45stomp
11-08-2006, 01:36 AM
Hi guys,
here's a couple pic's and the story(true even) of my moose hunt.........I stomped him with cast boolits:-D
I left home with my 2wd pickup (the gas hog ford 400 as my 4x4 is broke) about 4am Sunday morning. I arrived in my hunting zone at first light and drove around all morning without seeing a single moose. I did however see much sign of moose in one location so around lunch time I decided I had wasted enough gas and may as well go for a walk and see if I could find a moose, or at least waste some time till late afternoon.
I walked down into a snip and skid block and found a set of cow and calf tracks. I kept looking and soon cut a track that looked promising, larger than the cow track and all alone, but older, maybe 24 hours old. I followed it for a bit and soon found where the bull had taken a leak (urinated for the politically correct). Now I knew it was at least a bull but still a pretty old track. I kept on it for another half mile or so, past several beds and it soon got much fresher. I finally found a very fresh bed and the bulls stride became much longer......I must have bumped him. Figuring that as long as he was moving quickly there was no need for me to poke along at a stalking pace so I hoofed it at a good clip till the bull's stride slowed down again. I then found some droppings that still had heat in them, and then a bit further another pile that was even warmer. I knew I was getting close....I could even smell him. I went another couple hundred yards and came to the edge of an older logging block, maybe 10 years old, and heard a squirrel scolding something about 50 to 75 yards from me along the edge of the block. I peeked through a hole in the brush and there was the moose. I checked with the binoculars to make sure it was a bull and realizing that it was and he was broadside I shot through the same little opening that I had peeked through with the bin's. At the shot the bull moved away a few yards and went behind a small pine tree. I moved to where I could see his head and tried to shoot him behind the ear (freehand) I saw the bullet strike a snow covered branch just over the bulls neck....I had shot a couple inches too high just skimming some hair off the back of his neck. He moved a few more steps on shaky knees and was behind a clump of young pines. I decided I had better shoot again as he was still on his feet maybe 30 seconds or so after my first shot, it felt longer. I shot through the screen of trees at his chest at which he turned and ran a few yards and fell. I walked up to him and put a final, though unnecessary shot at the base of his skull. I had filled my moose tag but now what! I was at least 3/4 of a mile maybe more from the truck and it was uphill slightly all the way and through at least two willow swamps.
Seeing I was in a logging block I figured there must be a road of sorts not too far away so after cutting my tag I went in search of a road. I found it about 250 yards from the moose and headed towards the main road, I thought. After walking maybe a couple miles I came to a dead end. Oops, I had gone the wrong way:roll: . I went back to where I first came out on the road and kept going past for about 300 yards till I came to a cross ditch with tire tracks on the other side where someone had turned around. I figured that I was approximately 600 yards from my moose so I marked the spot with some blue ribbon I had in my pocket and returned to the moose.
I had forgotten to bring my rope with me so it was still in the truck. I was able to use my knife belt to hold the hind leg up to the nearest small pine tree and gutted the moose. To hold the front leg up I turned the bulls neck around till his nose was pointing up and jammed his antlers into the ground, then hooked his front hoof over his nose to hold it up.
After finishing the field dressing I went back to the pickup through the bush and then set about finding the road to get closer to the moose. It took me a couple of tries to find the right road, during which time I saw a cow moose and another bull, within 200 yards of the road of course, and then finally found the spot I had marked with the ribbon. What followed was a long session of splitting the bull into quarters with an axe and dragging the quarters one at a time to the truck. I managed to get the two hind quarters and the antlers to my truck that night about an hour and a half after dark.
I slept in my truck while the snow fell most of the night. I hoped I would not be snowed in the next morning.
Next day the snow had quit, having dropped a good seven inches during the night, and I recovered the remaining front quarters and managed with some sweat and struggle to get my 2wd pickup out to the main logging road and home.
After skinning the quarters and tracing the wound channels I found that the first round had gone in and out around 4inches over the heart causing a good deal of trauma to the lungs. The second shot missed the neck and the third shot had entered a couple inches behind the exit wound from the first shot and went out just behind the diaphragm on the far side. Either shot would have been fatal but moose can be tough to convince to lay down.
