Keep Shooting ?

[Short Track]

When I hunt Elk, I have a habit of shooting multiple times. Just because I don't want to be chasing an injured Elk at 10,000 elevation. My last Elk was knocked down on the 1st shot, then got up again, and tried to run off ! and he did run 40 yards, luckily I tagged him again.

Do Moose generally stand still after being shot ? or they run off ? Just wondering how quick I need to be with a follow up shot ?

Do you go for the shoulder, or a double lung ?

 

[Yellowknife]

I've killed a dozen or more now and helped recover many many more. Like most things, it varies widely, but MOST of the time they will take the hit standing and run a short distance before pausing and then falling over a minute later. They will very rarely run far (although I had one notable exception).

I tend to shoot for the lungs and try my best to stay off the shoulder. Shoulder are huge, and although I can penetrate them, it eats up a lot of bullet energy and ruins a bunch of meat. If I soup the lungs, they will die in a minute with no drama. I've also found they can and will walk away with multiple bullets through BOTH shoulders, so that's not always a magic shot.

The place you don't want to shoot them is too high on the shoulder. They have a huge "hump" and you can shoot through it and impact nothing vital. BTDT, more than once. That target in the post above isn't quite right. centering the shoulder blades has put the bullet above the spine for me.

I do tend to shoot until they drop, but that is just a habit I've formed on all species. I'm not sure it actually helps with moose, but I do it anyway.

 

[AK Shane]

I really like the double lung shot on moose. Ive found that once you take out a lung, a moose really doesn't move too far. Most tip over with in 20 feet of their original spot.

I would never shoulder shoot a moose. Too much good meat lost. A lung shot is an effective anchoring shot on a moose. And if he's still standing, then put another one in him.

 

[Kevin Dill]

A shoulder-shot moose may or may not go down faster. It's also possible to have the hit be wrong and a terribly injured bull getting away. And of course you're gong to destroy a lot of very fine meat with a shoulder hit and there's no escaping that.

Shooting for the lungs gives you room for error and still kill the moose. Blowing through both lungs means a double pneumohemothorax (chest cavity filling with blood and atmospheric air as lungs collapse) and a definite dead bull. Bulls will not run far with one good bullet through the lungs. I might take the second shot but only at a standing broadside position.

 

[Short Track]

On Elk, I normally follow the rear of the front leg, straight up. Double lung... I can't imagine shooting for a heavy shoulder.

 

[VernAK]

Moose don't seem to be as tenacious of life as an elk or whitetail. As above, one good lung shot will usually suffice. If water is near, it seems to be an ingrained escape mechanism to enter the water and you don't want that.

Caribou are the least tenacious of life while I consider the grizzly and mountain goat high on the list of tenacious.

 

[AKDoc]

Ditto what others have said, minus the shoulder-shot recommendation.

For many years a good lung shot is what I used. It did the job very effectively, and waiting for a good broad-side shot was an important variable. Like others, my experience was that they didn't run far before falling over dead.

However, there are areas that running even twenty-yards is too far, and now he's falling over into a lake, beaver pond, muskeg swamp, or river. The areas that I have hunted the past half-dozen years have been loaded with extensively wet topography, i.e., all of the aforementioned. I very much want to drop that moose on dry ground. Consequently, I've been calling them very close (25-50 yards) and then head-shooting them. I did reach out further on one and dropped him. I do not recommend that others do this unless you practice a lot with your rifle, and you are good with it. I handload my own ammunition and practice a lot at the range. That said, a double-lung shot is a much bigger target on a broad-side moose.

 

[Short Track]

The guide will drag him out of the water, I'm sure

 

[VernAK]

I shot a huge wounded bull in the neck twice with 180 TSX from 300WSM at 80 yards and it didn't put him down. Neither bullet exited. I don't try that shot any more.

If you should bungle your shot and the bull is running away, a high pelvis shot can usually put him down. Although effective, it's not good for some meat but better than losing the animal.

