shoot a frggin' moose with "hollow points" from a .223!
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True enough to a point but there was a time when the 30 WCF was considered to be a fairly fast cartridge, over the years the 30 WCF (30-30win) has most likely taken more moose than most other cartridges and now most people believe the 308 winchester is marginal for moose.
It all depends on how you go about using it....what is big enough to one person will be marginal to someone else.
Would I take a 223 on a moose hunt...no, but I wouldn't have any doubts as to whether or not my 30-30 is up to the job either. :)
 
.223 would not be my choice for moose at all.
BUT....A .223 in the right hands and proper shot placement, it could be done.
 
I was talking to some native (Lil'Wat?) guys up Mount Currie/D'Arcy/Seton Portage way, and they use 22 mag for a lot of hunting as it's cheap and doesn't waste meat. They told me it's quite common, their neck of the woods.

I told them to pull the other one so I'd have two legs the same length, and they laughed and insisted they were serious.
 
StevieK said:
So I know so many of us have heard stories like this, but I just thought I'd share the latest tale I heard today.

I work in a physio clinic, a new patient comes in and is quite happy to find out that I am a fellow hunter. We start off talking about bowhunting and then the topic shifts to moose. The patient excitedly tells me that his party got the biggest moose he's ever seen in person before, by no means a record but a huge moose for an ontario hunt. He pulls his phone out and shows me the pic. Sure enough it's a very big bull moose hung up beside the woman that shot it. An extremely nice specimen of a moose. He claimed it was 1600lbs, to be honest I couldn't tell ya at all from the pic if that was an exaggeration at all as I am no judge. He tells me that this woman shots the moose at 30 yds. I ask him what she shot it with and he answers very matter of factly "Oh, 223. Good old hollow point didn't take a step" *FACEPALM* The casualty at which he said it was alarming, as if it's a common gun to take on a moose hunt.

I know everyones heard that it's possible to shoot moose etc with 223, but this was the first real encounter I've actually seen. At 30 yds broadside I don't doubt it will kill a moose, but it bewilders me that someone could take a 223 on a dedicated moose hunt. I just had to share with all of you.

Here I am wondering if I'm giving up too much taking my 270 over my 300 WM because my gun/scope combo is much nicer in the 270, makes that debate seem kinda silly :)
Click to expand...


Some people would say the same for a bow hunter going after a big moose with something that dose not hit with the power that a .223 hits with. But guys are doing it and it works... I would hope hunters would know what their gear can and will do on the animals they are hunting. If you can get close enough to kill clean whats the problem? There are lots of HP .223 bullets that hold together 90+% after inpacked out there like Barns.
 
RayHill said:
Some people would say the same for a bow hunter going after a big moose with something that dose not hit with the power that a .223 hits with. But guys are doing it and it works.
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Here we go again... another sportsman that does not understand the physics at work with archery equipment. Guns and bows are different beasts and they kill entirely differently... I lack the will to explain it all again this late... suffice it to say, that a bow of hunting weight equipped with a razor sharp broadhead tipped arrow, has the potential to kill game (within their respective effective ranges) equivalent to a .300 WM NOT a .223.
 
kamlooky said:
Sixteen hundred pound moose?
How bid did the womean look beside it?
That is the question.
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I have taken some very big Ontario bulls... I guarantee that bull was not 1600 pounds... not unless it walked here from Alaska... munching on steroids enroute...
 
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