Five years ago I took my once in a lifetime (in Idaho) bull moose using a Ruger SRH 480, my load was 20 grs of 4227 & the 370 gr softnose cast slug, this isn't a maximum load by any means but drilled through both sides of my bull moose & left a nice exit hole on its way out.
Three years ago my buddy Callshot whacked a nice moose with his Ruger 41 maggie & a 230 gr cast slug, both moose were one shot kills & neither traveled more than 40 yds, Steve's only went about 15 yds.
For the last 3 weeks I've been moose hunting with a life long friend who in spite of great difficulty wanted to whack one with a handgun. Brent is my denist & 35 yr hunting partner, we hunted Alaska way back in the early 80's on a 17 day drop camp where we took bear & caribou on a do it yourself hunt, geat fun!
Brent has endured several back surgery's in the last few years & its left him with a severe limp but his will to keep hunting is as strong as it was when we were kids.
After much pleading he decide to give it a try with a handgun, although he's never been a serious handgunner. We did some range shooting with his 44 Redhawk & one of my Ruger 44's & he was shooting very well, although I didn't turn him loose with the Harton 480 because I didn't want to expose him to the additional recoil. I was confident enough in his shooting & also our ability to get close enough to make a killing shot that I just had him keep practicing with the 44's.
We started out in early sept & seen several moose but I wanted him to hold out for a good bull so the hunt stretched into several weeks. We made 7 trips & spotted 9 different moose & as sept eased into october things started to get interesting.
The Shiras moose in my neck of the woods start covering a lot of country about the first week of october, they are looking for cows & watching a mature bull travel across an open hillside is a sight to behold, they can really cover the ground, much like a caribou in migration. Cow moose leave a scent on the ground from a gland on their feet (kind of like Fermin!) this allows the bulls to pick up the scent & track them down.
Because of Brents back problems it was out of the question to spot a moose on a distant hillside & make a stalk, it would have to be on a waterhole & with the weather staying warm we were seeing quite a bit of game.
Brent is very tough & very stubborn, he never complains even when we've covered 40 miles on the 4 wheelers looking for moose sign, we did exactly that yesterday & all he does is talk about how happy he is to be out hunting...my kind of guy! When he picked me up today I could tell the long ride from the day before had taken its toll on him but true to form he just wanted to know where we were headed & kept telling me how much he had learned in the past 3 weeks from reading John Taffins books about sixguns & asks me a million questions about guns, loads, holsters & pistol powder. Being a denist he's a very bright guy & he wants to know how & why something works.
As we settled into our little shady spot against some large pine trees the wind kicked up & it started to rain, we looked at each other & just smiled, both of us knew it was going to be miserable but we also knew you can't gettem from the family room!
After 2 hours a single coyote came in across the waterhole from us & started to work his way up into some quakies, I mouth called him & he spun around & tried to see what was happening, we were both somewhat exposed on the ground although we did have a good background & the wind was in our favor...so we waited, he hung up & I mouth called him again, this time he decided to make his move & trotted about 30 yds back towards us, I stopped calling & he stopped walking, I called again & he took a couple more steps but I knew he had too good of look at us & then he took off, you have to be very well hidden to nail a coyote with a handgun, they can see your heart beat at 50 yds.
Another hour passed & I looked up to my right & a cow moose was making her way down through some quakies into the open meadow, she had been bedded down all day & really wanted a cool drink before a night time of feeding.
When she reached the waterhole she took a long, hard drink & then looked over her shoulder, I knew then that a bull would show up shortly.
The cow was moaning all the time she stood there & she was pulling in the water like only a moose can. Brent had the gun cocked, his left thumb between the frame & hammer just like we had practiced & when the bull started across the 50 yd opening I could see my buddy start to ease the gun into position, he was resting it against a small pine tree with a convenient limb sticking out to support his left elbow...perfect.
When I gave him the nod that it was a shooter bull he slowly lined up the sights & at 35yds made an absolutely perfect shot, taking out the top of the heart & getting both lungs with the 370 gr softnose cast splashing off the wet ground on the backside. The bull whirled & then humped up, moose seem to hump up when they are shot, very seldom do they go down, even from a fatal shot, I've been in on several moose & they never seem to know they are dead, they soak up the shot, walk off a ways, lay down & die, its rare to just knock one over unless they are spined.
The bull took several steps & Brent missed him as he turned away from us, he then reared up & almost went over backwards, came down & started walking & stumbling up the hill for 40 yds & went down, when we got there he was almost out, a finisher behind the ear finished it & my old buddy had his once in a life time Idaho moose... & he did it with a very special handgun, the Harton 480 had been blooded!
After almost 45 years of handgunning I can honestly say its became more fun, more satisfying to see one of my good friends be successful, I enjoy it a great deal to see that wild eyed look on their face when they take a big game animal with a handgun.
These 2 moose came into one of our waterholes several days ago, the distance was about 45 yds, five years ago I passed on a huge 46" bull not once but twice at the same hole from the same spot!
Brent & his son Seth on one of our waterholes, he's resting the Harton 480 on my shooting sticks. We have a good, dark background behind us but I like things open in the front, even at close range you can be successful if you have the wind & you move very slowly.
If you have one ounce of life in your body you have to just soak in the beauty of the rockies in the fall.
This is the cow moose about 15 seconds before the bull showed up, she was moaning all the time she was drinking, the only other time I've ever heard anything like it was when Jeff Hoover was working on a Huckleberry milkshake!
A very happy moose hunter & the 5 shot Harton 480 & 370 gr softnose cast.
Two life long buddies, he shot it & I'm happier than he is!
What a beautiful bull, I told him we would hold out for at least a 40" bull & we did it!
This load is doing less than 1100 fps at the muzzle & it still took out both lungs & the top of the heart with an exit hole on a large bull moose.
Now if I can just get Ken Oneill up here for a moose hunt!
Dick
