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

After applying for 40+ years, finally drew a Montana moose tag. It's for a cow, which is what I applied for, since Eileen and have 4 bull racks crowding our limited space already. (She didn't draw this year, after already having drawn a bull tag the first time she applied in 1989--when she got exactly the bull she wanted on opening morning--a 34" meat bull. And then she drew an antlerless tag in 2007, which she filled three miles from the house,)

Am far more interested in moose meat than antlers these days....

Congratulations!! That is very cool and good luck this moose hunting season.

Outstanding. You were certainly due. Looking forward to the full hunt story come fall!
Rex

Congrats on the tag. A cow tag would be fine with me as well. Moose is my favorite game meat. I trust this hunt will be material for a future article.

Question, will this hard to get tag require your most dependable rifle or will you go exotic with the hunt being close to home?

Good for you, do you need any help?

Antlerless Moose Tag? Sounds like a job for a "B-Tag Rifle."
A big B-Tag Rifle ;o)

WooHoo! Congratulations

Nothing better than meat in the freezer, especially moose meat!

Looking forward to the story.

Grats! I recall your writing more than once that you had never drawn one, glad perseverance finally paid off.

Congrats

Thanks!

The area I drew for contains a no-rifle Montana Wildlife Management area north of our little town along the Missouri River--about six square miles of ideal moose habitat. The legal "weapons" are bows, handguns chambered in "traditional" straight-cased handgun rounds, and muzzle-loading rifles, including "modern" muzzleloaders. This is where Eileen filled her antlerless moose tag in 2007, using my Remington 870 12-gauge with standard-velocity Federal 2-3/4" 1-ounce loads--which are almost unobtanium anymore, since apparently even whitetails can't be killed with anything less than 3" magnum 12-gauge ultra-velocity ammo.

On the WMA, I am tempted to use my 7-1/2" Ruger Bisley .45 Colt with 305-grain FN cast bullets, but would probably opt for the same 870 with good slug loads. Dunno what rifle I might use for hunting in the mountains west of the WMA, but it might be the custom Griffin & Howe 1903 Springfield I acquired earlier this year.

Congrats John, finally after all these years. I drew my MT. bull tag in 2013 and after nearly 20 days and hundreds of miles both in the truck, on foot, bicycle and even skis when the snow came I was only able to find two without horns so tag soup.

Use your Bisley so I can live vicariously during your hunt while I fondle my own .45 Colt Bisley dreaming of that big dark shoulder coming into view. I'd think those 305 grainers will slip through both sides making short work of the great Elq.

That is one of the best tags in the US. Very few get to hunt moose in their home state . Have fun in your preparation deciding what firearm to use and what area you chose to conduct the hunt .
NWT

John,

I can't help you with the Federal slugs, but I've had good luck with Remington 2-3/4 inch 1 oz. slugs. If it comes down to it, I have a good stash of them should you need some. I've set up quite a few slug guns for myself and friends. The Remington slugs have always been accurate.

Woot woot! Can't wait to hear about the hunt.

Nice! I’ve never drawn. What district did you draw?

That is great to hear! You deserve it! Congrats!

Congrats John!
I know that the pursuit will be the best part.....

Bill

Congratulations sir.
Isn't funny as we age, and the antlers are not so important. Like you, I'd be thinking about the great eats. Hopefully the one you get will be an easy retrieval back to your truck.

Wishing you all the best.

Best of luck JB looking forward to the story and the details...mb

Congrats and best of luck to you sir. IMO, probably the best wild game I’ve ever eaten.

Another vote for the Ruger Bisley .45 Colt!

Ron

Mule Deer, I was wondering how the 12 gauge Foster slug performed on the moose that Eileen shot? Penetration etc. Thanks!

Ron

Congratulations on the Moose tag! I know you've been applying a long time.

Most excellent. Envious here. We have about 70 or 80 in Orgeon, but no hunts.

Excellent!

Congrats! I hope you have a great hunt !

Congrats, John! Something good comes to those who wait!

