Wyoming Moose - 50-90, 550gr PB

[Poisonslinger]

70 yards, cow moose.

50-90 Sharps, 550 gr self cast, pure lead, plain base over 90 gr of 1-1/2 Swiss straight black powder (clocked at 1308 fps).

Eats really well!


http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc199/poisonslinger/IMAG0049.jpg

[white eagle]

exciting
congratulations

[DanWalker]

Congrats! She looks like lots of good eating!

[dk17hmr]

Very nice. I would love to draw a WY Moose tag, I havent sent in yet because I guess you have a 50% chance of drawing your first year and the wife would be pretty happy with me bringing home a moose while we still live in this little apartment.

[Poisonslinger]

I gave up after 6 years on a bull tag and drew the cow on 6 preference points.

Next is a buffalo for the Sharps!
(600 gr bullet for that one...)

Rick

[waksupi]

You were lucky to take the cow. Much better eating. Tags in Montana, are for either sex, and I would definitely take a cow over a bull.
After having helped pack out a half dozen moose over the years, I quit putting in for tags. I was afraid I may draw one!

[JMtoolman]

Rick, way to go! Nice to see someone use the older guns to hunt game like I do. Were not too far apart, as i'm next door in Idaho. See my 71/84 pictures from about a week ago. Best regards, the toolman.

[missionary5155]

Good morning & Congradulations.
That is one good looking feast provider.
You have re-inforced my desire for a 50 -95 lever gun. I have a couple 50-70´s single shots and I do think that extra 20 grains makes a difference.
Mike in Peru

[Red River Rick]

Poisonslinger:

Congratulations on your successful hunt. Cow moose tastes really good, better than some pumped up stinkin' bull!

Your one of the lucky ones. It could have turned out worse.......................like the guy in pic below.

RRR

[NYBushBro]

That last photo reminds me of a NY hunter who claimed he shot a 'mule deer' - and had a donkey strapped to the trunk of his car.

[OnHoPr]

With period clothing that would have been a great nostalgic pic. Great job! I see that rifle still works, probably better than some of the newer firearms of today. I hope you have plenty of freezer space.

[JeffinNZ]

How on earth does one move a dead moose!? That's a lot of dead animal. Nice work.

[waksupi]

One piece at a time, Jeff, one piece at a time.....

[Ivantherussian03]

Looks good Ric......very nice job!! Now for the real work......eh lol

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

"How do you move a dead moose?"

yep, one piece at a time or like my Ideeeeeho bull, loaded it in the back of my pick up with a backhoe. YES!!!!!!!!!!

Next year the wife drew her once in a life time Ideeeeho bull moose tag, and there was enough people around to drag it into the back of a pickup.

Skinned out and broke down both of them on the garage floor in Troy, Id.

WOW oh wow, that was a hours long job for one person.

And just carrying in a ham into the house for cutting was about all I could manage.

Bare in mind the moose here in Ideeeeeho are the smallest of the three varities, and mine field dressed right at 800lbs. according to the scales at the local grain elevator. Big critters!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The year the wife got hers, there were as I recall 4 tags in our unit, three of which went to ladies. ALL TAGGED OUT!!!! the same day in November.

One of the gals was a high school girl who tagged out at the same spot as my wife, but afternoon instead of early morning.

The young gal and her father showed up at our house that evening, with that bull in the back of a small pickup and their 4wheeler loaded right on top of the bull.

AND YES, I SUSPECT THE COW IS MUCH BETTER/easier EATING!! The taste of our bulls was great, but you needed a crockpot for about anything other then burger.

Great photograph, great rifle, great job!!!!!!!!!!

Keep em coming!

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[JeffinNZ]

Can't you entice them to stand near a trailer so when you shoot them they simply fall onto it?

;-)

[Red River Rick]

........... so when you shoot them they simply fall onto it?

;-)

Jeff:

Yeah............they fall into the swamp and then you really have fun! Don't ask me how I know this!:-(

RRR

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

Oh yes, have heard about them dropping in the water, AND REALLY don't want to think about going there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :groner: :groner:

Bad, Really bad thought!

Keep em coming!

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[RugerFan]

Very nice. Great caliber too.

