Moose- do they stay in the area or bolt after being shot at ?

Guys-
First year for moose hunting.

We saw a cow with a calf the other day.
If you shoot at a calf and it slowly walks away- do you follow up ?
We checked the area and it clearly wasn't hit, by follow up I mean...

When you shoot at a deer, they tend to bolt out of the county unless they are dumb yearlings.
Moose seem so slow but I imagine they can put on some huge distances in short order with those strides.
Just wondered if it was a rookie mistake to not dash to edge of the property to cut them off/ follow-on ?

interesting question . i'm looking forward to hearing from everyone

from what I've read they don't do much unless you have hit them. but if you have missed than maybe yo shouldn't have taken the shot... not judging just saying..lol

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Originally Posted by maximum chaos

interesting question . i'm looking forward to hearing from everyone

from what I've read they don't do much unless you have hit them. but if you have missed than maybe yo shouldn't have taken the shot... not judging just saying..lol

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Totally true Max;
Buddy shot and missed- I asked in another tread what the camps rules are for missing.....lol

But no, seriously, I was about 800 yards away from the back corner of the property.
Just wondered if I should have high tailed it over there to intercept them; or if they would have been long gone.

Deer don't just leave the area, if this was the case then every year on the first Monday of November the deer would all find themselves in Algonquin Park.

Animals will run away from being shot at but they still have their home ranges and will come back, we used to hunt one swamp that had the deer back in it the next day after a drive with dogs and misses.

Your observations on deer aren't completely accurate. I had 4 does come over a knoll last year. I sighted in on #2 and shot. Felt like a good shot, and I knew we had a bunch of doe tags to fill, so I looked and spotted #1 which had run 40 yards further. She'd stopped and was watching for me. Threaded a shot through the trees and hit her broadside. I dropped both deer.

Turn back, the remaining 2 does have scattered and taken the fawn with them. A minute later I'm standing there ting my pants with excitement (ie. bolt open and no round chambered) when I look up to spot the buck that was following them. I didn't even get the gun up before he was gone. Fellow group member shot him about 8 minutes later down the valley.

I've shot and missed at a buck, he turned and walked off... it was my first ever shot on a deer and I was too flabbergasted to take a second shot before all I could see was his arse.

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Originally Posted by northernontario

Your observations on deer aren't completely accurate. I had 4 does come over a knoll last year. I sighted in on #2 and shot. Felt like a good shot, and I knew we had a bunch of doe tags to fill, so I looked and spotted #1 which had run 40 yards further. She'd stopped and was watching for me. Threaded a shot through the trees and hit her broadside. I dropped both deer.

Turn back, the remaining 2 does have scattered and taken the fawn with them. A minute later I'm standing there ting my pants with excitement (ie. bolt open and no round chambered) when I look up to spot the buck that was following them. I didn't even get the gun up before he was gone. Fellow group member shot him about 8 minutes later down the valley.

I've shot and missed at a buck, he turned and walked off... it was my first ever shot on a deer and I was too flabbergasted to take a second shot before all I could see was his arse.

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I shot a yearling and when I was cleaning it the doe came out, we had shot 3 deer in that tiny section of bush and 2 guys were getting the other 2 deer out as well as the ATV going back and forth getting guys and gear, I was able to chamber a round but at the click she hit the thick brush, deer do not get out of dodge all the time.

Ok, so I have different experiences that some re Whitetail guys.

Any Moose hunters there that can comment on Moose and what they generally do?

last year shot at calf missed the cow and calf ran straight for about three miles the bull that was with them just wandered around looking at me 20 yards away. This year had two cows come shot the one the other one just walked away. moose are a funny animal.

Unless a moose winds you, or you spook it, they have no idea what that shot was. Typically, they will just move back into cover.

First off you will have a hard time catching up to a moose, even when their walking, for every step of theirs, its 4-5 of yours. Yes, sometimes they do tend to just walk a little then stand still, but 9 times out of 10, once spooked they will stay moving for sometime, thus spreading the gap with each step, especially a cow with her young. In a situation like this, if you have the manpower and know your terrain and locations of other hunters, then you may be inline for a successful drive, again, don't try to catch up, just walk easy and see if you can swing them.

Now, if your not successful after the drive then I would just keep doing what your doing, remember your clearly in a good spot because you've seen moose there. From our experience, we've shot bulls with cows, calves, and in some cases, other bulls. And have seen those moose stick around all week in the same general area. Remember moose can have big home ranges and can take a couple days to revisit an area, so if you see them on Monday, keep playing it until the end and there a good chance you will see them (or others) again.

Good luck

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Originally Posted by rick_iles

Unless a moose winds you, or you spook it, they have no idea what that shot was. Typically, they will just move back into cover.

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I'm no where as experienced as Rick but my own experiences agree with this.

Theyll be back. Dont sweat it

Ben Johnson couldn't catch up to a cow/calf or bull once they decide to leave an area. So not chasing after them is absolutely the right thing to do.
I'm assuming you're talking about this time of year. The rut is over and moose have settled down to their feeding areas. Even spooking them for whatever reason but not chasing after them they'll just move on to another feeding area which usually is never too far away. (Maybe 1/2 mile). I've taken a number of moose later in the season after jumping them a day or days earlier. Some have been very close to where I jumped them and others were at most 1 mile away. They do have their favorite bedding and feeding areas so you should be returning to these areas to check them out.

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Originally Posted by sawbill

Ben Johnson couldn't catch up to a cow/calf or bull once they decide to leave an area. So not chasing after them is absolutely the right thing to do.
I'm assuming you're talking about this time of year. The rut is over and moose have settled down to their feeding areas. Even spooking them for whatever reason but not chasing after them they'll just move on to another feeding area which usually is never too far away. (Maybe 1/2 mile). I've taken a number of moose later in the season after jumping them a day or days earlier. Some have been very close to where I jumped them and others were at most 1 mile away. They do have their favorite bedding and feeding areas so you should be returning to these areas to check them out.

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In my younger day I tried following a bull but after 51/2 miles it dawned on me that he was aware of me and there would be no catching him that day. Had I left him alone he would have been back to the area sooner than he finally did.

Well; the season ended and the cow and calf didn't return.

Sunday night the pair was on the game camera;
They emerged Monday am; got blasted at; and left.
The Bull that was watching all the action just drifted away.

Wednesday night; the Bull was back bedding in the food plots.