The rifle was my 45-70 buffalo classic and the bullet was a cast RCBS 405 (420grains) of annealed wheel weight alloy(9BHN) travelling about 1600FPS
Stomp:drinks:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v486/45stomp/DSCN1118.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v486/45stomp/DSCN1114-1.jpg
here's a couple pic's and the story(true even) of my moose hunt.........I stomped him with cast boolits:-D
I left home with my 2wd pickup (the gas hog ford 400 as my 4x4 is broke) about 4am Sunday morning. I arrived in my hunting zone at first light and drove around all morning without seeing a single moose. I did however see much sign of moose in one location so around lunch time I decided I had wasted enough gas and may as well go for a walk and see if I could find a moose, or at least waste some time till late afternoon.
I walked down into a snip and skid block and found a set of cow and calf tracks. I kept looking and soon cut a track that looked promising, larger than the cow track and all alone, but older, maybe 24 hours old. I followed it for a bit and soon found where the bull had taken a leak (urinated for the politically correct). Now I knew it was at least a bull but still a pretty old track. I kept on it for another half mile or so, past several beds and it soon got much fresher. I finally found a very fresh bed and the bulls stride became much longer......I must have bumped him. Figuring that as long as he was moving quickly there was no need for me to poke along at a stalking pace so I hoofed it at a good clip till the bull's stride slowed down again. I then found some droppings that still had heat in them, and then a bit further another pile that was even warmer. I knew I was getting close....I could even smell him. I went another couple hundred yards and came to the edge of an older logging block, maybe 10 years old, and heard a squirrel scolding something about 50 to 75 yards from me along the edge of the block. I peeked through a hole in the brush and there was the moose. I checked with the binoculars to make sure it was a bull and realizing that it was and he was broadside I shot through the same little opening that I had peeked through with the bin's. At the shot the bull moved away a few yards and went behind a small pine tree. I moved to where I could see his head and tried to shoot him behind the ear (freehand) I saw the bullet strike a snow covered branch just over the bulls neck....I had shot a couple inches too high just skimming some hair off the back of his neck. He moved a few more steps on shaky knees and was behind a clump of young pines. I decided I had better shoot again as he was still on his feet maybe 30 seconds or so after my first shot, it felt longer. I shot through the screen of trees at his chest at which he turned and ran a few yards and fell. I walked up to him and put a final, though unnecessary shot at the base of his skull. I had filled my moose tag but now what! I was at least 3/4 of a mile maybe more from the truck and it was uphill slightly all the way and through at least two willow swamps.
Seeing I was in a logging block I figured there must be a road of sorts not too far away so after cutting my tag I went in search of a road. I found it about 250 yards from the moose and headed towards the main road, I thought. After walking maybe a couple miles I came to a dead end. Oops, I had gone the wrong way:roll: . I went back to where I first came out on the road and kept going past for about 300 yards till I came to a cross ditch with tire tracks on the other side where someone had turned around. I figured that I was approximately 600 yards from my moose so I marked the spot with some blue ribbon I had in my pocket and returned to the moose.
I had forgotten to bring my rope with me so it was still in the truck. I was able to use my knife belt to hold the hind leg up to the nearest small pine tree and gutted the moose. To hold the front leg up I turned the bulls neck around till his nose was pointing up and jammed his antlers into the ground, then hooked his front hoof over his nose to hold it up.
After finishing the field dressing I went back to the pickup through the bush and then set about finding the road to get closer to the moose. It took me a couple of tries to find the right road, during which time I saw a cow moose and another bull, within 200 yards of the road of course, and then finally found the spot I had marked with the ribbon. What followed was a long session of splitting the bull into quarters with an axe and dragging the quarters one at a time to the truck. I managed to get the two hind quarters and the antlers to my truck that night about an hour and a half after dark.
I slept in my truck while the snow fell most of the night. I hoped I would not be snowed in the next morning.
Next day the snow had quit, having dropped a good seven inches during the night, and I recovered the remaining front quarters and managed with some sweat and struggle to get my 2wd pickup out to the main logging road and home.
After skinning the quarters and tracing the wound channels I found that the first round had gone in and out around 4inches over the heart causing a good deal of trauma to the lungs. The second shot missed the neck and the third shot had entered a couple inches behind the exit wound from the first shot and went out just behind the diaphragm on the far side. Either shot would have been fatal but moose can be tough to convince to lay down.
The rifle was my 45-70 buffalo classic and the bullet was a cast RCBS 405 (420grains) of annealed wheel weight alloy(9BHN) travelling about 1600FPS
Stomp:drinks:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v486/45stomp/DSCN1118.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v486/45stomp/DSCN1114-1.jpg