I am fairly new to the moose camp I'm currently going to, so i let the older guys take the higher percentage areas, and I take the long walks and such.
Soooo, opening morning, I get the furthest watch in, way TF out there, and a looong walk.
As a result, and the fact that a moose has never ever been shot there, I packed the '94 Winchester, and off I went.

8:30 am, I'm barely settled in, still out of breath from the long walk out to the island, and up the ridge in the middle, when I hear the clomp of a moose on the trot. Over the ridge behind me it comes, I get one quick glimpse through the trees, and imediately think: F*ck, cow, no tag, and look behind for a calf or bull to be following.
then, out of the corner of my eye, I get another glimpse of the moose running down the ridge now. S**t it's got a rack!
Last year, I went the whole season without seeing a moose and the camp as a whole only saw ONE, So, I was desparate for a shot. I ran sixty yards across the ridge face, jumping over fallen trees and such, and I guess the bull heard me, because he stopped near part way up the other side of the draw.
I was just thinking I was screwed.
He stopped behind two groups of trees, so his butt, and his front quarters are covered, and he's behind a rock, so, my shot is quartering away, with only the top and center of his left side visible. I was still above him quite a bit, and the range was only about seventy yards, so, I went for a spine shot with the 30-30.
At the sound of the shot, he dropped like the hammer of Thor had stuck him squarely on the head.
The shot actually only nicked the spine, crossed through the top of the lungs, and made a nice mess of the off side front quarter Confused
Keeping him in sight, I walked over cautiously. No kill shot was needed.
The bull was about a year and a half, acording to the ministry guy that hunts with us, a 30" rack, nothing huge.
Murphy's law states that if a bull is shot openning day, many bulls will be seen afterwards, all bigger.
I'm sure it was the bull from the 'Moosehead' commercial I saw two days later.
Oh well, one of the other guys got a calf as well, so we are set for meat.
The 30-30? The guys were impressed. Penetration with the Hornady Interlock was about 20". The 30-30 is quite effective as a close range moose rifle.

The haul out..
The guys came in with the help of a chainsaw, with a 450 Honda ATV. WE tied the head to the back rack, and off we went, with guys up front helping to steer the machine, as it was a tad light in front, and piling on the front for wieght when needed.
About half way off the island, the ATV dropped into a hole, and ejected the driver a good six feet to the right. The machine didn't go all the way over, but stopped standing on the side of it's wheels. We quickly righted it, and it never even stopped running. Everyone was fine, so off we went again. We got off the island over a bridge made with two logs and some rough cut 1X6. The smooth rock face on the other side of the bridge was too steep, so we got another ATV at the top to winch us up the hill.
Six of us tried to lift the moose into the trailer, but that was rediculous. So, we tipped the trailer and used the winch again.
When we got back to camp, we hauled the moose up the hanging tree (large white pine) with the big gear driven winch on the army truck.
We decided it was too mild to hang in the bush, so we skinned it out, quartered (By the old two axe method), and took it out by ATV to the butcher.

Congradulations on a fine animal! We were out yesterday, (November 1) And all we saw were cows!! 30-30 is a great close range calibre, but I prefer 30-06 or bigger out west when you need to reach out and touch!

Nice moose!

Good stuff, John Y! Congrats.

I actually shot my first moose with a 30/30. It was a calf, when I was 11yo.

Your picture is reminiscent of the pictures that went around the internet last year of the moose hanging from the powerline....you guys sure have that one hoisted WAY up there!

Cheers,
Canuck

Good show, JYC. Which WMU were you hunting?

My crew hunts 21A, near Geraldton. We've got two bulls like that in the last couple of years. This year's was a spike yearling.

A bowhunter out of the lodge where we stay got a BIG bull a week before the rifle opener. We figure he's the same big boy we saw last year, across the lake from us.

I hunt about a half hour from home, near Minden. WMU 56

Saves on gas. Tags can be a big problem though.
Some years there are lots of moose. But last year we saw only one. (Got it too!}

Nice young bull ya got there. I got my first moose with the good old .303british with 180 grain remington core-lokt. It was more than enough power for the 120yrd shot and the bullet caused tons of damage and the moose only went about 20 yrds after the shot. I hunt in WMU 15b. 30/30= good for most shots in my part of the country. I now shoot a Brno zkk in 30/06. Good job!

Way to go ! It should be excellent eating.

You sure don't have anything to apologise for Johnny. I would take a fine veal moose any day over a trophy! derf

Great looking moose John. Something you might want to do to make the pull out easier is. When you get the moose's head up on the rack of the atc, back the atc up a few inches and tie a rope around the chest of the moose just behind the front legs and then tie the rope to trailer hitch of the bike. Make it tight and that will lower your center of gravity for pulling and make the front end stay on the ground better. I also put 150 pounds of sand bags on the front for the big moose. It is a lot easier to drive the bike with nobody on the front rack.

Coyote Jack

Sounds good Coyote Jack, But there are a few logistical problems in getting the sand in there. We've tried rocks, but they don't stay put very well. Nobody really likes riding on the front of a bike.
There is no question that nobody should be pulling anything with an ATV that is hitched anywhere but the hitch, and we do tie off to it, Having the head up on the rack just gives traction, and reduces drag.

You've got yourself a fine young bull there JYC! Like you said, nothing wrong with using the .30-30 and a good bullet for Moose at close range! Hard to beat it as a brush gun for those quick, sub-100 yard snap shots!

Have to ask though, why haul the carcass whole out to your camp? Why not gut and quarter where he dropped? Heckuva lot easier than trying to navigate a whole moose through the brush. Throw the quarters on the bike or in a cart towed by the bike and off to camp where you can hang the quarters and/or skin them if desired. A little black pepper, some meat socks and you're good for a few days as long as the weather isn't too hot.

Also, I generally use a standard cross-cut hand saw to cut through the spine when quartering, you don't get the many bone chips you do with the axe. They can get to be a pain, as I usually cut my own meat.

The most important question, however, is: "how does he taste?"

Hi John
Nice moose.
What kind of loading did you use for downing that moose?
regards
Yazid

quote:

M1911A1Shooter

M1911A1Shooter
Dragging the moose to camp makes for easier quartering, when you've got an army truck with a winch that will haul it up a tree.
The second moose (calf) was quartered with a hand saw after we hauled it out whole to base camp. Yes, the saw does a better job, but there wasn't one to be had when I quartered mine.

quote:

yes

The load was W748 under a Hornady Interlock. Two grains under published max.