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

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.