New record moose

The moose and its close relation, the European elk, range across the tundra and subarctic of the northern hemisphere, with several subspecies. Occasionally, a hunter shoots a record moose and – just declared – a 52-year-old hunter from the US state of Washington has set a world record for Shiras moose. Shiras is one of the smaller subspecies and native to the United States.

Jim, Jason and the moose

Jim Hall and his friend Jason Parlari were hunting in November close to Republic, Washington, in Game Management Unit 101. Jim knocked over a beast with a point length of close to 505 inches and weighing 700 pounds. The record is just 1 1/8 inches more than the previous record. The hunter said about seeing the large moose: ‘So walking up to … I’m just in awe. I’m texting pictures to people and all my friends are freaking out’

 

Moose inspire all kinds of wildlife stories. Back in March 2019 came the news we were waiting for: there’s a moose loose aboot the hoose! A homeowner thought he was being burgled, but instead he found this.

It turned out that his home had been trashed by an adult cow moose, that had broken into the house and, literally, turned the place over.

With the help of local police and fire services in Brekenridge, Colorado, wildlife officers tranquilised the moose and get her back into the wild. She was moved from the basement through a tight stairwell and taken to a waiting trailer, where the tranquiliser was successfully reversed.

The moose and its close relation, the European elk, is an iconic quarry species for hunters. The ‘moose hunt’ in Scandinavia and North America is an epic meat hunt, that may take days or weeks, and requires the hunter to port the enormous quantities of meat that one moose can produce back home, often by canoe or in backpacks.

A good example of the importance of moose to hiunters came in 2017. A US hunter who waited years for a ‘moose tag’ and spent thousands on it, gave it away to an army veteran in an act applauded by many across the USA.

Rick Carosone from Idaho waited 18 years for his moose tag to come up in the state lottery, and spent $1,400 on it. But when he got it, he gave it to former staff sergeant Kimberly Collins of Washington state, as a way of showing gratitude for her military service.

Rick Carosone and former staff sergeant Kimblerly Collins

He gave it away as part of the American Hunting with Heroes programme. The programme involves the community comeing together to provide places for veterans to hunt and stay while they are doing it.

The generous gift did not go to waste as Collins got a moose near Big Piney on Carosone’s donated tag. She used a Sako 30-06 equipped with a Zeiss scope to get the beast.

The US has dozens of initiatives like this, such as the 2017 Hero Salute Veterans pheasant shoot for veterans in Pennsylvania.

For more information about the scheme, visit: huntingwithheroes.org

The moose is a major target species for animal rights activists. One moose hunter in 2017 said she is “thankful” for the multiple death threats she has received from antis after pictures of her Alaskan moose hunt went viral. Jessica Grays attracted the attention of violent extremists after posting pictures of the moose she shot on Facebook. She now says she’s “thankful” for the multiple death threats she received because they have resulted in speaking gigs and sponsorships.

Jessica Grays

She posts on Facebook: “I just wanted to take a second and say thank you! Thank you for the amount of HATE and death threats you have all sent my way.

“It has created quite the media stir bringing this to a national platform where I have media, newspaper, huntings blogs, radio stations and women’s rights groups contacting me to be a spokesperson and sponsorships from it.

“Please keep the hate coming, two days ago I was a passionate small town hunter and today I have multiple new sponsors and hunts lined up across the country.

Grays posted the pictures of her and a companion out hunting a bull moose. It was not long before she started to receive abuse on the picture with one commenter saying: “You are truly a disgusting waste of human flesh.” And another added: “Would have been much more impressed if you posted a photo of this moose, being a moose. I think it’s incredibly cruel of you to shoot it.

Grays went on to say that she was helping to control the animal’s population and that none of the animal went to waste.

In Alaska, in March 2019, a hunter is now allowed to use a hovercraft while hunting moose in Alaska. The US Supreme Court overturned a legal victory by the National Parks Service against John Sturgeon of Anchorage. He had hunted the animals for 40 years along the Nation River, a waterway within the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve in north-eastern Alaska. He has been fighting his case for eight years.

For more about John Sturgeon’s campaign, click here

Fieldsports Channel has made a number of films about moose and elk hunting:

Fast-Action Elk Hunt

Elkhound at Work

 

Michaela’s Moose

Running Moose Hunt

 

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