JB, Congratulations! I drew my once in lifetime Colorado tag for bull moose last year after 21yrs of applying. Majestic animal and the meat has been delicious. I have a some 12gauge 2-3/4 slugs if your are interested. I believe they are Federal, Remington, Kent and Brenneke. I'll have to check my inventory to be certain. Let me know if I can be of help.

Congratulations. Looking forward to hearing about it.

Congrats! Can't wait to read abut it in Rifle Loony News!

MD, I thought I had some Federal standard velocity 1oz 2 3/4” 12ga slugs but I might be mistaking them for the Winchester 1oz 2 3/4” standard velocity HP slugs that I have. If you can use a box of the Winchesters I’m happy to send them to you. If I find the Federal load that you mentioned I’d be happy to send those as well….just pm an address and they’re yours.

PS….congrats you lucky dog on your moose tag. I know that of all the great guys here you’re the last one that I need to remind to post your hunting adventure. I look forward to your future write up and I wish you much success filling your freezer. Moose is one of my favorite table fare of all big game.

It exited--but it was a young cow.

Good for you John! 40 years is a long damn time to wait.

Thanks for the offer (and I also thank the others who've offered slug ammo), but the reason we bought the Federal standard velocities was Eileen's recoil headaches--which were starting to get worse when she drew her cow tag in 2007. The typical "magnum" slug loads available were way over the top for her, but she could shoot a couple of the Federals without suffering.

Right now we have probably several hundred slug loads of various kinds, including both 12 and 20-gauge, due to the non-rifle WMA being so close--it starts basically on the edge of town. Eileen has been using Winchester's 20-gauge sabot load with .45-caliber, 250-grain Nosler Partitions on deer since her moose adventure. They get around 1800 fps and work great on the whitetails on the WMA. I also used one on a big-bodied Iowa buck some years ago, which went through both shoulders and exited. I am also pretty sure they'd work on a cow moose, but have plenty of options there.

I'll also probably hunt in the local mountains, where we've found several good moose areas over the years, especially when hunting mountain grouse in September, when the moose season opens. For that I'll probably use the custom Griffin & Howe 1903 Springfield .30-06 I acquired this winter.

Congrats on the tag. Get a fat one.

Congrats!

An old friend of mine drew a bull tag in SW Montana a few seasons ago in a valley famous for high success rates.
He heard from his wife that people he hadn't seen in years started parking in front of his house with sharp knives and coolers when they heard he'd headed afield.
So he dropped his bull at a processing plant on the way back to town.
I still haven't gotten my roast!

Cpngrats and good luck! 😊

Congrats!!! Love moose meet. Got my once in a lifetime ID Tag last year.

Congrats!!! Love moose meat. Got my once in a lifetime ID Tag last year.

Please use the Ruger Bisley!

Make a hunt out of it, not just a meat kill.

Great news JB, about time I'd say.
I hope you have a great hunt and let me know what red wine I should bring.

Congratulations. I drew my moose tag last year after 46 years of applying. I harvested a medium sized bull, and the meat is excellent. I hope you have better luck than I did getting access to hunt. Seems like all the out of staters buying up the ranches don't think anyone but them should be allowed to hunt there.

Hello friend, buddy, pal.

Mule Deer: Congratulations on the drawing and best of luck and enjoyment on your Hunt!
I have never been drawn myself but have been along on several Moose Hunts with friends here in Montana.
Moose are HEAVY!
I have no advice for you other than I filmed a "Buffalo Hunt" whereon one of my lifelong friends kill't a 3 year old mature Buffalo with 1 (one!) shot from his Ruger pistol in caliber 45 Long Colt.
Again congratulations on the tag and best of luck on the Hunt.
Keep us all advised on the scouting and the Hunt.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Looks good!

We've put at least part of six moose in our freezers over the years. The first was a BIG Shiras bull one of our friends got in Montana, which Eileen helped butcher. It was taken in November, after the rut, and he got around 40 pounds of the meat for helping. It tasted fine but was pretty tough, partly because the bull wasn't hung very long before butchering. So she learned something from that.

