Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 10,000 Swedish Moose died to teach us this lesson.

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One of the standard claims is that a void exists between the lungs and the spine. You have possibly seen bullet holes through ribs and undamaged lungs. It was first documented in VN with bullets through guts that did no damage to the gut...

There cannot be a void as the lungs could not function with a more expandable pocket behind the lung tissue. The lungs being more viscous would not fully inflate.

As I posted above the lungs have almost nothing to do with quick demise, but how many moose have we seen standing plenty long enough to use up all available oxygen?
art

Have a interesting Moose/lung/shot story for you.
My party shot a Moose once and when we got it open discovered some pretty weird things.
A)- It had been shot thru the lungs very close to the diaphram, the entry wound had broken 1 rib and it had healed. The exit wound had taken out 2 ribs and they had fused together in kinda a flat lump. The lung area that was bloodshot was quite substantial and was clotted purplish. We got to thinking about it and decided that it must of been shot in the dead of winter, this froze the wounds to stop the bleeding and being as tuff as they are just healed up.
B)- My partner decided to get the hide tanned and when we saw it with no hair on discovered there were bite scars all over the hind quarters! Wolves prolly.
C)- The Liver was full of parasites... like chock full.

That damn Moose led one hell of a tuff life! Shot, chewed, and parasitic! But to look at it standing you would never of known!

Art,

I sure don't buy the "void" theory - it demonstrates a lack of understanding about the lungs. I also don't buy the drowning theory. Lungs do not fill with blood. They fail to fill with air. Consequently, if it is lung trauma which kills, it is by suffocation. Yes, I have seen moose stand for quite a while as they suffocated. I'm sure they would have tipped over faster had they been "running" when shot.

The one thing that seems always to be present in a chest cavity shot is blood, gallons of blood, usually what appears to be enough to fill a 5 gallon bucket at least. (I "save" it in the body cavity 'til the stomach and other guts are well outside so that I can "wash" any stray willow particles out if necessary. That "hot bath" can be useful for warming freezing fingers when temps are far colder than one should sanely be hunting at also.)

As for Huntsman's moose, I don't doubt a hole could be made in the lungs out on the fringe like that which would clot up and heal as long as the chest doesn't leak air. Normally, if I hit them that low in the lungs I also breech the diaphragm which pretty much guarantees death by moose fart.

I'd say there is no real world difference in a moose that travels 16 feet and dies, and one that travels 43 feet and then dies. But your shoulder will note the difference.

ah, grouseman, but there can be a HUGE difference. Several come to mind, the most recent was a modest bull that ran into a half-acre puddle and died. SEveral birches were wrapped in the come-along sling and pulled sideways into the water as the tundra broke up around their roots. Moose hesitate to budge at such times...

A better shot would have saved many hours of tough work. I attribute that difference to the need for better shot placement.

Art has discribed the accurately, the reason for the importance of distance.

All I can say is if it hadn't been for the Internet I would never have learned that the caliber and bullet I used for many years to take moose, caribou and bear while living in the Alaska bush was inadequate. Yes it killed them no fuss no muss but the thought that I could have killed them deader and better really bugs me. Damn that Jack O'Conner for lying to me!