I came across a Daily Mail article today that recounted the experience of novice Iditarod musher whose dog team was attacked by a moose while they were out practicing. She tried to scare it off, but as it continued to stomp on some of her dogs, she finally resorted to her pistol, which she emptied into the moose with no effect. Eventually a friend arrived on scene with a rifle and killed the moose with one shot.
I don't know what make or model of pistol she had, but she described it as a .380! I'm sure in her naivety she was thinking more of minimizing the weight and bulk of the firearm rather than its effectiveness. She also only intended for the firearm to deter or scare off an animal. Fortunately, none of the dogs were seriously injured. The article does report, though, that "She has since upgraded to a larger caliber firearm after [the .380] didn't stop the moose."
The sad part is that the .380 didn't even injure the moose enough to make it angry (or angrier). So, the lesson from this is that although the .380 may be acceptable for self-defense against two-legged critters, you should not expect a 1-shot (or 7 or 8-shot) drop when hunting moose.
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You can also throw the .380 pistol for a 9th shot.
ReplyDeleteHeh! I have to wonder if she even struck it at all. Even if the bullets did not penetrate deep enough to cause serious harm, they should have stung.
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