Consequently when she drew her bull tag in 1989 (on her first try), she wanted a younger bull, and after some lucky scouting took a 34" 4x5 early on opening day, when it was still cool. We aged the meat several days before butchering, and it was great.

Then I started getting frustrated about not drawing a tag, so started hunting moose in other places. Got a 58" bull in Alaska in 1996, on the 3rd of September, when they were just starting to rut. This was also back when airlines still shipped meat for free as checked baggage, which Delta did with my several boxes. After a few days of aging it was also great.

My next "non-drawing" bull was a big one taken in northern British Columbia on the 6th of September in 2002, also before the rut, on the first full day of a 10-day hunt. It aged for the rest of the hunt, and my 2-day drive back home to Montana, and was also excellent.

My third "non-drawing" bull was taken in central Alberta in 2006 on November 7th, after the rut. It wasn't as big as the BC bull, but still probably weighed 1000 pounds. Eileen went along to supervise the field-care, and after aging for several days it was also excellent.

Have heard that bull moose can be not-so-great to eat in late September/early October, like rutting bull elk, but so far haven't killed or eaten one taken during that period. But have yet to hear of the rut affecting cows, so am looking forward to September 15th, when the firearms season begins--and runs through the Sunday after Thanksgiving. But Montana also just started a "heritage" muzzleloader season, for traditional rifles only, for around 10 days in mid-December, which I believe also applies to moose. So there's that possibility too.

Might also mention that Montana allows hunters to apply again for moose seven years after they draw a tag, which is how Eileen got to draw two tags. (She's a LOT luckier than I am in drawings!)

We don't have any problem with access, since there's plenty of public land holding moose around here. In fact Eileen's two moose were taken on public land, both state and Forest Service, and we've encountered plenty of moose in the same areas, as well as local public land in my unit while hunting other game from upland birds to deer, elk and black bear.

Glad you finally got your tag, John. Shooting moose in MT with a slug gun; I never would have imagined.

40 years is a very long time. If I start applying now and get a tag in 40 years I think I will be about your age now.

Have you done any articles on slug guns?

Good luck out there!

Take lots of pictures.

So 40 is the magic number. I am at 30 currently. Only ten years left to wait.

Congratulation and I hope we see a story and pics.

Can you carry the 870 and the Bisley? If you get to use the Springfield, or whichever weapon, an article will be in order so the rest of us can vicariously hunt with you!

Outstanding! Congress on the opportunity

LIKE!

A Lot of others LIKE it too, JB. Congratulations on your persistence and final good luck.

L2S

I retract my previous "big B-Tag rifle" recommendation in favor of the Bisley!
Good luck, John. We all look forward to hearing the story.
Rex

Thanks Rex--and luv2safari!

Must say I am tempted to use my Griffin and Howe Springfield when hunting on Forest Service/BLM land, but that's one of of the constant conflicts of hunting-gun loonies....

I think you should kill'em with B-S, John.

Bruce,

That's always the problem with rifle (and shotgun and handgun) loonies: Which one should I use?

There's also a 16x16/8x57R Sauer drilling the safe, which you are familiar with! It would also work fine on the Forest Service land where we have often found moose--partly because we often find ruffed and blue grouse there. In fact, when you hunted with us a few years ago, one of the first mountain-grouse places I took you to was also where we've found moose! Though we didn't find grouse or moose that day, it's still a perfect piece of habitat for both....

John

JB, I am happy that you are happy. I have only shot one moose. It was a 3 year old bull that I shot in northeast Washington in 2008. I found the meat rather bland. I prefer elk, bear and deer meat personally. I hope you have success and an enjoyable hunt that will fill your freezer.

Rufous,

Thanks!

Interesting you found your moose meat bland--but wild animals do vary!