[scrapcan]

And nice weather to have the opportunity ( read that as real work) to harvest the cow. And as Waksupi said you are far better off to have the cow. If you need a trophy have the hide tanned, they make a great throw rug and they you will not have to build an addition to hang the antlers.

[Poisonslinger]

All,

Thanks for the great words of congratulations. I should, as Paul Harvey would say, “tell the rest of the story”.

The best and I mean best part of this hunt was the fact that my daughter was with me. She is a hunter in her own right and we always have a blast when hunting together. She had an antelope tag for the same area but this year the speed-goats were not around like years in the past. She shoots a Ballard 38-55 and is deadly with it.

On her hunt, a couple of days in front of Moose season, we hiked several miles and waded the Green River once (well twice, we had to get back to the truck). She is a trooper and I’d stack her up against most. Her Ballard weighs in at about 9.5 pounds and with no sling; you carry it for the hunt. Never complains. I’ll attach a few pictures to make you guys dream of finding a gal like her – shoots, kills and even uses a knife afterwards!

… So opening Moose morning we are working the forest edge because it is hot and we are seeing no animals in the water. Every time we get more than 300 yards from the edge of the timber, we lose the fresh sign. In a feat of luck that I really can’t explain, a friend of mine who would be in camp to help if I got one down, decided to put in for the draw instead of just buy the preference point. He is a 2 year Wyoming resident, recently Army retired and in fact a relatively new hunter (well, hunter of game animals). Wyoming puts a tag or two in to the random draw to just keep guys interested. Well, he drew “the” bull tag this year.

Back to my story… As my daughter and I finally took a short water break, we hear him open up about a ¼ mile away. Then the radio cracks, “bull on the ground”… all the help in camp headed out his way to help. No problem, we think. Then about 20 minutes later we are sneaking up a heavily wooded draw and I see Moose ears – she has me at about 150 yards. Being busted and somewhat in the open, I just slowly advance to about 70 yards. She still has me and won’t turn so I use a tree for a rest and try for a front-on heart shot. I figured that 550 grains will get the penetration I need. The first one hit just high of my aim point and actually went over her heart, between her lungs and I recovered the lead just under the hide – about 5.5 feet of penetration. She showed absolutely no sign of being hit (big animal!). She slowly turned as my daughter took my side and we moved to about 50 yards. Second shot – high lungs ( I always forget to aim low when close). Again, no sign of a hit, but as she stepped forward – I noted the literally buckets of blood on the tree behind her. I reloaded, but waited knowing she was finished.

Now we have two moose on the ground at the same time!

As she fell, we approached and finished her off with the ‘small gun’ a 44 mag trapper rifle my daughter was covering our backs with. We were deep in Grizzly Bear country. In fact a report had one about a mile above us on the mountain side – we needed to get this meat out fast. So while the rest of the camp was assisting my lucky friend – my daughter and I started. We did the old ‘outfitter quarter’ where we took the quarters off from the outside without opening her up. This makes sense when the odor of a kill needs to be kept to a minimum. In about an hour we were ready to take the first load down. The rest of the story is just a lot of work, but we soon were back in camp with 8 (eight) moose quarters and 4 - 6 ft long backstraps in the back of my truck – The quarters would not fit in the huge coolers we brought. I process my own meat and it took my friend and I two - 12 hour days to get both animals off the bone and in bags for the freezer.

All in all – a very good time with my daughter, friends and family.

My favorite hunting partner!
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc199/poisonslinger/IMAG0042.jpg

...not squeamish at all! - She is looking into the cow moose heart.
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc199/poisonslinger/ELandHeart.jpg

The Country we were antelope hunting in - Moose hunt was in the far background.
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc199/poisonslinger/IMAG0036.jpg

My Moose was taken about a 1/2mile from here to the right.
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc199/poisonslinger/DSC05360.jpg

Blood trail (well sort of) from the lung shot - hard to miss!
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc199/poisonslinger/IMAG0051.jpg

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

Thanks for the great story!!!!!!

Better have good help with two moose on the ground.

WOW what a lot of meat and WORK!

One a year is bad enough, but 2, Oh my! :groner::groner:

Really great hunting partner.

