Moose Hunting hit/miss

dgradinaru

dgradinaru

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British Columbia
Ok i was moose hunting this year, at about 200yards i saw a giant moose lying down. Got off my atv and went prone position. I know that at 200 yards my 8mm mauser open sight with weak factory ammo will shoot 5.5 inches low. So i aimed for the hump area. I took the shot when he was standing up. He dropped like a pancake. But he got back up and rushed away. i went to the exact location where i shot it and there was blood spilled in two big piles. So i followed the blood trail and moose tracks. I went a few km;s and still did not find it. The blood trail ended for a long time but found no moose???? Im a begginer at moose hunting so what did i do wrong? I shot a moose last year with the same gun at 75yards and dropped it?? Do you think it was the shot place ment?
 
A moose's spine goes through the "hump area" a lot lower than one would expect if you haven't taken a moose apart yourself. Your description of what happened makes me guess that your shot was too high and did not actually hit the spine. The shock dropped the moose for a few seconds, and then, when he got the feeling back in his legs, he left.

It likely has a serious wound above the spine that may, or may not become infected and eventually lead to a lingering death, or make it susceptible to predators.

Why not shoot again as he got up? Always reload just as fast as you can, and keep the sights on him for a few seconds. As long as a moose is standing, shoot again. They never go to a nice open field to die.

P.S. It's ALWAYS shot placement.
 
Shots near the spine will drop them, but if you don't sever the spinal cord they will get back up and run. As said, getting ready for follow up shots is of utmost importance. My hunting party experienced this this year. The first shot dropped it for a minute or two, and then he made a shot on it while it was trying to run away.
 
rral22 said:
A moose's spine goes through the "hump area" a lot lower than one would expect if you haven't taken a moose apart yourself. Your description of what happened makes me guess that your shot was too high and did not actually hit the spine. The shock dropped the moose for a few seconds, and then, when he got the feeling back in his legs, he left.

It likely has a serious wound above the spine that may, or may not become infected and eventually lead to a lingering death, or make it susceptible to predators.

Why not shoot again as he got up? Always reload just as fast as you can, and keep the sights on him for a few seconds. As long as a moose is standing, shoot again. They never go to a nice open field to die.

P.S. It's ALWAYS shot placement.
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I took 3 shots at it. I was aiming for the same spot. so im guessing only 1 shot hit it. while the others went high
 
I'd agree, you likely shot above the spine. It's well worth doing some research on moose physiology/anatomy. Not only is the spine much, much lower than you would think and curved, the scapula is further back, and the heart is much lower and further forward than I would have thought without prior research and breaking them down in the field.

My Dad always said, "Never pick up your brass when hunting moose". Meaning you bend down to pick up your brass and when you look up, the moose is gone, and you'll never see it again.
 
My guess is that your estimate of 200 yards was likely 100. Many hunters over estimate range. 100 yards looks much further when you're looking at game. You likely hit pretty much where you aimed.
I hope you gave him time to lay down and die, and didn't chase him into the next county.
 
John Y Cannuck said:
My guess is that your estimate of 200 yards was likely 100. Many hunters over estimate range. 100 yards looks much further when you're looking at game. You likely hit pretty much where you aimed.
I hope you gave him time to lay down and die, and didn't chase him into the next county.
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I measured and it was 185-190 yards from my atv. Since i took 3 shots on it i thought i hit all 3 times and it would go down in less then a few hundred yards. So i raced after him by foot. On the hornady ballistic calulator it says that my caiber drops at 200 yards -5.5 inches. But i took a few shots at 200yards aming in the middle of the 16"x16" metal gong and hit the target smack on.
 
Superbrad said:
That was your biggest mistake... Not giving the animal time to expire... I have seen deer go 3 miles on a destroyed liver and one lung when pushed...
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Absolutely!!! Especially a moose, you don't want them going far.

Never follow them, give them 1/2 hr to lie down and bleed out. You push him, he gets an adrenaline rush, then he may rin forever before he lays down to die.

It's so damn hard to wait them out, but it is easily the smartest thing to do.
 
You should always give a moose time to expire. They are not as tough as deer and generally lie down after being shot and expire within an hour. But if disturbed and a bad placement shot, it will run for a long time. Like I said, Moose will go down a lot easier than deer after being hit. You're mistake was not giving him the necessary time.
 
As others have said, you always need to wait. Doesn't matter if it's a deer, moose, elk, any other large game. Unless it's down and dead, don't move. You'll just spook it and be chasing it, which happens all too often. The only way I'd ever chase it if I had other guys in the direction it's headed to corner it off from the opposite direction (and even then would be after waited).

We always wait at least an hour if we didn't see it go down/aren't 100% confident where hit it (or know hit it bad). Then you can always take other things into account, if it's hot out, you likely don't want to wait overnight. If it's winter and you're camped out nearby, wait a bit longer there's no rush.

