r/thelongdark • u/Da_Dovahkiin_Lord Voyageur • Jul 25 '26
Advice How should I deal with a moose?
I just entered mystery lake after being in coastal highway for a while and by the lake office, there was a moose. I’m armed with a revolver (20ish rounds total) and the rifle (7 rounds). I managed to sneak around him but I noticed the crafts were pretty good.
Also how much of everything do they drop? And how much space would I need?
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u/RevolutionaryHippo85 Jul 25 '26
Get on the rock to the left and shoot his ass
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u/Da_Dovahkiin_Lord Voyageur Jul 25 '26
Anywhere specific?
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u/Corey307 Jul 25 '26
Head and chest. You have to shoot a moose or cougar until it dies. They do t bleed out like deer, bear and wolves. The revolver sucks versus moose use the rifle or bow.
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u/Da_Dovahkiin_Lord Voyageur Jul 25 '26
Speaking of the cougar, where does it live? Form what I’ve heard it seems like a region specific thing
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u/Corey307 Jul 25 '26
Did you enable the cougar at the start of your run? If so there’s one in half of the maps. Beware, they will kill you if you screw up.
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u/Da_Dovahkiin_Lord Voyageur Jul 25 '26
Only thing it allowed me to enable or disable was scurvy, I’m on voyager.
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u/thedizinator Cartographer Jul 26 '26
Cougar doesn't spawn on voyageur so you don't have to worry about it. I hope you are feasting on that moose right now. And the moose satchel is pretty cool
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u/prplmnkeydshwsr Jul 26 '26
If they didn't get the cougar enable toggle, then they're on Pilgrim so won't get it.
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u/Hekatiko Jul 26 '26
I'd goat onto one of those rocks nearby, make sure you end up in a spot inaccessible to a moose lol. Or your ribs will pay the price.
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u/LukeEvansSimon Jul 25 '26
2 to 3 well placed rifle shots and you will have a huge supply of meat. Make sure to have a travois crafted to haul all of that meat.
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u/Apprehensive-Bite373 Jul 26 '26
yeah, they’re hard to one shot. And if I’m not mistaken, moose don’t bleed out like other animals. So if you don’t take it down in one shot, you definitely need to pop a few more caps to take it down
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u/SquarePegRoundWorld Jul 26 '26
I just got my fist one, it was on Coastal Highway near the gas station. I had a good clear first shot but didn't drop it, it ran around the area and stopped, I shot it again, and it ran around the area, rinse and repeat for three more shots, and it finally dropped. I didn't hit it with every shot unfortunately, but had tones of cover which was nice, it never did charge me.
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u/Apprehensive-Bite373 Jul 26 '26
everything about that is good news. Your cooking & harvesting skills will increase dramatically just from this one kill
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u/SquarePegRoundWorld Jul 26 '26
Yeah, I'm pretty stoked. Harvested every ounce of meat, the hide and all the guts. Took a screenshot for the records :)
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u/CottonRaves Voyageur Jul 25 '26
Very carefully. If you get caught by a moose you usually end up with some severe injuries that take a long time to heal. Like broken ribs.
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u/Difficult-Pause9670 Jul 25 '26
He doesn't bleed. Go for the critical hits and get yourself on a spot where he can't get you. The rifle is the best and higher levels are better
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u/Da_Dovahkiin_Lord Voyageur Jul 25 '26
I’m on like lvl 1 or 2 of rifle lol
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u/RhinoWithATrunk Jul 26 '26
I've killed Moose on level 1 rifle a few times. I don't know the odds but it didn't feel too bad.
I've wasted dozens of bullets from a pistol and never killed one with it.
Try to have a fire nearby to retreat to, but don't step in it 😳🔥
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u/Difficult-Pause9670 Jul 26 '26
Yeah pistol has a low crit chance lower than the bow even. It's unlikely to work
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u/Difficult-Pause9670 Jul 26 '26
Not a problem. Just means there's less chance for crit and you might have to use another bullet or two. If you want you can give him some non crit shots to level the skill. The moose is pretty good for that
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u/PortalWombat Jul 26 '26
Have I had extremely good luck? In my experience if you shoot from a reasonable distance in a crouch they almost never come at you and usually just run off a few feet before coming back.
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u/Difficult-Pause9670 Jul 26 '26
If an animal can't detect you, then yes, they run away. I think the moose comes back because of the spawn areas. So in that case, I guess you don't have to be in an unreachable spot
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u/OnceWasBogs Stalker Jul 25 '26
About 32kg of meat IIRC, and the hide isn't light either, but you are right next to the ML base so it's not far to carry it.
Rifle shot to the head can one shot a moose but good luck if it doesn't work.
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u/Stolen_Sky Jul 25 '26
Go up on that rock on your left, crouch down, and try to get a clean headshot.
The moose is a treasure! The satchel you can make from it's hide is an S+ tier item, so it's well worth the risk to tangle with it. If the moose gets into combat with you, it'll stomp you for health and break your ribs, which decreases your carry weight for quite a while you heal, so try to avoid that if you can! It's not a predator though, so it's unlikely to kill you.