 

[AKDoc]

I'm shooting a 270grn Barnes TSX out of a 375H&H. After numerous broadside moose and several grizzlies, I never recovered a bullet...they all expanded and exited the far side.

I've recovered two bullets from the head-shots. One was from a standing face on bull...the bullet entered pretty much between the eyes, the nose was elevated, and the bullet traveled through the skull and through the brain stem/top of the spine, and then stopped under the far-side thick hide at the base of the head. The other was a standing and slightly quartering towards me shot as the bull looked away...the bullet entered the top of the spine and traveled a few inches of spine to the base of the skull, stopping just as it exited the spine. The several other head-shot moose each bullet exited. There was one that I completely missed at about thirty yards (pretty embarrassing I shot right over him)...fortunately he just stood there for a second shot.

 

[Short Track]

How can you practice with a 375 H&H ?
I spent 4 hours at the range last weekend, with my 6.5CM, 7mm-08 & .243. and a shoulder pad. No brake, no problem.

 

[jspradley]

What reason would there be not to shoot again if you can?

 

[Short Track]

Ruining high quality meat... is 1 reason not to shoot again. Many like to wait for the animal to expire.

 

[AKDoc]

How can you practice with a 375 H&H ?

Excellent point sir!

I'm definitely not stacking-up a pile of spent brass at the range with that one. I proudly wear a shoulder pad at the range when shooting it, and it is still unpleasant for me to shoot from the bench. I really have to work at not developing a flinch when shooting it at the range...so it's more a quality not quantity practice with that one. That said, it has been my go to rifle every fall up here for many years.

I have other rifles that I shoot far more often at the range.

 

[Kevin Dill]

If I was a rifle hunter I would always prefer a head shot at closer range. Next would be broadside lungs. I'm a guy who will do whatever I can to eliminate meat damage or waste. I value it more than a rack, no matter how big.

 

[Yellowknife]

If I was a rifle hunter I would always prefer a head shot at closer range. Next would be broadside lungs. I'm a guy who will do whatever I can to eliminate meat damage or waste. I value it more than a rack, no matter how big.

The flip side of that. I value the meat highly also, which is the reason I moose hunt. It feeds our five person family all year. But I value it highly enough, that I'm going to put it on the ground by whatever means needed, even if that includes a less than optimal shot angle. Thus I've done shoulder shots, neck shots, frontal chest shots... whatever I need to reach vitals of a bull in the brush. I'm absolutely going for double lung whenever possible to keep that blood shot limited, but the higher priority is to cut the tag.

Call it a remnant of the Alaska subsistence culture.

 

[deerkiller]

Ruining high quality meat... is 1 reason not to shoot again. Many like to wait for the animal to expire.

a very good way to lose an animal or find yourself presented with a "Texas heart shot" …….

 

[AK Troutbum]

One well placed double lung shot.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jhm2023]

Like many things in life "It depends" is the best answer to the question asked. It depends on where the animal is (i.e. close to water or rough terrain), his demeanor before the shot, the quality of the first shot, his reaction to and demeanor after the shot. If the animal is in a dry field I'll likely take more time to reassess what is needed after the shot. Close to thick brush, water, or rough terrain then the animal is probably getting another shot or two to anchor it where I want it. Remember you have a natural OODA loop (Observe Orient Decide Act) so observe what happened and the surroundings, decide what you should do next, then act on that decision. This applies to most species and not just moose.

 

[mcseal2]

I'm no expert, I've shot one moose. My plan was this:
Don't shoot unless the moose is in a spot I could process him
If the shot is good and he stands in that spot, wait him out and let him fall there
If the shot is good and he tried to go somewhere bad, shoot again
If the shot is bad, shoot again as soon as possible

It worked. I ended up shooting twice. The bull stood for a while facing directly away from me after the first shot. When he turned broadside facing the other way I took another shot. Either would have done the job. At the second shot he ran about 15 yards or so into the brush and then fell. He was starting that way when I took the second shot, so I don't think it really changed the outcome much.