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Must use 30 cal for moose

Not Alaskan Yukon moose but my friend and I both took decent bulls in Newfoundland with our 30-06s. Both of us used the same load of 49 gr of IMR4064 but he used Barnes TSX while I used Sierra Game Kings - both 180 gr. His bull dropped on the spot while mine went about 30-40 yards. He shot his in the shoulder and I shot into the lungs. I'm not saying that the 06 is the best for moose and I know a 338 or 350 has more punch but the bulls wouldn't be any deader.
One of my local gun shop owners uses the 06 for everything including grizzly with excellent success.
 
Clem Bronkoski said:
Not Alaskan Yukon moose but my friend and I both took decent bulls in Newfoundland with our 30-06s. Both of us used the same load of 49 gr of IMR4064 but he used Barnes TSX while I used Sierra Game Kings - both 180 gr. His bull dropped on the spot while mine went about 30-40 yards. He shot his in the shoulder and I shot into the lungs. I'm not saying that the 06 is the best for moose and I know a 338 or 350 has more punch but the bulls wouldn't be any deader.
One of my local gun shop owners uses the 06 for everything including grizzly with excellent success.
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My Canadian fishing guides (western Ontario) for the past 17 years and their hunting buddies all use a 30-06 with 180 gr Core-Loks on moose every year. Gets the job done.
 
dougduey said:
My Canadian fishing guides (western Ontario) for the past 17 years and their hunting buddies all use a 30-06 with 180 gr Core-Loks on moose every year. Gets the job done.
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well here i go....not at all saying a .30-06 would be insufficient (if you read one of my earlier and more ridiculous posts in this thread I bring up the .303 British...Lord knows tons of them have been taken with that, at least in the Yukon/BC, dont know how common old British enfields are in Alaska) but it is worth stating that the Alaska/Yukon/Northern British Columbia subspecies of moose is, as they say, a whole different animal (though if we're after younger/forkhorn animals on purpose that may be a moot point), especially than the Newfoundland moose that were mentioned earlier! But I'd have no hesitation about using a .30-06 for the moose...I might want more horsepower on account of sharing that territory with some big bears.
 
Calvin45 said:
well here i go....not at all saying a .30-06 would be insufficient (if you read one of my earlier and more ridiculous posts in this thread I bring up the .303 British...Lord knows tons of them have been taken with that, at least in the Yukon/BC, dont know how common old British enfields are in Alaska) but it is worth stating that the Alaska/Yukon/Northern British Columbia subspecies of moose is, as they say, a whole different animal (though if we're after younger/forkhorn animals on purpose that may be a moot point), especially than the Newfoundland moose that were mentioned earlier! But I'd have no hesitation about using a .30-06 for the moose...I might want more horsepower on account of sharing that territory with some big bears.
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Oh, believe me, I like more horsepower, too, but I was just pointing out what the guys that live in moose country use. I've got a 338 Lapua that will go moose hunting some day and I won't be bringing my 30-06.
 
dougduey said:
Oh, believe me, I like more horsepower, too, but I was just pointing out what the guys that live in moose country use. I've got a 338 Lapua that will go moose hunting some day and I won't be bringing my 30-06.
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fair enough haha, and believe me I know no shortage of "old timers" who fed their families with .30-30s and sometimes much, much smaller guns than that! But those were often in tough times (had a great great uncle back in the great depression/dirty thirties/dustbowl era who supposedly killed a ton of game with his .22 hornet because it was his only gun and they were hungry - back in the day when the government wasn't gonna provide for you) and circumstances dictated you use whatever you had. Few people have that excuse nowadays that they legitimately couldn't acquire or borrow something better suited to the task. and I got no disrespect for the .30-06! My first time shooting one was just about a religious experience! It's what I got my first deer with too, 12 or 13 years old. Up to that point I had shot 12 guage, .22lr, .30-30, and .303 british (which is very watered down in modern loadings). Borrowed my dad's friends' remington pump action .30-06. I loved everything about it! The big fireball at the muzzle, the chest-thumping ka-BOOM, the comparitively laser-beam flat trajectory and the way it hit seemed to hit like an instrument of divine wrath (because 'the hammer of thor' is so overused), and even the way it hurt my scrawny pre-teen shoulder to shoot it...always been a bit of a masochist. I liked that.

I've owned and got rid of a number of guns in the last decade...my four keepers for centerfire are an old savage 99 in .243 that I inherited from an uncle and I'll probably teach my kids with as their first centerfire, a .270 as my light weight all around gun, a savage 111 long range hunter in .300 win mag for distance work, and just this last year an old BRNO zg47 action (mauser clone) from 1956 that's been rebarrelled in .358 Norma Magnum. I got drawn for moose here in Saskatchewan, I cant wait to take that old beast out moose hunting!
 
Clem Bronkoski said:
I didn't mean to sound harsh honestly. That really seems like some crazy rules there. You can shoot a spike or forkhorn then nothing else is legal until it reaches 50" or 3 brows! So you must have a bunch of in betweeners running around if that's the case. In PA they changed the laws to include antler restrictions. A deer must have at least 3 points on one side (4 in some areas of the state). There are some exclusions for minors. I must say that after a couple years of passing this rule there has been an increase in the number of bigger racked bucks taken. I know I've taken a bunch since its onset.
I hope for your youngster that this bull doesn't go above forkhorn status.
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no worries sir, I wasn't giving you a hard time, just mansplaining the hunting regs we face here

this lil bull is about 35-36" wide & not legal in antler spread, BUT he did sprout 3 brow points on his left antler which makes him a legal bull in my unit, these kinds of bulls do exist but are cleaned up every hunting season & that's why there are less of them roaming around ..... some units require 4 brow tines on at least one side or 50" wide

the funny thing about these bulls is they are hanging out by my 100 yard backstop at my sighting in range at my moose camp/cabin property

3 brow raghorn-2.jpg
 
Named this feisty, mean lil' bulletproof fella "ZZTOP" ... he had the craziest, longest beard I've seen yet, it was hilarious watching him come in swingin' it around, lol ! got it on video and these pics are screenshots from the vid

....
ZZTop bull=1.jpg
ZZTop bull=2.jpg
ZZTop bull=3.jpg
ZZTop bull=4.jpg
ZZTop bull=5.jpg
ZZTop bull=6.jpg
ZZTop bull=7.jpg
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steel2 said:
That is totally awesome…I snowmachined up in that area n it is beautiful but where we moose hunt is about 200 miles further north but the wolves keep the herd thinned down some
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It's a lot easier to go in a straight line in the winter on a snowmachine out there & cover a lot of ground really fast ...

In the fall during moose season it is an entirely different story, as I'm pretty sure you're aware of .. the rain choked creeks, lakes & swamps can be & usually are impenetrable and can really screw up a moose hunt fast , fortunately some of us have adapted to these difficulties and learned how to use them to our benefit while so many others come home empty handed & absolutely miserable ...

DIY Moose hunting can be tough in Alaska.... if you don't know what you're doing ..... Especially solo moose hunts ... my preference ...
 

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