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I agree with most everything Rost said, and we can talk shot placement, caliber, bullet weights/designs all day, citing examples - mostly one-of...

But.... I almost never recover bullets with anything- almost all, regardless of species, caliber, bullet weight, are exits, unless hitting spine, in which case there isn't usually much left to find. You guys must be shooting iron-plated or rubber-hided critters..... smile

I shot my first of 21 or 22 bull moose with an open-sighted 336 in 30-30, using silver tips. Probably 170s. Unaware, double lunged (with exit) at about 100 yards, the 3 year old bull, turned and ran toward me, dying in a small spruce clump about 15-20 yards to my left.

I shot a running spike with a 12 ga slug, through the artery just under the spine, at 35 yards. Nice 12 ga. slug hole all the way through, no expansion. He fell over in dead run about 100 yards down the meadow, all bled out (best moose I've ever eaten).

My wife took a 3 year old bull with 100 grain .243 (factory Corelokt or Partition- I don't recall) at about 70 yards, after I cautioned her to let him finish his drink and turn back away from the stream. Double lunged, again a .243 size pencil through (missed ribs both sides, jellied lungs), he hunched, then walked about 25 feet to behind a screen of willow, stood there for maybe a minute while his lungs filled up and he fell over.

I punched a fork-horn, face on, just under the "chin" at 16 yards with a .338 WM 275 gr Speer GS hand load, hitting the spine, half-decapitating him and almost flipping him over on his back. No exit, apparently, just lots of bone and bullet frag in a very large wound!

My largest (and second) at 62 1/2 inches was taken quartering on at perhaps 150 yards, using an 03-A3 in 308 Norma Mag, and 180 grain , Norma factory loads. Caught the nearside lung, went back through the diaphragm, don't recall if it exited. He stopped, turned sideways, and the second one to the spine just behind the ear dropped him like a brick.

I've gone to cns shots if I can get them, with any animal, caliber, or load. "if I can get them", depends on several factors, the over-riding one being surety of placement.

About half of my bulls were taken with 30-06, and 150, 165, and 180 loads, mostly factory Corelokts. The last one, at about 20 yards, was with factor ySP Hornady 150 GMX to the spine at the base of the ear. Next to my wife's previously mentioned bull, easiest one I've taken. Shut the snowmachine off, lay the rifle across th wind screen, boom, drive the snowmachine up next to him ands start dressing.

I have to admit tho, that little Bravo really didn't care much for 500 lbs or so of moose meat in the sled behind, along with a caribou and 100 lbs or so of gear. Got terrible milage on the way back.... :)+

I've often regretted not keeping a log or diary of my hunts and kills, but it's too late now, and my memory is for chit sometimes.

Last edited by las; 03/18/23.

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Great info in the thread guys, thanks!

I keep trying to draw a tag for shiras moose here in Washington. May start applying in Idaho as well.

Dunno about hunting Alaska again, but it's an incredible place.

Guy

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The quickest kills on bull moose I’ve seen were frontal shots that came close to or clipped the spine. A couple of them were with 6.5mm and 7mm bullets. Shot placement and bullet construction are what make the difference, IME, not so much bore size.

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Just for the flip side, the hardest dying moose I ever killed was a fork-horn "yearling". And I'm pretty proud of my shooting on that one!

Pard and I had just landed the canoe on our camp island when he said- "There's a bull swimming toward us!" Just before the bull came ashore about 20 yards away, Dean moved, the bull saw him, and swam around the 1/4 acre island. By the time I got through all the deadfall, he was ashore on the mainland on the opposite side, 140 yards away (paced off that winter) . Shore-side screen of alder in front of me, so I jumped up on a big rotting birch log about 4' off the ground to shoot, standing (at least tottering...), off-hand through the more open top spaces. The .338WM was loaded with 250 gr. Trophy Bonded factory loads. The first round took him through both shoulder blades, about the middle. The second took out a front knee, the third as he was headed away toward the brush creased the front of his hind and exited the same hole as the first. He kept going!

I stuffed in a Sierra GK 250 gr hand load and punched him again, broadside, an inch under the first round, making the third bullet to use the same exit hole, now about inch and a half across in the far shoulder blade. It really wasn't needed, as he was staggering and unlikely to go more than another 5 yards, but he had made another 25 yards from the first shot. That's the most times I have shot- or shot at, any moose. I did have to shoot another fork horn 3 times. The second shot - to the back or his head (again the .338) was followed by the third round - second "insurance" round - when he blinked at me as I grabbed his antler to move him. That will get your attention!

