Back from my moose hunt

[bassranger]

 The old man and I had a great week of hunting. We spent every daylight hour plus, in the woods for the last 7 days. On opening morning we headed up towards one of our spots to find 4 groups of hunters already there waiting in there trucks at around 4:30am. They where all on the lower end of the ridge and our plan was to head up the higher side. Saw one cow around 8am but we kind of had our hearts set on a bull so we let her walk. Two groups took moose out of there on opening morning one was a big cow the other was a small bull.

Saw nothing bigger than a red squirrel all day on Sunday.

Monday we hunted all day saw no moose but had a bear come in to the clear cut we where hunting at around 3:30. We debated whether or not the take it because it would put a  end to the evening. decided why not, so 4 shots later we where gutting her out and dragging her back to the truck. She wasn't a huge bear but a nice one weighed in at 160 dressed.

Tuesday morning we went to a spot close to my dads house for a couple of hours because we had to call the warden to come check in the bear, so we lost a little time there.  The wardens wife had drawn a permit and they had taken a nice bull on opening morning not to far from where we were, we heard there shots right at day break.  We new it was them cause we heard 7 shots and he said they shot 7 times I remember saying to my dad after the shots "that one's not getting away.

On Wednesday we hiked up and down and all around Dorchester and Orange saw plenty of fresh sign but the hunting pressure in the area seemed to have pushed them way up in the hills.

Thursday morning we tried a spot that a friend of my fathers had taken a nice bull out of on opening day, he said there was another bull and a good size cow in there and not many hunters. At this point we where really starting to get bummed out as we were not seeing them like we thought we would. We found some sign in there but nothing to fresh.  That evening we decided to make the hike up to a big clear cut that we where going to hit one of the other days but somebody beat us to it. We where at least a mile and a half up the ridge. We found a nice spot on a knoll that over looked the whole cut. Around 4:00 I thought I heard what sounded like a bull grunting in the hardwoods on the other side of the cut. A few minutes later I saw a flash of black through the slash. 10 minutes later I saw horns coming up the skidder trail about 150 yards away. As soon as he cleared the slash I touched off my 30-60, 4 shots later as I was digging in my pocket for more shells I looked up to see him crumble right in his tracks, he only went 10 feet from the first shot till the last shot.  I hit him three out of the four shots two right in boiler room and one in the brisket I probably didn't need to shot so many time but with a animal of that size you really don't want to have to chase them to far. A buddy of mine helped us get him out with his Rhino which only took about a hour and a half.  It wasn't the monster we had seen while scouting but he is a nice bull weighed 650 with a 40.5" spread. Fish and game estimated his age a 4.5. Should be good eating. now I just need to put some venison in the freezer and I will have myself a nice little variety.

[Duck Doctor]

Great job man! I hunted 6 days back in 97 and took the first moose I saw. It was a 635lb cow! Oh and btw: she took 7 180gr barnes x's out of my 06!  Any pics?  The moose hunt right now is at 49% sucess rate this year! Not a good year!

[NH Trout Fisherman]

Congratulations on the Moose and Bear, Bass Ranger

Thanks for the report. Any pics

[knurren]

Congrats to you and your dad.  I've been thinking this week, wondering about your hunt.  Glad things went the way you wanted them to in the end. 

[bassranger]

Thanks guy's I do have some pics on my mothers camera, The one thing I forgot to bring was mine. I will get her to email them to me so I can post them. I debated if I should get it mounted or not and decided I might never get another opportunity to take another one like this, so the head is at the taxidermist.

[adrock]

Nice work!  Congrats to you guys.  A moose sure will put some meat in the freezer.  Can't wait to see some pics.

[ALASKANSS]

Great job man! I hunted 6 days back in 97 and took the first moose I saw. It was a 635lb cow! Oh and btw: she took 7 180gr barnes x's out of my 06!  Any pics?  The moose hunt right now is at 49% sucess rate this year! Not a good year!

time to change bullets.....

[jibbs]

good job slim......you were making me nervous there........anyways, give me a call if you can fish on the weekends...........last weekend we went bird hunting........two days of walking in the woods is way too much work........i flushed one bird and thought i hit it, but couldn't find it........i also jumped a nice deer while walking a small trail........mike flushed two birds, but didn't have a clean shot.........plan on getting back in the boat on friday.......