Lost my first buck due to chasing it(was during an afternoon and had to work in morning.. our mistake for being in a rush). Blood puddles everywhere. Appeared to hit it in the liver, waited about half an hour or even less, followed the trail into the bush. It went about 60 yards into the bush and rested beside the river. Looked like we spooked it and forced it to cross. Looked like a good 2-3L of blood right there. Sure enough, next day it was across the river in swampy area, being eaten and spoiled.
 
If your are a new hunter, I would recommend having someone there with you who has a little more experience. You should have two rifles on the moose in case you miss your mark and cant reload fast enough that way your buddy can take the final kill shot. This should save you the trouble of having to fallow the moose or in your case loosing it all together. Just my 2 cent.

Better luck next time ;)
 
Pseudo said:
If your are a new hunter, I would recommend having someone there with you who has a little more experience. You should have two rifles on the moose in case you miss your mark and cant reload fast enough that way your buddy can take the final kill shot. This should save you the trouble of having to fallow the moose or in your case loosing it all together. Just my 2 cent.

Better luck next time ;)
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Ive hunted 4 years now, mule deer and black bear. But i never hunted moose until last year. Thanks for advice everyone!
 
Aiming at the hump of a moose, what did you expect to happen when you pulled the trigger. What was wrong with the heart/lungs kill zone area. If you had a broadside shot presentation and you aimed for the hump,give your head a shake. You probably pulled your shot high to boot from being excited. I've never understood the term "buck fever", if a person gets so wound up at the sight of animals that they can't shoot accurate enough to kill it, don't pull the trigger. LEARN your kill zones before you try and hunt an animal.
 
danny45 said:
You should always give a moose time to expire. They are not as tough as deer and generally lie down after being shot and expire within an hour. But if disturbed and a bad placement shot, it will run for a long time. Like I said, Moose will go down a lot easier than deer after being hit. You're mistake was not giving him the necessary time.
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The second mistake IMO was aiming for the spine area. No matter what IMO the only place to aim is for the heart/lungs. I would not have tried to compensate for 5.5" of drop either with iron sights. At 200 yards with irons your sights are covering an area much larger than that and it would not be easy to judge pinpoint accuracy. Personally I believe if a person is going to take shots beyond 100 yards at any game with a rifle they should mount a scope on it.
 
Lessons to learn:
Learn the kill zone - broadside heart/lung shot is best
Learn to wait

Maybe get a different gun/different ammo/scope whatever so you are not fooling waround with 6" drop at 200 y...most decent centerfires these days are "point blank range to 250 yds" in other words "just aim where you want to hit" and at close range you will be 2" high and out to 250 you will be 2" low none of which will matter
 
Hey mate, sometimes... #### happens!
similar thing happened to a friend of mine on hes first Stag, although we didnt know it took off, i just figured it dove head first into the Berrys because it just got belted... by the time we got to the crime scene, we had ended up pushin the thing for miles never to be found an blood dried..vanish...
Upsetting but hey, it happens...

buy a scope an wack em in the shoulders :)

Good luck next time
 
WOW!!!

At least you are understanding.:rolleyes:

People make mistakes, but I bet you have shot every animal perfectly.

4 wild boars bust out running out from creek bottom into an open field. Held high and ahead of lead pig, missed, 2nd shot adjusted and drew bead on lead pig again... squeezed off and tipped the third one back,head over heels. I drove from where I shot; to the dead pig and odometer rolled over 700 meters. I would like to say I could shoot like that all day at running targets; but I have to chalk that one up to mainly luck.

Musta been boar fever.;)

To the OP, look at it as a learning experience, part of what makes hunting what it is, just make the changes you need for the next hunt.It happens to the best of us.

aylandacres said:
Aiming at the hump of a moose, what did you expect to happen when you pulled the trigger. What was wrong with the heart/lungs kill zone area. If you had a broadside shot presentation and you aimed for the hump,give your head a shake. You probably pulled your shot high to boot from being excited. I've never understood the term "buck fever", if a person gets so wound up at the sight of animals that they can't shoot accurate enough to kill it, don't pull the trigger. LEARN your kill zones before you try and hunt an animal.
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rral22 said:
A moose's spine goes through the "hump area" a lot lower than one would expect if you haven't taken a moose apart yourself. Your description of what happened makes me guess that your shot was too high and did not actually hit the spine. The shock dropped the moose for a few seconds, and then, when he got the feeling back in his legs, he left.

It likely has a serious wound above the spine that may, or may not become infected and eventually lead to a lingering death, or make it susceptible to predators.

Why not shoot again as he got up? Always reload just as fast as you can, and keep the sights on him for a few seconds. As long as a moose is standing, shoot again. They never go to a nice open field to die.

P.S. It's ALWAYS shot placement.
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I'd have to agree with this. That said, being the time of year it is with no flies and cold temps, he's got a pretty good chance of survival, providing the wound isn't severe enough that he bleeds to death.

My number one rule when moose hunting:
If a moose collapses at the shot, reload and stay on him, there's a pretty good chance he'll get back up. The only time a moose won't get up again is from a brain or direct spine shot, though a spine shot usually has them writhing on the ground or trying to crawl. More often than not it's a shot into the hump or antlers that causes them to fold.

You're not the first one to have this happen.
 
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