I have never seen a live or fresh dead for that matter elk or moose in my life. Hearing reports of them weighing 800-1000 lbs makes them seem huge.

Went to Cabelas this weekend and looked at all the mounts with my little nephews. Looking at the Full body elk and moose mounts I got to thinking that they looked a lot smaller than I had thought. Do the mounts come out smaller than they appear in life or is my imagination getting carried away?

Quick Google search.

or this one

A good sized bull elk will weigh 700-800 lbs. live weight on average.

A good sized Shiras Moose will weigh 800-1000 lbs. on average.
A good sized Canada moose will weigh 1000-1200 lbs. on average.
A good sized Alaska/Yukon moose will weigh 1200-1500 lbs. on average.

I am no expert but these are the numbers I have been told by those that do know and read in books by those that do know.

That Alaska/Yukon moose in Cabela's looks pretty dang big to me. So did the elk and moose I have taken, though they weren't weighed.

Moose are huge when you see just how much of them are legs.

Plow Moose

Really think Santa missed the boat going with reindeer.

They asked me if I wanted to full body mount mine. I said "Are you kiddin'?" No place to put a horse in my house.

Takes a pretty big house/ceilings to properly display a shoulder mount.

I have just always heard the weights and perceived them as being a lot bigger than those look comparing them to livestock etc.

Most deer species that are tall/lanky and long bodied hide their weight well. Most people look at a WT buck down the road or at a feeder and think they are very tall. Ever see one standing next to a fence to get a height on one and it will shock you as to how short they are once you have a reference that you know the height of.

As a kid I went to fort sam in SA with my uncle. They had a group of white tails that were domestic that you could pet and feed etc. One was a darn nice 8pt, but being that up close and in person made me realize how short the are. Have set up a few protein feeders that were WAY to high till we got out a tape measure!

That's true of Rocky Mountain Elk in general but the Manitoba race can exceed 1000 lbs along with Roosevelt Elk. Roosevelt elk that were transplanted to Afognak Island and Raspberry Island can exceed 1200.

They are all absolutely massive when you're standing over them with a skinning knife and 2 mile walk to the nearest road.

Man, that's the truth! When the day is done, you'd swore you killed an elephant if you're by yourself.

Them Canadians strap a trailer to them then winch it over, hook up and go back to camp.

No lie! Imagine a horse with obscenely long legs, maybe 20 hands high, and you have a moose.

Back in 1988, I booked the first serious guided hunt of my life, a mixed bag moose/caribou/black bear trip to Alaska. I shot a 60" moose the second day. Since the Wanton Waste laws require packing out all edible meat, the guide and I cut up the moose and started packing meat uphill to the high, smooth ridgeline a couple miles away where the plane could land. On the afternoon of Day 3, while returning to the moose carcass, I shot a near-book caribou about 400 yards from the dead moose. It took us 5 full days to pack out the meat, and I swore that I would NEVER shoot another moose. Later on, horses and panniers would change my mind.

Growing up on the western slope of Colorado and being part of a guide and outfitting family and seeing hundreds of dead elk over 40+ years up to 400" and being fortunate enough to kill elk in 5 states I can say that I have seen only a handful of elk that went 800 to 1000 pounds. They are few and far in between. A moose... that's a different story.

1) Once you pack one out you will never doubt their size again.
2) Have one come in on you at full charge in rut, you will never doubt their size again.
3) See the basketball size pumper it takes to run one, you will never doubt their size again.
4) Try and roll one over, you will never doubt their size again
5) Have one die in the freezing river and you will never doubt their size again.
6) Watch the small bush plane make several trips back and forth to base camp carrying the meat and you will never doubt their size again.

Just a few of the things I will never forget about Moose.

This about sums up my experience last fall

Do not know the weight of the elk I have killed but the first one was by far the biggest body wise. 347lbs of boned out meat made him seem big to me. The others have been 240 to 270 lbs of boned out meat.

The Moose I have seen were larger critters be they in Canada or Montana. Glassing for elk in the elk creek drainage in Montana one morning watched 5 moose bed down 3 cows and 2 calves. Those cows were much bigger than the elk that were not far from them up the other ridge.

BINGO!

I killed my elk from 200 yards on a 30 degree slope. Once I knew he was DRT I clammored down to him. From 40 yards out I thought "oh chit" now the real work starts.


Wish I woulda killed him uphill from camp.

I hear you. I asked an old rancher if he had any elk hunting advice for me. He said "Shoot them in the road."

That's still a PITA if folks pile them up on the road. (Or about 400yds from it).....after telling you " yeah you can make it in there with a jeep."...they were right, an incredibly stupid person could/did make it in there in a jeep.

Lol. I hear you.

I cut the last one in half with a WY saw and we drug halves bc I wasn't making any more trips!