what caliber for moose?

[Jason_W]

So for moose, pack in as little as possible because you're going to be packing out a TON of meat. I found a good quality axe to be very helpful in breaking them down once the guts are out of the way. I've heard of some guys using chainsaws with olive oil in the bar oil compartment. Everything is heavy about them. And up here you better not waste any moose, because you'll get nailed for it.

Here in the Northeast, they have to be checked in whole. Quartering is illegal.

That's why most people shoot them as close to logging roads as they can.

 

[lemaymiami]

My only brother moved up to AK more than 35 years ago and lives a full bore subsistence lifestyle. He's in the Matsu area, somewhere near Palmer and kills caribou, moose, and others every year for his family (these days it's just for him alone...). His hunts are hard working affairs, flat bedding a tundra buggy sixtly miles up the Glenn then another bunch of miles on the buggy back into the interior where you establish a base camp then hunt on foot from there each day. He prefers the 375 H&H (and has three rifles in that caliber). Up where he is the interior bears have learned to associate a rifle shot with food so you never hunt on your own. He handloads his own cartridges and does use the best bullets he can find (again the Nosler partition). Most of his moose are up along heavily wooded hillsides where you have to stalk up close (much too close as far as I'm concerned). If you surprise one it's fifty fifty whether the critter runs away or over you.... The caribou are long open tundra shots taken at as much as 500 yards from what I've heard....

My one visit up there was some years back. I thought the moose was the best game meat I've ever had (didn't particularly care for the caribou).

 

[Torian]

I would prefer a 45-70 or a 450 Marlin for game that size.

 

[mcdonl]

If I draw a permit this year I will use my new .338wm hog rifle.

.300 mag is very popular.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Loc n Load]

Moose

In 72, after my discharge from the service I traveled with an Uncle to Alaska to visit his brother ( who had moved there after his discharge in WW2)....who lived in the wilderness.....had to fly in.....then boat in.....then walk in....Earl lived in a cabin that he had built, he had moose antlers, caribou antler's and bear skulls all over the place....he had an old Enfield .303 carbine which he killed everything that had hooves and he had a sporterized 03 in 06 for bears ( called this his "big rifle").....although he said he had killed a lot of bears with the 303 enfield & the 12 ga......he had a model 12 Winchester shotgun, a Rem 22rf rifle and Hi std 22 pistol for his entire inventory.....He also carried a Colt SA in 45LC that he didn't tell folks about....this guy lived on what he killed, trapped and caught.....At the time I was thoroughly impressed, and still am.

 

[Captcurt]

With the proper bullet and good shot placement most centerfires pushing over 150 grains will work. Moose are like Cape Buffalo when it comes to shock. I have a friend that used to guide in Alaska. His backup gun was a 375 H&H. He hit a moose 3 times and it stared at him for a couple of minutes before falling. He said that you could see the whole body shudder at the impact every time a bullet hit.

My own pick would be a 30-06, 300 mag or a 338.

 

[mnhntr]

Anything from .260 on up. I would bet the 6.5x55 has killed more moose than any other caliber. I guess it depends on how much gun you thik you need. I personally would hunt with my .260 rem if ever I was lucky enough to go on a moose hunt.

 

[Speedo66]

6.5x55 is the most popular in Sweden for moose, and they take a lot of them.

 

[meanmrmustard]

6.5x55 is the most popular in Sweden for moose, and they take a lot of them.

I hear this a lot.

I'm guessing, but other than the fact that its a Scandinavian round killing Scandinavian moose, the Swedes got it right: long 6.5 bullets with their exceptional BC penetrate superbly. Something that is a must for moose, as I understand it, is penetration.

 

[Kachok]

As a huge 6.5x55 buff let me chime in here. There is no doubt that a 6.5x55 can take a Scandinavian moose and even it's larger American cousin, in a pinch or if I were exceptionally recoil shy I would use mine without hesitation, but given the choice I would reach for one of my larger calibers .30 cal and up.

 

[R.W.Dale]

6.5x55 is the most popular in Sweden for moose, and they take a lot of them.

Their meeses are also on average quite a bit smaller in much the same way a Florida whitetail is dwarfed by a big Wisconsin buck

My sister was once bitten by a møøse




posted via that mobile app with the sig lines everyone complains about

 

[Speedo66]

Granted, they may be smaller. And the 6.5x55 is to Swedes' what a 30-06 or .308 is to us, a round with national military history.

