Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Drew a Montana moose tag

John I hope you the best and hope you drop your moose on the edge of a forest road!

GreggH

Thanks!

In Montana I've heard a couple answers to the question, "Where do you shoot a moose?"

1) Between the ruts in the road.
2) On the uphill side of the road.

Eileen's first moose, her medium-sized bull, was about 125 yards from a Forest Service road--but downhill. Luckily it wasn't a super-steep downhill....

Congrats!

With a tag like that with value described as “decades of effort”, Dead Moose by any means says a lot. Says more than enough actually, much less having been made dead by such a classic rifle. Looking forward to the recap.

Moose a once in a lifetime tag in Montana? Here in Idaho you can shoot a bull and cow. Wondering if Montana is the same.

In Montana you have to wait seven years before applying for moose again--no lifetime limit on tags except luck.

Congrats!! Make sure you post the story

So JB what load for the GH Springfield 30-06 ?...mb

Probably 220-grain Nosler Partition at around 2500 fps. Found three boxes I handloaded for another Springfield 1903 years ago, for an African safari that never happened because during my first flight-leg of the trip, to Salt Lake City, the Twin Towers were toppled in NYC.

If you are really lucky there may be another option.

My Uncle shot a cow moose down in Centennial Valley in 97. Lucky for us it was uphill ~80 yards from the road and on 2 inches of snow. We took two drags to get it onto a trailer my other uncle backed into a barrow bit. I've worked harder for most of my deer. Thankfully he missed the ones he tried for in the swamp below the road.

Congrats! That will be some great eating!

Sounds like a plan JB...mb

Congrats on drawing the tag, JB. If you decide to use the 45 colt, I have some components if you are missing anything. Good luck

Thanks for the offer, but have plenty of components. (Have had plenty since several "shortages" ago.)

However, am rethinking using the .45 Colt, as the grizzly population keeps increasing in our area--so far mostly in the mountains around town. Just a few days ago somebody got a photo of a mature bear in one of the Forest Service/BlM drainages where I might look for a moose.

But they they will probably showing up any time now along the riverbottoms. Had one encounter with a griz when hunting pheasants near Ronan, Montana in similar valley-bottom habitat 30-some years ago--in the area where more than one pheasant hunter already had to shoot a charging griz, or was mauled.

Which is one reason I'll probably opt for my 12-gauge 870 with the rifled-slug barrel on the riverbottom, and the G&H .30-06 with 220 Partitions in the mountains.

Am sure a single-action .45 Colt with my handloads (305-grain hard-cast at 1200+ fps) would work either on a moose or grizzly, would trust a pump 12 or a bolt-action repeater more when push comes to shove.

Congrats on the tag MD. Yes, I am sincerely jealous. Good luck!

Thanks!

Luckily, it's a long firearms season, as I noted, from September 15th through the Sunday after Thanksgiving. And I can hunt a LOT, and know the country well.

Plus, it's an area, as many are in Montana, with plenty of public land. In the 32 years we've lived here, Eileen and I have taken pronghorns, whitetails, mule deer, bighorn sheep (though both were ewes), black bears, elk, and her second moose, on public land within an hour's drive of our house. Along with at least eight species of upland game, and quite a bit of waterfowl. But this isn't unusual in Montana, or several other western states.

One of the more interesting things is how much we've learned about where all the game lives not just by specifically hunting for that animal, but by encountering them while hunting other stuff! Have run into moose while hunting upland birds from ruffed grouse to pheasants, and big game from whitetails to elk.

Oh, should have edited my post above.......You SUCK !!!!!!!!!

Thanks!

John,
I don't mean to sidetrack the thread, but when you mentioned eight species of upland birds I started trying to come up with all of them. I'm coming up a couple short.

I've got: Pheasants
Huns
Ruffed grouse
Dusky (Blue) grouse
Spruce grouse
Mourning Doves

What am I missing? Snipe? I didn't think there would be Sharptails or Quail up there. I'm stumped.