Moose tougher than Elk?

F

FirstFreedom

Moderator
Would you, or would you not, say that moose need a bigger caliber/bullet to kill cleanly/ethically? Cuz dems is big critters. I.e. Same round or different, if you are the well-stocked hunter with specialized rifles? I'm thinking same; .30-06 for both, but I really want to hunt meese someday, and of course always looking for excuse to get another rifle. Maybe this will give me a reason to buy a .35 Whelen or 9.3x62mm rifle. :)
 
I wouldn't be afraid to use my 06 in a heartbeat but if your looking for a reason to buy a new gun I doubt a 06 would work at all.
Have you looked at the new 375 Ruger? I am dieing to see one in person and not in a magazine or the net.
 
one opinion on caliber from a Canadian outfitter

"Moose hunts:
Be aware that moose are big animals and your choice of caliber should be leaning towards the heavy end of the scale. The .30-06 with a 180 grain bullet is about the minimum that we like to see in camp. Any of the thirty caliber magnums are good, with 180 - 200 grain bullets, as is the .338 with 210 - 250 grain bullets. The various .35 calibers from the .35 Whelen and up are not out of place here, either. In all cases, use well-constructed bullets"
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http://www.liegeriveroutfitters.com/hunting_information.html
 
I know a lot of 6.5X55 are used to take moose in other countries. I bought a .338-06 for use on the beasties now all I have to do is go hunt one. I should be able to draw for one here in Colorado in the next couple of years as I will finaly have enough points for the draw after this one. As far as being tougher than elk, I think more people are able to hunt elk and so a higher percentage of people have had problems from bad shot placement. Neither animal is bullet proof and if you have proper placement of your shot they will not go far.
 
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i read about lots of people taking them with .308's and gasp... 30-30's! as with anythign its shotplacement but the 30-06 is fine from what i've heard.
 
Moose are not tougher than elk. The 06 will work fine with good shot placement. But if you need an excuse....quick! get the 35whelen, they're not making them anymore, ever! Just kiddin...:D
 
Comparing the mature animals, a moose is thicker across the body than an elk. Therefore, more to penetrate before hitting the vitals. This would be particularly true for any shot at an angle.

In the past, the 30-caliber 220-grain bullet was regarded as the ideal for moose, for the '06. I think that with the R&D on bullets during these last ten or fifteen years, penetration now with a quality 180-grain bullet is probably as good as with the old 220s.

Art
 
Have hunted/shot both and consider Elk significantly tougher. However, a mad moose is as bad a Grizzly!! Climb a tree and the moose will try to knock it over.
 
penetration now with a quality 180-grain bullet is probably as good as with the old 220s.
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I remember a deer I shot with a 60's made X brands 180 grain bullet in 30-06. It acted like you would expect one of the newer exploding varmint bullets to do. Unbelievable damage from a thru the rib shot.

Not going blast the brand as they make some high quality bullets now days or so I read on here. But they are a major brand bullet maker.
 
but if your looking for a reason to buy a new gun, I doubt a 06 would work at all
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Tee hee. Thanks. Oh yeah, that's what I'm thinking now - contrary to all popular wisdom, the '06 would probably bounce off, so gotta get another gun! :)

Good points all - they may not be as tough as elk, in psychological terms (just will to stay alive), but being much meaner than elk - the bulls anyway - that's a good reason to want the shot to kill *quickly*!

Another option would be to get a second .30-06 and dedicate one to 165s-180s for elk, and dedicate the second (in terms of scope choice, zero, ammo selection for accuracy) to 220s for meese, bison & such, but then again, with modern bullet construction, as Art & others point out, it's not really necessary. Actually it's really unnecessary, since meese usually hang out in woodsy areas near water, so shots are going to be short, in which case the .45-70 can be the moose gun. Anyone EVER heard of a long shot at a moose?

And where do caribou fit into the scheme of toughness/ will to live? They seem to fall instantly a lot more often then elk on hunting shows when shot. That's the extent of my non-whitetail ungulate experience hunting - tv shows.
 
FF-
I have never shot moose, but I had a friend in Alberta that said moose were easy to kill. He also said he never shoots them because you had better want to eat moose for a long time, since you would have a freezer full of moose after you shot one.

Caribou fall down pretty easy, BTW. The hard part of the hunt is getting where they are.
 