In 2002 I killed a 6x6 bull elk in northern British Columbia on the 12th of September, during the early rut--which was cow-called into 75 yards in thick riverbottom cover. It turned out to be the blandest elk either Eileen or I have taken, and we've killed some young cows. In fact she whenever she cooked some, she eventually decided to "season it up."

Which is why she lists a bunch of animals and how they tasted in SLICE OF THE WILD, her cookbook about big game from field to table. They're not cattle, all raised and fed the same way.

John

John,

I would like nothing more than to see you with a grouse and a moose, both taken with that drilling. It's a pretty straight shooting 8X57JRS, a good moose killer.

As to your affliction, "looniephrenia", I can't help you. I suffer horribly myself. Which drilling??..which SXS??. But HAH! I solved my problem when I got my drilling that handles and shoots like a fine SXS and lets fly with 7mm missiles right where I point them.

We'll all be anxious to see what you chose, and a premature Waidmannsheil! (hint)

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.

The other MT UGB species with hunting seasons are:

Sharp-tailed Grouse
Wild Turkeys
Sage Grouse
Chukar Partridge
Franklin's Grouse

All of them except chukar can be found within 50 miles of the tri-county region where Mule Deer and I hunt. BTW, mourning doves aren't considered an UGB species in MT. https://fwp.mt.gov/hunt/regulations/upland-game-bird Also, there are two species of quail in MT (Gambel's and California) that are found mostly west of the Continental Divide. FWP considers them illegally introduced exotics that can be hunted and killed at any time without a license. But while alive those quail can not legally be possessed, bought, sold or exchanged, or transported within the state of MT.

JayJunem,

The upland birds we've taken around here also include sharptails and Merriam's turkeys.

There were a LOT more sharptails when we moved here 32 years ago. In fact, one morning maybe 20 years ago I put up 4-5 coveys on a local ranch.

But there were far fewer turkeys, and for years there wasn't a season. FWP eventually started a draw for 25 tags (which we never drew), and then suddenly two years ago made it a general season. There are quite a few now.

Also, there were some sage grouse within an hour's drive, but haven't seen any for a while--or even any sign of 'em. Some ranchers say they've seen a few southwest of Townsend, in the big sagebrush country southwest of Toston. The last covey I saw was on the other side the pass over Deep Creek heading to White Sulphur .

There were also a few wild chukars some years ago, evidently the descendants of birds planted both by FWP and people who had "preserves." I have never run into any, but some of my friends have.

MT DD FAN and Mule Deer,

Thanks for the info. I didn't realize there were Sharpies up around you guys but I shouldn't be surprised I guess. For some reason I never think of turkeys as being upland game. I guess because I think of upland hunting as flushing birds and shooting them on the wing and I don't really hunt turkeys like that.

Busting a turkey on the flush isn’t the way it’s supposed to work. However the results are spectacular.

Congrats on the moose permit. If you need a moose and grizzly rifle I'll loan you my 270win, no need for an 30-06.

Seriously, I have had the misfortune of bringing out 4 moose in North idaho for friends and family who drew a permit. I hate brush and there's some nasty places I went into.

CONGRATULATIONS !!!

If it weren't for Eileen I would have thought these tags were mythical ( at least for non-employees of F&G)

I applied for 33 years with no joy and finally quit when I was old enough that I was afraid I might actually get a moose. You apparently are not afraid...being essentially the same age as me!

The swamp, as you know is full of moose , so I hope you have a good hunt!

Thanks for the offer, but I have a couple of .270s, and know the cartridge would work just fine--partly by having watched my wife drop a Shiras bull quite suddenly with a quartering-away lung shot with her .270, using the 150 Nosler Partition.

But probably won't use either, not because they wouldn't work but because have had a grizzly try to move in one of the moose I've killed. Would be happy to hunt grizzly with a .270, but during that instance (in northern British Columbia) I was glad to have my 9.3x62 when taking apart a big bull moose alongside my guide. Turned out the grizzly changed its mind, perhaps because the horse's raised such a ruckus--but still felt better with the 9.3x62 than I would have with a .270. This was partly because we had to ride out a couple days later past the moose carcass,
and the grizzly was sitting down 100 yards from the trail, belly huge with moose parts. He was stuffed enough that all he did was watch us ride by, but he was also bigger than any grizzly I've seen in Montana, or the 7-1/2 foot boar I killed in Alaska a few years later.