[knurren]

This year's success is down to 65%... and they expected the rate to fall because of the antlerless permits issued to the white mountains region which had a success rate in the low 40% area.  CT lakes region was at 81% success.  I know some people apply for permits and never hunt because they just want to save a moose, but for most, this was a hunt of a lifetime and the success rate was very low.  Kind of sucks.

Josh, I guess you were one of the lucky few. 

[Duck Doctor]

time to change bullets.....

Not a chance! They did what they were designed to do. They are made to retain 100% of their weight. When we recovered the bullet that went tip to tail and lodged in a hip, it weighed 173 grains!  I shoot until they are down. She went down a couple of times but she did not want to stay down.

On a different note:

A friend from Berlin shot a bull that was estimated at 12 to 15 years old. It weighed 625lbs and had already dropped both atlers. Upon gutting it, a tumor was found on a lung that was also attacted to the rib cage. When cutting it up, it was discovered that the entire front quarter was filled with tumors and they lost that side quarter of the moose.

Another friend and his wife hunted a zone that held a number of trophy bulls. They passed up 18 moose (8 bulls) and came home empty handed. In the last minutes of the last day, they had a trophy bull in their scopes but he kept walking back and forth behind a smaller bull which in the end, saved the bigger bull's life.

[bassranger]

 Luck played a small part of it.(right place, right time) but we spent 100's of hours scouting different areas and once the season started we hunted hard spending 12-13 hours a day for 6 days straight hiking through some pretty tough terrain. a lot of people think its going to be easy. They figure they can just walk into a cut and fill there tag, sometime it does work that way but I wouldn't count on it.  Moose know when there being hunted and after the first day or two they can be hard to find. They move deep into the woods or only move well after dark.
  

[bassranger]

  I agree with DD I used 180 grain nosler partition's out of my 30-06. Either one of my first two shots would have killed this animal one shattered the shoulder and wiped out the bottom of the heart the other double lunged him so the last two shots I was pretty much shooting at a dead moose standing he only went ten feet from my first to last shot but with a animal of that size you shoot till there down. If my gun had more bullets in it I probably would have shot a few more times.

[Duck Doctor]

  I agree with DD I used 180 grain nosler partition's out of my 30-06. Either one of my first two shots would have killed this animal one shattered the shoulder and wiped out the bottom of the heart the other double lunged him

I have seen 4 moose taken with partitions and all have recovered bullets. Each and every partition has lost more than half it's weight while travelling through the animals.  I agree that any well placed bullet will kill any animanl, however, when it is necassary to break bones (I.E. - a charging bull moose), I want to make sure I am shooting something that will do so!

[bassranger]

 all three bullets that hit went all they way through even the one that went in through the chest plate came out the side

[Duck Doctor]

all three bullets that hit went all they way through even the one that went in through the chest plate came out the side

according to many reloading handbooks, it takes 2000 ft lbs of energy at 100 yards to effeciantly kill a moose. If a bullet passes through the animal and continues out the other side, the bullet did not achieve it's full potential. Where as a bullet that stays inside an animal produces more hydraulic preasure and cavitation waves creating more damage to the animal which in turn more effectively kills the animal and therefore, the kill is much more humaine.

I have witnessed 5 or so moose killed and been a part of many more hunts. I have been on drags that last 3 hours and some that have lasted more than all night. When it comes to getting those animals out whole, I want to make sure they are anchored in the area where the first shot was fired. Knock 'em down and keep 'em down. There is nothing worse than looking for a wounded moose or better yet, walking up on a wounded moose!

For that reason, when I am hunting moose, Barnes X 180's are in the pipe. When I guide, I make every effort possible to persuade my clients to shoot the X bullets as well.  Barnes Solid Copper bullets are becoming more popular in the "heavy hitting" factory ammo these days. In fact, many of the western hunters in this country hunt eeverything from deer to elk with these things. It is worth the time to look at their website. They are an amazing bullet and do EVERYTHING they are deisnged to do!