European Moose Hunt

[jred]

I just returned from a Moose hunting trip to Estonia.  There were three of us hunters, two from the UK and myself.  We hunted under the guidance of the Estonian District Game manager.  The geography was relatively flat with large expanses of mixed hardwood and evergreen forests interspersed by occasional fields used for growing hay or some crop growing.   During the week of our hunt, my two companions harvested six moose (three bulls, two cows, and one calf).  All were taken with either a 45-70 or 30-06 using handloads.  I didn't see a moose after the first eveninig!  However, I did take a very nice Red Stag (like our elk) with my Remington 700CDL in .35 Whelen.   It was a great trip.  Obviously, moose are plentiful in the area (like in Sweden or Finland)...there are no whitetail deer in the country but they do have smaller Roe deer, lynx and some wolves.  The guides we had were local hunters who really were excellent game stalkers.  Rule No. 1:  Always hunt upwind,  Rule No. 2:  See Rule #1.   

[steve66]

what are the european moose like?  bigger, smaller, or about the same as an average moose in canada or the united states?

[jred]

I have seen Alaskan and Canadian moose but have never hunted them.  It appeared to me that the Northern European moose had the same body size as the Canadian moose but the racks were smaller.   Our Estonian hunting guides also seemed to have the same opinion.  On the first evening of our hunt I saw a cow and two bulls (with small racks) come out of the woods about 200 yards away.  There was no chance for a shot.  They looked to me (a veteran whitetail hunter) to have the approximate body size of a Clydesdale!  I really began to wonder whether anything smaller than a .458 Win Mag would be big enough !! Moose "bag limits" were apparently at the sole discretion of our host, the local district game manager.  The other two hunters in my party took six moose between them during the week!   I understood that the game manager would be allowing about 25 moose to be taken in his district this year.