Air Rifle Moose!

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hybridvigor said:
I finally got it done. I filled my once in a lifetime moose tag with my Hatsan Piledriver.457.
View attachment 397136It was a tough hunt. My tag was in unit 63a in Idaho which is a short range weapon only hunt. It is legal to hunt with bow, muzzleloader, shotgun slug, pistol or rifle with pistol ammo, and air rifle. 85% of the unit is private property, irrigated crops. The public land is mostly accessible from the river so a boat is invaluable. We hunted for 9 days with a break last week to help out a friend’s family after he died from a stroke. The river has been dropping very fast in the last few days and is becoming treacherous to navigate in the jet boat. We got back to the hunting area on Sunday evening ( 8 hour drive from home) and headed out Monday morning. I had been seeing good sign on the island where my game camera is located so we started there. Just got the boat tied up and heard several shots from duck hunters. We baled on that island and went up the river a couple miles. We parked the boat and walked about 100 yards from the boat and started cow calling. Called for about 20 minutes when we heard a bull grunt. He was only about 60 yards but in thick brush. He hung up there and would come into the open. After a few minutes he decided he had enough and left. We snuck around down wind and called again and here he came! He came in to about 17 yards and I was able to get him to stop broadside. The Piledriver did the trick. I used 500 grain bullets that I cast myself. He went about 10 yards and stopped again broadside. I gave him a second shot. He just stood there for a bit then laid down. We watched him until he gave up the ghost. It took us from 9am until 5:30 to get him broken down and to the boat launch. It was just me and my wife until the last hour when we recruited a savior to give us a hand. Thanks Preston!!
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Congrats on the moose! Ive hunted idaho in the past successfully for deer with airgun. In reading the regulations im not finding anything about airbow legality there though. I was thinking about possibly taking one with me on my next trip but cannot find a dwfinate answer other than the minimum caliber requirements for deer elk moose bear ect. Do you or anyone know if they allow air bows such as the air javelin? Obviously not for archery season but for the any weapons season.
 
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hybridvigor said:
As far as I know, air bows are not legal in Idaho. Even in any weapon season. I think that they look at them in the same manner as hunting with an automatic weapon. I think it would be cool to shoot a turkey with my Blitz.
What part of Idaho do you hunt?
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Lol that would be somwthing to see. I went to unit 33 last time I was there. Im from Washington (east side)so something closer might be in my future. I am tagged out here for my buck already with a 24 inch monster 2pt with eye guards and stickers. I do have a whitetail doe tag to fill still and my wifes got her general tag(archery). She has heart failure tho so she is stuck to road hunting which makes it really hard for us to find something for her. Until she gets hers tho im doing my best to help her fill her tag before I go get my doe. It ends the end of the month tho so hopefully she can make it happen soon lol. She'll still have late archery but we were both fortunate enough to draw cow tags individually so id really like to focus our time hunting elk. I work 6 days a week so its really hard to make time to hunt being the sole provider for our house but we make due. I used my paid time off for the first week of the season here but it paid off for me.
Im hoping we can get her another heart surgery so we can make another Idaho trip soon. Next year or possibly the one after that.
 
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Bowhunterwa87 said:
Lol that would be somwthing to see. I went to unit 33 last time I was there. Im from Washington (east side)so something closer might be in my future. I am tagged out here for my buck already with a 24 inch monster 2pt with eye guards and stickers. I do have a whitetail doe tag to fill still and my wifes got her general tag(archery). She has heart failure tho so she is stuck to road hunting which makes it really hard for us to find something for her. Until she gets hers tho im doing my best to help her fill her tag before I go get my doe. It ends the end of the month tho so hopefully she can make it happen soon lol. She'll still have late archery but we were both fortunate enough to draw cow tags individually so id really like to focus our time hunting elk. I work 6 days a week so its really hard to make time to hunt being the sole provider for our house but we make due. I used my paid time off for the first week of the season here but it paid off for me.
Im hoping we can get her another heart surgery so we can make another Idaho trip soon. Next year or possibly the one after that.
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Sorry about your wife’s heart. Does WA let her hunt with a crossbow? Idaho will let disabled hunters use a crossbow and shoot from a vehicle during archery season. Sounds like a nice buck and you should have the freezer full with the other animals. We live in 10a between Lewiston and Missoula. I got a bear in the spring and have whitetail, elk, lion,and wolf tags. I probably won’t get an elk as the freezer still has a bunch of moose meat.
Give me a shout if you get a chance to come this way.
 
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