I've killed them both w/ 3006 and 300 Win. 150gr out of the 06 and 180gr out of the 300. Shot placement still rules the show... However, a moose is a strange critter. Sometimes it goes right down w/ a vital shot and other times it takes it a while to realize it's dead. I shot 2 moose under 150yds. One folded, the other ran and hid for a while....
Long shots on moose, yep it happens. I put my Dad on a nice 6yr old bull, closest I could get him(oxygen tank) was about 500yds. I was glad he was packing his 300Win. Still took two shots to the breadbasket and the moose hung out for quite a while before deciding to die.
elkman06
 
This year elk hunting, I dropped my cow with a .308. I used Barnes 180gr FB loping along at 2300fps. I was up hill from her and double-lunged her. She fell up hill...never took another breath, far as I can tell.

My buddy shot the herd cow about an hour prior to mine with a 7mm mag. 160gr Barnes XLC. Can't remember the velocity right now, but 2800fps seems about right.

Three shots in the furnace, one which broke her front shoulder, running up hill for a good 75 yards, trying to get her girls to safety. She was one tough lady, and I'm amazed at the punishment she took. She was still running when she slowed down just enough for my friend to end it with a head shot.

How she could walk, let alone run, with that shoulder, was a minor miracle. It was completely destroyed. Her lungs were jello and her heart had a huge hole it in. She was tough.

Tom
 
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I think many Magnums are sold to guys that haven't hunted a lot but have read a lot or are not that good of a hunter in the first place. This is just a personel observation from guys you meet out hunting. I know this does not hold true for many good hunters but does have merit.
 
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Most moose taken by Alaska bushkins and folks outside the gravitational pull of Los Anchorage are taken with .30-06s .308s and .270s. My nephew whacked one we were chasing with a .30-30 a couple years ago. On the rare occassion someone is toting a magnum, it's usually a 7mm.

I usually use Federal High Energy with 180 gr Nosler Partitions, but they aren't needed. You will have satisfactory results with regular off-the-shelf ammo. The only reason I use them is because I also have a grizzly tag with me in case a target of opportunity should appear...........or wander into camp.

I wouldn't have any reservations about hunting them with a .257 or similar as long as I had premium ammo and bullets.

We also don't waste meat by taking body shots either.;)
 
Most moose taken by Alaska bushkins and folks outside the gravitational pull of Los Anchorage are taken with .30-06s .308s and .270s
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Same rifles most hunter use to take Elk, who hunt them every year here in Colorado. I've even hunted with a relative who has taken a elk almost every year for the last 10 with a .243, uses it because of bad shoulders. I've never seen an elk go far that he has shot, but he always takes the first one that will give him a good shot usually it is a cow.
 
Lets not forget there could be a new rifle involved here. :D

Oh, moose are like swamp elephants! You'd better go with that new .35 Whelen--your '06 might just bounce off! LOL

For the record, my great-grandfather hunted just about every animal in N. America with a 30-30 with what I might call legendary success, and moose were no exception. Unless they're breeding 'em a whole lot tougher nowadays, an '06 will do a fine job.
 
Elk concern me more than moose. Elk are high adrenelin animals that explode into the depths of the fire swamp when shot...never to be seen again...alive. The moose hunts I've been on are quite different. You see a moose, it just stands there......You shoot a moose and they....just stand there....or they just trot a little and lay down.

30-06 is great for moose.

I myself, believe the 35 Whelan has the perfect ballistics for the areas I hunt. (for elk)
But, everybody should have a 30-06 IMO.
 
I dropped my first moose with a 32-20 rifle, but had to finish him off with the .45acp. Every elk and moose I've taken has been with 30-06, 180gr Sierra BT at ~2750fps. I switched to 220 Barnes for the Grizzley and the Polar Bear.

A friend dropped by one time and flew me up to a pair of dumb-bell ponds where he had seen some carabou. We landed in the empty pond and sneaked up to the edge of the populated pond. Friend had 13 tags and I had 4. We agreed on the split in who would shoot how many, based on our respective magazine loads and started taking winter meat. After the noise stopped, I heard friend cussing. "We dropped too many!" I counted down animals and, yep, we had two more than we should. We both started gutting and I heard him yell again. He had grabbed an animal by the antlers and it stood up and took off. So did the one next to it.

We decided that those two had seen all the others lying down and decided to take a nap, too. :D

Pops
 
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