4 Attachment(s)
Moose vs Cutting Edge MTH
Here ya go fellas, I posted this story on the LRH forum recently, some of you are members and may have already read it !
enjoy .......
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In my last post on the 375 Norma thread ... (10 months ago)
.375 Norma - Page 7 - Long Range Hunting Online Magazine
I promised to keep y'all updated on the results with the Barnes bullets and my wildcat the 375 Precision Rifled Ordnance (375 PRO) ,
I'm sorry to say that load developement never took place ..... let me explain .....
With the phenomenal accuracy the 320 gr Cutting Edge MTH bullets produced in my 9lb rifle and with the far superior BC's, there was absolutely no reason to mess with lower bc bullets ........ I simply used that seating depth and kept adding Reloder 22 in 1/2 grain increments until I reached my goal of 2800 fps, knowing that I won't be hunting in hot temps/weather conditions I wasn't concerned with the temp instability RL22 was known to have and went with it...
Work prevented me from doing the brown/black bear hunt in the Spring like I wanted, never had a chance to test my 375 PRO & the MTH bullets on a bear ....
I got my opportunity in the Fall on a bull moose !
My job again interfered with my long range moose hunting setup, I was forced to do a close range, 'call 'em in' style of hunt ... This is a long range forum and I apologize to those who would rather see a report on a long range kill, This was at very close range, sorry man, next time !
Me & my gal were running a local river on a 16ft jetboat on the day before her birthday, We both took a couple days off work for her birthday ... WE WENT MOOSE HUNTING !!! (it's an annual event for us... tradition you might say )
The torrential rains for the last several weeks transformed the typically mild mannered river into a dangerous beast that seemed to want to swallow us whole at every bend, even all the small tributaries and sloughs suddenly decided to attempt murder and we were the chosen victims ...
Defiant, we kept on going with the horizontal rain pounding nonstop, obscuring vision and drenching us thoroughly, after what felt like forever we reached our spot and set up in an area with a birch tree that was torn up and scarred by a bull moose with an attitude, the brush around the tree looked like a bomb went off , not one blade of grass nor twig was spared, this bull was destroying everything in sight and I knew he was going to be a lot of fun taunting & insulting ! This bad boy was gonna come charging out mad as hell and we had a problem .... My lovely assisstant was shivering uncontrollably and I could see that the morning hunt just was not gonna happen, I decided to leave the area to go set up our spike camp instead and she did not object .... Two hours later with dry clothes on and in front of a roaring bonfire (and no rain) I could see a renewed thrill of the hunt in her eyes and I felt like Dr. Frankenstein ! Proud of my work yet aware that I created a monster !
Later that evening, upon returning to the spot of carnage created by the bull's jealous rage, I set up a lightweight aluminum 8ft stepladder that I had painted with my favorite color ... camo !
Hunting in the area earlier in the season I'd realized that we had no shot with all the tall thick brush obscuring the line of sight from the riverbank to the edge of the taller trees, my solution was an 8 ft stepladder for her so she had stable enough elevation above the brush and a good shooting rest for her rifle ..... For myself I brought a 16 ft extension ladder shamelessly hosed with paint in an ultra cool random camo pattern ! I set it up on the birch tree the bull had a problem with and bunjy-eed it up securely, this was my lookout spot and antler judging perch, I had to be 100% certain the bull was a shooter before the shot ....
I started the argument by making some cow calls to let the bull think that not all the girls were with him, after 20 minutes of cow calling I mixed it up with some bull grunts and light brush thrashing then silence for 10 minutes, this went on for an hour or so and then I let him have it !
I called the bull moose every filthy name I knew in moose language and violently thrashed the brush around with a canoe paddle (to mimic antler sounds) while telling him what I was gonna do with his girls after I kick his arse .
Then my gal motions me over and whispers to me "I keep hearing a frog croaking in the woods" !
It worked !! He was coming and not shy about it, he was grunting with every step towards us and after listening to him for a minute I knew that he was seriously offended by my comments and was coming over to set me straight ....
Within minutes he was near the edge of the forest only 50 yards away but it was impossible to confirm if he was a shooter, he held his ground just out of sight and complained about my insults and behavior ! I knew I had to do something before he made us and fled !
I turned it into a shouting match and insulted the size of his bullhood for all to hear in the forest !
That was it, he had enough of my bs and stepped out swaying his antlers from side to side, eyes glazed over, drooling and frothing at the mouth, it was evident he was no longer willing to settle our dispute in a civilized manner !
In his anger he unwittingly showed me 5 brow tines on one side of his rack and I told my shooter to take him out !
She fired her Tikka T3 300 WSM and the 180 gr Barnes MRX slammed into the bull and he dropped instantly on the spot !
I congratulated her, turned off my video camera (yep, I got the shot on video) and we approached the bull, fighting our way through the brush we had to do a left half circle towards the bull and came out behind him, I looked back to check on my huntress and she was busy fighting off some alders that attacked her feet, I turned back towards the fallen bull and What The ??
He was on his feet and stumbling towards the river, with few seconds to spare and my shooter occupied I raised my rifle and shot the bull in the ass !
I wasn't gonna let him pull a Houdini in the river !
The 375 cal 320 gr bullet weighed 301.5 gr after slamming into the bull moose at close range and 2800 fps, bull decided to leave and received a "Texas heart shot" that disintegrated the hindquarter ball joint bones and without getting deflected it tunneled straight line, destroyed the liver, heart, lungs and plowed through the lower neck /chest bones ... it was recovered in the thick neck hide hanging halfway out, a complete straight line pass through and death was immediate, these bullets will stop a bulldozer in its tracks .... With this kind of performance I have absolutely no reservations in using the Cutting Edge MTH bullets in close quarters mortal combat with psychotic death defying brown bears ........
