Adventure awaits! I am planning a Moose Hunt in Newfoundland!

Moose are the largest deer in North America. Most sportsmen and women hunt moose for several reasons. First and foremost is that , in my case, moose hunting is an Adventure in the Wilds of Canada! And moose meat is absolutely delicious. An adult moose can provide more than 300 lbs of boned venison for your family. A bull moose with its great antlers is a spectacle that deserves taxidermy and display perhaps over your fireplace or in your game room in remembrance of the hunt. As for me, I can afford a bucket list Newfoundland Moose Hunt in the $6000 to $7000 range and get a great representative “wallhanger” of the species too.

Newfoundland Moose (Alces alces americana) are plentiful, there are over 130,000 just in Newfoundland alone. Being such large adult animal in the 850 to 1200 pound require lots of delivered bullet energy for penetration in the sizable heart/lungs area (the size of a 10 inch paper plate) with the right bullet construction at the right angle to cleanly harvest them.

The most critical component of all is shot placement! No caliber, cartridge or energy can substitute for correct shot placement. Period!

Whatever you ultimately decide to hunt moose with, you have to be comfortable and accurate with it under field hunting circumstances, no red spot target to aim at here, and the hunter is filled with adrenaline, and heavy breathing making your scope crosshairs wiggle like a worm. A monopod, bipod or tripod rest will aid greatly here.

I have said before in a recent article, that you can kill a moose with your deer rifle given some understanding of delivered energy at a given distance and shot angle such as broadside or slight angled away. Some Fish and Game officials ascribe to 2500 ft-lbs of energy as a guideline for the a full grown largest adult Bull Moose who may tip the scales at 1200 plus pound live weight category. Using the .270 Winchester, 30-06 Springfield and 6.5 and 7mm calibers will work with good shot placement but not at the recommended energy. If you have a larger caliber you shoot well then I recommend you use it. Put them down faster with larger calibers. I highly recommend a 180 grain bullet or higher from a 30 plus caliber rifle, if you shoot them accurately, such as the 30-06 Springfield, 300 Magnums, .338 Win Mag and 375’s. The 7mm Rem Mag in 175 grain works fine but personally, I’d rather a larger cartridge-caliber as I can handle the recoil. These bullets have higher sectional densities above 0.25 for maximum penetration. A great article to read is from Chuck Hawkes. https://www.chuckhawks.com/sd.htm

Below cartridges I handload, among many others are the .375 Ruger, 30-06 Springfield, and the 6.5 Creedmoor. I like the .375 Ruger over the 30-06 for moose because I can handle the recoil and shoot it very well. A Pachmayr Decelerator recoil pad cuts felt recoil in half.

Try to stay under 200 yards. I will likely use my Ruger African M77 in .375 Ruger. I shoot it very well, and it does perform, delivering a 260 grain Nosler AccuBond with 2800 ft-lbs of energy at 200 yards. If I had to reach further with a good rest, it can. Still got to wait for the right shot though, and great shot placement! See Lungs and heart outline below with red dot shot placement.

Shot placement is the real hero here.

I believe, on average, there are many more moose in the 850 pound class than the 1200 lb class. At 2500 ft lbs of energy your .270 Winchester also has a muzzle energy of 2500 ft-lbs so you need your moose at the muzzle? I don’t think so but an 850 lb moose you need around 1800 ft-lbs and that gets you out to 200 yards.

You can’t put a moose on a weight scale before you shoot’em.

I arrived at the 1800 ft-lb at 200 yards using the ratio of bullet energy to harvest over the animal weight. Example: It takes 1500 ft-lbs to cleanly kill elk. Bull Elk on the hoof weigh in at 600 to700 lbs. I used this ratio to solve for energy needed with a ballistic calculator for a 140 grain .270 bullet at 2800 fps.

I cannot stress the use of a rest of some kind enough. Like a Bog Pod or Primos Trigger Stick. They are worth every penny!

In the Newfoundland bogs you are often in brush that may block your shot here and there. Patience is a virtue! Just like deer hunting!

Bullet Construction – for heavy game should be rugged and hold its weight while penetrating. Bonded, Fail Safe, and Partition or Specialty Copper bullets do a great job at maintaining weight as they mushroom and penetrate. I am a Nosler Partition and AccuBond fan though there is a new .375 caliber 260 grain solid Gilding Copper E-Tip(TM) I will test. Both have served me well on Wild Boar, Moose and Bison already.

Alaska Outdoors Supersite has a great Moose Hunt website. Check it out! It is full of great tips. http://www.alaskaoutdoorssupersite.com/activities/hunting/shot-placement

Good Hunting!

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