I really prefer to shoot them just once unaware, before they get the adrenaline up! At least until I'd scared myself a couple times- now they ALL get an insurance shot from a few yards out, "dead", or not. Then a muzzle eye-poke, with a live chamber and safety off.

Last edited by las; 03/18/23.

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The 3 bullets to the left, were recovered from the off-side hide of big rut-raged bulls.

Furthest left: 350 grain swift a-frame, 41 caliber. Bull down instantly, mere feet from the swift river. Big hole, blood everywhere. Knocked out entry side front end, clipped vertebrate.

2nd bullet: from a different bull. 300 grain swift 9.3 mm. Two quick shots to the front end. One exited, one didn't.

3rd bullet: finishing shot in the neck of the big bull shot with the 41 caliber. 357 magnum 180 swift. Bull was paralyzed, but still alive 10 minutes later. That dmn pistol bullet went through entire neck.

4th bullet to right:
220 grain nosler partition tested in spruce boards(very soft wood) a little over 2400 fps. Very minimal expansion, poor weight retention. Penetrated no further than a 180 grain partition at 2700 fps. I will not be using them in my 308. I value my back and knees, and not swimming in oxbow swamps or the swift cold river.


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anyone have any input on a good moose bullet for a 358 winchester?

i’ve shot a few deer with 200hr horn spire points but not sure i’d trust them for moose.

it seems 250rn have fallen out of favor with the manufacturers.

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Originally Posted by Cascade
Great info in the thread guys, thanks!

I keep trying to draw a tag for shiras moose here in Washington. May start applying in Idaho as well.

Dunno about hunting Alaska again, but it's an incredible place.

Guy

I hear you, Guy. After 19 years of putting in for WA Moose, & I forget how many years for Idaho Moose, I gave up.

Now what I do is get a quote for BC Moose, which I can simply drive to, and compare that with the cost of going to Africa. Then I go to Africa. Again.


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Originally Posted by Benbo
anyone have any input on a good moose bullet for a 358 winchester?

i’ve shot a few deer with 200hr horn spire points but not sure i’d trust them for moose.

it seems 250rn have fallen out of favor with the manufacturers.


Oryx 250 grain .358 are in stock. They expand nicely and retain weight. They don't impede powder capacity. You'll get a full 47-48 grains of powder in the case.

https://normashooting.com/shop/cali...ed-soft-point-norma-oryx-bullets-qty-50/

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Thx mainer

That oughta work!

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I mis-remembered about the 3 exits in one hole. Cleaning some stuff out of the garage today I found a box of skulls (sheep, bear, wolf and this- from that little hard to kill yearling bull.

This is the off-side shoulder blade referenced in previous post, bullets from 3 different angles, while balanced on a rotting log 4 feet off the ground,, shooting offhand through a screen of leaves, at 140 to 160 yards. Probably couldn't do it again, tho! "Trophy"!

Pics or it didn't happen? smile

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Last edited by las; 03/21/23.

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I noticed that the shooter in the video had no scope, just standard open sights. Wondering if that is pretty normal?


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Yes, it is quite normal in the Bush for hunters to not use a scope.

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I'd use irons too. Except picking a hole through thick stuff, burns, and very early or late while sitting on a bull the optics help out a LOT.


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Great video. Brings back many memories of my years in Alaska. Thanks for posting.

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Rost,,
I called in a 60+ incher at last light few years back. Was in some treeless/alder choked stuff. Bull crests a small hill, grunting. About 200 yards out. Pulled up with open sights, could not make out my sights. IF I had a scope, I could've easily shot him.

Called him in closer, with challenge grunts. He held up in an alder-choked ravine below my camp. Was probably spooked by cooking caribou smells. Put on my moccasins, stalked within 50 yds of him, in that tangled mess.

Go to take aim, can't make out my sights. I point rifle in air, so I could just barely align sights against low light. Drop down sights on silhouette of the bull, shoot.

That bullet never touched him. He ran off, never to be seen again.

Since there were three cows right around my camp, bull must've decided to stay. I packed up my canoe, and on my way out, a cheap green kaboat-raft with a fkn lawn mower engine passes by. Guy's name is Shawn

He got that bull:

"Swomp Lite kit with a Honda gx200 on an Alaskan moose hunt. Perfect light weight setup to go where most boats could not. Very impressed!

Shawn

Anchorage, Alaska"

https://www.backwaterinc.com/been-there.html

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