MassMark
Member
I rarely visit the Hunting Forum here at THR, as I do not hunt. Perhaps I should qualify that. I started hunting at age 7 with my grandfather, (Pop). He was a wise old Swamp Yankee, who taught me much about the woods, tracking, stalking, killing cleanly, honoring the environment and the sacrifice of the animal. I think sometime in my late teens, I forgot about much he had taught me before he passed away. Call it the "indiscretions of youth" or a kid gone awry, but I became less than a conscientious hunter. I'll not get into details in this post - perhaps another time. Suffice it to say that I had lost my way. Then I hit my late teens and met a surrogate father figure from the hills of West Virginia who brought me back to square. At 23, I decided on my own accord that hunting was no longer for me personally. I had lost my taste for it - harvesting game just didn't work for my concepts of nature anymore. That said, I still support and advocate for hunters. I open my land to those who respect it and if my family were in need, I would hunt again in a millisecond. My rifle is now a Nikon F5 and a 600mm lens. I find greater peace in shooting film over bullets when it comes to wildlife, but still do have the occasional pang for the traditional hunt. Sorry for the ramble - I just felt the need to qualify that I'm not an anti-hunter type.
With that over, I wanted to pose a question to the hunting community here at THR and will likely post this on NES. I was watching Outdoor Channel the other night while flipping through the channels. I can't remember the exact show, just that it was on about 11EST. It was a guided moose hunt with a man who was looking to hunt moose for the first time. They were sidetracked briefly trying to track, stalk and take a black bear, (I was always a singular game hunter, so this rubbed me a tad) but they seemed to refocus on moose and came across a few bulls jostling in a thicket. After some time picking out just the right bull, the newbie took aim and fired what I seem to remember to be 5-rounds from his rifle into the moose. It seemed to be anything but a clean kill and it looked as if the hits were all over the place. Who knows if they edited, but the series of shots that it took to take to put this moose down seemed to go on for quite some time - too much time for my taste or memories of moose hunting.
I think the thing that got to me the most, was that the newbie was using a .270 Winchester, which kind of surprised me as much as the kill seemed disturbing to my senses. I understand the history and the merits of the cartridge, but I figured, (through some experience), that the .270 had a stopping point somewhere around mule deer and elk, (at the extreme). The bull he was shooting at was over 60-points and quite large. It seemed to be a needless amount of suffering to put this animal down. My Pop taught me to always bring enough gun, always try and reduce the suffering of the animal as much as possible, (kill cleanly) and to honor your quarry. It seemed none of this was followed in this case. When I took my moose with my handed down, (thanks Pop), .338 Winchester Magnum, it turned took a step and dropped like a rock. Two puffs of breath hung in the morning mist. The ones I remember my grandfather hunting and his buddy with the .30-.06 ended much the same way.
So my question after this long ramble ladies and gentleman is: Is the .270 Winchester enough gun to bring to a moose hunt? My vote would be no. What say you?
With that over, I wanted to pose a question to the hunting community here at THR and will likely post this on NES. I was watching Outdoor Channel the other night while flipping through the channels. I can't remember the exact show, just that it was on about 11EST. It was a guided moose hunt with a man who was looking to hunt moose for the first time. They were sidetracked briefly trying to track, stalk and take a black bear, (I was always a singular game hunter, so this rubbed me a tad) but they seemed to refocus on moose and came across a few bulls jostling in a thicket. After some time picking out just the right bull, the newbie took aim and fired what I seem to remember to be 5-rounds from his rifle into the moose. It seemed to be anything but a clean kill and it looked as if the hits were all over the place. Who knows if they edited, but the series of shots that it took to take to put this moose down seemed to go on for quite some time - too much time for my taste or memories of moose hunting.
I think the thing that got to me the most, was that the newbie was using a .270 Winchester, which kind of surprised me as much as the kill seemed disturbing to my senses. I understand the history and the merits of the cartridge, but I figured, (through some experience), that the .270 had a stopping point somewhere around mule deer and elk, (at the extreme). The bull he was shooting at was over 60-points and quite large. It seemed to be a needless amount of suffering to put this animal down. My Pop taught me to always bring enough gun, always try and reduce the suffering of the animal as much as possible, (kill cleanly) and to honor your quarry. It seemed none of this was followed in this case. When I took my moose with my handed down, (thanks Pop), .338 Winchester Magnum, it turned took a step and dropped like a rock. Two puffs of breath hung in the morning mist. The ones I remember my grandfather hunting and his buddy with the .30-.06 ended much the same way.
So my question after this long ramble ladies and gentleman is: Is the .270 Winchester enough gun to bring to a moose hunt? My vote would be no. What say you?
We butchered mine in the field, (thank God I was with someone with experience) and hauled it out on Honda 3-wheelers. Took 4 trips.