Got an beautiful 30-06 1895 levergun I've thought about reboring to 9.3x62 but it's a hard sell when I already have a couple 338's, and various 375's. But an 9.3 levergun with an express sight island and banded front sight would have an air of coolness.

After buying my first 9.3x62 almost 20 years ago I never hunted with my .338 Winchester Magnum again--and I hunted a LOT with that .338 for about a dozen years, from Alaska to Africa. But the 9.3 got just about the same velocity with 250-grain bullets, and in general killed quicker, so I never hunted with the .338 after 1999--and eventually I sold it last year, after realizing it wasn't doing anything except range-testing new bullets and powders.

Had a couple of .375 H&H rifles for quite a while, but last year realized that I also hadn't hunted with the .375 for at least a dozen years, also using my 9.3x62 in preference. So sold my last .375 too. If by some chance I ever go on another Cape buffalo hunt will take the 9.3 instead, because I have never been able to tell any difference in performance, and have taken a lot of game with both rounds. (In fact sold off about 1/3 of my rifle collection within the past couple years, partly because I always regarded them to be part of the retirement fund--and while I'll probably never totally retire, would like to slow down a little more from the "semi-retirement" have been enjoying the past few years.)

Might also mention that I killed my last moose, a mature bull in Alberta, with the 7x57 Mauser--which worked just fine. But the two quickest moose kills I've seen have been with the .270 and 9.3x62!

We've worked out some decent methods for getting big animals out, even for "mature" hunters. Plus, Montana moose don't tend to be all that spooky, since most never even get shot at, due to the scarcity of tags! Both of Eileen's were taken within about 100 yards off a road--though one was a closed road. Used one of our game carts to trundle its parts maybe a quarter-mile to the gate.

[quote=Mule Deer] Might also mention that I killed my last moose, a mature bull in Alberta, with the 7x57 Mauser--which worked just fine. [quote]

You wanna borrow it?

Thanks for the offer, but have other rifles that will work!

Just make sure it's on dry ground and not in a hole when you shoot it.

MD congrats on your tag. Hope you have a good hunt and an easy pack out. Look forward to your write up. Be safe.

Deans

Happy for you! Good luck and hunt hard!

Evidently you haven't read my previous posts--or any of the published stories about my moose-hunting. Though would like to know about your moose experience....

Congratulations! I loved watching moose when we lived in Anchorage years ago…loved eating moose meat as well. Nevada's apparently getting a few moose settling in up north. I’ll be looking for them when I’m fishing up there after school's out. Thanks in advance for the RLN article!

John;
Good evening, I hope the day behaved for you both and you're getting the weather you need.

We finally got the garden in today as the nights are warming up, though it's at least a month later than normal.

Congratulations on the cow moose draw! There are few things I prefer to invite to dinner more than good moose.

I believe I've likely told you this one John, but I grew up eating Saskatchewan moose from Dad's annual trip into "the bush" with my Uncle Frank and some other friends.

Back then in the '60's is was a "moose tag" one bought and usually they'd bring home cows and calves. However, one year when I was really young Dad shot a bull and Mom was not pleased that he did.

Something about "You can't eat those horns Fred." and "There weren't any nice fat cows you could have shot?"

Good luck on the hunt for sure, I look forward to the hunt report and hearing the details.

All the best to you and Eileen.

Dwayne

Best of luck to ya on your hunt!

MD - Best of Luck on your retirement Moose Hunt !

I always thought that Moose caliber s begin, and ended with the .303 British .
All the various 300s, 338s and 375s are just along to scare off UrsusH .
We all know that your hat will accomplish that, Ha

9.3x62 sounds like the right choice for this endeavour.