Having said that, I still think is a good penetrating round for relatively non-violent game. Sweden does have brown bear, not sure what they generally use or recommend for them.

 

[meanmrmustard]

Their meeses are also on average quite a bit smaller in much the same way a Florida whitetail is dwarfed by a big Wisconsin buck

My sister was once bitten by a møøse




posted via that mobile app with the sig lines everyone complains about

I wouldn't call elk sized quite a bit smaller.

500 kg is pretty formidable.

 

[Cryogaijin]

I use Aught Six.

 

[Cosmoline]

He hit a moose 3 times and it stared at him for a couple of minutes before falling

There's an old saying that no matter what you hit a moose with it takes about a minute to die. It's already dead, just doesn't know it yet. A big magnum won't necessarily kill it any faster, just ruin more meat. They are in no way comparable to cape buffalo. Lord help me if they were, I would have been gored and trampled many times over by now LOL

 

[sixgunner455]

Their meeses are also on average quite a bit smaller in much the same way a Florida whitetail is dwarfed by a big Wisconsin buck

My sister was once bitten by a møøse

Hmm. The largest moose species, A. a. gigas, lives in Alaska. The smallest, A. a. shiras, lives in the Rocky Mountains of Utah, Idaho, etc, in the lower 48.

None of them are small.

 

[T.R.]

I've only killed one moose so I'm no expert. But I hunted with my .308 carbine and 180 grain Remington core-lokt ammo. Two quick shots into the chest and my bull went down hard.

Hunt took place within Saskatchewon, Canada with a Cree guide.

TR

 

[mdauben]

(Soldotna sez 'Hello")

Woohoo! I spent three summer's in Soldotna back in the early '90s. Beautiful area. I was working on a cleanup job at the oilfields in the Kenai NWR. Used to see moose almost every day on the back roads of the NWR, even saw one strolling down the street in town!

Man, I'd love to go back again.



Sent from my KFJWI using Tapatalk HD

 

[morcey2]

Whatever the squirrel is packing.

 

[MCgunner]

The 5.56x45 NATO is the best moose round possible...it tumbles ya know. No other caliber causes so much tissue trauma. It's the most powerful rifle round in the universe. I know this for a fact 'cause I heard it on the internet. They can't say anything not true on the internet....

Bonjour

 

[Kachok]

^LOL

 

[LeonCarr]

Well MC ya know the AK-47 in the hands of poachers kills more African Big Game than any other catridge, so why not use the 5.56 on a Moose ?

Get one of those liberal gun grabbers with an evil AR-15 between a Cow Moose and her Calf and see if that 5.56 in an evil "Assault Rifle" will do the job. I will put my money on the Moose.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

 

[Kachok]

Granted the AK has killed it's fair share of large African game, but they are also full auto with 30rd magazines and I assure you they are using plenty of those. A real long way from the sporting ideal.
I have seen numerous 5.56/223 BG tests penetration is always poor, only the premium bullets penetrate to adequate deer hunting depths and none would be anything I would ever want to use on larger game in any circumstance other then a survival situation, even then I would have to go for head shots only.

 

[Hopkins]

I read a thread a while back about southerner like myself that was in Maine I believe, with a moose tag and his .300 WBY.. He carefully took a neck shot at 100 yds or so, saw dust fly from a solid hit and watched in disbelief as the moose flinched and resumed feeding. He put another 2 rounds in to the moose's neck with the same result and exhausted his ammunition supply. Frantic he made his way back to a paved road and flagged down a local who happened to have a .308. The local accompanied him back to the scene, loaned him his rifle and told him to take a heart shot. The southerner did as instructed and the moose succumbed immediately. The moral of the story, know your quarry!

 

[dubbleA]

Never have hunted moose per se but have seen plenty while chasing bear and whitetail in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan. I would think there is no magical round for them, just a good constructed bullet that will have enough penetration to get into the vitals.

I took this picture of a moose looking through a Leupold on top of a 300 WBY Mag. If I had pulled the trigger sending a 200gr Nosler Partition, pretty sure it would have been a bang/flop.