Meanwhile in Montana, on the 3D range...
Contributors to this thread:Moose
From: bowonly
27-Sep-23
I visited our local 3D range yesterday a couple miles from my home to keep my shooting tuned between hunts. The Tobacco Root Archers maintain it. I've been told it's one of the best in Montana and it has a bunch of large species targets. But it really surpassed itself going beyond 3D!
From: bowonly
27-Sep-23
I walked around the corner to target 14 which is supposed to be an elk. In front of it was a bedded Shiras moose
From: bowonly
27-Sep-23
Not a big one, but then pretty much all moose are big!
From: bowonly
27-Sep-23
And unexpected. Now we have had to run whitetail does off targets in the past and some fawns have bedded nearby while we shot through, but this was something new.
From: bowonly
27-Sep-23
So, I took a photo and texted it to the president/rangemaster/backbone of the club, Doug Stonebreaker. The moose ran off and I continued on through the course.
From: bowonly
27-Sep-23
Then I came onto the moose target which is my favorite because that's my next hunt and it's too big to miss! Destruction on the range! The moose target was flattened. The steel leg stakes had been bent and the foam gauged-out.
From: bowonly
27-Sep-23
About then Doug texted me back that he had been on the range that morning and had not only seen the moose but it had come close to pummeling him! I'm sure that was not one of the safety hazards he had ever considered when laying out the range.
From: bowonly
27-Sep-23
You would think a little peep squeak like that wouldn't have the cojones to taken on such a big racked bull even if it was just a 3D target.
From: bowonly
27-Sep-23
Then it was on to the caribou target which was where Doug had been attacked that morning as he was resetting the target. It was down again with the heavy metal stakes bent over.
From: buckeye
27-Sep-23
That's a cool encounter, my dad was shooting a 3d tournament and kicked up two does which ran into a cattle fence and both died from heart attacks, damnedest thing I ever heard of.
From: bowonly
27-Sep-23
So, that's Montana for you. You don't know what you might run into. And our range does have grizz on it...........
From: bowonly
27-Sep-23
At least it has a grizzly target. No live ones yet
From: t-roy
27-Sep-23
You’re having too much fun, Richard. :-)
Good luck on the moose hunt!
From: bowonly
27-Sep-23
Sorry about the quality of the photo, but it was a small paddle horn bull. The same one which put the run on Doug and the only one he or I have seen on the range.
We do have some good sized bulls around here on occasion. This one was photoed in September 2021, not more than a few miles away. Respectable, I'd say.
From: APauls
27-Sep-23
A moose will challenge an aluminum boat to a fight so any foam ungulate is in trouble in the rut lol
From: bowonly
27-Sep-23
This one was from many years ago. This bull charged me and others in our group. It became very territorial about where it had set up shop for the winter which was around some occupied cabins in SW Montana. It would not be hazed away and was very aggressive, trying to attack several people. Soon after this photo was taken the local warden dispatched it.
From: bowonly
27-Sep-23
And, yes, this is a bull. This one had shed it's horns. The pedicles can be seen above the eyes and below the ears. They shed early compared to others ungulates.