At my age, I really need a partner, but probably best not be that good of one.

Keep em coming!

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[Just Duke]

What a great story and thanks for sharing.

[clintsfolly]

In 1998 I was lucky and got to go to Alberta moose hunting! A friend said the fist thing that will go through your mind as you get close to your down moose will be "O my what am I going to do with that thing now!!!" Our guide said a good moose falls near a trail a Great moose falls on the road!!! I found both to be very insightful. As my brother 's moose fell 35' from the trail and my moose fell 200yds back in the brush. After 2hrr cutting a trail we got the ATV to my moose. Thanks for starting this thread and reminding me of a great time!! Clint

[MT Chambers]

For me, there is nothing as final as the 50/90 Sharps, congrats to all the moose hunters.

[RidgerunnerAk]

I hunted moose here in Alaska this past fall with my .45-90 High Wall Winchester using 400gr cast boolits. I have the gun shooting into 3" at 200yds which is more than sufficient. Didn't get a shot but have shot moose and caribou with an 1886 .45-90 and never recover a boolit from a moose unless it hits the spine or maybe an upper leg bone. They generally just go through the animal and keep on going and kill very well. I dream of having a .50-110 in an 1886 takedown lever gun. Some day.....

[nanuk]

I called one to about 10 yds from a berm where I could back my truck up to, and we skidded him in two pieces in to the back... he weighed aprx 1100lbs on the hoof... young one, maybe 3.5yo.

a second one I jumped upon and put one into the trunk lid.... stopped in the lungs, but THAT one we had to drag out "One Piece at a Time"

I wouldn't waste time logging just to get a quad in... by the time you are done that, you could have your moose out....

[OD Cleaver]

I have been shooting my Big 50 about 3 weeks and I label that photo INSPIRATION!

[Poisonslinger]

Good luck OD - yell if I can be of any assistance!

What part of the world are you in?

Rick

[MT Chambers]

I have been shooting my Big 50 about 3 weeks and I label that photo INSPIRATION!

Well you will have gotten a feel for headaches and recoil anyways, if you find a good load, you will be surprised by it's accuracy potential.

[OD Cleaver]

PoisonSlinger, that really was a great story; like many others I thoroughly enjoyed the narrative and the pics. Your daughter is quite a lady.

I'm originally from West Texas but living in Ohio at the moment, plan to retire back west somewhere in a couple years. I started Cowboy Action Shooting with percussion revolvers (as far from a .357 Sig w/ tritium sights as I could get) and finally moved from C&B to 44-40 to the Big 50. John Boy & MT & others got me going right and I discovered fast that loading BP is totally different than smokeless. When MT told me to use a ‘drop tube’ I pm’d him back to the effect of “what the hell is a DROP TUBE?” Got straight on that then loaded the poison slinger with 100 gr 2F behind a 515 pill – this in a 9 ½ lb rifle with a steel crescent buttplate. Twenty rounds of that and I was seeing stars and talking with God & small animals. I’ve been in car wrecks and fistfights gentler than that day on the range. My better half (Miss Hope) sent me the quote ‘kills on one end and cripples on the other’ since she wasn’t sure which end I’d been on. When my concussion subsided John Boy advised me to switch to 1F and lighten the charge by 10 grains, which I did. Also bought a sissy pad. Next session at the range was outstanding, recoil well within limits and accurate as any rifle I’ve ever shot. Miss Hope had to try it and proceeded to hit the 100 yd steel gong 3 out of 4 times. Offhand. Then blandly told me the recoil was no worse than her 12 gauge. My response to her is unprintable.

I should leave her at home next time but she is my favorite hunting partner and I take as much joy out of being outdoors with her as you do your daughter. We are both very fortunate fellows. I’d attach some pics to this posting but I’m not savvy enough to know how to do it, so I just put ‘em in my photo album.

I’ve had a great time with my Big 50 so far, and I have a lot of folks here to thank for getting me started straight.

Clay

[429421Cowboy]

Congrats! We are about to start applying for our moose permits for the first time in years, little brother keeps telling me it will be a great idea, I'm all for it too! Nothing better than a good cow moose, made a couple happy winters on a good moose, i think it's one of the top game meats out there!