Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Moose rifle caliber

My somewhat limited experience with moose has led me to believe that moose (shiras, at least) react less to hits than elk do, though they die just as easy. Moose often don't run very far, if anywhere when shot, even when shot a few different times. I had one Shiras bull walk about 30 yards after a solid hit at 75 yards with a .300 H&H. He acted like nothing was wrong at all. He just all of a sudden stopped and fell over. A few others I have been along for have taken 4-5 bullets as they walked along a few yards before tipping over. I'd suspect they would have fallen over even without the extra shots, even from smaller rounds, but it has made an impression on me. Elk generally would have been sprinting away at the first shot. That would (could, maybe) explain why less moose are hit and lost than elk. There's plenty of YouTube videos out there showing moose soaking up bullets as they slowly walk.

The bull in the video above was being herded by dogs which may have had something to do with the situation...who knows???

I didn’t notice the dog walking behind the moose at first, I thought it was sitting with the hunter when it showed up so quickly after the moose fell.

Ive only hunted moose myself once and been with others several times. My dad has Parkinsons and drew for Idaho bull moose a few years ago. I got an handicap license and permit to hunt from road from game dept and we parked across a canyon that had a hated road leading to some logging cuts. Persistance paid off and he was able to hit him and break his neck @423yds with an Winchester 180gr power point out of an old Winchester 100 rifle i bought for him. It was the most dramatic kill on a big game animal ive seen and it looked like it was hit and piledrived to the ground. It was a large bull and it took me a lot of work to retrieve it. The 420yd shot across the canyon ended up much much farther in the retrieval.

Another one that cones to mind years earlier is also in idaho a friend drew a tag in the Lochsa area and i went with him and he shot a small bull really close at the b0ttom of a small creek drainage hellhole of brush cedar oldgrowth blowdowns and old slash. He hit him 3 times really well using Nosler partitions from his Weatherby 378 magnum. All the shots were lethal classic broadside facing us and the bull was young and small. Still the little guy took off on the second shot and dropped on the third. Honestly one was enough but the critter just kinda started trotting off at a slow gait as if he was fine but he was lethally hit. Its odd how some times you dont get instant results even with a 378 Weatherby but a 308 win can take out a chunk of spine in the neck of a big animal and the differences look so dramtic.

Sorry for the long post but those are two of about 5 moose expeeiances ive had

In the last 55 years I have been in on probably around 35 or more moose kills by my self and my family. The cartridges and bullets we used were mostly the 30-06 with 200 grain Nosler Partitions and 180 grain Barnes X bullets, the 338-06 with 225 grain X bullets and the .338 Win. Mag. with 250 grain Partitions and 225 grain Barnes X bullets of some flavor. The majority of the shots were taken at under 150 yards at mostly broad side stationary moose that were in or close to thick timber, alders, willows, swampy terrain and the general Alaskan "pucker brush".

Under those conditions I can not see much difference in the performance of either cartridge and bullet combination. They both work wonderfully if the all important first shot puts the bullet in the right place. None of our moose. caribou or bears live long if a well designed expanding bullet with enough power to put a good wound channel through both lungs and exits allowing lots of blood loss. With that shot placement at those ranges most critters will not stop either the 200 grain Partition or .338 X bullets as the bullet usually passes through the critter.

My Dad used a pre-64 Mod. 70 Win. in 264 Win. Mag. for all of his Alaskan hunting. His bullet was the 140 grain Nosler Partition and surplus H4831 of which he had a bunch when we moved to Alaska. It was deadly on lung shot moose and caribou. Most all of the hunters I know use a 30-06, .35 Whelen, 300 Win. or WSM or a .338 Win. I also believe the presence of large bears in most of Alaska promotes the use of 30-06 and above cartridges when hunting moose.

I also know many moose and caribou and bears fall to the .223 Rem. cartridge every year in rural Alaska, with the Mini 14 or AR platform being most common. I believe there are better cartridge choices then a .223, but rural Alaskan hunting is a bit different then a hunter venturing into the woods for a couple weeks in the fall. It does not take much of a cartridge to kill a swimming critter when you are 15' away in a boat, which is legal in some parts of rural Alaska.

Yes they can soak up rounds and not show it.

I once shot a young bull broadside at about 80yds twice with a 375magnum. Classic lung shot both shots and showed no reaction whatsoever. He started to wobble at the 3rd shot. After that, I just shoot them once and wait.

I think he was annoyed with the barking dog, that's where he was heading.

Used to work with a couple guys who lived and hunted frequently over there and they both said the 308 was far and away the most common.

I was surprised...figured the 6.5x55 but alas just like Africa the Nato round has dug in so to speak