I read a story yesterday on huning Alg in Sweden, and the author referred to a typical large male as weighing "500 pounds," (227 kilos). Previously, I believed a typical male was a bit larger, but Google has let me down and I've been unable to find good facts on sizes of the Scandinavian race.

Piecing together some various information sources, I've come up with the following:

From the Moose Foundation:

quote:

1. the European moose (Alces alces alces, found in northern Europe, Scandinavia, and across northern Russia to the Siberian steppe, and

2. the Siberian moose (Alces alces cameloides), which occurs across the Siberian steppe and northern Mongolia to the Kamchatka Peninsula and the Pacific Ocean.

Other sources refer to Alces alces americana as the American race of what we in North America refer to as "moose."

Unfortunately, the only references to weight that I have found group them all collectively as "1000 to 1800 pounds," or 504 to 816 kilos, so I remain confused as to the size of the typical male Alg - Alces alces alces.

Can someone please enlighten me?

Jaywalker

When scandinavians talk about big game weights they mean the carcass.I'am not sure of the weight of the biggest elg/moose (carcass) shot in Scandinavia, but I would guess about 1000pounds/450kg pounds. I would say a moose over 300kg/660 pound is a big one.Over 400kg/880pounds is very rare.

Glep,

Thanks, 450kg biggest, 400kg very rare, and 300kg a big one. I appreciate the information.

I'm a bit unclear on the meaning of "carcass," however. Does that mean the "live weight," or an animal that has had some internal organs removed?

Jaywalker

Dead animal, all internal organs removed I think, not 100% sure if everyone remove the kidneys,everyone I hunt with do it that way.Head removed at the neck, all legs cutted" at the "knee" and of course skinned.

I don't know the numbers for USA and Canada, but every year norwegian,swedish and finnish hunters shoots about 225000 moose's every year.

Jaywalker.
By "carcass" we usually mean an animal wich is guttet, all the incestines removed, legs cut, head removed, and in most cases skinned as well.
In other words, ready for the cool room.

When hunting on government land, we pay by kilo, and an animal dressed like that and ready for the cool room, is what we hang on the scale and what we pay for.

I guess that´s why this way of estimate weight on game has been an unofficial standard in this corner of the woods when talking about how big an animal is

Glep beat me on that one.....

Thanks, that makes sense. The writer who claimed "500 pounds" probably got a "carcass weight" from those with whom he hunted, and assumed that they meant "live weight."

FWIW, North Americans, when referring to weight, generally refer to "estimated live weight," unless they use the term "dressed," or "field dressed," which means head still in place, but all internal organs removed. Most of us will generally use the phrase, "That buck probably weighed..." to indicate the use of some rule of thumb or another rather than a scale.

Thank you for your information.

Jaywalker

They are absolutly right
We usually talk about Slaktvikt (Butchering-weight ?) ~55-60% of the life weight
in Swedish