.338 Win Mag Bullet Choice for Moose

[HSi-ESi]

I finished loading up some rounds of the 250 gr Accubonds.

I did my final sight in today, 4 four rounds under an inch for the last group.

Now I just need to find "the" moose. And for the weather to cool a bit...

 

[Millsworks]

Sounds like a winner load. Good luck on your hunt sir.

 

[LopeHunter]

100 yard groups? If place the bullet right, any of the three you mention will get the job done. I used .338WM with 250 grain Nosler Partitions last fall on ID Shiras bull. Off the shelf ammunition. Shot at around 100 yards. The bull nominally reacted to my first shot which was lethal so did follow-up until bull was on the ground. All shots were through and through lung/rib paths. I do think I could have closed the distance to a few yards as I was the only hunting pressure in the creek basin and the bull was alone and not on high alert so use shooting sticks and the shot should be the easiest phase of the adventure. Good luck!

 

[HSi-ESi]

A little update on the hunt so far. I didn't hit the opener on Sept 15th, as I got in late from a business trip on the 14th. The kids and I went out on the 16th (they are 7 and 5). We all got to do our "first moose hunt" together, they thought that was pretty special. With them in tow, my plan was just to cover some more ground in the truck and treat it like a scouting day. The highlights include:

Kids got to see their first wolf. It came out on the road in front of the truck at 25 yards or so. Gave us a pretty good look before heading off the road and I thought it was gone. It ended up coming back onto the road 75 yards or so in front of us and watching for a bit. No wolf tag in my pocket.​

Kids got to see their first Black Bear through the spotter (it was about 2 miles away).​

Kids got to watch their Dad try to peg some grouse with a rock. Next trip I'll bring my bow / shotgun.​

Got a half mile "hunt" in. Had two whitetail does at 40 yards for about 10 minutes - nothing new for the kids but they enjoyed it.​

When there's snow on the ground and you are super excited to see snow again - you make a snowman!​

Lots of snacks, napping and playing while Dad spotted.

I'm headed out again this weekend. Saturday will be a short day with the kids - probably more focused on grouse with more modern weapons this time. Sunday will be a day to myself where I can actually get after it.

 

[mtmuley]

Sounds like a good trip. Never, ever go into wolf country without a wolf tag though. mtmuley

 

[HSi-ESi]

Photobucket links are broken now, oh well - not spending a ton of money to update those.

On to the exciting part though - it's been a long season. I have to say, my plan on applying to a Moose District so I can learn the country really paid off. I was able to cover most of the unit - both driving and on foot - to really learn it well. This unit isn't much for elk hunting - even though folks I ran into were super excited to hunt for elk. In the weeks I hunted for moose, I only spotted 3 cow elk one day - and a small 5 point bull on another. In total I spent 21 days in the unit looking for a Bull moose worthy of the tag. Needless to say, the Elk hunters I saw have no worries about me encroaching on their "Elk Spot".

We found moose again on Saturday (11/11, coincidentally my fathers birthday). My brother spotted the bull(s) at about 11 AM on Saturday. We were a couple miles away, but the moose were still feeding and we were able to get some good looks through the spotter that 1 of the bulls was good to for a closer inspection. There are many old, closed cat roads in the district - and one of them would take us above the moose if we could get there undetected. The quickest route was to leave the truck parked and bail off a ridge, dropping about 1K feet (more on that later) and hitting one of the roads.

We then contoured for about 2 miles, taking a upper branch of the road that put us on the path of being above the moose.

We got to a small point just above the moose and 2 of them were still bedded. I first thought I might be in for a quick shot as I peaked over the edge - but they were unaware of our presence and the wind was in our favor. We took the opportunity to really glass all three bulls - and the choice was clear which one to take. I took another minute or so really going over the biggest bull. He looked good to me - the only hesitation was on the distance to the truck.

I asked my brother if he was OK with this pack-out - and his reply was "We might only get to do this once". Decision made, it was time to make it happen. Since the target bull was bedded - I didn't have a clear shot at his vitals. They were only about 75 yards down the hill, but it was steep (32 degrees based on the rangefinder after the shot). I backed up off the edge to stand up straight and slowly worked back out to the edge without crouching. There was too much brush in the way (more on that later) to get a clean shot from a kneeling, sitting or prone position. Off-hand it would have to be.

I slowly crept to the edge, expecting the bulls to jump from their beds and needing a quick shot. I reached the edge - but the bulls kept sleeping. My brother motioned to throw a rock - away from the moose but to make some noise to get their attention. First rock exhibited no response from the moose. Second rock, I noticed a ear flicker on one of them. Third rock, this time a much bigger rock - and they began looking in the direction of the sound at least.

Fourth rock- this time a 30 pounder or so rolling down the slope got the target bull onto his feet. He was looking in the direction of the sound - completely broadside to me. A quick confirmation of his size and then I settled in for the shot behind the shoulder. I squeezed off the shot and it felt solid. I knew he was hit fatally - and from the thread above I was using the 250 gr Accubonds. I could tell he was wobbly in the legs, but I put another round into the No 1 just in case.

