I much prefer to hunt with a Mauser or Springfield bolt rifle.  Did have occasion to stop in Colorado once to shoot a moose with my Ballard 25-20SS. Had some BP experimental ammo with me. It was on a trip home from a match at Grand Junction.  We were driving along on the interstate when Chuck blurted out, hey what is that out there? Is that a horse? I said heck no man, that's a moose! Well there he was out there standing knee deep in a pond.  We parked near a gate along the interstate and off we went to bag us a moose. I spied him close with the binoculars. He was out there a long way.  Told Chuck, if we can sneak up to about two hundred yards we can get that moose. My rifle was sighted for that distance at the match.  I told Chuck I don't think this little pop gun is gonna kill that moose. Probably just piss him off.  So I told Chuck how a friend of mine killed moose with a BB gun in Alaska. Chuck agreed so we had a plan. We started stalking that moose, a slow steady stalk using every bush and rock to our advantage.  Finally Chuck said two hundred right here.  As luck would have it that moose was facing away from us. I layed down and rested the Ballard on my rolled up shooting mat. Had a twenty power Lyman Super Target Spot on the rifle. When I laid the cross hairs on those moose n-ts, everything was crystal clear.  Wind was blowing right to left so I held over what I thought was just right and let one fly. I couldn't miss. It's amazing how much BP smoke that little shell makes. A full case of FFF under a 111 grain Pope style bullet. Well, it seemed as though time slowed down the instant the powder lit. Chuck told me he could see that bullet make a big arc toward that trophy moose.  We heard a loud whap! and as planned he had his head down in the water.  At just that instant he humped up and tried to suck air and drounded himself,  wobbled and fell over with a huge splash. Kicked three times and it was over, we had our moose. It was a great day, one I'll never forget. That was the only time I ever hunted with a single shot. Memories, I get a little misty.

craigd wrote on Nov 8^th, 2020 at 9:02am:


What? Think I'd tell you a story?  Come on man! 

I've heard that it won't work in California 'cause they've all been gelded.

"po-ching", almost spit coffee out! 

There's a moral to the story, Ted. "There's always more than one way to bag a moose."