Bull moose down

[John Y Cannuck]

I am fairly new to the moose camp I'm currently going to, so i let the older guys take the higher percentage areas, and I take the long walks and such.
Soooo, opening morning, I get the furthest watch in, way TF out there, and a looong walk.
As a result, and the fact that a moose has never ever been shot there, I packed the '94 Winchester, and off I went.
 
8:30 am, I'm barely settled in, still out of breath from the long walk out to the island, and up the ridge in the middle, when I hear the clomp of a moose on the trot. Over the ridge behind me it comes, I get one quick glimpse through the trees, and immediately think: F*ck, cow, no tag, and look behind for a calf or bull to be following.
Then, out of the corner of my eye, I get another glimpse of the moose running down the ridge now. S**t it's got a rack!
Last year, I went the whole season without seeing a moose and the camp as a whole only saw ONE, So, I was desperate for a shot. I ran sixty yards across the ridge face, jumping over fallen trees and such, and I guess the bull heard me, because he stopped near part way up the other side of the draw.
I was just thinking I was screwed.
He stopped behind two groups of trees, so his butt, and his front quarters are covered, and he's behind a rock, so, my shot is quartering away, with only the top and center of his left side visible. I was still above him quite a bit, and the range was only about seventy yards, so, I went for a spine shot with the 30-30.
At the sound of the shot, he dropped like the hammer of Thor had stuck him squarely on the head.
The shot actually only nicked the spine, crossed through the top of the lungs, took a two inch piece of rib out, and made a nice mess of the off side front quarter (a hole that could have held a tennis ball)Bullet was not recovered.
Keeping him in sight, I walked over cautiously. No kill shot was needed.
The bull was about a year and a half, according to the ministry guy that hunts with us, a 30" rack, nothing huge.
Murphy's law states that if a bull is shot opening day, many bulls will be seen afterwards, all bigger
I'm sure it was the bull from the 'Moosehead' commercial I saw two days later.
oh well, one of the other guys got a calf as well, so we are set for meat.
The 30-30? The guys were impressed. Penetration with the Hornady interlock was about 20". The 30-30 is quite effective as a close range moose rifle.

[Rick Teal]

Way to go!!!!

I posted an account of my gun hunt on the Canadian forum as well as some other boards you and I visit, but we had no success.  Maybe I should be hunting in Haliburton instead of Parry Sound. :roll:

Those Dirty Gerties have a tendency to over penetrate even without premium bullets - there's just not enough velocity to disrupt the bullet and cause it to stop inside the animal.  I've had to throw away a lot of off-side meat on deer shot with 170's from 30-30's.

[John Y Cannuck]

Rick
Actually, the bullet didn't exit.
It was really strange to see the crater it made in the front quarter, and on the inside.
I figure it was still moving fast enough to grenade the two inch section of rib it hit. I've not seen a wound quite like that before.
It is the first moose I've taken with the 30-30.
On whitetails, I've never recovered a 170 grain 30-30 bullet. I've seen about the same damage from them as the 308 factory loads many of our guys use at bush ranges.

Sorry you came up empty, We've done that before. This year was good though, with the bull, plus a calf. All a half hour drive from home.

[John Y Cannuck]

Well that didn't work
http://www.hunt101.com/showphoto.php?photo=339545&size=big&password=&sort=1&thecat=
Lets try a link instead

For those that don't hunt moose, I am 6'2" tall and this is not a large moose.
Now this has got to work!


 :?  :?
Link to same pic here on GBO
http://www.graybeardoutdoors.com/phpbb2/album_pic.php?pic_id=1042

[steve66]

Murphy's law states that if a bull is shot opening day, many bulls will be seen afterwards, all bigger

ya thats true.  i dropped my moose last year (about the same size as yours) and 2 days later i came within 15 yards of the biggest bull moose i have ever seen, nothing between us except grass.  we saw each other about the same time, it was kinda a mutual look of, holy crap what do i do now.  he just turned a walked away i watched him leave then i carried on my walk.