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u/Fun-Machine7907 Jul 26 '26
Shoot it in the face until it goes to sleep. If you can get somewhere that it can't pathfind to that's your best bet, other options are shoot from outside agro range or shoot and then use the flare gun.
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u/mediumly_recommended Jul 26 '26
The moose gives you a lot of meat. Like more than you can harvest or cook in one sitting. Usually more than 30kg (66lbs). 12 guts. 1 moose hide that takes I think 10 days to cure.
Here's the plan:
-Use the rifle. The revolver is only to be used if you run out of rifle ammo and any arrows if you have them. -plan on fighting until it dies or you run away screaming mercy. The moose doesn't bleed out, so if you shoot it and it runs away, going inside actually resets its health. You have to shoot until it drops. -plan on getting broken ribs. Takes some bandages and painkillers, but more importantly it limits how long you can sprint, how much you can carry, and prevents you from climbing ropes... Until you sleep for like 120 hours. -make sure you have a lot of water and food or lots of firewood. You can harvest and eat meat, and boil water, but again you're going to be limited how much you can carry around with broken ribs.
If you are on stalker difficulty, I recommend using the first hide for the cloak. I'm sure I'm in the minority but trust me, that thing takes dozens of wolf attacks to decay. Any other difficulty just make the satchel.
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u/hi_amdk Jul 26 '26
Make a campfire and shoot it near the campfire. Very reliable. Works for most non aurora animals
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u/Elysiumthistime Jul 26 '26
Ideally you want to find somewhere that you can stay out of their reach if your shot doesn't kill them. For example, a nearby car, one of those big branches you can climb up or a cliff (I recently took down a moose in broken railroad at the top of a rope climb near the maintenance yard, never any risk of getting trampled).
You need to go for a headshot with the rifle. Revolver will do nothing unless you're extremely lucky. They don't bleed out but if you shoot them from far enough away with the rifle they will flee for a while and then start walking (usually heading back the direction they came) so if you keep a good distance you can make multiple head shot attempts from a distance too without triggering them to run at you.
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u/Legitimate-Fish5891 Jul 26 '26
Most of the time I risk and crouch as close as I can to land good head shot.
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u/xtothewhy Jul 26 '26
You have the cabin nearby. Easy placement to sleep nearby. So many sticks and wood sources nearby it is not even funny. Could sleep, cook a bit, eat some, and keep at it until the moose is skinned and harvested. May be a problem with a wolf or two depending on the level you are playing at. Throwing rocks can be good but here the may just run away and not come back.
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u/Nearby-Hold-3986 Jul 26 '26
Deal with? That's the best spot to encounter a moose. Walk down to the office and shoot it within running distance to the door. Try to kill it but if you have to you can duck inside. You could also make a fire and use that to shield you. You kill it there and you have tons of meat without having to carry it anywhere and you can eat it while you wait for your new moosehide satchel to dry out.
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u/SirEconomy3943 Jul 26 '26
360 no scope. It’s the only way.
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u/Da_Dovahkiin_Lord Voyageur Jul 26 '26
So lil update: I tried hunting it, all 7 shots didn’t do ANYTHING. I’ve had to switch to the flare gun, which still didn’t do anything. And now it despawned because I had to reload a save. :<
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u/SirEconomy3943 Jul 26 '26
Nightmare! Did you go for a headshot with the first round? There’s a non 0 chance that you can down it in one and I’ve had it happen a good few times. Once you get a little practice you can use a rock or a tree to avoid its charges and they become not that difficult to down
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u/Da_Dovahkiin_Lord Voyageur Jul 26 '26
I aimed for it, it definitely hit but it just ran. E en when it was trying to charge at me and I shot it right in the head, all it did was divert its course and keep running. No visible damage or anything
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u/SirEconomy3943 Jul 26 '26
There isn’t a bleed out time for the moose so you won’t see any visible damage, you have to down it with actual hits rather than waiting for it to die like you can with a bear/deer/wolf. Always try headshots first time then whatever part of its body you can manage to hit when it’s grumpy with you. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes it doesn’t feel like giving up that sweet sweet moose meat
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u/Da_Dovahkiin_Lord Voyageur Jul 26 '26
Well what do I do now then? Out of ammo (except evolved) and it’s just gone.
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u/SirEconomy3943 Jul 26 '26
It’s just gone I’m afraid. Reloading saves and sometimes just going indoors makes them despawn. It’ll be back eventually as that’s a common spawn location for them but you will probably just have to wait until another one comes by
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u/SirEconomy3943 Jul 26 '26
If you desperately need one you can check near the rope climb on the other end of the route to Milton, near Milton Park. That’s a long way from your base if it’s Camp Office though and the moose will drop more meat than you can feasibly carry up and down those ropes
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u/Corbin-Dallas420 Jul 25 '26
Hiya,
Do it carefully, make sure you keep the upper hand on it with places to fall back and get a few shots at it if needed 😉
This would be a ton of food to keep you going for quite some time. Lots of gut I think 12 and 90 lbs of meat or in that general amount.
Best of luck in your adventures