Alaska moose width thread?

[Panhandler80]

Here's one for you fellas, not the greatest angle, but maybe still able to hazard a guess...

As though I'm behind the gun... My first thought is 58

 

[AK Troutbum]

60-61”


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[AK Troutbum]

OK I took this picture this morning of this bull, I bet nobody can guess his size. I know, bad angle, right?

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[AKBorn]

Here's one for you fellas, not the greatest angle, but maybe still able to hazard a guess...

Robinhood got it, this one was 56" on the button. 3 brow tines on each side, so not legal that way. I think he was a pretty young bull, notice how his body is not real big yet? Still got 500 pounds of deboned meat off him. He was asleep down in the timber in the afternoon, he woke up when I shot this fella...

 

[Panhandler80]

OK I took this picture this morning of this bull, I bet nobody can guess his size. I know, bad angle, right?

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Brown one!

 

[Voyageur]

Really enjoying this thread...

 

[Robinhood21]

Me too, lets keep it going! Going to show this to my moose hunting companions this fall (father and uncle) for them to look at.

 

[Panhandler80]

Really enjoying this thread...

Same here. One usually pops up every year or so. I think the veterans find them annoying, but I think they are helpful. My theory is that the long-time hunters fear that newbies will be over-confident with their ability to judge width, and mistakes will be made in the field. What likely follows that mistake more times that I'd like to imagine, is a wasted moose.

I, however, look at it entirely different. To me, it shows just how WRONG a quick guess can be. Which, in my mind, solidifies the "count brows" approach. Analyzing on a computer screen and guessing within a couple inches isn't really all that difficult, but that's not how it will be in the field. What I do when I see a picture is give myself about 2 seconds and make the call. Do that and THEN see where you wind up when the truth comes out.

For other folks with a different mentality, I can see where such threads could create more in-field issues than they solve. Over confidence plus adrenaline and fatigue is a bad combination!

 

[Gunnersdad49]

PanHandler80, I'm also learning that many of the ones that "look huge" initially are pretty marginal. I really appreciate everyone's contributions to the thread and the leeway the old moss-backs here have shown with another thread like this.

 

[VernAK]

Some where I have some video of a bull I considered to be over 70" but had almost no palmation. I looked over a hill and saw him lying down about 100 yards away. I passed on him!

 

[Kevin Dill]

I think it would be interesting to have a guy ante up $2,000, a moose rack, 500 pounds of prime meat and bet it all on a bull the moment he decides to shoot. That’s basically what’s at stake when you add up a nonresident moose tag, hunting license, and the potential fine for shooting an illegal bull....not to mention the cost of flying it out of the field. I suspect a lot of guys would be more conservative in their judgment of antlers.

I don’t spend any amount of time worrying about whether others are shooting legal bulls. I do think threads like this one are good for illustrating the deceptive nature of judging antlers for width.

 

[Panhandler80]

I do think threads like this one are good for illustrating the deceptive nature of judging antlers for width.

Without a doubt! And that's behind a computer screen in the heat / AC in a comfy chair!

 

[VernAK]

I've got many hours of moose hunting video with many big bulls but I love showing a particular incident to experienced moose hunters. They all agree that he was in mid 70s and very palmated. It was coming toward my call when a much smaller bull rushed in between us. I stopped calling as a fight was about to begin. That's well worth the price of admission right there. Suddenly my partner up and shot.......the wrong fooking bull. The big guy watched us for a few minutes and departed the area. I had filled my tag previously and had to watch him walk away.

My partners much smaller bull was 61"!

I won't mention his nationality or state of origin.

 

[Hessticles]

I think it would be interesting to have a guy ante up $2,000, a moose rack, 500 pounds of prime meat and bet it all on a bull the moment he decides to shoot. That’s basically what’s at stake when you add up a nonresident moose tag, hunting license, and the potential fine for shooting an illegal bull....not to mention the cost of flying it out of the field. I suspect a lot of guys would be more conservative in their judgment of antlers.

I don’t spend any amount of time worrying about whether others are shooting legal bulls. I do think threads like this one are good for illustrating the deceptive nature of judging antlers for width.

I had the privilege of sitting with kevin on a 6 hour flight to alaska. Top notch dude and he knows his shit! I mean how many guys you know that go on a solo traditional hunt year after year. I took in as much as possible when listening to him! My only regret with my hunt was not sticking with my bow, seen a big bull and wind switched and busted me so I switched to a rifle . It was my first moose hunt in a no size restriction area. My next moose hunt will definitely be archery only! I'll add a couple pics for you guys to guess width.

 

[WMR]

Hessticles, I'm guessing the giant is 62 inches. That is a brute of a moose. Those broad heavy pans are great. The other two look to me like 50 and 53 left to right. How many brow tines are on the one on the left? Talk about a trip of a lifetime! Thanks for posting this.

 

[Hessticles]

Hessticles, I'm guessing the giant is 62 inches. That is a brute of a moose. Those broad heavy pans are great. The other two look to me like 50 and 53 left to right. How many brow tines are on the one on the left? Talk about a trip of a lifetime! Thanks for posting this.

The single moose pic? That's my bull he only had 2 brows on each side

 

[WMR]

Actually, I meant the one on the left in the group photo. Yours is such a monster I'd probably forget to count tines. It looks not uncommon for some of the large ones to have fewer than 4 brow tines. Do you know if this is area specific? Maybe these get passed up when they are barely legal so they get to grown longer?

 

[AKSilent1]

I tried searching and didn’t find such a thing. Would the experienced moose hunters on here consider helping some of us out by posting a photo of their bulls, and later revealing the actual measured width?
I don’t want to make it a million guesses thread, more like a tool / study guide others can learn from.

I am trying to get better at width estimation.

Thanks for considering it.

Different Alaskan game units have different requirements. In my local units, the width is somewhere around 50, consult current regs for specifics. The alternative qualification was the number of brow tines on the bull. Brow tines are much easier to count at 200 yards than praying that bull is wide enough. Other Alaskan game management units specify any bull so that makes life easer.

 

[Akwoodchuck]

I had the privilege of sitting with kevin on a 6 hour flight to alaska. Top notch dude and he knows his shit! I mean how many guys you know that go on a solo traditional hunt year after year. I took in as much as possible when listening to him! My only regret with my hunt was not sticking with my bow, seen a big bull and wind switched and busted me so I switched to a rifle . It was my first moose hunt in a no size restriction area. My next moose hunt will definitely be archery only! I'll add a couple pics for you guys to guess width.

From left to right:
52", 56", 64"...

 

[Hessticles]

Left to right they are 47 52 and 62