What not to do!

[Sourdough]

Pictures will follow.

Just returned from a two week hunt.  4th day one of the party heard a cow calling.  We got up and went out to the edge of the brush around our camp.  There was a cow and calf crossing the river, so he sat down and waited.  Five minutes later a bull came out into the open.  Small bull, but at least a bull.  The bull stopped and stood broadside on a gravel bar 80 yards away.  I'm saying center of shoulder shot to drop him on the gravel bar.  Shooter said "NO I want an instant kill".  The guy took his first shot with a 375 H&H, Moose flinched and looked around.  Second shot, Moose turned and took off running back toward brush.  Third shot, Moose verried off and started climbing a bank towards the heavy spruces.  Fourth shot, Moose fell over bank into river, started floating downstream.  Shooter jumped into his raft and caught up with Moose about 1/4 mile down stream.  Managed to get Moose into shallow water and anchored on other side of river.  Using block and tackle we were able to get Moose closer to bank into about 6" of water.  That is where we spent the next five hours dressing out the Moose.

First three shots all hit the heart.  Moose still ran over fifty yards.  Fourth shot hit low in the right shoulder, blowing away all the bone connecting the right leg, that's when the Moose fell over into the river.   So much for the instant kill theory, still say it's better to anchor animal then worry about killing it if the first shot does not do it.  Usually the first shot kills the animal before you can get there anyway.  Center of the shoulder shot takes out both lungs.

We watched the gut pile for two days.  Many preditors (Wolves and Cayotes) visited the area, but stopped at the water, looked at it and turned and left.  Nothing touched it during that time, guess they did not want to get their feet wet.  If it had been on shore I'm sure we could have gotten more off it.

[Graybeard]

Anyone who still believes a heart shot is an instant kill/drop hasn't shot many game animals.

[Bushwalker]

I've had over 40 years of Moose Hunting experience, and I've never had an instant kill on a moose. I have bow hunted and have taken moose that the arrow has sliced off the top of their heart and it kept browsing for 7 minutes. I have shot moose through the heart and it has travelled 100 yards, other times they have moved for 25 or 50 yards and dropped over. I use a 308 BLR with 220 gr silver tip. I Believe it all depends on the state of mind the animal is in at the time of the kill. I've said my 2 cents. Take care and I'll talk to you later.

[Sourdough]

I've made two instant kills on Moose in 35 years of hunting them.  Both were shot between the eyes.  First one was shot with a .308 Win at about 40 yards, the only shot he gave me after watching him for three hours as he hid in the willows.  The second one was shot with a 30-06 handi rifle at 250 yards as she lay in the snow.  The position of the second Moose, lying down only gave me the head shot.

[Golsovia]

I've had three instant drops with moose as well as several multiple stand and soaks with the 340 Wtby. Unfortunately, the one shot drops were all completely different and none can be used as a "formula." The first moose I ever killed (nearly 25 years ago) tipped right over with one broadside shot, a 190 BTSP Hornady from an '06, right through the lungs. The second was a two shoulder wipe out with a 225 Barnes X from the 340. The last was a 250 Gameking which angled close past the kidneys, again from the 340. The shoulder shot animal showed the most spirit in trying to recover. He was dead, just didn't realize it and figured he'd stand for the rest of the show. He just had nothing up front to stand back up on, try as he might. Moose are just plain tough to put down - not hard to kill though.

[JonJon]

Grew up in Alaska and had friends who owned a cabin at mile 101.  Our families primarily hunted out of a lean-to shed approximately five miles further off the highway opposite the Matanuska Glacier.   We relied on refurbished military tracked vehicles called weasles. Never saw another hunter in all the times we camped there.

During my sophomore and junior years in highschool those in my hunting party and I took a few moose with one lethal shot with immediate results.  Other times we tracked afternoon wounded animals into the night sometimes not locating them till the next morning, still alive.  Each of us carried a heavy grain 30-06's or 300 H&H's.  Both produced immediate kills.  Once, one in our party took a bear and we dressed it via pullies attached to trees.  The skinned boar looked so similar to a muscular human as it hung from the stout limbs that it altered my joy on seeing another taken. 

[Honay]

I just took a bull this year with a 300 win mag 1 shot to the head at 80 yards. That is the only shot I will take if I don't want to track an animal. Lots of practice all summer on small targets out to 350 meters.

[Sourdough]

My normal and favorite shot is dead center of the shoulder.  So amny people scream about loosing so much meat, ha what three to five pounds out of 6 to 8 hundred.  If you brake the shoulder they go down, because they don't have that leg for support.  In most cases I end up braking both shoulders.  But the damage done inbetween is what kills them, you take out both lungs.  They are always dead by the time I can get there.  Most shots are from 40 to 80 yards.  The long shots on Moose are rare for me.  It's just too easy to walk up on them.  Usually I want to move them anyway before shooting them.  I won't shoot one in water, or in a bog.  I like to move them out into the trail before shooting that way I can back the rig right up to them to take them to the cabin.

[steve66]

i hit a bull in the shoulder 2 years back and he actually went for quite aways, didnt make it to any vitals, the bullet was actually found in his shoulder when we cut him up, did lose alot of meat off of it as well.

[atitagain]

In respect to JonJon, I too took a bear many years ago, and after skinning it out, I made the comment on how much it resembled a human, and was told that that was the reason the Indians called themselves the brother of the bear.

[ratherbefishin]

I was in on a moose kill a couple of years ago-the guy shot it at about 80 yards ,quartering away shot behind the shoulder with a 130 gr 270.The moose took a couple of steps, faltered,got up,took another step and went down.There's a fantastic video of an archery killed moose''the king is dead'' where the bull is hit behind the shoulder,runs about 25 yards, stops, blows a couple of times and goes right down.Hard to believe an animal that big could go down that fast

[Sourdough]

Interesting article in this months Americian Hunter, "How Not To Shoot A Moose".  A quote from the author, "you don't shoot a Moose in the vitals, but on dry land"!  That's what I've been saying for years, and to make a downing shot, not worry about losing a little meat.  What's five pounds out of six to eight hundred?  Drop him on the spot, so he can't get to water.  Use a big enough gun to brake the shoulder and anchor him.