Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Would you take this shot?

Nope,not yet. I had this shot 10 years ago on my one and only Idaho Bull.......passed at first, let him go for a bit then he turned to quartering/broadside at 125yards. I put 3 220gr slugs from the 30.06 into the boiler room and that was it. If the terrain permits I'd have to hold off a bit and get a better angle. I have to say that I'm not starving to death and in dire need of meat, so I'd rather go home empty than take marginal shot.

Some people don't like long-range hunting, some don't like THS. It's ok for us to have different opinions and hunting styles (as long as they're legal!), but we need to stick together as HUNTERS AND SHOOTERS in a time when being so is becoming less and less socially acceptable. I don't bow hunt, but you can bet your bottom dollar that I will fight just as hard to protect your rights and freedom to do so as I would to protect my rights and freedom to hunt with a rifle. Different strokes for different folks, we're all hunters, and the only person you have to satisfy regarding your ethics is the man in the mirror!

As long as I was using a caliber (and properly constructed bullet) that was up to the penetration task, and under the conditions stated, I would take the shot.

I wouldn't be too worried about whether or not his a$$ hurt before his vitals turned to jelly.

Even if you can do it.

There was my last steep angle shot on a deer (a yearling doe on the riverbottom, I had like 5 tags...) I knew I was pushing my luck if the shot was perfect (it was almost right under my treestand.) Well, I parked that 3 blade Wensal about 2" higher than planned...

Anybody wanna guess how far this yearling doe made it on one lung???

Center of mass. 2/3 of the way up. Meat on the table.

Round of choice/opportunity - 300 Win Mag, 180 gr Nosler

BTDT

I'll bite. 1/4 mile?

After re-reading your post I realized that in Minnesota we only get one moose tag per lifetime. So I check my shelf and I see Barnes Originals semi-spitzers in 275 gr .049" jacket for my 35 Whelen. So if it is the last minute of legal moose shooting in my life. I would empty my rifle in the direction of the spine and hope for the best. (Hail Mary)
whelennut

[quote=Mark R DobrenskiTrue about the brown eye shot, if you can get old Marvin the Moose to line up perfectly and trot away from you as such. From the angle I see with the bigger moose, if shot at the brown eye the bullet will not make it to the lungs front end etc. It will exit well b4 getting there IMO.

No doubt one to the pipe will put the moose on the terra firma but he'll be far from out.

Dober [/quote]

Dober
Have never seen an X or iteration thereof stay in a critter after the brown eye entry... Shot a black bear through a ham and a shoulder trying to stop an X and that failed, too. Even saw an NPT go through the ham on a big bear and come out the ear hole... But come out it did. And all in a straight line. I have had a sierra paperpuncher hang a hard right in a small WT, but never a good game bullet.

I would not hesitate to take the shot and would expect very little meat loss with an X. If he was moving uphill and the back of the skull was consistently exposed I would shoot him there. If level or bobbing I would shade the shot down into hump a touch and be ready to shoot again immediately. If only Texas Heart was available, that would be third choice.

I would not try to put one behind the ribs as that is a tighter shot into just one lung. The heart is mostly behind the rear leg. Placed perfectly it would be instantly deadly, but far less certain than the others.
art

It`s possible to take the bull to the right with a shot in the lungs. One must only aim a little fourther back than normal because of the angel (remember to think in 3-D when game is quatering towards or away from you som you don`t miss the vital organs). Texas hart shot is not possible for this angel. The bullet will just pass trough the guts and exit somwhere just in front of the right hind leg.

To some of you I might add it doesn't do a bit of good to use a big bore rifle and then use the wrong bullet such as a Balistic Tip, the softest big game bullet on the market or a Sierra 220 gr. 30-06...you need/must use hard bullets such as Nosler, Woodleigh, heavy Monolithics and such...you have to have penetration for those going away shots on the big animals..

Where I hunt elk in Idahos Selways dark timber swamps you had better be prepared to accept a going away shot or just stay home and don't waste your time. My .338 with 300 gr. Woodleighs will stick their nose in the dirt..

In the picture one should shoot him in the flank aiming for the right front shoulder..A moose will usually stop when hit hard then die when he gets good and ready..I have seen them graze after taking a shot through lungs and heart.

I see no reason whatsoever not to take a going aways shot if you have enough gun, and the thing about the big bores is they do not do the internal blood shot damage as the fast calibers like the 270 and 300s..You won't lose a cup full of meat by using a 338 or 375 with heavy bullets. I have used a 416 Rem and a 404 Jefferys on elk and its the best of all worlds, puts a big hole through them lengthwise and you can eat right up to the hole, and it kills them pronto before they run downhill, which is usually a good thing..

Meat in the freezer! 340 wby 250 gr. partition. Last left rib right moose. You would not recover the bullet.

If I knew this was going to be the shot I would choose
my 375 H&H 300 grain partition.
Either way lots of white pkgs.

I killed my 2nd best whitetail with same shot last year. The bullet should be where the crosshair is at, shortly after the trigger breaks. Shooting paper offhand yearround, just a few shots a week has fixed it for me. Thats one of those moments when things happen so fast. I react then I think "YES" WHOO HOO!!!! Meat in the freezer!!! I have also watched them trot away, then wondered if I should have shot.

yep, I'd shoot.

Exactly what I was thinking. I would be tripping the trigger of my .338 WM launching a 250 NPT. I think it would get the job done.

Expat

I'd take that 90 yard shot over any 892 yard shot.

anyday,last day or not

This thread still going? No brainer for me to take the shot at the first post, and by now he'd be in the freezer except for what was on the grill for supper.

I'd err on the safe side and break his pelvis. He'd either go down or stagger his hind end over. If he went down I'd break his neck when his head came up again, or do it when his rear end swung to one side. I took out a slow trotting moose's shoulder as he angled away last Fall, with more side showing than this bull offers. It hit him a little farther forward than I intended so it went through the "corner" of his shoulder as he passed a slot in willows. Overeager shot, maybe 50 yards. He stopped, swapped ends and I broke his neck as he started back past me.

I've killed an old bull elk and a big mature mule deer buck with hits in the pelvis as they headed straight away. On both of them I intended to hit the back of the neck at the withers. But the deer bounded up into the bullet and the elk round deflected on a willow twig down into the pelvis on the slow walking bull. Both critters went down. 125 yards on the buck, maybe 60 yards on the bull. That first pelvis shot stretched out both of them totally unconscious, but each revived and required another shot. I'll take that.

By the looks of things here you two would be making the correct choice. But hey you probably could still hit one in the guts or ass at that range if you but in your time

I'm to lazy to read the other post, but I would wait a second or two.....they might stop and lok back......to try and see where you are, it looks pretty open there.......I'm guessing they would look back just before they hit the trees. I doubt that a deer or elk would lok back until they were in the next county.