He tried to take a step, but fell instead rolling down the slope. The other bulls stood for a count of 30 or so, then moved off at their own gait and were out of sight shortly.

I waited for a couple of minutes to make sure my bull wasn't going anywhere. Satisfied he was done, we made our way down the slope.

In the back of my mind was this picture. It might seem a bit weird - but this rifle and this hunt help illustrate the impact my father had on his boys. He wasn't able to make this trip due to a stroke 15 months ago. I chose this rifle not because of the caliber - but because it was a project that I had with him that at one point I never thought we would complete. It shot like he$$ when I bought it 8 years ago, but I just loved how it handled. I couldn't let go of that gun. My Dad and I always talked about making it into a shooter - and he had begun work on it before the stroke.

After the stroke, the gun wasn't finished. He worried about it when he was in ICU. I told him we would finish it soon, fully knowing that it might never happen.

Thankfully, his recovery has been a miracle. Last Christmas I setup a chair in his garage and he was the brains. I was the hands. We finished the gun together - and now it is a shooter.

Here is the proof.

 

[LopeHunter]

Great job and glad you had some help along on the post-shot portion of the adventure! Best wishes for you father on continued improvement.

 

[1_pointer]

Congrats!! Totally dig the background info, thanks for sharing.

 

[noharleyyet]

Touching story HSi....congrats. IMO there are no rifles that compare with the lines of Bill Ruger's No. 1

https://www.americanhunter.org/articles/2016/8/16/why-the-ruger-no-1-is-not-no-2/

 

[Don Fischer]

I would not buy any magnum over 30 cal unless I was going to use a 250gr bullet. I've had two, brutal! Shoot them enough and you do get used to them. I've never shoot 250gr bullet's, the 225gr beat me up bad enough!

 

[Dan O]

Congratulations!!!!!!! Awesome story your Dad was with you every moment of the hunt and you might even say he guided you since you were a little guy. Bet he was proud as can be.

Great Hunt and a Great Bull.

Dan

 

[Don Fischer]

Doesn't make all that much difference. The one I shot was with 180 grain partition out of a 300 mag and it tipped over just fine.
Plenty have been killed with good old 30-06 and 180 grain Corelokts.

take your time and get the right shot and place it well and a 22 LR will jerk the leg's out from under one! I also think most everything from the 6.5mm up is adequate for everything up to Moose anyway. That said if I went moose hunting, never gonna happen, I'd take my 30-06 with 180gr Hornady Interlocks. It's my big rifle these days and if I had anything bigger I'd sell it. Not to crazy about recoil these days!

 

[Ben Lamb]

Touching story HSi....congrats. IMO there are no rifles that compare with the lines of Bill Ruger's No. 1

https://www.americanhunter.org/articles/2016/8/16/why-the-ruger-no-1-is-not-no-2/

Very much what Harley said. The firearms I have with direct links to my father are my favorite to hunt with and sometimes just have around to look at. GReat bull, fantastic story and I too have a fondness for the #1.

Well earned.

 

[HSi-ESi]

Thanks for all the kind thoughts.

Now that the bull was down, we had our work cut out for us. Everyone always says that walking up on a moose was shocking. Maybe I've been around too many big-bodied bull elk, because my first thought was that it wouldn't be as bad as I had in my head. The most pressing issue was to get all of the meat into game bags. I had thoughts of how I was going to butcher this one - mainly including some bone-in cuts. This was out the door now. It was Saturday afternoon, we had a little over 2 miles to the truck, 1000' of elevation gain and I had to fly out for work Monday morning at 5:30.

So we worked through all of the butchering, filling game bag after game bag. The slope was tough to work on, there were small willow bushes that had been flattened by the snowpack (and all of their branches pointed down hill), so traction was a constant failure. We took the shoulders off bone-in, but had to bone the rear quarters because of the difficult slope. We finished working once it was dark, I wasn't too sure of the time. We had head lamps on - and it wasn't morning yet.

After the meat was all off the carcass, we both took about a 50 pound bag of meat in our packs. The trip up the slope was a bit tough, traction sucked and fighting the brush wasn't a ton of fun. Once on the cat road, the trek back to the "pass" wasn't bad. Then a 500 foot climb to a road we could drive to - which wasn't bad at all compared to the previous climb.

We got back to my house at 1 AM. Then up again at 5:30 - we had a long Sunday ahead of us.

Once we returned to the meat bags, I started boning the shoulders while my brother made laps up to the cat road with the meat. We had brought plastic sleds, so after he had the meat up the ridge, he made a run to the pass. I finished boning the shoulders and skinning the head, then packing meat to the road.

Once we got the meat to the pass, then it was up to the road for a few trips each. Happy sight to see the pickup.

There's no way I could have done it by myself (and made my flight Monday AM). Thankfully I have great brother and an understanding wife (as I show up bloody and exhausted before showering and jumping on a plane, leaving her to deal with the aftermath).

The meat is doing great and I'm starting to trim/package tonight. I'll push through so we can take Dad out on a hunt this weekend - and cook up some Moose meat for him too.